Chapter 21: A Sad Day

When Emuna arrived home from the hospital visit, she switched her casual shoes with her house slippers and closed the door behind her. Her grandparents turned to her with their smiles on their faces;her grandmother leaned back on the couch watching TV while her grandfather was cooking some dinner.

Her grandmother sat up straight while she continued her grin at Emuna. "Oh, hi there, Emuna. Did you have fun today?"

Emuna didn't answer and sat on the chair with a frown on her face, sighing when she turned her head right. Her grandmother's smile was turned upside down. "Well, what's wrong, baby girl?"

Emuna gave her grandma her full attention. "It's about the boy that I met last weekend, grandma…"

"Oh, so is he your boyfriend or something?" Her grandmother curiously asked with her eyebrow raised.

Emuna widened her eyes and blushed when she heard her grandmother say that.

-Huh?! Why would she think that anyway?!

She then closed her eyes, leaned back a bit and put her hands out forward, waving her hands sideways. "Oh no-no-no, not at all, grandma."

She opened her eyes and returned her attention to her grandmother. "He's waaaay too young for me-he was, like, ten-twelve years old. You know, the one that you and grandpa met earlier today?"

"Oh…that one…" her grandmother said.

"Yea…that one…Aaanyway…" Emuna returned to the topic. "What I'm talkin' 'bout wasn't about the boy. It was 'bout his father.

"After my friends and I gave the boy some money for the hospital bills, the boy, my friends and I visited the boy's father in the hospital. He was in critical condition and he was fine when we visited him, until he developed seizures."

Her grandmother gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh…no…"

Her grandfather frowned when he heard that, completing his finishing touches to the meals. He felt sorry for the boy's father and hoped that the boy's father would be healed and discharged from the hospital soon.

"Yea, it was horrible and we were all forced out of that room…I felt bad for the boy, 'cause I don't want him to become fatherless. I just hope his father's okay."

"Yea, me too…" Emuna's grandmother said. "So did you pray for him to get healed and discharged from the hospital soon?"

"Yep, I sure did. But only I did that, no one else did, not even ny friends."

Her grandma gasped with her eyes widened, leaning back a bit. "Not even your friends pray for him?!" Her grandfather quietly gasped when he heard what came out of his granddaughters mouth.

"No, not even them," Emuna responded.

Her grandmother grinned when her granddaughter mentioned her prayer for the boy's father. "Anyway, now that's the spirit! That's the Emuna that we know! Hallelujah!" She chuckled a bit.

Her grandfather grinned at Emuna too before he straight up finished his cooking. "Alright now! Dinner's ready!"

"Okay!" Emuna and her grandmother responded as they got up from their sofas.

Her grandmother turned to Emuna. "Alright, Emuna. We'll start praying for that boy's father after we eat dinner, and will probably visit him in the hospital tomorrow-and that means you, me and your grandpa, if Elohim was willing to let us do it. And don't forget to invite your friends and that boy to go with us, if Elohim lets us."

"Mhn," Emuna agreed as she shook her head. Then she and her grandmother headed for the kitchen to assist her grandfather with setting the food up. After they ate their food and prayed their thanks for their food and the boy's father, they got ready for the night.

Once Emuna finished her bedtime hygiene, she put her hygiene products back into her bags and prepared to go to bed. She turned on the television and watched it.

"Good night, Emuna!" Her grandparents yelled from upstairs.

"Oh." Emuna sat up straight.

-Goddammit, I almost forgot to tell 'em my good nights.

"Good night!" Emuna yelled back.

As soon as she was about to lay back down, her phone rang from one of her bags. She curiously turned to her bags and got up from the couch.

-Huh?! I wonder who's callin' me all the sudden?

"Uh, Emuna," her grandfather's voice yelled from upstairs yet again.

"Yes, grandpa?" Emuna yelled back while she dug through one of her bags where her phone was ringing.

"Who's callin' ya?"

Emuna pulled her phone out from her bag and examined its screen, as it said:

CALLING PLIONAY

-Ah! Plionay's callin' me! Awwwe dammit, I almost forgot 'bout callin' her! Damn!

"Emuna? Hello?" Her grandpa impatiently questioned.

Emuna turned to the stairs. "It was my best friend Plionay."

