“Mr. Mitchell, this is Judge Catherine Westbrook,”
she said.
“I was wondering if I could speak with Lily.”
“Um, yes, your honor. She’s right here.”
“Hello, judge lady.”
Lily’s cheerful voice came through the phone.
“Hello, Lily,”
Catherine said, and she found herself smiling.
“I was wondering how you’re planning to… well, how you’re planning to help me.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you called!”
Lily said excitedly.
“I’ve been thinking about you everyday. Can you meet me somewhere so we can be friends first? It’s hard to help someone if you don’t know them very well.”
Catherine was taken aback. In all her years as a judge, no one had ever asked to be her friend before meeting in court.
“Where would you like to meet?”
Catherine asked.
“Do you know the big park on Maple Street? There’s a pond with ducks and lots of pretty flowers. Could you meet me there tomorrow at 3:00?”
Catherine looked at her calendar.
“Yes, Lily, I’ll meet you there.”
“Wonderful!”
Lily said.
“And Judge Catherine, don’t bring your judge clothes or your serious judge face. Just bring yourself. Okay?”
The next afternoon, Catherine rolled her wheelchair to the park. She found Lily sitting by the duck pond wearing a yellow sundress and feeding breadcrumbs to the ducks.
“Judge Catherine!”
Lily called out, waving enthusiastically.
“Come sit with me.”
Catherine rolled her wheelchair over to the pond. Lily immediately reached into her bag and pulled out more breadcrumbs.
“Here,”
Lily said, pouring some breadcrumbs into Catherine’s hand.
“The ducks are really hungry today.”
For the next hour, Catherine found herself doing something she hadn’t done in years. She played, she fed the ducks, listened to Lily’s stories, and even laughed.
“Judge Catherine,”
Lily said as they watched the ducks.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course, sweetie.”
“Before your accident, what was your favorite thing to do?”
Catherine thought for a moment.
“I used to love dancing,”
she said quietly.
“I took ballet lessons when I was little, and even as an adult, I would dance around my house when I was happy.”
“Dancing?”
Lily said, clapping her hands.
“I love dancing, too! Do you miss it?”
Catherine felt tears coming to her eyes.
“Yes, I miss it very much.”
Lily stood up and held out her hand.
“Would you like to dance with me right now?”
Catherine looked at the little girl’s outstretched hand.
“Lily, I can’t dance. I can’t stand up.”
“You don’t have to stand up to dance,”
Lily said with a smile.
“Your arms can dance. Your head can dance. Your heart can dance. Come on, I’ll show you!”
Lily began to move her arms gracefully. She moved her head from side to side and spun around slowly.
“See? I’m dancing with my whole body, but my feet are barely moving.”
Catherine watched this child dance, and something amazing happened. She found herself moving her arms in rhythm with Lily’s movements. She moved her shoulders and tilted her head. And for the first time in three years, she felt like she was dancing again.
“You’re dancing, Judge Catherine!”
Lily said joyfully.
Catherine looked down at her arms and realized that Lily was right. Tears of joy rolled down Catherine’s face. She felt lighter than she had in years, as if something heavy had been lifted from her heart.
“How do you feel?”
Lily asked.
“I feel,”
Catherine paused.
“I feel alive.”
After their dance, Lily walked over and gently placed her small hands on Catherine’s knees.
“Judge Catherine, your legs are sleeping, but they’re not broken. They’re just waiting for your heart to wake up completely.”
“What do you mean?”
Catherine asked.
“When you got hurt in the car accident, your body got hurt, but your spirit got hurt, too,”
Lily explained.
“Your spirit got so scared and sad that it kind of went to sleep. When your spirit is asleep, sometimes your body doesn’t work right, either.”
“And you think you can wake up my spirit?”
Lily smiled.
“I think your spirit is already starting to wake up. Didn’t you feel it when we were dancing?”
“Yes,”
she whispered.
“Yes, I did feel it.”
“That’s the first step,”
Lily said.
“Tomorrow, can you come back? We can feed the ducks again, and maybe we can dance some more, and I’ll tell you stories about all the beautiful things in the world that are waiting for you to discover them again.”
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