

Boise Salvation

By Jim Barnes

Published by Jim Barnes at Smashwords

Copyright © 2013 by Jim Barnes

Salvation 1. a saving or being saved from danger, evil, difficulty, destruction, etc.; rescue

2. a person or thing that is a means, cause or source of preservation or rescue.

Websters New World Dictionary

Scripture quotations in this book are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright © 1978 by New York International Bible Society

Table of Contents

Chapter One – Introduction

Chapter Two – Monday Morning

Chapter Three – Monday Afternoon

Chapter Four – Tuesday

Chapter Five – Wednesday

Chapter Six – Thursday

Chapter Seven – Friday

Chapter Eight – Saturday

Chapter Nine – Sunday

Chapter Ten - Epilogue

Chapter One - Introduction

This all happened about a year or so ago when I was still just a high school kid before I ever heard of a place called Boise, Idaho. I was a pretty happy kid just going to high school. I wasn't much into sports or anything other than just going to school, attending all my classes and then coming home and studying or reading. One year for Christmas I received an iPhone, not the newest one, but one of the older ones, and I started to read lots of eBooks on it, more than using it as a phone. So, I guess you could say I'm a nerd. I don't really look like your stereotypical nerd. At least I don't think I do. You know the kind of kid with the funny haircut, and glasses. I guess I'm just a funny looking kid without glasses. My face is affected a little with the occasional outbreak of acne, from time to time, and I don't eat all the right stuff, so I'm a bit on the heavy side. Although I'm in pretty good shape since I walk at least three or four miles every day. I really don't consider myself to be extra smart or anything special. Learning doesn't come easy to me and I really have to study and apply myself just to get a decent grade. One other reason I think I'm a nerd is because I'm kind of shy and a little awkward with girls, if you know what I mean. Unlike some guys I know at school I don't have any real social skills when it comes to talking to girls. Usually when I see a girl I like and want to talk to her I start to stutter and stammer, and can't get two words out of my mouth before she starts laughing her head off at me. I usually try to avoid situations where I have to talk to girls.

When I was 17, during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, my parents got divorced, my older sister got married, and I was given the choice of living with my mother or my father. Let me first tell you about my parent's divorce, or at least what I know about it. At the time my family was living in the Boston suburb of Lowell, where we had lived for the past four years. My father was serving on a Boston based Coast Guard cutter, the SPENCER, and was absent quite a bit during the prior four years. I'm not really sure why my parents got divorced, but I think it may have something to do with my mother growing independent without my father being around, and my father being unhappy with my mom. It didn't help matters when my dad found out my mom was seeing another guy when the ship was out, but that is something I'm not supposed to know about. In any case, with my sister getting married, my parents getting divorced, and my living situation in limbo that summer the last thing I expected was to move across the country with my dad when he received orders as a recruiter in Boise, Idaho.

I didn't know anything about Boise, Idaho, other than where it was located on the map, and what I read about it on Wikipedia. My dad was looking forward to recruiting duty and was happy to be assigned to a small recruiting office in a smaller city. He told me he once drove through Boise on his way from Portland to Boston when he was about my age, with his parents. My grandfather was in the Coast Guard too, and he moved his family several times across the country. I guess the Coast Guard is kind of a family tradition, although I have no intentions of continuing this tradition. Not that the Coast Guard is a bad life, I just want something better, if you know what I mean.

I'll start by telling you what happened after we first got to Boise, if that's okay. My father and I drove across the country from Boston in my dad's Ford F-150 pickup truck. The trip took about four days. I've never learned how to drive so my dad did all the driving. We would drive for about four or five hours when we had to stop for gas. We would get something to eat at one of the truck stops off the interstate, do our business, if you know what I mean, and be on our way. Each night we stopped at a motel just as the sun was going down. I think my dad didn't like driving at night, or maybe he thought it was more dangerous or something, but he is the type of person who really doesn't like to take any chances if he doesn't have to.

I can't remember the names of the towns where we stopped each night, but the first night we were somewhere in Ohio. The second night we were half way across Iowa, and the third night we had just made it into Wyoming. My dad had a set schedule and he liked to keep to it. He set the alarm clock to go off a little before 4 every morning. He would never linger in bed after the alarm went off, but would always jump right up and go into the bathroom to shave and shower. It was as if he was still living on board the ship. After he finished in the bathroom it was my turn to get up and get ready to go. Each morning after doing our business in the bathroom we would get the truck loaded up and get started as the sun was just starting to light the day. When we finally pulled into Boise it was in the late evening, a Saturday, and the sun was just starting to set. We pulled off at the exit near the airport and got a motel room. My dad was pretty tired, and so was I, so we just went to bed after getting checked into our room.

The next morning we got up like we were still traveling, and my dad decided he wanted to find an apartment to rent that day. My dad isn't the type to waste a lot of time looking around and studying all of his options before making a decision. Before we even had breakfast he wanted to drive around town to get a feel for the place. He had some idea what kind of place he wanted to rent. We hurried and took a shower and got dressed, and were out the motel room before the sun was up just like we had the past week. This was in the middle of August so it was pretty early, and I think it must have been probably about sixty degrees out. We drove all around Boise. It was still pretty dark, but the street lights lined the streets we drove down and I could see all the buildings and the houses. The sun was peeking over the mountains casting a dim light over the city so I could see all the trees and the green, grassy lawns. Some of the lawns had sprinklers going off and water sprayed out into the street. First we drove down around the downtown area, and around the university. Quite a few tall office buildings downtown had a few lights on, and the dome of the capital building was all lit up. It looked like quite a thriving community to me. Nothing like Boston, but more like one of the capital cities we drove through in the Midwest, like Des Moines or Lincoln. After driving around downtown a little bit we then went out on some highway that went west of town, and we passed by a big shopping mall where we pulled off the highway, and stopped at a place to eat.

The place we stopped at was a sit down restaurant that was pretty empty since it was still pretty early. The place was open 24 hours a day and the waitress must have been working all night since she looked worn out and dead tired. She showed us to a table, and offered my dad coffee, and gave us menus. I've never liked the taste of coffee, so I asked for a Diet Pepsi. The waitress asked if Diet Coke was okay. I told her sure.

My dad and me aren't big talkers or anything. We just sat and looked at the menus until the waitress returned with our drinks, and then asked if we were ready to order. My dad ordered eggs and bacon, with a side of toast. I really wasn't too hungry, so I just asked for a muffin. The waitress told me they had blue berry, lemon poppy seed, or banana walnut. I took a few seconds to decide and while she waited for me to make up my mind she twirled a string of hair around her finger and stood with her head cocked to one side. She wasn't too pretty of a woman, a little on the heavy side. I think she may have been around forty or something. At least that was how old she looked to me, but I've never been a good judge of people's age. I told her blue berry, and she hurried off to put our order in.

While we waited for our food, my dad asked what I thought of the place so far. I told him it wasn't anything like Boston. He agreed, and said he liked the way the mountains stood over the city and how all the streets were clean and the yards were all mowed and everything looked so green. When the waitress came back with our food, my dad asked her which high school was the best in town. She told us her daughter went to a school called Capital, and it was pretty good, and said Boise High was nice too. She told us she had gone to Boise High, about twenty years ago. My dad told the waitress he was a new Coast Guard recruiter in town and that I was going to be a senior in high school, but he hadn't found a place to rent yet. The waitress thought for a second, and then mentioned she might know about an apartment a friend was renting. She wasn't sure whether the place was still available, but offered to find out for us. My dad told her that would be nice, and the waitress wandered off and came back a few minutes later and handed my dad a piece of paper with a phone number written on it. The waitress said it was too early to call the guy, but my dad could call him later and find out about the place. That's how we ended up finding a place to live and how I got to attend Boise High my senior year of high school.

My dad talked with the waitress a little bit more before we left the place and later he called the number she gave him on his cell phone. Turns out the waitress was divorced, and about the same age as my dad. My dad found out the waitress is Mary, and her daughter is about my age too. He got her phone number before we left so who knows what will happen with that. That is just the way my dad is. I really didn't know this about him before, but he can talk to just about anyone and in just a few minutes the person is his best friend. I'm not sure why he got Mary's phone number since I'm sure he would be too afraid to call her. I think my dad is a lot like me, or I'm a lot like him in this regard. After he and my mom got divorced I think he may need a little time before he is ready to get back on the horse again, and ask a woman out.

After we left the restaurant we drove around the city some more just looking at all the different neighborhoods and businesses. Boise stretched out quite a few miles west from the mountains and since it was still early on Sunday morning the traffic was pretty light. One thing peculiar I was starting to notice as we drove around were all of the different churches all over the place. We passed by a lot of brick buildings that looked all about the same with a big white spire, and a sign saying Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on the front. Then there were other smaller churches with signs saying Methodist, or Presbyterian or Lutheran or Baptist. It seemed like all the major religions had a fair number of different buildings in town. Then we passed by a Life Church and a Canyon Ridge Church and one called Calvary Chapel. It seemed to me like Boise must be quite a church going place. My family was never the church going type for some reason. I don't know why but we always seemed to have something else going on Sunday mornings.

A little later in the morning my dad called the number Mary the waitress had given him, and the guy gave us directions and we met the guy at the apartment he had to rent. The guy was older, maybe in his sixties, bald, and wore shorts with socks and sandals. He said his name was Ralph and he told us he retired quite a few years ago and has several rental units he manages to keep himself busy. He said he bought the apartment when the real estate market hit bottom, and is just waiting until the market gets better before he sells the place for a nice profit. He asked my dad how he knew Mary, the waitress, and my dad told him he just met her this morning at the restaurant when we were having breakfast. Explaining we had just gotten into town last night and didn't know anyone in Boise. Turns out Ralph and Mary are neighbors.

The apartment is in a high rise building near downtown. The place was built in 1965 and was once a pretty luxurious building for Boise. Some of the apartments had nice views of the foothills or the river, but the one we looked at is on the third floor and faced the south so it didn't offer much of a view. St. Luke's Hospital is a few blocks away and in the distance I could see a cross on a flat hill and beyond that were the mountains. It is a nice apartment, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a small kitchen and living room. The place has no swimming pool or anything fancy like that, just a small laundry room on each floor, and an elevator. The walls looked like they were recently painted an off white color and the beige colored carpeting looked to be in good condition. The guy took us to the basement to show us the one parking spot that comes with the apartment. A few parking spots were available in a small parking lot outside the main entrance too for visitors.

The apartment is within walking distance of the high school and the university isn't more than a mile away in the other direction. The office where my dad is going to work is about a fifteen minute drive, but Ralph said Boise doesn't have much of a traffic problem, other than on days when the Broncos play football. The local university, Boise State, was known for its football program and the stadium sold out whenever the team played locally.

In the parking garage the guy and my dad talked while I walked around outside the building and checked out the neighborhood. The streets are lined with old tall trees, and a few small office buildings are located nearby where doctors or lawyers have offices. A few people rode their bikes by on the street and a few cars passed by while I walked around the building. Standing outside the building I looked up and found the apartment we were going to rent and looked up to see all the other apartments above it. The building had eleven stories, and I wondered what the other apartments looked like on the higher floors and what kind of view they offered of the city.

I waited for my dad near his truck and a few minutes later he came out, and told me we can move in today. We unloaded everything from the back of the pickup truck and carried it into the apartment. We brought sleeping bags with us, and a few boxes with kitchen stuff, and suitcases with some clothes. We would have to wait for the moving truck to bring the rest of our stuff in a few days. Until then my dad and I would be roughing it in the apartment with just the stuff we brought in the back of the truck. We had a TV and I had my laptop PC so we all were set. I wasn't sure what kind of wireless Internet connection I could get or what kind of television reception would be available without cable or satellite service. I could always use my iPhone to surf the web if I really have to. After we got everything unloaded from the truck my dad suggested we find a grocery store and stock up the refrigerator and kitchen. Earlier on our way to the apartment we passed a few stores so we knew where we were going. It was just past noon on the last Sunday in August. I checked the weather app on my iPhone and the temperature was just starting to get above 80, but it felt a lot cooler than 80 felt in Boston since there was hardly any humidity.

My dad said he wanted to drive by the high school I was going to be starting at Monday. We drove through the older part of the city with its tree lined streets and big old houses which must have been built over a hundred years ago. About five minutes after we left the apartment we were in front of Boise High. Dad stopped and suggested I walk around and get familiar with the campus, and he would be back to pick me up after he put some gas in the truck. I got out and walked up the steps to the main entrance and looked through the glass doors at what looked like the offices. The main building is really impressive with four large columns going from the first to the third floor of the building. Attached to the main building are two smaller buildings and across the side street is another building, and across from that is a large gymnasium. It was smaller than the school I went to in Lowell, but a lot older. The corner stone of one of the smaller buildings had the year 1912 inscribed in the stone.

I walked around the block and went behind the main building and saw a lot of large, old houses, and a big church behind the football field. On the opposite corner behind a newer building and across the street from a small parking lot was a building with a sign that said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints Student Center. I walked past another building on the corner of another street and it turned out to be another church, the Capitol City Christian Church. I walked around the newer gymnasium building and an older building with a sign that said gymnasium, and the corner stone showed the year 1936. On the other corner I turned right and walked past the First Presbyterian Church. I kept walking down this street, crossing at the light at Tenth Street, and walked in front of the YMCA, before turning right on Eleventh Street and returning to the front of the main building, just as I saw my dad approaching.

I opened the passenger door, and climbed inside, and my dad asked, "What do you think?"

I paused for a few seconds, and said, "There are a lot of churches around here and it looks like there are a lot of places to get lost."

My dad laughed, and commented, "You'll get used to it before the first week is over."

We drove through downtown past a couple of skyscrapers, and then on a road past some old looking warehouses to a store where we parked and made our way inside. The store was pretty packed with people pushing shopping carts around with screaming kids in tow.

My dad asked, "What do you want to eat next week?"

I could tell this was pretty new to my dad too. He hadn't spent too much time on his own and probably hadn't cooked for himself in quite a few years.

"Oh I don't know," I replied, "maybe some soup or frozen dinners."

He asked, "Were you planning to eat lunch at school or bag it?"

"I thought I could get something from the cafeteria," I answered. "I'll probably figure all that out tomorrow."

"Okay then, I guess I won't worry about lunch next week, just dinner then." He responded, as we strolled through the produce section and on to the frozen food aisle.

When we were all living together and were more like a real family, before my mom and dad were divorced, we seldom all ate dinner together. Sometimes on the weekend we would all sit down and have a family dinner together, but for the most part everyone just kind of fixed their own meals whenever they came home or whenever they felt hungry. Some days after school I would grab a snack and mom and dad wouldn't be home until after 8, due to their work schedule and their commute. Now that it's just my dad and I things probably won't be much different, but maybe my dad has a different idea since he is getting all kinds of stuff that needs to be cooked. Things like chicken breasts, noodles, a bell pepper and onions.

"I think I'll try one of your mother's chicken recipes for dinner tomorrow", he says, as he picks a can of Campbell's mushroom soup from the shelf and places it in the cart.

"Would you like broccoli or steamed carrots with your chicken?" he asks.

"Broccoli," I respond.

He reaches into the display case of frozen foods and grabs a package of broccoli.

Finally, we get through the check out line, and load the groceries in the truck, and head back to the apartment. I check out all the stores and restaurants as we make our way back, thinking I should get a part time job after school. At least for the last two summers I've always worked, and up until a few weeks ago I had a job stocking shelves at the local grocery store. Usually I would give my notice a couple of weeks before school started and devote my after school time to hitting the books. Now I think I can probably handle a part time job and school at the same time.

We drive by a Chick-fil-A restaurant and a Carl's Junior, near a Whole Foods Market. I figure I can put in an application at any one of these places next week. I kind of like the idea Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. Near Lowell there was a Chick-fil-A where I ate a couple of times before and really liked their sandwiches and the way the people treat the customer. This is where I think I would like to work, but I'll have to see if they are accepting applications.

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I will need to go in early to register and to find out what my schedule will be like. I'm anxious to get started in school, but part of me is also a little scared of being the new kid in school and not knowing anybody.

Chapter Two – Monday Morning

Monday morning I get up early and take a shower and get all dressed for school. I'm not really sure what to wear my first day of school. Being at a new school is always hard since I have no idea what the local styles are and what other kids will be wearing. I decide my jeans and a Polo shirt should be okay, with my tennis shoes. My dad is up early too. We bought some breakfast cereal and orange juice the day before, so I grab something to eat while watching the morning news. Since we don't have any furniture in the place yet, we both sit on the floor while we eat.

"What time do you have to be at school this morning," my dad asks.

"The web site said registration begins at 7, so I figure if I get there by 6:45 I'll be okay", I reply.

We sit quietly as the sun appears over the mountains in the distance outside the window.

"I think after school today I'll go to Chick-fil-A and fill out an application for a job", I tell my dad, trying to break the silence.

"That would be a good idea," he offers, "but don't stop there, apply at other places too."

"That's the one place I really want to work," I tell him. "I'm hoping I won't have to apply anywhere else."

My dad looks a little puzzled, and then offers, "It usually doesn't work that way. Sometimes you don't always get what you want and you have to settle for something else."

My dad always was kind of a realistic person. Whenever I had some bright idea or wanted to do something new or different, he would bring me back to reality and tell me the truth about the situation. When I wanted to learn how to drive right after I turned 16, and take driver's training at school, he told me how much car insurance would cost and suggested I get a job first to pay for car insurance. This is why I got a job stocking shelves at the local grocery store in Lowell, and why I want to get a job here too. I worked all last summer and this past summer and saved over $3000.

"Do you think I can take drivers training this year?" I ask.

"If they offer it at school, I think you should be able to take it now. Car insurance is a lot cheaper here in Idaho." He tells me, with a little smile on his face. "If you get a job you will probably eventually need a car too."

