Page 57 of Operation: Discovery

ChapterTwenty-Three

Someone knocked on Dee’s door early the next morning. “Hey, it’s Lacy. Good morning.”

Dee rushed to answer and opened the door for her. Lacy had a huge box balanced on her hip, with another smaller box on top. “What in the world?” Dee reached out to help her, but Lacy stepped back.

“I just wanted you to come with me as I deliver these. Since we take safety pretty seriously, I ordered some homeschool books for Adam. I know the school offered to continue teaching him, but it was all online and he’s only eight. I saw that Moira wasn’t happy about it, so I had a few things overnighted for her. Not sure what it will mean for the rest of the year, but it’s a stopgap. The other box is a pay-as-you-go cell phone that Moira can use while she’s here. I don’t know how long she’ll have to stay, but we want her to feel safe and able to contact people if she needs help. Since they know you best, I thought you’d want to be there when I deliver this.” She smiled.

“Yes, let me grab my sweatshirt.” She’d been about ready to go for a run and felt a little underdressed in her leggings and tee.

“The days are getting shorter, that’s for sure. Mornings are chilly now.” Lacy made a show of shivering in her quilted flannel shirt.

“Thanks for including me.” Dee tugged the sweatshirt over her head and followed Lacy.

“No problem. How are things going with Rebecca? I’ve tried to find her a more accommodating chair, but I’m hitting roadblocks everywhere I turn. That’s not so unusual, people don’t understand paraplegia very well and I’m not the best person to train them on empathy. Especially not in this case. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Neither had she but after working with so many people who’d either been born without the use of their legs or had suffered an injury and lost the use of their legs, she had some small measure of understanding. “The thing is, and it’s like this with every group, there is no specific empathy. There is no generally accepted feeling for a certain group as large as this. Brendon’s ways and feelings about his life are very different from Rebecca’s. I can try talking to them if you want me to.”

Lacy cracked a smile. “That would be great. I feel like I’m hitting my head against a wall and that’s not much fun.” She stopped in front of one of the larger cabins in the back row. The cabin next to it had yellow tape across the front door.

“What happened there?” Dee nodded toward the closed cabin.

“A fire a month ago. We haven’t had a chance to fix the inside after a team came to clean up the smoke damage inside. I can still smell it, so I’m not sure what we’ll do with it. I don’t want to put people in a cabin that smells like smoke, but the insurance company wouldn’t pay for a replacement, only remediation.”

That wouldn’t help guests feel safe, so Dee could understand the hesitation. She knocked to save Lacy from having to juggle her box to her hip again. Adam opened the door wide with a huge grin. “I get to stay home from school today!”

Moira sighed heavily behind him. “The school said they’d have things ready for him, but now they’re saying it’s too big of a job. I don’t know what to do.”

Lacy nodded once. “I worried that would be the case. I volunteered on the school board years ago. It seems like, at least in our district, the principal and the superintendent have great ideas and promise things that seem to make complete sense and should be easy. But then they talk to the teachers and find out that the promise they’ve made is a lot more work than they expected, so they have to walk back on those promises.” She set the boxes on the floor. “First, here.” She picked up the smaller box and handed it to Moira.

Moira carefully took it and opened the lid. Her mouth dropped open. “For me? I’ve never had one. I couldn’t afford anything but a basic landline so we could call the school, or I could call work when I had a job. I didn’t even have the ability to call long distance.”

“Well, you can now, but not unlimited. Wayside is covering the basic plan which is listed on the box. If you need more minutes, we’ll have to discuss that. The number is written on the box, and I’ve given it to Connor and Brendon already.”

“Thank you.” She gingerly lifted the phone from the box. Her eyes were glassy as she went to the wall to plug in the charger.

“What’s all this?” Adam asked, tapping the bigger box.

Dee stepped back, letting Lacy have the fun of telling him what he could expect. She’d done the work and made sure it got here on time. How she’d managed that in rural Wyoming was beyond Dee, but she was pretty sure Lacy could do anything.

This was so different from her life before. She’d worked with a few elderly patients every day. They were her friends in that she got to know them, but they never became close. She wouldn’t know if they had specific needs like Moira and Adam, because they didn’t share anything with her. They might tell her stories about their children or grandchildren, but most kept what they felt inside.

Wayside was so different, and she found herself wanting the deeper connections that Wayside offered. What if she wanted to stay after Rebecca had gripped her life with both hands and taken control? What if Dee never wanted to leave?

Lacy reached into the front pocket of her jeans and extracted a pocketknife. She flipped it open and made quick work of the tape sealing the box. “Let’s take a look together.” She grinned as she slid the box closer to him.

Adam tentatively lifted one flap and his mouth dropped open. Right on top was a history book about the American Revolution titledGreat Battles for Boys. The scene on the front was captivating, and he picked it up with childlike reverence. “Is this for me?”

Lacy nodded. “It is. I was worried when your mom mentioned yesterday that the school was going to teach you online. I think she was worried that you would struggle with just computer learning and it looks like she was right to worry, since they didn’t have anything set up for that.”

He set that book aside and flipped through all the other books: math, writing, reading, history, and even a few fun books. “Wow, thank you!” He grinned.

“Well, hopefully, you’ll still be thanking me in a few days when you’re fully working in these books.” She got off the floor and stood back up. “That’s all I had for you this morning. If you need anything else, please let us know.”

Moira didn’t lose a second. “A job. I want to stay here and repay at least a little of the kindness you’ve shown us. Adam and I have never felt so safe, so cared for, anywhere. I know we’re not victims and that’s who usually stays here, so I want to be a worker, like all of you.”

Lacy scrunched her lips together in thought. “If you can help in the kitchen, Victoria is always looking for help. She usually hires teens who don’t show up, and then she’s short-staffed. I keep telling her to hire one other adult who’s not Teddy, so at least if no one else shows up, she’s got enough people. If you apply, she just might listen.”

“Mom’s a great cook!” Adam called from the sofa where he was already curled up with the history book.

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