by Mary Wingfield Bell
Chapter Four -
Delight smiled when she saw the sun shining through the lace
curtains in her bedroom. She put on the pink jeans and light blue
blouse that Grandma had laid out for her. The girl put on her blue
sweater as it was cool in the house. After brushing her hair she
pulled up one leg of her jeans and strapped the braces on her leg
and foot.
"Do you feel good enough to walk to the highway to catch the
bus, dear?" Grandpa asked Delight.
"Sure, Grandpa, it's a beautiful day," said Delight, "and you
always carry my lunch and books."
Mrs. Capley said that she must hurry to pack the girl's lunch
if they were walking. Leaving her breakfast to get cold, Grandma
prepared the lunch. She would feed her breakfast to the chickens
and make more for herself.
Abner and Maggie appeared as Delight and Grandpa were going
through the gate.
"Did you get the papers done?" asked Abner.
"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it," replied Delight.
Grandpa and the three children arrived at the bus stop just in
time to see the bus coming.
Mr. Kindlin opened the door of the school bus and Maggie and
Abner climbed on the bus. Then he stepped outside and with his
strong arms he lifted Delight inside. Grandpa handed him the
crutches and he slid them in a metal loop made just for that. Mr.
Kindlin was a strong likeable person and the youngsters were fond
of him.
When the bus arrived at school, the children hurriedly
departed for their homerooms.
Delight was the last child to get off the bus. Mr. Kindlin
helped her again. He handed Delight's lunch and books to Nella who
was waiting for her friend. Then the two girls followed other
youngsters into Miss Rains fifth grade class.
As soon as the Capley girl was seated the bell rang. The
teacher was writing geography questions on the blackboard. When
she finished writing she turned to the class and said, "Good
morning, fifth-graders."
"Good morning, Miss Rains," responded most of the class.
"Now let's have a good day and everyone be a fifth-grader -
not a first grader," said the instructor.
Kent had his back toward the teacher.
"Are you bothering Delight again?" Miss Rains asked. "Turn
around, Kent!"
"He's giving me candy and I don't want it," explained Delight
as she looked at the boy's dirty fingernails.
"Kent, put that candy in the waste basket!" ordered the
teacher. "We have much work to do."
First, Miss Rains collected the punishment papers. Everyone
had completed the work. She quickly threw them in the waste
basket.
When the geography lessons were finished Abner collected the
papers and placed them on the teacher's desk. Delight had found
the lesson to be an easy one.
Reading class came after geography, followed by history and
then lunch time. Brett and Cotton went to the cafeteria for their
meal. Lunch was unusually quiet and peaceful. Only Abner, Marcia
and the Capley girl were left in the classroom.
"Nice and quiet, huh?" Marcia remarked.
"Yep, sure glad that Brett isn't here," said Delight. "He is a
pain!"
Abner was enjoying his ham sandwiches too much to comment.
Marcia washed the blackboard when she finished her lunch just
as the teacher had asked her to do. Then she and Delight went to
the restroom. When they returned, the girls played a game with
Abner.
Suddenly the rest of the class and teacher were in the room
again. It was time for art class. The students were told to draw a
picture - anything - whatever they wished to draw.
The Capley girl drew a picture of children walking in the rain
with their umbrellas and boots. One day she planned to do just
that, when her leg was all well. Other children were drawing and
the classroom was pleasingly quiet.
Everyone went outside to play at recess. The boys played on
the outer part of the playground. No running was allowed on the
walk way by the school house. Girls most always played near the
building. Some of the girls played tag. Four were jumping ropes.
Delight and Nella were watching the girls jump rope.
All at once Delight lost her balance when Brett came running
by and knocked one of her crutches from under her arm.
"How would you like three legs?" he shouted as he ran.
Delight went down with a hard fall.
"You! You aphid!" shouted Nella. She was very angry with Brett
when she stooped to help her friend.
When Abner and Kent saw what happened, they went after Brett
as fast as they could run. They caught the trouble-maker, knocked
him down and sat on him. Brett tried hard to free himself and get
away. Marcia joined Abner and Kent. The three students kicked and
kicked him sore.
Mr. Wise, the principal, had been looking out over the
playground from his office window on the second floor. He ran down
the stairs, opened the door to the nurse's room and grabbed her by
the arm and they both hurried out the door.
Miss Rains had reached Delight and would not let her up until
Nurse Margaret examined her. The nurse carefully checked Delight
for injuries while the principal went in haste to stop the
fight.
