A College Seeress' Diary

The Shell

Dear Jesus,

I had gone quite a distance when I heard her call my name.

I turned and saw her small reedy hands waving frantically at me.
With the excitement I saw in her eyes, it could be that she was about to tell me that I had won a mega lottery to wonderland or something.

"Hey Shell!" I greeted, as she pranced to me, panting like an exhausted warhorse.
She grabbed my arm and hunched over, gasping and trying to regain her breath.

"You know you didn't have to run, Shell. I was already waiting, anyways," I said.

She raised a trembling hand.
When she straighten and looked at me, her pimpled face was flushed pink. It looked as if she had just gobbled down a whole bunch of chilly pepper. The hyperventilating didn't lessen.

I got concerned, alarmed even.

"Are you alright, Shelly?"

Still gasping, she pointed to her bag.
I knew then that something wasn't right, so I eased her to a nearby bench under a tree.

Few students whisked past, minding their businesses.

"Take it easy," I said, patting her back. "Do you want water?" I said as I started to rummage my bag, hoping I had brought a bottle of water along.
She stopped me with a death grip on my arm, still wheezing, wide-eyed and pointed again to her bag.

I didn't get it yet.

Now, in retrospect, I just want to thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. His all-encompassing knowledge and timely reveals are lifesavers.

'She's having an asthmatic attack,' I heard the Spirit say calmly in my spirit. 'Her Ventolin inhaler is in the second lower zip of her bag.'

Why didn't I sense that? I mean, all the telltale signs were there, glaring.
So much for being a medical student, Ray.

It hit me then, that I had to act fast. I shoved my hand in the exact location you'd mentioned and brought out the white canister. I handed it to her and she hastily and gratefully shoved it into her mouth.
She took deep inhales. Within a few minutes, she calmed down enough to speak.

I was still stumped and mildly alarmed.

"I'm so sorry about that. I haven't had an attack in days. I didn't know I had strained myself that far," she whispered, obviously embarrassed.

"You gave me quite a scare back there. I didn't know you're an asthmatic patient!"

"Oh..." She sniffed. "I have lots of health issues. I'm not just asthmatic, but also a sickler. My mom said I was born prematurely and I had tons of sickness bouts as a child. Nothing I haven't been able to keep in check till now, though. At least there's a painful shot at life for me, so I consider myself lucky," she said with a dry chuckle.

Compassion filled my chest. I somehow figured she must have underlying health issues given the way she looked, but not this much.

She looked a bit sickly, yes, with her spidery frame, her slightly sunken eyes and her ratty hair.
How does this girl cope with all the workload of being an assistant class rep?

I made a mental note to take her to you in prayers.
Maybe that's part of why I've been feeling something off whenever I look at her in the past few days.
I just hope she isn't in danger of any life-threatening challenge that even she isn't aware of.

"Oh Shelly, I'm sorry to hear about that. You just have to be extra careful in order not to trigger it anymore. Besides what got you so worked up that you had to run?"