What a Miracle Looks Like

“Daddy,” a little girl with golden curls coming from beneath a neat blue winter bonnet said as she came around the back of the flat bed wagon and stood by the large wooden wheel. “Can I go into town with you?”1

The large framed man known in these parts as “Big Jake” looked down at his little girl as he threw the reigns up onto the seat of the wagon behind the enormous aging mule to which he had just hitched. He smiled as he looked onto the face of his pride and joy – that little girl who looked so much like her mama. He squatted down onto his heels and extended his large calloused hands to her. She ran quickly into his embrace expecting him to seat her on the wagon.2

“Not this time, Dottie,” he said as he hugged her and stood up with her. “It’s just too chilly out here for a little girl to be ridin’ along.”3

“Daddy, I want to go!” she whined.4

“That’s enough of that,” he scolded gently. She quickly hushed but looked pleadingly with her big blue eyes into her daddy’s face immediately melting any harshness there may have been in his face or voice. “I’ll tell you what,” he said with a smile. “You remember that little dolly we saw the last time we were in town?”5

Dottie nodded without speaking a word.6

“You like that dolly?”7

“Yes,” Dottie smiled.8

“Well, when daddy sells our goods today, he’ll have ‘nuff cash money he oughtta be able to buy you that little dolly. Would you like that?”9

“Yes!” Dottie said, her eyes suddenly alight with excitement.10

“I just thought you might,” Jake smiled back at her. “But you have to do somethin’ for your daddy if’n you want that little dolly.”11

Dottie looked cautiously into her daddy’s sun-weathered face. “I will,” she promised.12

“Good girl,” her daddy answered. “I need you to help your mama get somethin’ cooked for me for when I get back.” He said. “It’s gonna be a long day, and you feel that chill in the air?”13

Dottie nodded.14

“I reckon I’ll be powerful hungry when I get back, and plenty cold too. I’ll need something hot to warm me back up. Can you do that?”15

Dottie’s 5 year old eyes showed disappointment as she thought about this. Agreeing meant she couldn’t go to town, but she always wanted to be sure her daddy had what he needed. She pooched her lower lip out for a moment, but after thinking it over, she nodded – lip still pooched.16

“That’s my sweet little girl,” Jake said as he kissed her on the cheek and carried her toward the house. “You be sure that’s some good hot food, ‘cause I’m gonna be co-old when I get back.”17

“Yes, daddy,” Dottie said.18

Jake handed Dottie to his wife Betsy as she met him with some jerky and water to take along on the trip. She kissed him and said a brief goodbye. Then Jake, eager to get his business underway, mounted up on the wagon behind the mule, and gave a quick “Giddyap”. The mule began the slow plod down the road toward town in the cool, brisk late autumn morning. Big Jake found the quilts Betsy had tucked in below the seat and spread them over his lap to find some warmth in this trip as there was no way to stay warm working while on such a long wagon ride.19

Once in town, he toured the few markets to sell his late crops – squash, shelled corn, and the earliest of the pecans and walnuts that had fallen from the trees. They each brought a fair price with the wholesalers.20

With the selling complete, he turned his attention to the task of buying what his family needed from town, but before any necessities were purchased, he hurried with his newly gained cash to the little shop that sold quilts and baskets on the corner. There, sure enough, just as he had seen when he last visited town two weeks ago was the doll his little Dottie had wanted so badly. His heart ached on that trip because he did not have the money to buy it for her, but now, it was his top priority. He smiled as he examined the wooden head and delicately carved face and golden hair that matched so closely the hair of his own little girl. He chuckled to himself thinking as he put it on the seat beside him of the smile and excited squeals he would get from Dottie when she got to hold that coveted little dolly. 21

The skies grew ominous as he finished his purchases and loaded the wagon for the trip back home. The wind grew colder and more bitter as the day pressed on. Jake hurried to his last stop – the general store where he needed to buy flour, salt, soap and a few other essentials they needed so badly.22

“You plannin’ to go back home this evenin’?” Sam, the general store owner asked as he tarped his load in preparation to depart. “Feels like we could get a good winter storm. You don’t wanta get caught out if’n we do. Why don’t you stay with us tonight, Jake. You can make the trip a lot safer tomorrow mornin’.”23

