The Humper Game Pt. 05 Ch. 08

"We were assigned as partners in, um, that one class and for the first afternoon it looked like it was hopeless. I couldn't respond to her at all, that way. I meant with all my heart to completely forgive her, and Sam is as beautiful as anyone I know, and something in there was just frozen. And her position was that she would do absolutely anything she could for me, that I didn't owe her anything and she owed me everything." I took a moment to look at Hannah, who seemed to be preoccupied with whatever she was doing.

"My instructor found a way to get me past that, and I can't tell you how much joy and delight we had. Now, it seems, that part of the relationship is over, but it's not like we had a fight or something. I'm surprised Sam hasn't made her decision by now, and I'm afraid I'm somehow what's holding her back, but I'd rather have her doing what she needs to than have her in my bed feeling guilty."

I took a moment trying to collect myself. "Martha, what you said is on target. I still need time to think about it more, but. Um. When I was talking about this with Sam's uncle, he mentioned one text he thought pertinent—Elijah to the people on Mount Carmel—and it was pertinent!—but the one that came to my mind was this one: 'Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.' I'm going to have to decide—believe or reject—and pretty soon. I tried to be completely patient with Ellen, when she needed time after her vision, and I can only hope that if all this really is God speaking, he'll be as patient with me. Sam only waited about three weeks I think to come to me, and I think she waited that long because she knew the trial was coming."

Scott said, after a minute or so, "We'll pray for you. Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us all about it. If we can do more than pray, let us know."

A minute later, he said, "Would a little more music be OK? It will help Hannah wake up. Not the same kind of thing."

Ellen said, "Go ahead." So Scott got his mandolin out, checked the tuning by strumming one chord, and played a little four-note figure. Martha began singing, with Scott joining in a moment later. And everyone else except me by the end of the second stanza, with occasional hesitations.

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly . . . 

It certainly got Hannah awake! She sang—and buzzed, wriggled, flapped her arms, meowed, barked, baaed, mooed, and neighed with a lot of giggles. This was a very different view of Hannah. She had struck me as a little too serious and shy, and I enjoyed watching this other side of her.

Scott gave a longer introduction, and they began singing again. "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," done in a way I'd never heard it, with sound effects or phrases called out at the ends of lines, running backward through them all between stanzas. Again, this was a song Hannah gloried in, singing, neighing, snoring, all the rest as she danced around.

When that was over, Scott put his mandolin back in its case. Goodbyes and thanks were said on all sides. Hannah seemed to have lost her shyness with the singing, but was standing back ignoring the adults, and Scott caught her eye and said, "Hannah Grace." She immediately came up to me and said, "Thank you for having us over for dinner. The food was really good. Do you always do the cooking?"

I laughed and said, "No, and you should have seen that Tammy and Ellen did most of the work this time. I just told them what to do. But I usually do most of the cooking for Ellen and me."

She nodded and went to Ellen. "Thank you for having us here. You're really, really beautiful."

Ellen laughed, too. "Thank you, Hannah. I'm glad you think so. But that really isn't something I'm responsible for. I mean, I didn't somehow do something to deserve it, or choose how I look. I think you're going to be beautiful when you grow up, but remember that it's what you are inside that matters. And that makes you choose whether to be good or not. You're on the way to being a good and nice woman someday, and that's what's really important." Hannah looked at her very seriously for a moment.

I never did get around to asking Ellen whether that came out of something she had seen. I thought myself that Hannah showed signs of being someone really special when she grew up, and that her parents were the right kind of people to shape her the right way. I hoped I could do half as well when it was my turn.

The table and chairs were taken downstairs. The kitchen cleanup had been done, though Ellen and I had to put some things away later. Everyone thanked us again as they left. I thought Tammy's thanks were particularly heartfelt, and she mentioned how glad she was to have met Barbara. Kelly said the same as well.

When they were all gone, and we had watched from the window as they drove off—Kelly walking—Ellen just held me for a minute or two. Finally she said, "I'm glad we did that, but I'm glad it's over, too. I don't envy Pete and Tammy, except that Scott and Martha are so nice that I'd want to give them hospitality if we could. It's just that their apartment isn't big enough, and they have a lot to do."

I hugged her, hard. "Ellen, thank you. I wish we could do a little more to help, too. But what means most to me is that you're not jealous. And I don't mean other women—well, that too, of course. I mean that you're willing to give up my time and energy that I'd be spending on you, some of it anyway." I worked to keep from choking up as I said this.

We turned to studying. In the early evening we ate something really small, a snack rather than a meal. We gave up and went to bed a lot earlier than normal, making love more slowly than we had been managing for a while.

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Revision: 7/1/2019