Megan and Her Shrink Ray Gun

Chapter 4: Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Chapter 4: Sunday, June 15th, 2008: Church

Megan was almost ready for church, when she got a call from Shelly.

“Can your mom pick me up to take me to church with you? My parents are out of town for the week and my brother is asleep.”

Megan asked her mom, and replied to Shelly that they would be right over. While Shelly was still on the phone, Megan told her that she wanted to ask the pastor if using time travel for monetary gain was against the Bible.

“If he asks why you want to know about this, just tell him you’re writing an essay about time travel,” said Shelly, “don’t tell him you really met time travelers so he doesn’t think you’re crazy!”

Later that morning, Megan sat on a pew with Shelly on one side, and her mom on the other. When the sermon was done, Megan said she wanted to ask the pastor a question. Shelly went with her to see what his answer would be.

“Remember what I told you over the phone about this,” said Shelly.

As people filed around the pastor and socialized with him, Megan approached him.

“Can I ask you a hypothetical question, pastor Bob?” Megan asked.

“Sure!” the pastor replied.

“Suppose someone had a way of traveling through time. Would it be wrong to use time travel for monetary gain?”

“According to second Kings chapter five,” the pastor replied, “the apprentice of the Prophet Elisha was punished for trying to use God’s power for monetary gain, and he was stricken with leprosy. We can assume from this that if time travel was possible, it is a gift from God and we can’t use it for monetary gain.”

“Thank you, pastor Bob!” said Megan.

After being dropped off at their homes, the girls changed clothing and met at Shelly’s house.

“I think we need to use the shrink ray to fight crime,” said Megan. “The pastor said we can’t use time travel for monetary gain.”

“Maybe we can use the future knowledge of the shrunken astronauts to know when criminals will strike!” said Shelly.

“That’s a good idea,” Megan replied.

“I think we should also have the shrunken astronauts build a statue of one of us!” said Shelly.

“That’s a good idea,” said Megan. “We would have to provide the material. What should we use?”

“I’ll ask my brother,” said Shelly. She went into the kitchen where Chris was eating a bowl of cereal. “Chris, if we know someone who will build a statue of me, what should we use for the building material?”

“That’s easy,” Chris replied, “plaster of Paris. I know where to buy it, I can have it here this afternoon if you give me the cash.”

Megan dug out some of her birthday money and gave it to Chris. “You can keep ten bucks of it as a fee, as long as you buy it and bring it here.”

“I know someone with a tool I need to use to mix it with water,” said Chris. “I’m going to have to build a wood frame to mix it and let it dry. It might take a couple of days before it dries out enough for someone to use a hammer and chisel on it.”

Before nightfall, the plaster was setting in the wood frame Chris had built with hammer and nails. Megan and Shelly admired it.

“Thanks Chris!” said Megan.

“Who is going to build the statue?” Chris asked.

“Someone we know,” said Shelly, in a hurry to change the subject. Megan went home, and Shelly got ready for bed, because she had summer school the next day.

To Be Continued!