It
was going to be a battle they had fought before, with not very good
results. The two white-headed World War II veterans arrived at Mark
Bond's house with their favorite fishing rods in the back seat. Both
men questioned each other about what a Shoo-Fly pie was like, and was
it something humans would want to eat. Mark happily greeted, “Howdy
fellas! I sure hope you remembered your fishing rods. I'm gonna whop
both of you good!”
The
two men took a seat on the porch while hearing Mark's warning not to
trip over his two canes leaning over against the porch railing. As
was expected, Pete spoke right up with all the particulars of the
birth of his fourth new grand-baby. Mark and Bates could tell Pete
was as excited about the event as he was about the first one. And
trying to put the skids to Pete's revelation would be about as hard
as storming the beach at Guadalcanal with bombs exploding all around
you.
Shortly
the conversation turned to the events at the recent Silver-Tops
Seniors fellowship, last week. With a bit of a struggle, Mark changed
his posture in the porch swing. Bates asked, “Mark, is that grenade
fragment giving you problems again?” The answer came, “Ya. The
army surgeons said it was too close to my spine and that it'd have to
stay put. They warned that I'd have occasional pain with it, the rest
of my life.”
Mark
continued, “That talk that Blaster Jackson gave at 'Silver-Tops'
really spoke to me. Like most of the rest of the audience, I was
really touched by his tenderness about the teens. I didn't think he
had deep feelings, like that; about anything.” Mumbled agreement
came from both Pete and Bates. Mark continued, while rubbing his chin
in a thoughtful way.
“But
what I really connected with, was Blaster's thoughts about the two
kinds of pain. You remember – his physical pain – his Arthritis.
And then, his mental pain – seeing the stress and confusion in the
life of the teen he had cokes with. A buddy of mine had a pump
implanted under his skin to feed medicine when his back pain got so
bad. Scientists have come up with all kinds of wonderful medicines
and technology to help control our physical pain. But they're stopped
cold trying to find something that will deal with that deeper pain;
the mental pain within our spirit.”
Bates
was never a real talkative person, but spoke up. “Guys. I've
started building a teenage boy – on paper, that is. It always helps
me to write things down and move my thoughts around – get them
sort-of lined up. I can think about things more clearly and pray
better too. I've printed out the list I'm beginning and here's a copy
for each of you.” All three men were looking at their copy of the
list. “I want both of you to tell me stuff that could probably be added,
to help build 'our teenage boy'; on paper, that is.”
The
beginning list already included statements like, “1. unlike girls,
boys enjoy loud, messy, flashy outside events, especially if a
contest or food is involved. 2. boys are far more independent and
want to establish their own rules, rather than being controlled by
teachers, parents, and other authorities. 3. fashion and first
impressions are rarely close to the top of a boy's to-do list. 4.
boys have begun the lifelong battle to try to understand the reasons
for the actions of those other soft-speaking teens that wear frilly
dresses, and matching ribbons in their hair.”
Pete
suggested another teen boy note: “teen boys are often seen playing
hand-held video games. And I'm thinking the ever-present gaming may be cover-ups for
painful family circumstances or the absence of a true friend that
deeply cares about the boy's hurts – physical or especially
mental/spiritual.”
The
men grabbed their fishing rods and headed for the backyard battle,
still wondering what a Shoo-Fly Pie was.
Each
of the trio was seated in a chair, facing an aluminum pie plate about
30 feet in front of them. As directed by yesterday's phone call
invitation, a casting plug was attached where a fish hook was usually
found. The obvious task was to carefully cast your plug into the pie
plate, without getting it tangled in the low-hanging tree limbs. Mark
explained, “The first one who mistakenly gets tangled in the tree
limb, has to be the first to taste my Dixie's Shoo-Fly Pie. You both
already know that she likes to experiment with new pie recipes, and
this one, I have some real questions about.”
The
first taster of Dixie's new creation, we'll learn about later. A
Shoo-Fly pie is made with sweet crumbs and molasses. Evidently the
flies love 'em.
