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Episode 36: Forget Me Not
In this episode we pause to pay a visit to the college that Sarah recently abandoned in favor of her trip to Mexico with Nathan. On this particular day, it seems like it's no coincidence that everyone has a good reason to be thinking of her. --The Author
The sun wasn't even beginning to peek over the eastern horizon as Melissa Stevens climbed down from her top-bunk bed to start getting ready for the day. She glanced at the empty bottom bunk. It had only been a week since her roommate Sarah had abruptly quit school and left for Mexico with her ballplayer boyfriend, and Melissa hadn't gotten used to it yet. In just the couple months they had lived together they had grown to be close friends; it still felt weird and a little empty not having Sarah around. They had texted a few times here and there but it just wasn't the same without their heart-to-heart talks, their fun times together with friends, and even their ever-conflicting sleep schedules. Melissa still felt like she had to tiptoe around in the early mornings, even though she had the room to herself now.
Melissa hadn't been out of bed for more than a minute before she found herself with a case of squeaky, high-pitched hiccups. She had to chuckle; getting the hiccups always made her think of Sarah because since the day they met, hardly a day had passed in which at least one of them didn't get the hiccups. Sarah was typically the one to get them first thing in the morning, though. She always said that meant she was going to keep getting them all day; usually she was right. Either way, unlike Sarah, Melissa could cure her hiccups, so she quickly filled a cup, took a big mouthful of the water, bent over with her head upside-down, and swallowed. It was convenient having an easy hiccup cure; she could hardly imagine having hours-long cases of hiccups like Sarah sometimes did.
Melissa had finished her cup of water, used the restroom, and gotten through half a page of her notes for today's A&P quiz before she realized that she still had the hiccups. "That's *heek* weird," she commented to herself, "Drinking water always c-*hilk* cures them!" She decided she'd try it again as soon as she made it to a good stopping point.
A couple minutes later, she repeated her tried-and-true trick, but to her surprise, the hiccups continued without so much as a pause. Puzzled, she went back to her studying, hiccups and all. She was a pretty focused student, so her sharp, squeaky hiccups only occasionally distracted her from her A&P.
The hour or so before Melissa had to head out for class quickly passed, and as she pulled on her black leggings and comfy gray sweater, she puzzled as to why her hiccups still had not gone away. Before she headed out the door, she took another upside-down gulp of water in hopes that her usually-foolproof cure would be back in working order. No such luck: Melissa went to class with hiccups.
On her way, she sent Sarah a text about her predicament. "I've had the hiccups all morning and my cure doesn't work! What have you done to me??" she joked. She wasn't surprised that she didn't get a reply, but she wondered what Sarah was up to. They had texted the previous afternoon and it sounded like Sarah and Nathan would be heading into Mexico today. What a crazy turn of events! Barely a week ago Sarah was here in college studying her accounting; now she was about to spend a few months in a foreign country where she didn't even speak the language? She didn't understand it, but she could only hope that Sarah and Nathan were happy and safe. And that her hiccups went away soon.
* * * * *
About an hour later, halfway across campus, Mark Vincent headed into accounting class. He felt a little awkward because he'd gotten the hiccups on his walk to class, but he stepped into the classroom as quietly as possible and sat in his usual seat near the front. He had to smile as he remembered how he started sitting up here next to Sarah one morning a few weeks ago when she had one of her many bad cases of hiccups. A loud, wrenching *hic-urk!* melted the smile from his face and he put his hand tightly over his mouth. Each hiccup made his chest feel like it was about to explode. From her seat in the row ahead of Mark, his classmate Charity giggled and turned around to look at him.
"Well hello, Sarah! I mean, Mark..." she teased, her bright blue eyes gleaming.
"Yeah, it's *hup!* me with hiccups today I guess," Mark admitted. The latest hiccup threw his head back and sat him up straight in his chair.
"Oh gosh, did you get some water?" Charity suggested.
