(The format looks difference because it is copied from the "Second Edition" of Escape from the Belfry - now available on Amazon)
Chapter 33
Finding Surprise
Blessings
“Get your coat, Adam.” Pastor
Silverman came into his kitchen a half hour later. He grabbed his car keys off
the counter as the boy finished a bowl of corn flakes.
“Sir?”
“I
made a few phone calls while you dressed and ate. I’m taking you out to the sanitarium
to pick up your mother. I’m supposed to move you two into Gunderman’s guest
space today like you and Mrs. G. talked about.” Pastor put his arm through the
sleeve of his coat, flipped the toaster side up, and popped the corner of the
dry bread in his mouth.
“What?”
Adam was stunned.
“I
hope I haven’t over stepped my bounds, Adam, but you said your mother could
come home when the house was ready for her. I talked to her on the telephone
and asked if she would like to stay at the Gundermans’ until summer break,
along with you of course.” Silverman looked the boy up and down. Adam had said
nothing.
“What
did she say?” Adam was cautious. He had lived the fabrication for so long, he
had made lies his new reality. Would he be able to meet the day with the truth?
“I
explained the guest space and the small amount of money, and she said she would
love to move in. Gundermans would help her and she would help them. She said
she knows Mrs. Gunderman a little, and she thinks you could help Mr. Gunderman
in the yard and around the place.”
“So,
she can finally get out of that place?”
“Like
I said, Adam, get your coat. We’re going out to pick her up.”
The
ride to the sanitarium was a blur of color and buildings. Soon they came to
open fields that slept under a blanket of white. Winter wheat was visible in
some fields not completely covered with snow. Adam was happy to see the green
that peppered the ground again.
“The
sanitarium is just up here,” Adam pointed, “around the next bend. Trust me, I
have walked this road so many times, I’ve named all of the trees.”
The
red brick building was old. “The whole place looks sterile.” Young Schumacher
studied the structure from the basement window wells to the attic roof.
Adam
had mixed emotions about the place. On the one hand, he sure missed Moms and
had been feeling desperately alone, cold, sad, and defeated. For all of that,
he hated the West Slope Tuberculosis Hospital. Yet, he knew he had to be
grateful to the sanitarium for making Moms well again.
Pastor
pulled his car to a stop in the circular drive just outside the entrance. They
got out and Adam approached the front door a few steps ahead of the pastor. He
didn’t like the looks of the place. He hurried past the facade and went quickly
inside where the Christmas decorations made the interior a little more cheery. Adam
had just been there two days before, but he was much too cold and wet on
Christmas Day to appreciate the entrance except for the warmth. Was Christmas
just Tuesday past? How could that be possible? Time usually flew by, but recent
days were in slow motion.
“I
will be so glad when Moms gets out of here.”
“Yes,
I am sure you will be, but you’ll have to admit, this facility was a blessing
to your mother. The hospital was here when she became sick and was in need of
nursing care.”
“This
pile of bricks and stone?” Adam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The sanitarium—a
blessing? How?
“Blessings
come in different sizes and packages. Miracles are recognized with the heart
not the eyes, Son.”
“How in the world could this place be anything
except―” Adam stepped aside and allowed the pastor to enter the Sanitarium
Director’s office.
“Good
morning, Mr. Fairfield,” Adam greeted the man with more maturity than most
fifteen-year-olds. “This is Pastor Silverman from the church on Cranberry
Street.” Adam heard himself mocking the director in his head. Then, he realized
that the man had nothing but nice things to say to him. Ridicule and negative
self-talk did no one any good.
The
two men shook hands. “I’m happy to finally meet you, Sir,” the director smiled.
“I was glad to talk to you on the telephone and
make these arrangements for the Shoemaker family. Bridget Shoemaker is a brave
and wonderful woman.”
“Schumacher,
Sir. Our name is Schumacher.” Adam spoke firmly and assuredly. He had been
confused about many things in the last months, but of that fact he was sure.
“Yes,
Son, thank you.” Fairfield smiled. “All is ready for your mother’s transfer to
the Gundermans’ place. Mr. and Mrs. Gunderman tell me that you and your mother
will have a separate entrance, a nice completely outfitted bathroom, a good
sized bedroom, and living room, complete with furniture and radio. I believe,
Son, you will sleep on the couch. Is that all right with you?”
Adam
was stunned. “Is it all right? If the ceiling rafters are enclosed; if there is
running water with a bathroom, heat and electricity and a finished floor, it is
more than all right. The place is a castle.”
Adam
stopped and thought of all his blessings. Maybe he had been missing
miracles. “That sounds just fine to me.
In fact, the couch sounds great.” Adam continued to study the two men.
Adam had more
questions than he had answers. Why on earth would anyone do anything so nice
for Moms and me? Life isn’t usually like that. Besides, I still have a
lot of luggage. Wherever I live, there has to be room for a funny little basket
purse and small bird.
“The
arrangement is fair. You and your mother would live there in exchange for her
being on the property when Mrs. Gunderman is at work. You will shovel snow now
in the winter and mow the grass in the spring. Are you sure that is all okay
with you? You play a part in making this work, Young Man.”
