by Mary Wingfield Bell
Chapter Three -
"We'll think about that later," Jeff said loudly. "Right now
Big Squirt and I are going to the shopping center. Look out -
J-Mart, here we come."
Wink had some painful thoughts. One part of him wanted to go
with the guys and have fun; the new person knew better and said,
"No." That must be Jesus telling me to do that, he thought. Anyway
he did not want to get into more trouble. He would worry every
time he saw a police officer.
Big Squirt and Jeff went to the shopping center. There Little
Cube and Moon joined them.
Big Squirt was the director. "Moon you go to Super Drugs. Jeff
you take Noon's Gift Shop. Little Cube and I will go to J-Mart.
Remember, just take little things now. We got no bags. Walk
naturally until you get outside. Meet here at this tree. He was
speaking of a nice tree growing out of a square patch of dirt
planted in the middle of concrete.
The lads went on their evil errands. Big Squirt was confident
he couldn't get caught; he had practiced too much. Moon wasn't so
sure and he was going to be careful, very careful. Jeff felt a
chill go up his spine. He was afraid, but the chill spelled thrill
to him. This was a new game to Little Cube. He would prove that he
could steal as well as the others.
Big Squirt and Little Cube separated after they went into
J-Mart. Big Squirt slid his fingers along the edge of shelves and
counters. A couple of erasers found their way into his pocket,
joined by a roll of plastic tape and then a box of crayons.
"Enough is enough," Big Squirt said to himself, "I'm not gettin'
caught." He walked in his regular manner out of the store and then
he ran toward the tree.
Jeff was already there with his stolen treasure. The saleslady
in the gift shop had been in the back room and did not see him. He
stole a tiny book, little flowers and a pencil.
"There comes Moon," said Big Squirt. "I hope Little Cube can
make it, too."
Moon produced a bag of peanuts and a bag of candy to share
with the gang.
"Neat! Refreshments!" Jeff said.
"Not 'til Little Cube gets here," returned Moon.
But Little Cube had picked up a calculator with shiny numbers
and was admiring it, not knowing that someone watched him. When he
dropped the calculator into his pocket, a strong arm grabbed
him.
"Young man, have you got money to pay for that?" a gruff voice
asked. The gruff voice belonged to the security guard at
J-Mart.
"Nope," Little Cube said fearfully.
"You could go to jail!" said the guard.
"Please! I'll never do it again," Little Cube begged.
"Give me your address; I'll take you home," the security
person said.
The other boys, under the tree four stores away, saw Little
Cube come out of J-Mart. A man was holding his arm. The man and
Little Cube got into a big black car.
"Blast it! Old rock-face caught Little Cube," Big Squirt said
disgustedly.
"Wonder where he is taking Little Cube?" said Moon.
"To Juvenile Hall or maybe to Little Cube's house. His Pa will
kill him!" remarked Jeff. Meanwhile at Wink's house Aunt Gracie
got an urge to clean the garage.
"Wink, I want you to help me clean the garage today. It's more
than full and very messy. It must be two years since it has had a
good cleaning."
"Oh, Aunt Gracie, not today," Wink said. Then he had an idea
and added, "Sure, why not? We could have a garage sale."
"Now I wonder why you thought of that?" laughed Aunt
Gracie.
"There's lots of things we don't use. Plenty to sell," said
Wink and he went to survey the discards. In the garage he saw
heaps of "junk." There were five big old tires, an old bicycle,
flower pots, bed springs, a foam mattress, old appliances, grill
work and little mountains of odds and ends. On shelves were broken
sets of dishes, pots with no handles and pots with no lids.
Aunt Gracie and Wink set the items they no longer needed on
the driveway and straightened what was left on the shelves.
"We might as well go to the market. The car is out here and we
need meat," Aunt Gracie said, then went in to wash her face and
smooth out her hair.
"You're dirty, too," she said to Wink.
"O.K., I'll take a shower so I won't need to clean up before I
go to bed," agreed Wink.
He showered, put on a big T-shirt and frayed blue shorts and
went to the car.
"I'm ready, Aunt Gracie," he called from the front seat of the
old Ford.
"Get your sneakers; there might be glass or honey or some
other sticky mess on the floor of the store," Aunt Gracie
warned.
Wink went to the house and came back with his thongs.
"Well - they'll do," Aunt Gracie said.
Soon they found themselves in the store and Wink kept himself
busy filling the cart. There were so many sweet snacks he threw in
that Aunt Gracie put some of them back on the shelf.
