Adventures of Lizzie Jane, Chapter 20 (Final Chapter)

Lizzie Jane scurried around trying to get supper ready for Jake. The vegetables were from the canned goods that Aunt Maudie and she had put up from the preceding summer. The ham had to be washed thoroughly and everything had to be seasoned just right.

Just as she was finishing, there came a knock on the door. Lizzie Jane heard Aunt Maudie say, "Come in Jake. Lizzie Jane is in the kitchen."

Lizzie Jane was setting the table just as Jake walked in. Looking up, she smiled a sweet smile and said, "Hello, Jake."

"So, you do know me?" inquired Jake.

"Yep," replied Lizzie Jane proudly. "I got a lot of my memory back."

"A lot? Then you don't remember everything?"

"I remember everything after the time that Big John rescued me and, nothing much before that."

"How about our engagement?"

"Oh, I remember you asking me to marry you and, out of confusion, I remember saying 'yes'."

"Out of confusion? Then you did not mean it?"

"Jake, that is what I wanted to talk to you about. I believe that your proposal is what caused me to faint and lose my memory. Since then, I have seen the outside world and --- well, girls just don't get married at 14 any more -- well, at least, very few."

Jake stood there shocked to some extent. "But, you know I love you," he said in a pleading tone.

"Jake, I love you, too -- but, for marriage --- well, I just don't know. You are a good friend..."

"A good friend is all I am?" asked Jake, his tone turning cooler.

"Please, Jake, understand -- Here, I have fixed supper for you."

"Supper? You expect me to eat supper when the girl I love has just told me that I am just a friend?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that," cried Lizzie Jane, tears beginning to flow from her eyes. "Oh, I don't know what to say! I had it all planned out that we could have supper together and talk this thing over, but..."

"So you planned to let me down easy. Is that it!?"

Lizzie Jane dropped a dish, breaking as it hit the floor, and ran upstairs. She ran into her room, slammed the door, and fell across the bed, sobbing. Why couldn't Jake understand? Why didn't things work out like she had planned? She felt at the moment that she had never been so heartbroken in her life.

Yes, she loved Jake? Why could she not tell him that straight? Now, he is angry. Jake had never said a cross word to her in his life. Now -- oh, everything was going wrong.

Aunt Maudie came into the kitchen and saw Jake sitting by himself and asked, "Where is Lizzie Jane?"

"I am afraid I upset her. I made a big deal about her referring to us as friends. Mrs. Morton, I love that girl with all my heart. To me, she is more than a friend. She is the love of my life," stated Jake in a mournful tone of voice.

"Jake, she is young and just finding out about life. She has been sheltered all her life with a mother who tried to raise Lizzie Jane right after a good-for-nothing man left her with a baby to raise. Lizzie Jane does not remember that, but somewhere in her subconscious, it must be there. There are a lot of things stored up in the back of that girl's mind that we would not imagine."

"I am so sorry, Mrs. Morton. I guess I spoke too harsh and she went upstairs crying."

"I will go and look in on her," offered Aunt Maudie.

Aunt Maudie knocked lightly on the door of Lizzie Jane's bedroom. "Can I come in?" she asked.

"Go away. I can't do anything but hurt the ones I love," came the voice from inside. Aunt Maudie could hear in Lizzie Jane's voice that she was crying.

"Come on, open the door. I want to talk to you. Please."

"No!" screamed Lizzie Jane. "I am no good to anybody. I am just going to kill myself!"

"Don't talk that way, child. You know you don't want to do that."

"Yes, I do. You won't see me alive in the morning."

"Please don't say that! Please!" pleaded Aunt Maudie.

Maudie ran downstairs. "Jake, get Jed's truck and run and get Doc Brown. Maybe he has enough training to talk some sense in that girl. She is threatening to kill herself and I don't think she is kidding. She has never talked that way before."

Maudie got the truck keys out of a desk. Jake grabbed them and ran outside. Aunt Maudie could hear the truck start and tires spinning as Jake left the yard. Meanwhile, she went back upstairs to try to talk some sense into Lizzie Jane's head.

"Come on. Open the door, Lizzie Jane. Right now!" begged Aunt Maudie.

"No, I am getting ready to leave this world," replied Lizzie Jane.

