Legacy of the Dreams

Chapter 141 - Spreading the Word

Reverend John Wilson looked up from his computer late in the evening on Sunday. He'd spent the last hour reading personal messages from friends and family from all over the globe. Generally, he tried to keep up with them as best he could, but that could be challenging during the week. As happened on many weeks, he didn't actually have time to devote to those sorts of messages until after the last church service on Sunday was over and he had the opportunity to rest some before preparing for the week ahead. That's what he was doing on this occasion, just before going to bed, when he received an unexpected email from a surprising source.

John read the message carefully to the very end. The news it conveyed prompted him to go in search of his wife. The first time he checked, she was busy with the children. The next time he checked, she was already in bed. Despite the critical nature of the message, John realized his conversation with his wife would have to wait.

"Who was it from?" Karen asked when they finally had a moment to talk early the next morning.

"Rabbi Sloane," John replied. "In the states."

"Greg Abernathy's friend?" Karen wondered.

John and Karen made it a point to make time to talk with each other every morning while Karen made the family breakfast.

"His rabbi and longtime confidant," John reminded his wife. "He's the one who came to see us in the Outback one December several years ago when Greg and Susan were there, the year before Peter was born."

"I remember him," Karen assured her husband. "I just couldn't figure out why he might be emailing us here."

"He did because Greg and Susan are facing a crisis. Greg stopped to speak to him about it briefly after temple services yesterday ... I suppose that was actually on Saturday," John corrected.

"Probably. Go on. What did he say?"

"Given the nature of their crisis, he wanted us to be aware of what is happening with them and at a minimum he asked us to pray for them," John said.

"Of course we'll pray for them. We would do that anyway," Karen reminded him.

"Yes, but given what he told me, I suspect he was hinting, not so subtly, that Susan either does or will need extra support ... probably our support."

"Because we are Christians and we are their friends," Karen supplied for him.

"Yes. To put it in the rabbi's words 'They are our friends and I trust you to know the best way to go about supporting both Susan and her family spiritually'." After reading it, John set aside the paper printout of Rabbi Sloane's email he held in his hands.

At that, Karen stopped what she was doing, giving her undivided attention to her husband. "What's happened John?"

"Rabbi Sloane told me Melody has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of childhood cancer. Greg didn't give him any of the details when he stopped to talk, but Julie did. She came by to talk to him today ... I mean yesterday, about an hour before David sent the email. From what she told him, Melody's illness is quite serious ... she said they don't expect her to survive past the summer."

Karen looked at her husband in shock. "Really? I thought Melody was doing so much better! Susan emailed me about a week ago telling me Melody finally had the cardiac repair surgery done and she came through it really well. I wonder what happened?"

"David doesn't know the particulars, as I've said, but he thinks ... reading between the lines from what Greg and later Julie told him ... they may have discovered the cancer while Melody was in hospital, possibly during the surgery," John said.