chapter 26 -- Contrariwise Blessing

         Tim woke early that bright Saturday morning and lay breathing in the sweet fresh air from his open window. Someone had put a blanket on him during the night while he was sleeping. Joey might take a thing like that for granted, that Jess or Trina would think of it that he might not be warm enough. Tim would never take anything for granted. He lay smiling and thinking he must be the most fortunate boy in the world. He had not thought it possible to feel this safe and happy. He loved the predictable routine of his days in this house, along with the surprises that came along from time to time.

         Jesse’s alarm clock went off then and a moment later he was calling them to get up. Tim answered happily and began getting dressed.

         The kitchen was bright and sunny at breakfast time. Trina gave him a hug and kiss. She said "I heard the mail truck. Will you go out and bring in the mail?" He was out the door in a flash running down the driveway to the road. He came back in a few minutes and put the pile of mail on the table by Jesse’s place. Jess had come downstairs by then and was still calling to Joey to get moving.

         Tim reported that there was a big yellow-and-black spider sitting in a web spun between the cherry tree and the hedge. Jesse said, “Yes, I saw her there the other day. She’s a beauty isn’t she?”

         Tim had never thought of spiders as beauties. He said “She? How can you tell?”

         Jesse was sorting his mail. “I turned her over and looked.” Tim looked up at him in surprise, and then laughed as he realized it was a joke. “It’s the girl spiders that make webs,” Jesse explained.

         Tim asked, “Is she poison?”

         “Probably. She could give a good wallop with her sting, but leave her alone and she’ll leave you alone. She eats mosquitoes, and anything that kills mosquitoes is on my side.” Jesse put the bills on his desk and threw out the junk mail. He paused at the bottom of the stairs to warn Joey that it would not be a good idea for him to cause Jess to have to come upstairs and get him. Then he came to the table.

         Joey straggled into the kitchen then looking more than half asleep and got into his chair, yawning.

         Jesse picked up the book that had been placed by his plate and opened it. He began to read: “But I say unto you love your enemies do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you ~~ If your enemy is hungry, feed him ~~Render to no man evil for evil but contrariwise blessing ~~ Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”

         After the prayer Jess told the boys that they would just see to feed and water this morning and a couple of the other chores and then go to the beach after lunch. "There's not going to be many more beach days this year, and it would be a shame to waste this one." Joey brightened at the prospect; Jess knew he would. Tim was pleased too. He had learned to swim this summer. Joey was a regular seal in the water.


         Joey got into the car then he said, “I forgot my towel.”

         Jesse rolled his eyes. He said something about Joey’s head being attached and gave him the keys. Joey ran inside and came back with the towel. “Give me the keys,” Jesse suggested. Joey gave him a blank look. “You locked the keys in the house?” Joey threw up his hands; what could he say? “Nice going, Joey,”

         “I’m sorry."

         “Tim do you have your house key?” Jesse asked, and Tim had to say he didn’t. “This is great, just great!” Jess said. “Trina left already; now I have to break a window!”

         Tim said, “No you don’t. Give me a minute.”

         “A minute to what?” Tim went up to the door. He looked around and picked something up off the ground and went back to the door, which swung open after a minute or two. He went in and got the keys off the table and brought them out. Jesse was staring at him. “Was it locked?”

         “Yes, it was locked,” Tim said as got into the car.

         “How did you ~~ I mean I thought that was a good lock!”

         “It is."

         “And you opened it, just like that?”

         “Yes. Maybe I shouldn’t.”

         “Saves me buying window glass."

         Joey exclaimed, “That was cool! Can you teach me that?”

         “No way! I won’t teach you anything like that!”

         Jesse looked into the back seat at his boys, the one who knew nothing about the world and the one who knew way more than he should. He put in the key and started the car.

         And it was a great beach day. Not as hot as earlier in the year but the water was warm after all summer. Jesse got his watch out of his shoe and saw that they had lost track of time. “Tim would you do me a favor and go up to the phone booths and call Trina and tell her we’re running late?” Tim put on his sneakers and shirt and ran across the beach to the steps leading up to the boardwalk.

