At Wheeler Homes Chapter 8

                                  Chapter 8

          Jessica worked hard all morning on the house.  She cleaned and moped and swept and dusted – it seemed like the whole house was in a fog with dust flying everywhere.  But she didn’t mind.  Her heart was in it.  But actually, her heart was in cleaning because the cleaning would be her key to get to go to church.  Jessica wasn’t sure why she wanted to go to church so bad, but she did.  It could be that there were old memories that connected church with her grandmother.  Jessica was only five years old when her grandmother died.  She still remembered the funeral service and the talk that her grandmother’s pastor gave.

          “That pastor was a real fireball,” Jessica’s mother had said in the car on the way home that day.  And he was.  When he talked, it seemed like he knew God in a personal way.  It was as if they were best of friends.  Jessica had a best friend in Gloria, but somehow, she longed to have God as a best friend too.  May be that was it.  May be it was that Jessica had a best friend named Jesus that she just never met.  Anyway, Jessica was determined to go to church with Gloria tomorrow and find out.  Just the thought of going to church was thrilling.  Oh, it would probably not be as exciting as Jessica imagined, but then again ...

          “Our house smells like a hospital room!” James exclaimed as he burst through the door.  James had finally come home.  He was so hungry that he had to come back to the house to get something to eat.  He would make his stay brief.  He had to get back to important things, like video games at his friend’s house.

          Jessica stopped him cold.  “Wipe those shoes before you come in here!” she cautioned.  James screeched to a halt and gave his shoes a rub on the rug by the back door.  He would have argued with his older sister, but he was too worried about getting out of the house, and fast!

          “Don’t we have any bread?” he asked looking in the refrigerator.  He grabbed some cheese and went to the cabinet.  James found a pack of crackers in the back and grabbed them.  Crackers would just have to do.  He gathered his cheese and crackers and ran out the back door calling, “See you later.”  Jessica wasn’t sure who he had addressed his words to.  She didn’t think James did either.  It was just his way of letting anyone and everyone know that he was out the door and on his way to an afternoon of freedom.

          By the afternoon Jessica had finished her cleaning.  She had a load of clothes in the dryer and another in the washer.  There was a final pile of white clothes on the floor waiting their turn for the washer.  Jessica went upstairs to her bedroom for some peace and quiet.  She liked her room.  It was her space – a special place to call her own.  It was her hideout from the rest of the world.  Jessica absentmindedly straightened her books and papers on her desk.  They were already neatly arranged, but Jessica liked to rearrange things.  She sat down for a moment lost in her thoughts.  “I wonder what the Sunday school teacher is going to teach about tomorrow?” she thought.  “I know a lot of the Bible stories, but I don’t know the details of them.  I just know the basic ideas of them.”  But then Jessica thought emphatically, “Tomorrow I am going to learn everything about at least one of those stories.  And I can’t wait!”

At Wheeler Homes Chapter 7

                                  Chapter 7

          Saturday morning came and Jessica was good as her word.  She popped up bright and early intending to get every bit of her work done.  Well, almost bright and early.  She got up about 8 o’clock.  James was already up and gone.  James was such a curious boy.  During the school week, James just dragged out of bed, but on Saturday, he was up early.  James said that he didn’t want to waste his day off.  James usually went to the playground where he met his friends.  He usually grabbed a banana or a couple slices of bread.  He didn’t wait for his mother to fix breakfast.  She might have work for him to do.  He didn’t want to take that chance, so he was out of the door before his mother could give him anything to do.  If his mother did have anything for James to do, Jessica had to be sent out to find him.  And James knew to avoid his sister just like he avoided his mother.

          Jessica did the quiet jobs first.  No reason to make racket and get her mother and step-father out of bed too early.  She didn’t want them to get up cranky; she wanted them to get up in a good mood.  Sweeping the floor was a good quiet job.  So was cleaning the bathroom.  Jessica usually went through the refrigerator and pitched  things that were too old.  There were always oranges or onions that had been in the bottom of the refrigerator for the whole week.  It was easy to see when they were bad.  Things like milk never spoiled in their house.  They usually ran out of the milk before it had a chance to spoil.  After looking through the cabinets and refrigerator, Jessica had a list of things that they needed for the upcoming week.  Jessica was good in the kitchen and her mother usually let her be in charge.

          Jessica was doing well keeping quiet until she dropped a pan she was putting away.  The pan made an awful noise as it hit the floor.  And sure enough, in a couple of minutes, Jessica’s mother came stumbling in to the kitchen.

          “What in the world is going on in here?” she demanded.

          Jessica replied, “Oh, I’m sorry.  I just dropped a pan on the floor.  I was trying so hard to be quiet and let you and daddy sleep.”

