Challenge of the Dreams

Chapter 25 - The Walk

Dinner in the school dining room that evening was a little more organized than lunchtime was. Afterwards the young people headed towards the playing field for a game while the daylight from the long summer evening lingered. Most of the older people went to watch, including Greg and Susan. Susan watched for a little while, but as darkness fell and people began to go indoors, she decided to take a walk on her own.

“May I come with you?” Greg asked as he saw her headed down one of the trails that led away from the main part of the school and out onto the grounds surrounding the mission.

“If you want. I just need some space … time alone to help clear my head,” she said.

“Are you still feeling unsteady?” Greg checked.

Susan drew a deep breath as she looked back over her shoulder towards the gradually emptying playing field and the school.

“I am, but not from my head,” she quickly assured him.

“Are you certain? Susan, earlier today was the second time in less than a week something potentially related to your healing head injury has happened,” Greg cautioned. “It is possible you are still feeling the effects from that.”

Susan looked at him with a startled expression. “I know you think that was the reason I was dizzy on the plane …”

“Yes.”

“When did it happen before today?”

“In the chapel last Sabbath … only four days ago. Don’t you remember?” Greg asked in concern.

“When you came to find me,” Susan said.

“Yes,” Greg confirmed.

“I remember you coming to get me … I remember being upset, but I don’t remember anything potentially related to my head happening then … Did it?”

“Most definitely. You experienced a time slip … the most severe one I’ve known you to have outside the hospital immediately following your surgery,” Greg said and he began to tell her of the symptoms he observed at the time. “I became quite concerned for you before you came back to me.”

Susan cocked her head. “The doctor did say I could experience odd memory patterns brought on by moments of stress. That certainly qualified last Saturday, with our sons in the air and me believing you’d changed your mind about us.”

“I haven’t,” Greg assured her. “Are you certain that’s all it was?”

Susan nodded. “That and these needle-like splinters of bone I still have floating inside my head. You know, I’ve begun to wonder if they are the reason I remember so much more of our dreams than I did before the surgery. I can’t help thinking the Lord put them there for this specific purpose … to help us remember.”

“He may have,” Greg agreed. “So much of this journey has been according to His hand.”

“Yes, it is,” Susan said.

“And you are certain difficulties with your head or symptoms related to it are not the reason you are feeling so unsteady this evening?” Greg questioned.

“Yes and no … no, I don’t think so. It’s not my head … or the memories,” Susan assured him.

“What is it then?” Greg asked in concern.

“Them … all of this … everything,” she waved an arm in the general direction of their tent city. “I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed,” she confided.

“Any particular reason?” Greg asked. “This is more or less what we planned.”

“I know. It is … it’s great, or I think it will be in a day or two once people settle in. But every now and then … it feels like they’ve all amassed here … against us,” she finished hesitantly. “It’s taken us so long to get here, Greg. I know things are better now that we’ve connected to our families again, we’re both working more or less in our chosen fields, finances are better and things are gradually turning around. But as for us …”