Sophie's Heart (24 page)

During the rest of October he was home to eat with his family almost every night. He still worked three out of four Saturdays, but taking Craig with him was beginning to be the norm, and they were never gone past 2:00.

The weather was turning very cold, and southern Wisconsin had even had some snow flurries, but nothing serious threatened. On the mornings Sophie walked to church, she prayed that Gladys would come home soon, but then felt selfish for the request. Instead, she tried to concentrate on being thankful that she had a coat and boots at all. As with the rest of her things, they were not in the latest fashion, but they were warm.

In truth, Sophie loved cold weather. She liked having the oven on for baked goods and greeting the children with hot cocoa after school. Even Craig would stay in the kitchen a little longer when Sophie offered him a large mug of his favorite drink.

“Craig won a prize,” Tory announced one day, and Sophie turned to the young man. He looked a little put out at the attention, but didn’t leave.

“Can you tell me about it, Craig?”

“I sold a lot of chocolate,” he told her simply.

“This is wonderful. Did the neighbors buy some?”

“No,” Tory filled in. “He sells to Grandma. She buys a lot.”

“Grandma Frazier?” Sophie questioned.

“No, Grandma Riley in Florida. She and Grandpa run a big souvenir shop down there, and they buy for all the people who work for them.”

Sophie was glad that Tory had filled her in, but she was desperate to draw Craig out.

“Did you sell the most in class, Craig, or in school?”

“In the school.”

Sophie’s eyes widened, and a reluctant smile stretched across Craig’s mouth.

“How much, Craig?”

“Three hundred twenty-nine dollars’ worth.”

This time Sophie’s mouth swung open, and Craig actually laughed.

“Why, Craig, this is so good! I am so proud of you. I think I help with one little box, and here you are, world-famous salesman.”

Both kids laughed at Sophie’s words as well as her expression, and Sophie’s heart was greatly encouraged when Craig reached for his book bag and began his homework right at the kitchen table. It was only a small turning point, nothing too dramatic, but Sophie was thankful for this one slight step.

Sophie had begun to think this day would never come. The calendar read November 7, 1989, and Sophie now stood just outside the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles, her driver’s license in her hand. To earn it had taken a written test whereupon she earned her learner’s permit, six weeks of lessons, and over 250 dollars, but she had done it. Brad Marshall had not been with her, but an older man, a Mr. Parker, accompanied her and was more than kind.

“Well, you did it,” he said and beamed at her. “Would you like to drive back?”

“Oh, Mr. Parker, I would like that.”

He passed her the keys and away they went. It was a dream come true for Sophie, and in her excitement she had to force herself to concentrate on the ride back to the house. She thanked Mr. Parker a half dozen times, almost forgot to pay him, and nearly tripped on the walkway up to the front door, but she had done it; she had her license. She could drive a car! Her grandmother was going to be thrilled.

Sophie entered the house to work, but she was so delighted that all she could do was plop down in the big chair in the family room. She prayed for many minutes before realizing that she must get to work; however, something else caught her eye. The TV remote control was at her fingertips and, out of sheer exhilaration, Sophie pressed the button. She was flicking through the channels the way she had seen the children do, when she heard a man say, “Come on down! You’re the next contestant on ‘The Price is Right!’ ”

Sophie moved to the edge of her seat and watched in amazement. She had certainly heard of game shows, but this was the first she’d ever seen. The colors were wonderful and the prizes were huge. Sophie’s eyes turned to saucers when a woman won a brand-new, shiny white Cadillac.

By the time the show ended, Sophie was talking to the TV and waving her arms at the contestants as though she were in the audience. Had anyone been home he would have heard things like: “No, no, you’re going to overbid.” “Take the money, take the money!” “Listen to the woman in blue, she knows.” “Fifty-five cents is not enough. Spin again.”

By the time the show ended, Sophie was spent. She also realized she had been sitting for over 45 minutes.

“What would Mr. Riley say to this, Sophie Velikonja,” she scolded herself out loud and gave a determined push to the off button. “You are not being paid to watch television. For shame on you. Now, you get to work!”

Sophie took her own advice, but the wonder of the game was still on her mind. In fact, when Tory arrived home from school and they had a few moments to themselves in the kitchen, Sophie put her face close and said, “I watched, Tory. I watched the show.”

“The Price is Right?” Tory nearly shouted.

Sophie’s head nodded an enthusiastic yes. “I won a boat,” she stated triumphantly, and Tory howled with laugher.

“I did not even know price. I just guess and I won a boat. Will you go sailing with me, Tory?”

Tory’s face was turning red from laughter, and tears were coming to her eyes, but Sophie did not let up.

“I will wear little skipper hat and you can be the mate.”

She now did a silly little sailor’s jig in the middle of the kitchen floor, and Tory collapsed into a chair.

“Stop, Sophie,” she gasped. “I can’t take any more.”

Sophie only grinned. “Are you proud of me?”

“Yes. I only wish it came on on Saturdays.”

“Oh, me too. Then we could watch together.”