"That would be great!" I exclaim, "But I probably won't have enough saved for a car for probably another year."

"You know buying a good car will be a good investment, and to help you out for every dollar you save, I'll match it," my father offers.

"Gee, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much," I say. "Maybe I'll be able to get a car now before Christmas," I add.

"Just don't put the cart before the horse. First you need to get a job, then you'll need to save enough for a car plus insurance," my dad says, bringing me back to reality.

"Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have a job," I say.

"Hopefully by the end of the week we will have our furniture delivered and can get to living a more normal life," my dad says changing the subject. "I'll have to call to see when the movers can deliver our stuff later this morning."

"Well, I had best be on my way to school," I say as I rinse off my bowl and put it in the dish washer, "I'll give you a call to let you know about my job later."

"Thank God for cell phones," my dad says as I step out the door.

I go down the stairs and the morning sun blinds me as I step out the front door. The warmth of the sun feels good, but a cool breeze is blowing so it doesn't feel too hot yet. I walk the ten or so blocks to Boise High, waiting for the traffic to cross at a few of the busier streets, and get to school in about 15 minutes. It isn't quite 6:45 yet, so the school is fairly empty looking as I bound up the front steps and open the main door. Before the door closes behind me I'm greeted by a security guard who tells me I can't come in the building until 7:30. The man is dressed like a police officer, but without a side arm he doesn't carry much authority.

"On the web site it said registration was to start at 7, is this the right place?" I ask.

"If you haven't registered yet you can come in and talk to one of the counselors, but normally no students are allowed in the main building until 7:30," he tells me.

The man shows me into the main office and announces, "I have a customer for you."

A woman standing behind a counter turns and says, "Thank you Ernie."

Then she turns to face me and asks, "Who do we have here?"

"My name is Bill McDougal," I answer. "I'm transferring from Lowell High School, in Lowell, Massachusetts."

"Terrific, we need some more diversity at this school," the lady jokes.

"What grade are you in?" she asks.

"I'll be a senior this year," I answer proudly.

"I'll let you speak with one of the counselors, they can tell you what classes you will need to take to graduate." She reaches down below the counter and brings up a piece of paper, and says, "This is a map of the school which you will probably need your first week or so. If you'll go across the hall you will find Mr. Barton in the first office on the left."

I nod my head and say, "Thanks!"

She smiles and says, "Welcome to Boise High!"

I walk across the hall and find Mr. Barton's office and knock on the closed door.

"Who goes there?" a voice bellows out.

I turn the door knob cracking the door open a few inches, and say, "I'm Bill McDougal. A transfer student, needing to register for school."

"Well come on in and have a seat," the man behind the desk directs.

Mr. Barton is a young looking guy, probably not yet 30, with thinning blond hair. He stands and reaches his hand across his desk, and I extend mine to shake his, and he says, "Nice to meet you Mr. McDougal."

"So you say you are a transfer student and need to register for school? I think I can help you with that," he says with a chuckle. "Did you bring your transcripts from your old school?"

I sit in the chair across from him and reach into my book bag and pull out a manila folder, and find the transcripts. "Here there are," I say, as I extend the papers out and hand them to him.

"Well let's see what we have here." Mr. Barton studies the paper and then takes out a pen and a form and starts checking off boxes on the form. After a few minutes, he looks up from the paper, and says, "It looks like you only need two more classes to graduate, American Government, and two semesters of English. You will also need to take one additional elective class to meet the minimum hours to register as a full time student. Is there anything you want to take?"

"Well, I was hoping to take Driver's Training, and maybe a college level class, if you offer those," I respond, putting the folder back in my backpack.

"You're in luck Mr. McDougal, we do offer college level courses, and Driver's Training," he tells me, and then hesitates, "but we have to charge students for those classes."

"How much," I ask.

"The Driver's Ed class will cost $100, and then you will have to pay a licensing fee of $25 to the state. The college level courses are $75 each. Which is a real bargain, since the local University charges $500 for the same course, plus the cost of the books." He smiles, and takes another form out of his desk drawer.

"That isn't too bad," I say. "How do I pay for them, by check or credit card?" I ask.

"Take these forms, fill them out, and you can bring them back with a check tomorrow." He hands me two forms, and then asks, "By the way, why did you happen to move to Boise?"

"Well, my dad is a Coast Guard recruiter and was transferred to Boise," I answer.

"I've counseled several students who joined the Coast Guard after high school over the years. All of them have reported positive experiences. Several even went to the Academy. Fine organization, you can be proud of your father's service," he says.

"Thank you. I am very proud of my father," I offer.

"Well, lets get you assigned a locker before you're late to your first class," he says as he turns to face the computer sitting on the corner of his desk, and clicks a mouse and then types at the key board. "All of the senior's lockers are on the main floor. I advise everyone to keep a lock on the locker. " He reaches over and grabs a piece of paper off the printer and hands it to me with my locker number and class schedule.

"Thank you for all your help," I say.

"Have a terrific senior year, and remember I'm always available if you ever need anything," he offers.

"I'm sure I'll be needing your help later with college applications and guidance," I joke. "By the way, do you know of any place where I could get a part time job?" I ask.

"Well, now that school has started I'm sure you will be able to find something. Have you ever held a job before?"

"Back in Lowell I stocked shelves at a local grocery store for two summers," I answer.

"In that case I know the manager at the Winco. I'll call and see if he has any positions open," he offers.

"That would be fantastic," I respond. "You can call my cell phone and let me know," I continue, taking out a pen and looking for a piece of paper to write my number down.

"Don't worry about giving me your phone number, I already have it. It was part of your registration paperwork you gave me."

"Okay. Well thanks. I guess I better find my locker and find my way to class," I answer as I hurry out the office and down the hall.

The hallways are now filled with students hurrying to class. I glance at my watch and see I have only ten minutes to find my first class, so I decide to look for my locker later. The paper with my schedule shows Senior English is my first class, in room 209, with Mrs. Baker. I look at the other piece of paper with the map and find room 209 and the nearest stairway, and follow a crowd who appear to be going in the same direction. I climb the stairway to the second floor and walk down the hall to room 209, just as the first bell rings. The first bell indicates there is one minute until the second bell, after which students are deemed to be tardy. I read all about the bell system on the school's web page last night. Although we don't have Wi-Fi yet in the apartment I was able to use my iPhone's Personal Hotspot feature and do some web surfing.

Students are now rushing into the room and milling about looking for just the right desk before sitting down. The teacher is standing at the front of the room, and gives each student a sly smile as they make eye contact with her. She looks like she has done this for many years. Not that she looks old, but she looks experienced, like she knows what to expect from the first day of school.

"Everyone find a seat and get settled. We don't have any time to waste," she directs. "Life is short but the days are long," she says with a little laugh.

I find a seat in the middle of the room, in the third row back, and sit down behind a cute girl, and next to a menacing looking guy. The girl wears her blond hair short and has on jeans with a blue top unbuttoned at the top just enough to show a hint of cleavage. The menacing looking guy has a couple of facial piercing, and his hair is long and unkempt. He has the look of someone who just woke up and dragged himself to school half asleep. The room is fairly small, and has only about twenty desks and nothing more than a white board at the front, and a small lectern behind which the teacher stands. On the white board is written the teacher's name and the name of the class, probably so students will know they are in the right place. The other students talk quietly amongst themselves. The girl sitting in front of me leans over to the girl sitting at the desk in the next row over and I over hear her say something about how the teacher is pretty tough, saying her brother nearly flunked the class last year.

The second bell rings and the class suddenly becomes silent. The teacher begins by announcing, "I'll start by taking attendance." She proceeds to read a number of names, each followed by a here or a yeah. Then she asks, "Is there anyone whose name I did not call?"

I raise my hand, and the teacher asks, "What is your name?"

I reply, "Bill McDougal", and hear a few snickers from behind me.

"Do I detect a Boston accent?" the teacher asks.

"Yes," I reply, "I just moved from Lowell."

"Lowell. Home of Jack Kerouac." The teacher responds. "Unfortunately we will not have the pleasure of studying any of his work."

The teacher passes out a piece of paper with the word Syllabus, at the top and a list that fills the entire page, and continues on the back. She begins reading from the page, and tells us about all the books we will read, the tests we will take, and the papers we will have to write. She tells us about how she will only accept papers written using the correct font and font size, and printed double spaced on only white paper, with one inch margins all around. The syllabus gives us all the fine details on what she expects.

The menacing guy raises his hand, and the teacher asks, "Do you have a question Karl?"

The guy pauses a second before asking, "What if a student doesn't own a computer?"

The teacher looks at the ceiling briefly, and rolls her eyes, before saying, "In this day and age, we have certain expectations of our students. We set our standards high so that when a student graduates from Boise High and enters college they are well prepared to exceed. If a student does not have a computer of his or her own, we have many resources available to assist a student in obtaining one. Perhaps not the latest and greatest in technology, but sufficient to get the job done."

With this, the class is filled with laughter. I glance over at Karl and see him shrink into his chair. Briefly, I'm glad someone else is the center of attention and no one is laughing at me.

Being the new kid at a new school is never any fun. Especially when the new kid is different from the other kids, and doesn't really fit in. I experienced that when we first moved to Lowell. It was only four years ago when I started eighth grade at the middle school in Lowell. We lived in Topeka, Kansas before moving to Lowell. The Coast Guard has its Pay and Personnel Center in Topeka, so that's why we were living there. Other than the weather, Topeka is a nice place. The school I went to was pretty nice, and I had quite a few friends since I'd been going to school there since the third grade. My mom and dad seemed to be a lot happier then. My sister is four years older than I, and she just graduated from high school the year we moved to Lowell.

My sister, Mary is only my half-sister, since my mother was married to a different guy before she and my dad got together. It is a little complicated, but when my dad and my mom got married I was already in the picture, but not really, if you know what I mean. My dad wanted to do the right thing and marry my mom, so that's how they ended up getting married. My dad was just starting out in the Coast Guard and was assigned to a ship in Duluth, Minnesota. He and my mom met at a bar and started seeing each other whenever the ship was in port, and one thing led to another. I was born in Duluth, but we didn't live there too long after since my dad got transferred again. The Coast Guard likes transferring people just about every three to four years. Before living in Topeka we lived in Bellevue, Washington, since my dad worked in Seattle. I started first grade in Bellevue, and then after the second grade we moved to Topeka. I really don't remember too much about living in Bellevue, other than it rained all the time, and my dad was home nearly every night after I came home from school.

I was kind of used to having my dad home every night since that is what I always remembered from when I was a little kid. After we moved to Lowell my dad was gone for a long time, and then he would be home for a couple of weeks. My mom started going out in the evenings after we had dinner together. She worked at the VA Hospital in Bedford and left for work before I left for school. She would usually be home when I came home from school, and would fix dinner for herself, and me, and sometimes my sister Mary when she was around. Mary was taking classes at Middlesex Community College and worked at Wal-Mart as a cashier part time. Her schedule was not routine at all. Some days she had class in the mornings, other days she had class in the afternoons. She often worked all day on the weekends, and some days she worked just a few hours in the evening. I spent a lot of time at home alone after we moved to Lowell. That's when I started to read all the time and mess around with my computer. For some reason I just was never interested in watching television. Maybe I have attention deficit disorder or something, but I just can't watch a program longer than the first commercial.

I would often check out a couple of books from the school library a week and read them constantly when I wasn't sleeping, or working on homework. I really liked school and learning, and just wanted to do the best I could in whatever class I was taking, even if I didn't particularly like the class. PE is probably the class I hated the most. All my other classes I liked all right, math, history, English, and science I really did great in. I think the thing I didn't like about PE was having to change clothes in front of a bunch of other guys, and then after we sweated a lot the teacher made everyone take a shower. We had to get naked and see other guy's naked with all their private parts out in the open. That was the worst part for me. One guy tried to take a shower in his underwear but the teacher caught him and told him he had to take it all off. Sometimes I wonder if the teacher liked seeing a bunch of naked boys, since he would usually stand and watch everyone in the shower.

It was right after I first started eighth grade in Lowell when I started having problems with one kid who thought he was really tough. He liked to push around and bully the kids who didn't put up a fight. Usually the smaller kids who weren't athletic or really tough looking. The kid was a little bigger than normal, and he always looked angry. His name was Jerry McCoy, and he was in my English class. I really liked English and the teacher was really nice and made the class fun. The only time Jerry tried anything with me was when I was walking home from school one day and he ran into me with his bike. He made it seem like it was an accident and said he was sorry after knocking me over. I picked myself up and was wiping the dirt from my pants when he gave me a kick in the rear while I was leaning over to pick up my book bag, knocking me on the ground again. Without even thinking about it, I got up quickly and was on top of him, knocking him off his bike and pinned him to the ground and started to punch him in the face. After giving the kid a bloody nose I stopped punching him and he got up and rode off on his bike crying with blood streaming down his face. That was the last time Jerry McCoy ever bothered me. I think word must have gotten around too, because other kids left me alone too. Whenever I saw him in English class he would never make eye contact with me, but I could sense he was still mad at getting beat up. I used to say hi to him in the hall just to be friendly and try to get beyond the one incident, but Jerry wasn't the forgiving kind, I guess.

After this I never had any more problems with school. Even when I moved on to the high school for ninth grade I didn't have any problems with being bullied. Other than having to take PE again, and see other guys naked, and letting other guys see me naked, everything went fine. I'm not sure what it was about being naked with a bunch of other guys naked that bothered me. Maybe it was because I was self-conscious about my body and didn't want other people looking at me and making judgments about me because of the way I looked. I don't have the perfect body like some of the other guys who play football and lift weights all the time.

Life was pretty fine for me until the last summer we lived in Lowell. That was when my dad found out about my mom going out at nights when he was on the ship. I think a friend of my dad's saw my mom at a bar with some guy, and told him about it. My mom and dad had a big fight one night, and my mom asked for a divorce, and my dad said fine, he was through with the marriage. I guess now my mom plans on getting married to this other guy, and they are living together. Turns out the other guy is Jerry McCoy's father. At about the same time my parents went through the divorce my sister meets some guy she works with at Wal-Mart and they decide to get married. The guy is a pretty good guy, as far as things go. At least he is working and putting himself through college.

I don't know why, but it just seems my whole family changed when we moved to Lowell. Maybe it is just natural for people to change when they get older and they want to do something different with their life. My mom never worked before we moved to Lowell, but I think she wanted to do something else than spend all day at home taking care of me and my sister once my sister and I were older. My dad never was gone for weeks at a time before we moved to Lowell either, and maybe my mom just felt lonely without my dad being around more. I never really asked my mom what was going on during this time. She was pretty busy with work and I was busy with school, and we rarely saw each other except when I came home after school. She didn't go out every night, but it was a couple of nights a week. She would say she just needed to get out and be with people her own age. The other nights when she stayed home she would sit in the living room and read a book or watch television. I can't blame her for wanting to get out, but cheating on my dad is something else, and with someone like Jerry McCoy's dad, that is even worse.

The English class was pretty fun. After Mrs. Baker told us what the class was going to be like she gave us all an in class assignment to write a paper about what we did over the summer. Everyone got out a pen and paper and spent the rest of the class working on the paper. The assignment had to be typed and ready to be turned in the next day. It wasn't all that tough of an assignment and I pretty much finished writing it out in long hand by the time the class was over. I'd have to go home and type it out and since I didn't have a printer at the time, I'd have to get it printed at Kinko's or somewhere else. I only brought my laptop with me on the trip out from Lowell, and the moving company was moving everything else.

When the bell rang and everyone was getting up to go to the next class, the cute girl who sat in front of me stopped and introduced herself.

"Hi, my name is Kelly," she said.

I said, "Hi, my name is Bill".

"How long have you lived in Boise," she asked.

"I just got her Saturday night," I told her.

"You wouldn't know where room 311 is?" I asked. "My next class is American Government in room 311," I explained.

"Well isn't that a coincidence," she said. "That's my next class too."

"Do you mind if I walk with you then?" I ask.

"Why of course not, we can talk and get to know each other better," she responded giving me the sweetest smile I'd ever seen on a girl.

"I'm not so sure about things yet. I haven't even found my locker yet." I explain.

"That's okay, it took me a few weeks to get used to things here when I first started here too," she said. "I transferred here last year from Salt Lake City, and it was a big change for me too," she ran her hand across her forehead pushing her hair from her eyes as we walk down the crowded hallway to our next class.

"I think I'm going to like it here after I get used to things," I tell her, feeling somewhat at a loss for words. I've never really talked to a cute girl before, and wasn't really sure what else I could talk to her about.

"Well, let me give you a little advice. What really helped me was getting involved in my church and not just being focused on school all the time. Have you found a church somewhere yet?" she asks.

"No," I tell her. "We just got here Saturday night, and besides we really aren't the church going type of people," I explain.

"Well, if you want, you can come to my church sometime," she offers.

"I might like that sometime," I tell her, not really quite believing the words came out of my mouth, since I was thinking just the opposite thing.

"Why don't you give me your number and I can call you sometime and we can talk some more," she suggests.

"That would be great, I'd really like to talk to you more too." I tell her. As we arrive at room 311 and enter into the classroom, the first warning bell rings.

The room is starting to fill with other students who are talking with each other as they find a chair. I follow Kelly until she sits down, and I sit at the desk behind her. I rip off a piece of paper from my notebook and write my phone number on it and hand it to her. She gives it a quick glance, and then stuffs it in her pocket.

"Thanks, I'll call you tonight," she says, giving me one of her wicked nice smiles and a wink of her eye.

