The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

Samantha and I stare at each other in horror, eyes wide with panic. Elsa is leaving on the next train out of Mount Bedford, and there’s no time to tell Grandmary first. We have to go now.

We race to the station, just down the street, huffing and puffing, our lungs burning, by the time we arrive. Elsa sits on a bench, surprised to see us. Once Samantha explains breathlessly, she says it doesn’t matter, it was time to go home anyway. Her mother’s been ill for months, and she’s been saving to help with doctor bills.

Doctor bills. So that’s what the stack of money in her closet was for. I wonder how long it took her to save that much, earning the same dollar a week I do. The thought makes me sick to my stomach, and I can’t meet her eyes.

Samantha, sorry to hear about her mother, asks if she’ll come back to the house first. Grandmary will want to speak with her, especially once she hears what happened. Elsa eyes her with doubt, hesitating, as Samantha adds, sweetly, that we’re sorry for accusing her of stealing.

Elsa nods, then does something I don’t expect: she turns and apologizes to me, too, for accusing me with no real cause. I blush, my face hot with guilt. I was furious about being accused, yet I turned around and did the same to her. Next time, I won’t judge someone so quickly without giving them a chance.

I think of my stepmom and stepsister, whom I’ve barely tried to know, and realize, walking Elsa down the sun-warmed platform steps toward home, that they deserve a chance, too.