They had just finished talking and laughing some more when Craig came downstairs. He searched Sophie out in the living room and struggled through the next few sentences.

“I have to finish my homework,” he began.

“All right,” Sophie said, wondering what was really on his mind and was thankful that Tory had gone to the family room when she’d moved to the living room.

“Are you going to be around?”

“Yes, Craig, I will work until after supper tonight.”

“Well, there’s this girl coming. I mean, she’s not coming to see me, but we need to go to the library and Rick’s mom is taking us, but Melissa’s mom is only bringing her this far.”

“All right.” Sophie was sorting this out. “You want me to tell you when she comes?”

“No, I didn’t mean that.” Craig looked flustered. “I just want you to invite her in.”

“Of course, Craig. I can do this.”

It looked like he had more to say, but couldn’t find the words. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he only shook his head and returned to the stairs. His warning to Sophie was just in time. Five minutes later the front doorbell rang.

“Hello. Is Craig here?”

“Yes, he is,” Sophie told the cute little girl on the step. “Please come in.” Sophie waited until she was inside and then explained.

“Craig is finishing homework. Would you like to wait in kitchen?”

“Sure.”

Sophie led the way, and a moment later the girl was seated at the table.

“I am Sophie.”

The girl smiled. “I’m Melissa. I live just a few blocks away.”

“Would you like a cookie, Melissa?”

“Oh, sure. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Craig tells me you are going to library.”

“Right. We’re studying creation at school, and a few of us have agreed to be the evolutionists. Our library has a few books, but we need more. It’s going to be hard because I don’t believe all that stuff about millions of years ago, but I’m sure we’ll learn a lot.”

“You and Craig are in same class?”

“Yeah. Oh, hi, Craig.”

“Hi, Melissa. Rick here yet?”

“No.”

“Craig, would you like cookie?”

Craig thanked Sophie and took a seat at the table. Sophie and Melissa continued to talk, but Craig did not join in. However, it didn’t escape Sophie’s notice that Craig rarely took his eyes from the girl.

“Is there debate planned?”

“Yes. It’s not until next week, but we need to get ready. I don’t know if you’ve met Rick, but he likes to make jokes, and every time we try to work on this we end up laughing.”

“You think it will be better at public library.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty strict about noise, and we can spread out if we need to.”

“I gave report on evolution when I was 15. I was so nervous I don’t remember everything I said, but I made people angry when I said it was godless.”

“That does get people upset,” Melissa agreed. “They think we’re bringing religion into it, but it’s the truth. To believe in evolution is to say that the Bible is a lie, so God’s a part of it whether people like it or not.”

“That sounds like good closing sentence to your debate,” Sophie told her, and Melissa smiled a huge smile and reached for her notebook. Craig and Sophie sat quietly while she wrote, and it was at that moment that Rita joined them.

“You look upset, Rita,” Sophie commented.

“I am!” she said in disgust. “I can’t get ahold of Tina, and this German homework doesn’t make any sense.”

“You are taking German?”

“Yes.” There was still anger in her voice.

“Maybe I can help,” Sophie offered, but both Craig and Rita looked at her as if she had grown another head. Sophie was about to laugh, make a joke of their response, and explain, but the front doorbell rang. It was Rick coming for Craig and Melissa. Sophie saw them to the door. By the time she returned to the kitchen, Rita had finally gotten Tina on the phone.

Twenty

A
nother week passed before Sophie was able to tell her employer that she was now a licensed driver. For weeks now Sophie had been retrieving the mail from the box out front since her own mail came c/o Mr. Alec Riley, but on this day Alec came in with the mail before she had a chance. Since he was there to work in his office, he probably wouldn’t have spoken to Sophie at all. But there was a letter for her, so he sought her out in the basement.

She had read somewhere that it was important to keep the filters clean on a furnace, so she had dragged the vacuum down the basement stairs to do the job. Alec’s presence startled her because the vacuum had disguised all noise of his footsteps.

“Sorry to scare you,” he said distractedly, “but you have a letter.”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Riley.”

Alec handed it to her and turned to go.

“Mr. Riley?”

“Yes.” He was already on the stairs and not really looking at her.

“I have license now.”

This captured Alec’s attention. He came back down and stood before his housekeeper.

“What’s this now?”

“I have Wisconsin state driver’s license, Mr. Riley. I thought you should know.” There was no missing the pride in Sophie’s voice, and Alec smiled.

“Well, now, that’s great. I didn’t know you were trying.”

“Tuesday mornings I do lessons.”

“That’s right, Tuesday mornings. Well, congratulations. How long did it take?”

“Six lessons and test on the next week.”

“Sounds like you’re a quick learner. Did you drive in Czechoslovakia?”

“Some.”

“Well, good. Whenever you need the van for shopping and such, just tell the kids and make plans to take them to school.”

“All right.”

Alec then bid her good-bye, and Sophie went back to work. It seemed like such a little thing, but the fact that Mr. Riley trusted her so thoroughly brought freedom to Sophie. She asked God to help her be cautious and never destroy that trust.