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I pull the keys from the car ignition and glance at Austin. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
“When?” But I’m already out of the car, slamming the door shut. I stride across the mostly empty parking lot with my mind a whirlpool of worry. I’ve already fretted over every possibility multiple times during the drive across town to the hospital, and I’m too drained to come up with any new ones.
The cold metal handle bites into my palm as I swing the glass door open. A woman sits behind a computer at a long, L-shaped desk, typing away at something. She glances up at me and calls out a hello, then says, “Are you looking for someone?”
I walk up and place my hands on the desk. My urgency can’t help but leak into my voice. “I got a call that my sister is going into surgery soon. I’m supposed to come and talk to her.”
The woman looks back at the computer screen. “What’s her name?”
“Evangeline Gable.”
Keystrokes. She clicks the mouse a few times. “Yes, I called you about that earlier.” Her eyes dart up to me. “If you’re religious, you’ll want to pray for that sister of yours. She’s really not doing well. You’d better set any arguments in order before you leave.” She bids me farewell, giving me directions to Eva’s room, and I set off down the hallways.
Everything passes in a blur. The sterile white walls, the doctors and nurses making rounds, the occasional visitor coming or going—I ignore them all, intent only on speaking with Eva. What if she’s already in the operation when I get there? Or what if she passes out before we have time to talk? Or what if she…dies?
Several minutes pass before I realize I’m standing outside the door to her room. What should I say to her? So much has happened since I left. Will she approve of me trying to find the Hawksley treasure? Should I tell her we finally found a map that might lead directly to it? Maybe it would ease her mind if she knew the medical bills were no longer a concern.
I place my hand on the knob and breathe deeply. Pushing it open, my eyes immediately land on Evangeline.
She’s turned on her side, facing away from the door, but she stirs with the creak of the hinges. Her gaze finds mine.
She smiles.
“Cannan!” Her voice is weak, and it carries little of her usual enthusiasm. It makes me cringe, seeing her so helpless, a shadow of her typical self. “They said you were coming.”
I pull a molded plastic chair closer and ease into it. There are so many things to say, but I can’t seem to get any of them out of my mouth. Finally, some coherent words fall together. “How are you?”
“Well…I would tell you every bone that I broke, but I forgot.” She laughs but stops as her face twists in pain. “Right. I can’t do that right now.”
“It looks like you got your license.” Maybe some small talk will help get her mind off the pain.
“Oh!” Eva’s face lights up. “Yeah. That’s why I came here, in the first place. I thought you’d be really proud of me.”
I smile, her cheerfulness despite the pain already infecting me. “I am proud of you. Did the test go well?”
“I only got two points taken off. Grandma said that was way better than her test.”
I raise my eyebrow. “Grandma?”
She grows serious. “That was something else I wanted to tell you about. That, and one other thing.”
“You couldn’t just call me and tell me about this?”
“I…wanted to surprise you. By showing up at your door.”
I replay the scene of the wreck in my mind’s eye. “You definitely surprised me.”
“And here I am, about to tell you this stuff, anyway. So I guess my little mission is a success after all.” She grins but quickly kills the emotion. “I hate not being able to laugh.”
It is unusual talking to Eva without her sparkling laughter. I may never hear it again.
“I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake, so be quiet and let me talk for a minute.” She uses a pillow to prop herself up, sitting straight in the bed, wincing from the effort. “When you left, I got really lonely. So I started talking to Grandpa and Grandma and some people in the church. They’re really nice people, and they were all super sympathetic about Mom and Dad. And there was this other girl at church, about my age, whose brother had just left for college, so she was lonely too.” Harsh coughs interrupt the story, but she recovers quickly and continues.
“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is you don’t have to worry about me anymore. I’ve started reading my Bible a lot and going to church all the time, and I’ve been learning a lot. I read one verse that said…oh, what was it…” She squints and stares at the wall. “‘Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.’ Psalm chapter fifty-five, verse twenty-two, if I remember right. It made me think of you because you have a lot of burdens. You know, with a job, and trying to save up for me, and all that. And…ohh…” She grabs her side and squeezes her eyes shut. “I think I’m done,” she whispers.
“Excuse me?” comes from behind. I jump, spinning to see the source of the voice. A man stands there, face gentle, dressed in a doctor’s coat. “Are you her brother?”
I nod.
“Thank you for coming. We need to take her now. We’ll call you once the operation is over.”
I nod again, standing on wobbly legs and trudging across the room. I keep up the slow pace, back through the halls, out the door, and across the parking lot. My mind is numb with relief, concern, confusion, and exhaustion; I can’t process any more than basic actions.
I drop into the driver’s seat of my car and slam the door shut. Austin jolts awake, shooting upright from the reclined seat. “Oh. You’re back. Took you long enough.”
Starting the car, I back out of my parking spot.
“Hey, while you were in there, I was looking over those papers we got from the safe. There’s some really cool stuff in here.”
“Tell me later,” I mumble. “Now’s not the time.”
“Wow, whatever you did in there must have been really sad. Whatever, I’ll just keep it to myself for now. I’ll tell you at work tomorrow.”
I turn from the parking lot back onto the main street, and my mind zones out. Even if these maps lead directly to the treasure, what good will the money be? If something goes wrong with this surgery and Eva doesn’t make it out, all the money in the world won’t do a thing.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe I should cast my burden on God. He’s the only One who can change anything now.
So with the lights of shops and cars passing by, I pour my heart out to Him.
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