Chapter 21
E LLIE
I stare into Henry’s earnest eyes while he waits for my reply.
I’ve waited so long for this apology, and yet, I feel like I’ve already forgiven him. “ Jah , Henry. I can forgive you.”
He sighs in relief. “ Denki .”
Then a thought occurs to me. I was unfair to him by punishing him all this time when he really had no idea why. Jah , it was wrong of him to take my lunch. There’s no denying that. But I could have handled it better. “If you’ll forgive me too for holding a grudge so long.”
“There’s absolutely nothing to forgive. I was a jerk, and I deserved to be loathed. No fourth grader should ever have to go hungry at lunch. I still can’t believe I was that mean back then.” He shakes his head, berating himself.
“That wasn’t a yes.” I say.
“ Nee , it wasn’t. But if you feel like you need to be granted forgiveness, it’s yours. Now and always.”
“Always?”
“ Jah .” He rubs his handsome jaw that has tiny whiskers poking through. “I do wonder about something, though.”
I tilt my head in question.
“Why didn’t you tell the teacher on me? Or your brother?”
“My brother, because I didn’t want to be accused of being a tattletale. And I didn’t tell the teacher because we had a mean substitute teacher, and I didn’t want to be the reason you got paddled.”
“Really?” He quirks a smile. “So, you did like me at least a little bit back then?”
“Full confession. Up until that incident, I may have had a teensy-weensy crush on you.” I slap my hand over my mouth. I can’t believe I just admitted that to Henry Yoder.
“No kidding? Ellie Petersheim was crushing on me ?” He twists a wry smile. “I don’t know if I can believe that.”
I shrug.
“Wow. Ellie Petersheim actually liked me at one point in time. This really is the best day of my life. Especially now that you’ve forgiven me. Which reminds me.” He clears his throat and points his finger in the air. “Ellie Petersheim, I, Henry Yoder, do hereby present you with…your lunch!” He pulls the lid off the roasting pan that is filled with heart-shaped sandwiches, bags of barbeque potato chips, apples, and whoopie pies.
I laugh, but my eyes widen at the abundance. “Why so much?”
“Well, remember the story in the Bible about Zacchaeus? When he discovered that he was wicked and he’d cheated people, he vowed to pay them back fourfold. So, there are four sandwiches, four apples, four bags of chips, and four whoopie pies. All for you.” His grin widens.
I laugh again. “I can’t possibly eat that much. And I thought I counted six?”
“I put two of each in there for me too.” He shrugs.
“I would have shared. It isn’t like I can eat all this.” The gesture is really sweet, though. I lean over and peck him on the cheek. “ Denki , Henry. This is so sweet. And unnecessary. But sweet just the same.”
At that moment, his stomach rumbles and we both chuckle.
“Maybe we should pray, jah ?” He bows his head, and I follow suit.