The Salvationist - Chapter Nineteen

“What are you laughing about?” curiously asks Grant looking at Emma in the seat behind him.

“You have to hear this!” giggles Emma “Just a minute, let me call her back - it’s not as if she is answering anyway. I’ll put it on speaker phone” as Emma redials Harriet’s number.

Harriet’s voice can be heard loudly singing to the theme of the Brady Bunch starting with the tune of the verse,

You have reached me

And I’m not home

Leave your name and number

And I will call your phone

Leave a message

If you remember

At the dial tone

(then she adds to the chorus)

Come and say it

Just hurry up

A little or a lot

This is Harriet

Ta ta ta ta ta ta

As they are starting to laugh, everyone hears a loud rap at Grant’s window stunning him and making him quickly looking around to see Harriet making goofy faces at him on the other side of the passenger window.

Grant gets out and helps Harriet put all of her luggage in the trunk of the mini-van. “What took you so long?” asks Grant.

In a raspy voice Harriet answers, “I had a hard time closing my suitcase. I finally had Alice quickly close it for me while I sat on it”.

“Are you feeling all right?” asks Emma as Harriet climbs into the van and sneezes a few times with a handful of kleenix.

“No but I didn’t want to miss the week-end. I’ve been looking forward to going to the retreat for several months now and I wasn’t going to let a cold hold me back” explains Harriet as she coughs and unwraps a cough drop out of her pocket.

“Did you bring some medicine with you?” asks Elton hoping that she doesn’t pass anything along to anyone else.

Thinking that he is concerned for her well being, “Yes, I brought some Nyquil, aspirin, and vapor rub to help me sleep” replies Harriet thinking how sweet he is for being so thoughtful. Emma smiles at her confirming that she noticed Elton’s tenderness as well.

“If you want to why don’t you take the back seat for yourself so you can rest if you need to” offers Jane “Instead I’ll sit next to Emma” as she moves into the second row bucket seat.

Harriet props her pillow next to the window and pulls her lap blanket over her. Within minutes she is sound asleep for the four hour ride.

“Does anyone know if April is coming?” asks Jane expecting Elton to answer.

As if it is now a habitual response in his life, Elton sighs “Yes, she left a message on my phone that she paid her own registration at the retreat center already. She is meeting us there. Knightly is coming too. He offered to help with the media for some of the group meetings.”

“Is anyone else coming from the area?” asks Grant.

“Yes, I believe the Martins are coming. Robert and his sisters will be there this evening” replies Elton “He had to drop off some things at the corps last week for Mrs. Dashing and I invited him to come since he seems to be good friends with Harriet”.

Rather than understanding this to be a motive to put Harriet and Robert together as Elton intended, Emma believes that Elton is doing everything he can to make Harriet happy. If this happiness includes having the Martins around because they are friends of Harriet, Emma believes it is a very noble thing of Elton to do. Emma admires Elton’s considerateness and makes a note to herself to tell Harriet about it when she wakes up from her nap.

After searching in his duffle bag stored at his feet, Grant pulls out one of his CDs that he burned for the trip into the stereo. As the music begins to play, Jane blushes. It is all of their favorite songs they use to like to sing together on road trips. Lately it has seems like he’s forgotten that he ever knew her because he has been spending so much time with Emma. The songs bring back many fun and pleasant memories of time they have spent together.

In the meantime, Emma puts in her ear phones to listen to her own music on her IPOD not noticing any change in Jane. Grant occasionally will look back at Jane with the mirror that is above him on the visor. He catches Jane’s eye a few times. Each time she shyly smiles back at him and drops her eyes to pretend that she is reading a book. It feels good to have things back to normal for a moment.

Elton leans against the driver’s door pondering how he will handle the week-end. He wants to spend time with Emma but is being chased by both Harriet and April. He considers that Harriet is a sweet girl but they really have absolutely nothing in common. Robert seems to him to be a good match for Harriet and Elton can’t understand why she would ever be interested in him.

April is another matter. He contemplates that they have been friends for quite awhile. If she would relax a bit and not seem so desperate she is actually rather fun to be around. But she always seems to be so worried about impressing him or being unnecessarily jealous of someone else particularly Jane that it is sometimes very difficult to be around her and tolerate her antics. Elton believes that they actually have a lot in common and he enjoys her company when he doesn’t feel under any pressure from her to create some type of relationship.