         It was a short distance up the boardwalk to the phones. But before he got there he heard someone say “Hey Timmy!” behind him. He looked back and saw Bert Easter, an old friend of his father’s. Tim’s heart sank. Bert was bad news. “Well! Timmy, look at you! Those are some nice clothes you got on! Got your teeth fixed, too I see. You’re looking better since I seen you last! What’s going on with you these days since your old man took the fall?”

         Tim said, “I got a foster home.” He didn’t want to let Bert get too close to him.

         “You got a foster home, well good for you. So what's this, Timmy, you come up in the world and forgot all about your old friends?”

         Tim said, “No,” although he had not given much thought to Bert lately.

         He was edging away but Bert got hold of his arm. Bert said, “Well, now, it’s a good thing we run into each other. I need some help and you’d be just the one to ask!” This did not sound good. He couldn’t get away from the man’s grip so he had no choice. Bert went on, “Listen, Timmy, I got me some trouble. The cops are after me. I need some money to get away from here, out of state, like ~ you can get me some money.”

         Tim said he couldn’t and Bert said, “Sure you can, don’t give me that! You could always lay your hands on some money!”

         “I don’t do that any more.”

         “So what’s this? You reformed? Don’t you know you can’t reform until after you pay your debt to society?”

         Tim knew what he meant. Bert went on, “These nice people you live with now. Do they know what you’ve been up to all your life? The cops would like to get ahold of you, I bet,” Tim had a terrible feeling that might be true.

         “They don’t put children in jail.”

         “You they would! With your record you’d go straight to adult court. Or else they’d put you in joovy, and that’s just as bad. Believe me I know!” Tim tried again to get away but the man tightened his hold. “So listen, here’s what I want you to do. Just get me some money. You know how. Then I’ll go away and you’ll never see me again and you can go ahead and reform all you want with nobody the wiser! One more job and you’re rid of me. What do you say?”

         There were enough people around so Tim knew Bert wouldn’t dare hurt him and said, “No.”

         Bert said, “Well then, that’s too bad because if I go down I’m taking you with me. I know plenty about you to get you put away until you’re old and gray. These people you live with. Are they good people? I bet they wouldn’t break the law. If the cops wanted you they’d have to hand you over.”

         Tim knew it; Jesse would not break the law. He stood there feeling sick and afraid. He knew what Bert was talking about. The fact that his father and his friends had made him do the things he did would probably not protect him from punishment.

         He also knew Bert. He knew the man was a liar and he knew if he once got him money he would keep coming back for more; Tim knew it. He thought, ' I'll never be rid of him, once he gets the idea I can get him money.'

         Actually there was no question that he could do it. It was Bert and the old man who had taught him how and he had done what this father told him because the alternative was a beating. And he had been proud of his prowess as a sneak thief. But now he was ashamed of it and he knew he couldn’t do it again. No matter what, he couldn’t do it again.

         So he repeated, “No!”

         Bert said, “Well then, it’s the joint for both of us. You won’t like it there.

All right, here’s what you do. You're going to school, right?”

         “Yes.”

         “Where?”

         “Carthage."

         “All right I know where that is. I’ll meet you there. You do this one more thing for me and I’ll never bother you again. Remember. I’ll be looking for you because if I don’t get ahold of some money for getting away from here you know what will happen and what happens to me, happens to you!”

         Bert let go of his arm then and Tim fled back down the boardwalk, down the steps and across the sand to where Jesse and Joey were packing up to go home. Jesse asked him if he had reached Trina and he said quickly without thinking, “The line was busy.” He had even forgotten he was supposed to make a phone call, but lying to Jess like that sickened him as soon as the words were out. It seemed that all the good things that had come into his life so recently were about to be taken away from him. He had had a taste of home and family and love and being cared for and he knew he couldn’t go back to the old way. And he had heard enough about it from the old man to know that being locked up would be terrible!

