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Oh Suzannah!

by Elaine L. Schulte

"Overturned stagecoach! Overturned stagecoach!"

Suzannah Colton gripped her seat as their own stagecoach driver reined in his horses near the upside-down coach.

It was a wonder that her family’s stagecoach hadn’t flipped over, too on this icy mountain road, she thought. It was 1848, and the National Road from Maryland to the Mississippi River was still full of ruts and tree roots.

"Maybe we can help," Uncle Franklin said.

"I’ll stay here and pray," Aunt Ruthie said.

They piled out: Uncle Franklin, Suzannah, Cousin Daniel, who was twelve like her, and their new seven-year-old friend, Timmy.

The wheels on the overturned coach still spun. Inside, the passengers had tumbled to the roof of the coach.

"Stop them hosses!" someone yelled. "Help!"

The drivers reined in the frightened horses, and Uncle Franklin opened the door to help the passengers out. Stepping onto the National Road, they walked about to "try their legs" and found no one was hurt.

"God was taking care of them," Uncle Franklin said.

 

If God was "taking care of them," why did their stagecoach turn over? Suzannah wondered. Sometimes she had doubts.

She turned to Uncle Franklin. "While you pull that stagecoach upright, can we stretch our legs and get a closer look at Ohio?"

"Good idea," he said. "Just stay on the road."

"Feels good to walk," Suzannah said as she, Daniel, and Timmy set out on the road.

She patted her traveling bag. "If we get hungry, I have those strawberry jam sandwiches from the last inn."

"Yum," Timmy said, hurrying to keep up.

Beside the National Road, grasses sprouted through the snow.

"Let’s have a snowball fight!" Suzannah said. "We’ll only have to go a little way into the forest to get some packing snow." She remembered Uncle Franklin’s warning to stay on the road, but this would be only a little way into the forest.

Soon snowballs flew.

"Got you, Daniel!" Suzannah shouted as her snowball plastered his freckled face and big grin.

"Here’s one for you!" he answered.

She ducked and the snowball splatted against her blue cloak. Daniel sang out the popular song, "Oh, Suzannah, don’t you cry for me. . . ."

They were singing, laughing, and having a fine time, wandering a little deeper into the forest for good snow.

Suddenly Timmy yelled, "Bears!"

Suzannah turned. Behind her stood two bear cubs with button eyes and soft fur. The cubs nosed toward her traveling bag, probably smelling the jelly sandwiches.

Suddenly a huge black bear appeared out of the dark forest. Rising up on its hind feet, the bear roared, showing sharp teeth and terrible toenails.

Daniel yelled, "The mother bear! Run!"

Suzannah’s legs felt weak. I should have heeded Uncle Franklin’s words to stay on the road. I should have listened.

Beside her, Timmy looked as numb as she felt. Finally, she grabbed Timmy’s hand and ran. She glanced back and saw the mother bear running at them, fast.

"God, please help us!" Suzannah prayed.

Suddenly she knew what to do. Still running, she reached in the bag for the strawberry jam sandwiches. She pulled one out and hurled it at a cub. The bears stopped to eat the sandwich.  Up ahead, the forest thinned out.

"We’re almost there!" she yelled. "And here come the bears again!"

Panting, she reached into her bag for another sandwich, then threw it hard behind the bears.

When she broke through the woods to the road, the first stagecoach was departing. Her family and the other passengers had already boarded their own stagecoach.

"Bears!" she shouted. "Bears after us!" She flung another sandwich at the mother bear.

Their driver shouted. "Hurry! We’re ready to ride!"

Suzannah threw the last sandwich and raced on to the stagecoach. Uncle Franklin pulled them in and slammed the door. The stagecoach lunged forward, and they fell back in a jumble of arms and legs.

Suzannah pulled herself up for a last look and saw the bears gazing after them. She wondered if God were thinking, Oh, Suzannah! Why didn’t you listen to your Uncle Franklin?

Aunt Ruthie said, "A good thing I was praying for you."

Suzannah told the others, and herself, too, "God told me to throw those jelly sandwiches. I’d better learn to trust in Him, and in Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Franklin, too!"

(Adapted from the author’s book, SUZANNAH AND THE SECRET COINS, in the Colton Cousins Adventure Series published first by Zondervan. Reprint: BJU Press. Used with permission.)

© Elaine L. Schulte

Elaine Schulte is the author of 36 novels and hundreds of novels and short stories. She lives with her husband in Tucson AZ.

© 2006–2009 Jeanne Gowen Dennis. U.S. and Worldwide rights reserved.