I can't believe what just happened to me. I have never had a cute girl introduce herself to me, and then ask me for my phone number. That just never happens to guys like me. I wonder if the girls here in Boise are all that forward, or is it just Kelly. She turns her attention to the girl sitting next to her and I focus my attention to the front of the room, and the name written on the white board. It says Mr. Bixby. I look around the room and don't see any one who could be Mr. Bixby, just a bunch of kids like me. When the second bell goes off everyone sits down at a desk and some continue talking, while a few take out their notebooks and pens. A few minutes pass when a guy steps into the room, and announces he is Mr. Bixby. He is a rather short guy, probably in his early thirties, and wears a shirt and a tie with jeans and tennis shoes.

Mr. Bixby apologies for being late and tells us he had to make copies of the syllabus. He asks for a volunteer to pass out the syllabus, and Kelly raises her hand. Kelly proceeds to pass out the syllabus while Mr. Bixby takes attendance, calling the names as students say here or yeah. Just like in the English class he finishes attendance and doesn't call my name, and he asks if there is anyone whose name he didn't call. Again, I raise my hand and tell him my name, but this time I'm careful to not say it with an accent. He writes down my name on the attendance sheet and then starts discussing the syllabus.

The class goes by pretty quickly. Mr. Bixby talks and then about ten minutes before the bell rings, he gives the class a reading assignment, and then remembers we don't have our books yet. He tells us to get a book from one of the boxes at the front of the classroom before we leave. A few people have questions about the syllabus, and whether he grades on a curve. The bell rings and everyone gets up and heads toward the boxes at the front of the room, and grab a book before they leave for their next class.

I ask Kelly, "What class do you have next?"

She looks at her class schedule, and tells me, "Seminary."

I tell her, "I have driver's training next," and ask, "What is Seminary?"

She looks at me briefly, and says, "I really don't have time to tell you about it now, I'll call you later and tell you all about it." She then hurries down the hall towards the stairs. I look at my schedule and find my way to driver's training.

In the driver's training classroom I notice a guy who was in the English class -- the menacing looking guy with the facial piercings. The rest of the students in the class look a lot younger, like they must be juniors or sophomores.

I turn to the menacing looking guy, and say, "You and I are in English together, I'm Bill."

He says, "I'm Karl. You're the guy who just moved here from Lowell, right?"

I answer, "Yeah that's me."

He asks, "Why did you move to Boise, Idaho?"

I tell him, "My dad got transferred to Boise with the Coast Guard."

"The Coast Guard. I didn't know the Coast Guard was in Boise," he says.

"They only have a recruiting office here," I explain, "but it covers quite a large area."

"That's cool. I thought about going in the military next year, but haven't considered the Coast Guard," he tells me. "I never really heard anything about the Coast Guard before."

"I guess they really don't have much of a presence here in Idaho, but it is the best military service," I boast, "but I don't think I'd want to join the military. I really want to do something different." I explain, as the bell rings, and the teacher comes into the room. I take a seat near the front of the class, next to Karl. As the second bell rings everyone else finds a seat, and the teacher writes her name on the white board.

Mrs. Jones, is the name she writes on the board. She is an older woman, probably in her late forties, with curly brown hair with specks of gray. She wears glasses, and a printed blouse, with jeans and tennis shoes.

"This class is probably the most important class you will ever take," she tells us. "This class can save your life and the lives of many others. Driving a car is a very serious activity."

She hands out the Idaho State Driver's License Manual, and tell us, "This class will help you to pass the exam to get your driver's license, and it will give you some time behind the wheel of a car so you can get your license, but it will not be able to give you the common sense to drive safely, and to take your right to drive a car seriously."

I thought this class would be a fun class, but she is making it way too serious. I guess when it comes to an activity that has the potential to kill you and other people, it has to be taken pretty seriously.

"Can anyone tell me what is the most common cause of auto accidents in America," she questions. A few people raise their hands, and she calls on a girl in the back.

"Drinking and driving," the girl answers.

"That's one reason, but it isn't the top," she responds.

She calls on a guy with his hand raised. "Speeding," the guy answers.

"Again, that's one of the causes, but not the most common. The correct answer is distracted drivers," she tells us. "Think about that for a while."

She explains how the class will be divided and half will go out and drive the car, while the other part of the class will stay in the classroom. The class has about ten people in it, and it looks like Karl and I are the only seniors. She waits until the last few minutes of class to take attendance, like she forgot about it. Once again she calls the names of everyone in the class, except me, and asks if she missed anyone. I raise my hand and tell her my name, and she writes it on the paper. The bell rings and it's time for lunch, and since I don't have another class I'm free for the day.

As we leave the classroom Karl asks, "Do you have another class today?"

"No, I only have three this semester. What about you?" I reply.

"I'm done for the day. I need to find a computer to type up the English assignment," he explains.

I think for a minute, and then suggest, "Hey, would you like to come over to my place and use my PC?"

"Yeah, that would be great! I really need to get one of my own soon." He looks kind of embarrassed and then offers, "My mom is unemployed right now, and I really don't want to bother her with it. I've been saving for a while, but most of the money I get from working goes to pay rent, utilities and food.

"Boy, that sounds rough," I offer. "I'm sure, you will be able to find a good used PC you can afford. Where do you work?" I ask.

"I just started working at Chick-fil-A. They opened the store here last spring." He tells me, sounding proud to have a job.

"That's where I'd like to work," I tell him. "If you can help me get a job there I'll help you find a good PC." I offer.

"That's a deal," Karl says, as he extends his hand and we shake on it.

Chapter Three – Monday Afternoon

The sky is clear and the sun is warm as Karl and I leave the school and start walking to my place. My book bag is a little heavier than it was this morning since I'm carrying the book from American Government. As we walk along the tree lined streets Karl and I get to know each other a little better.

"Do you know that girl, Kelly, from English class?" I ask.

"Sure, I think everyone probably knows her." Karl explains. "Even though she moved here last year she is probably the most popular girl in our class."

"She sure seems friendly," I tell him. "She asked me for my phone number and told me she's going to call me later tonight to invite me to her church."

"Yeah, I've heard that happen to other guys too. She flirts to convert." Karl says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"She's a Mormon and she wants to be a missionary." Karl explains.

"I don't know that much about Mormons," I tell Karl. "Other than when Mitt Romney ran for president I've never heard much about the church."

"Well here in Idaho about a quarter of the population is Mormon," Karl explains. "They are really nice people, but some of the things they believe in aren't based on the Bible."

"I never really thought about it much," I tell him.

"What do you mean, you never thought about it much?" Karl asks, sounding like I may have insulted him.

"I'm sorry, did I say something to offend you?" I ask.

"No, you didn't offend me, I just can't believe you never thought about the reason you are here and what happens to us after this life," Karl tells me.

"Oh that, I thought you were talking about the Mormon Church. Of course I wonder why we are here and what happens when we die. I'm not sure anyone knows the answer to that." I explain.

"I take it you don't go to church," Karl says. "If you did you would know the answer to life's basic questions."

"My family never went to church. I don't know why, but we just aren't the church going type," I explain.

"You'll have to come to my church sometime and see for yourself. It's a great thing to know there's nothing to fear in death, and through Jesus we are promised eternal life," Karl explains, sounding like a television preacher.

"How can you be so certain," I ask.

"Through faith in Jesus and in God's word the Bible," Karl answers. "I guess you just have to believe the Bible is God's true word."

"I've tried to read the Bible before and never really could understand it." I tell him.

"You probably had the King James version, with all the old English words, that people never use anymore," Karl tells me, "You should get a modern translation of the Bible and read it. That's the only way I can read it. If you go to the app store you can probably find one free you can load on your iPhone."

"That's not a bad idea," I offer.

"If you really want to learn more, start by reading the New Testament. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell the story of Jesus and why He came to the Earth and why He had to die on the cross," Karl explains.

"You really sound like you know your Bible," I praise Karl. "Do they have Sunday school at your church too?" I ask.

"We have something better at my church. It's called Renewal. We meet Wednesday nights. You can come with me if you want." Karl offers.

"What is Renewal like?" I ask.

"It's mainly kids from about 14 to 18 who get together to learn about and worship God. We sing songs, and learn about the Bible and how to develop a strong relationship with God," Karl explains. "It isn't as heavy as it sounds, but it is a lot of fun just being with a group of kids who won't judge you."

"I think I would like to go with you sometime," I tell him, thinking it won't be for quite a while.

"How about this Wednesday?" he asks.

"Okay, I guess if nothing else is going on?" I tell him.

"Believe me, Bill, if you go just once, you are going to want to go every week." Karl gives me a funny look, and then says "There are quite a few nice girls, there, way better than Kelly."

"Okay, then I'll go with you Wednesday." I tell him as we approach my building. "This is where I live," I tell Karl. His eyes get big, and he gets a big smile on his face.

"You must be rich to live in a high rise apartment like this?" he says.

"Believe me, the Coast Guard doesn't pay that well. Why do you think I need to get a job?" I ask, explaining, "Wait until you see the inside. We are dirt poor."

"I bet it's plush!" he exclaims.

We enter the main entrance and take the elevator up to the third floor and I unlock the door to the apartment. The inside of the place is completely empty, other than a few boxes stacked in the corner. We go into my room and all there is on the floor is a sleeping bag, and a suitcase in one corner with my laptop resting on it.

"You can type your paper on my laptop while I read the assignment for my Government class," I tell Karl as he checks out the place.

"Boy you sure weren't lying when you said you were poor," he remarks.

"Once our furniture arrives it will be a little nicer," I tell him. "Although my mother took most of the best furniture in the divorce, we are doing okay."

"So your folks are divorced too." Karl comments. "It seems like no one ever stays married anymore."

"It's funny, how things go," I explain, "but before we moved to Lowell I thought we had the perfect family."

Karl says, "I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect family, each of us are imperfect from the beginning and when two imperfect people get together they make an imperfect family. Only through Jesus can we be made perfect again."

"You really believe that stuff, don't you?" I ask as I show Karl how to use the laptop.

"What else is there to believe in? Everything else in the world is imperfect and will fail us. Only Jesus is perfect," he explains.

"I wish I had your faith and could believe in that stuff," I comment. "Hasn't the church proven itself to be imperfect by all the different scandals and all the preachers in the news for cheating their congregations," I ask.

"You're right churches aren't perfect either. But churches aren't Jesus, they are man made and what ever man makes can be corrupted," Karl explains, as he begins typing on the laptop. "You know the forces of evil are constantly attacking us and are fighting for our souls. They will do anything to keep people from finding Jesus."

As Karl types at the laptop and I read the reading assignment for American Government our discussion fills my thoughts. I can't remember ever having such a deep discussion with someone my own age. Normally when two guys get together they talk about sports, or cars or girls, or anything other than God or Jesus. Even when my dad and I are together we never talk about such deep subjects. I wonder why we never talked about Jesus before. For quite a while we work on our homework quietly.

"I finished typing the paper," Karl announces. "How am I going to get it printed to hand it in tomorrow?" he wonders aloud.

"We can upload the file to a Kinko's or an Office Depot, and have it printed there," I suggest.

"How can you have internet access without a phone?" Karl asks.

I pull my iPhone from my pocket and turn the feature on to make my phone a Wi-Fi hotspot. "You should be able to connect through my iPhone now," I tell him. "Just launch Safari, and it will automatically connect to the Internet."

"Hey, it's working. That's pretty cool." Karl comments as he works the mouse on the laptop and finds the nearest business to print his paper. "I found an Office Depot in BoDo I can have the file printed there and I can pick up the paper on my way home."

"Where do you live?" I ask.

"In a mobile home near BSU," he tells me. "It's about a mile from school. If you aren't doing anything tomorrow you can come over and meet my mom if you want."

"When do you find time to work," I ask him.

"My schedule this week is Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I only work from 3 to 9, so I have time to study and do homework." He tells me, putting the laptop back on the suitcase. "Thanks for letting me use your laptop," he says.

"Sure, any time you need it again, just ask. Can I apply for a job at Chick-fil-A online or do I have to get an application and apply in person?" I ask.

"You'll have to apply in person. I can go in with you and introduce you to the manager if you want." Karl offers.

"That would be great. Are you hungry now? Why don't we go there for lunch and pick up an application," I suggest, closing the American Government textbook.

"I guess we could do that," Karl says, with a little hesitation in his voice. "It's kind of out of the way, but it is a nice day for a walk, if you don't mind getting some exercise."

"Sure, what better way to experience a new city but to take a walking tour. You can be my guide and show me all the sights." I say, standing up and putting my iPhone back in my pocket.

Karl laughs, and says "Other than Boise State there really is nothing much to see."

"I've heard a lot about Boise State and am anxious to finally get a chance to see it," I tell him.

Outside we walk down Third Street and then turn left onto Front Street and walk past the county court house building. Within ten minutes we are at Chick-fil-A. It's a little past two and the place isn't very busy. The affects of the lunch hour rush are fading and a few customers linger over their meals. Several employees are busy cleaning up the dining area, sweeping the floor and wiping off tables. A few other employees are working behind the counter. A couple of kids scream in the play area. It looks like a nice place to work, I think.

As we approach the counter the girl behind the cash registers greets us saying, "Welcome to Chick-fil-A".

"What will you have, Karl?" I ask.

"I think I'll have the number one meal", he replies.

"I think I'll have the same," I say.

"Which beverage would you like with your meal," the girl asks.

Karl replies, "I think I'll have a Coke."

I respond, "Make mine a Diet Coke."

The girl asks, "What name can I put on the order?"

Karl replies, "I'm Karl, I usually work here from 3 to 9."

"Oh, I'm sorry Karl, I didn't recognize you without your uniform on." The girl replies. "Do you work today?" she asks.

"No, I'm just here for lunch and to see about getting Bill a job," he says.

"By the way, this is Bill, he just moved here from Boston." Karl says introducing me to the cashier. The cashier's nametag says Mindy.

"Nice to meet you Bill," Mindy says.

I reply, "Nice to meet you Mindy."

Mindy hands us our drinks and another employee brings our food to us on a tray.

"Have a wonderful day," Mindy says.

"Thank you," I reply.

"My pleasure," Mindy says as she looks up to greet the next customer, "Welcome to Chick-fil-A, are you ready to order."

Wow, I think to myself, this is a great place. Everyone seems so nice and friendly. I'm starting to wonder where these people are from since they don't seem like normal every day people I meet all the time before I realize I'm no longer in Boston.

Karl and I find a table to sit at, and we start to eat. "Karl, what's it like to work here?" I ask.

"Well, it's usually something different every day," he responds. "Some days I'll be working the register and helping the customers, other days I'll be working the dining room cleaning off tables and sweeping the floor, emptying the trash and asking customers if they want their beverages refreshed."

"Beverages refreshed? What kind of language is that?" I ask.

"That's just the way Chick-fil-A says things to distinguish us from every other fast food joint around," Karl explains. "Did you notice how Mindy said, "My Pleasure," when you thanked her?"

"Yeah, I did, and that really sounded nice," I answered. "Nothing like I'm used to hearing."

"That's one thing it took me a while to get use to," Karl says. "Being nice to people and saying the right things doesn't come naturally to a lot of people, and that is one thing they look for in the people they hire. They look for the right attitude in people. Everything else they can train you in, but attitude is something else," Karl explains as he dips a waffle fry in ketchup.

I take a sip of my beverage, and wonder if I have the right attitude to work here. At the grocery store I worked at in Lowell I just stocked the shelves and didn't have to help customers too much. It looked like Chick-fil-A was more about making the customer feel special when they eat here.

"It sure seems like a nice place," I comment.

Karl responds, "It is. A lot nicer than a lot of places for a teenager to work their first job."

"What kind of training do you get here?" I ask.

Karl explains, "It is mostly on the job training. They have what they call job shadowing where someone more experienced will spend the first few days working with a new person until they feel ready to let the person work on their own."

"Do you get to learn how to make the chicken sandwiches, too?" I ask.

"Eventually they rotate everyone through all the positions in the store," Karl answers. "Nothing here is really too complicated."

I take a bite of my chicken sandwich and sip from my Diet Coke. "This sure is a good chicken sandwich," I say, "I've eaten at the Chick-fil-A near Lowell a few times before but forgot how good the food is."

After we eat Karl asks to speak to one of the managers and a guy comes out and Karl introduces me to him.

"I'd like to apply for a job," I tell Keith, the manager.

"Let me get you an application to fill out," Keith says as he goes into the back and returns with a piece of paper he hands me. "It's just your basic information. Once you get it filled out ask for me again, and I'll give you a quick interview."

The application asks the basic questions, name, address, phone number, and then it asks for previous employers and references. I don't have any problem providing the name and phone number, but I'm not sure what my address is, and the previous employers and references I'll have to look up at home.

"Karl I think I'm going to have to fill this out at home and then return it later," I say.

"What's the problem? Karl asks.

"I don't know my address or the address of my previous employers. Plus I'm not sure who to use as a reference," I explain.

"Don't you have your iPhone with you?" Karl asks. "You can use the free Wi-Fi here and look up all that stuff on the Internet."

"Why didn't I think of that?" I say out loud, although I meant to just think it.

"You aren't nervous or anything like that, are you?" Karl asks.

"Maybe I am a little bit," I admit. "I really don't want to blow this opportunity"

"Dude, don't sweat it!" Karl encourages, "Just do the best you can."

While Karl does his homework I complete the application. Using my iPhone I find my address and the address of the grocery store I used to work at in Lowell. I use my previous boss as a reference, and one of my favorite teachers from my school in Lowell as the other reference. Once I finish the application I go back to Mindy and ask for Keith. Keith comes out and leads me to a table in the corner and tells me to have a seat. He reads over the application and then asks a few questions.

"Why do you want to work at Chick-fil-A?" he asks.

"I just think it would be a nice place to work, and I could learn a lot," I answer, having second thoughts about what I said the minute I finish saying it.

"What hours are you available to work?" is the next question he asks.

"I can work pretty much anytime after about 2 in the afternoon since I have school until about noon." I answer, feeling a little more confident.

