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“I
remember the day our school performed a Living Rosary,” Grandma Bea said.
“Oh, no,” thought Eddie. "Another one of Grandma’s stories from a long time ago."
Eddie was staying with Grandma while his parents
were away for the week-end. It was only ten o’clock Saturday morning, and
he was already bored.
He’d brought his skateboard with him, but
it was raining, so that was out. And his friend, Marco, lived far from Grandma’s
house, so that wouldn’t work, either.
“We
were arranged by class in a big circle, on the grassy area of the football stadium,” Grandma said.
Eddie sighed. If
he could watch TV or play computer games, that would make the time go by faster. But
Grandma didn’t want the TV on during the day. And there was only one game
on her computer, Spider Solitaire. Big deal.
“The
students in each class,” she continued, “wore a blouse or shirt in an assigned color: red, brown, yellow, green,
and of course, blue, Mary’s color. We represented the Hail Marys in each
decade. Special students wore white to represent the Our Fathers.”
“Uh
huh,” Eddie said, scratching his head.
“Anyway,”
Grandma said, “with all those students, and the people in the stands, saying the rosary, it was very impressive. Do you remember when I taught you to say the rosary?”
Eddie
nodded. Grandma had given him a rosary and taught him the prayers, but he had
no idea where that rosary was now.
“Um, Grandma,” he said,
“could I play Spider
Solitaire now?”
“Sure,” Grandma answered, but Eddie could
tell she was disappointed. How would he ever get through the week-end?
He’d played a few games when he heard the phone
ringing and Grandma Bea answering it. Then she came into the computer room.
“Eddie,”
she said, “that was Elissa, Marco’s sister. Marco’s in the
hospital. Seems he talked his dad into letting him go outside to ride his bike. But he skidded on the wet pavement, hit a tree and was thrown into the street.”
“Will he be okay?” Eddie squeaked out.
“Elissa
mentioned a concussion and a broken shoulder. He’s
in surgery right now.”
Eddie put his head down.
“Tell you what,” Grandma said. “After Mass tomorrow, we’ll go to the hospital and see him.”
Eddie worried about Marco all night long. He
wished he had his rosary right now.
At the hospital, Eddie and Grandma took the elevator to Marco’s
room and stopped at the doorway.
Marco was sleeping. His head
was wrapped in white bandages, and one bandaged arm was strapped to a wooden board. The
other arm was hanging over the side of the bed.
“He almost looks like a cross,” Eddie thought.
Four people were sitting around the bed with rosaries in their hands. Marco’s dad had on a brown shirt, his mom was wearing a green blouse, Elissa, a yellow
sweater, and Marco’s Grandma Carmen had a red shawl over her shoulders. One chair
was empty. Eddie looked down at the blue sweater he was wearing.
“Grandma,” he whispered, “do you have a rosary with
you?”
“Always,” Grandma Bea answered. She handed Eddie her rosary.
He slipped into the empty chair. This
was a Living Rosary, he thought, just like Grandma had talked about. He was the final
part. But would he know the prayers?
Then Grandma Carmen began saying, “Hail Mary,
full of grace...” and Eddie
knew everything was okay. He
remembered the
prayers. He was sure Marco would be
okay, too. And he’d look for that rosary as soon as he
got home.
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