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The Boy and the Chocolate Bar
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved worldwide.
The clock struck six and Andy was out the door. His mother
seldom allowed him out after supper, and even less often did she allow him to go
to the amusement park. Running down the street, through the alley and across the
field, Andy felt like a streak of lightning. He tumbled through the hole in the
fence, and there was his cousin Mitch.
“What took you so long?” she asked, getting up from her
squatting position and tossing back her thick red curls.
“Oh, I had to clear the table first and then I broke a
shoelace. OK? Let’s go!”
“Wait! Wait for us!” Mitch yelled, as the twelve-year-olds
raced towards the roller coaster.”
“Thank you, sir,” was all they had time to say before they
were relieved of their quarters, whipped into a seat, and buckled in. The car
glided forwards, pulled slowly up the grade, and swooshed down the hill.
“Fun! This is fun!” Andy squealed.
When they climbed out of the roller coaster car, Andy
noticed him. There stood a boy, humped over, stroking his chest. Andy thought it
particularly queer that he was wearing a yellow raincoat on a nice evening, with
not a cloud in the sky. Something fell to the ground as the boy walked down the
metal steps. Looking around to see if anyone else had noticed, Andy motioned to
Mitch to pick up the package. They both grinned as Mitch slipped the chocolate
bar into her pocket. Then, climbing aboard the Ferris wheel, they observed that
the boy was there too.
“Hi,” Andy said politely, but the boy only looked at him.
After the Ferris wheel had made its third round, the
youngsters heard the voice, low and rumbling, “Chocolate bar! Chocolate bar!”
“Oh no!” Andy said. “Some one saw us.”
Mitch patted her pocket to make sure that the bar was
still there. Slowly, Andy turned around. The boy sat alone in the seat behind
him, still hunched over.
The wheel had barely stopped and the children’s feet hit
the ground. Andy remembered Sunday morning with a jolt. He had been sitting in
the back row of chairs in his Sunday school class, sandwiched between Jack and
Nathan. Scribbling on the back of his Bible, he had pretended not to be
listening. But he plainly heard Mr. Carleton tell about Ananias and Sapphira.
Living during the Bible times, they had sold their property and given the funds
to the church. Only, they said they were giving all the money, when in fact,
they kept some back for themselves. God had struck them both dead for lying.
Thinking back, Andy wasn’t afraid, because he knew that God is also a God of
love. He remembered how Mr. Carleton had emphasized that ‘Thou shalt not steal’
applied to kids too.
“Let’s go to the haunted house and eat the bar,” Mitch
whispered, unaware of Andy’s thoughts.
“Good idea! That will take care of the evidence.”
So off they raced, past the hotdog stand and around the
house of mirrors, to the haunted house. When they were inside the dark hallway,
Mitch slipped out the bar. The wrapping crackled in the darkness, giving their
secret away. They heard the voice again. This time it was higher and louder.
“Chocolate bar! Chocolate bar!”
“Let’s go downstairs,” Andy whispered, frightened.
It was much darker in the dungeon. They inched their way
to the wall, then they slid on to their stomachs. Mitch finished unwrapping the
bar, broke it in half, and finding Andy’s hand in the darkness, passed one half
to him. Slowly they munched on the sweet sticky chocolate, trying to quiet the
crunch of the nuts.
“Yum! That was good!” Mitch whispered. “Finished?”
“Uh huh,” Andy answered, his mouth still crammed full.
“Let’s sneak back. But wait. There’s someone coming. It’s
that boy again,” Mitch said, seeing the yellow raincoat as the red dull light
flicked on momentarily and the boy passed a cage.
“I want to wait until he’s gone,” Andy answered. The next
light came on for a second and then darkened.
“Look, he’s got something under his coat! It looked like a
bird!” Mitch exclaimed.
“Oh, Mitch, you know pets aren’t allowed in here, not even
birds.”
But when the next set of lights came on, they could see it
in full view. The boy had his coat flung open and a colorful parrot’s head poked
out. Again the lights went off.
“Chocolate bar! Chocolate bar!” This time the voice
sounded desperate.
“Mitch, you don’t think-?” Andy started.
“Of course,” Mitch cut in, “that’s a parrot’s squawk. Who
else could it be?”
Out in the bright sunlight again, they stood and debated
what they should do. Andy couldn’t bring himself to tell Mitch about Sunday
morning. Just last Saturday Mitch had teased him, “Sunday school is for
sissies!”
Suddenly they noticed a shadow covering them, and they
looked up into the face of the boy wearing the yellow raincoat. Andy stared at
Mitch, wondering if their faces showed some telltale chocolate smears.
“Hi,” Mitch said sweetly. Too sweetly. The boy smiled.
“Boy, that haunted house sure was spooky. Didn’t you think
so?” Andy said, encouraged.
The boy just smiled at them. Andy felt embarrassed. He
watched as the boy put his hand into his pocket and took out a notepad and pen.
After scribbling something, he held out the paper. Andy read the note.
“Hi! My name is Leonard. I can’t talk or hear, but I read
lips well. Can we be friends?”
Andy’s mouth dropped open. What would Leonard say if he
knew that Andy and Mitch had taken his bar? Would he still want to be friends?
Mitch grinned. “I’d like to be your friend. We know your
secret.”
This time Leonard grinned back and pulled his raincoat
flap open. Out popped the parrot’s head.
“Chocolate bar! Chocolate bar!”
“This is Popeye. He loves chocolate bars,” Leonard wrote.
Andy and Mitch watched as Leonard pulled a chocolate bar
out of his pocket, unwrapped it and broke a piece off, then held it out for
Popeye. Leonard broke the rest of the bar in half and held it out to Andy and
Mitch.
“Thank you,” Mitch said.
“I’m not really hungry,” Andy managed to mumble. His
thoughts were racing fast. “He wants to be my friend. So does Jesus. I’m a lousy
friend on both counts. After all, Jesus said, ‘You are my friends, if you do
whatsoever I command’.”
“I want to be friends too,” he said, as he stuck his hand
out for a high-five. Not caring what Mitch would think, he took a deep breath,
and told Leonard about the bar that he had dropped.
“But, if you walk to the corner store with me, I’ll buy
Popeye two bars. Almond-coated, too!”
As the three friends turned to leave by the gate, Mitch
winked at Andy and said, “You’re no sissy! See you at Sunday school, buddy!”
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