"Okay, then. I'll check your references and if everything checks out I'll be in touch." Keith stands and extends his hand. I stand and take his hand in a handshake and tell him, "Thanks for taking time to interview me."

"My pleasure, " Keith says, "I'm sure everything will check out fine and you will have a job here soon."

Karl and I leave and head across the street toward Boise State University. We walk across the campus as Karl points out the different buildings. Karl tells me all about the Bronco Stadium and how the Astroturf is blue, since Boise State's colors are Orange and Blue.

"I'm thinking maybe I'll come to school here next year if I can afford it," Karl says, "Otherwise I'll probably go in the military first and then go to school later."

"I really haven't thought about next year all that much," I tell him, "Just moving out here and starting a new high school is enough for now."

Soon we are on the other side of campus and cross a bridge over the Boise River.

"Remember I have to go to Office Depot to pick up the homework for English class tomorrow," Karl says. "I'll show you where it is if you ever need to go there."

"I forgot to type my English paper, so I better get home and get it done since I'll have to get it printed at Office Depot too." I tell Karl as we walk down Capital Boulevard. In the distance I can see the state capital building and the high-rise office buildings downtown.

"This is called BoDo," Karl tells me. "It means Boise Downtown," he explains as we approach a high-rise hotel building and a lot of other buildings. I see the Office Depot in the distance, and think I should get back home and do my English paper so I'll have enough time to come back.

"I think I'll head home now," I tell Karl. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Okay, thanks for all of your help today," Karl says, "And don't forget about the church thing Wednesday night." He reminds me. "My mom can give us a ride."

"That would be great," I say, wondering if there is some way of getting out of going to the church thing.

As I walk towards home my iPhone rings.

"Hello," I say as I answer the phone.

"Is this Bill McDougal?" the voice on the phone asks.

"Yes," I answer.

"This is Mr. Barton, the counselor at Boise High. I just wanted to call and let you know I checked with the manager at Winco and they don't have any positions open right now," he tells me.

"Thanks for letting me know," I tell him. "I appreciate you checking for me."

"No problem," he tells me. "How did everything go today?" he asks.

"Everything went fine," I tell him. "I may have a job at Chick-fil-A."

"That's great!" he says. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

"Thanks, I will keep you in mind," I tell him, thinking I probably won't need to bother him again.

"Okay, I'll see you around school then," he says, and I hear the click of the connection being broken.

Boy that was nice of Mr. Barton to call me and tell me about there not being a job. I forgot he was going to check into that for me, I think.

Once I get home I type out the English paper in about a half hour and then send it to Office Depot to get it printed. Just as I'm finishing my dad comes in wearing his Coast Guard uniform.

"How did things go at school today," he asks.

"Everything went great." I tell him. "How did things go for you?" I ask.

"They went pretty good," he says. "I found out our furniture will be delivered tomorrow."

"That's great!" I exclaim. "I can't wait to sleep in my old bed again."

"Do you feel like getting something to eat?" he offers.

"Yeah, but I need to go to Office Depot to pick up a paper for school tomorrow," I tell him.

"I didn't know Office Depot sold papers for high school kids," he says. "We can probably pick up the paper and then find somewhere to eat."

"I met a kid today at school who works at Chick-fil-A. I helped him with his English paper and he helped me apply for a job," I explain.

"That's great!" my dad says.

"He seems like a really nice kid, but he is kind of poor. He told me he lives in a mobile home near the college, and his mom is unemployed, and he works to support his mom," I explain.

"That's pretty rough. Count your blessings," My dad tells me.

"Do you remember the Mac Mini I used to have before I got my laptop?" I ask.

"Yeah, I do," my dad says, "I'm pretty sure we packed it up and it will be here tomorrow."

"Good," I say, "I'm going to give it to my friend Karl. We kind of made a deal that he would help me get a job at Chick-fil-A, and I would help him get a computer."

"That's a nice thing to do. I really don't think you will use it much anymore since you have your laptop," he tells me, as he changes out of his uniform and puts on civilian clothes.

My dad and I drive to Office Depot and park in one of the parking structures nearby. We walk down the street toward Office Depot and pass a coffee shop with tables outside. A group of people is sitting outside drinking coffee. We go to Office Depot and get the paper I had printed, and then go across the street to P. F .Chang's and have dinner.

"This girl at school asked me to her church," I tell my dad.

"That's nice," my dad says, "What church does she attend?"

"She goes to the Mormon Church," I tell him. "I was wondering why we never went to church?"

"Well," my dad begins, "That's a long story. You see when I was younger my mom and dad took me to the Catholic Church. Where ever we lived we always attended church at the Catholic Church. It was at the Catholic Church when we lived in California when I was about 12, that a priest molested me. After that I never wanted anything to do with church."

"Wow, I never knew that," I say, thinking how there was a lot I didn't know about my dad.

"My friend Karl invited me to church too," I tell him. "He says the Mormon Church isn't Bible based," I explain.

"I've heard that about the Mormon church from other people," he tells me. "It really doesn't matter much to me, I just don't want anything to do with any church."

"Do you think it would be okay if I went to church with Karl Wednesday? His mom will give us a ride," I ask.

"Sure, that shouldn't be a problem," he says. "Just don't get too sucked in to it like I did and let someone take advantage of you."

"You know I think I'm going to like living here," I tell my dad. "I might even decide to go to college at Boise State."

"It's a pretty good school, I hear," my dad tells me, "I think I'm going to like Boise too once we get settled in."

As we are finishing dinner my iPhone rings. I answer it, and it turns out to be Keith from Chick-fil-A.

Keith says, "I checked your references and everything turned out okay. I'd like to put you on the schedule this Thursday from 3 to 9. After that your schedule will rotate different days of the week, but you will always work from 3 to 9."

"That's fantastic," I exclaim. "I'll see you Thursday then."

My dad over hears the conversation and once the call ends, he congratulates me.

"Boy, this has been quite a day for you," he says.

I agree, and hope the rest of the week goes as well. One can only hope.

Chapter Four – Tuesday

The next morning I get to school a little early so I can find my locker. The halls are pretty deserted as I search for my locker. All the lockers for the seniors are on the first floor, the lockers for juniors are on the second floor and the sophomores' lockers are in the basement. Using the map I was given, and knowing the locker number it doesn't take too long before I find the locker. The locker is fairly small with just one shelf and a place to put my jacket and my book bag. I brought a lock to put on the door, and after securing everything I decide to visit the library. The library is in the newer building across the street from the main building. I wander over and browse around the library, find a magazine to read, and sit at a table and begin to read it when I notice Kelly, the cute girl from English class walk in. I pretend to not see her and concentrate on reading the magazine. She doesn't seem to notice me, and strolls over to the opposite corner of the room where she sits at a PC. After about a half hour or so, I put the magazine back, and head toward the door, to get ready for English class. As I open the door, Kelly approaches me fast from behind.

"Hey Bill, I was going to call you last night but I lost your phone number," she tells me.

"That's okay, I was kind of busy last night anyway," I tell her as I hold the door open for her, and we walk toward the main building together.

"What were you doing?" she asks.

"Well, after I did my homework, I went to Chick-fil-A and applied for a job, then my dad and I went out for dinner," I answer.

"Why would you want to work at Chick-fil-A?" she comments.

"They have decent hours for school, plus they are closed on Sundays," I reply.

"But fast food is so bottom of the ladder," she remarks.

"I guess you may be right, but at least they give kids the opportunity to have an after school job and some money for college. Do you work after school?" I ask.

"I baby sit every now and then, but nothing regular," she answers, adding "I shouldn't need much money for college since I plan on getting a scholarship to BYU."

"What is BYU?" I question.

"You never heard of BYU? It's only the best university in the world for member's of my church," she explains. "Where do you hope to go to school next year?"

"I was thinking of going to Boise State University," I answer. "I walked around the campus yesterday and really liked it."

"A lot of kids end up going there since it's pretty safe, and they can live at home", she answers, "I really want to get out of Boise and go back to Utah."

"Why did you move here?" I question.

"My dad got a promotion with his company," she answers. "He works at Micron and they are headquartered here in Boise."

"Micron? I'm not familiar with that company. What do they do?" I ask

"You are obviously not from around here. They make memory chips, and they are like the biggest company making DRAM chips in the world," she replies.

The more I talk to Kelly the more I really don't like her, I think. We are getting close to the main building now, and I want to get away from her to get my notebook before English class starts.

"Well, I have to use the head before going to English class," I tell her as I walk faster in front of her and open the door for her.

"Head?" What kind of place is that?" she questions.

"That's what the restroom is called on a ship. My dad says that all the time. Sorry if I confused you?" I tell her.

"What is your dad, a sailor or something?" she asks.

"He's a Coast Guard recruiter," I tell her.

"Well, I'll see you in English class then," she says, as she walks down the hall toward the stairway. I turn in the opposite direction to my locker and get my notebook and make it to English class just before the first bell rings. Mrs. Baker is standing at the front of the class as I enter.

"Please get out your assignments and place them on my desk first thing," she announces to the class.

I sit at the same desk as yesterday, get out my assignment and take it to the front of the class. Mrs. Baker has her back turned and is writing on the white board. My paper is the first one on her desk, and I place it face down. Kelly is right behind me, and smiles as she places her paper on top of mine.

I can tell she is thinking her paper is probably better than mine with the look in her eye. Just before the second bell rings, Karl walks in and sits at the same place he sat the day before. I make eye contact with him, and say "Hi". Karl just smiles and sits in his chair looking half asleep.

"Everyone please turn in your assignments before class begins," Mrs. Baker announces again.

Karl shuffles through his backpack and pulls out his paper and puts it on the growing stack of papers.

"I'll get these papers graded tonight and returned to you tomorrow," she says.

"Today we will distribute the first book we will be studying in class, "To Kill a Mockingbird". She points to several boxes in the front of the class, and asks for a couple of volunteers to help her hand the books out.

"I'll help," Kelly sings out, as she jumps from her chair. The rest of the class is half asleep. I decide to help too, and follow Kelly to the front of the room.

"Thank you Kelly and Bill," Mrs. Baker says. I pick up one of the boxes and carry it around the room handing out a book to each student. Kelly picks up a handful of books and hands them out on the other side of the room. Within a few minutes everyone in the class has a book.

"Harper Lee wrote the novel during a pivotal moment in American history," she says to the class, as she writes the word Harper Lee on the white board.

I'm thinking, I'd rather be reading the book than have the teacher tell us all about it.

"Does anybody know what was going on when the book was written?" she asks the class. No one responds. After a few silent seconds, Kelly raises her hand.

"It was written during the civil rights movement," Kelly answers.

"Yes, that's correct, Kelly. The book was written during the late fifties and was published in 1960. A movie was made based on the book in 1962," Mrs. Baker says. "Has anyone seen the movie?" she questions. No one responds.

I don't know why teachers make such things like English so boring. Maybe it's just the time of the day that makes this English class so rough. I really used to like English. Most kids would rather be home in bed at 8 in the morning, than listening to an old English teacher talk about an old book. The class drags on and just as I'm about to die from boredom, the bell rings, and it's time to move on to the next class.

Before we leave, Mrs. Baker, announces, "The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do. Everyone remain seated. Tonight's assignment is to read the first five chapters and write a one page synopsis to be handed in tomorrow."

The 15 students in the class let out a collective groan, and a few people verbally protest, "Oh, man, no way."

Welcome to the second day of your last year of high school, I think. I can hardly wait for college.

As we all leave English class Karl approaches me. "Oh man," he says, "I don't know what I'm going to do?"

"What's the matter?" I ask as we walk down the hall.

"We have to read five chapters and then write a synopsis, and turn it in tomorrow. I don't have a PC to use." He explains.

"No problem, remember our deal?" I tell him. "You helped me get a job at Chick-fil-A now I'm going to help you get a PC. Keith called me last night and I start Thursday at Chick-fil-A," I explain. "Today our stuff gets delivered and I have an old Mac I'll give you."

"Wow, that's great!" Karl exclaims. "And here I was worrying for no reason. I should just trust in Jesus more and not worry so much." Karl looks as if I had just saved his life, or something.

"I'll see you in Driver's Training. I have American Government class I have to get to," I tell him.

"Yeah, I have American History class this period. See you later," Karl says as he hurries down the hall.

I make it to class just as the first bell rings, and sit at the same desk I did yesterday. I start reading the first page of To Kill A Mockingbird as Mr. Bixby comes into class and starts taking attendance, calling each student's name and waiting for a "here, or a yeah". After a few minutes he calls my name, and I respond with a "here".

Mr. Bixby begins by saying, "I hope everyone had a chance to read the assigned reading last night because today I have a little quiz."

A few people in the class whisper, "Oh no!" and "I haven't read it yet." as Mr. Bixby passes out the quiz. When Mr. Bixby hands me the quiz I read the first question and realize it is pretty basic stuff, with multiple-choice answers. I should be able to ace this quiz with no problem, I think.

The first question, "What form of government does the U. S. have?"

The choices are: A. Democracy, B. Republic C. Democratic Republic D. Federal Constitutional Republic.

I select D, since I read the reading assignment. The rest of the quiz is a breeze, and I feel confident I got all five answers correct. I put my pencil down and start to read To Kill a Mockingbird where I left off, while I wait for the rest of the class to finish the quiz.

After a few minutes, Mr. Bixby tells everyone time is up and to hand in the quiz. He then talks about the quiz and gives everyone the correct answers. I got all the questions correct. He tells the class each week to expect a quiz or two. The quizzes he says will help prepare us for the mid-term and later the final exam. Mr. Bixby lectures for the remainder of the hour and before the bell rings he gives the class another reading assignment. I don't know how I'll have time to read the assignment and also read the first five chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, but I figure I can stay up late tonight to get it done.

The bell rings and I hurry to Driver's Training anxious to get the next class over with so I can get home and see if the movers came yet. Karl is already in class when I get there.

"Hi Karl, how's your day been so far?" I ask.

"I'm getting hit hard with homework already," he tells me, "you'd think the teachers would give us a break and wait until the second week of school before piling it on."

"I know what you mean. I got another reading assignment from American Government, plus what I already have from English." I say.

"At least we hopefully won't have anything from Driver's Training," Karl says, as the second bell rings and everyone sits at their desk and the teacher begins talking.

Mrs. Jones explains how the class will work from the second day forward. The class will be divided into two, and on alternating days half of the class will be out driving and the remainder of the class will be in the classroom. She arbitrarily splits the class by selecting the people sitting in the first two rows as class A, and the people sitting in the third and fourth rows as class B. "Class A will drive today and class B will drive tomorrow," she says. I'm part of class A, so I go with the rest of class A outside where two cars are parked with student driver signs on them. The two instructors are waiting for us. The one instructor tells us to decide amongst ourselves who drives first. I volunteer to drive first and the other students agree. We all get into the car and the instructor tells me what to do each step of the way. After doing all the preliminary things we are taught to do before starting the car, I put the key in the ignition and start the car. I check my mirrors and put the car in reverse and slowly back out. The instructor tells me to slowly turn right at the entrance of the parking lot, and go to the corner and turn right. Driving a car is really easy. After fifteen minutes behind the wheel the instructor tells me to turn right into a parking lot. The next student drives for fifteen minutes before we switch again. By the time each of us has had a chance to drive it's time to return to school. By the time we get back to school and park the car the bell has already rung, and most of the students are heading for lunch. Karl ended up being in the class B so I head back to the classroom and find him, and together we walk to the apartment.

I walk fast away from the school as Karl struggles to keep up. "I'm anxious to get home and see if the movers have been there yet," I tell him as we walk through downtown Boise.

"I'm anxious to start reading To Kill a Mockingbird so I can get the homework done," Karl says.

"I was able to read the first chapter in American Government and it's going to be a pretty good book," I say. "It seems to be about a little kid and her little brother."

"I've seen the movie before and it is a neat story," Karl tells me, "the movie was all in black and white. I don't remember a whole lot about it, only that it was a few years ago that I saw it."

"I'd like to see the movie too, one day, but first I'd like to finish the book," I say, "Usually the movie is better if I read the book first. If I see the movie first and then read the book it isn't as good."

"Yeah, I guess so," Karl agrees. We wait for the light to change before crossing the street.

"Do you think we will have time to go to Office Depot and pick up our homework after we have it printed?" Karl asks.

"I'm not sure we will have to," I tell him. "This morning I was in the library and they have computers and printers there for students to use."

"Yeah, there are computers and printers in the library but I've never used them before," Karl says. "Usually they are all being used whenever I've tried to use them before."

"I guess you have to get there pretty early before everyone else gets there," I say, "I was there this morning and hardly anyone else was there."

"It's still early in the school year," Karl says, "Just wait until later it will be hard to find an available PC in the library."

"I bet we could find a cheap printer on Craigslist," I suggest. "I've never had to use one to do homework before. In Lowell all the teachers accepted homework via email."

"Boy, that would be nice," Karl says, "I guess Boise is still a little behind the times. What was school like in Lowell?" Karl asks.

"It was okay," I say, "I was kind of a nerd, who didn't get too much into anything other than just going to class."

"Did you ever get bullied?" Karl asks.

"In middle school I did once, but I gave the kid a bloody nose, and he left me alone after that," I say.

"I used to get bullied all the time until I got some piercings and started to wear my hair different," Karl says, "Now kids think I'm crazy and just leave me alone."

"To tell you the truth that was my first impression of you when I first saw you, but now I know differently," I tell Karl. "I don't know why some kids have to be so mean," I remark as we walk down the street getting closer to my place.

"I think it has to do with how some kids feel insecure about themselves, and maybe by being mean to other kids they are able to feel better about themselves," Karl offers.

"I don't know. All I know is how awful some kids make me feel. Like that girl Kelly," I say, "I talked to her this morning and she gave me the impression she thinks she is better than everyone else," I explain.