"I drank some on the w-*hic-ulk* on the way in but it didn't seem to make a difference."
Charity frowned. "That's not cool. Hopefully they go away quick!"
Mark just nodded as another hiccup threw him sharply back.
"Have you heard from Sarah at all?" Charity asked. "I sure miss seeing her around!"
"She texted me last week," Mark answered. "They were *hic-urk!* still in Louisiana then."
"I wonder if they made it to Mexico yet?"
The conversation stopped as the professor brought the class to order. Mark tried to keep his hiccups down through the first few minutes of class, but it seemed like no matter what he did, most of them still jerked him upright in his seat and escaped from his mouth with a loud, gulpy sound that he imagined had to be very distracting.
After they made it through the morning's quiz, Mark tapped Charity on the shoulder. "I'm going to *hic-cup* get out of here," he told her quietly. "Can you let me know if I miss anything *hup* important?"
"Of course!" Charity whispered back, with a sympathetic look on her face. "Good luck! I'll see you tonight, right?"
"Yeah, definitely!" Mark finished answering just in time before another hiccup hit him, echoing through the classroom as it did.
Back out in the hall, Mark sheepishly headed toward the exit. Near the door, he was surprised to hear a hiccup that wasn't his own. Normally he wouldn't have even noticed, but under the circumstances he wondered if it was someone he knew mimicking him.
To his surprise, he found his classmate Marie sitting sullenly in the corner of the atrium, with her own case of hiccups. "You too?" he asked with a chuckle.
Marie looked up at him with a start. "Oh, hi Mark," she mumbled.
Before Mark could answer, he was rocked by another explosive hiccup.
"Don't make f-*mkk* fun of me!" Marie growled, a dour look on her face.
"I'm not making *hic-ulk* fun of you!" he protested.
The dour look still didn't waver from Marie's face as she commented incredulously, "Really? You have *hmkk* hiccups too?"
Mark nodded emphatically. "Yup." He paused to let another hiccup throw his body back. "Gave up on sitting through class with th-*hic-ulk* with them," he explained.
"Ugh I *hmk*-- I know! I didn't even try, obviously."
"At least yours don't *hic-ulk!* sound like your entire body is imploding," Mark noted wryly.
"I guess you *hmk* have a point there," Marie agreed. "Mine just hurt," she complained. Hers weren't loud or convulsive, but they were rough on her throat.
"Do you want to go for a *hic-ulk* walk or something?" Mark suggested. "If we're going to going to skip class because our *hic-ulk* bodies are making fools of us then we may as well g-*ulk!* get some time outside, right?"
Marie started to get up. "Yeah, I *hmk* guess."
What a sight they were: the tall, lanky nerd and the short, stout Goth girl, both rocking helplessly with hiccups as they walked rather aimlessly across the campus!
"Do you know how *hmk* Sarah is doing?" Marie asked after a few minutes. "Heaven knows if she were here she'd pr-*mmk* probably have the hiccups too."
Mark laughed. "Except she'd be sitting in class as if *hic-ulk* nothing was the matter!"
Marie rolled her eyes. "True story!"
"But yeah, I heard from her last *hic-ulk* week; they were in Louisiana. I'd guess they're probably in M-*hic-ulk* in Mexico by now," he replied. It was still weird to think that Sarah wasn't even in the country any more. Aside from their constant banter in class, he and Sarah had hung out a lot outside of their classes and study sessions. Unlike some girls, Sarah was the kind who was up for anything, always ready for an adventure. Just a couple weeks ago, she had sneaked out of her dorm after curfew - yes, their college still had a curfew, for dormitory students at least - to help him play a prank on a friend. While the prank had gone over hilariously, perhaps the most impressive part was that Sarah somehow managed to sneak out and back into her dormitory, in the middle of the night, all while having a raging case of the hiccups. And not only had she succeeded; she didn't even think twice about trying!
