Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Vanity (11/15/18)
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TITLE: Love in Vain | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
11/22/18 -
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Jen was in flight from New York.
“What do you mean she fell?” Jen had screamed at her that morning over the phone.
“We’ll talk later. I have to call Ella. The baby is due so she may opt to wait.”
Jen, the family drama queen, accepted no excuses that did not agree with her personal agenda.
“She’s only twenty miles down the road. That kid is not coming for another week. She can certainly get her lazy husband to drive her that far.”
Amelia was too tired to listen to any more of her sister’s pompous, shallow opinions. Sam Castle was not lazy. He was a decent, hard-working farmer.
Every holiday or reunion seemed to begin off-track and lurch along with sparks flying until Jen was the first to leave.
Eva Grace, their aging but always healthy mother, had lived in the old house since her marriage many decades ago. Her husband had died in an accident just before Jen was born.
Mama was well loved in the small town. People were drawn to her joyous demeanor. Her excellent work ethic and constant thriftiness kept the family going.
A deep, comforting voice interrupted Amelia’s thoughts.
“Anybody home?”
She jumped up to hug Pastor Bob. His daughter had been her best friend all through school.
After Bob prayed, he asked, “Is your mother in surgery?”
“No,” Amelia sighed, “she didn’t break anything when she suddenly keeled over. They’re trying to get her blood pressure down.”
“How about the other Jones girls?”
“Jennifer is flying in from New York, and Ella is on her way from the farm.” Amelia’s voice softened, “She’s expecting her first baby, you know.”
Just then, her phone buzzed. When she answered, her eyes grew wide as she turned to Pastor Bob and smiled.
He caught on. “She’s here on the third floor right now, isn’t she?”
They arrived at labor and delivery just in time to see Ella and Sam disappear through double doors.
Suddenly, a code blue call for ICU pierced the air. Bob and Amelia rushed back down to the floor below. They ran into a distraught woman wailing like a siren as she was escorted to the waiting room by uniformed men. It was Jen!
The disheveled angry sister lost no time before the verbal attack on Amelia.
“Why weren’t you here, you stupid girl?”
The doctor frowned as he reported that Jen had screamed at her barely conscious mother and a second stroke had occurred.
“I will instruct security to eject you from the hospital if you continue this outrageous behavior!”
Jen opened her mouth to argue but stopped when he held up one hand of caution. He turned to Pastor Bob and Amelia and whispered, “You may go in for a minute.”
Eva Grace opened her tear-filled eyes as soon as she felt Amelia’s touch. She managed to mumble, "check...pages."
It would make sense later.
At one minute before midnight, Eva Grace Jones left earth for a better place. At one minute past midnight, Eva Grace Castle was born.
The bittersweet beauty of the passing of the one and the arrival of the other was not lost on anyone; that is, except self-centered narcissistic Jen.
A week later, she paced back and forth in the lawyer’s office. The others sat patiently.
Eva Grace left the little house to a widow from church. Ella and Amelia were touched by their mother’s precious generosity. Jen, not so much.
Finally, the reader of the will said, “…and to my daughter Jennifer I leave my Bible. It is worth more than all the riches in the world.”
Her sisters were stunned when Jen tossed the Holy Book in the trash can and stormed out ranting, “I know the old lady had saved a little money and made investments. I intend to sue!”
A small piece of paper fell out from between the pages and floated to the floor. It was a post-dated check with several zeroes and made out to Jen!
No one was surprised when she could not be found. An instruction addendum applied the money to local charity work.
Eva Grace, ever hopeful that her selfish daughter would see the light, was wise enough to realize a world gone mad for image over substance had claimed another life. Sadly, two more.
_____
Proverbs 29:23 (NLT)
Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor
Author’s note:
*Truth can be stranger than fiction and bittersweet. Years ago, a choir friend’s mother passed away on one floor of the hospital just as his wife was giving birth to their daughter on another.
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