A Little Girl With a Secret

A Little Girl's Secret

©2014 M. Bradley McCauley

Scrunching up her face, squinting her eyes and curling her lips, Emma was thinking hard during dinner. She had a secret she didn't want to keep, but she promised.

"How come so quiet Emma?" Dad asked, cutting another slice of pizza.

It was Emma's favorite pizza. She had asked her dad to order it. Now she could hardly take a bite.  She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head looking down at the mushroom and pepperoni pizza.

"You barely touched your pizza," her Mom reached over and palmed her hand on Emma's forehead.  "No fever."

Emma shrugged her shoulders again, this time she sighed. "I'm not very hungry."

"Did you have a late snack? You know you aren't supposed to snack after 4:00."

She shook her head.

Her mom stood, reached for her plate, and asked Emma to help clear the table and load the dishwasher. Mom knew that sometimes when she and Emma did things, just the two of them, her pretty 10-year-old would sometimes tell her things she didn't talk about in front of Dad. It was girl talk, things they giggled about and Dad would wonder what was going on.

"Got anything you want to talk about?" Emma's mom asked, handing her a rinsed plate.

Emma thought about it, holding the plate in midair. Should she tell her mom? But she couldn't. She promised her good friend Alaia she would not tell anyone. Now she wished she hadn't promised before Alaia told her the secret. And she certainly wished she hadn't crossed her heart. That sealed a promise.

"Hey, Sweetheart, you going to just hold that dish all night or put it in the dishwasher?" Dad put his arms around her waist and gave her a hug. Looking up at mom, he shrugged his shoulders. They both knew something was going on with Emma. She was never this quiet, and never ate less than three pieces of pizza.

Both Mom and Dad tried during the rest of the evening without pushing Emma too hard and demanding she tells them what was wrong.  After her shower and in her pajamas, Emma seemed more herself and chatted with them. By the time they heard her say her bedtime prayers, she seemed like a very normal Emma.

Before turning out the overhead light, they blew her kisses and watched her cuddle her favorite gray and white dolphin, Toby. They smiled. Maybe they had just thought something was wrong. Maybe Emma was tired of thinking about school.

Emma wasn't thinking about school. She opened her eyes and stared into the darkened room, clutching Toby closer. She curled out her bottom lip, thinking.

I know a promise is sacred.  Especially when you cross your heart. Alaia isn't my best friend like Grace, or some of my other classmates, but she is a friend, and I did promise.

Before she thought any more about it, she drifted into sleep. It wasn't a good dream sleep like her usual ones. In those, she would fly to all sorts of places and talk to animals. In her dreams, Emma could take her dog Blaze and they could go anywhere, even under the ocean and swim with the Mermaids. 

Every morning she loved telling her parents about her dream from the night before. That didn't happen this morning. Emma took her time putting on her school uniform. Her mind was stirring; there were too many thoughts to think about any one of them.

She centered on thinking about the Math test she would have first thing when she got to St. Andrew's Christian School. There

was no need to worry. Emma was good at Math. Kneeling on one knee to tie her shoes, she thought about seeing Alaia on the playground. Maybe she would ask Alaia to let her un-promise. Standing as her Mom called her to breakfast, she felt better. That's what she would do. She would get Alaia to let her un-promise.

She stopped in the hallway on her way to the kitchen. But then who would she tell? Her teacher? Her friend Grace? Squeezing her lips together, Emma hurried into the kitchen. It smelled so good. Mom had made her favorite chocolate chip pancakes with warm Maple Syrup. For a while, Emma would not worry about her friend's secret.

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"Have a great day with lots of fun," Mom called as Emma slowly walked towards the school entrance.

She made a quick turn, waved and moved with the rest of the uniformed kids to get ready to start the school day. She knew she had to think about her Math test and not about Alaia's secret.  During morning recess she would ask her, no she would tell her that she was not going to keep the secret. No, maybe it would be better to ask her first, Emma thought.

She sped through the Math test glancing over at Alaia's empty seat a few times, wondering where she was. This time Emma bit her lip, She was worried. 

Glancing at the clock on the wall above the whiteboard where there was her favorite picture of Jesus, Emma wondered what would Jesus do?  If Peter or one of His other followers made Jesus promise to keep a secret, and if He thought someone should know the secret, what would He do?  Would Jesus break His promise? 

"Pencils down?" Her teacher, Ms. Murray called. "I hope everyone did well. Please pass your tests forward."

During recess after the test, Emma and Grace played kickball with some of their friends.

 "Where's Alaia today?" Grace kicked the ball to one of the players and hurried to Emma at the other side of the playing field.

"I don't know." Emma ran towards the ball, checking to see where she wanted to kick it. She gave it all her right leg would give, almost falling down from the effort.

"Good kick!" Grace ran up to her just as the bell rang for them to go back to class.

"I called her last night," Grace stopped to pull up her sock. "There was no answer."

Pausing a moment, Emma touched Grace's arm. "Did Alaia tell you a secret?"

Grace shook her head. They entered the classroom from the outside door and scurried to their seats.

The rest of the afternoon was busy with studies and art-work. For a little while, Emma stopped worrying about the secret. Except once or twice when she looked up at the picture. Jesus was sitting on a big boulder with little children. Emma remembered hearing the story at Church about having the children come to Him.

At home later, Emma made her decision.  Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch in the living room talking.

"Hey Pumpkin!" Dad smiled. "What's up?"

Emma took a deep breath. "I have something to tell you." Her parents looked at each other then back at her. "Okay!"

"Someone told me a secret. I promised them before they told me that I would never tell her secret. But I think I should tell it."  Emma paused a second or two. "I asked Ms. Murray if anything bad would happen if you broke a promise. She said not if it would keep something bad from happening and as long as it didn't hurt someone."

"She's right, " Mom said as Dad nodded.

"And I thought about what Jesus would do."

"That's always a good idea." Mom smiled, reached out, taking Emma's hand and pulled her closer.

"Alaia's dad hit her mom and made her cry."

"Oh No." Emma's Mom said.

"Alaia is afraid he might hit her too."  Emma's eyes filled with tears.  "She wasn't in school today. I am worried about her."

"Of course you are darling.  How about if I call her mother and invite them to come over this weekend for a cookout?  If I talk to her, maybe I can find out why Alaia wasn't in school.  OK?"

She picked up her cell phone, looked at it and pushed the dial buttons. While Emma and her Dad waited, her Mom got up and walked into the kitchen.

"So, how was your Math test?" Dad asked, distracting her.

"Easy Dad. It was so easy."

In a few more minutes Emma's Mom came back into the room.

"Alaia's mom said she and Alaia would be happy to come for a cookout."

"Just her and her mom?"

"Yes, Emma, just her and her mom. It seems her daddy is going to be living somewhere else from now on. Emma's Mom sat on the couch. "I am sure things will be much better for them now."

"Good." Emma smiled.  "I'm glad I wondered what Jesus would do."

"We are too." Dad smiled.

"When I looked at His picture and I told Him the story in my mind, I knew He would take care of everything. It says in the Bible that Jesus takes care of the little children."

"He sure does Sweetheart!"  Mom and Dad said as they pulled her into a group family hug.  "He sure does."

The End