Mr. Wise was boiling in anger at Brett for striking Delight's
crutch. He jerked Abner and Kent from Brett and scolded Marcia and
the boys for kicking. "Kicking is terribly dangerous," said the
principal.
By now Brett was in an awful shape. He could hardly walk, was
holding his stomach and crying. When he saw Mr. Wise he was very
frightened as he could not stand more pain.
"I'm not going to lay a hand on you," promised Mr. Wise. "I
don't approve of fighting but this time you got justice, Brett. If
the children had not punished you, then your father or I would
have. For the time being, you go to the clinic and when the nurse
gets through attending your wounds come to my office. We have to
talk."
Then the principal turned to the other three children,"No more
rough stuff, leave the punishment to me," he said. "Now go
play!"
The three joined the crowd standing around the Capley girl.
Nurse Margaret's long red hair looked beautiful in the
sunlight as she bent down to check Delight's back, arms and
legs.
Delight had awful scrapes on her arms. Her jeans had protected
most of her legs, with only a small gash on the knee where there
was a hole in her pink jeans.
"I'll be fine," insisted the girl. "Please let me up." She did
not like everyone staring down at her.
"Yes, you will be fine," promised the nurse. "There are no
broken bones."
The nurse took clean tissues from her pocket and cleaned away
the blood on the scratches. Then she lifted Delight to her feet
and they both went to the clinic to get medicine for her
wounds.
Brett sat in the clinic room, feeling lower than a snail and
wishing he had not caused Delight's fall. He hung his head as the
Capley girl came in. He did not want to look at her. In a very low
voice he said, "I'm sorry, Delight."
"That's the least you can do," remarked the nurse.
Delight did not respond to Brett's words. She wondered if he
was really sorry or sorry because he got beat up.
"Whew!" she breathed through her teeth as the nurse put
antiseptic on her arms and leg. She was glad when the nurse was
finished.
"Stay here for awhile," said Nurse Margaret. "You need to
relax."
It was Brett's turn for medical attention. How he wished
Delight had left the room. There were scratches and bruises all
over him.
"Ouch! It hurts!" he yelled.
"Sorry, but it is my job to take care of you," reminded the
nurse. When she had put the last bandage on his face, she sent him
to the principal's office. Slowly Brett walked through the hall
and even more slowly up the steps.
"I've been expecting you," said Mr. Wise. "Take a seat. How do
you feel now?"
"Awful, sir," answered the boy.
"Who is to blame?" asked the principal.
"Me, sir," Brett said sorrowfully.
"I'm not going to whip you," said the man. The children took
care of that. But I am asking you to write a letter to Delight
every day for the next week - telling her you are sorry and will
never cause her hurt again. You are hurting. You now know it is
not funny to have pain. This girl has had a lot of pain. Think
about that. You may go now but I must see that letter each day for
a whole week."
Brett left the office feeling very small. He returned to the
classroom and sat very still for the last hour of the school
day.
"Delight, I'm calling your grandfather to come and take you
home," the nurse said. "It is best that you don't ride the bus
home. I think you'll be O.K. in the morning and you can ride to
school on the bus."
In a few minutes Mr. Capley arrived at the school. He went
into the principal's office and had a brief talk with Mr. Wise
before he went to the clinic.
Delight was glad to see Grandpa and she didn't mind leaving
school early because her arms and legs hurt. She sat in silence on
the way home.
Grandma was on the porch to see for herself how badly Delight
had been hurt. When the girl was in her grandmother's arms she
burst into tears. For so long she had held them back, not wanting
the boys and girls at school to see her cry.
"There now," said Grandma, "You'll be fine soon." Then she
helped Delight get into bed.
Delight cried herself to sleep. It wasn't because of the pain
that she kept crying. She hated being a crippled girl with people
always staring her way. For that hour she had forgotten all about
the grapevine tree and the special feeling she had about getting
healed.
The girl slept for awhile. When she awoke it was dark.
Grandma and Grandpa were having tea by the fireplace.
"Grandma, may I have a cup of tea?" asked Delight.
When Grandma brought the tea to Delight she had a plate of
supper, also.
Delight arose from the bed to drink the hot tea and eat
supper.
"My! I didn't get out to the grapevine tree today," said
Delight. "I really need to go. I want to talk to God out
there."
"You can talk to God here in the house," assured Grandpa. "He
is in here, too."
"I know but it is just different there and I can't tell you
why," she said. "I just know that it is special."
Morning came with a cool crispness in the air but the sun was
shining brightly in Dogwood Hollow.
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