          “Well we were sleeping soundly until we were startled half to death by that noise! Jessica’s mother remarked.

          “I’m sorry,” Jessica offered.

          Her mother went on, “Oh that’s all right.  It was time for me to get up anyway.  By the way, where is James?  He’s usually the one to wake me up on Saturday.

          “I don’t have any idea.  He was up and out before I got up,” Jessica answered.

          Jessica’s mother said, “That boy gets out of the house early so that he won’t have to do any work. 

          Jessica heard the TV come on in the living room.  Her step-father must be up too.  “I wonder what kind of a mood he is in?” she thought.  It didn’t take her very long to wonder though.

          From the living room Howard called, “Hey!  What’s a man gotta do to get some coffee around here?”

          Jessica’s mother was already on it.  No one in Jessica’s family was in a good mood before their morning coffee.  Sometimes they were still in a bad mood after they got their morning coffee, but Jessica’s parents were always in a bad mood before their morning coffee.

At Wheeler Homes Chapter 6

                                  Chapter 6

          Jessica found Gloria outside hanging clothes on the clothes line.

          “What are you doing?” Jessica asked.  “I thought you had a clothes dryer.”

          Gloria rolled her eyes and said, “We do, but it isn’t working.”

          Jessica sighed and said, “What a bummer. Can I help?

          “Sure!” Gloria said.  The girls made short work of hanging out the damp clothes.  It was still early in the day, and a little breeze was blowing.  It wouldn’t take long for the clothes to dry.  Jessica was still trying to think of a plan to get to go to church with Gloria next Sunday.  She was bothered because she had several problems that had to be solved before she could get to church.  She had an idea on one of them.

          “Gloria,” Jessica began, “Do you think that I could ride to church with you this Sunday.  My dad has to work this Sunday at the tire shop and we only have one car.”

          Gloria said, “Well I usually ride on their bus that comes by.  It’s actually a lot of fun on the bus.  The bus captain sings songs and helps us learn memory verses and the ride seems to go by real fast.”

          “Really!” Jessica said.  That might be a lot of fun, she thought.  “Do you have to pay to ride their bus?” She asked.

          “No,” Gloria laughed, “They like to pick up kids for Sunday school.  Just be out here at our school bus stop at about 9:15 Sunday morning.  I’ll be waiting for you.”

          Jessica thought for a moment and said, “Can James and my mother come too?”

          “Sure!” Gloria said.  “I’d better get going and get supper started or my mother will be cranky.  See you later.”  And she disappeared into her house.

          Jessica thought as she went back towards her own house.  She still had to convince her mother to go to church.  And she really didn’t like sneaking behind her step-father’s back and going to church while he was away at work.  She thought, If he found out, he would be really mad.  No, her best plan would be to ask him if they could go to church.  But first, she would have to butter him up.  And she knew just how to do it!  Jessica eased into the back door, listening to see if her parents were still arguing.  As she came in through the back door, all was quiet.  Her mother was busy in the kitchen with supper and her step-father was in the living room watching TV.  Jessica ‘s first target was her step-father.  She walked up behind the couch and said, “Daddy, would you like a glass of tea?”

          Howard looked back with a puzzled look on his face.  “What are you up to?” he asked.

          “Oh, nothing,” Jessica said as she pulled a glass out of the cabinet.  “How was your day today?” She asked and filled the glass with ice from the freezer.

          “Okay, what’s up?” Howard demanded.  “Now you really are being too nice.”

          Jessica filled the glass with tea and brought it into the living room and handed it to her step-father.  “Well, I was thinking about something that we talked about the other day.” She began.

          Howard smiled and said, “Alright, out with it.  What are you getting at?

          “Well,” Jessica slowly began, “Remember we talked about me going to church with Gloria this Sunday?”  She quickly added, “Remember I said that I could get all of my work done on Saturday?”  Jessica’s mother poked her head around the corner with a curious look on her face.  Gloria continued with confidence, “Daddy, can I go to church this Sunday with Gloria?”  There.  It was out.  Jessica stopped and let her words sink in.  The suddenness of Jessica’s request caught Howard off guard.

          At first he looked disgusted, but then his face changed from indecision to resignation.  He raised one finger in warning.  “You can go,” he began, “If you get all of your work done on Saturday.”  He tried to keep shaking his finger at Jessica, but she was all over him, hugging and thanking him.

          Then she straightened up and continued, “Can James go too?”

          Howard had softened.   He said, “Sure, if he wants to.”

          Jessica tried one last time, “How about mother?”  With that, Jessica’s mother peeked around the corner from the kitchen.  Jessica continued, “I’ll help mother get your supper ready for when you come home from working at the shop on Sunday.  It will be ready and on the table when you walk in the door.”  She added, “I promise!”