"What did she say?" Karl asks.

"Oh, how she was going to go to BYU and how she thinks working at a fast food place is the bottom of the ladder," I say.

"For Mormon kids, BYU is like the ultimate school," Karl says. "Most Mormon kids go on their two year mission and then go on to BYU, like it is all planned out for them since they were born," Karl explains.

"For me, I think my dad wants me to go to the Coast Guard Academy and become a Coast Guard officer," I tell him.

"What's wrong with that?" Karl asks, "You make it sound like it's something you wouldn't even consider."

"It isn't that," I explain, "But I really don't want the kind of life the Coast Guard offers."

"What's Coast Guard life like?" Karl asks.

"It's being away from your family for long periods of time and moving every four or five years," I tell him.

"Yeah, I guess that might be tough for some people," Karl agrees. "I think it would be an okay life for a little while. Like before a guy got married and had any kids."

"I guess it might not be so bad then," I say, "But I think my dad being gone for so long is what caused my parents to get divorced."

"My parents got divorced when I was a little kid and I rarely see my dad any more," Karl tells me. "He lives in California somewhere and has another wife and family."

"That's too bad," I exclaim. "It must be hard on you and your mom."

"It isn't too bad," Karl explains, "At least my dad is good at giving my mom child support. I don't know what we would do without it. My mom baby sits and with my job we get by."

"Wow, you make it sound like you are really poor, " I say.

"We weren't always so poor," Karl explains, "It was just after my mom lost her job at Micron and we had to move out of our house and into the trailer park a few years ago. Since then my mom hasn't been able to find a decent job."

"That girl Kelly was telling me her dad works at Micron," I tell him, "I had no idea what Micron was until Kelly explained they make memory chips."

"Yeah, I guess her dad is some big wig executive there," Karl says. "My mom worked in production and was making close to $20 an hour until they shipped production to a factory in China."

"I guess that's what a lot of companies are doing now days," I say, not really knowing what else to say.

"It just doesn't make any sense, to me, how American companies can ship American jobs to China and leave families without an income," Karl says. "If it weren't for all these jobs going to China, the economy would be doing a whole lot better."

"I guess that's one thing good about the Coast Guard," I say. "At least that's one job they can't ship over to China." I laugh and Karl joins me as we approach the front door of my building. We take the elevator and I use my key to unlock the front door. The living room is filled with boxes, and a couch and tables are placed around the edge of the room.

"Wow, your place looks completely different from yesterday," Karl says.

"I guess the movers came this morning," I tell him. "I thought my dad didn't have to go to work today." I go into my bedroom and find my bed, dresser, desk and all of my boxes waiting for me.

"Let's see if I can find the box the Mac is in and I can show you how to use it," I tell Karl, looking through all the boxes, until I find one labeled PC. "Here it is," I exclaim. I get my pocketknife out and cut through the packing tape and carefully remove the monitor, mouse and keyboard and the Mac.

"I've never really seen a Mac like that before," Karl says. "What kind is it?"

"It's a Mac Mini." I say. "It uses a typical VGA monitor and a USB keyboard and mouse," I explain, "this one has a hard drive, whereas the newer models have a solid state hard drive."

"It looks pretty new to me," Karl says. I hook up the cables to the Mac and plug in the monitor and power the Mac on. It makes a familiar tone as the Apple logo appears on the screen.

"It has all the basic stuff you will need to get on the Internet and do your homework. I have Apache Open Office so you can do word processing and stuff. I'll just copy and delete all of my personal files and you can take it home with you." I explain, as I find a USB thumb drive and begin to copy all the files from my personal folders. "Since I bought my laptop back in June I hardly ever use this Mac anymore."

"It sure is nice of you to just give me your old Mac," Karl says. "Can I at least give you a couple hundred dollars for it?" Karl asks.

"It really isn't even worth that much," I explain. "This model uses the PowerPC chip so it can't run the latest version of the Mac Operating System. You could probably find one on Craigslist for $150 or so, but even that is more than it's worth."

"I really appreciate it," Karl says. "I'm really glad I was able to help you get a job at Chick-fil-A, even though I'm sure you could have gotten the job without me."

"I'm anxious to get started Thursday," I tell him. "Do you need a thumb drive so you can print off your homework at the library?" I ask him, as I find several thumb drives in another box. "I can give you this 1 gigabyte one after I get all the stuff off of it."

"That would be nice," Karl says. "I don't have any of those."

I hear the front door open and close and holler, "Dad is that you?"

"Yeah, I just had to go out for something to eat," he answers.

"I'm in here with Karl," I say.

My dad walks into the room dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. "The movers were here first thing this morning," he says.

"Dad, this is my friend Karl," I say. My dad steps across the room and puts his hand out as Karl stands and shakes hands.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Karl says.

"Good to meet you Karl. It sure is nice of you to help Bill get situated in school and help him get a job," my dad says.

"I'm glad to help out," Karl says. "It sure is nice of Bill to help me out too."

"Well, we all try to do our best to help everyone we can," my dad says. "That's just the way we do whenever we move to a new place."

Karl smiles, and shakes his head and pauses for a minute. "I bet you would like my church," Karl offers. "There are all sorts of friendly people who would make you feel right at home."

"I'm not the church type," my dad explains. "To tell you the truth I haven't been in a church since I was a kid."

Karl looks deep into my dad's eyes, and tells him, "You know Jesus loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you. Going to church is one way to establish that kind of relationship."

"I'm not so sure about that Karl," my dad says, "my experience with church has been something completely different."

"You know sir, church has changed a lot since you were a little kid. At least that's what my mom tells me. She says she hated church when she was a kid but now days she can't get enough," Karl explains.

"Well, maybe we will just have to visit your church one of these days," my dad says. Trying to change the subject he continues, "I could give you a ride home later."

"That would be great," Karl says, "I could introduce you to my mom. I think you'd like her."

"What is your mom like?" my dad asks.

"Well, she's about your age, and she has a nice sense of humor, and she keeps herself looking pretty good, if I do say so myself," Karl says, with a slight grin on his face.

"Maybe after you two get your homework done I'll take you home then," my dad offers. "I have to get some boxes unpacked so I'll let you two alone."

My dad turns and walks out the door, and goes into the living room. I about have all my personal files taken off the Mac, and copied onto the thumb drive. "Let me show you a few of the programs on here," I tell Karl as I point the mouse at the various symbols at the bottom of the screen.

"Your dad sure seems like a nice guy," Karl says, "I think he and my mom would really hit it off."

"I don't think my dad really is looking at getting into another relationship so soon after my mom," I explain. "He really took the divorce kind of bad, and I don't know if he is ready for someone else yet."

"Yeah. I guess it must be tough being an adult sometimes," Karl agrees. "I've never really had a serious girl friend before so I have no idea what it must be like getting dumped, yet alone divorced."

"I don't know either, other than being a kid seeing your parents get divorced really sucks big time," I say. "Especially after my mom cheated on my dad and is living with the guy now."

All Karl says is, "Bummer dude."

After all my personal files are removed from the Mac and I've shown Karl how to use it, I turn it off and disconnect all the cables and put it back in the box. I sit on the bed and Karl lies on the floor as we read the first five chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird. I can hear my dad out in the living room unpacking boxes. It takes us only about an hour to finish reading.

"Well, I guess we should write up the synopsis," I suggest, as I get my laptop out and set it up on the desk.

"I'm really not sure what a synopsis is," Karl says.

"I'm not too sure either," I say, "I guess it must be like a summary."

"The teacher didn't really explain what it was. Maybe she was expecting us to find out on our own," Karl says.

"I really haven't figured out these teachers here yet," I say. "They seem to be a little different from the teachers in Lowell."

"How so?" Karl asks.

"Maybe I'm a little too quick to judge, but the teachers so far seem to just be filling time just to get through the class and don't really seem to be worried if the kids are learning anything," I explain.

"It's hard to tell just after two days," Karl says, "But it probably doesn't help if the teacher doesn't like teaching and would rather be doing something else."

"I've thought about being a teacher," I tell him. "I think teaching would be one of the more rewarding jobs a person could do."

"I guess it would be depending on whether you had a passion for the subject and could have a little flexibility in how you taught," Karl says, as he puts his book back in his book bag. "I think I'll write the synopsis later this evening."

"Maybe for high school teachers it's a little different," I say. "Maybe their job is not to teach so much, but to enable the kids to learn on their own, and just provide them with the tools.

"Yeah, like how Mrs. Baker thinks she is preparing us for college by telling us to write a synopsis, without telling us what a synopsis is," Karl argues.

"Let's Google it, and see what it says," I say as I type the words "To Kill a Mockingbird Synopsis". A few seconds later over two hundred thousand results are found. I click on the first option and find an individual synopsis of each chapter.

"I was right," I exclaim, "All a synopsis really is is just a brief summary. This should be a breeze."

"I can't imagine what the world was like before the Internet," Karl says. "I guess we really have it a lot easier than previous generations."

"It's a lot easier," I agree, "But also a lot harder."

"How so?" Karl asks.

"Well, we just spent an hour reading the first five chapters, and then it took us just a few minutes to find the synopsis on the Internet. Now we have to write our own synopsis without using anything from the synopsis we found on the Internet." I explain. "It's really hard not to do the easy thing and cheat."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Being honest and avoiding the temptation to cheat is hard." Karl says. "Any new technology brings with it a little bit of good with a little bit of bad."

"That isn't always the case," I say.

"No matter what changes happen," Karl explains, "the devil will always work his way into things to make it bad. Just look at the Internet and all the porn that is out there."

"Yeah, I guess if you look at it that way it is bad, but from the other perspective, it's also easier for guys like us to learn about female human anatomy," I joke.

Karl gets serious and says, "That is the way of the devil to turn God's creation into something evil."

"Does everything have to deal with the devil and God?" I ask.

"Don't you know the whole human struggle is between God and the devil?" Karl exclaims.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"From the very beginning of time after God created the world, the devil has had his hand in everything trying to keep people from developing a personal relationship with God," Karl explains. "The devil and God are at a constant battle for everyone's soul."

"Wow, that is really heavy," I say. "Can't we just be neutral and not choose sides and stay out of the battle between God and the devil?"

"I don't know how we can do that since we are all right in the middle of it," Karl explains. "It would be like you staying out of your mom and dad's divorce."

"Okay, I think I know what you are trying to say. But I just can't understand what God and the devil has to do with me since I really am not sure they even exist." I tell Karl, trying not to provoke his anger.

"You know Bill, I've got to tell you something that might just save your life." Karl explains, looking really serious. "You know back about a hundred years ago people didn't know about bacteria and viruses like they do now. They thought when someone got sick and died it was just a part of life. Millions of people died from diseases that could have easily been prevented through basic sanitation just because they didn't think micro organisms existed."

"What does all that have to do with God and the devil?" I ask.

"I was trying to make the point that even though you might be unaware of something existing like bacteria or God or the devil, they are real and can impact your future for good or bad," Karl says.

"Okay, I get your point." I say. "Maybe I really need to think more on a deeper level."

"It isn't so much on a deeper level, but on a spiritual level, instead of a physical or an intellectual level," Karl explains. "God and the devil aren't something easily explained physically or intellectually, since they exist spiritually. Reading the Bible and seeing how God impacts people's lives is how I have gotten to know Him to be real."

"How do you know the Bible is true?" I ask.

"The only way I know it's true is by having faith," Karl says. "Its like how do you know when you walk on a bridge it will hold your weight, or when you breath the air it won't kill you."

After thinking for a few seconds, I understand where Karl is coming from. "I think I'm starting to understand Karl," I tell him. "Are you about ready to go home?" I ask.

"Yeah, I guess I should get home and get finished with the homework," Karl answers.

I hand Karl the box with the Mac in it, and he puts it under his arm and picks up his book bag with his other hand. We walk out to the living room and find my dad busy unpacking boxes and putting things in the kitchen cupboards.

"Are you guys ready to go?" my dad asks.

"Yeah, whenever you are," I reply.

We all go down the elevator to the basement where my dad's truck is parked. Karl sits in front and I sit behind him in the jump seat of the extended cab. Karl holds the box with the computer on his lap, and places his book bag on the seat next to him. My dad backs out and drives out of the garage, and turns onto the street.

"You'll have to give me directions Karl," he says. "I'm not really sure where you live."

"Just go through downtown and turn left onto Ninth Street," Karl tells him. "I live near Boise State, just off Boise Avenue."

My dad drives slowly through downtown and hits all the lights red. While we wait for the light to change, my dad asks Karl, "How long have you lived here in Boise?"

"Most of my life," Karl responds. "I wasn't born here, but my mom moved me here after she and my dad divorced."

"It seems like a nice little city," my dad comments. "I think I'm going to like living here."

"It's been a pretty nice place to grow up for me," Karl replies, "But there aren't a lot of well paying jobs, unless you have a college education."

"Well, I hope you are planning to continue on to college after you finish high school," my dad says.

"I'd like to," Karl says, "But I'm not sure I can afford to."

"How are your grades in school?" my dad asks.

"They're pretty good, I've been carrying a 3.9 average all through school." Karl answers.

"In that case you should be able to get a scholarship then," my dad tells him.

"I sure hope so, plus I can work and put myself through school," he says.

We drive past Boise State and Karl directs my dad to get in the left hand lane and to turn left at the next light. After we go through the light we turn right into a small trailer park with a bunch of newer looking trailers all crammed together with parking spots between them. A lot of bikes lean against the trailers and older cars are parked nearby.

"This is my place," Karl announces as we drive by a trailer with an older Toyota sedan parked in front. "You can park right in front there," Karl says pointing to a space in front of the blue Toyota. "Come on in and meet my mom."

After we park the truck we all get out and Karl leads us to the door of the trailer. It actually is a nice looking trailer, more like a house really, than a trailer. It has a pitched roof and wood siding painted a light green color, and there are a few steps we have to climb to get to the front door. Once we are through the front door we are standing in the living room and Karl's mom is sitting at the kitchen table holding a small baby.

"This is my mom," Karl says, "Mom this is John and Bill McDougall. I told you about Bill yesterday."

"Oh yes, I remember, the guy who just moved here from Boston," she says. "Well it sure is nice to meet you. My name is Carol."

"It's nice to meet you too," my dad and I both say at about the same time.

"Bill let me have his old computer so I can work on my homework at home," Karl says. "I helped him get a job at Chick-fil-A."

"That was awfully nice of you Bill," Carol says. "I'm sure we can pay you for it. You don't have to give it away."

"That isn't necessary," I tell her, "Karl already offered to pay me for it, but I told him it really isn't worth that much."

"Well, then I sure want to thank you for it." Carol says. "It will sure save Karl lots of time and trouble being able to work on his homework at home."

"All he really needs is a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet and he'll be all set," I comment.

"I think with all the college kids near by there is bound to be someone who may be willing to share their Internet with us," Carol speculates. "I baby sit for a few of the kids, so they may be willing to give us access."

"Well, it was really nice to meet you Carol," my dad says, "but I think we should be getting along. We have a lot more boxes to unpack before we can call it a day."

"If there's anything I can do to help you or Bill you let me know," Carol offers.

"I'll keep that in mind," my dad says as he backs toward the door. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon."

"Why don't we plan on meeting tomorrow in the library at school," I tell Karl. "We can get there early enough before all the PCs are being used."

"Okay," Karl replies. "I'll be there before 7. I think the library opens at 6:30."

"See you tomorrow, then," I say as I walk through the door. My dad is already out by the truck as I close the door behind me. I hurry and get in the truck as my dad starts the engine.

"Carol sure seems like a nice lady," I offer.

"Yeah, she seems okay," my dad comments. "But I'm not sure about Karl. I just have a weird feeling about the kid."

"Why's that?" I ask.

"He looks kind of rough, and then he talks about God and the church, and seems to be a nice kid, but I just can't get past those piercings on his face, and his hair." My dad has a special way of judging people, looking beyond the obvious to see the depth of a person's character, but still his military being wants everyone to look squared away. That's part of his job as a recruiter to be able to judge whether an individual will be a good fit in the Coast Guard.

"He and his mom have had it pretty rough lately," I tell him. "His mom was laid off when the company she worked at sent her job to China."

"I see that happen more and more all the time," my dad says. "It makes me thankful for the job I have."

"What do you think of going to church with Karl and his mom some day?" I ask.

"It wouldn't hurt, I guess," he says. "As long as you don't go overboard and become obsessive about it."

"You know I could never do that," I tell him, "We aren't the church type of people."

Once we get back to the apartment we continue to unpack boxes and get settled. The place starts looking like it did when we lived in Lowell and having all my old stuff reminds me of my mom and my sister and how we were once a happy family. I still can't get over how my mom left my dad and hooked up with that other guy. I haven't spoken to her since she left, and don't intend to ever speak to her again. I just can't find any value in having a relationship with her after what she did.
Chapter Five – Wednesday

I wake up the next morning feeling somewhat different. I'm not sure what happened while I slept, but for some reason I feel a lot better about things and the way my life is going. After getting a few boxes unpacked, I worked on my homework and finished the synopsis, and did the reading for the American Government class, and then went to bed. I was thinking a lot about what Karl and I talked about, all about how God and the devil are at a constant battle for everyone's soul and how silly that seemed. This morning it doesn't seem to be so silly after all.

After taking a shower and getting dressed I go out to the kitchen, pour a bowl of cereal and some orange juice, and join my dad at the kitchen table.

"Well, how did you sleep last night?" my dad asks.

"It felt good to sleep in my old bed again," I tell him, "but I woke up feeling a little different."

"How so?" he asks.

"It's kind of hard to explain," I tell him, "but you remember what Karl was telling us about Jesus and how he loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with us? Well, that seems to make a whole lot of sense this morning."

