Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: AS EASY AS PIE (12/01/16)
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TITLE: Polly and Pi | Previous Challenge Entry
By LeslieJean Anderson
12/06/16 -
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He approached her. “Hello there, I’m Pi. And who might you be?” He spoke directly to her, but nodded to her friend.
“I’m Polly, and this is Jane,” she said. “Did you say Pi?”
Just then someone else distracted Jane, and Pi moved in.
“Pi. Like the mathematical formula.” Pi loved his name. It made introductions so much easier.
She laughed again and started to leave, saying something about work. Within 30 seconds, Pi had secured a coffee date with he
“I can’t wait to find out why your mother gave you such a smart name,” she smiled as she waved to him and hugged her friend.
Pi watched her leave, entranced.
The next day over coffee Pi tried to explain how his name evolved from Baby Reese to Reesie-Pi and finally to Pi. Polly responded with much merriment, and then invited him for lunch.
“I want to watch you put some food in your pie-hole,” she giggled, twinkling eyes and dimples making his knees weak.
A year later a justice of the peace married them. Soon a daughter was born. But Pi was stationed in Afghanistan by then, and could only stare wet-eyed at the computer screen as an exhausted Polly showed him his daughter. Then somebody took the baby, and she lay down on her pillow.
“I already gave her a name, Pi,” she whispered. “I hope you like it. Violet. We’ll call her Vi. Then you two will be Vi and Pi.”
“I love it.” He choked back the tears. “And she’s beautiful. But you look like it was hard on you, Baby.”
“Easy as pie, Pi,” she whispered.
His mother-in-law took over the call then, reassuring him that Polly was just tired and everything would be ok.
But it wasn’t. The baby died a month later, and Pi came home on emergency leave.
Polly and Pi clung to each other like survivors in a shipwreck. Pain descended on them like a heavy poisonous blanket. Soon they were in trouble. Polly developed memory problems and was let go from her job at the hospital. Pi was grounded and reassigned to the States for a year.
One Sunday afternoon the pastor of a local church appeared at their door. He explained that Polly’s parents had asked him to visit.
Pi let him in, scowling. Polly showed him a seat.
The pastor expressed his sympathies but Pi frowned and said, “Since you already know what happened, Pastor, you can understand why we’re angry at God. What kind of God would take our baby?”
The pastor ignored the loaded question, and asked them what they knew about Heaven. Pi folded his arms. Polly muttered something about angels. The Pastor then pulled out a small New Testament with several stickies marking passages.
“Jesus is the Doctor you need. As military people, you understand how exercise creates physical health and strength. I challenge you to commit to one year of spiritual exercise through church and Sunday school attendance. If you do that, I promise that a year from today – or sooner - your grief will be replaced by hope and joy.”
Pi was silent, but Polly took the New Testament and thanked him. “We’ll talk about it. I guess it wouldn’t hurt. Nothing else has helped.”
Exactly a year later, Polly and Pi stood in front of the congregation. Polly was holding a month-old baby. Pi held the microphone and shared about the Pastor’s promise of hope and joy the previous year.
“Our depression began to lift as soon as we accepted the Pastor’s challenge. Joy appeared when we understood that our daughter was not down in the cold, hard ground, but alive and well with Jesus up in Heaven. She’d just gone ahead of us! Then, we dedicated our lives to the Lord and hope appeared because we knew we’d join her there someday. Everything was different then. It was like we were reborn, right Honey?”
He handed the microphone to Polly.
“Well, in fact we were reborn, Pi! Then this beautiful baby boy was born to us! We named him Skye to remind us to look always look up – up to the Heavens where we’ll all be reunited in God’s promise of Eternal Life with Him.”
750 words This is a work of fiction.
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