Aunt Maudie begged, "Please open this door. I love you. We all love you. Please, don't do anything to hurt us."

"I have already hurt all of you. I lost my memory and ran away. I hurt Jake tonight. How many more of you am I going to hurt? The best thing is for me to leave this world. You all will get over me in a short time."

Aunt Maudie could hear Lizzie Jane tearing some cloth. What was she doing? Aunt Maudie tried to knock the door in, but was not strong enough. She ran outside to try to find something to burst the door lock.

Doc Brown drove up with Jake right behind him.

"I found him on the road," explained Jake. "When I told him about Lizzie Jane, he came right on ahead of me. Boy, can that man drive -- and I thought I was fast."

"Quick, let's hurry," pleaded Aunt Maudie.

Doc Brown ran up the stairs, which was quite a feat for an old man, with Jake and Aunt Lizzie right behind him. Doc Brown knocked very loudly on the door.

"Lizzie Jane, let us in or we will knock the door down," exclaimed Doc Brown.

There wasn't any sound. Doc Brown called again. Still no sound.

"Come on, Jake, Let's get in there."

Doc Brown and Jake hit the door with their shoulders together and it came open and saw the shock of their life. There was Lizzie Jane with a string of cloth tied around her neck dangling from a light fixture which appeared like it was going to fall.

"Quick, let's get her down," screamed Doc Brown.

Since Lizzie Jane's feet were just off the floor, it wasn't any problem for Jake to cut the cloth rope above Lizzie Jane's head. Doc Brown carefully placed her on the bed, felt her pulse, and took out his stethoscope to listen to her heart.

"Is she ---?" began Aunt Maudie.

"Yes, Maudie -- I hate to say this -- but Lizzie Jane is dead."

 
Conclusion of story --

"Lizzie Jane cannot be dead," cried Aunt Maudie.

Doc Brown tried one last thing even though there didn't seem to be any hope. He took his fist and hit one solid blow to Lizzie Jane's chest. Placing the stethoscope on her chest, he reported, "Her heart has started back." He promptly raised her head, took his finger and moved her tongue around, blew in her face causing her to gasp and she started breathing on her own.

"That is called a precordial thump. I read about it in a recent medical journal last week. Although it is supposed to be used in an observed cardiac arrest --- well, it worked. I moved the tongue around to open the airway. We still need to get her to a hospital quickly, though."

Lizzie Jane looked around, her eyes falling first on Jake, after that she saw the good doctor and Aunt Maudie.

"Jake..." she began.

"Shhh - hush dear, you don't need to talk," said Aunt Maudie.

"Yes, I do!" insisted Lizzie Jane. "I have something to say and it is important. I was not meant to die, so I was sent back."

"Sent back?" asked Aunt Maudie.

"Yes --- sent back. And Jake, I love you and I will marry you."

Jake said, "You told me that the last time you were going to a hospital and you lost your memory."

"This time I ain't going to no hospital and I know what I am saying. Please let me tell you something," insisted Lizzie Jane.

Doc Brown spoke, "You need some rest now -- and you need to go to a hospital for a mental evaluation."

"No, I don't. That is what I want to tell you."

"You are going to the hospital," insisted Jake.

"No, I am NOT going to no hospital."

"Yes, you are. I am bigger than you and I will carry you if necessary."

"And I had to rescue you one time! I am tough and I am okay. So there!!"

"Okay kids," said Doc Brown. "Let's put you on the bed and I will let you talk for just a minute and then we will decide what to do with you."

"Okay, while I was dead, I went to a beautiful place..." began Lizzie Jane.

"You wan't dead enough to go anywhere," said Jake.

"Shut up, husband, and let me talk. Time is nothing in Heaven."

"Heaven?" Doc Brown and Aunt Maudie questioned together.

"Yes, Heaven -- that beautiful place I went to.  I saw a city garnished with all kind of precious jewels and something that looked like a pearl was a gate. Buildings inside the wall were sparkling and shining and looked like gold. The street looked like it was gold, too, and shined so much that it seemed as if you could see through it."