"I know what you mean," he says. "I kind of feel the same too. You know there has been a vacant feeling in my life I've tried to fill with other stuff. Family, my job, my marriage, and nothing seems to make me feel complete. Maybe Jesus or God or something is what I've been missing in my life," he explains between bites of cereal. "I think maybe we should visit Karl's church Sunday."

"Karl invited me to something called Renewal tonight," I tell him. "It's something for junior and senior high school kids."

"You should go then," he encourages. "Maybe I can call Carol and see if she would like to go to dinner while you and Karl are at the church."

"Are you finally starting to feel better about mom?" I ask.

"To tell you the truth, I don't think I'll ever feel better about what your mom did to me and the family, but I'm starting to think it's time to move on and get on with the rest of my life. Life is too short to carry that kind of burden forever," he explains.

"That's good. Maybe Carol could help you out," I offer. "She seems to be a really nice lady."

"Yeah, and the more I think about it Karl is a pretty decent kid, he says. "He would even make a good recruit after cutting his hair and getting rid of all those piercings."

"I hope you won't try to recruit him, dad," I say. "He really needs to go on to college and keep helping his mom."

"You know Bill, that's not the way the recruiting business works, at least not with the Coast Guard. The main thing I do is weed out people who want to join the Coast Guard for all the wrong reasons, and let only the best get in," he explains, getting up from the table he rinses out his bowl and cup and puts them in the dishwasher.

"I never thought about that," I say. "It sounds almost like what some churches do," I remark.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"I don't know for sure, but it seems like some churches want only the best people to come to their church, and aren't willing to accept people who look like Karl, or people who have a rough past like you or mom being divorced," I say.

"You're probably right," he says. "I guess that's one reason why there are so many different churches in the world, so everyone can find the right place just for them. What kind of church does Karl go to?" he asks.

"I'm not sure what kind it is, but Karl says it's a Bible believing church, and they welcome everyone, no matter what," I explain, as I finish my cereal and chug the remaining orange juice from the glass. I go to the sink and rinse the bowl and place it in the dishwasher with the glass.

"Well, we'll find out tonight," he says. "For now we better get going. I'll drop you off on my way to work," he offers. "Can you ask Karl for his mom's phone number and text it to me so I can call her later?" he asks.

"Sure," I tell him as I grab my book bag and follow him out the door.

During the ride to school my dad and I sit silently lost in our thoughts. I'm thinking how the day will play out and how I have to get to the library to print off the homework for English, and how I want to read ahead and see how the book goes since I might not have time this evening to do much reading. Before I can think of something else my dad pulls in front of the school and tells me, "Have a great day."

"You too," I tell him as I jump out of the truck. "See you later."

My dad waves as he drives down the street and heads to his office. I turn and go into the library and since it's just past 6:30 the place is pretty empty. I find a PC and sit down and get the thumb drive with my homework assignment on it out of my book bag and stick it in the USB slot in front of the PC. For some reason it takes forever before the USB device is recognized by the Windows operating system. Maybe because it's a Mac USB drive, I think. I open the device and double click on the homework file, and after a few seconds a message pops up saying Windows cannot open the file since the file is corrupt. I look around to see if I can ask anyone for help, but no one is around. I go to the front desk where a librarian is working at a PC and ask, "Can you help me with a PC problem?"

"I can try, but I'm not the best person with computers," she says. "What kind of problem are you having?"

"I have a Mac and I saved a file with a word processor and Windows is saying the file is corrupt," I explain.

"What is the suffix of the file?" she asks.

"I think it is .odt. It was created with Apache Open Document," I tell her.

"Let me Google it and see what I can find," she offers. After a few seconds, she replies, "I found a web site where you can convert the .odt file to a .doc file so it can be read by Microsoft Word."

"Fantastic," I exclaim. "Thanks so much for your help."

I return to the PC and find the web site and convert the file and after about ten minutes I'm able to open the file with Microsoft Word. I'll have to remember to tell Karl about that problem when I see him. I get the homework assignment printed out just as Karl comes into the library.

"Hi Karl, I just finished printing out the homework assignment," I say.

"Sorry I'm late, I kind of had some problems this morning," he tells me.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Remember I told you about being bullied before?" he asks. "I ran into one of the kids who used to bully me and he wouldn't leave me alone."

"What did you do?" I ask.

"The kid was standing on the street corner and wouldn't let me walk by without giving him some money. I tried walking past him but he wouldn't let me pass. I never punched a kid before, but something just came over me, and I just couldn't stop myself from hitting the kid in the face. I finally stopped when his nose started bleeding and he ran off." Karl says, looking really concerned for the kid.

"That is so funny," I say. "Something similar happened to me when I was in middle school."

"What happened?" Karl asks.

"I punched the kid in the nose and he ran off crying. The kid never bothered me anymore. My mom hooked up with the kid's father a year or so later, and now she is planning to get married to the guy." I tell him.

"Wow, I hope the kid doesn't get me in trouble," Karl worries, "I think I might have really hurt him."

"Don't worry about it," I tell him. "You know you were in the right to do what you did, you were only defending yourself."

"Let's work on your homework," I say, "I have to show you a problem I ran into when I tried to open the file on this PC, and how I resolved it."

Karl gets the thumb drive out of his backpack and hands it to me. I stick it in the PC and after a few minutes it reads the device and shows the files. I tell Karl, "Before we can print the file we have to convert it to a Microsoft Word document by going to this web site."

I go to the web site and Karl watches as the file is converted and eventually I'm able to open the file with Microsoft Word. "The Apache Open Office software and Microsoft Word aren't compatible," I say. "This is how we make them compatible."

I get the file printed out for Karl and we walk out the library and head towards the main building. "Karl, my dad asked me to get your mom's phone number. He wants to call her and ask her to dinner tonight," I tell him.

"You're kidding, that is so funny," Karl says. "My mom just mentioned this morning how she thought your dad was nice and how she was praying that he would call her."

"I can't believe it either, but he was telling me he thinks it's time to get on with life," I tell him.

Karl tells me his mom's phone number as I text it on my iPhone and send it to my dad. "He thinks it's cool to go to your church too," I say.

"Did you still want to go to Renewal tonight?" Karl asks.

"You bet, my dad was talking about taking your mom to dinner while we are at Renewal," I tell him.

We get to English class just as the first bell rings. Mrs. Baker is standing at the front of the classroom and greets us as we enter the room.

"Please turn in your synopsis first thing," she says.

Karl and I take our seat as other students carry their assignments to the front of the class and place it on the teacher's desk. Just before the second bell rings, Kelly hurries into class and sits in front of me. She turns and smiles, as I take the assignment and put it on the teacher's desk.

"I have your papers from yesterday," she says. "When I call your name, please raise your hand and I'll give you your paper."

She calls my name and I raise my hand, and she hands me my paper. On the paper in red ink are several marks and corrections, but in the top right hand margin is written a large letter A, with the words "Good Job!" next to it. I smile and turn to Karl and see him smiling too. He shows me the large A on his paper too. On his paper next to the grade is written the word "Excellent". I wonder if everyone else got good grades on their paper, but as I scan around the room I don't see too many other people smiling.

"Overall I was quite pleased with the quality of your work, however a few of you need to refresh your punctuation and grammar skills before you are ready for college level work," she explains. "With all the advantages you have these days with word processors, spelling and grammar checking software, I should not have to see so many misspelled words or misplaced commas," she tells us.

Mrs. Baker then proceeds to write on the white board the words: there, their, they're and asks, "Who can tell me the difference in these words?"

For a few seconds no one in the class dares to offer an explanation fearing they may get the answer wrong. Finally, Kelly raises her hand and explains the difference in the three words. Mrs. Baker goes on to talk about the book To Kill a Mockingbird, and asks if anyone had any problems with yesterday's assignment. One of the students sitting in the back, a girl with long brown hair and acne on her face, asks what a synopsis is. Mrs. Baker explains it is simply a summary but she wanted us to use our resources to figure that out on our own. "When you get to college next year you won't be spoon fed your assignments like you are in high school," she explains.

The rest of the hour she talks about the book and tells us the meaning of different things in the story. I'm thinking that is exactly what I found on the Internet when I Googled "synopsis of To Kill a Mockingbird". I wonder if she gets her lesson plans by Googling. At the end of the class she tells us to read the next five chapters and to write a synopsis for tomorrow. The bell rings and she dismisses us from the class.

I won't bore you with all the details from my other two classes, since it pretty much was the same as it was yesterday. Except in Driver's Training I had to sit in class and listen to the teacher lecture. Once class was over I wanted to get the next five chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird read so I could finish the synopsis, and of course we had a reading assignment from American Government too. I told Karl I would see him later since we were planning on going to Renewal later at his church. I hurried home and it only took about an hour or so to finish reading the next five chapters, then another hour to write up the synopsis. The reading for American Government took about an hour too. I really like getting my homework done right after school so I won't have to worry about it later and then I can just have the rest of the day to myself. You can call me obsessive if you want, but at least I'm not staying up until midnight working on homework. I am really looking forward to going to Renewal too. It should be a nice way to meet some other kids and also learn some more about Jesus.

I know all about Jesus from Christmas and stuff I hear on TV, but I have never really read the Bible or had any desire to learn more about him. Once after talking to a kid at school about his church I found a Bible and read part of it but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I think my parents are pretty much nonbelievers in church, and I'm not sure if they even believe in God and Jesus. They never really talked about the Bible or Jesus or church before, and I never really asked them about it. Growing up in Topeka there was a crazy guy from a Baptist church who used to stand on street corners with signs saying Fags Burn in Hell, and a lot of other hateful stuff. This really gave me a bad impression of the whole church thing.

Karl told me about a Bible app I could get for my iPhone. I checked on the App Store and found one for free and downloaded it. It's called YouVersion and comes with a whole bunch of different features like reading plans, and a bunch of different versions. I'm not sure what the difference is in the versions, but I found one called New International Version, and liked the way it read. I started reading from where the app opened in the book of John, and learned a whole lot of stuff I never knew about Jesus. I was really fascinated to read about Jesus after hearing all the different things I had heard about him. Some kids I knew in Topeka went to church and told me about this guy who could save me from my sins and keep me from going to Hell. I had no idea what sins were or whether there really even is a Hell.

After reading the whole book of John I browsed around the app and decided I should start at the very beginning and read the book of Genesis. After a couple of hours of reading Genesis I learned all about sin and how God created the world to be perfect but Satan deceived man and introduced sin into the world. I had a lot of questions about all this. Like why did God put a forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden when he knew Adam and Eve would be deceived, and why God allowed Satan into the world? I sat and thought about this for quite a while. After a while I kind of figured it out on my own after reading a little bit more. I don't know if my thoughts about this whole thing is correct or not, but I kind of think God allowed Satan in the world and put the forbidden tree in the garden because he wanted man to have a choice of following Him or following Satan. God doesn't want man to be forced to follow Him or Satan, but provides man with the option. We can either choose to follow God and be given eternal life with Him, or we can follow Satan and be separated from God for eternity. In either case, we make the decision ourselves. If someone doesn't believe in God or Satan and thinks after they die they just die and that's it, they have chosen to follow Satan.

This was quite an epiphany to me. All of a sudden I understood the whole meaning of life and why I was put here, and why everything thus far in my life happened the way it did. A little later my dad came home from work and changed out of his uniform and put on his normal every day civilian clothes, jeans and a collared t-shirt.

"I called Carol and I'll take you and Karl to church and then Carol and I are going out to dinner," he tells me.

"That sounds great," I exclaim.

"I'm not sure where to take her or what I should wear," he says.

"What you have on looks fine to me," I offer, "Why don't you let her decide where to eat?"

"Yeah, I guess that would be the best thing to do since I have no idea what kind of food she likes or what kind of restaurants are here in Boise," he says.

"The church thing starts at 6:30, but I have no idea what time it gets over," I tell him.

"I told Carol I would pick her up sometime between 5:30 and 6, so we should have time to get you and Karl to the church before it starts. You can call me when it's over," he says.

"I'm really looking forward to going to Karl's church," I say, "I read a little bit of the Bible today and want to learn more."

"I'm glad you are exploring the Bible and everything, but you need to beware of false teachers and crooks who use religion for their own gains," he tells me.

"Do you remember that guy in Topeka who used to stand on street corners with those signs?" I ask.

"Yeah, I think people like him give religion and church a bad name," he tells me.

"How would I know if someone is a false teacher?" I ask.

"Well it's pretty simple, if what they are teaching is not Bible based, then it's not from God," he explains. "For example, the guy in Topeka says on his signs that God hates fags. We know that isn't true since the Bible tells us God loves the person but hates the sin."

"I guess a person would have to know the Bible pretty well in order to know whether what someone is saying is based on the Bible," I say.

"Yes, that's true. That's why it's very important for a person to read the Bible and know what it says," he tells me.

"Why didn't you ever take us to church before?" I ask.

"After I had that bad experience when I was a kid I never wanted to get involved with a church again. Besides, after I met your mother and she didn't like church either, we just never went. It kind of became a habit of not going. That doesn't mean I lost faith in God or stopped believing in Him or quit reading the Bible. I just never went to church," he explains as he sits in the chair putting on his shoes.

"I wonder if it's really that important to go to church?" I ask.

"For some people I guess it helps them to associate with other people at church to keep their faith strong, but I never felt that way about church," he says. "When I was on the ship we had some strong believers who shared their faith and had Bible study together, but we never did go to church. Well, I guess we better be on our way," he says, as he stands up and takes his keys from his pocket. "We don't want you to be late for church."

We go out and get in the truck and head over to Karl's place.

"How are things going at school?" he asks as he turns onto the street.

"Everything is going good," I reply, "I think I'm going to like school here."

"Have you met any more kids, other than Karl?" he asks.

"Just this one girl who invited me to her church Monday. Karl tells me she is a Mormon who wants to be a missionary," I reply.

"Well, there is really nothing wrong with being a Mormon or a missionary for that matter, but you need to know what their church is all about," he says, "You have to put on your shield and your armor."

"Why, is there something wrong with their church?" I ask.

"I had an experience with a Mormon guy on my ship and he tried to convert a lot of people," he explains. "After I looked into it I discovered a lot of what they believe isn't Bible based."

"That's the same thing Karl said about it, but he didn't tell me anything specific," I respond.

"Well for one thing they still believe in temple ceremonies. If you read the Bible Jesus destroyed the temple on the cross and he rebuilt it in three days," he tells me.

"How did he do that?" I ask, not knowing the Bible I wasn't sure what this meant.

"When Jesus died on the cross He destroyed the barrier that separates man from God. He took on all of the sin of the world, and when He was resurrected He became the bridge between man and God. We no longer need the temple or anyone else to intercede on our behalf, since we have Jesus," he explains while we wait for the light to change. "All we have to do is believe in the resurrection of Jesus and ask him into our heart, and we are saved."

"Do you think if one of their believes isn't Bible based their whole church isn't right?" I ask.

"I'm not so sure about that. There's a lot more about the Mormon religion that isn't based on the Bible. That is just one example," he answers. "If you want to know more, we can talk about it later."

The light turns green and we turn left and then make a right into the trailer park where Karl lives. We park outside his mobile home and my dad gets out of the truck and walks up to the front door as Karl and his mom walk out. I get out of the truck and sit in the jump seat behind the passenger seat. Karl gets in and sits in the jump seat behind the driver. My dad opens the passenger door for Karl's mom and Carol gets in.

"Hi Bill," Carol says, "It sure is nice of you to go to church with Karl."

"I'm looking forward to it," I tell her.

My dad drives out the trailer park and gets back on the road we just turned from before realizing he doesn't know where he's going.

"Am I going in the right direction?" he asks.

"At the light here you want to turn to the right and then head towards downtown. You need to get in the left lane and turn left before getting downtown," Carol responds.

My dad and Carol talk a little and Karl and I are quiet in the back listening to the adult conversation.

"How are you liking Boise so far?" Carol asks my dad.

"I really like it so far," my dad answers, "But I really haven't had a chance to see a whole lot or meet many people."

"I'm sure you will soon enough," Carol responds. "You should go to church with us Sunday and I'll introduce you to a lot of really nice people."

"I'd like that," my dad says, as he drives through the heavy rush hour traffic.

"Maybe after church I can show you guys some of the sights," Carol suggests, adding, "there isn't really all that much to see."

"That will be fun," my dad exclaims, "What time does the church start?"

"Karl and I usually make it to the 9:30 service, but there's a second service at 11:30 too," Carol answers.

"I think we can make it to the 9:30 service. Why don't we pick you up a little bit early and we can stop somewhere for breakfast," my dad suggests.

"That sounds like a good idea," Carol answers. "You want to turn left at the next light and then turn right down there beyond the apartment buildings."

My dad pulls into what looks like an office park, with a number of single story buildings and small parking lots in front with short trees lining the street. He passes several buildings before I see the sign that says The Pursuit.

"Is this it?" I exclaim. "It sure doesn't look like any church I've seen before."

Karl responds, "Wait until you see inside. It isn't like any other church."

My dad stops and he opens the back door for Karl. Carol opens the door and I climb out the back.

"I'll call you when we need a ride," I tell my dad.

"Okay, have fun," he says as he climbs back into the truck.

I follow Karl into the building where we find a bunch of other kids standing around in the lobby. Most of the kids are standing in small groups talking, and a few kids are standing alone off on the sides of the room. Karl sees a guy standing alone he seems to know and approaches him.

"Hey Karl," the kid says.

"Hi Jeff, I'd like you to meet my friend Bill," Karl says as I follow him a couple of steps behind.

"Hi, I'm Bill, it's nice to meet you Jeff," I say extending my hand as Jeff grasps it.

"You must be new here," Jeff comments, "I could tell by your accent."

"Yeah, I just moved here from Boston," I remark.

"Welcome, it's good to have you here," Jeff says.