"We need more fruit and vegetables," she said and went to the
produce section for carrots and broccoli.
It was almost dark now. Wink and Aunt Gracie were hungry when
they carried the food into the house.
"It's late to cook; we'll just have sandwiches and colas,"
said Aunt Gracie.
While they were eating, Wink heard Big Squirt whistle for him.
There were more voices outside, coming from under the street
light.
"Be out there when I finish eating," Wink called.
Big Squirt, Moon, Jeff and Willie sat on the lawn's edge. They
were talking about Little Cube. Knuckles joined them. When Wink
came out all the gang was there except Little Cube.
"I saw Little Cube in front of his house; he wouldn't talk to
me," Knuckles said. "He had been crying. I could tell."
"I knew it!" Big Squirt said angrily, "The old man clobbered
him. Blast it! Poor kid."
Knuckles smiled at Wink. Wink smiled back. The two were glad
they did not go to the shopping center with the others.
Knuckles said, "Wink, let's go back to see Mr. Winterfresh
tomorrow."
"Sure, why not?" replied Wink. He had a lot of questions for
the old man and he wanted to hear him read from that book
again.
"What do you kids see in that old man?" asked Jeff.
"Go with us to see him and you will find out," invited
Wink.
"Nothin' doin', we got other plans," Willie said. He didn't
know of any plans; he just did not want to go there and listen to
an old man read stories.
Wink learned about what had happened to Little Cube at the
J-Mart store. He wished that he could see Little Cube and hear him
tell how he was caught.. Maybe in the morning he would ask Little
Cube to go with him and Knuckles.
"What is all the plunder out here on the driveway for?" asked
Jeff.
"It's not plunder. It is stuff we are going to sell. We are
having a garage sale on Saturday."
"Oh, I see," returned Jeff.
About 9:30 p.m. Aunt Gracie called Wink to come inside. The
rest of the guys went home. Soon Wink went to bed. He was very
tired. What a busy day it had been - a happy day. No longer did he
worry or get those little pains in his stomach when he heard
sirens on the highway. Even if a policeman came to his house,
everything was going to work out all right. Aunt Gracie was going
to help him pay for the windshield. This new change - of things
working out for him - must be because of his new friend, Jesus.
Wink did not know how to pray, but he closed his eyes and
said, "God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for helping me." Then
his head fell to one side on the pillow and he was fast asleep.
Knuckles came early the next morning. Again he ate breakfast
with Wink. He could hardly wait to get to see Mr. Winterfresh,
especially since his folks had so little time for him. There was
something about the old man that drew the attention of Wink and
Knuckles.
"Looks like I got two boys," Aunt Gracie smiled. She liked
cooking for the two youths.
After breakfast Wink and Knuckles went to find Little Cube.
They invited him to go along to the old one's house. Little Cube
was allowed to go but he must get home before his dad came in from
work.
"I'm glad to be with you guys," remarked Little Cube. "Big
Squirt really got me into trouble yesterday."
When they arrived, Mr. Winterfresh was in the yard pulling
weeds out of his grass.
He stood up and stretched himself.
"Hi fellows," he greeted them. "Glad to see you. Come in."
Then the senior citizen led the way through the long big room and
into the little kitchen at the back of the house.
"We want to hear some more about Jesus," Wink said. "We
brought Alfredo. His nick name is Little Cube." Wink introduced
his friend.
"Little Cube, I am glad you came," the older man said as he
shook Alfredo's hand. "Looks like you got hurt."
"Oh, it's all right," Little Cube said, but he didn't tell him
the face bruise was from his dad's big hand.
Mr. Winterfresh asked the children to sit down and got his
Bible. "I will read you a story," he said. "And you can ask me
questions about everything."
Here's a man who will listen to kids, thought Wink. Aunt
Gracie was good at listening, but most men he had encountered,
since his real father died, had no time for boys.
Mr. Winterfresh read from the Bible. It was the story of Jesus
casting out a demon and also Peter's mother-in-law being healed by
Jesus (Luke 4:33-44). Crowds of people followed Him wherever He
went. There was no one like Jesus.
The children listened to every word. Knuckles asked Mr.
Winterfresh what a demon was.
"A demon is an evil spirit. Sometimes demons live in a person
and cause that person to do bad things, even hurt himself," Mr.
Winterfresh answered.
Wink thought it was wonderful how Jesus healed the people and
how He loved them.
