Lilly White | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Lilly White | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ruth Banner
07/11/08
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Lilly White

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Her heart beat with the force of a hammer blow. Perspiration broke out on her forehead and ran down the sides of her face, curling wisps of hair into ringlets. Her flushed cheeks looked unnatural for such a lily white completion. That’s what they used to call her, Lilly White.
She looked quickly behind her through eyes as black as the night. They were coming. She knew it. The breeze came from nowhere—a vague and teasing breath of relief from the hot humid morning—the morning that everything changed.
Fighting with the line, she gathered her still damp clothes and heaped them into her basket. “Nothing will dry in this.” She whispered. Hoisting the laundry up on her hip, she started the long walk back. Three miles of potholes, garbage, and children. Everywhere she looked, there were children. She studied the faces of each child as she walked by. “They know!” She realized, and was surprised. Who told them? Would they just mill around in the streets waiting? She looked around for someone who could gather them up. But she was the only one who understood what was about to happen, and she just didn’t have time.
Quickening her pace, she stumbled and tripped on a rock. Her load of clean linens spilled out and fell onto the road. Horrified at her carelessness, she gathered her bundle and hurried on her way, weaving in and around the children. She started to run. She thought her heart might burst with so much strain, but she willed herself to keep going. Her lungs were on fire.
Finally, she turned the last bend in the road, ran across a field, and collapsed in a heap on the door step of a mud house. Flies buzzed around the permanently open doorway. The roof was old tin stacked up and rusted through in some places, letting the fierce sun beat in. Lilly knelt with her hand on her chest, trying to catch her breath. A scrawny cat shot through the door and disappeared around the side of the house as the low hum of an airplane steadily grew louder until it passed low over the house on its way to town.
Leaping to her feet with more strength than she thought she had, she grabbed her basket and took it inside, laying it in a back corner. Trembling, she stood and smoothed her worn dress, and then her hair. Taking a slow deep breath she tried to calm her hammering heart. Then she turned and walked out of the house, holding her head high.
Carefully navigating her way around holes and trash, she retraced her steps to town. She noticed that the children were gone now. Lilly walked faster. She needed to be there when they came. She wanted to see it all. In spite of the oppressive heat, she started to shiver, and wrapped her arms tight against her stomach.
Just ahead, the plane came in for landing. It touched the ground and then bounced several times on the bumpy field before finally coming to a stop. As the engines died down she could hear the children. They were all together now, sitting in the grass at the far side of the field.
Several people grouped around the plane unloading its cargo, and began carrying it over to where the children were. There seemed to be an undercurrent of electricity—she could feel it. Lilly scanned the large crowd, her eyes settling on one tiny girl.
A man leaned down, handing the girl a box. She sat very still, holding it as if it might break. Around her, hundreds of children clamored and yelled, while she sat quietly--questions in her eyes. Someone told her to open it. Eyes wide, the tiny girl lifted the lid and carefully examined each object, unsure of what was expected of her.
And then it happened--just like Lilly remembered. A slow smile began to spread across the tiny face; a look of wonderment came to her eyes. Lilly could see it happening and suddenly Lilly was pulled back in time. She was the tiny girl who sat alone in the crowd opening a shoe box. Waves of love washed over her, and for the very first time in her young life, she knew she was not alone. She knew God loved her. Lilly blinked. The tiny girl was looking right at her and she smiled. She knew. Just like Lilly remembered.

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