"How's your week been?" Karl asks Jeff.

"It's been pretty decent," Jeff replies, "It sure is a good feeling to be a senior this year."

"Jeff goes to Capital High," Karl tells me. "It's a school on the west side of town."

"Why did you move to Boise?" Jeff asks.

"My dad got transferred here with the Coast Guard," I reply.

"The Coast Guard? I didn't realize they have a Coast Guard in Boise," Jeff jokes.

"He works at the recruiting office," I explain.

"Gotcha," Jeff responds. "I always thought if I were going to join the military I'd want to join the Coast Guard. Not that I'd want to join the military."

Karl explains, "The military has a lot to offer some kids, but I guess other kids have other options."

"I didn't mean to say anything bad about the military," Jeff says, "But I'm just not the type to be told what to do all the time, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I hear you," I tell him, "I don't have any intentions of joining the military after seeing the way my dad's life has been. I've been thinking seriously about Boise State next year."

"Me too," Jeff says. "I figure I could get a part time job and work my way through school."

"That's my plan exactly," I agree.

"I haven't decided yet," Karl interjects. "I'm keeping my options open."

An old guy announces they are ready to get started and everyone needs to go into another room off to the side of the lobby. We follow the crowd of kids into a room where a bunch of chairs are arranged in a large semi-circle. I count roughly about 25 kids, both guys and girls, ranging in age from about 14 to 19. Most of the kids are dressed in summer clothes, shorts and t-shirts, and are wearing flip-flops or tennis shoes. Everyone sits down and the old guy sits down in the middle of the semi-circle.

A younger guy with a guitar stands up and starts playing and starts to sing. The words to the song are projected on the wall over his head, and everyone starts singing along. I've never heard the song before, but the words are all about Jesus and how he loves us all. After we finish signing the song, the guy with the guitar introduces the older guy who he calls Pastor Dave.

Pastor Dave stands up and starts talking, "Tonight I want to tell you about a time when Jesus healed some people," he says. If you have your Bible, open it to the book of Matthew, chapter 9," he instructs.

I get my iPhone out and launch the Bible app I downloaded earlier to find Matthew Chapter 9.

"Who would like to read the first two versus of chapter 9?" Pastor Dave asks. After no one volunteers, I raise my hand and say, "I will."

I start to read, "Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.'"

"Okay, that's a good place to stop," Pastor Dave says. "Now I'll try to explain what's happening here. First, Jesus returns to his home in Nazareth and some guys bring a paralyzed man out for Jesus to heal. Jesus is amazed by the man's faith and forgives the man his sins."

Pastor Dave looks around at all the kids and pauses for a few seconds before continuing. "Who would like to continue reading the next few versus?" he asks.

A younger girl with red hair and freckles volunteers and begins reading, "At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!'"

"Okay," Pastor Dave says, "that's a good place to stop. Let me tell you what blasphemy is all about. When someone insults or doesn't show respect to a holy person or thing they are blaspheming. To the teachers of the law what Jesus was doing was considered blasphemy since only God can forgive a person of their sin. Who would like to read the next couple of verses," he asks, and a young kid with long blond hair begins to read.

"Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "Get up take your mat and go home."'

Pastor Dave says, "Okay, lets stop there for now. I want to tell you here that Jesus is telling the teachers of the law that he has authority to forgive sins since he is the Son of God, and to prove this he tells the paralyzed man to get up and walk. So if anyone ever should doubt who Jesus really is, all they have to do is read this verse and they will know Jesus is the Son of God. I'll read the last few verses," he says and holds his Bible up and begins to read, "Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man."

Pastor Dave pauses for a bit, closes his Bible and holds it in his left hand, bows his head and prays, "Lord we thank you for your word and for your son Jesus and all the wonderful things He has done for us, and we ask now that you will keep us safe and go with each of us as we depart into the world carrying your message to all the world. In Jesus name we pray, amen."

The guy with the guitar stands up and starts playing and the words to another song are projected and everyone starts to sing. After the song is over Pastor Dave starts talking again.

I kind of felt a little strange while Pastor Dave is talking, but don't know why or what was causing it. Maybe it was something I had eaten earlier that wasn't agreeing with me. All I knew is I felt a little different. Pastor Dave started to tell us some other stuff that I didn't quite hear since I was deep in my thoughts, but I think he said something about Baptisms Sunday, and to bring a change of clothes if we want to get baptized.

After Pastor Dave is finished talking Karl and I wander outside where we see Jeff talking to a couple of girls. I was about to call my dad and let him know we were ready to be picked up, when Jeff came over to Karl and asked him if he wanted a ride home. Jeff was going to give the two girls a ride home too, and was going in our direction and thought we would like to come along.

"I should call my dad and tell him we got a ride home," I tell Karl.

"Okay, but hurry up, Jeff's leaving pretty soon," Karl says.

I call my dad but he doesn't answer his phone and I leave a message instead. Then I hurry and follow Karl to where Jeff and the two girls are waiting.

"Hi, I'm Bill," I say to the two girls.

The girls look like they are a little younger than us -- maybe sophomores or juniors -- and they are both cute with long brown hair and nice smiles.

"Hi, I'm Tina and this is my sister Jody," the taller girls says.

"What school do you go to?" I ask.

"We go to Boise High," Jody answers. "I'm a sophomore and Tina is a junior."

"Cool," I say, "I just started at Boise High this year."

"It sounds like you're from somewhere back east by your accent," Jody says.

"Yeah, I moved here from Boston," I reply.

We all pile into Jeff's Honda Civic. Karl and Jeff ride in front, and I ride in the back with Jody and Tina. I sit behind the driver's seat next to Tina, and Jody is on the passenger side. We all struggle to put on our seat belts. Tina reaches behind my back to find the latch for her belt and I feel her hand on my lower back. We are on the main highway heading towards downtown. Karl and Jeff are talking in the front but otherwise it's silent. Suddenly my iPhone rings and I reach in my pocket to get it out and answer it. "Hello," I say into the phone.

It's my dad returning my call. He says they are still eating and will head back to Carol's when they are finished and I should wait there for them. I tell him okay, and say bye.

Tina asks, "Who was that?"

"It was my dad," I tell her.

"He sounds nice," she says.

"Yeah, he's a pretty good old guy," I say.

"What does he do?" she asks.

"He's a Coast Guard recruiter," I tell her.

"Way cool," Tina exclaims, "If I were to go in the military I'd want to go in the Coast Guard."

Jody comments, "I'm not even sure what the Coast Guard does, but I guess they must guard the coast."

I kind of laugh and say, "Yeah, that's about right Jody."

"Actually they do a lot of law enforcement, search and rescue and aids to navigation," I add.

"Wow, that sounds like way more fun than the Army or the Navy," Jody says.

"I'd rather go to college next year than join the Coast Guard," I say, "but the Coast Guard has been pretty good for my dad."

"I really haven't figured out what I want to do yet," Tina says. "I'd like to teach school, but I'm not sure about college."

"Teaching school is cool," I say, "I'm not so sure about college either, but I know I want to continue my education so I can get a good job. I was thinking I'd work part time and go to college and pay my own way."

"I guess if there's a will, there's a way," Jody says. "At least Tina and I still have a coupe of years before we have to decide on something."

Jeff turns off the main street to a back street leading to Tina and Jody's place. He pulls into a trailer park with a bunch of newer looking mobile homes lined up tightly along a paved street. Cars are parked in spaces between the mobile homes. He pulls up in front of a mobile home with all the lights on and stops the car.

"Thanks for the ride," Tina and Jody sing out to Jeff.

"Any time ladies," Jeff replies.

"It was nice meeting you," I say, "I'll see you at school sometime."

"It was nice meeting you too," they both say as they get out of the car and close the door.

"See you later," Karl says from his open window, as Jeff puts the car in gear and drives away.

"Those sure were nice girls," I comment.

"Don't be getting any wild ideas Boston boy," Jeff says. "Those girls are not the kind to put out," he says.

"I wouldn't know anything about that," I say.

"What? Are you still a virgin, Boston Boy?" Jeff questions.

"Yeah, I'm still a virgin," I tell him, "there isn't anything wrong with that."

"I was just joking," Jeff says. "It's okay if you still haven't had a girl yet. To tell you the truth it's really no big deal."

"Like you know all about it," Karl says.

"Well, I'm just saying I'm a little more worldly than you two," Jeff responds irritably.

"Why do you even go to the church if your mind is in the gutter?" Karl questions.

"I know I'm just a poor sinner," Jeff answers, "but some of those girls at the church are mighty fine, and they get my mind to be lusting after their tight little bodies."

"I'll pray for you Jeff," Karl says. "You know that is just the devil playing tricks on you."

"What do you mean Karl?" I ask.

"You know how God and the devil are constantly at battle for our souls. That's one of the tricks the devil uses to pull you away from God," Karl explains. "God created sex to be between a man and a woman after marriage, but the devil says it's okay to do it before you get married."

Jeff laughs and says, "Is that something the Bible says, or is that something Pastor Dave at church says?"

Karl gets really serious and sounds like Pastor Dave at the church, "You really need to read your Bible more, Jeff. That is the only way you will know what is from God and what is from the devil. You know the devil speaks a bunch of lies and half-truths. The devil makes you think having sex is okay as long as you use protection and you love the girl. The Bible speaks the truth, and God clearly says to save sex for marriage."

"I wonder why that is?" I ask Karl.

"Good question, I was wondering the same thing," Jeff says.

"Well, I think God loves us so much He wants to protect us," Karl explains. "You see sex is very powerful, and God wants us to experience it fully by saving it for marriage. Because only within marriage will we be able to fully experience it the way He intended."

"I get it," I say, "kind of like at Christmas time when we get a special present. It's all wrapped up nicely under the Christmas tree and we are all excited and can't wait to open it."

"Yeah, it's kind of like that," Karl says, "but a thousand times better."

"I think I want to open the present way before Christmas, but if I do there would be no surprise on Christmas day," I say.

"Exactly," Karl exclaims, "that is exactly what happens when we experience God's gift before marriage."

Jeff suddenly screams out, "You guys are a bunch of homos if that's what you think."

"I hear the devil speaking through you Jeff," Karl says jokingly. He places his hand on Jeff's head and says, "be gone demon."

We all break out in laughter and the tension of the serious talk about God and sex dissipates for a few seconds. The light changes color and Jeff proceeds through the intersection when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see a truck heading directly for us on my right side. The impact hits the car and spins the car in the opposite direction, as the sound of air bags exploding and the crashing of metal and breaking of glass drowns out any other sound. My head jerks to the side and I hit the car door. Luckily my seat belt is secure. After a few seconds I reach for the door handle, step out of the car, and walk away from the wreckage. I can't see Jeff or Karl behind the air bags, at first. Slowly the passenger side door opens and Karl steps out from behind the air bag. A few seconds later Jeff opens the door and steps out. Everyone looks okay, just a little shaken up.

The driver of the truck jumps out of the truck and runs over. She's a young woman, probably in her mid to late twenties. She is sopping hysterically. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she screams, "I didn't see the light change."

We hear sirens and cars honking, as we stand dazed in the middle of the intersection. An older man comes up and asks if we are okay, and tells us we should sit on the sidewalk and wait for the police. Eventually the police arrive and ask us all sorts of questions. I pull out my iPhone, call my dad, and say, "Dad, we've been in a wreck, but we are all okay."

After the police arrive the girl who hit us is tested and fails the sobriety test. Jeff has to take the test too, but of course he passes it. The police are concerned about the car catching on fire since the gas tank was punctured during the crash and gas was dripping from the wreckage. A fire truck came and sprayed water all over the wreckage. A guy from the fire department came over and checked us out for injuries, but there wasn't anything wrong with us, other than being a little shook up. A couple of tow trucks came and hauled away the wreckage. Poor Jeff was concerned about not having a car, but Karl and I tried to console him by telling him the insurance will pay so he can get another car. After about an hour or so the police asked if we need a ride home. When I talked to my dad he said he'd be waiting for us at Carol's and to call him if we needed a ride or anything. The police took Karl and me home in one car and Jeff was taken in another police car. We were thankful no one was injured seriously in the crash. If the truck had struck just a few feet closer to the passenger side door where Karl was sitting I'm sure he would have been seriously injured. As it was we were lucky it didn't catch on fire and that I was sitting on the other side of the car.

When the police dropped us off at Karl's house I follow Karl in through the front door and my dad and Carol are sitting on the couch just talking like nothing much happened.

"We got a ride home by the police," Karl says. "I think I'd like to be a cop some day. "

I get out my iPhone to show Carol and my dad some pictures of the wreckage I took. He looks at the pictures then says, "Boy that was some awful wreck. I'm surprised you walked away from that one."

"At least the car did its job and protected us pretty well," Karl says. "If it wasn't for the airbags I'm sure we would be banged up pretty bad."

"I was riding in the back seat on the driver's side and didn't feel the full force of the crash like you did on the passenger side," Karl says.

"Are you guys feeling okay?" Carol asks.

"Yeah, we are fine. Just a little shook up," I say.

"Well, I guess we better get home and get to bed," my dad says, "we all have a big day tomorrow."

"Thanks for dinner. I had a wonderful time," Carol says to my dad, giving him a big hug, "let's plan something for Friday night."

"Okay, I'll give you a call tomorrow." My dad replies.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school," I tell Karl.

"Yeah, bright and early." Karl says.

My dad and I walk out, get in the truck and head home. The evening is warm and I roll down the window for some fresh air.

"How'd you like the church?" my dad asks.

"It was pretty nice," I say, "I think I'd like to get baptized Sunday."

"What's the hurry?" my dad asks.

"Well, I was thinking how the crash tonight might be kind of a message telling me life is fragile and you never know when it will end," I reply.

"You're sure right about that," my dad responds, "our days are numbered and our life can be taken at any time."

"I was wondering about something else," I say.

"About what?" my dad asks.

"About sex." I say. "I was wondering when you first had sex?"

"Well, the first time was with your mom before we were married," he says hesitating to say when.

"What did you think the first time?" I ask.

"Well, I felt a little guilty because I wasn't married, but it felt pretty good because I was really in love with your mom and it really made me feel special," he answers.

"Is that why you and mom got married?" I ask.

"The thing that really sealed the deal was when she told me she was pregnant with you. I knew I had to do the right thing and get married, even though I was only eighteen and she was my first really serious girl friend," he answers.

"I can't imagine myself being in that situation at my age," I say, "you must have been a lot more mature than me at my age."

"Not really," he replies, "I was probably less mature than you are right now. You really have a lot going for you. I'm really proud and amazed at how you handle yourself. You're self-motivated and get your homework done without being told, keep your room picked up, and help out around the house."

"I guess mom taught me to do all that stuff," I tell him, "she used to say if I didn't take care of myself, nobody else was going to do it for me."

"She did do a good job raising you and your sister," my dad says, "I have to give her credit for that. I was never around much the last few years."

"Do you think you should have waited until you were married to have sex?" I ask.

"Looking back I often wonder how different my life would be now if I hadn't had sex when I did. I might not have ever married your mom or had you as a son," he says, "I think all in all everything turned out for the best, but it wasn't always that way."

"Did you ever think of doing anything differently?" I ask.

"Sure. Your mom talked about getting an abortion, but I wouldn't let her do something like that," he says. "I firmly believe in the sanctity of human life and that life begins at the minute of conception. I think if I had it to do over again I would have waited until we were married."

"What about now?" I ask

"You mean should I wait now, until I get married to have sex again?" he asks. "That's a tough one. I think ideally I should wait until I get married again, if I ever get married again, but it sure would be hard not to have sex ever again. It's one of the best things in life. I'm a little sour on marriage right now though, but sex is one of the best things about being married," he tells me as we drive into the parking garage of our building. "I think I'll try to wait," he finally says.

"I think I'm going to try to wait too," I say, "I really want to experience the best that God has for me."

We take the elevator up to the apartment and my dad unlocks the door. It's late and we are both pretty tired. "Good night, dad," I say, "see you in the morning."

"Good night," my dad says.

I go into my room, take off my clothes and get into bed. While I try to get to sleep I say a silent prayer and thank God for protecting me, and ask for His guidance on what to do about church Sunday -- whether I should get baptized or wait.
Chapter Six – Thursday

The next day I wake up feeling a little sore for some reason, otherwise I feel pretty good about everything. I no longer feel anxious about being baptized. I definitely want to do it Sunday. After shaving and taking a shower, I get dressed and realize today is Thursday and I start my job at Chick-fil-A. I nearly forgot about working at Chick-fil-A after everything that happened during the week. What with school, church and my new friends, I wonder how I will find time for work.

I'll just have to work harder to finish my homework and not get behind. This year will be a good practice for how life will be when I start college next year. When I go out to the kitchen to fix breakfast, my dad is already dressed and is drinking his coffee while reading the newspaper on his iPad.

"Good morning, dad," I say. "It sure is a beautiful day."

"Morning, son," my dad mumbles. He has never been much of a morning person.

"Today I start my new job at Chick-fil-A," I announce. "I'm pretty excited to get started."

"Do you have your work schedule yet?" he asks.

"Keith, the manager, told me he'd start me off Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 3 to 9, and then see how things work out," I tell him.

"I guess you should have time to get your homework done with that kind of schedule," he says, "remember school is the most important thing in your life right now. You will have to learn how to juggle work and school eventually so I guess this year is a good time to do it."

"Do you ever wish you had gone to college instead of joining the Coast Guard after high school?" I ask.

"All the time," he answers, "but I really didn't have a choice like you do. My grades were barely good enough to graduate from high school. I never could have made it through college."

"Why were your grades so bad in high school?" I ask.

"You know my dad was in the Coast Guard too, but back in those days we moved a lot more frequently than they do now. We moved five times during my school years, and every school was different. I could never catch up from year to year," he explains.

