Adele's Stories

I had never worked with another person before. I came from a village where everyone was constantly at odds with each other. Everyone was only focused on themselves, no one cared about anyone else. But then He came. He showed us how selfish we had been, how we can only prosper if we work together. That being unified honors our Father. Everyone knew about the Father. The one who created us. But we didn’t know how much we had dishonored the one who made us. So now we are trying to make it better. But it wasn’t easy.   

I was assigned to work with a boy. A boy. Boys and girls rarely ever interacted together much less worked together. The boy was roughly my age, maybe a year or two older. He had black curly hair and bright green eyes. I might have thought him handsome if I didn’t hate him so much. We were tasked to fix up an old daycare so we could start using it again. It was just us two versus a whole building. The roof had plenty of holes, the walls were crumbling and the whole thing could use a new coat of paint. Maybe a few coats. 

I stood next to the boy, Landon, he said his name was, as we studied the building. “I’ll start on the roof while you begin clearing the debris out of the rooms.” He commanded. 

“Why should I clear the debris? Why can’t you?” 

“It’s easier than fixing the roof. Do you really want to hammer on the roof all day while the sun pours down onto your back heating you like a sauna?” 

Of course I didn’t. I just didn’t want him to think he was in charge. I huffed and stormed into the building leaving him to ascend the roof on his own. It wasn’t long before I could hear him hammering away, fixing the holes on the roof. I looked around the entryway and sighed heavily. There was so much debris from the walls, the roof, and the things that had been left behind. Not to mention the thick layer of dirt that coated everything. 

I took a deep, encouraging breath and rolled up my sleeves. I filled my arms with junk until I could carry no more and made my way back outside. I started a pile by the side of the house that I planned to take to the dump at the end of the day. We worked silently, neither of us acknowledging the other. By the end of the day I had the entryway cleared out. I planned to clear out the rest of the room before doing a full dusting of all the rooms. 

I watched Landon climb down the roof as the sun set behind him. He had also rolled up his sleeves and I could almost see through his sweat soaked shirt. I turned my gaze back toward the roof. He seemed to have gotten a good chunk of it done. He came to stand beside me and we studied the building again together. It barely looked like it had ever been touched. We still had a long way to go.   

I sighed and turned back to my trash pile. I began filling my arms and when I turned I saw Landon doing the same. “What are you doing?” I was shocked. He grunted.

“Helping you. That’s the whole point of this isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for an answer before turning away from me. I stood frozen for a second before following him to the dump. With the two of us it didn’t take long to drop off all the debris. We barely acknowledged each other as we went our separate ways home. 

The next day we set to our tasks without barely a glance at each other. I spent my day clearing out one of the rooms while I listened to Landon hammering away on the roof. I was starting to get used to the sound. When lunch time arrived I made my way outside with my basket hanging from my arm. 

I took a deep steadying breath before calling up to the roof. “I have some food.  If you want some.” I couldn’t see Landon from his position on the roof and I was glad of it. After my declaration the hammering stopped. It was silent for a moment and then I saw Landon climbing down. He approached me slowly and we sat down on the grass. I divided the food and we ate in silence. At the end of the day he helped me take away the debris again. 

We settled into a steady routine. He hammered away while I cleared the rooms, I brought us lunch, and he helped me bring the debris to the dump at the end of the day. The sound of his hammering had become almost soothing, and I was getting quite used to being around him. We weren’t friends by any means, but we didn’t hate each other either.  

By the time Landon had finished the roof I had cleared away the last room. “I suppose I’ll have to come inside and fix the walls now.” He rubbed the back of his neck and studied the building. I nodded. 

“I’ll have to dust and sweep the rooms first.” Landon nodded and looked around awkwardly. I smirked. “You know, if you helped we would be done faster and you could get to the walls sooner.” 

Landon’s head shot towards me and I was hard pressed to suppress a laugh when I saw the look on his face. Catching on, Landon smiled. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll help you with the entryway and once that’s all done I’ll start on the walls in there while you continue on to the next room and once that room’s done I’ll start on the walls there and so on.” He stuck out his hand. 

“Deal.” I shook his hand and we both smiled. I led us inside and handed him a broom. “You can sweep the floors while I begin dusting.” He took the broom tentatively and he looked at it like he’d never seen a broom before. “You do know how to sweep, don’t you?” He puffed out his chest. 

“Of course I do.” He turned away from me and began to sweep. I chuckled softly to myself then began my dusting. We worked quietly for a little while before Landon started up a conversation. He was surprisingly easy to talk to and we were soon chatting and laughing like old friends. 

As the days went on, I found myself looking forward to seeing him and talking with him. His constant presence became a comfort to me and it felt weird when we were apart. I think he began feeling it too, because he started walking me home everyday. When I finally finished cleaning the last room I went and sat on the floor of the room Landon was working on. He welcomed my presence and we continued talking.

Less than a day later all the rooms were finished. “I suppose now all that’s left is to paint.” Landon said. I nodded in agreement. The next day the painting began. It was hard to talk while we painted as we both were trying to cover our mouths to avoid the paint fumes. But sometimes we didn’t need to talk. It was enough just being together. 

I realized I was starting to dread the day when our project was finished. What would happen to us then? Would we ever see each other again? We worked so well together and I knew I would miss talking with him. Truthfully I would just miss him. But eventually that fateful day came.

 Nearly the whole town showed up for the opening of the new daycare. Everyone either brought a toy or a piece of furniture for the place. There was lots of talking and laughing as people worked together to get the rooms ready for children. The rooms were filled with people and children were running around playing. Plenty of people tried to stop me and talk with me, but there was only one person I wanted to talk with at the moment. 

I searched the whole building until I found him outside, playing with a group of young children. My heart melted at the sight. When he saw me he came over and took my hand in his. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. 

“What do we do now? I don’t want this to end.” I didn’t mean the work at the daycare. But he knew that. He smiled and leaned in to whisper in my ear, “It doesn’t have to.”

Our wedding took place in the spring. We were surrounded by flowers and the sun shone brightly on us. But I only cared about the man before me. The man I would spend the rest of my life with as we became one under God.