Marie was quiet for a minute. "You know, Sarah's constant hiccups sure were annoying but I really miss her. She's pretty much the only friend I had here. Well, except you, of course!"
Mark smiled. "I was gonna say!"
"But yeah, she was so nice to me after the way I treated her at first. And she always seems so confident and comfortable."
"Oh I know," Mark agreed. "I don't think there's anyone else *hic-ulk* quite like her! Did y'all get pretty close?"
"Well, kind of. We had lunch together several times," Marie explained. "She always made it a point to look for me in the cafeteria. It's not that much but she's still the best friend I've had here. I have a hard time getting to know people, I guess."
"Aww well you should come out with us *hic-ulk* tonight, Charity and I are going bowling with Sarah's roommate Melissa and a f-*hic* few of her friends," Mark invited.
"Oh God, I haven't been bowling since I was like ten! I would suck."
"It doesn't matter if you're *hic-ulk* good at it or not!" he encouraged her.
"I know," she admitted. "We'll see; I'm not much for big groups but I'll think about it."
"Ok just *hic-ulk* just let me know; we'd love to have you. And by the way, I think your hiccups are *hic-urk* gone!" he noted.
Marie stopped, with her hand on her chest. "I think you're right!" she exclaimed with relief.
* * * * *
Dr. Laurie Byrd bustled around her tiny office, collecting the papers and books she would be using for her 11:00 English 101 class. A small, quiet woman approaching retirement age, she was known around campus for the kindness and personal interest she showed her students, most of them freshmen, as well as for her ability to give even the most challenging students an appreciation for the world of writing and literature. "Dr. Byrd's English class was the first time I ever enjoyed writing!" was a common refrain among the sophomores and upperclassmen.
To her surprise, Dr. Byrd today found herself in a most unusual situation. You guessed it: she had the hiccups. Not the slightest sound escaped, but they gave her an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, and each one tossed her head back slightly. Not in all her years of teaching had she ever had the hiccups during a class, but she wondered if today might well be the first time.
Walking slowly down the hall to the classroom with her small but heavy bag of materials, she was stopped by a student who was a few minutes early for class. "Dr. Byrd, would you like me to carry that for you?" he offered.
"Why cer-- certainly dear, thank you," she replied gratefully. Aside from the interruption in her words, her hiccups still made no sound, and the young man didn't seem to notice.
When they arrived at her desk in the classroom, Dr. Byrd thanked him again, once again interrupted by hiccups. "Sorry, I seem to have got-- gotten the hiccups," she apologized.
"Oh you're fine," he assured her. "I hope they go away! Remember that girl who used to be in our class who would always get the hiccups?"
"Yes, Sarah Beloit," Dr. Byrd recalled.
"What happened to her? I haven't seen her in in at least a week," he asked, standing next to his desk as he dug through his book bag.
"She left school rather sud-- suddenly for personal reasons," Dr. Byrd explained vaguely.
"I hope she's ok; she seemed nice," the student said. "Oh no, I think I left my pencil in the classroom upstairs," he suddenly noted. "I'll be right back."
Dr. Byrd stepped out of the classroom for a moment too, figuring that a drink of water might be in order before class began. As she drank she thought about Sarah and her abrupt departure. Most of Sarah's professors had learned of her leaving simply from the withdrawal forms that she had filled out, but she had taken the time to write a letter to Dr. Byrd explaining the reason for her sudden exit and thanking her for her kindness. Before she and Nathan left last Monday, Sarah had stopped by Dr. Byrd's office and given her the letter, along with a long, tearful hug.
Before returning to the classroom, Dr. Byrd instinctively paused, breathing a short prayer. "Oh Father, be with dear Sarah, wherever she and her boyfriend may be. Keep them safe and close to You."
It wasn't until a couple minutes into the class period that Dr. Byrd noticed: her hiccups were gone.
