Three months later, Asher, Esther, and dozens of other volunteers hopped on a plane and set out for Guatemala. It was a long trip, so Asher made sure he got a seat next to Esther during their multiple connecting flights. She didn’t seem to mind very much.
“Wow, your Bible’s so big!” Exclaimed Esther as Asher pulled a leather study Bible out of his backpack. He hadn’t actually read the thing but had made sure to highlight several dozen chapters in the book, that way, it’d look more impressive and christiany.
“Not as big as my desire to help the downtrodden and afflicted,” Asher replied, placing a hand on his heart. Esther’s eyes went wide, and she absentmindedly tugged at her sin gloves. The chick was eating this up!
They arrived in Guatemala and got to work digging wells. It was hot, sweaty work, and they had to get up real early in the morning before the sun got too hot and they all died of heatstroke. Thankfully, Asher had spent the last 15 years of his life getting up at 5:00 AM to go on his morning runs with Alexis, so he was actually kind of used to their draconian work schedule even if he didn’t enjoy it. Speaking of Alexis, Asher wondered how she was doing. He’d seen her several times at school but hadn’t spoken with her. After knowing her intimately for so many years, it’d feel weird starting back from square one. He felt the same way whenever he spotted Sarah walking between classes.
“Put your backs into it, kiddos!” Yelled Youth Pastor Isaac, the sweltering sun beating overhead despite it still being early in the morning. Asher was sweating like a sinner on Sunday, and his slippery hands struggled to grip his shovel. He glared at the youth pastor who had taken it upon himself to ‘supervise’ the digging from beneath the shade of a nearby tree.
“Are you doing alright, Asher?” Asher looked up from the hole he’d been digging to see a very sunburnt Esther holding out a water bottle.
Asher grinned; he tried to think of some witty church analogy, but he was too tired to be charming. “Thanks,” he finally said, taking the bottle from Esther’s hand and greedily downing the water.
“I think it’s really cool you came on this mission trip with us,” said Esther after a moment, not meeting Asher’s eyes. “I used to not think you were that kind of guy.”
“I’m not,” replied Asher with a knowing laugh, “But I was inspired by watching all the kind and generous people in our church, people like you.”
Esther blushed furiously, her cheeks turning redder than her sunburn; Asher’s heart beat a little faster. She was so adorable when she got nervous; she really reminded him of Sarah.
“Rockslide! And this isn’t some kind of cute sermon analogy; get out of there!” Pastor Isaac’s panicked voice rang out across the dirt-strewn field where Asher and the dozen-plus volunteers were still hard at work, digging. Asher felt the ground beneath his feet start to rumble, and from a nearby hill, he spotted dozens of massive boulders rolling directly toward their dig site.
“Crap!” exclaimed Asher, he and all the other workers scrambling out of their holes and towards safety, the boulders mere moments from turning them into pious pancakes. Asher grabbed Esther’s arm and started running, but almost immediately, tripped on a root and slammed face-first into the Earth. Smacking into the ground definitely hurt, but Asher was more disappointed with how uncool he’d just been in front of Esther. As screams filled the air and the rumbling grew more intense, Asher briefly wondered if he should hop back into the void, uncertain if dying a second time would finish him off for good.
“Asher, watch out!” A pair of gloved hands yanked Asher off the ground and tossed him out of the way of the boulders moments before one of the large rocks crashed into him. Asher rolled painfully across the earth, kicking up dust and debris as he went. Finally slowing to a stop, he picked himself up, battered and bruised but alive. Had Esther just saved him?
“Esther? Esther!” The rockslide had kicked up a massive cloud of dust, and Asher struggled to see anything more than a few feet in front of him. Rushing back into the dig site, he thrust his hands out, blindly searching for his future girlfriend. “Esther, can you hear me?!”
After stumbling and nearly falling into several recently dug holes, the dust cleared just enough that Asher was finally able to locate Esther, sprawled out on the ground but breathing. Asher sighed in relief, but that relief only lasted until he got a better look at her legs. “Is it bad?” Grimaced Esther as she tried to sit up, her face white from a cocktail of shock and pain. Asher knelt next to the girl who’d potentially saved his life. Both of her legs were crushed and splayed out at unnatural angles; a frightening amount of blood was pooling around her.