"Oh…"

"Sorry for my failure to answer ya earlier."

"Oh, it's alright. Don't stay up too long now."

"Oh, don't worry, grandpa. I won't."

"Good."

Then she returned to her head to her phone and answered it, placing it in her ear. "Oh, hi, Plionay! Sorry I almost forgot to call ya. How are ya?!...I'm fine. So how was your ministry work in Aigialo comin' along?...Oh, that's great. Mine was too. And we visited the boy's father in the hospital today. It was goin' well until he had a seizure and my friends, the boy and I were forced to leave…Oh, thanks, Plionay. I knew I could count on ya…Uh-huh…Uh-huh…Uh-huh…Alright, good night! I'll call ya tomorrow night."

After Emuna hung up the phone and placed it back into one of her bags, she laid back down on the couch and watched television. She sighed for a moment, thinking about the boy's father at the hospital.

-I hope Elohim healed that man enough for my friends, grandparents, the boy and I to revisit him in the hospital. I wanna see him so many times until he is discharged from the hospital and reunited with the boy and his wife.

When she watched television for a while longer, she was about to close her eyes and go to sleep. Then suddenly something clicked inside her heart that she quickly sat up from the couch. Her eyes expanded while she gasped.

-Oh, man. I also almost forgot!

She frowned when she looked up at the ceiling.

"Dear Elohim, please forgive me for almost forgettin' to perform my personal relationship with you through Bible study," Emuna pleaded before she pulled her Bible out from her bag and read her nightly chapter.

****

Although Elohim saved the boy's father's life through the doctors in the hospital, her grandparents tried to call the hospital to visit the boy's father. Yet the hospital refused to allow any visitor in the room with him, until he was stabilized.

Emuna, her friends, her grandparents and the boy prayed for the boy's father to be stabilized and waited for an appropriate time to visit him. But they still heard no word, no permission from the hospital as of yet however.

Even when a week had gone by, they still heard nothing from that hospital of the boy's father's status. Nothing at all. So one Friday afternoon, Emuna and her friends took a walk in the park with their faces all gloomy all the sudden.

-Oh, gosh. It's been 'bout a week and I still haven't heard from that boy's father as of late.

Then she looked up at the cloudy sky and whispered, "Elohim, when will You allow us to visit the boy's father in the hospital? We waited for a week now. How much longer will we wait to visit him, Elohim? When?"

Zaboulon noticed Emuna looking up at the sky and asked, "Yo, are you alright, Emuna?"

"Huh?" Emuna turned to Zaboulon while Lazarus and Yudia turned to Emuna and Zaboulon. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear ya. Can ya, like, repeat that question?"

"Sure," Zaboulon answered, repeating the same question to her.

"Uh-huh. I'm perfectly fine, Zaboulon," Emuna responded. "Honest."

Zaboulon gave her a skeptical look on his face. "Are ya sure 'bout that? You were lookin' up at the sky all the sudden."

"Yea, I was," Emuna admitted. "I was jus' prayin' to Elohim, that's all."

"Oh? 'Bout what?" Zaboulon asked.

"I was prayin' to Elohim 'bout that hospital visit," Emuna answered.

"Ohhhh…right…" Zaboulon understood when he shook his head.

"Well, don't worry 'bout that, Emuna," Lazarus said.

Yudia shook her head at Lazarus, then she returned her attention to Emuna. "Yea, Lazarus was right. Where's your faith? Whatever happened to persevere, like what you've been tellin' us? You don't wanna sound like a hypocrite now, do ya?"

Emuna smiled out of guilt. "Yea, I guess you guys are right 'bout that. I'm 'bout to loose my faith, which isn't a good thing at all, would it now?"

Her friends smiled back at Emuna. "Yep, ya sure are."

When Yudia scanned her surroundings, she quietly gasped when she saw something. There she saw the same boy sitting on the green metallic bench, looking down at the ground below him, while people walked past him.

She turned back to her friends and pointed her finger at that boy. "Hey, there's that boy from last weekend. Look!"

Once Emuna and her friends investigated what Yudia was pointing at though, they looked at one another, then back at the boy back and forth.

"Alright, let's go visit him," Emuna said with her determined face.

"Got it!" Her friends responded as they ran towards the boy with Emuna.