* * * * *
It was Charity's last class of the day - if you could truly call racquetball a "class". She had let one of her friends talk her into taking racquetball class together, even though she had never so much as seen a racquetball in her life. As it turned out, she wasn't a particularly gifted racquetball player, but she loved it anyway. Somehow after a long day, trying to crush a little blue ball into a cement wall felt way more therapeutic than she cared to admit!
Part of racquetball class was comprised of an ongoing tournament among the students, and that's what was on the docket for today. Arriving at the gymnasium, Charity scanned the schedule to see who she was matched up against. "Victor Perez," she read, "In room three." She had seen Victor during their class sessions but had never met him or seen him play. "I wonder how badly I'm going to lose this one?" she laughed as she headed for the racquetball area.
Room three was occupied with a game between two middle-aged gentlemen - faculty members, Charity assumed - and Victor hadn't shown up yet. As she was a few minutes early, she walked up the stairs to the barred windows from which you could look down into the racquetball courts. These guys in her court were seriously good players, so she sat down at their window to watch them finish their game.
Engrossed in watching the two men's crushing serves and strategic volleys, she didn't even notice herself start to hiccup. She'd had at least six or seven intermittent hiccups before she paid attention to what was going on with her breathing. "Oh gosh, not the hiccups!" she mouthed, finally noticing them as they got more consistent and audible. She quickly took as deep a breath as she could and then held it in, plugging her nose with her hand as she continued to watch the action below. One of the men followed the ball to the very front of the room, and swung his racquet back as if to smash it into the front wall, just a foot or two ahead of him. At the last moment, he diverted his swing and instead lightly tapped the ball off to the left, where it barely grazed the front wall and bounced harmlessly away. It scored a point; the other player didn't have a chance.
Charity tended to get a little over-enthusiastic when it came to hitting the ball as hard as possible; clearly there was a place for finesse too! "I've got to tr-*uck* I've got to try that in my game today!" she said to herself excitedly. This Victor kid might not have such an easy go of it after all! A particularly loud hiccup escaped Charity's half-open mouth, and she pressed her hand over her chest in surprise and a little discomfort. Apparently the breath-holding thing hadn't worked?
Taking another deep breath, she held it again. This time she paid attention to what she was doing as she held her breath for as long as she could, finally exhaling with a big sigh. Usually that was enough to stop her hiccups. Before she had a chance to decide if it had worked, she heard footsteps approaching. "Charity?" a voice greeted her.
She turned to see the fit, tanned young man who had come up behind her. "Uh, yeah, that's me! You must be Victor?" she answered, hoping she didn't sound too stupid. This guy was hot.
"Yep," he confirmed. "Ready for some racquetball?"
"I hope so!" she grinned, her usual energetic, carefree personality quickly returning. "Watching these guys is something else, though. They're crazy good!"
"I know, right?" Victor agreed. "Don't worry, I'm not in their league."
Charity laughed. "That's good because I'm not sure I even play the same sport."
As she followed Victor down the stairs, Charity was dismayed to feel herself hiccup again. This one was silent, but she knew they wouldn't stay that way. She took another deep breath and clamped her hand over her nose once again.
Victor turned to look at her. "You ok?" he asked, seeing her odd position.
A basic running-shorts-and-tank-top look, no makeup, hurriedly French-braided hair, and now desperately trying to cure a case of hiccups: clearly this was not Charity's moment for making great first impressions. Releasing her breath, she answered, a little sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry, I've just got th-*huck* got the hiccups. I thought they were gone!"
She was in the middle of her next breath-holding attempt when the two men emerged from the tiny door of the racquetball court. This time she didn't allow herself to be interrupted as the men chatted with Victor. Nonetheless, as soon as she was finally forced to exhale, nearly gasping for breath, she hiccupped again. For some reason this just wasn't working!
"No luck?" Victor asked as the men left.
"Nope," Charity admitted. "I think I'm *hic* stuck with them. But it's all about being as dis-*huck* as distracting as possible, you know!" As they entered the court, she gave it one more try, but this time she even hiccupped in the middle of her breath-holding attempt, so she just gave up on it.
