The Waltons 3 - The Easter Story (23 page)

I guess it was about the biggest celebration we ever had,
John-Boy wrote later in his notebook.
I don’t know what time it was—nobody looked at the clock. But none of us went back to bed.

That she had walked from her bed across the room to the door even before John-Boy saw her seemed incredible. But before that night was over she repeated the performance. Part of the way she used the bed for support. Then, after steadying herself for a minute, she wobbled her way across to the support of the doorway. There, she clung to the door frame and smiled happily at all of them.

“What were you thinkin’ about, Mama?” Elizabeth asked. “Didn’t you even know you were walkin’?”

“I was just thinkin’ about you, darlin’. And I guess I was half asleep. And John-Boy, I reckon you were right. I’ve just been concentratin’ too hard and wantin’ it too much. But if I just forget my legs and think about gettin’ somewhere—” She grinned, too filled with joy to go on.

“Well, hallelujah!” Grandma must have said twenty times that night.

We did go to the sunrise services that day. The thunder showers had left the pine boughs and new spring leaves fresh and fragrant. Daddy helped Mama up the slope, and their beaming smiles were about twice as bright as the sun when it finally came over the shoulder of Walton’s Mountain.

Dr. Vance once said he didn’t believe in miracles, and Grandma expressed pity for him. Whether what happened that night was a miracle or not doesn’t really seem important. Dr. Vance was doing the best he could, and so was Mama. For that, I’m inclined to think that God was helping them both.

What seemed as miraculous as anything was the fact that Elizabeth and Jim-Bob’s crocuses were in full bloom when we arrived home.

Mama was speechless. She stood by the truck admiring them for a long time. When she finally took Elizabeth and Jim-Bob into her arms, her happy tears were the most joyful present any of us could possibly have for Easter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R
OBERT
W
EVERKA
was born in Los Angeles and educated at the University of Southern California, where he majored in economics. His other novels include:
Griff, Search, The Sting, Moonrock, The Widowed Master, One Minute to Eternity, Apple’s Way, I Love My Wife
and his stories of the Walton family;
The Waltons, The Waltons: Trouble on the Mountain
and
The Waltons: The Easter Story.
He and his family currently live in Idylwild, California.