He Slipped Away

J.M. Harris

Description

Once youthful, the days of old have moved to the present. She laid with the beauty of tender wrinkles and silvery hairs combed into its rightful place, rattling on about the concerning things of life. Her head turned as she focused. “What happened to my baby boy?” Dorothy Sutton whispers to her granddaughter Sheba. Words which she once held tight in secrecy, as come forth. She never wanted this to happen. As old memories never fade, even as new ones do, she has revealed things not forgotten. Living a richly rewarded life at the golden age of ninety-seven and has six months to live. Dorothy has shielded details concerning her past, as she saw no reason in digging up what she once left behind.
Faith, love, and courage have been the foundation of her entire life. Her plans are to continue living the same till the end. Sheba encourages story time on what she knows, her past, to bring comfort to her in the present. In recording the events of yesterday, she learns of a secret her granny has held onto for seventy-three years. She did birthed twins, but only brought home one. One, a girl who was sickly at birth and survived only to pass away at thirty-two years of age, the other a boy. How could she hold on to something that had caused much pain? Without knowing, she may have given the keys to retrieve answers for the future. Together, these ladies will continue searching for miracles, signs, and wonders. Share the journey of Dorothy Sutton as God’s plan reveals missing pieces of a puzzle to find out what happened to her baby boy as ‘He Slipped Away’.

Sujets

• Youthfulness
• Relationship
• Chance
• Harris
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 22 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369401866
• Langue: English

Extrait

HE SLIPPED AWAY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
J.M. Harris

 
Copyright © 2023 by J.M. Harris.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023911619
ISBN:
Hardcover
979-8-3694-0188-0
 
Softcover
979-8-3694-0187-3
 
eBook
979-8-3694-0186-6
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 06/22/2023
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
853209
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
 
She Walked through the Shadows
Mustard Seed Power
Gaining Honor
Refuge and Strength
Break of Day
Dignity and Strength
Witnessing the Generations
No One Noticed
Silver Strands Grew in Wisdom
The Journey
Worthy of Respect
Blessed for She Believed
Her Children Arise
Psalms and Hymns
Greatly Multiplied
Walking in the Shadows
She Who Fears
Valued above Pearls
The Gift of Winkles
Kindly Teaching Tongues
Building Houses
Golden Treasures
The Days to Come
Delivered from Fears
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is dedicated to El Emet—my God of Truth, who has always been faithful and always will. The lessons He has taught me I can never repay, but I will live the best I can according to His Word. I will praise Him all the days of my life, for He is amazing in all His ways. In the name of Jesus. Halleluiah, Amen.
For the key women in my life. With the uprising of Godly elderly woman, the world will become a better place. Our younger generation sees them as an example of great wisdom. While no one is perfect except Jesus Christ. Strong Godly elders leads the younger generation to the Word of the Lord and reveals the fruits of being obedient.
Bible woman elders:
Mary – Luke 1:28, Eunice and Lois – 2 Timothy 3:15, Naomi and Ruth – The Book of Ruth, Anna – Luke 1:1–2:40, Elizabeth – Luke 1:8–12
My Granny:
Dorothy Sutton–Richardson – A true Proverb 31 woman who held strong in the Word. I only saw her cry one time, and it truly was her lowest. Even in dementia, she never forgot the Lord. May all women find their strength in our God Almighty, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
My Mom: Mareca D. Mc Elhannon–Rayford – Who loved me greatly. She passed when I was young and knew the Lord. Thank you for me. I miss and love her greatly.
My great-grandma, Big Momma, Annie Pearl Sutton who passed before I was born. She showed me her strength through stories and the way I saw her children live their lives. What a woman to follow in her paths.
My Family – May God continue to shed His grace upon us:
My sons: John A. Stokes II, Sean A. Stokes, John W. Dorsey
Jacob M. Harris, Jamal K. Johnson, & My godson- Wysdom Hickman
Grandbabies:Nathan and Katelynn Stokes
Special Thanks
Lori, Jeff, and William Eummer– With Love
SHE WALKED THROUGH THE SHADOWS