Victor offered to let her serve first, so Charity made her way to the service box near the center of the court. As soon as her next hiccup passed, she bounced the ball and swiftly swung her racquet, propelling the ball against the front of the court and high over both her and Victor's heads.
"Long!" Victor called out, meaning that Charity had to try the serve again.
Charity laughed again. "Sorry, I get a little too *hic* excited sometimes!"
A second try was much more accurate, and she and Victor volleyed the ball around a few times before Victor whiffed on a fast-moving ball, giving Charity the first point.
After that, several points went Victor's way, and before long the score was 7-1. Victor had a way of putting the ball where Charity had to run as far as possible to get to it, and she was soon feeling worn out from all the running around. Her hiccups had grown more violent as she had gotten winded, but she hardly even noticed them as she desperately tried to keep up.
The next volley once again saw Charity running from end to end around the court. After a couple frantic saves, she found herself running to the front of the court to reach a ball that Victor had deftly dropped just in front of the wall. Moments before reaching the ball - and the wall - Charity remembered the play she had noticed between the two faculty members. Just in time, she altered her ever-enthusiastic swing and instead tapped the ball lightly to the side. Victor came charging in from the backcourt, but wasn't nearly in time, and Charity finally had another point.
"Yeeeee-*huck*-es!" Charity shouted gleefully. The wrenching hiccup in the middle of her exclamation echoed around the cement-walled court - as all her hiccups had been doing - and left her and Victor both laughing heartily.
"Nice play!" Victor complimented, still chuckling.
"Th-*huck* Thanks!" Charity replied, grinning broadly.
"But your hiccups are ridiculous!" he groaned. "Seriously Charity, do you want to go get some water?"
Charity giggled, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "I don't think it will *huck* help, but I could use the br-*hic* break!"
The two students left their racquets and the ball in the court and headed for the water fountains. Now that she wasn't running around, Charity realized how bad her hiccups had gotten. "I'm sorry, I *hic* guess my hiccups probably are pretty *hic-ulk* annoying, huh?"
"Can't you hear yourself?" Victor laughed.
Charity blushed a little. "To be hon-*huck* To be honest, I was hardly noticing them while we were *hic* playing."
"It really is a pretty good distraction tactic."
"Didn't seem to be h-*huck* hurting your game," Charity teased.
"I've gotten lucky bounces a few times," he assured her. "You're actually doing great. You're so good at getting to wherever the ball goes!"
"Aww th-*huck* thanks!" Charity beamed.
"Now come on, drink some water already," Victor demanded playfully.
As Charity had expected, the water didn't affect her hiccups, but it was cool and refreshing nonetheless. When she immediately hiccupped after her long drink, she looked helplessly up at Victor. "Sorry, I don't think they're *huck* going anywhere," she admitted.
Victor was sympathetic. "Does this happen a lot?"
Charity shook her head. "No! Not at all! I mean, I do *huck* get hiccups sometimes, but usually I can just *hic-ulk* hold my breath and they go away. *huck* I don't know what's up with them t-*hic* today."
With the water break complete, soon they were back to their game. After just a few minutes, they heard a tapping on the bars of the window above them. Their instructor had been watching. "What the heck is going on in here?" he joked as Charity hiccupped again.
Charity threw up her hands in mock exasperation. "I have the hiccups and he's *huck* beating my butt at racquetball. There may be so-*huck* some connection there."
"How can you beat up on a girl while she's down?" the instructor joked.
The instructor made a few more comments and suggestions to both players before they resumed their game, with him still watching from above. After the next point, the instructor commented, "I see what he means now, Charity. Your hiccups are already annoying me and I'm not even playing."
Charity and Victor both laughed. "They won't go away!" she lamented.