Now Emma is a different story. She is a dream. She is the complete list of someone he would want in a wife. She’s charming, intelligent, creative, and she seems to be interested in him too. Emma is constantly smiling at him and nodding to Harriet letting her best friend know how much she cares about him when something special happens between the two of them. He recalls many times that they have been together and have shared mutual loving moments. Elton decides that this week-end will be the day that he finally exposes his true feelings and tells her how he feels.

As they travel toward their destination Emma seems absorbed in her new phone. “Did you see this?” asks Emma reviewing email on her phone “The southern territory has started a new webcast called “Southern TV”.

“Where did you find it?” asks Grant taking out his phone from his jacket pocket.

“It’s on southernspiritonline.org” explains Emma listening to the podcast on her phone.

“This is great! I wish they would do something like that in our Northern Territory” suggests Grant as he watches the creative Salvationist news about events happening around that territory.

When they finally arrive at the ski resort, Emma gently wakes up Harriet. In barely a whisper Harriet speaks, “I’m not feeling too good” looking like she has been hit with a ton of bricks and with her hair standing on end from the impression of too many hours against a pillow.

“I’ll get your suitcase” offers Elton looking at Harriet as if she is about to collapse “Why don’t’ you go inside and find out where you are staying. I’ll bring it to your room for you.”

“Thanks. I’m not suure that I have unough enurgy to caurry it at the mument” achingly sighs Harriet as she sneezes four times in a row and sniffs again popping another cough drop in her mouth.

Emma follows Harriet shuffling into the lobby of the main lodge. Emma registers knowing that they will be sharing a room together while Harriet plops down in the sofa in the lobby and holds her head between her knees.

As Knightly walks in, he sees Harriet and walks over to her. “Are you all right Harriet? Do you need me to get something for you?”

“Ima gonna bey okay” states Harriet with bloodshot eyes and a bright red nose.

Not believing her statement at all, “If you need anything, just let me know. I have my car if you need to run to the pharmacy, the doctor . . . or the hospital” kindly states Knightly gently patting her on the back as she coughs rather loudly as it echoes throughout the room.

“I have our keys!” Emma states handing a plastic card to Harriet who groans a little bit in that she must move and stand up in order to make it to the bed in their new room of the lodge.

“Hey Knightly! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. I think that it has been nearly two months. Why haven’t you called? I tried calling you but you haven’t returned my phone calls or messages” asks Emma a little perturbed at his intentional absence but very glad and excited to see him again.

“I’ve been very busy working in my department. Many things are happening in the division and I’m hopefully helping everyone to do their job a little more easily and more effectively through my efforts” honestly replies Knightly.

“Well, I think that you could have taken a few moments to come see me and my dad. We’ve missed you. It hasn’t been the same without you. I don’t have anyone to share my popcorn with and to make fun of my chick flick movies while he watches them with me too” teases Emma hoping that Knightly really does miss his time with her.

“How was your trip Jane?” asks Knightly as Jane sits down next to Harriet on the couch handing her a box of kleenix that she found on one of the end tables.

“I mostly read my book so it was very quiet for me. I didn’t really notice anything else that was happening” answers Jane not quite fully honest but also doesn’t think it is necessary to say to Knightly how much she enjoyed catching Grant’s eyes during the entire trip.

From the entrance doors watching the group talk together especially Knightly and Jane, Grant walks up behind Emma in front of Knightly states, “Here is Harriet’s blanket and pillow. I brought them in for her from the van. It was fun riding with you to the retreat. I’m looking forward to our ride home again.”

Emma doesn’t know why he said that because they barely talked in the four hours of the trip. She listened to her own music nearly the whole way. She responds “Yeah. Hopefully on the way home time will pass more quickly. It seemed to take forever to get here”.

Jane is sitting next to Harriet on the couch. Her face falls at Grant’s comments. Disappointed she wonders if he was looking through the mirror to see Emma and not to look at her.

“Dinner is at six tonight and we will meet in the dining room” explains Elton providing more instructions and a basic outline of the program for the week-end.

“Hey everyone! I’m here! You can start now! Sorry to keep everyone waiting. I know that you have been on pins and needles waiting for me to arrive. Well, now you no longer have to worry. I’ve made it!” replies April “I took vacation just so I could be here with all of you!”

