Between the Lines
May 30th, 2022
Chapter 13: It’s Never Too Late to Do the Right Thing
Ephesians 3:20, ‘Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energizes you.’ (TPT)
He could feel his eyelids flutter. The extreme exertion he channeled toward prying his eyes open exhausted him. Once, he thought he might see just a sliver of light through his right eye, his better eye, and then nothing but inky darkness. That’s how his head felt too, black and bruised and thick in his skull. The excruciating pain he experienced earlier—and honestly, he couldn’t tell exactly when that was—was a dull throb now. Zachary hadn’t an idea what was wrong with him, and it had terrified him. Then suddenly, ‘Skinamarinky dinky dink. Skinamarinky doo. I love you…’ and peace like a warm washcloth settled over him. He could breathe. ‘Skinamarinky dinky dink. Skinamarinky doo, I love you…’ Like hot chocolate with mini marshmallows on a frozen day. His fingers rested. ‘I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening and underneath the moon…’ Like lying flat on your back on a sun-speckled beach, listening to the waves crash and watching the clouds sail past. His heart slowed to a steady beat. ‘Skinamarinky dinky dink. Skinamarinky doo. I love you…’ Like a puppy’s breath on your face or giggling at a pouncing kitten or the way your heart drops through your stomach as you freefall on a roller coaster ride. At once, Zachary didn’t feel so out-of-control. He found himself drifting, an oozing, comforting plush blanket of nothingness wrapped itself around him and held him close.
They were huddled together like family, like old friends who had known each other for a long time and who shared deep secrets. Zachary’s parents, both sets, and actually, Zachary’s entire family surrounding him; it made them all smile, lightened the load, the heavy, heavy load of concern and fear for Zachary. The doctor had come from the innards of the hospital a short time ago and he cocked his head in surprise when he went to address Zachary’s parents and four adults stood to meet him. They’d laughed awkwardly for a moment about it and then they joined hands as the doctor spoke.
Zachary needed blood, and he needed it now, and wouldn’t you know it? he had the rarest blood type. Shyly, Shan raised her hand and stepped forward. ‘I’m aB/Rh negative; probably where he got it from. I can give blood to Zachary. Where do I go?’ Shanna blushed, wondering if anyone would stop to question if it was safe for her to give blood, but no one acted as if it even crossed their minds. She mumbled a prayer of gratitude to God for second chances and, silently, followed the doctor who promised he would return as soon as possible with more information. Zachary was doing okay, but his body was also in shock, and they needed to work quickly.
Shan couldn’t fathom how they’d removed the rod from her baby boy, which is how she saw him in her mind’s eye, because the last time she’d seen him, Zachary weighed less than a sack of potatoes. His other mom hadn’t wrapped her head around how they’d been able to move him since he was pierced and pinned to the ground like a tent stake holding down the corner of a tent. The two dads wanted answers how a piece of rebar even existed on a child’s playing field. His big sister kept offering to get refreshments and finally admitted she would rather keep busy than imagining her little brother splayed open like a fish being gutted after a good hook and drag exercise. And Midge kept them in stitches as frequently as she could pop off with some crazy fun fact she had studied. Midge knew the days ahead for this family would be lengthy as Zachary came through this—and she guaranteed everyone he would—Zachary was a survivor, an overcomer, everyone’s hero. Midge said the lighter they could keep some of the moments the easier the time might pass. Together they held hands and prayed.
Shan was grateful for the sisterhood who had gathered up Rorie and Jory and told her not to worry a moment after them. They would be fine, just spoiled rotten when they were returned—if they were returned, they chided. Jessie laughed, warning he might need to pay someone to keep them. ‘They may be half-pints,’ Jessie nodded, ‘but they are filled with a mixture of orneriness and energy and four-year-old knowledge.’ Everyone laughed, and if it wasn’t for such a horrendous reason they gathered, this might have felt like a reunion.
The first 48-hours were critical, the doctor warned when eventually he returned with an update. The tears and memories began streaming across Shan’s cheeks. There had been another 48-hours once upon a painful time ago which had been quite critical too. But Jessie reminded everyone, those had been fortunate and rewarding hours, after all. The doctor explained they had put Zachary in a medically induced coma to help his body cope. The rod had been removed successfully, his bleeding was being managed, and now it was a matter of time and keeping him comfortable, the doctor said gravely. Together, again, they joined hands and prayed.
Shan wondered if the nice doctor wondered about the family dynamics gathered in his ER waiting room. If he looked at their faces and could he already see the history written there like a road map? Would he wonder who the real parents were and who the real parents are? and she smiled slowly thinking about the reality and the irony of it all. She decided it must be pretty evident, their age and all, and because she had pock marks all over her body where she’d dug and dug, trying to unearth the bugs, another granule of dope, hidden devices buried beneath her skin, all the scars from long removed days. She traced fingers over the tracks and craters where memories seemed to trip and get lost when they fell inside the wounded flaws. She breathed through the hurt, thinking about her baby boy, how they were able to be here now. Now mattered. It made a difference to be here now, when the blood was needed, when Zachary’s other parents were exhausted and stricken with fear and the unknown, when they needed support, when Zachary needed every prayer cast to heaven.