Tears began to fill her eyes as she continued, "and the first person I saw was that little crippled girl who died when I was in the hospital. She ran up to the gate and hugged my neck and thanked me for telling her to go to Jesus. She had the prettiest smile,'

"and the next person I saw was my momma. She was smiling, too, and hugged my neck. I started to go in and momma said I couldn't. I asked why and she said that it was not time for me to die. Oh, the place was so pretty and I wanted to go in so bad, but momma wouldn't let me. She said our heavenly father had a message for me.

"She pointed toward a bright light which I could not look at because it was so bright. It was God. I wondered how could I talk to God when I could not see him. Then a man walked out of the light. He looked like a normal man, except that he was beautiful. I cannot explain that. He walked toward me and said that I could talk to God by talking to him. That was why he came to earth one time as a man, so that people could know God. He showed me his hands and I saw scars -- big scars and he said, 'This is where I was wounded in the house of my friends'.

"He told me the same thing momma had told me many times -- that I had something to do on earth -- that I would be a good wife to a wonderful husband and have children and that I should carry them to church where they could learn about God. He told me that I have a long life ahead of me and God would use me in a marvelous way -- in such a way that I would not believe right now -- that all things that has happened to me was preparing me for that work -- that I was not ready to enter Heaven, but that I was already in the church and will someday enter into the heavenly congregation -- the gathering of His church, symbolized by the golden city which was was seen as a bride prepared for her husband in all her glory.'

"I asked who my husband will be and he said that when I wake up, the man who was prepared to be my husband would be the first person I would see. When I came back, the first person I saw was Jake."

Turning her head to Jake, "So I guess we are destined to be married."

Jake smiled. Lizzie Jane continued, "and I am sorry for what I did. But my attempt at taking my life was for a good reason."

Jake replied, "I am sorry for what I said, too."

Looking at the small group, Lizzie Jane ended with, "so I was sent back. The man with scars in his hands said that Doc Brown would be given the knowledge on what to do to bring me back, but that he would not believe it would work."

"I didn't think it would work," said Doc Brown, "but Maudie was screaming and crying, so I had to try something. You see, you did not have a heart attack. You choked to death."

Aunt Maudie had to say something. "Dear, do you not know who that man was that had the scars in his hands?"

"No, not really. At first, I thought it was Jesus, but doesn't the Bible teach that in Heaven all scars would be done away with?" asked Lizzie Jane.

"That man WAS Jesus. He will keep his scars to show that he died as a sacrifice for us so that we can go to Heaven. The scars is where they nailed his hands to the cross with those big ole nails. When we talk to God, we go through Jesus. The Bible says he is our mediator between us and God. He was a man that others could see and handle, so that we could go to God. No one can see God because of his brightness and that is why you saw the light which blinded you, but Jesus came out of that light because he came out from God and we can speak to God through him. He lived as a man on earth, so he knows how we feel and can feel our hurts and sorrows.'

"The pearls that you saw -- If you remember, there was only one at each gate -- indicating the one way to God is through Christ. Remember, a pearl is only created by an injury to an oyster and eventually death. That is what the scars mean on Jesus -- that he was injured and died on the cross for you."

(Lizzie Jane had seen Jesus in a vision, but not face-to-face and her loss of memory had made some things fuzzy concerning things her mother had taught her about the Bible.)

"So, Doc -- I am well, healthy and a good mind. God did it and he did it perfectly." Lizzie Jane turned toward Jake. "Now I know there will never be anyone but you in my life."

"Wonder how many children we will have?" Jake wondered aloud in a joking manner.

"Oh, I guess about a dozen --- for a start."

 
 
The End-

Don't miss the "Gorilla Island" stories by Starla Anne Lowry. Lizzie Jane's great, great, great granddaughter (Linda) travels through time to the prehistoric island to keep a pomise to George, the small gorilla, that was made by Lizzie Jane.

http://www.fictioneer.org/content/gorilla-island

Also, the westen saga of Lizzie Jane's grandmother (Ruth) who gains an unwanted reputation as a female gunfighter in the Old West.

http://www.fictioneer.org/content/prairies-children-0

And you can catch all three characters (Lizzie Jane, Linda, and Ruth) together in a science fiction adventure as they revisited the prehistoric land searching for documents left behind by Linda and her family.

http://www.fictioneer.org/content/23rd-century-girl-20th-century

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Copyright 2008 by Starla Anne Lowry