Hope in Our Hearts by Lydia Proffitt

Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.

- Emil Zatopek

Lucy's day was anything but serene. After her second close call with Jason, she dropped Kale off at the daycare next to the school. She was only a few minutes late, and she was glad Rebecca covered for her by letting her in through the side door.

Her second-grade class was moody and stubborn. The cookies, however, were a big hit. The trouble was during reading. Some kids were having trouble, but when the light bulb suddenly clicked in their young minds, Lucy felt a stream of pride. It was only day two, but Lucy could see who would make her job easy and who would make it hard. Her students already had a basic foundation for reading but over the course of summer break, many of them forgot the vowel sounds with certain rules.

One child was very, very hard to work with. The boy acted as if he couldn't hear Lucy. She hollered at Caleb to stop, and he would continue whatever activity he was doing. Eventually, she left the student she was working with to tell Caleb to stop.

Caleb always looked at her with his hazel eyes like he did nothing wrong. He sincerely never heard her, and Lucy found it hard to punish him. He apologized every time while blinking back tears.

Near the end of the day, Caleb wasn't doing his work. Naturally, Lucy walked to him to see what was wrong. They were doing simple addition as fast as they could, and Caleb didn't hear her say go. Lucy was frustrated because everyone around him apparently heard her because they were all working. He was difficult, but in some ways he was just like all the other little boys in Lucy's class. He was sitting next to a little girl who wore a pink bow, and Lucy overheard something Caleb said.

"You da prettiest girl I've eva seen," she heard Caleb say.

After she laughed for a bit, Lucy reminded Caleb that he really needed to work. Caleb was a sweet boy; he just never listened to instructions.

After their math race to see if their addition was up to par, Lucy lightened the mood by bringing up the Watermelon Festival. The kids took turns saying what they were going to do. Some children were going to ride in the parade, participate in the seed spitting contest, and have their faces painted. They were all engaged and excited––except Caleb. He just sat there tracing his name tag with his finger.

Lucy loved the Watermelon Festival. It was a huge tradition in Wilton Creek, and Lucy loved it since she was a little girl. During college, she always brought Maddie along with her just to stop by and show her where she grew up. Friends from out of town always came in to visit their families. Lucy saw more classmates during the Watermelon Festival than her class reunions.

She was going to run in the 5K. Then she and Kale were going to ride the daycare float. She was giddy at the thought of a beautiful Saturday spent with her community.

When Lucy finally got home after school, she gave Kale a bath and began cooking her dinner. She never cooked anything extravagant, but she was a decent cook. Most of her time was spent outside on the deck––where she drank coffee, rocked Kale, and stared at the stars.

Lucy didn't know any of the constellations, but that didn't make a difference to her. She found the stars oddly comforting. She knew many people believed the stars were human souls, and though Lucy didn't believe it, she felt that looking at them made James feel closer––that even though he was gone, he was still there looking out for her and Kale.