Jake thought it over. It would be dangerous to try to make the trip if a storm really were blowing in, but the thought of Dottie’s excited squeals at receiving her little dolly were too much for him. 24

“I ‘preciate it, Sam” he answered. “But Betsy and Dottie are needin’ the stuff I bought. I reckon I better make it back tonight.”25

Sam tried to convince Jake of the wisdom of staying the night, but in the end, Jake’s mind was made up – there would be no dissuading him.26

The wind began to howl through the trees as Jake got out onto the long dark road home. The sun no longer broke through the clouds to give any light to the path. Snow began to fall, sparsely at first, but it quickly picked up intensity, blowing right into Jake face as the mule pulled him, and their load home. As bad as it got, the old mule continued with the same steady plod – but ice was beginning to form and snow collect on the hair on his ears, and on his thickened fall coat as well. 27

Jake pulled the quilts Betsy had place in the wagon around him until only his eyes were straining into the snow. Eventually, however, even this was not enough to keep him warm in the now driving blizzard. He pulled on the reigns and stopped the mule. He gathered his blanket, dismounted the wagon and began re-configuring the reigns intending to climb onto the back of his mule to share some body warmth with the great beast.28

He moved his leg into position and started to make his motion to mount the mule when he stopped suddenly.29

“That almost sounded like a child!” he thought to himself, now listening for any sound above the howling of the wind through the trees. He stood motionless for almost a minute, but all that was heard was the wind. “Ain’t nobody out on a night like this,” he said to himself, and he decided to leave it and continue home.30

As he turned to the Mule again, he heard the cry again. He turned in the direction of the sound, and looked into the inky blackness of the night. He knew there were trees just to the side of the road, and anything could be in the undergrowth of this part of the land, but something about that noise didn’t sound like just anything. He moved to the edge of the road and listened again. He could hear the sound, very faint, and very weak, but the wind made it so very difficult to pinpoint its source exactly. 31

Convinced now, Big Jake raised his great foot above the level of the brush and waded into the woods beside the road. After just three steps, he stopped again and listened. He could hear the sound again, so he adjusted his path and stepped again. He repeated the routine several time, each time taking a few steps and listening in the wind for a new direction on the source of the sound. Finally, he found himself just a few feet off the road, but several yards farther along than where he stopped. The sound at this check seemed to come from just a couple of feet ahead of him. It was just too human to give Jake any other thought, but he could not see the ground in the cloud covered night. He got down onto his hands and knees and felt for the source of the sound. His heart jumped as his great calloused hand found a small, cold cheek. He scrambled to feel for the lay of the rest of the body. He frantically brushed aside the snow accumulating over the clothing and bits of exposed skin.32

“Little child! What are you doing out here?!” he said as worked. “What kind of daddy would let you out into weather like this? I doubt your daddy even knows you're out.”33

Big Jake unbuttoned the front of his jacket, and gathered the shivering child next to his chest. The unseen form snuggled into his warmth, chilling him further with the terrible cold that had gathered in the small whimpering body. 34

“I got one at home just about your size,” Jake said as he buttoned his jacket over himself and the newly found child. “I reckon your mama and papa are worried sick about you. We’ll get you back home, but tonight, all we can do is get you to my home and get you warmed back up. I just hope you ain’t caught your death of cold already.”35

Once mounted on the back of the great mule and moving homeward, Jake frequently adjusted the quilts with which he had wrapped himself, and also his jacket trying to find a way to keep him and the child warm; allow the child to stay close to his body; and still allow the child to breathe. Meeting all three requirements was no easy task. As they continued toward the house, the chill from the child’s body began to fade. The shivering and clinging stopped, and at last a peace settled over the child. Jake smiled as he began to feel the slow breathing that told him the child he had found was now sleeping.36

The dim light of lanterns and fire in the fireplace became visible in the only window Jake was able to afford in the little farm house that was home to him, Betsy and Dottie. The mule’s step gained some pep as he saw it. Excitement began to build within Jake also, but as he came closer, he noticed things not right. Lanterns came from the barn and floated back up to the house. Several horses could be seen either near the barn or near the house. The form of several men could be seen by the light from the window, and several silhouettes were visible through the window.37

