SPIDER WEB

PROLOGUE

Matthew is the doctor at the mission hospital. Dr, Charles is a few years older then he is and is the boss. Dr. Charles started this hospital on the edge of the rain forest and is very proud of his accomplishments.

Mercy is Matthew’s child who is beginning to grow up to adulthood. She is the Queen of the Mercy Tribe.

Julie is the widow of Jedidiah and adoptive mother of Matthew. She believes that Grace is her daughter. The little girl is about four at this time, but she goes to the new parents at the courthouse.

Julie marries Dr. Denny but did not hear her new name. when she finds out she is not happy with it as it is Scotzovicka.

Mercy is the main character in this story.

CHAPTER ONE

Mercy looked up at her Dad as they walked back to their house. “Will Granny be okay?” She had witnessed Julie’s convulsion as the entire group of guests at the wedding had. After the first horror passed, she became frightened for her grandmother. Even the tossing of the bouquet with all the excitement that goes with it could not dispel her fear.

“Did you catch the bouquet?” Matthew asked, avoiding her question. Mercy was fidgeting with a bouquet of flowers he was sure was the one that Julie had carried.
Mercy looked down at the flowers surprised that they hadn’t been mangled in her agitated state. “Rhoda caught them,” she said, “but gave them to me.” She laid them down on a nearby table to keep from destroying them, then picked them up again.

“Let’s go back to the house and you can put the flowers in some water. Don’t you have some homework to do?” Matthew asked, trying to get some time to himself.
“This is Saturday, Dad,” Mercy sounded indignant. “I never have homework on the weekend. Besides, I’m not a baby to be told everything.” She waved the flowers at him.

“Go find something to do.” He shooed her away.
Recognizing that her father was wanting to be alone, she slowly climbed the stairs and went to her room, wandering around it at loose ends. She changed into her pajamas. Although it was winter, Guatemala never really had winter so light cotton PJ’s were the usual night wear. She tried to read a book but couldn’t keep her mind on it so went looking for her dad finally finding him on his knees in Julie’s room. She watched him for a moment before creeping back to her own room.

“It must be bad for Granny,” she said the words out loud, “if Daddy’s on his knees.” She wasn’t to know that it was Matthew’s unnatural love for his mother, although Julie was not his real mother as he was adopted, that had brought him to his knees. He had chosen to go to the room where her perfume still lingered to speak to God about it. After a while he knew he was free and wondered why he hadn’t gone to God before about this problem. He went to his study and wrote a memo to himself. “The Lord is good. He answers prayer.” He knew that he would never forget what God had done for him this day yet he wanted the note where he could see and read it every day. He put it on the mirror over his chest of drawers.

As the days passed, Mercy received no word from her grandmother. She kept pestering her father whether he had heard anything.

“She’s on her honeymoon,” he told her several times. “Quit bothering her with emails She’ll write when she has time.”

“But I feel there’s something wrong.” The girl complained.

“Denny’s a doctor. He’ll take good care of her. You don’t have to worry.” Matthew tried to give some comfort to his daughter but he could see that she was still distressed. “Why don’t you ask Charles if he has heard from Denny?”

Mercy brightened. She had send emails to her uncles but they hadn’t heard from Julie either but said not to worry. Mercy was feeling frustrated that no one was concerned about her beloved Granny. She felt there was every reason to be concerned and couldn’t understand why all the adults seemed unconcerned.

Mercy ran to the hospital but Doctor Charles was doing his rounds. She waited in his office trying to be patient but needed to fidget as teens are want to do. She paced the floor and then went to the doctor’s desk and played with his pens. Rhonda came by and stopped to talk.

“I know what you mean,” Rhonda said, “I often feel the same way when I don’t hear from my mother or sister, thinking that something bad must have happened to Mother. But I’m learning that ‘no news is good news’ so don’t worry so much.”

“Is your mother sick?” Mercy asked, surprised that Rhonda had worries too.

“She is dying with cancer. I don’t know how soon. “ Mercy heard the tears in the older girl’s voice.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” she went to Rhonda and put her arms around her.

Rhonda put a tissue to her eyes, and muttering something about getting back to work was out of the room. Charles entered then anyway which was just as well because if he was delayed much longer, Mercy may have been tempted to look at his computer.

What was there was a long letter from his father, telling of Julie’s condition that to the untrained eye would seem worse than it really was.

“Dr. Charles,” Mercy began, “Have you heard from Denny about my granny? I haven’t heard and I’m getting worried.”

“I heard from my father just today about Ju- your – er – grandmother.” Charles told her. “My father is a doctor who specializes in head traumas. He’s put her in hospital –“

“Hospital!” Mercy nearly shouted. “She’s gonna die, isn’t she?” Mercy started to cry.
“No, child. You didn’t hear all I was telling you. Your Granny will get better. She is in hospital now for some tests and has to lie very still. That is why you’re not hearing from her. And Denny has gone back to Mexico to fix some problem there. It may be several weeks before you hear from your granny but don’t worry, I will let you know if there is something more to tell you.”