Soon the instructor went on to the next window, and the two finished their game in peace, with Victor coasting to an easy win. However, a second game was more competitive, and they were both breathing heavily by the time they were finished. "Thanks so much f-*hic* for staying for another game, that was awes-*huck* awesome!" Charity gushed as they grabbed their things from the lockers outside the court.
"No problem, I really enjoyed it, too. Want to play again sometime?"
"That would be a lot of *huck* fun!" she said excitedly. "My friend and I are planning on a *huck* practice round tomorrow night, do you want to come too? *hic* Maybe we could get someone else to make it a four pl-*ulk* four player game."
"Tomorrow night works for me," Victor agreed. "One condition though..."
Charity looked at him cluelessly. "What's that?"
"No more hiccups!"
Charity laughed. "I'll try my b-*huck* my best!"
Walking back to her apartment, Charity thought about how much fun the racquetball session had been. Victor seemed like such a nice guy. He had to be pretty nice to want to hang out with her again after having to put up with her hiccups for a solid hour! She wondered why she couldn't get rid of them this time. "I hope I'm not t-*uck* turning into Sarah," she commented aloud. And what a weird coincidence that she and Mark both had them on the same day! "I'll have to tell him about this tonight!" she thought.
* * * * *
As it turned out, Charity didn't have to try very hard to remember to tell Mark about her embarrassing case of hiccups during racquetball practice - because she still had them three long hours later when she met him and a couple other friends to ride together to the bowling alley.
"Now you're the one with hiccups?" he asked as she climbed into the passenger seat of his car.
"Oh my gosh, I have had the *huck* hiccups all afternoon!" she exclaimed. "They were way w-*uck* worse earlier when I was in racquetball practice but still, I've had them since, *hic* well... four o'clock I guess? I've never had this happen *huck* before!"
"Aww Charity, that sounds miserable!"
"Is there something in the *hic* air today?" Charity laughed.
"I don't know but just in case, don't neither of you breathe on me!" teased their friend Quentin from the back seat.
"Were you not able to t-*mk* talk Marie into coming?" Charity asked.
"No, I texted her but she didn't answer. I was hoping she'd come but I guess not," Mark answered.
"That's too *hic-ulk* bad," Charity said with a frown.
Quentin responded to Charity's latest explosive hiccup. "Dang those are loud, girl!"
Charity laughed. "Tell me about it. *hic* I was driving Victor up the wall at racquetball pr-*ulk* practice!"
Quentin didn't reply at first, but instead said something to Mike, who was sitting next to him in the back seat.
"Victor Perez?" Quentin finally responded.
"Yeah, that's *hic* him," Charity confirmed.
"I didn't know you was in class with my man Victor! You know he's coming tonight, right?"
"He is?" Charity asked with surprise - and maybe a tinge of excitement.
Quentin laughed. "Victor is good people, man. You like him, don't you?"
Charity looked back at Quentin. "I j-*hmk* I just met him today!" she objected.
"Ahhh," Quentin waved dismissively. "I can hear it in your voice." He nudged Mike, who was sitting next to him in the back seat. "You can see it on her face too, can't you, Mike?"
"Oh, just written all over it," Mike concurred with a grin.
"Aw come on guys," Charity insisted, "I haven't even known the guy for six hours. Don't go matching us up quite yet!"
Quentin and Mike burst out laughing. Between bellows of laughter, Quentin croaked, "I hope... he brings her a present... for their six-hour anniversary!"
Charity blushed, although she couldn't help but laugh too.
Finally, Mark spoke up from the driver's seat. "Ok, that's enough, boys. I think you did the trick."
"Trick? What trick?" Charity asked, looking bewildered.
Mark just looked at her - for a moment, anyway, before he had to look back at the road. Charity turned to the back seat, but Quentin and Mike just stared at her too.
"What the heck are you guys --" Charity suddenly stopped. "Oh my gosh, you cured my hiccups!" she exclaimed, "How did you even do that?"
Quentin gave Mike a fist-bump. "We gotcha, girl," he said with a grin.
