Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FIRE (08/04/22)
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TITLE: UGLY MOMMA | Previous Challenge Entry
By Wendi Harrington
08/06/22 -
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A whirlwind of thoughts wreaked havoc on her mind.
First! Be thankful! She warned herself. Thank you Lord for giving us this day. The tears began to flow. She had expected this conversation three years ago, when Jordan started school; but now, in the middle of the second semester of first grade, it had caught her off guard. Just like the fire, she thought. As his fingers hovered on the twisted remains of her bottom lip, she puckered and kissed each finger. Blinking back tears, she offered him a tender smile. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “Well, I didn’t always live in this house.”
His beautiful brown eyes held hers. He didn’t say anything.
“A few years ago, I lived in an old house out in the country.”
“Like the Little House on the Prairie?” He asked her.
Olivia nodded. “Yes, a lot like that. We didn’t have neighbors very close. And I didn’t have a dryer for the laundry.”
“You didn’t?” Jordan seemed perplexed by this.
“No. I hung my clothes out on a line. Just like Laura’s mom.” Olivia told him.
His eyes grew wider. “Did you have to milk the cow?”
Olivia laughed. Oh how she loved this little miracle on her lap. “No. I didn’t have a cow.” Olivia’s face grew more serious. She kissed Jordan’s forehead. “But one day, while I was hanging out the clothes, I smelled smoke.” She began to cry again. She remembered the day clearly. It was a beautiful April day. A soft breeze blew across the yard as she hung out the clothes. And she wondered what the neighbors were cooking. Why hadn’t she thought to turn around and look at her own house? Why hadn’t she known that from the direction of the wind and strength of the scent it wasn’t dozens of years away but right behind her? Why had she waited so long?
“There was a fire?” Jordan asked her. He looked concerned.
“Yes.” She hugged him to her. “By the time I turned around and realized it, the whole wall was on fire across the front of the house.” An electrical fire, they had determined later.
Jordan sat up straight in her lap. “And you went in there? Why, Momma? Why would you go in there? You could have died!” Tears were spilling out of his eyes now. He buried his face into her and his muffled words continued. “Why would you go in a fire, Momma? Why would you let it burn you so bad? Why would you do that?”
“I had to baby.” She cried into his hair. “I had to.”
He sat up again, shaking his head from side to side. “No you didn’t!” He argued.
“Yes, I did.” She sniffed. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. Lord, please give me the words, she prayed.
“Whyyyy?”
“Because you were still asleep in your crib.” Olivia tried to meet his gaze, but she couldn’t see through her tears. Her heart had long since abandoned its crouch in the pit of her belly and was now flapping wildly, like a bird with a broken wing.
He froze. Neither of them blinked or breathed. Looking back later, she would wonder if their hearts were even beating at that time. The seconds crawled by as the agonizing reality took form and made itself known to him. Finally, he blinked. She let out the breath she had been holding. He wrapped his arms around her neck, squeezing into her with all of his might. His words floated to her like little butterflies flitting about, peppered with kisses. “Oh Momma, you’re not ugly! You’re the most beautiful momma in the world.”
*This fictional work is based in part on actual events as told in the message SCARS OF SIN by Mark Copeland. http://www.truthcasting.com/Apostolic-Classics-Jennings-LA-Mark-Copeland-Scars-of-Sin-59989.sermon
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