Crunch (10 page)

Bethany and Eddie pulled into the dorm parking lot. The night air was cold. It cut through Bethany's sweatshirt when she got out of the car. For the first time that evening she remembered that she hadn't eaten.

“I'm gonna go fix myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Do you want me to make you one too Eddie?”

“Sure,” Eddie smiled. “In all the excitement I guess we forgot about dinner. If you don't mind, wrap it in a paper towel and I'll eat it on my way home.”

“You bet!” Bethany said and headed straight for the kitchen.

As Eddie entered the dorm, he could hear the phone ringing in his office. No sooner than he began fumbling for the right key to unlock the door, the ringing stopped.

Eddie frowned.

Suddenly the phone started ringing again, and Eddie, who was prepared with key in hand, picked it up by the third ring.

“Bethany! You have a call from Hawaii,” Eddie shouted down the hall.

Bethany stuck her head around the corner and said, “For me?”

“Yep!” said Eddie. “And time is ticking away 'cause it is long, long distance.”

Bethany barreled down the hall, her lips sticky with peanut butter and jelly. She quickly dropped two sandwiches wrapped in a paper towel into Eddie's hand and grabbed the phone.

“Hi, Mom! What? The finals…you're kidding? How? Is she okay? When? Tomorrow morning…Trestles…hold on.”

Bethany cupped her hand over the phone. “I got in the finals, Eddie! A girl had to drop out, and I was next in line! They want to come and pick me up early in the morning at the race track. Do you know where that is?”

“Yep,” Eddie said and then cleared his throat. “It's over where we were tonight—over by the hospital.”

At those words, Bethany's face registered shock. How could she have forgotten Eduardo so soon?

“Mom, can I call you back in a little while?…Okay.…Thanks, Mom.”

Bethany sank into Eddie's office chair.

“I think I'm gonna stay a while and eat these sandwiches in the kitchen,” Eddie said. “You're welcome to hang out in my office if you think you might need to use the phone again.”

“Thanks,” Bethany said weakly.

What am I gonna do?

There was no response—not even a whisper of help. Bethany felt as if her brain had turned to mush.

The long day and the crisis with Eduardo sapped her energy and emotions. Now with the news that she was suddenly to be seeded into the final—which should have been a moment of sheer joy—she was completely confused.

She dragged herself upstairs to the dorm room and was surprised to see the dorm lights blazing.

“We had a prayer time for Eduardo, and we've been sitting around talking,” Malia said. “How is he?”

“It's bad. They are probably going to have to amputate his foot.”

“Oh, no!” Holly said amid the others' audible gasps. “How did that happen?”

“He got run over by a trash truck while he was collecting trash,” Bethany said sadly. “I guess his foot was almost severed or something. I couldn't understand exactly.”

“Maybe they can get him to a specialist!” Monica offered.

“Yeah, I suggested that, but I guess it's not that easy when you're a dump kid from Tijuana.”

The group fell silent for a moment, weighing the gulf between their lives and Eduardo's.

“And, I just found out that Anne Nicholson had to pull out of the contest tomorrow, so now I can surf in the finals. My mom called from home.”

“Wow! That's terrific!” Jenna said.

“What happened to Anne?” Holly asked.

“She banged herself up at Rivermouth. Not too serious, but she will be out of the water for a couple of weeks.”

“When is the contest?”

“Heats start tomorrow,” said Bethany.

“How would you get there?” asked Holly.

“My Rip Curl rep said he would drive down here and pick me up in the morning. We could make it for the girls' division heat since it's at Trestles.”

“Bethany, you are sooooo lucky,” Holly exclaimed. “You have a good shot at winning the title if the waves are pumping.”

“And a swell is on the rise that's supposed to be overhead by tomorrow,” Bethany added.

“Then you have it cinched!” said Monica.

“Except, I am not sure I should go,” Bethany countered.