Charity paused for a moment. "But Victor really is coming tonight?" she ventured.
Quentin just laughed.
* * * * *
Victor indeed was coming to bowling night. He and Melissa grew up together, and he usually came along with her and the rest of the gang. To his surprise, as he climbed into the back seat of Melissa's car, it quickly became obvious that Melissa had her own case of the hiccups. "Now you have the hiccups?" he asked.
"Now?" Melissa questioned. "I've had them all *heek* freakin' day! You can bet that went over re-*hmk* really great in class."
"Aww that sucks!" Victor sympathized. "I had them for a few minutes while I was getting ready to go but I guess that was my payback for giving my racquetball partner so much grief over hers earlier! So what did you do to deserve a full day of it?"
Melissa chuckled. "I have no idea! *heek* And you know I always get the hiccups, but I can cu-*hilk* I can cure them, right? Well for some *hmk* reason my cure isn't working at all today! It's so fr-*hmk* so frustrating!"
Charity felt bad when they all got together at their bowling lane and she found out about Melissa's all-day hiccups. "I'm so sorry, Melissa! Here I thought having them during a racquetball game was bad!"
"Oh, it was," Victor corrected her.
"True, at least yours don't sound crazy ridiculous like mine did, Melissa!" Charity pointed out.
"The girl's got a point," Quentin agreed.
"What's the deal with this anyway?" Melissa asked. "Seriously, did every si-*heek* every single one of us get the hiccups today?"
"My classmate Marie did too," Mark informed them, "She texted me after we got her to apologize for not coming and she said that her hiccups had come back!"
"What about you, *hmk* Adrianna?" Melissa asked another friend who had come by herself from work.
"Actually yeah, I had them this morning after I first got up. Just for a few minutes, though. Then poor Alyssa had them all through our first class," she added, referring to her twin sister who hadn't come that evening.
"Hey, I didn't get hiccups," Mike pointed out. "What about you, Quentin?"
Quentin stroked his chin. "I think I hiccupped after lunch. But that's just what happens when you eat like I do! What's it to you, anyway?"
"I don't know," Melissa mused. "It's just kind of *hilk* weird."
"It made me and Alyssa think of Sarah," Adrianna noted.
"I know, me too!" Mark concurred.
"I wonder what she's up to on that crazy trip of hers?" Victor asked.
Mike grinned. "Jinxing all of y'all, apparently. Anyway, are we gonna squeeze in another game?"
"Yeah!" Melissa agreed. "Let's *heek* do it!"
Just before they could start the second game, a pretty young blonde girl wearing a polo shirt and a nametag approached the group. "Hey guys, sorry to interrupt but we've got a bowling league going on tonight and they need this lane just for a few minutes, would y'all mind waiting over by the tables? I promise it will only be a moment!"
"Of course, no problem," Melissa agreed. "I didn't know *heek* - sorry, hiccups! - I didn't know it was league night *hmk* tonight!"
The girl smiled. "It's normally on Tuesdays but we had to move it to tonight because of a power outage."
"I see," Melissa said. "Sorry to *hilk* be in the way!"
"I could go for a snack anyway," Quentin suggested.
Leading the group toward the tables and the snack bar, Melissa was surprised to cross paths with Dr. Byrd, the English professor. "Dr. Byrd! *hilk* I didn't know you were a bowler!" she greeted her.
Dr. Byrd chuckled. "Oh dear, I haven't been bowling since I was a little girl. I'm just here to pick up my nephew from youth bowling league. I wouldn't have come in at all except I had gotten the most persistent case of hiccups on the way over, and I thought some water would help, which it did."
"No way! We were just *hmk* talking about how we've all been getting the hiccups like cra-*hilk* like crazy today!" Melissa exclaimed. "I've had them literally *hmk* all day."
"And I had them for almost four hours this afternoon!" Charity added.
"Do you think it's something in the air?" Adrianna suggested, "Like an allergen, you know?"
