Penelope Spark

Little Johnny Forester was a tall lanky boy for an eight year old. He had a freckled face, two front buck teeth that one day his face would grow into… yes, but in the meantime, the kids at school laughed – pointing to his ‘bucky beaver’ teeth. Doesn’t take much to sour a sweet child’s spirit… children grow up to be adults, and when they’ve grown up pointing, they don’t usually stop.  He didn’t realize how much that childhood experience affected him until a friend wanted to take his picture and asked him why he never smiled. “I just don’t,” Johnny replied, offering the best he could without a show of teeth. He hated pictures of himself, but his mom asked for one, and he never said no to momma.  

Of course, this entire situation and his friend’s question brought back more memories than he wanted to untuck. There were triggers in life that would fire off a thousand different reminiscences… like when he’d walk along a culvert and straddle both sides of the gulley – left foot on one side, the right on the other. He’d walk and look into the water below, hoping to spy out a festive gathering of crawdaddies. As he walked, he also thought how God looked down and saw him, as God straddled the heavens. Of course, Johnny realized his limitations. Even though he was tall for his age, and could stretch his legs out a fair distance, there came that point along the culvert that he had to choose to cross over the gulley – to one side or the other – left or right. Being so stretched out, he had to successfully push off and make the jump without falling in and getting wet. So, he went on and straddled the gulley as long as he could, but the moment inevitably came when he had to decide, go left or go right.

He hated making that choice. It wasn’t as if he was choosing between good and evil. If he went left, the path took him home. If he went right, that path took him to his grandma’s house. Because he loved them both, he naturally hated to make the decision… his momma would have dinner waiting – her golden fried chicken and mashed – his grandma, dessert – something peachy. Anyway, it got to be decision-making time straddling that gulley. He had to push off one way or the other – make a choice: meat and potato or something peachy. He couldn’t keep straddling, the gulley was getting wide, and he was afraid he’d fall in. If he fell in, he’d hear it one way or other from his either mother and grandmother. There’s was no way that he was going to show up all wet anywhere in his school clothes. 

Oh, if such decisions and the consequences were so easy today!