No one really responds too much. Grant grins hoping that her room is no where near him. Emma is relived to already have Harriet as a roommate even if she is sick.

“The woman at the desk said that she registered me with another woman who was part of our group. Do you know who I am staying with? Is it you, Emma?” asks April as she moves as close as possible to Elton in an attempt to look over his shoulder at the program he is holding.

“I believe your roommate for the week-end is Jane Fairfax” states Elton matter-of-factly.

In a flash Jane’s face falls, but she is able to recover herself before anyone except Grant notices. “You and I are roommates” explains Jane taking a second card key out of her purse and handing it to April.

April turns her back on Jane and looks at Elton rolling her eyes in stunned unbelief. Elton ignores her. She looks back at Jane and in a short response “I didn’t know that I was going to have a roommate. But I guess this will have to work out. We will have a chance to get to know each other better, I am sure” snidely states April still mistakenly believing that Jane is the one most likely to be the object of Elton’s affection.

Knightly sympathetically looks at Jane and places a hand on her shoulder to provide some friendly comfort in the fiasco. Grant notices this movement towards Jane. He wonders how often Knightly and Jane talk to each other.

Everyone settles into their rooms. Harriet takes another dose of medicine and collapses on her bed until dinner time. In her coat and gloves, Emma opens the glass sliding doors to take in the view of the snow covered mountains on the balcony.

Emma takes a very deep breath of fresh cold air and stretches her arms above her head. She can hear voices speaking on the balcony below her.

“How was your trip?” asks Knightly “Do you want some coffee? There is enough of fresh brewed coffee still in the pot for a cup if you want.”

“Thanks. I’ll get some in a minute. Isn’t it beautiful out here? It’s great being in the outdoors, no place better” shares Robert as he takes in the majestic scene before him.

“Did your sisters come with you?” asks Knightly courteously.

“Yes, they are both here with me” asks Robert and after a pause “Did you happen to notice if Harriet has arrived yet?”

“Harriet arrived shortly after I did, but she is not feeling too well. I don’t know how much she will be able to join us this week-end” concerned explains Knightly.

“Really? That’s too bad. I’m very sorry to hear that she is not well. I was hoping to have some time to talk with her this week-end and get some things straightened out” explains Robert.

“I think that would be a good idea” states Knightly observant of all the recent chaos.

“How well do you know Emma?” timidly asks Robert not sure of Knightly’s response.

“Well, we’ve been friends since childhood. You could say I know her very well” offers Knightly “Is there something wrong that I can help you with?”

“Emma is great and all that but she doesn’t seem to like me much. It seems to me she encourages Harriet not to like me either. A few years ago, I was set up on a blind date with her that didn’t go very well at all. We tried a couple more times to go out and they were even worse. I don’t think that she likes me much - I’m just sayin’” apprehensively explains Robert as he twists and pinches his cowboy hat.

“I don’t think it is specifically you Robert” starts Knightly with unbeknownst to him Emma above nodding her head in silent agreement “I think that it is actually that Emma has misguided plans for Harriet and unfortunately for the moment Harriet is playing into”. At these words, Emma offended drops her jaw and wrinkles her nose in disgust.

“I see that too” as Robert slowly exhales “Every time I have a chance to speak to Harriet it seems that Emma is right there pulling her in another direction”.

“Give it time. I don’t think that Elton is interested in Harriet at all” begins Knightly with Emma up above silently putting her hands on her hips and stomping her foot in total disagreement “It is not going to take too much longer before Harriet figures this out for herself”. Silently not wanting to be heard, Emma folds her arms and tightens her lips shaking her head at Knightly’s ridiculous statement that she is overhearing.

“Do you really think that I have a chance?” asks Robert respecting Knightly’s opinion as a good judge of character.

“I do. In my personal opinion, Harriet seems as excited to see you as you appear to be when you see her. Harriet will eventually figure out in her own mind and quit listening to Emma’s nonsense.”

Hearing this, Emma slams the glass sliding doors shut which startle both Robert and Knightly from their chairs. Knightly starts chuckling, realizing that Emma has been ease dropping on their conversation without his knowledge but hoping in spite of that she gets the message and leaves Harriet alone to decipher her own true feelings.