          Howard knew she had him.  He sighed, giving in and said, “Your mother too.  All three of you can go.”

          Jessica started another round of hugs, but her step-father protested, “Hey, watch the tea!” and they all three had a laugh.  What they didn’t know was that at just that moment, Gloria was praying.  And while Gloria was praying, Gloria’s heavenly Father was working.  God is always working, you know.

At Wheeler Homes Chapter 5

                                  Chapter 5

          After a busy day at school, Jessica was ready to get home and enjoy some free time.  She liked school, but she didn’t like having to follow orders all of the time.  At school her teacher was in charge of her.  But at home, she was in charge of herself.  Jessica’s mother let her do her own thing.  Well, that is, most of the time. The school bus pulled up to Jessica’s neighborhood and stopped to let the children out.  There were about twenty kids who got off at Jessica’s stop.  Jessica smiled as she watched James hurry off of the bus.  He jumped from the last step and took off at a dead run like a man who had just been freed from prison.  James couldn’t wait to ditch his backpack and put on his play clothes.  James hated his school uniform.  It wasn’t that the uniform was uncomfortable, but it just represented school.  And James hated school.  It wasn’t that he hated learning; he just hated to sit still; he hated the restriction of school.  Jessica talked a few moments with Gloria.  They made plans to get together after supper.  Both girls were pretty responsible and they both liked to get their homework and house work done first.  The days were getting warmer and longer.  There would be time to talk after supper.  The early evening would be warm enough and the time change had made the days a little longer. 

          Jessica came into the house and called, “Hi mom, I’m home.”  But no one answered her voice.  She heard James upstairs rummaging through his drawers looking for his favorite pair of jeans.  His jeans had holes in each knee, but oh, how he loved those jeans!  “James,” Jessica called out, “Your jeans are down here in the dryer.”  In a few moments, James came down the stairs and ran into the laundry room.

          “How did you know I was looking for my favorite jeans?” James asked.

          Jessica smarted off to him, “James, I know everything.”  She liked to be on top of everything.  She liked to be in control.  “Your baseball hat is on the back porch too.” Jessica added.

          James was amazed and thought that Jessica was reading his mind.  “How did you know I would be asking about my hat?  And how did you know it was on the back porch?” James wondered.

          Didn’t you know that I know everything? Jessica said.  Jessica was so pleased with herself.  What she didn’t tell James was that he wore the same jeans and the same t-shirt and same hat every single day.  And she had just stepped over the hat on her way into the house.  It was easy – but she didn’t tell James that.  She just let James think that she could read his mind.

          Jessica asked James, “Have you seen mother?” 

          As James pulled on his t-shirt he started for the back door, yelling back to Jessica.  “If you know so much, you tell me where she is!”  And he was gone.  The only thing Jessica heard was the back door as it slammed behind James.

          Jessica found the white plastic clothes basket and pulled the rest of the clothes out of the dryer.  Then she picked up the rest of the clothes that James had piled onto the floor while he was looking for his t-shirt.  “James, why didn’t you just put the clean clothes in the basket?” she thought.  “It wouldn’t be that much harder.”  Jessica carried the basket into the living room and began to fold the clean clothes, putting them into piles.  “I wonder what’s for supper?” she thought.  Jessica went into the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator.  It was almost empty.  No ideas for supper came to her mind.  So she went to the dining room table and unzipped her book bag.  She got out her math book, some paper, and a pencil and looked for the page where her homework was to be found.

          Jessica was almost finished with her homework when she heard loud voices out back.  Her mind focused on the sounds.  She recognized her mother’s voice and then heard her step-father’s growling.  They were fussing at each other again.  It seemed like all that they did was to fuss and fight.

          As they came in the back door, Howard was saying, “Well, if you didn’t spend so much, we wouldn’t have to get a pay-day advance.”

          Jessica’s mother retorted, “Well, if you had a better job, we would have plenty of money!”

          Howard was almost yelling now, “Well If you would get a job instead of sitting around all day watching soap operas, we would have plenty of money coming in!

          Jessica knew where the conversation was headed.  It always ended the same way: Jessica’s mother blaming Howard and Howard blaming Jessica’s mother.  Jessica didn’t want to be in the middle of this.  She hurriedly stuffed her books and papers into her book bag and started out of the house.  As she went out of the door, she heard her mother say to Howard, “Well if you brought all of your paycheck home instead of leaving half of it at the bar…”  and with that, the door slammed shut behind Jessica as she left the house.  The door muffled the sounds of the argument.  But nothing could clear the argument from Jessica’s mind.  “Dear God,” she thought, “Please help my family.”  What Jessica didn’t realize was that God was already working on answering that prayer!