Bread For The Body

Slice six.

It was Sunday and church had just ended so my family and I got up to leave. Then I saw... what was his name again?... in the corner. Just where I had left him the other day.

When I was passing the back row, I called out, "Hey, Sir!" God help me, I had forgotten his name!

He turned around and when he saw me, he grinned. "Good morning, Zac." I felt terrible, he had remembered my name but I couldn't remember his.

I told Dad I would walk home later, I wanted to talk to my new friend.

I sat down next to him... his name still hadn't come to mind! And so I confessed it, "Sorry Mister, but I can't remember your name!"

He smiled and said, "Cockadoodledoooo." Not too softly either!

I looked at him with wide eyes. "Uhm... sorry? I think I missed something."

"Cockadoodledoo is a clue to my name."

Oh. So this guy likes playing games...

I then happened to think of a rooster, waking everyone up from the farm fence.

Ohhh, "HEN!"

"Yes?"

I laughed and pretend to slap him. "Stop being silly," I grinned.

"I have a fairly unusual name, I can't see how you forgot it."

"Oh, it's not you. I just forget names a lot. And, unusual names just aren't unusual to me. You see my friends are full of unusual names. Ursula, Navkeiran, Lizeth, Setty..."

"I see all your friends are girls," Hen winked.

"That's 'cause Zac only mixes with girls," I joked.

My friend cleared his throat.

I rushed in, "Oh except for you."

"Ha, so you're a player?"

"Yeah... I play soccer...?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

We were both in confusion.

"Ah... nevermind," Hen finally said.

When I first sat down to chat with him, I expected small talk about the weather... certainly nothing like what he was going to lay on me.

"Zac, do you think I should quit my job and rely on God for everything. Rely on my faith and prayer?"

I was stunned he'd ask anybody that, let alone a teenager he barely knew. "I.. ah... um, I don't think I'm the right person for you to be asking," I said - meaning, for him to ask our church pastor.

"You're right. I shouldn't be asking you, I should be asking God. You're so young, Boy! How could you have found the time to become so wise?"

"Uhm... I don't know."

"I'm glad, because it was a rhetorical question."

"Oh."

"Mhmm."

"Yeah."

"Don't have much to say, do ya Zac?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Well I have another question for you..." Oh no, I wasn't sure if I could handle anymore of his questions. Still, he continued, "Do you donate to charities a lot?"

"No... I don't. But my family and I sponsor a child... if that classifies as donating to a charity."

Of course, we were millionaires so I guess we could afford to sponsor a lot more than only one child. I wonder why we don't...

Hen nodded and said, "Sure I suppose it would. I'm just feeling I don't donate enough. I have so much..." Probably not as much as me, I thought in disgust with myself, Yet it is he who feels he should donate more. He continued, "... compared to some people. I don't think I need this much. While money is lying in my material goods, it is worthless money. Money that COULD be spent on someone which needs it. I mean, I rarely use my VCR and so it sits there, gathering dust. This VCR could be exchanged for money, which could be used to save someone's life! It's not like I need the VCR..."

What he was saying made so much sense. How come I'd never thought of it before?

"How long have you been thinking like this?" I asked.

"Not very. Perhaps a year. You might think that's a long time, but compared to my 35 years, trust me, it's not."

"Have you begun to donate more, because you think like this?"

"No," he said with a look of so much sadness, I was sorry I asked.

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say.

So we sat in silence, just thinking about our own little things.

Or, perhaps we both were thinking about the same thing. You know, we probably were.

Finally, I had to leave - I didn't want my folks to worry too much. So Hen and I said our farewells and I walked home slowly, thinking very carefully about... VCRs.

Slice seven...

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