Donners Bend (27 page)

Joyful
Jon
watched her skate around the edge of the lake with a smile upon his face as well
. 
He clapped her on and shouted, “Woohoo
! 
You got it Mae!”

It had taken more than an hour, but she’d finally gotten the hang of it
.

They stayed there, at the lake, the rest of the afternoon
. 
Now, near sunset,
Jon
had become tired of skating
. 
He laid with his back on the ice, his hands propping up his head, and his eyes closed while
Ellie
skated around for more practice
. 
She was remarkably more at ease on her skates than she’d been at the beginning of her lesson that day
. 

“Do you know what I wish,
Johnny
?” she asked as she skated along.

“What’s that?” he replied, not opening his eyes.

As she found herself thinking of the Rhodes children, Ellie said, “I wish we lived in Never Land and we never had to grow any older, don’t you?”

“Of course,” he paused, “But that dream doesn’t exactly apply
to
us
,
does it, my dear
? 
That’s for children who are young and wish to stay young forever
, but
you’ve already reached sixteen and I’m practically an old man now
. 
I’ll be nineteen next week, you know.”

“You’re still a child at heart though.”

Jon
smiled, “And I will be till the day I die.”

“In all honesty though, what will we do in the years to come
? 
What will you do,
Johnny
?”

Jon
shrugged, “I figure Ol’
Smith
is getting pretty old now
, a
nd when he meets his fate, I always expected that the shop would come to me considering that he has no family to speak of and I’m basically running the shop as it is,” he paused, “What will you do, Mae?”

“I don’t know,”
Ellie
replied, stumb
ling
a little on her skates, “Someday the children will grow old enough that they won’t need me anymore and I don’t know what I shall do then
. 
I love it here in
Donners Bend
and I wish to stay forever, but I don’t know what occupation I could take up
. 
Wouldn’t it be nice,
Johnny
, if things could just stay as they are
? 
You and I could spend our days as we do now and
...
”

Jon
interrupted her, “And how do we spend our days now?”

“I don’t know,”
Ellie
thought for a second before answering, “Simply
, w
ithout much commitment
,
or responsibility
. 
W
e could stay together forever, yet never have to get married or anything to justify it
. 
Would that be nice
? 
We
could
just stay here in
Donners Bend
and be friends forevermore.”

Jon
, with his eyes still closed, asked, “But aren’t you planning on getting married someday
a
nd having children?”

“Well, yes, I suppose so,”
Ellie
replied unsurely, “I’ve never really thought about it that much before
. 
I guess I have always believed though that
someday
I’d end up getting married
. 
Of course, there is still the problem of finding a man to be my groom, but I’m sure he’s out there somewhere,” said
Ellie
, pushing thoughts of Jamie out of her head, “And children
? 
Yes, I hope I have children someday, for I think I’d make a fine mother
. 
Don’t you agree?”

Jon
grinned, “You’ll make a superb mother someday, my dear.”

“And what about you
? 
Aren’t you going to get married and have a whole passel of little
Johnny’s
?”

“Nah, I’m not a marrying man,”
Jon
said simply.

Ellie
couldn’t believe it, “So you’re not going to get married
? 
Ever?”

Jon
shook his head, “Marriage and I were just not meant to be is all.”

“But what if you fall in love?”

He shrugged, “Marriage just isn’t in my plan.”

“You have a plan?”

“No, but if I did marriage wouldn’t be a part of it.”

Ellie
smiled, “Well, when I get married you can be my best man.”

Jon
laughed, his eyes remaining shut, “Thanks, love
. 
It’d be an honor.”

The conversation ended and the sun slowly began to set far in the distance
. 
Ellie
continued skating around the lake, while
Jon
lay
as still as a rock
. 
Teensy tiny little snowflakes began to fall calmly from the clouds above.

As
Jon
began humming a little song, his eyes slowly closed until the cloudy, powder blue sky was no longer visible
. 
He listened to the blades of
Ellie
’s ice-skates glide across the ice smoothly
. 
Everything seemed absolutely perfect.

But then,
Jon
’s solitude was suddenly disturbed.