         Jesse lifted Tim’s chin for a better look. “What’s wrong, Tim?”

         “I feel sick to my stomach,” Tim said and that much was the truth. Jesse told Joey “Carry the cooler, we’ve got to get Tim home."

         Jesse took him upstairs to his room. Trina asked what was wrong and Jesse told her “Upset stomach."

         “What did you give him to eat?”

         “Some pizza and soda.”

         “And hot dogs,” Joey reminded him.

         Tim lay down on his bed and she sat beside him her cool hand on his forehead. “He doesn’t have a cast iron stomach like you and Joey.” Evidently not, Jesse thought, and made a mental note to be more careful in the future what he let him eat.

         Looking around at the little room that had been his for a while Tim thought he could not bear it! He wanted to cry but then they would ask him why. Trina went back downstairs. Jesse told Joey, who had been watching anxiously, to go get a shower and wash the salt off him, and get ready for supper.

         Tim still looked sick so Jesse decided to stay with him. Tim knew he was going to have to explain.

         ‘Something bad happened,” he said.

         Jesse sat beside him on the bed to listen. He told about his meeting with Bert. Jesse took the sobbing child in his arms. “Tim listen to me! The police don’t want you! I thought you knew; your case is settled and you’re on probation in my custody.”

         Tim gulped and said, “But there’s more I did than you know about.”

         “I know about it. I’ve seen your record. I know all about the charges against you. They told me all about it the first day I went to family court.”

         “I can pick locks.”

         “I know that, I saw you do it.”

         “I’m a burglar."

         “I know that too. They settled your case by putting you in my custody. You were sentenced to live here with us until you’re eighteen. When you’re eighteen you’ll be free to go but I hope you’ll want to stay with us.” Anger rose in Jesse that this boy had been terrorized and threatened like this. “This Bert, he told you to meet him at the school? Maybe he should meet me instead! He needs to be taught a lesson. Right now I’d like to get my hands on him!”

         Tim lifted his head. “Jesse, no! You’re way bigger than he is. You might hurt him bad.”

         Jesse was shamed. “I’m sorry, Tim, I take it back. Right then for a minute I wanted to ~~ I’m sorry!”

         Tim said after a moment, “Besides isn’t this what you read about this morning, about loving our enemies?”

         Without meaning to, Tim had hit him hard with that.

         “I was wrong. You’re right. You listened better than I did.” Once in a while he got a reminder that his temper was still there, nasty as ever. “Forgive me, I’m sorry.”

         Tim went on. “Besides, Bert isn’t all bad, he’s good too. He took care of me when I was sick. He got me food. I guess he stole the food. You wouldn’t eat stolen food if you were starving.”

         “Don’t pin me down to what I’d do if I was starving. I’ve never been that hungry.”

         “And he got between me and the old man and took a beating for me sometimes,” Tim remembered. “And he never hit me even once. And he kept the guys away from me; you know the ones that go after boys. They were afraid of him and he wouldn’t let them touch me.”

         Jesse had gone from wanting to smack Bert’s head on the pavement to wanting to shake his hand and thank him.

         Most people would say Bert was a despicable little weasel and maybe he was. But somewhere in him was enough decency that he had been good to Tim. Tim went on, “Bert’s having a rotten life, Jesse, and now he might have to go back in prison. He’s been there before so this time he’ll get hard time. Nobody ever gave him a chance like you gave me!”

         Tim had a way of getting to the heart of the matter and right then Jesse had to think about things he would just as soon not think about. He had believed he could step into that other world and bring away one precious child and that would be enough. Nobody had given Bert that kind of chance. How much longer until it would have been too late for Tim, too?

         For his part, Tim was feeling good again, secure in the strong arms of his safe-keeper. He shed the terror of the afternoon like a wet raincoat. But for Jesse another corner of his comfort zone was crumbling. Tim was making him think and where it would take him he could not even imagine.