The Gift (8 page)

The scraggly-looking dog walked timidly over and pawed at Adam’s pant leg. It looked as if the mutt had something in his mouth. At Adam’s command, the Lab dropped it and backed up when Adam’s voice grew stern. “I don’t know what you want, but whatever it is, you won’t find it here.” Adam opened the back door this time and practically pushed the dog outside. “Go home!”

With his tail between his legs, the Lab slunk off, but before Adam saw which direction the dog took, he quickly shut the door.
I wonder how that
hund
got in here again.

Massaging his shoulder, Adam walked back toward the box of supplies but stopped short when he kicked something with his shoe. Bending down to pick up the article, he realized it was a pair of garden gloves, still packaged together and unopened. It looked to be the same type, or perhaps even one of the pairs the shoplifting kid had snatched earlier today. But that couldn’t be—he’d seen the boy run out the door with the gloves. Could he have dropped one of them as he was running away, and had the dog picked it up? Adam would probably never know the answer to that, and right now, it didn’t seem that important.

Scratching his head, Adam groaned. If the rest of this day didn’t turn out any better than the first part had, tomorrow he might decide to let Ben run the store by himself and stay home in bed.

Of course,
Adam told himself,
that’s really not an option.

H
ow are you doing today?” Leah asked when Margaret entered the basement for another foot treatment.

“I’ve recovered from my reaction to the walnuts, but since I never got a foot treatment that day, my back is still hurting.” Margaret reached around and touched a spot on her lower back. “Seems like the older I get, the more aches and pains I seem to have. Even when I do the simplest chores, some part of my body ends up hurting.”

“Well, have a seat in my chair, and I’ll see what I can do to ease some of that.” Leah motioned to the recliner.

Margaret did as Leah told her. “When I was walking up to your house, I noticed all the hummingbird feeders you have. I paused a few minutes to watch them flitter around. Now that was kind of fun.”

“They are fun to watch.” Leah took a seat on the stool in front of Margaret. “We have so many hummers this year that I’ve had to add a few extra feeders to accommodate them all.”

“I’ve only seen a couple at our place,” Margaret said as Leah applied lotion to her left foot. “I don’t have any feeders out, but they seem to like our honeysuckle bush.”

Leah nodded. “Several bushes and flowering plants attract the hummers, but with so many coming into our yard, keeping the feeders filled seems to work best.”

“That makes sense,” Margaret agreed.

“Isn’t it amazing how watching something that simple can help a person relax and forget all their troubles, even if only for a few minutes?”

“Jah. My husband often says it’s a shame more people don’t take the time to stop and look at a pretty sunset or observe God’s creatures that are here for our enjoyment.”

Leah smiled. “He’s right about that. A lot of times the beauty God’s given us goes unnoticed.”

“It’s good to know you’re not one of those people,” Margaret said. “The world would be a lot better place if folks just slowed down and uncomplicated life a bit.”

“It could certainly be good therapy. I know it is for me.”

As Leah began working, she found several sore spots on Margaret’s left foot. Moving to the right foot, she uncovered more tender areas, which she pressure-pointed and massaged. “The areas I worked on that were so tender are related to your back,” Leah explained, “so I’m hoping I was able to open the pathways and offer you some relief.”

When Leah finished, Margaret put her shoes on and stood. Walking around the room for a bit, she smiled and said, “Danki, Leah. My back feels much better than it did when I first got here.”

Leah smiled. “I’m glad it helped, but you may want to take it easy for the rest of the day, and if your back begins to hurt again, be sure to ice it for a while.”

Margaret placed some money in the jar and gave Leah a hug. “What you do here in this room is a good thing, and I hope you won’t ever quit, because you’ve helped many people.”

Leah was pleased to hear that. It was a reminder that she was using the ability God had given her to help others, and that was reward enough. Too bad people like Adam didn’t appreciate or believe in reflexology.

Well, to each his own,
Leah thought after Margaret said good-bye and went upstairs.
I don’t know why I’m thinking about Adam right now, because I certainly don’t need his approval.

Leah glanced at her appointment book and realized that she didn’t have anyone else scheduled for the rest of the day. Maybe this would be a good time to sit outside, enjoy the sunshine, and get a little reading done. She’d started a new novel set in the Old West the other day but had only read the first two chapters. Most days she was too busy to read, and by the time she went to bed at night, Leah was so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

After putting away her massage lotion and washing up, Leah went upstairs. She found Mom in the kitchen, peeling potatoes at the sink. “It’s only four o’clock,” Leah said, glancing at the clock on the far wall.

“Are you starting supper already?”

“Just thought I’d get the potatoes peeled and cut; then I’ll put them in a kettle with cold water till it’s time to start cooking.” Mom smiled at Leah. “How’d it go with Margaret? She looked quite relaxed when she came upstairs.”

“She said her back felt better after I worked on her feet, so with less pain to deal with, I’m sure that’s why she was relaxed.” Leah took a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator and opened the cupboard where the glasses were kept. “Would you like some iced tea, Mom?”

“Maybe later,” Mom replied. “Right now I just want to finish this.”

“I was going outside to read awhile,” Leah said, “but if you need my help with supper, it can wait.”

Mom shook her head. “You go ahead. I can manage. Besides, there aren’t many potatoes left to peel.”

