The Richest Heart

Chapter 43

"Hey Snotty, how good are you at catching?" Julian yelled with a mischievous laugh. Looking startled, the girl turned to face him, but by the time she looked, a hard ball had flown from the bully's hand and hit her on the shoulder. Dorothy's cry of pain was muffled by a roar of laughter that came from Julian and his friends. "Not much good!" the boy sneered. "Now bring it back! It's the least you can do."

Dotty rubbed her aching shoulder, but its pain didn't compare to the feeling of sadness and fear that she felt in her heart. She didn't know what to do. If she obeyed and brought the ball back to the mean boy, there was no telling what he would do next. He probably had an awful prank to play on her as soon as she got close to him. She was just about to stoop down and pick the ball up, but in a second, another hand took it.

"Take it back and stop bothering her," Peter commanded angrily. He gave the ball a toss, forcing himself not to throw it too hard. Dotty saw a fire of hatred glow in Julian's eyes as he caught the ball in his hands. The girl inched closer to her defender and followed Peter far away from the bullies.

She gave him a thankful smile when they got out of Julian's sight.

"Stay away from him, Dotty," Peter said. "He's just gonna keep hurting you if you don't." The boy was fighting his fury to the best of his ability, but he was getting tired of it. As long as Julian kept bullying his friends, it was only right for him to defend them. But, doing that without being mean and vengeful was hard. Dorothy gave Peter an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'll try to do better." Peter's heart softened a little. The girl acted as if it was all her fault, as if she could take the blame for the naughty boy who had been doing her wrong. Peter didn't know how to react to her selflessness. He gave her a slight smile and then opened the lunch his mother had packed him. He expected Dorothy to do the same, but the next time he looked up, she was gone. The only one who came to join him was Simon who sat down as close to his big brother as he dared, looking white faced and nervous. Even Simon, as hot tempered as he was, had become scared of Julian. Today the bully seemed to be in a very mean mood. The only safe place to stay was by Peter. At least Peter was taller than Julian, and when it came to strength, the bully was no match.

By that time, Dorothy was long gone. She had taken Peter's advice seriously and suddenly a bright idea had come to her mind.

"I know a place where Julian won't find me," she told herself with a smile.

Once the schoolhouse was out of view, joy replaced all of Dotty's fears. It had been such a long time since she had gone to her little play house. For a while, she had stayed close to the school, because it had hurt her bare feet to walk on the pebbly ground. But now, the soles of her feet were almost as tough as shoes, and she could go anywhere she wanted.

This was one of the best days to run away to her secret home, because she had something special to eat at her little table. A kind lady had handed her some small plumbs on her way to school.

Dotty had almost reached the big boulders that lay around her playhouse when she started hearing a funny noise. At first, she thought that it sounded like a small creature. But the further she went, the clearer the noise became and she could tell that it was someone crying. The girl's heart filled with pity. Then, it mixed with joy. The sound was coming right from the hollow where she had set her table and her two stone chairs. Could it be that she had a visitor at last? Someone to help?

Dorothy walked under the shade of her cloth canopy and peeked inside of the hollow. At the sound of her footsteps, a little boy gave a start and looked up at her. His blue eyes looked wide with fear, but the minute he saw her, he hid his face in his hands and kept on crying. Feeling full of a motherly kind of love, Dorothy walked up to the child and knelt down beside him.