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Seeing her in this state gave Asher a sudden revelation. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about this, but back when he’d been in high school, well, the first time around, Esther had returned home from this very same mission trip, permanently crippled from the waist down and bound to a wheelchair. Asher hadn’t known the whole story, but apparently, while attempting to help one of her fellow volunteers, Esther’s legs had been crushed beyond repair. Asher guessed this rockslide must’ve been the culprit of that lifelong injury.
Staring down at Esther, she looked so small and pathetic, and Asher knew he had to do something. “Don’t worry,” he said, taking her shaking hand in his. “I’m going to fix this.”
XXX
Asher stood atop a hill and surveyed the other churchgoers, busily digging into the hard-packed Earth. It was exactly two minutes before the rockslide triggered, which meant he had 120 seconds to prevent disaster. “Hey, everyone!” He called, voice booming across the flat plain. “Who wants some ice cream?”
The volunteers, sweaty and exhausted from their labor, jumped at the invite. Scrambling out of their holes, they walked over to Asher, staring at him expectantly, and leaving the worksite utterly devoid of people.
“Well?” Asked one of the volunteers after several seconds of Asher not saying anything. “Where is it?”
“I asked if you wanted ice cream,” replied Asher, batting his eyelashes innocently, “I didn’t say I had any.”
The sweaty and tired-looking man scowled; he opened his mouth, most likely about to say something not befitting a man of faith when the Earth began to rumble. Everyone turned, startled, as large boulders rolled down a nearby hill, kicking up smoke and debris as they plowed through the dig site. Everyone was silent for a few moments, the quiet broken by Youth Pastor Isaac. “Woah.” He exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the dig site. “If we’d still been down there, that would’ve rocked our world.” Everyone groaned.
XXX
A few weeks later, Asher and the other volunteers were back on a plane and heading home. They were sweaty, tired, and several degrees more tan than when they’d arrived, but most everyone was satisfied with a job well done. Asher was satisfied, too, but for different reasons. He’d spent a large portion of the mission trip bonding with Esther, and he’d even saved her from being permanently paralyzed. As Asher thought about this, he felt a warm glow in his chest. Asher had never experienced this sensation before and assumed it was just heartburn, but it was actually the satisfaction that came from selflessly giving to another person. Asher decided then and there that even after he left Esther for another woman, he’d be sure to go on this particular mission trip again to ensure she stayed safe…or at least keep her from attending.
“What an amazing trip,” breathed Esther, staring out the plane window back at the receding Guatemalan countryside. “Those wells are going to do so much good for so many people.”
“They sure will,” agreed Asher, sliding back on the mask of a goody-two-shoes church boy, “but no earthly well will ever be as important as the well of life.”
“Amen!” Replied Esther with a vigorous nod of her head. The two of them were silent for a few moments; the only sounds were the rumble of the plane’s engine and the snoring of exhausted volunteers. Esther bit her lip, clearly in intense thought. “Hey, Asher,” she finally asked.
“Yes?”
Another long stretch of silence. “H-have you ever held a girl’s hand before?”
“You mean besides my mom’s?” Replied Asher with a grin.
Esther laughed nervously. She subconsciously tugged at her white sin gloves which after several weeks of digging wells in the Guatemalan countryside had turned a muddy brown. “Well,” she began, “I was wondering–“. She lapsed back into silence, her face becoming cherry-tomato red.
Asher sat up in his seat and leaned towards Esther, there was only about a foot of space between them. “I think I know what you’re gonna say next,” replied Asher quietly as he prepared to spring his trap. “But before we say or do anything we might regret, why don’t we pray about it first?”
That did it. Asher watched as Esther’s face went hard with determination. With a quick flick of the wrist, she yanked off one of her sin gloves and it went flying across the plane’s interior, smacking some random passenger in the face. “Just make it quick!” She squaked, scrunching up her eyes as she held out her exposed hand towards Asher.
Asher flexed his hand and with his years of hand-holding experience, gently slid his fingers into Esther’s, locking them in place. Esther whimpered slightly when their hands made contact, but she didn’t pull away. Asher gave her hand a squeeze, it was warm to the touch, he smiled. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Esther slowly opened her eyes and stared, almost surprised at their intertwined hands. “Wow,” she breathed, her grip tightening around Ashers, “Your hands are really calloused.”
Asher hadn’t been expecting that response. “Well, I have been digging wells for the past three weeks,” he laughed, settling back in his seat. Esther nodded, not saying anything; she continued to stare in awe at their conjoined hands. Asher grinned with self-satisfaction as he closed his eyes and squeezed Esther’s hand again. It had taken a lot of work, but the church girl had been acquired.