“Okay then, call me if you need anything.” Leah poured herself some tea and put the container back in the refrigerator. Taking her book from the drawer where she’d put it the other day, she went out the back door.

Leah had just seated herself on the porch when a hummingbird zoomed in. At first it hovered above the book she held. Then it flew right over her head and found its way to the nearest feeder hanging from one of the shepherd’s hooks near the house.

Glancing down at the book, Leah realized that the hummingbird had probably been attracted to the red in the cover. She grinned, watching the tiny bird at the feeder dip its beak in and out to get the sweet nectar. Leah never tired of watching the hummers and wished they could stay all year. Since that wasn’t possible, she would enjoy them for the few months they were in the area. And next month, when Alissa came to band the birds, Leah would make sure she was available not only to watch the procedure but also to offer Alissa assistance if needed.

Pulling her gaze from the hummingbird, Leah set her drink on the table and opened the book. She’d only read a few pages when Priscilla rode up on her bike. Leah figured she was probably here for the foot treatment they had talked about working in.

So much for getting any reading done,
Leah thought. But then, she quickly corrected herself. Priscilla had complained of back pain, and if Leah could help, she would gladly set aside her free time to accommodate a friend.

Sparky ran out to greet Priscilla, although he didn’t bark.

“Hey, pup. How are you doing?” Priscilla bent down and scratched behind the dog’s ears.

“Mom and I did some more weeding after lunch, and now my back hurts even worse than it did before,” she said, joining Leah on the porch. “Would you have time to give me a treatment?”

Leah bobbed her head. “Of course; I told you I would.”

“Jah, but I don’t want to take you away from your book. It looks like you’ve been enjoying having some time to relax.”

“It’s fine, really.” Leah set the book aside. “Where’s your mamm? When you mentioned earlier that she was also sore from weeding, I figured she’d want a treatment, too.”

“That’s what I thought, but Mom said that she had some other things she wanted to get done today. If she’s still hurting tomorrow, I’m sure she’ll make an appointment to come see you.”

“Okay, let’s go down to the basement.”

After Leah finished working on Priscilla’s feet, she asked her to sit in the straight-backed chair so she could massage her neck and relieve some tension. “Oh my, you have some knots in there, too.”

“After all that yard work, I’m not surprised, but I’m feeling better already.”

Leah smiled. She didn’t always get immediate results with those who came to her for help, but when she did, it gave her a sense of satisfaction. But the ability to help others was her gift, and she reminded herself once more that it came from God.

“When we were outside, I couldn’t help noticing all the hummingbirds in your yard. They seemed to be flitting around everywhere. Some even went to the bee balm flowers you have near the porch,” Priscilla commented.

“They do love that bee balm.” Leah laughed. “But I think the main reason we have so many hummers is because of all the feeders we have out. It’s a lot of fun to watch them chirping at one another as they zoom in and out all day. You should hear all the commotion they make.”

“Makes me wish we had some feeders in our yard,” Priscilla said. “Is it too late in the season to hang them out?”

“I don’t think so, but the peak of the season for hummers in our area is just a month away, so if you’re going to try luring them into your yard, I’d suggest you get some feeders hung out soon. When I was talking to my neighbor the other day, she explained how the hummingbirds start migrating down here around mid-July, and that’s why it gets extra busy at the feeders. With our local hummers sticking around, as well as the migrating ones from up north, it’s like watching a swarm of bees.”

“Think I’m gonna get a feeder or two right away.”

As Leah started massaging the other side of Priscilla’s neck, Priscilla screamed and jumped onto the seat of her chair.

“What’s wrong, Priscilla? Was I massaging your neck too hard?”

“No, it wasn’t that.” Priscilla pointed. “Look, there’s a
maus
! It’s nibbling on the laces of my sneaker!”

Leah grabbed a broom and chased after the mouse. It zipped across the room and disappeared behind a stack of boxes.

“You can come down now. The maus is gone.” Leah extended her hand to Priscilla.

Priscilla looked a bit hesitant but finally stepped down. Quickly grabbing up her shoes, she took a seat in the chair and slipped them on her feet.

“I wonder why that little mouse was so interested in your shoelace.” Leah snickered. “It’s certainly not covered in peanut butter or cheese.”

Priscilla’s fingers touched her parted lips. “No, but I spilled some chicken soup during lunch, and a little of it ended up on my shoes. Guess I didn’t get it all cleaned off.”

Leah looked at Priscilla’s shoes and giggled. Priscilla did the same. Soon, Leah was laughing so hard she had to sit down. It felt good to find some humor in such a small thing. With all the horrible things that went on in the world, a little bit of laughter was good medicine.

When Adam secured his horse to the hitching rack outside his house that afternoon, he was surprised to see the black Lab that had come into his store, prancing up the driveway. “Oh no,” he moaned. “Not you again! What’d you do, boy, follow me home?”

Woof! Woof!
The dog raced up to Adam and pawed at the leg of his pants.

“I can’t believe this. Why me, of all people? I don’t even like dogs that well.” Adam clapped his hands and pointed toward the road. “Go home, boy! Go back to where you belong!”

After Adam brushed his horse down, he went into the kitchen so he could get his Thermos and lunch pail ready for the next day. Cleaning the Thermos, Adam watched out the window and rolled his eyes. The dog had made himself comfortable lying near the wheel of Adam’s buggy.