Standing in the doorway of four month old Eula Lisa Eady Riley's bedroom were her parents Joseph and Martha Scribbner. Joseph and Martha had never intended on ever watching their baby die, nor had they intended on feeling happy about it. But, as the flames of the fire curled up Eula’s crib like vines, they both hoped and anticipated their baby’s death. The fire stroked Eula’s soft cheeks ever so lightly as her cries became spasms of screams for someone, anyone to put out the burning fire that was threatening to take her life. Help would not come for Eula, her parents wanted her to die. Her death would bring them happiness. Joseph and Martha knew they should feel a little guilty for being so glad that their baby was dying as they watched helplessly, but they didn’t. They felt no remorse really, of course considering the cold state that they were in, it would be hard for them to feel anything.
For Joseph and Martha, it had been love at first sight. After only dating for a total of four months, Joseph asked for Martha's hand. Because they had been together only a short amount of time, Martha had not yet told Joseph that she was not able to have children. Martha had planned to put off this treacherous news for fear that if Joseph knew that she could not bear him a child, then Joseph may not want to marry her. Promptly after they were united in marriage, Joseph tried to descreatly coax Martha into having children. After discussing the matter for some time, Martha was able to convince her beloved husband that they should take in a poor child who was sadly unappreciated and overturned to the government. This led Joseph to believe that his wife was a saint sent down to him from above. As newlyweds, Joseph and Martha searched together for the perfect child. After months of searching through orphanages, they were not able to find the child that they wanted. None of the children that they met showed any significant signs of being at all discourteous, discivilized, or unrefined. Actually, most of the children were polite, and affable in their gestures. Although these children represented the qualities that most parents would want their child to have to live up to today's expectations of a perfect child, none of those children felt like Joseph and Martha's children.
When the search began for their child, the light on their candle of hope was stronger than ever, but as the search went on that flame began to flicker.
Months after giving up hope, their continuous prayers were answered. Martha's unwedded sister Mary, who was young and naïve, just informed the happy couple that she wanted Joseph and Martha to adopt her unborn child.
“I can hardly take care of myself, how am I supposed to take care of another human being?” Mary questioned Martha.
Ecstatic, Martha practically knocked her husband down as she flung into his arms after he returned home to tell him the astounding news.
“Joseph! Joseph! A miracle has happened! My sister Mary is pregnant! She does not feel like she will be able to give her the care she will need, and she knows that we have wanted a child for so long, so she wants us to adopt her!”
“Her, it's a girl? I am going to have a daughter? This is wonderful news! Our prayers have been answered!”
Months later Mary's daughter Eula Riley was born. Joseph and Martha took her home with smiles that seem pasted on their faces. Joseph and Martha thought that their marriage was perfect when it was just the two of them, they completed each other. But, they never knew they were missing something until they were given something to miss. With Eula, their lives were now complete. They thought that nothing would ever make them happier, well, that is, until now.
Joseph and Martha were not saddened by the fact that the world would never know Eula. The sadness that they should have felt was overruled by the feelings of relief for themselves.
“Yes, she's dying Joseph, I can barely hear her now, she's dying!” Martha happily chanted.
“I know Martha, I know this couldn't have worked out any better!” said Joseph.
They just wanted the crying to cease, and after a few more seconds, they got their wish as the flames enveloped Eula completely. Happiness flooded over them now as new cries suddenly erupted from the baby that Martha is now clenching tightly to her body. Joseph and Martha awe at how the fire had not flawed Eula, she was not burned, she was perfect. Of course, Joseph and Martha should have known Eula would look the same because when they were burned in the fire and turned into ghosts, they looked the same as well. Now the family, complete again, ascended into heaven.
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