Pain's Joke
Chapter 12
Jonas was on his way to meet Reverend Chambers at the park. The tires of his bicycle were making a soft buzz against the blacktop, a buzz which pulsated in tone, in perfect cadence with every downward stroke of the pedals. The midday air was hot and thick with humidity, and a sweat, which at first was barely a moistening of Jonas' forehead, had progressed beyond an occasional drop spilling over his brow, and had now become a glistening mask which covered his face and ran down his neck. He was out of breath, and the sidewalk ran slightly uphill going toward the park bench where Rev. Chambers sat. While holding the handlebars, Jonas threw his right leg back and over to the left side of the wheel and hopped off the pedal with the left, causing him to have to jog for a few steps until the bike slowed down to his walking speed. The reverend waited patiently for Jonas to come to him, not wanting to strain himself in the midday sun on what was turning out to be the hottest day of the year. That kind of heat could kill younger and stronger men.
“Hey, Reverend.” panted Jonas.
“Awful hot to be riding that hard. Let's walk on down back to the corner and get some ice cream. My treat.”
Jonas wiped his forehead, “Yeah, please. Thanks.”
“So did you think of any plans for our dilemma?”
“Nothing solid. I'm still thinking though.”
Reverend Chambers laughed.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. Yesterday you sounded like you had a rock solid plan in the works. I'm sure we'll figure something out.”
“Well, I was kinda thinking...”
“So you do have a plan?”
“I mean, it's not really a plan, plan. It's just some ideas running around in my head. Nothing solid, like I said.”
“Well it sounds like you want to spit it out, so let's order our ice cream, sit down over there in the shade. You can figure out what you wanna say when the sun ain't baking your brain.”
“Yeah,” Jonas laughed as he wiped more sweat from his forehead and walked to the side of the ice cream shop to lean his bike against the picnic table under the umbrella.
“Two small vanillas, please.” the reverend said through the window. He turned to say something to Jonas but forgot what it was when he saw Jonas covered in sweat. He turned back around to the window and said, “Could you make those larges? Thanks.”
“Really, sir, I'm fine with just a small.” Jonas said politely.
“Ah, don't worry about it.” the reverend said with a wave. “It's hot out, and I think we both could use a little something extra to cool us down.”
“Good then. Cuz I do my best thinking after eating some ice cream. More ice cream, better ideas.”
“That's the best thought you've had so far, Jonas.”
They waited patiently despite the heat. They could feel the heat radiating from the blacktop in the street, the concrete sidewalk, and the sun above them. Every car that passed cast a swift, blinding glare toward where Jonas and Reverend Chambers were standing. After a few moments, two female hands poked through the window, each clutching a large vanilla ice cream cone as if the hands were bestowing enormous, frozen dairy scepters upon the anxious pair.
“When you say large, they sure give you a large.” said Reverend Chambers, surprised at the size of the cones.
They took their cones and walked around to the side of the building. They sat at the table where Jonas had leaned his bike. They were mostly silent while they ate, only occasionally would one or the other let out a groan of enjoyment while they licked the drips, which due to the heat was becoming a more pressing concern than actually eating the ice cream itself.
Jonas finished the last bite of his cone, wiped his mouth and wrinkled the napkin into a ball and said, “So here's what I'm thinking.” before swallowing.
“I figure at church, the pastor says that somewhere in the Bible it says that faith without works is dead. So I think if you want to have your faith back, you need to go around doing good deeds and whatnot.”
“Sounds good. But what if I go do all these good deeds and still don't have any faith?” the reverend asked, still eating his cone.
“See that's the thing, Reverend, if you didn't have faith you wouldn't be doing the good deeds to begin with. I don't think you lost your faith so much as you just forgot how to trust it.”
“So you think doing nice things for some people will help me?”
“It can't hurt. What's the worst that could happen?” asked Jonas.
“Let me tell you, it's pretty funny you thought of that. After our talk yesterday, I did a lot of thinking myself. Still don't have a plan, but I'm still thinking. But I thought about pretty much the same thing. I figured after the mess I made and the missus dying, I got pretty hung up on myself and stopped doing things for others. Pretty selfish, I guess.”
“Eh, I dunno. I would have been pretty mad if all that stuff happened to me.”
“I'm not talking about mad, Jonas. I'm talking about being completely disillusioned with church, God, and pretty much everything. Just being so overwhelmed that I couldn't even imagine doing anything for anyone because I was too busy being consumed with my misery. Maybe doing for others instead of focusing on me will do my old soul some good.”
“Alright, well it sounds like we agree. Now we gotta pick someone out for you to do something nice for.” Jonas sat and thought. “What about Old Lady Hopkins? She's always needing help with the garden, tells my mom all the time that I should go over and help her. I don't want to, though, because she smells funny.”
“But I don't think it's as simple as that, Jonas. I mean, how can years of pain and suffering be overcome by just one little act of charity? Technically, charity doesn't even require faith, just a healthy sense of guilt.”
“Well you said you were feeling guilty, right? So go help someone you've done wrong. That's where you need to start.”
Reverend Chambers mulled over the names of a few people who immediately popped into mind, then quickly rejected the entire notion. “How naive am I?” he thought. He had trouble believing that any advice from a kid would be helpful in the first place. But something about Jonas' sincerity made him want to believe.
Wanting to change the subject, Reverend Chambers asked, “Can I ask you something, Jonas?”
“Sure.”
“I'm not making fun, or being mean or anything, I'm just kinda curious. And please, if you're not comfortable talking about it, then we don't have to. But...well, what happened to your jaw, son?”
“Born like this. Doctor said it's a deposit of calcium. I take medicine but it's probably never going to go away, he says.”
“Does it hurt any?”
“Nah, just tingles every now and then. Sometimes if I sleep on it wrong, it'll hurt in the morning. But not really.”
“Do the other kids at school tease you about it?”
“They used to, sometimes. But they all know me now and they're used to it, I guess. It doesn't bother me now.”
“See that's what I mean, Jonas. I don't understand why God, if he's all-powerful, and loving, and kind, why would he force you to go through something like that? That's what I mean when I say I'm disillusioned. I don't get it. I mean, sure if God wanted to toss some wrath on me for what I did, that's fine, because I deserved it. But what did you do to deserve a lifelong deformity?”
“Momma says it builds character. Makes me a better person.”
“But even if that's true, why couldn't you have been given some adversity to overcome which didn't involve something so glaringly and painfully obvious? I don't mean to hurt your feelings by talking about it, I just figured it made a good example for what I was talking about.”
“You didn't hurt my feelings. Seriously, I only think about it when I'm at the doctor's. Half the time, I don't even remember what I'm taking medicine for unless I look in the mirror.”
&nb
sp; “Well, it sure has built your character. You're a much stronger young man than I would be, given the same situation. I guess – I mean, I don't really know because I haven't been through it. But you know what I'm saying, right?”
“Pastor says God doesn't give anybody a burden they can't handle. I guess he just made me extra good at handling this one.”