“I
am happy to be able to help get a safe place for Moms.” Adam felt a few inches
taller. “Yep, it is very okay with me.”
Adam
was stunned beyond words to express. He was actually helping his mother to have
advantages she had not had before. There was nothing but hard work on the farm
and in the clan in which she had grown up. The gypsy ways were primitive. At
the same time, he would be helping himself escape from the belfry.
“Then,
if you will excuse me, I will go get your mother and help her with her
belongings.”
As
soon as the director was out of the office, Adam’s attention snapped back to
Silverman. “It all sounds great, Pastor, but how in the world can this place be
a blessing or a miracle like you said?”
“Your
mother is alive, isn’t she, Adam? She’s coming home today, is she not? She is a
well woman. She just has to regain her strength and try not to catch a cold.
Isn’t that a miracle? Her treatment happened here. Here in 1945, fifty percent
of people, who do not receive treatment for tuberculosis, die.”
• • •
Adam was excited about the little apartment
behind Mr. and Mrs. Gunderman’s house. “Isn’t the place wonderful, Moms?” He
was proud. Finally, he was able to take care of Moms through his hard work and
new friends.
“It
is so good to see you again, Bridget.” Arletta greeted her old friend with open
arms. “You haven’t been to club in years.”
“There’s
always something that has to be done on the farm, Arletta. But, it is so very
good to see you today.”
“This
is great,” Adam whispered in amazement. The apartment was everything Alfred and
Arletta had described, and more. “The furniture all looks new,” Adam observed
out loud and then wished he hadn’t. He didn’t want to sound ungrateful.
“Mother
Gunderman only lived a few months after we moved her in here,” Arletta smiled.
“We bought everything new for her, and she purchased a lot too, like new pots
and pans and decorations.” Mrs. G. seemed proud as she showed Adam and his
mother around their home.
“Did
she die here?” Again, Adam couldn’t believe his thoughts were not kept to
himself.
For a man of few words, all of the wrong
ones were tumbling out of the back of his mind.
“Adam!”
Moms gave a little smack to her son’s shoulder and looked down, away from Mrs.
G.
“Now
that is an honest concern.” The corners of Mrs. G.’s mouth gave away her
stifled laugh. “No, Adam. As a matter of fact, Mother Gunderman came into our
house and tried to get a book from a high shelf there in our living room, and
fell. Her hip broke when she landed on the floor and she had to go to the
hospital. Like some older people, her hip healed, but the rest of her body just
finally gave out.”
“I’m
sorry.” Adam cringed inside. What are you, Schumacher, a four-year-old?
“I like the
question though. It shows me you’re thinking.” Arletta smiled and looked
around. “I forgot the extra coffee pot, Bridget. Let me run into the house and
get it.”
“Certainly,”
Moms smiled and took in everything in the little apartment.
“Adam, this is
wonderful!” She hugged her son with all the strength she was gaining. “This has
all come about because of your hard work. I am so proud of you.”
“Thanks,
Moms, but we won’t be a real family until Pops comes home.” Adam tried to keep
a happy face while thoughts of Pops’ absence tried to spoil their blessing.
“Adam—maybe
Pops can’t come home. Even if that’s true, we are still a family.”
“Moms,
what’s wrong with me? I’ve been so excited about your hospital release, I
haven’t told you yet. Pastor Silverman said a man came by trying to find Pops’
family. The man had been all over Middletown looking for us. I saw him a couple
of times, but I didn’t know who he was and didn’t trust him. Pastor said the
man told him he thinks Pops is alive but has lost his memory.”
Adam
led his mother over to the sofa. “You have to hear this while sitting down,” he
said as he helped her onto the sofa.
“Moms, Pops doesn’t
know anyone or even his own name. Someone saw him in a VA hospital here in the Eastern
part of United States. His dog tags were missing, and he couldn’t be officially
identified until an Army buddy thought he recognized him.”
“Adam,
how can that be?” Bridget put her hands over her face, then whispered again,
“How can that be, Adam?”
“I
don’t know, but I met the man, Moms. He seemed to show up everywhere. When he
couldn’t talk to me or you, he looked up Pastor Silverman. He said his name is Sergeant
Smith. He gave Pastor these.” Adam held out the prize to his mother.
“Your
daddy’s dog tags?” Bridget Schumacher took the small tags on the metal beaded
chain and clutched them to her chest. “Do you think―? Could your daddy have
been alive all this time, sick and lost inside his mind?”
“Yes,
Moms, I do. I think Pops is still alive. I will be sixteen in April and I can
get my driver’s license. This spring, I’m going to go find Pops. Sergeant Smith
said Pops had been released from a POW camp and was taken to a hospital. That
hospital is here in the states. I’ll keep driving until I find him. I’ll look
up that Sergeant and he’ll lead me to Pops. I know he will.”
“But,
Adam, the money for gas? Where will you get money for food and gas and shelter?”
“Shelter
is no problem. I’ve learned I don’t need a bed to sleep in. I’ll save some of
the money from my job at the church to get me started. I can work my way from
town to town. If hummingbirds can fly south, I can drive east.”
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