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The Fearsome Puddle

By Guy K. Henry

www.guyhenry.com

The windshield wipers on the church van quickly swept the water to the side, but they were hardly fast enough to keep up with the heavy rain. Billy, the driver, pulled up as close as possible to Cody’s house and honked the horn. Cody had been peeking out the window. As soon as he saw the van stop he dashed to the door and called to his sister, “The van’s here Christina!”

Cody opened the front door and sprinted out to the van. In a few seconds he was climbing aboard the van.

“How did you do that?” Billy asked.

“Do what?” Cody said with a puzzled look.

“You ran so fast that you hardly got wet!” Then Billy laughed.

A moment later Christina got into the van. Her jacket was soaked, so she immediately began to peel it off.

“You’ll have to learn to run as fast as your brother,” Billy said as he cranked up the heat for her.

The van made a few more stops, and began to fill up with people. They stopped at one of Cody’s classmate’s homes, Rodney. Cody had never been particularly friendly to Rodney. He thought Rodney was fun to tease because he never fought back. There was plenty of space on the seat next to Cody, but he spread out as much as he could so that Rodney wouldn’t sit next to him. As he passed by him Cody snickered to his sister and pulled an ugly face at Rodney.

The van pulled into the church parking lot about twenty minutes early. Just as it did, the sun came out from behind the clouds, and the rain stopped. This was exactly what Cody had been hoping for. He asked, “Do we have time to hike the walking trail?”

Just a few months earlier the church had built a giant walking track in the neighboring field. Cody was so fast that he was able to make two or three trips around it in the time it took most people to make one.

Up until then Mr. Guy hadn’t said a word. He was sitting in the passenger seat, hurriedly working on his children’s church lesson for that morning. “I guess we have time,” he answered, not looking up from his notebook. “Just be sure to stay out of the puddles.”

The van came to a stop. Cody was the first at the door, and he swung it open. Cody ran out of the van like a horse running a race. The rest of the riders squinted in the sunlight. By then Cody was out of sight.

Cody pretended that he was a jet airplane as he zoomed around the track. His arms were stretched out like wings. He pointed his nose to the sky and enjoyed the wind as it whished by. He never saw the puddle until both his feet were in it.

This mud was like glue. Cody struggled to keep his balance as he came to a complete stop. He tried to lift his feet out of the mud, but the mud held them tight.

Cody struggled for a while. He noticed that he was slowly sinking. The mud now reached just below his knees.

“Help Me!” he called out.

Just then Mr. Guy rounded the curve. Cody called out to him, “Help! I’m Stuck!”

Mr. Guy looked up from his notebook and saw Cody sinking in the mud. “Cody,” he said, “I really would like to help you. I really would.”

Cody held out his arms towards Mr. Guy and wiggled his little fingers.

“But,” Mr. Guy continued, “I am very busy preparing my lesson for children’s church. I am going to barely get it finished in time.”

Cody continued to wiggle his fingers, expecting to be lifted out of the mud at any moment.

Mr. Guy kept walking right past Cody. “Cody, I am so sorry. I am too busy to help you. I hope that you understand.”

Cody did not understand.

“I wish you the best, “ Mr. Guy called as his eyes returned to his notebook.

By now Cody had sunk down to his belt. He was getting a little scared.

After a few minutes Miss Hedi, Cody’s favorite AWANA leader came into sight. Cody was very glad to see her. He called out, “Help Me Miss Hedi! I am sinking in the mud!”

Miss Hedi stood at the edge of the puddle and took a moment to consider the problem. “I would like to help you Cody. I sure would.” She scratched her chin.

Cody stretched out his arms toward Miss Hedi and wiggled his little fingers. “Help! Pull me out!”

“Cody, you can plainly see that I am wearing my Sunday dress,” she said.

Cody continued to wiggle his fingers.

“It just wouldn’t do to get it all muddy,” Miss Hedi said shaking her head. “What would the people think if I came to church in a muddy dress? You understand, don’t you?”

Cody didn’t understand. Miss Hedi continued walking down the trail. Cody continued sinking. Soon he was up to his chin in mud.

After a moment he saw a sneaker come around the bend. He lifted his eyes up to see who it was. “Oh no!” he thought. “It’s Rodney! He surely won’t help me.” He took a deep breath as the mud covered his nose. He closed his eyes tight to keep from getting mud in them. Now only one arm remained above the mud. Cody had stopped wiggling his fingers. He wished that he had been nicer to Rodney. Perhaps if he had, Rodney would help him out of the mud. Nothing could change that now though.

Just as Cody expected the cold mud to cover his hand, he felt something warm. Cody’s heart beat faster as he felt his hand being squeezed. “That’s a strong grip!” he thought. Slowly at first he felt himself being lifted out from the mud. There was a loud ‘burrrrp’ sound as his legs popped free from the mud.

He tumbled to the solid ground, along with his rescuer. Cody wiped the mud from his eyes and was amazed to see Rodney’s smiling face. The two muddy boys sat silently for quite a while and caught their breath on the solid ground.

Cody finally tried to get to his feet. When his legs wobbled, Rodney turned to face away from him and said, “Get up on my back.” Rodney then carried Cody back to the church.

From that time on, Cody found that there was a lot to like about Rodney. They became friends. Rodney never had to look for a spot to sit on in the van again, because Cody was certain to save a place for him.

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