“What? Are you crazy? This is for the amateur title,” said Holly. “This is what you have been working hard for all year! The waves are not going to be sloppy mush-burgers, so you have a more than better chance of acing the contest!”

“Yeah, Bethany. Why in the world would you even consider
not
going to this contest?” Jenna asked, confused. “We all know how disappointed you were when you didn't make the cut.”

Bethany sat on the edge of the bunk and lowered her head.

“You made a promise to Eduardo, didn't you?” Monica asked, suddenly nailing it on the head.

“Yeah,” Bethany said slowly. “I told him that I would be there when he woke up from surgery.” “Well, that was
before
you knew you could be in the contest, right?” Holly interjected.

“Yeah, but I don't know if that changes anything,” said Bethany.

“Whatd'ya mean? That changes everything! You can just get the word to him that something unexpected came up,” Holly said.

“I don't know if I agree with you. What if I made a promise to hang around with you for the afternoon, but then I got invited to hang with someone else, called you up, and cancelled out. How would you feel?”

“Well, I would be upset that you didn't invite me to go with you,” Holly replied.

“Holly, I know you! You would be
really
hurt and probably mad too,” said Bethany.

“Yeah…probably,” said Holly. “But this is different. This is the amateur title, for heaven's sake!”

“And you can always come back and visit Eduardo after the contest,” Jenna offered.

“Plus you have sponsors. You have an obligation to them, don't you?” Holly added.

Bethany felt herself being swayed toward entering the contest by the arguments of her friends. They were right. This was the contest she had been working all year to be a part of. She knew that if the surf was as promised, her odds of winning were strong. Besides, the companies that sponsored her had been more than generous, and she had a responsibility to them. She didn't want to let them down.

Yet deep in her heart Bethany was uneasy with this decision. And she sensed that making the right decision was not going to be easy with her well-meaning friends hovering around her.

“I'm gonna go down to the living room and think about this for a while…by myself.”

Bethany left the bunk room and made her way to the living room.

It was dark, but she didn't bother to turn on a light. Through the barred windows she could see the lights of Tijuana spreading over the distant hills. She stared at them for a moment and then slid to one end of a mushy sofa to wrestle through her dilemma.

Lord, I don't know what to do. You gave me the talent to surf and now the opportunity to be in the championship, and yet I don't know what to do!
Bethany prayed silently.

Almost immediately, Bethany felt a sense of reassurance that she really did know what to do. Her inner voice told her,
You've known from the very start what to do
.

Suddenly Bethany's mind was drawn back to the horrible day when she was the one lying in the hospital bed. The faces around her included family, friends, surfing buddies, and others who flooded the hospital when they heard the news. People set aside what they were doing because they cared about one little girl who was in a world of hurt.

She heard the echo of Eddie's voice quoting Jesus: “ ‘I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.' “

“Bethany?”

Bethany nearly jumped out of her skin until she realized it was Monica standing in the doorway of the room.

“Yeah?”

“I didn't mean to barge in on you, but I really felt I needed to say something.” Monica took a deep breath, and Bethany thought,
Oh, great, here it comes!

“I just wanted to say that I remember you saying that a person's word—especially a Christian's—should mean something. And you said that if someone made a promise, he or she should keep it.” Monica paused and glanced down at her shoes. “Some people in my family don't exactly live like that…but listening to you…I don't know…it made me believe that what you said was right. It sounds crazy, but I think maybe God wanted me to share this with you.”

“Not so crazy, Monica. You're probably right.”

Bethany had her answer. The surf contest was an opportunity but also a test. A test she could pass and still fail.

“I've gotta call my mom,” she said as she pulled herself off the couch and headed for Eddie's office. A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she glanced over her shoulder at Monica.

“Thank you, Monica. You really helped me with this tough decision. I have a feeling God has big plans for you.”

“You think so?” Monica said hopefully.

eight

Thick morning fog enveloped the hillsides of Tijuana as Bethany, huddled in her sweatshirt, stood on the porch. She blew out her warm breath, watching as it turned to vapor.