"I wish Jesus was here today," said Little Cube.
"Oh, He is; right, boys?" Mr. Winterfresh looked at Wink and
Knuckles.
"Yes, we know Him now - Knuckles and me," Wink told little
Cube.
"I want to know Jesus, too," Little Cube exclaimed eagerly.
The kind old man prayed the prayer of forgiveness with Little
Cube after he told him how Jesus had died on the cross for all who
sinned.
Little Cube had been feeling depressed and ashamed. He was
glad to pray with the old man. Suddenly he was filled with joy.
Jesus had come into his heart and tears ran down his face.
Let's sing a happy song, boys," the old one said and he taught
them a chorus about Jesus and His love.
"Boy! This was high! This was good!" Wink decided that he
would never steal again. He was going to learn more about the
super Jesus.
Kindly Mr. Winterfresh answered a mountain of questions and
blessed each boy in prayer.
Finally, Wink mentioned the garage sale that was going to be
at his house. He told their old friend that he was going to raise
money to pay for the windshield he had broken.
"Excellent, boy. Jesus will approve of that," his friend
replied. "I may have something here you can sell. Let's go out
into the garage and see what is there."
The three boys stayed close behind Mr. Winterfresh as they
entered the garage. Their friend dusted off some books that had a
musty odor. "These little gems might look good to a collector," he
said as he handed the books to Wink. Then he reached for two very
old shaving mugs with fat brushes in them.
"What are those?" asked Knuckles.
"Shaving mugs. All men used them long ago. And here's a razor
strap that goes along with them."
"I heard Pa talk about Grandpa using a razor strap on him,"
Knuckles remarked. "I bet that hurt."
"It gives a real sting," said the old man. "But boys who know
Jesus don't need the razor strap or any other punishment. With His
help they can stay out of trouble."
There were so many things for the garage sale that Mr.
Winterfresh got three paper bags full and handed a bag to each of
the boys. They then left, waving goodbye to him as they went
through the gate.
When they arrived at Wink's house, Aunt Gracie was delighted.
The antique items might bring a good price, along with the rare
old books.
"This Winterfresh must be a nice guy," remarked Aunt Gracie.
"He is!" the boys exclaimed in unison.
"I better call the newspaper office and have an ad placed in
tomorrow's edition." Aunt Gracie said as she hurried to the
telephone. "We don't want to do a lot of work for nothing."
When she came outside again, she had a roll of yellow tape to
use for pricing the things. The three lads helped her and it took
a long time to tag everything.
Willie and Big Squirt came in the yard and wanted to help,
too. After all, they were with Wink when the windshield was
shattered.
"Let's get our plunder," Big Squirt said to Willie. Then they
ran off to find Moon and Jeff. In minutes four boys came up the
driveway with arms loaded.
"My word!" We'll have a big sale." Aunt Gracie was happy. Then
she said, "Don't go away now. I'll fix the eats." She went in to
make tea and sandwiches. While she was in the house, the guys
looked over the items marked for sale.
"Can we trade things?" asked Willie.
"Maybe, we'll see," Aunt Gracie said as she brought out a tray
filled with baloney and peanut butter-jelly sandwiches.
After the boys finished eating, they decided to go swimming in
the lake. Little Cube went home to be sure that he was there when
his dad arrived from work.
With the help of Wink and his friends, Aunt Gracie was ready
for the sale day. When Saturday arrived there were people waiting
to buy before she could make breakfast.
"My goodness! The sale was to begin at 9 o'clock, not 7." But
she went out to help the customers. In half an hour she made $79,
then hurried into the house to awaken Wink.
"Wink, get up!" she called into his room. "The people are
already coming to our sale."
Quickly he jumped out of bed and got out of his pajamas. He
hurriedly put some clothes on and went through the kitchen.
When business slowed, Aunt Gracie went in to make tea and
toast. Wink stayed to watch for customers. Soon they were eating
breakfast on the driveway.
About 10 o'clock the gang showed up to find out what was
happening.
There were long periods with no one buying. Suddenly there was
a customer, sometimes more than one.
By 3:30 in the afternoon Aunt Gracie started putting left-over
items back into the garage as it looked like rain.
A lady paid $3 apiece for the antique shaving mugs and was very
pleased with them. An old professor bought the rare books. Many
things had been sold. It had been a good day.
When Aunt Gracie counted the money that night, there was $209.
Wink was jubilant. Now he could pay for the broken windshield with
$266, including the $57 from Aunt Gracie.