"I told you, it's Sarah putting a jinx on you from Mexico," Mike teased.
Dr. Byrd looked thoughtful. "Perhaps it's Providence," she stated.
"Providence?" Quentin repeated quizzically. "I ain't never heard of hiccups being Providence."
"What do you mean?" Mark addressed Dr. Byrd.
"Is there anything that you were impressed with during all these bouts of hiccups?" Dr. Byrd asked.
"Well, Alyssa and I both thought about poor Sarah; you know how she would get the hiccups all the time," Adrianna answered.
"Yeah but she was a freak and liked it," Mike pointed out. "Still, as soon as y'all started talking about it, it reminded me of her, too."
"I thought of her as *hilk* soon as I got them this morning," Melissa agreed. "I knew she would have been *heek* laughing with me the whole time. I really *heek* miss her."
"So you're saying maybe we are supposed to be thinking about her today?" Mark clarified.
"Perhaps," Dr. Byrd said simply.
"Maybe we should say a prayer for her," Charity suggested.
"It certainly couldn't hurt," agreed Dr. Byrd.
It was a rather unusual place for an impromptu prayer meeting, but right there in the middle of the bowling alley, Dr. Byrd and Sarah's friends each said a brief prayer for Sarah and Nathan, wherever their travels might be leading them.
They had hardly said Amen when they were joined by Dr. Byrd's teenaged nephew. "Thanks for coming to pick me up, Aunt Laurie!" he greeted her.
"You're welcome, dear. Are you ready to go?"
"Yep, we got done a few minutes ago," he answered.
"Wait, some girl that works here just *hilk* told me that they needed our lane for the league to use," Melissa objected, a little confused.
Dr. Byrd's nephew shrugged. "I don't know, we had plenty of room. Maybe she meant some other group."
"Well, we'd better be getting home," Dr. Byrd said, looking at her watch, "Thank you all for praying with me."
"Thank you, Dr. Byrd," Charity replied earnestly. "We probably should have thought of praying for Sarah sooner."
While Quentin and Mike got snacks and the rest of the group chatted together by the tables, Melissa wandered back to their bowling lane. No one was around, and the bowling balls she and the others had all been using were still there, just as they had left them after the first game. She looked around in vain for the blonde who had asked them to leave, indirectly leading them to Dr. Byrd. Finally, she went to the front desk.
"Excuse me, I have a question," she addressed the man at the desk.
"Yeah?"
"Some girl who looked like she works here told us they needed our lane for the league, but it's already finished. Is it ok for us to go back to it now?" Melissa asked.
"You should be fine," the man assured her. Then he asked, "You say a girl told you that?"
"Yeah, a little blonde who didn't look like she could have been much over eighteen," Melissa clarified.
The man looked at her curiously.
"No, not me; a different blonde who looks like a little kid!" Melissa laughed. "She had a name tag but I wasn't really paying attention to what it said."
The man chuckled but shook his head. "We don't even have any girls working tonight; just me and Patrick over there. I don't know, maybe one of the league kids was pranking you. You know how kids are these days! But yeah, you're good to go; they're finished for the night."
Melissa smiled at the man. "Thanks! You've been a lot of help." Slowly walking back toward the rest of the group, she quietly said an extra prayer of her own. She also realized that her hiccups were finally gone! It seemed like there could be no way that was just a coincidence.
Her musings were interrupted by Quentin's boisterous laughter. Smiling, she sat down next to him at the table. "All right, what's all this about?" she asked.
Quentin pointed at Mike. "Now he has 'em!"
Melissa looked across the table at Mike, just as his entire body convulsed with a vicious hiccup. "So that's where mine went! I knew you couldn't be left out," she giggled, "You were always the worst teasing Sarah about hers!"
"All I know is, there better be a very *hic-ULK* good reason that Sarah needed us to pray for her!" Mike grumbled.
"I don't know, but I think there is," Melissa assured him confidently. "I really do."