Her eyes had finally seen this day. Swiftly, at a moment’s time, just like this, it happened. Death was calling her, and she was ready to answer.
“I can hear them,” she said.
“You can?” I replied.
“What you say? I can’t hear you,” she answered.
My lips smacked as I looked at her staring blankly into space from her bed. Her soft hair stood straight, like someone had scared her. Her wrists were cuffed to the bed like a prisoner, yet she held the rails tight, with her overly long nails wedged into her palms. Her skin was tender, hanging gracefully from her arms. I could see her fragile veins. I placed my hand over hers, and she looked toward me.
“I’m not surprised the end has come, nor am I afraid,” she said.
“Why didnyou say that, Granny?”
“I tell ya, I can hear them over there talking.”
“How do you feel right now? Any pain?” I replied.
“What you say?”
“How can you hear them? You can’t hear me?”
“What?” as she scrunched her face for me to repeat.
“Oh boy,” I whispered.
The doctors continued in their circle, with pencils and notepads, mumbling their various ideas about the things that were to take her away. None of them sought to see how she felt, nor did they care.
“Don’t they see I’m right here? They got so much to say. Why can’t they just say it to me?” she said.
“What are they saying?”
She wrestled in the bed, jerking the bars to turn away from the question. “Granny, do you know what they are saying?” I whispered in her ear.
“Well, they say an old lady is about to take a new journey into a place beyond here.”
“What does that mean?”
“Shoot, girl, you act like you don’t know nothing. I’m about to leave on away from here! Check out, gone on away up yonder . . . die!”
“No, that’s not true. I pray not.”
She relaxed. “I’m afraid so.”
I took in a deep breath. “Let’s wait and see. Don’t want you worried needlessly.”
“You didn’t hear them say I got malnutrition, sepsis, pneumonia, and internal bleeding? Too many things going on with me to name. Instead of having your face piled up at me, listen, they are right there,” bobbing her head their way.
“I’m not sure they said that, thinking you might make some of these things up.” I patted her shoulder.
“What? Can’t hear you, you are talking too low, child.”
“Never mind, Granny. Just relax.”
“Well, I’ve had a long life. Ninety-seven years ain’t bad. I put myself into the knowing that everything I bound on earth was about to meet me in the dimension my daddy promised me. The truth is about to set me free, and I’m ready,” as she held her head high.
“I’m so thankful for you.”
“Well, I hadn’t planned on living this long. Should have been long gone. Thank you, Lord, who saw fit for me to be here.”
Finally, the breaking of the meeting sent the head doctor to her bedside. She held my hand as he informed us she had little life left and was shocked that she was still here. They had done all they could and were sorry.
“Excuse me, what is she diagnosed with?”
“Well . . . malnutrition, sepsis, pneumonia, internal bleeding, but the good news is she tested negative for COVID-19. We stopped the bleeding for now. Her pneumonia still has some draining to do. The medication will handle that, and . . . her body is just not absorbing food anymore. Can you hear the gabbling in her stomach?”
“It’s been like that for a while. We believed it to be gas.”
“Well . . . with everything going on, I wish we could give a brighter outcome. We’re sending her home to hospice.”
Looking over at her, I believed she could hear us too, or was she focusing on the doctors across the room? She seemed frozen with sadness, something I’m not accustomed to from her. I wandered my eyes to the area in which the other doctors stood, guessing whom she listened to. Her hearing hasn’t been good in years.
“I understand. When can I go home?” she said firmly.
“Tomorrow. We are setting up hospice and family to care for you.”
“That’s fine. Just let me know when I’ll be ready.”
“Calm down, Granny,” as I patted her shoulder.
He smiled.” You’re a strong young lady. Not everybody gets to see ninety-seven years in this baffling world.”
“I imagine that’s true. Where is my granddaughter? She’s picking me up. Is that correct?”
“What’s her name?”
“Well . . . I reckon it be Sheba?”
I laughed. “I’m right here, Granny, standing behind you.”
“You are correct. For that, she gets to spend some time with you, okay?” the doctor said.
“That will be fine,” she said as she pulled the covers toward her neck.
“Get some rest.”
“Where’s my purse? I can’t think too good without it,” she said.
“Hey, what’s your name?” the doctor asked.
“Dorothy, Dorothy Sutton.”
“What a nice name you have.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be back. Sit tight.”
As we walked out together, the doctor explained that he distracted her from the purse issue because it was causing her to have anxiety. They had been dealing with her and the purse issue but felt it was not feasible to have her restraints taken off. “Maybe you can just place the purse beside her on the nightstand in her view? Trust me, she will not settle down without it,” I asked.
“We tried. Unfortunately, it becomes an issue of her wanting to play with the things in it. It’s not a good idea.”
“I understand. But I’m here to warn you, that purse has a powerful weapon in it that makes her like that.”
He stopped walking. “Like what?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face as he turned my way.
“Her Bible, King James version, and her only deceased daughter’s driver’s license, gum, and peppermints,” I said.
His face brightened up with a slight chuckle, which he cuffed with his hands. “That’s what we’ve been battling with? A Bible? Man, I thought millions of dollars were inside that purse.”
“To her, it’s everything. Others, not so. Not sure many would