Good News, Bad News

Good News or Bad News

“MOM! MOM!” SHOUTED STEVEN, bursting through the front door of his house and waving a fistful of papers. Sweat pasted his blond curls to his forehead. His round cheeks glowed red and hot from running. He shoved the papers at his mother as she stood stirring a pitcher of lemonade in the kitchen.

“Mom, you gotta read this!”

“Sit down and catch your breath,” said Mom, waving him toward a chair. “Did you run all the way home from school? That’s uphill, all the way. What happened in second grade today that has you so excited?”

“Special visitor… prizes… sell stuff… prizes,” panted Steven. He dropped himself into a chair at the kitchen table. Mom set out glasses of lemonade and a plate of peanut butter crackers. The front door opened again. Steven’s older brother, Paul, came into the kitchen, dragging his backpack.

“Paul, hurry! We gotta start selling,” said Steven, stuffing crackers into his mouth.

“Chill,” commanded Paul. “Teacher said it was optional. We don’t have to do it, and I’m not going to. That’s the last thing I would do.”

“But the prizes,” spurted Steven, crumbs shooting from his mouth. Paul just scowled and slumped into a chair at the table.

“There is no prize that can make me knock on someone’s door and sell them stuff,” Paul grumbled. “I’m not like you. You like talking to people.”

Three-year-old Sophia came running into the kitchen for her usual after-school hugs and snacks. Her dark eyes filled with questions. She looked from one brother to the other, trying to figure out if this was a happy time or a sad time.

Mom was a little confused, too. “Better let me see those papers,” she said, smoothing them out on the table and adjusting her glasses. “Oh, I see. The school is having a fundraiser to make money for the new library. They want you to sell gift boxes of cheese and sausage that will arrive ‘just in time for holiday gift-giving.’” Mom looked first at Steven’s face, shining with excitement, then at Paul’s downcast eyes. A little wrinkle traveled across her forehead. Finally she said,“I think we should have a Family Talk about this when Dad comes home.”

A Family Talk was what they did when decisions needed to be made. During these talks, everyone gave ideas and opinions until a solution was found. Steven thought that Dad had the best ideas. He was not your ordinary kind of dad. He was Father John Papadopoulos, an Orthodox Christian priest. He spent hours praying and talking to God. Steven imagined that God must be answering him. All the people at Holy Trinity Church listened to what Father John had to say every Sunday, during his sermon. What would he say about the cheese and sausage sale?