Edwina was heartbroken, and she was furious with her sister.
“How could you?” she screamed.
“What’s wrong?” Celesté asked.
“As if you didn’t know!” Edwina huffed. “You can have any boy you want. Why Calvin?”
“Oh, please.”
Feet stomped and doors slammed. The Cold War wasn’t as frosty as the stalemate between the sisters.
That Monday, Calvin switched his homeroom and English class, and dropped the journalism class. Edwina was relieved to not have to face him each day with the betrayal.
The next day, Edwina came home from school to find her sister on the phone. Celesté was twirling her hair and smiling, but her face fell when she saw Edwina. She ended the call abruptly. Edwina suspected she had been talking to Calvin.
Celesté went out Friday night, but no one came to the house to pick her up. Over the next several weeks, it became a pattern. Edwina threw herself into her studies.
When the acceptance letter from Princeton came that spring, Edwina’s thoughts were more about escaping her past than preparing for her future. While spring brought a thaw to the frozen lands of the north, it had no effect on the brittle coldness between the sisters.
Even though she graduated as Valedictorian, Edwina felt numb. She willed herself to close that chapter in her life and move on to college life. She excelled at Princeton primarily because she was not interested in bonding with other people. She made the Dean’s list her first semester. Her journalism professor praised the edge in her writing.
Celesté had tried to reach out many times over that year, but Edwina did not respond. Celesté sent a wedding invitation, but Edwina threw it in the trash. She didn’t go to the wedding. She told her parents that she couldn’t get away just then with such a workload at school.
Two months later, Edwina was dumbfounded when her mother called with the news. Celesté was in the hospital. It appeared that she might die without a kidney transplant. Neither of their parents had been a satisfactory match, and Celesté’s only hope was her sister.
Edwina was on the next flight home. Only after she boarded the flight did the irony settle over her. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to help Celesté. She didn’t want her sister to die, but how unfair for her sister to get her kidney on top of everything else she’d taken!
When she arrived at the hospital, Edwina was taken to a lab where tests were run. When the nurse told her that the results would take a few hours, Edwina was unsure of what to do with herself. Her parents were in Celesté’s hospital room, but Edwina was sure that Calvin would be there as well. She wasn’t ready to face him or her sister.
As she wandered in search of the cafeteria, she saw the sign for the chapel and felt pulled toward it. Edwina had never been religious. None of her family was, but somehow she felt that she might find some peace and perhaps some clarity in this place.
She stepped inside. It was a surprisingly small room. There were three cushioned pews facing a wooden lectern. Behind the lectern was a backlit stained glass with the picture of a dove carrying a leaf in its mouth. The lighting was dim compared to the fluorescent lights in the corridor.
She sat on the middle pew. Suddenly, she realized that she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do here.
“God, I don’t know if you are there, but if you are, I need to know what to do.”
No answers seemed to come. There was no brilliant flash, no moment of peaceful surrender. Edwina was as conflicted as she’d felt before she’d entered the chapel. With a shrug, she got up to leave. If there was a God, how could He understand what she was going through?
As she turned to leave, she noticed a rack of booklets that she had not seen when she entered. In the exact center was one entitled Freedom through Forgiveness. She slipped it out of the rack and flipped through it. The book was about thirty pages long. On the upper right corner of the front cover was the word FREE. She tucked the book under her arm and stepped out of the little chapel.
Just down the corridor, she found the cafeteria. She purchased a soda and sat down at the table and began to read the booklet. The story was about someone named Joseph. Apparently, his brothers sold him into slavery and Joseph ended up in Egypt.
Edwina found herself identifying with the betrayal of someone who had lived thousands of years ago. Tears streamed down her face as she learned of the many disappointments Joseph had faced. She brightened when she reached the point of the story where Joseph became the most powerful man in Egypt aside from the Pharaoh. She was surprised when Joseph’s brothers came down to Egypt looking for food.
Before she knew it, she was completely engrossed in the story and eager to see how it ended. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and said, “Don’t feel bad, God sent me to Egypt first to preserve your lives,” she felt a lump rise in her throat. She read that Joseph also told his brothers, “Don’t be afraid of me because even though you meant to hurt me, God used what happened so that I would be able to save our family.”
Edwina began to sob quietly, her shoulders heaving with the bitterness that was lodged within her soul. She was startled when she felt a tiny hand on her shoulder. A young teenage girl stood beside her. The girl’s skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and she wore a blue bandana over her bald head.
“I’m sorry I scared you. Are you okay?” the girl asked.
Edwina said, “Yes, thank you.”
“Did the book make you sad?”
“Oh, no. I was already sad. I was hoping the book would make me feel happy. My sister is in the hospital and she’s very sick.”
“I’m sorry about your sister. I’ll say a prayer for her.”
“Thank you,” Edwina said. She couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s compassion.
“You know, if you want to read something that will make you feel better, you should read a Bible. That always makes me feel better.”
“Well, this book is about a story in the Bible.”
“Really? Which story? I know a lot of them.” The girl scooted a chair next to Edwina and sat down.
“It is about someone named Joseph.”
“Oh. I like that story. He always reminds me of Jesus.”
“Why is that?” Edwina asked.
“Well, you know, Joseph was betrayed and mistreated by his brothers, but he forgave them. Jesus was betrayed by one of His disciples and by His own people, but when they hung Jesus on the cross, He asked God to forgive them. We all have sinned, but Jesus died so we can all be forgiven.”
“I think you are a very smart girl. I have a feeling that you are the answer to the only prayer I ever prayed,” Edwina said.
The girl smiled bashfully. Just then, a very tired looking woman walked over to the table. The little girl looked up at her and stood.
“Angel, I’ve been looking for you.” The woman turned to Edwina and said, “I hope she isn’t bothering you.”
“No, ma’am. I think God sent your Angel to me tonight.”
The tired mother patted her daughter on the head and explained that they needed to get Angel back to her room. Angel turned back and waved goodbye to Edwina just before disappearing through the doorway. Just then, the nurse from the lab stepped into the cafeteria and noticed Edwina.
“The results are back. You are a match.”
Edwina smiled, and said, “Perfect timing. Let’s go schedule that surgery.”
