Joy Stories

Welcome to our new "Joy Story" feature. A collection of short stories with a sweet message. We hope you enjoy this first in the series!


Sarah's Day

Jake was busy and tired of being so busy, he told Sarah so that morning as he headed out the door to work. Sarah didn't need to look too deeply to see the weariness in his eyes. Jake was dog tired and understandably so, considering the hours he'd been putting in to his new business.

Fortunately he didn't have to travel any farther then out the back door and in to the pole barn where he'd set up shop after being laid off last winter. It still made her shiver when she thought of the financial struggles they'd gone through. Not that they were above water yet, but at least with his own business Jake had a fighting chance of success. And maybe if he got a little more successful, she hoped they'd stop arguing between them about a whole bunch of silly things.

She grabbed the short list of messages she'd written down from the answering machine and headed out to the barn. A small bunch of tomatoes in her tiny garden caught her eye. With luck, she hoped they'd be ripe enough to pick before some big, old insect chomped them.

In the barn, Jake was bent over a metal pipe, measuring the diameter or 'bore' as he called it. Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with homeschooling and housekeeping, the responsibilities she shouldered.

"Hey," she said.

He didn't look up.

"Jim left a message for you. He said the boat leaves at six tonight."

"Like I have time for a joyride," he answered.

"It is summer, Honey."

"Right. And we have two boys to feed. Who's gong to do all this work?"

Certainly not me, she thought.

She ran her palm across one of the dozen or so machines that lined the walls, careful not to pick up any grease on the hem of her sleeve. Jake's work was truly man's work, she thought. It even smelled like man's work. Machine oil was a scent she had always found strangely attracting on Jake, yet for herself she preferred a soft floral.

"I have an idea, Jake."

"What." He made a statement. As in, 'I'm busy, keep it short'.

She didn't let his irritated tone dissuade her. "Well, I can't do your work and I can't decide if you have the time for a boat ride with the guys this evening, though you surely are deserving of it."

The words rolled off her tongue surprisingly smoothly. Since the money troubles started, she had acted like a Mama Bear toward him every time he tried to spend a few hours with his friends. Bowling in the winter. Fishing in the summer. That's all he ever did with his friends and it was never very often, but it still made her feel anxious. Almost resentful.

"Too hot in here," he said, wiping sweat from his brow. "A little air conditioning would be nice if I can ever afford that."

"Did you hear what I said? About the boat ride? You deserving it?," she said, wondering if her words had sounded too rehearsed. She had been practicing her delivery, maybe so hard he wasn't buying it?

"I did hear you and it sounds nice of you to say, but it won't relieve me of the work to be done."

"Okay, whatever you want to do," she said.

"What?" Now he was looking at her. "What did you say?"

"I said whatever you want to do."

"I heard that. What about the hissy-fit part?"

"I'm trying not to do that you, Jake. I know you're working so hard and I know it's been tough, for both of us. And well, if you take the boat ride or not, I made a chocolate cake after you left the house this morning."

"I'm not sure where you're coming from with all this Sarah, but I do like it."

She saw a lightened look in his eyes, like maybe one burden had fallen off his back. She hadn't seen that look on him in a long while. Well, maybe when he came back from a few hour's fishing.

She smiled at him. My husband, my friend. She never doubted in her heart, not even through the tough times they'd been having, that he was the one man she could put her trust in. She suddenly remembered Genesis.

"You're the guy I'm supposed to be a help-meet to," she told him and he answered with a thumbs-up sign.

"There's a piece of cake cut for you. When you're ready for a break, it's waiting."

She walked outside, a feeling of peace settling on her stomach. She headed toward the tomatoes to check them for green caterpillars that didn't belong.

The sky looked so blue, it was a perfect day for a boat ride. Whatever Jake decided to do, Sarah was pleased that through patient understanding, today she had given her husband a gift of joy.