A barrage of memories assaulted Shanna, almost paralyzing her. The day Zachary was born, just like that, one push it seemed, in a speeding ambulance, and the way she didn’t remember any of it because she was so high that she floated above the entire scene. The day she packed one small bag, realizing it was all really belonging just to her, and how shame walked her out the door. The look on Jessie’s face which she would never forget, when he stopped to tell her Zachary had been adopted. These very people sitting in front of her were the ones who had gotten to take him home on that day, who had cuddled him and changed his diapers, who had taught him everything she had not that he now knew. She remembered the most profound words she’d ever heard and how they still rang true, ‘Sin will take you to a place you never intended to go. It will make you stay far longer than you ever intended to stay. And it will cost you so much more than you ever intended to pay.’ Shan recognized this was a pictorial of her life, and it sure was true. She was so grateful Jesus pulled her away from that life and placed her in this one, no matter the cost, she whispered to herself, no matter the cost. His grace was sufficient, His love was redemptive, His hope was restorative.
Jessie watched the look painted on the faces of the people who he was surrounded by. Never could anyone ever dream up this story, he thought, as they all, so different from one another, waited together, each for the same miraculous outcome. They had spent days together, sometimes in silence, sometimes sharing deep and hurtful truths. They had enlisted each other and helped one another, spelled each other for breaks, naps, food runs. It likely would not have ever transpired as it did had not this horrific accident happened to Zachary, but they were family now. Zachary would awaken to a bigger and better family than he’d ever known before, even a little brother and sister!
Jessie considered God’s faithfulness, and true, nothing occurred the way he and Shanna, once crazy young adults who took so much for granted, had wanted it to. True, it had been so very agonizing. But what God had brought about in His time, through His faithfulness, was far better than it ever could have been had they written their own story. After all, hadn’t Christ heaped all of humanity’s failures upon Himself and taken those very deficiencies to the cross where He had nailed them for good? After all, hadn’t Christ died for the ungodly, when we were yet sinners, and when we were still a long way off, hadn’t he run toward us and thrown His arms of forgiveness around us, loved us extravagantly, and saved us into His family? Jessie thought about the script God was writing of each of their lives and literally could not wait to see what the following chapters would bring for all of them.
Eventually, the doctor walked through the swinging doors, a smile addressing all of them, and the sigh they heaved was well earned and understood. It was time. Time to begin waking Zachary up, time to see what lay ahead. They all rose together, joined hands, prayed with one another for the Lord’s outcome, and then followed him into Zachary’s room. (Their faith would change his life and the lives of Zachary’s medical team as no one had ever witnessed anything quite like this.) Each person laid a hand somewhere on Zachary’s body as they began the long process of awakening him; some prayed, some whispered to him, Shanna sang ‘Skinamarinky Dinky Dink’ because that was what she had sang to him years ago. As daylight waned and small changes began to become apparent, they each took short breaks, and all returned to watch Zachary’s face, hoping soon to see his eyes fall open.
It felt like water was rushing everywhere around him, like he might be caught in an undercurrent, and it frightened Zachary. He tried to paddle his feet and stroke his arms; he was a good swimmer, but nothing worked. Water whorled around him and sometimes a deluge flooded him, and he kept trying to catch his breath but even his lungs refused to cooperate. He thought he could hear noises, but they were a long way off, like at the distant end of a long tunnel, and before he knew it, he was sucked back down into the silence and passivity again. He was so very tired. It was like trying to come up for air but being pulled back down again and again. It almost felt effortless to simply float when he stopped fighting. Like laying on the bottom of a lake or a pool, Zachary thought he might be peering through ripples of water, thought he saw bubbles and light shimmering across the surface above. Just as he reached the top, however, he again was sucked back in again, deeper it seemed. Zachary wrestled with the water around him but even his fingers wouldn’t move. Slowly, he began his slow ascent to the top again, and wanted to holler, ‘Wait! Don’t Leave! I’m coming!’ From a long way off he could almost swear he heard the haunting melody he often found in his dreams, and a woman’s beautiful voice as she sang ‘Skinamarinky Dinky Dink’ to him over and over. He wished he could just once see her face and ask her who she was and why she sang to him, but not one limb in his body obeyed.
Startled, Zachary’s mom, cried out, ‘Did you feel that?!’ right at the same minute that Jessie exclaimed, ‘I could have sworn Zachary just squeezed my hand.’ His dad grinned and murmured, ‘I know his eyes are moving behind his eyelids, look!’ and Shanna sang louder, forcing her tears at bay. His doctor advised it must be happening and all of it was good signs. Midge began rubbing his feet and his sister offered to go get drinks for everyone including Zachary. And then, all at once, Zachary’s eyes fell open. They roved from face to face, and as the doctor had suggested, they each spoke soft, welcoming words, praising Jesus.
Zachary’s eyes closed, and for a minute, they assumed he had drifted back to sleep. Suddenly, they opened again, and he turned to stare directly at Shanna. ‘Ar…are you m…m…my mom? Is th…that you singing t…to me?’ Shanna was so shocked he had spoken first to her, and immediately, she worried about his other mom, that she would be sad. Instead, the woman warmly smiled and whispered, ‘Yes, Zachary, she is your real mom and Jessie here is your real dad. They have been so worried about you, honey. We all have. Welcome home, Zachary! We missed you.’ His eyes closed again, his breathing slowed, and a smile played with his mouth. Licking dry lips, he squinted at each of them, and then grinned, ‘What’s all the fuss about?’ he demanded. Then, ‘Mom, can you sing me that song again?’
1 John 3:1a, ‘Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that He has lavished on us! He has called us and made us His very own beloved children.’
