A Dream for Hannah Read Online Free PDF Page A

throb in her forehead that even the slightest touch would cause.
    Once they were home, Hannah headed straight for the couch in the living room. Everything looked the same when she glanced around, but it seemed like she had been gone a very long time.
    “How long was I gone?” she hollered toward the kitchen.
    “Only a couple of days,” Kathy called back.
    “It seems longer.”
    “That’s normal, dear.”
    Hannah nodded grimly and laid back on the couch to rest.
    Miriam arrived about the time Emma came home from school on her bike. They both rushed into the house, apparently aware Hannah would be home.
    “She looks awful,” Emma announced and then quickly placed her hand to her mouth. “Sorry! I shouldn’t have said that.”
    “No, you shouldn’t have,” Miriam agreed. “She doesn’t look that bad.”
    “So, which one of you is lying?” Hannah asked with a half smile.
    “Stop tormenting your sister,” their mother called from the kitchen, and so they both disappeared, Emma toward the kitchen and Miriam upstairs.
    Hannah was still on the couch when Isaac and Roy came in from the fields. Isaac must have been curious because he opened the front door, stuck his head in, and made a face. Hannah made one right back at him. He closed the door and broke out into peals of laughter. Her heart sank, believing she must indeed look awful. With a feeling of despair, she ran her fingers over her forehead.
    “Am I that bad looking?” she asked in the direction of the kitchen, her voice weak.
    “I heard him laugh at you.” Emma came into the living room. “Ignore him. That’s what I’d do.”
    “But how do I really look? He’s a boy, remember.”
    “You look just fine,” Emma pronounced and disappeared back into the kitchen.
    Hannah leaned back against the couch and groaned. Apparently her face would be disfigured for the rest of her life, well beyond any hope, at least from a boy’s point of view.
    Then the memory of Peter and his smile of approval returned. He had seen her in this very condition. With relief she relaxed once again and felt the tears of joy roll down her cheeks.

     
    After supper, when Hannah had undressed and climbed into bed, she heard a knock on her door.
    “Come in,” she said and was surprised when both her father and mother entered. Apparently something serious was afoot. She held her breath while her dad sat down on the bed’s edge, her mom beside him.
    “That boy you met in the hospital,” he said and cleared his throat, “have we any cause to worry about him? Your mom and I don’t want you involved with boys like that.”
    “Don’t be too hard on her, Roy,” her mom said quickly. “She’s just home from the hospital. Plus—nothing really happened. Perhaps we shouldn’t bother her.”
    Her dad ignored her mom, kept his eyes on Hannah’s face, and continued, “Your mom said his name’s Peter. It’s just that we’re a bit concerned about this. Some boys just aren’t right for you…or for us. Peter might be that type of boy. I think it would just be better, perhaps, if you stayed away from him.”
    Hannah caught her breath, not certain what to say, but her father needed some sort of an answer. “I’m not likely to see him,” she said. “They live in a different district.”
    “So we have nothing to be concerned about?”
    Hannah’s mind raced. How was she to explain the feelings she felt in the hospital room? How upset would her father be if he knew?
    “He said I was a nice girl,” she ventured. If good feelings like this were such a bad thing, then what was one to do? Hide them? Deny they existed?
    Her dad’s voice cut through her thoughts. “That’s just the problem. He shouldn’t be saying things like that to a girl he doesn’t really know.”
    “Why not?” Hannah asked in all sincerity.
    Roy saw her innocence and responded forthrightly, “That is a very brazen thing to say…to a girl he has just met. It takes a certain kind of boy to do that. A