“Thank you,” she smiled at Charles. Mercy went back to her father, feeling light-hearted and told him what Dr. Charles had said. “Granny’s going to be all right now, isn’t she?” She asked, sure of his answer.

“She has the best of care and with God looking on, she will be just fine.”

Mercy kept that promise with her for the next three or four day before she started to worry again. “I should be hearing from Granny,” she thought, “or at least getting some word about her.” But with school and all the activities that entailed, several more days past before she voiced her concerns. She waited for her dad to come off duty but before she could ask him, he had the answer.

“Charles heard from his dad again,” he told her. “It seems that they had trouble finding Granny’s laptop but she has it now so you should be getting an email anytime now.” Mercy clapped her hands with joy. She ran to her room to check her emails and sure enough some had come in.

The email from Julie was short. She apologized for not having written sooner saying that she had been asleep most of the time, but was getting better and was allowed up for a short while each day. She would be going ‘home’ wherever that is, Julie had said, but they could send her emails no matter where she was, unless, of course, she were someplace without telephone lines. In fact, she wrote, that she might just get herself a satellite computer. She ended her letter there, but Mercy was happy having heard from her. Matthew, on the other hand, was wishing for more information.

Mercy answered the email, telling her granny how worried she had been, but how happy her letter had made her. She hoped to get more information as her granny improved. She wasn’t to know that her granny was suffering from what the doctor said was selective memory failure. When they took the laptop to her, she remembered how to use it and to type but didn’t remember Mercy or Matthew or any of her children.

The elder Doctor Charles spent a lot of time with Julie, trying to get her to remember her past. He had insisted that she write Mercy even though she didn’t remember but to pretend she did. When Mercy answered, Julie was to ask for a picture. “Ask for just one,” he told Julie. “Say that your computer won’t download more than one.” He didn’t want her to become confused with a lot of pictures.

Mercy happily sent her granny a picture of herself. She chose a recent one where she was in her crown and the dress Julie had given her. The girl mentioned that it was time for the tribal council so had to run.

Mercy wore her crown and dress to the council meeting and everyone stood as she entered. Her dad followed her. Sometimes, Mercy thought her dad was too protective of her but other times she appreciated having him close by. She had asked his advice concerning the laws to be made and they had talked late into the night about them before coming to an agreement. She hoped the tribe’s approval wouldn’t take as long.

Matthew called the meeting to order and after a short prayer turned the meeting over to Mercy.

“We talked of making new laws,” she said, “but I think it best if we follow what God has given us and the laws of the country in which we live. So being Christians you will follow God’s laws then you are also members of the Mercy Tribe and must do as they say and finally you are citizens of Guatemala so must follow the laws of this country.”

“If it please the queen, may I ask a question?” Pepee stood up and asked. Mercy gave him permission so he continued. “Where can we get a book so we can learn all these laws? If we don’t know them, we may be doing something bad.”

“The laws of God you learn at your Bible studies and the main ones are the same as for this country. No murder, no stealing, no fighting among ourselves and no adultery. The laws of this country are very many and it takes many books to tell of them but as long as you follow God’s plan of love, you will not break any of the main laws of the country. There are a few laws I can tell you about. One is about driving a car, as one has to get a license and pass a test. Another is about weddings. Only licensed pastors can perform a wedding and-”

Tee jumped up interrupting Mercy, “Am I not married? We didn’t have the preacher say the words but the words were said.”

“I’m sure that in God’s sight you are married but probably not by the laws of the country. You would be wise to talk to the pastor about this. As Christians we should always strive to live within the laws of our country.”

“What are the new laws you are going to give us?” Manilee asked. This time she was careful to have her dress closed when she stood to speak although the baby in her arms was pulling at her clothes wanting to suckle.

“I’ve decided there will be no new laws, except for the one I gave you. That is your queen does not have to marry a man from the tribe.” Mercy told her. “However I have decided the tribe should vote for a Prime Minister. This can be either a man or a woman and will be a helper for me. Every four years you will vote again, either for the same person or someone new. Now, if there are no more questions I will close this meeting. We will meet next month and I want at least three names suggested for Prime Minister at the next meeting.. My dad will teach you about voting when the time comes.

“I almost forgot. I brought you some cookies I made.” Mercy took her crown off. “After the prayer, you may come get them and we can visit as friends.” However, she found that they came for the cookies but none wanted to stay and visit as she had expected. Turning to her dad, she asked if the people were angry with her.

“Angry is too strong a word,” he answered. “They are more likely to be overwhelmed with the thought of voting.”

She hoped it were true. She hadn’t wanted to have a Prime Minister but Matthew had insisted it would be a good plan to have one. She hoped that he was right and wondered now if she should have mentioned it. But it was too late. She had told them to have names for her the next month and they would go forward with choosing a Prime Minister. She wondered who would be chosen and hoped it wouldn’t be Manilee.

Although Mercy considered this one to be her friend, she didn’t think of her as being very brilliant. She would have liked to appoint a Prime Minister to her own liking and it would have been her father but he had insisted the tribe must learn to vote and do the choosing themselves. She begrudgingly allowed him to persuade her to do it his way. Now she wasn’t sure.

“SPIDER WEB”

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