“This ain’t no night for all this!” he said to himself as he prodded the mule into a trot toward the house. “First the little found child, and now somethin’s wrong at home.” His heart raced under the terror of all his imagination could bring to mind as he covered the last few yards to his house.38

“Jake!” one of the men at the front of the house said as he approached. “Thank God you’re here.”39

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked.40

“You better get inside and ask Betsy,” the voice answered back as Jake leapt from the mule.41

Jake grasped the child to his body and lumbered to the door. He flung it back and burst inside to see eight men standing in a circle inside his house. Betsy knelt on her knees in the circle across the room from where Jake stormed in.42

“What’s happened?” Jake said as Betsy lifted her eyes to meet his.43

Everyone stood in stunned silence. Every eye looked at the strange bulge Jake grasped beneath his jacket.44

“What have you got?” Betsy asked pointing to this strange bundle.45

“Don’t you never mind that!” Jake roared looking impatiently around the room. “What’s wrong here?”46

Betsy rose to her feet and walked across to Jake. Without a word, she began to unbutton his jacket. Jake looked down. The front of the jacket opened revealing a familiar neat blue bonnet pulled down around little ears. From the front sprang golden curls and that sweet little face that looked so much like Betsy’s.47

Jake’s heart froze in place. Suddenly, he trembled as if he could no longer stand by himself. “Dottie!” he gasped. Tears sprang to his eyes. Betsy tried to take her from him, but his hands refused to release her. “Dottie!” he almost shouted now. “That little child I found lost beside the road was our own little Dottie!?” He pulled her up to his face and wept as she protested sleepily about this disturbance.48

Jake lifted his teary eyes and looked at the ring of men now smiling at him. Suddenly he understood why they were gathered at his house.49

“She was so excited about that dolly her daddy was a bringin’ her,” Betsy began. “That’s all she’d talk about after you left. She kept lookin’ down the road and askin’ when daddy was a comin’. I kept a tellin’ her it’d be late, but she kept on askin’ me if she could go meet you. I told her when she could see you, she could run out to you. I went down to the well to get some water, and when I came back to the house, she wasn’t in the house. I thought she was gonna play outside some, but after a while, when she was still quiet, I went to look for her, but I couldn’t find her. I remembered her a wantin’ to run out and meet you, so I went down the road a spell, but I couldn’t find her. That’s when I got scared. I went to Tom Harkin’s house to ask for help, and his wife went to ask some of the other neighbors to come help us look for little Dottie. When the storm blew in, we looked as long as we could, but after a while, there just weren’t no use. We all had to come back to the house, and we all gathered to just pray for a miracle. That’s when you came in.”50

Betsy reached and took Dottie from Jake who now wept in spite of himself. 51

“It’s okay now, Jake,” Betsy reassured.52

“No, you don’t understand,” Jake said. “I was so close to stayin’ in town for the night with ole Sam. I only started back ‘cause I wanted to see little Dottie’s face when I gave her that dolly.  I only stopped out there ‘cause I was so cold I couldn’t ride in the wagon no more, and I wanted to get on the mule’s back and ride on home. I had to stop right there or I wouldn’t-a heard nobody cryin’. I almost didn’t look because it was so windy I was tellin’ myself I couldn’t be hearin’ nobody, but I knowed I couldn’t live with myself if’n it really was somebody and I didn’t look. I found that child almost froze to death, just ‘cause she had just enough whimper left in her to lead me to her. Then I got that poor, cold little child home and I find out it’s our own little Dottie! Oh! Sweet Jesus, thank you! What if anythin’ had been different? I wouldn’t-a found her.”53

Betsy smiled through her tears now and put her hand reassuringly on Jake’s big calloused paw. “Sweet Jesus, thank you is right,” she said. “Everythin’ worked out like that ‘cause of Him. Didn’t you hear that last part of what I said?” She waited for this to sink in to Jake. “Jake, I said we prayed for a miracle. None of us could find her, but His eyes were still on her. When you walked in and I unbuttoned your jacket and found little Dottie there, well … that’s what a miracle looks like.”54