This is so cool,
she thought to herself,
you can never see your breath in the tropics!

The crunch of Eddie's car over the gravel and dirt road announced his arrival before she saw him in the fog.

Maggie was in the front seat, and Bethany piled into the backseat as they pulled up.

“So, no surf contest?” Eddie asked.

“Not for me. I thought about it, but I made a promise to Eduardo, and I think keeping my promise is more important than a surf contest.”

“Even the championships?” Maggie said.

“Even the championships,” Bethany echoed with a smile. “Besides, I've won contests before. I'll let you in on a secret; it's a big thrill for about twenty minutes. But right after they hand you the trophy, that's it. Nobody cares anymore. They all go home and do other stuff.”

“Yeah, I won a contest once,” Eddie said as he glanced in the rearview mirror.

“For what? I don't know anything about this,” Maggie said, surprised.

“I entered a model-building contest when I was a kid. Took forever making this great model. I won, got a ribbon, and thought I was real hot stuff too. Nobody else seemed all that impressed, though. A few years later when I was a teenager, I tied firecrackers to my model and blew it up—just for fun.”

“And now you live in Mexico where you can get your hands on fireworks anytime you want,” Maggie said, and she and Bethany laughed.

Eduardo was not in his bed when Eddie, Maggie, and Bethany arrived. Eduardo's mother told them that he had been taken into surgery an hour before.

The trio sat with Eduardo's mother in the waiting room. Eddie prayed a long prayer in Spanish as his mother softly wept.

Bethany prayed as well—a much shorter but deep prayer from her heart.

Eventually, the boy came out of surgery and was wheeled back to his room.

“It will take him a while to wake up,” Eddie said after speaking with the doctor. “How about we go out and get some breakfast and then come back.”

Bethany shook her head no. “I'm staying. I told him that I would be here when he woke up.”

“Okay, Bethany, you stay here with Eduardo's mother. Maggie and I will bring you both back something to eat.”

“All right.”

Eduardo's mother and Bethany walked slowly back to Eduardo's room where the boy lay sleeping.

Bethany saw the thickly bandaged leg with the obvious empty place where a foot should have been. She automatically reached up to touch the empty place that had been her arm.

As she took her seat across from Eduardo's mother, Bethany felt the awkwardness of not being able to communicate. She cleared her throat and looked around.

Bethany sensed the woman staring at her, but she didn't make eye contact with her.

After a few minutes of silence punctuated only by Eduardo's breathing, Bethany heard the woman say softly, almost under her breath, “
Tu comprendes
?” And then again, in thickly accented English, “You understand?”

Bethany lifted her head. The little boy's mother was speaking to her but staring at the knotted sleeve on her left shoulder.

“I understand,” Bethany nodded.

Eddie and Maggie appeared with a sack of fruit, yogurt, and some pastries.

“Has our buddy awoken yet?” Eddie asked with a hopeful smile.

“Not yet. But I noticed he's moving around a bit more,” said Bethany.

“He may need to be on some serious pain medicine for awhile,” Maggie said.

“I hope he doesn't feel phantom pain,” Bethany said worriedly. “He may feel pain in his foot even though it isn't there. That can happen to people who lose a limb.”

Bethany was in the middle of her second banana when she heard Eduardo moan and say, “Mama.”

His mother jumped to her feet and reached out to stroke the little boy's hair.

“He's waking up!” Bethany said excitedly.

“Yeah, but he is still kind of out of it,” Eddie observed. “It'll probably be a few more hours before he's in the mood to talk.”

“Yes, but he is awake, and I promised I'd be here when he woke up.”

Bethany slid up near the boy and said his name softly.

Eduardo's eyes turned toward her, and a faint smile flickered across his face.

Then Bethany squeezed Eduardo's hand gently. “I'll be back,” she said. “You get strong. I'll be back.”

Turning to Eddie, Bethany said, “Okay, Eddie, we can go now. I'm in the mood to build some houses.”