The Richest Heart

Chapter 31

The sound of a loud, hoarse cough made it hard for Dorothy to study. She wriggled around in her chair, peering through her glasses and trying to focus on her writing. At last, she looked up with a feeling of concern.

"Poor Julian," she thought to herself. "He's had a cold for days now! I wish he would get better." Julian hadn't been nice at all to Dotty, and she was scared to death of him, but she didn't like to see people suffer. "I wish that Julian wasn't such a bad boy. I wonder what makes him so mean." None of the other children asked themselves questions like that. They had no hope or care for the evil boy. Most of them just wanted revenge. But all Dorothy wanted was to see Julian change his heart and become a kinder person.

That morning, Dotty could hardly wait for lunch time to come. As usual, no one would want her to play with them. And, without Emiline, she really wouldn't have anyone to talk to. But she didn't mind that today. Today she had packed a big, tattered sack full of old things that her father had given her. There was a large, thin sheet, a ratty, old cushion, and a grimy rug. To anyone else, they would have looked

like trash, but Dorothy thought they were wonderful.

As soon as the clock struck twelve, the girl left her desk in a hurry, grabbed her sack and headed toward the little playhouse she had made by the creek. She wanted to run, but that was almost impossible now. Her shoes were looking shabbier and shabbier every day. But, it wasn't long at all before she was standing in front of her little, stone table with a glittering smile. Dorothy's mind dreamed and planned for several minutes. Then, she dug into her sack and got to work.

"My house is going to be so beautiful!" she giggled to herself. With excitement and joy, she unfolded the frayed sheet and tucked one corner of it into a crevice of the huge rocks that surrounded her table. Then she ran to another corner and did the same. She tied the other two corners to some nearby saplings. It made a wonderful, shady canopy over her head.

"There!" she exclaimed. "Now my house is even bigger! And I can make a comfy bed and a living room too!" Her plans were endless and her joy was always growing. A pile of tree boughs and ferns made a soft bed, and she used the cushion her father had given her as a pillow. Then she put the rug outside of her canopy as a welcoming sign to anyone who needed a place to stay.

As she finished, Dorothy let out a dreamy sigh and sat down at her table to eat her lunch.

"Now, if only someone would come and visit me!" she thought wishfully. "Maybe someone who's hungry, or someone who doesn't have a home. I would have lots to share." Dotty paused and looked at her food. For a second, she doubted the words she had just said. Really the girl didn't have anything to share. Her meals were just barely large enough to keep her tummy filled each day. For a while, she had hoped that her garden would grow lots of vegetables for her and her father to eat. But, even though Peter had tried to fix her fence, it had broken again, and the deer had been helping themselves to her garden. Still, she loved the idea of helping others so much that her small dish of turnips and greens seemed big enough to feed an army. "After all," she reasoned, "Jesus fed five thousand people with just a few loaves of bread and two small fish. Someday, if I can share with someone, I know there will be enough."

Dotty sucked the last bit of turnips off of her fingers and left her playhouse feeling very proud and happy. She didn't know how or when, but someday, she knew that she would be able to share that lovely place with someone. "Emma will have more time when she gets home," she thought, walking back to the school grounds. "Then I'll be able to show her what I've done!"

The sound of many footsteps thundered through the air as the children tromped into the schoolhouse again. Lunch was over and Dotty had come back just in time. She walked as quickly as she could, watching her classmates disappearing through the front door. But, coming closer and closer, she noticed that there was one child who hadn't moved a muscle or even taken a step toward the schoolhouse. He was sitting on the stair steps, resting his face in his hands. The smile Dorothy wore on her face didn't fade away, but it became gentler and more loving as she approached him.