All within a moment, one could hear ice crack, a young girl scream, and a large splash
. 
Without any hesitation,
Jon
jumped up and dashed over to the hole he spotted in the ice
. 
If it had been necessary, he was ready and wil
ling
to jump into the beyond freezing water after her, but luckily
Ellie
was visible.

As his arms reached down into the lake, they were unable to feel the bitter cold for the only thing on
Jon
’s mind was
Ellie
. 
Nothing in the world seemed to matter but her.

Using all the strength he possessed,
Jon
managed to pull
Ellie
, in her sopping, thickly-fabricated dress and petticoats, out of the hole and onto the ice beside him
. 
It wasn’t easy, for her clothing and ice-skates became very heavy when wet and they weighed her down.

Frightened and worried beyond belief,
Jon
asked, “Mae?”

Ellie
didn’t answer
. 
Her soaked hair clung to her pale white face, her clothes adhered to her frail body, and her eyes were shut.

Touching the side of her face,
Jon
repeated in a desperate and pleading tone, “Mae
? 
Mae
? 
Can you hear me, Mae?”

But
Ellie
still couldn’t speak.

Jon
bit his lip, unsure of what to do
. 
He took her limp hand in his and gave it a small squeeze
. 
This was all his fault and he
knew it
. 
He’d pressured her into coming, he hadn’t been watching her, and it was his fault if anything happened to her.

“Please forgive me, Mae,”
Jon
whispered, “I didn’t mean to
. 
Honest
. 
I never thought anything like this would happen when I asked you to come
. 
Oh please forgive me
. 
Mae
? 
Mae
? 
Can you hear me, Mae
? 
Please speak
. 
Let me know you’re alright, Mae
. 
Please.”

After checking her wrist,
Jon
knew she was breathing because she still had a pulse, but her eyes still hadn’t opened and she still hadn’t uttered a sound.

Suddenly,
her eyelids began to flutter and without warning
Ellie
began coughing violently and sputtering up water
. 
Jon
wiped the drips off her face with his sleeve and repeated once more, “Mae?”

She continued coughing; it seemed she was unable to stop.

“Are you alright, Mae?”

She finally spoke, but in a hushed, quivering voice, “
Johnny
?”

“Yes?” he asked hopefully, wrapping his arms around her shivering wet body.

“
Johnny
,” she mumbled; every word seemed to weaken her that much more, “Will you take me home?”

“Home
? 
Yes,”
Jon
nodded, “Yes, of course I’ll take you home.”

He removed his fairly dry coat and laid it on top of her and set his cap on her head, hoping they’d warm her up a little
. 
And then, he took her in his arms, and carried her all the way home through the fal
ling
snow.
             

The doctor confirmed what
Jon
was afraid of the next morning:
Ellie
had pneumonia
. 
He said she was lucky, for the freezing cold water could have given her something even worse
. 
Pneumonia certainly wasn’t something to be taken lightly though;
Dr.
Hughes told
Jon
in private that
Ellie
’s life wasn’t for certain
. 
They didn’t tell
Ellie
though, for they didn’t want her to worry any
. 

As soon as
Jon
informed the doctor of
Ellie
’s urgent condition the night before,
Dr.
Hughes had given
Ellie
a strong medicine from his case of antidotes
. 
Just as he’d expected, she hadn’t woken since
. 
It placed her in a sort of strange, dream world and her head couldn’t stop spinning
. 

Besides that, she had a terrible fever that reached 104.5 at one point, severe chest pains, she couldn’t seem to find her breath, and her violent coughing never seemed to subside
. 
Once, a small amount of rust- colored mucus even came out on her handkerchief as she coughed
. 
The sight of it scared
Jon
, as he thought the horrors of consumption may have taken over her as well, but
Dr.
Hughes assured him that wasn’t true
. 
He said it was expected for a scant amount of sputum to appear because of the type of pneumonia she had.

Ellie
woke several times from her long, long sleep, but when she did she felt like she was watching a play at the theater about herself
. 
She couldn’t interfere with the actors before her, but she could watch and hear them speak of her and her condition
. 
Her hazel eyes would open slowly and the room would look foggy to her, though it wasn’t
. 
All the edges of figures and objects seemed to blend together until there were only eerie shadows
. 
The outer edge of her vision faded completely like it does during dreams, so that her view was bordered in white dust
.