"I guess that must have been pretty rough on you," I say.

"It wasn't just rough at school with the school work, but I never really fit in with the other kids and was kind of a loner growing up."

"I'm glad we haven't had to move as much as you did, but it was still pretty rough," I say.

"My dad always used to say adversity builds character, and you know he was sure right about that," he says.

"I guess I haven't had too much adversity, not like some kids," I say.

"Yeah, you've had it pretty easy," he says. "I don't think you have had to really suffer for anything before, except maybe moving to Boise like we did before your senior year."

"Yeah, but at least I made that choice myself," I say. "It's not like I was forced to move with you, but I think I did the right thing."

"I hope you feel the same way in the future," he says.

"It's really hard to know after less than a week whether I'll like Boise, but so far it's been alright," I tell him. "Everything seems to be working out really well for me. I made some friends at school, I got a job, and I'm fitting in pretty well."

"That's all good, but sometimes when things are going well we have to expect some set backs," he says, "Like when I thought everything was going fine and then I come home from being out at sea for a month to find your mom having an affair and wanting a divorce."

"It was hard for me to believe, too," I say, "and with Jerry McCoy's father."

"I didn't know you knew the McCoy boy," my father says.

"Well, I don't really know him, but in middle school he was a little bully and he bullied me one day until I gave him a bloody nose."

"I never knew that," he says, "good for you. I bet the kid left you alone after that."

"Yeah, most bullies, I think, like to pick on kids who won't fight back," I tell him. "When I fought back he found another victim to terrorize."

"I hope you don't have any problems with bullies here in Boise," my dad says, "but you know bullies are everywhere, but I think you know how to handle them alright."

"Well, I guess I better get going to school. I want to read ahead for English class since I have work tonight," I say, as I stand up from the table and put my dishes in the dishwasher.

"What time do you think you will be home tonight?" he asks.

"My shift ends at 2100," I tell him, using military time since he knows what that means. "It should only take about 15 minutes to walk home after that."

"I may not be home when you get back then. I'm going to see if Carol wants to go out again tonight," he tells me.

"Cool. I like Carol," I say. "She and Karl are pretty decent people."

"You're right about that. I really am getting to like her too," he tells me. "I'll give you a call later and let you know what my plans are for tonight. Have a good day."

"Have a good day, too," I say as I go through the front door. I take the stairs and walk outside just as the sun is coming over the mountains. It looks like it will be a beautiful day with just a wisp of a cloud in the sky. With a cool breeze blowing I'm glad I brought my jacket, although going home I will probably put it in my book bag. About a block from school I see a couple of kids talking together on the street corner. At first it looks like just two boys talking, but the closer I get it looks like something different is going on. The one boy, the bigger one, has the smaller boy by the collar, and he's in the kid's face. I can hear the bigger boy tell the smaller one he wants the boy's money or else he will need extensive dental work. I get a little closer and the bigger boy sees me eyeing him.

"What are you looking at queer!" the bigger boy says to me.

"Not a thing. If you don't leave the kid alone you'll have to deal with me," I tell him standing a few steps away from him.

The bigger boy releases the smaller one, and the smaller boy runs off. The bigger boy stands in the middle of the sidewalk waiting for me to pass him by. I stop and confront him.

"Hi, my name is Bill," I tell him. I size him up and see he is a little bigger than me, by about 10 pounds or so, but it looks like he's not in too good of shape. I think I can probably easily out run him.

"I don't care what your name is," he tells me as he gives me a quick look over trying to determine whether he wants to fight me or not. "You must be new here," he says, noticing my Boston accent, "I'll let you off easy this time with a warning."

"Thanks!" I tell him, "But I think you're the one who needs a warning."

The kid doesn't look too happy with this. He raises his fist and gets a really mean look on his face. I prepare to fight him by standing back and taking a defensive stance, but then I decide to let my guard down and turn the other cheek. I extend my right hand and say, "Hi, my name is Bill. Do you know Jesus?"

The kid drops his fist and extends his hand and we shake. He says, "My name is Danny Boyle. I would like to know Jesus. Can you tell me about him?"

Instead of spending time in the library reading To Kill a Mockingbird I sat with Danny on the corner telling him about Jesus. I told him stuff Karl told me and what I read in the Bible in the book of John; how Jesus loves him and wants to have a personal relationship with him. By the time I was finished talking with Danny he had tears in his eyes and was asking for forgiveness, saying he didn't want to be a bully anymore. I looked at my watch and notice it was nearly time for the first bell to ring.

"We better get to school before we're late," I say as I stand up and wipe the dirt from my bottom.

"I don't go to school," Danny tells me, "I dropped out this year and haven't been able to find a job."

"How old are you?" I ask.

"I just turned 18 last month," he tells me. "I was living with my mom but she kicked me out when I got in a fight with her drunken boyfriend," he explains. "I usually sleep in the park and wander the streets during the day looking for a job."

"Wow, that is rough," I tell him. "Why don't we go to school and see if Mr. Barton can help you?" I suggest.

"I know Mr. Barton, he's a pretty decent guy," he says. "He tried to talk me into staying in school but I wouldn't listen."

I walk with Danny to school and we get to Mr. Barton's office as the first bell rings.

"Well, I'll see you around. I have to get to class," I tell Danny as he knocks on Mr. Barton's door.

"Thanks for your help. Maybe I'll see you sometime," he says.

I hurry to English class and run into Kelly in the hall.

"Hi Kelly, how have you been?" I greet her.

"Oh hi Bill. I've been really busy lately. What with school, and church and everything else going on," she tells me.

"Yeah, the same with me," I agree. "School sure takes a lot of our time. How are you coming along with To Kill a Mockingbird?" I ask.

"I finished the assignment," she says.

"I really like reading the book the writing is so intriguing," I tell her.

"I don't have time to read the book," she confesses, "I just read Wikipedia and know all about it. I really don't think the teacher expects us to read the whole book do you?"

"I think they actually do," I tell her, "Why do you think they would go to the trouble to furnish a book for every kid in the class, when they could easily just assign us to read Wikipedia," I say sarcastically.

"Yeah, you are probably right," she admits, "but still I don't have time to read a silly book."

Realizing I'm not going to convince her differently I try to change the subject, "I'm going to be baptized Sunday," I tell her.

"I've been baptized hundreds of times," she says. "In my church we are baptized for the dead so they can have the opportunity of going to heaven."

"How does that work?" I ask.

"We are baptized by proxy," she explains, "a member of the priesthood does the baptism and says the name of the dead person we are being baptized for. The person can then receive the gift of eternal life and go to heaven."

"That's just weird," I say. "I never read anything about that in the Bible."

"It's in 1 Corinthians I think," she says. "If you really want to know more I can ask at seminary and let you know."

"Thanks," I tell her. "I downloaded the Bible on my iPhone, I can read it from there."

"If you want to know more why don't you come to seminary class sometime after school," she offers.

"I don't think I really have time, I start work at Chick-fil-A today," I tell her.

"Well, if you ever have any questions about anything just ask me then," she offers as we walk into class and take our seats.

"Thanks," I tell her.

The first bell and then the second bell rings a minute later and Karl's seat remains empty. Mrs. Baker takes attendance and then starts talking about the assignment from yesterday, all about the book To Kill a Mockingbird. She talks and talks, and my thoughts drift off to the events from the night before, the car accident, and how Karl and I both felt fine after it. I hope something isn't wrong with Karl. The class ends and I go to the next one still thinking about Karl. Mr. Bixby lectures during the hour and gives the class a reading assignment, warning us about the possibility of a quiz Friday. In Driver's Training Karl is waiting as I enter the classroom.

"You missed English," I say, "What happened?"

"I over slept," he explains, "Did I miss anything?" he asks.

"Not really, we just have the next five chapters to read and another synopsis due Friday," I explain.

"I guess I didn't miss anything then," he says.

"I told Kelly I was going to be baptized Sunday and she told me all about the times she's been baptized for dead people."

"Yeah, that's another thing the Mormons do that isn't from the Bible," he tells me.

"She told me it was in 1 Corinthians," I tell him.

"I'll have to look that up," he says, "Scripture can be taken out of context and misinterpreted."

"Are you feeling okay after the accident last night?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I'm doing okay. I was just a little stiff when I first got up this morning, but I feel fine now," he answers.

"You get to drive today too, are you nervous about that?" I ask.

"Not really, I'll just be extra cautious," he says.

The first bell rings and the kids who get to drive go out to the parking lot and the rest of the class stays for the lecture. Mrs. Jones tells us all about the traffic laws and how important it is to remember and obey them all the time. She goes into minute detail, all about the point system, and after getting so many points different things happen, like suspended license and fines and eventually even jail. The way she talks makes me realize how serious driving is and how I need to act responsibly when I drive.

I raise my hand and tell her about the accident we were in the evening before, and how the driver of the car that hit us failed the sobriety test and was taken to jail in handcuffs. She got a really concerned look on her face and almost looked like she was going to cry. She regained her composure and told us all about a student a few years ago who was killed by a drunk driver while riding her bike to school. She told us about another student she had a few years ago who is in prison for drunk driving. Luckily, she says, the guy didn't kill anyone, but he continued to drive drunk even after his license was suspended. I started to regret telling her about the accident since she started talking about the evils of alcohol and how just after one drink a person's judgment is impaired and can influence the way they drive. She then started talking about the evils of cell phones and people texting while driving and how one little distraction like that can end up in people getting killed. By the time the class was over I felt like I was putting my life at risk every time I even walk out on the street.

After class Karl and I got back together and decided we would walk to my place and do our homework and then go to Chick-fil-A a little early and get something to eat before our shift starts. I told Karl about Danny Boyle and how I helped him out.

"You helped Danny," he exclaimed, "he's probably the meanest kid in school. He's the kid who was bullying me yesterday."

"He actually isn't going to school any more. He dropped out and his mom kicked him out of the house so he's homeless," I tell him.

"It serves him right," Karl says, "he never treated anyone with any decency."

"He looked like he was about to fight me," I tell him, "but then something over came me and I asked him if he knew Jesus. After that he just seemed to crumple and he asked me to tell him about Jesus."

"I know the power of Jesus is awesome, but I never thought of using it to defeat a bully," Karl exclaims.

"To tell you the truth I never thought of it either but all of a sudden I just asked him if he knew Jesus. It was as if somebody else put the words in my mouth," I explain.

"That's the power of God in action," Karl says. "God is so amazing!"

We go to Chick-fil-A after getting our homework done and order lunch. The place is pretty empty since the lunch crowd has dissipated. While we are eating Kelly comes into the restaurant. At first she doesn't see Karl and me sitting off at a table in the corner, but after she puts in her order she sees us and comes over.

"Hi guys," she says.

"Oh, hi Kelly," Karl and I say at about the same time.

"What are you guys up to?" she asks.

"We are just having something to eat before we start our shift," Karl answers between bites of his chicken sandwich.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you guys work here," she says.

"I've never seen you here before Kelly," Karl says, "do you come in here often?"

"Not very often, but I really love the waffle fries, and the chicken sandwiches are the best," she says. "I'm on my way to the church to plan for our dance Saturday night."

"Cool," I say.

"You guys can come too if you want, there will be a lot of single girls there," she offers.

"Thanks, but I'm working Saturday night," Karl says.

"How about you Bill, are you working that night too?" she asks me.

"I'm not sure, I haven't seen my schedule yet. I just start today," I explain.

"You should really come if you aren't working. I'll give you my number and you can give me a call if you want. I can even give you a ride," she offers.

"That would be nice," I say. Kelly gives me her phone number and I put it in my iPhone contacts. Her order is ready and one of the workers hands it to her in a bag.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school," she says, "have a nice time working."

Karl and I both tell her bye, and we watch as she walks out the restaurant and get into her car.

"That sure was nice of her to invite us to her church dance," I say.

"Don't you get it?" Karl asks.

"Get what?" I ask.

"She's trying to get you into her church," he tells me, "I've seen it done so many times. They have missionaries there to tell you all about how great their church is, and before you know it they'll have you converted."

"So what's wrong with that?" I ask.

"Don't you understand what's going on?" he questions, while putting down his sandwich and taking a sip of his Coke.

"I guess I don't," I confess.

"It's the struggle I told you about the other day. The constant battle between Satan and God for your soul," he explains.

"Okay, I get that, but what does Kelly's church have to do with it?" I ask.

"Last night at my church you heard what the preacher was talking about, didn't you?" he asks.

"I kind of forgot what he talked about," I confess.

"He talked about Jesus being the Son of God," he explained. "Kelly's church talks about Jesus and everything like they are just another Christian church, but the Jesus they talk about isn't the same Jesus as the Jesus in the Bible."

"Wow, I'm starting to get confused now," I say, "I thought Jesus was the Son of God, and He died on the cross to forgive us of our sins."

"He is," Karl says, "but not to the Mormons. The Mormons think Jesus and Satan are brothers and that Jesus worked his way up to godhood, and humans can do the same thing."

"Something about that just doesn't seem right," I say.

"That's not the only thing," Karl explains, "they also believe before we were born we lived in heaven with God as God's spirit children. Jesus and Satan were also God's spirit children. One day God called all his spirit children together and told them they would all have to live on the Earth for a time of testing, and only those who lived a righteous life would be able to return and live with God for eternity."

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"Yeah, and there's more," he continues. "God told all his spirit children He was going to provide them with a savior who would live a sinless life and would pay for the sins of the world. This is called the atonement, and God would give people the opportunity to accept or reject the atonement. God asked all of his spirit children to volunteer and Jesus and Satan volunteered to be the savior. The thing was, Satan wanted everyone to be forced to live righteously, and accept the atonement. Jesus wanted everyone to have a choice in the matter. People could choose to live righteously and take advantage of the atonement, and return to be with God for eternity or live in sin and be separated from God for eternity. When God rejected Satan's plan Satan rebelled and declared war on God and took with him a third of the spirit children. Satan's rebellion failed and God cast Satan and his followers out of heaven. Satan and his followers are now without bodies on the Earth and continue to wage war on God by tempting people to do evil and reject God."

"Okay, so what is the big deal," I ask. "It sounds just like what most Christians believe."

"The big deal is Jesus," Karl says, "Jesus is not just another spirit child of God, He is the one and only Son of God. We have no way of attaining the same position as Jesus through our good works or righteous living. This is one of the things the Mormon's believe, that mainstream Christianity does not. This is why most Christians don't think the Mormon Church is Christian."

"I think I'm starting to understand the difference now. If you hadn't explained it to me like you did I would have thought Mormons were just like any other religion," I exclaim. Karl and I finish eating and wait for our shift to start.

"Another thing the Mormons believe is that their church is the one true church and all other religions are lost. That is why Kelly and all the other Mormons want to convert you and everyone else to their church," Karl tells me.

"I wonder what makes them think that?" I ask.

"It's what their book of Mormon tells them," he says.

"How did you get to know so much about all this?" I ask.

"My mom told me a lot of this while I was growing up. She grew up Mormon and when she got pregnant with me and married my dad, who wasn't a Mormon, she got kicked out of the church," he explains. "We don't have contact with any of my mom's other family."

"That's too bad," I say.

"It really is a blessing in disguise," he comments. "Otherwise I would probably be a Mormon and heading down the wrong track."

"Do you think Mormons are lost and aren't going to heaven?" I ask.

"No one really knows for sure how God will judge each of us, but after accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, the Bible says we are saved by His grace," Karl answers.

"I'm a little confused," I confess. "If we are saved just by accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, then wouldn't the Mormons be saved too, since they accept Jesus too?"

"I'm not so sure about that." Karl answers. "What I've been told is the Mormon Jesus and the Christian Jesus are not the same. It would be like if someone offered you an apple and gave you an orange and said it was an apple."

"You are confusing me more than I was before," I exclaim. "This whole religion stuff is too complicated for me."

"Just read your Bible and God will reveal His truth to you," Karl tells me as he looks at his watch. "It's about time for our shift to start."

The manager, Keith, shows me to the back of the restaurant and asks me what size pants and shirt I wear. All the Chick-fil-A workers are issued uniforms, he explains. I tell him my size, and he looks through a couple of boxes and pulls out a pair of pants and a shirt. He asks me what size shoes I wear and I tell him, and he hands me a shoebox. He tells me I can change in the locker room. He directs me downstairs to the basement where I find Karl changing into his uniform.

"Do you get issued a locker too?" I ask, as I scan the room and see a row of lockers lining both walls.

"No, we only get to use a locker during our shift," he explains, "We have to take our uniform home after each shift and have it cleaned before the next shift."

"How are you able to do that?" I ask. "Do you have time to do laundry every day?"

"Not every day," he says. "We get issued three sets of uniforms so we have a clean one every shift."

"There's a lot more to working than I originally thought," I remark.

"Just wait until you actually start," he explains, "you have to learn a whole different way of talking to people."

After I get my uniform on I go back upstairs and Keith takes me into a small office and gives me a bunch of papers to fill out. Forms for withholding tax from my pay, forms for who to notify in case of an emergency, forms for verifying I'm legally able to work in the United States. This all takes about a half hour or so. After this Keith shows me around the back of the restaurant where all the chicken sandwiches are made, and everything else is prepared. He tells me eventually I'll get to learn all the stations in the food preparation area, but today he wants me to shadow one of the cashiers to learn how to take the customer's orders and how to speak to the customers the Chick-fil-A way. Keith takes me back out to the front of the restaurant and introduces me to Mindy and tells her I'll be shadowing her.

The restaurant isn't too busy yet so Mindy tells me some of the stuff I need to know. Things like how to greet the customer when they first come in the door, what to say to them when they order, how to answer their questions, and all the different menu combinations. There is so much to learn and to know.

She tells me, "Don't be too concerned about getting all this on your first day, it has taken me months to learn everything here."

"That's reassuring," I say.

Between customers Mindy tells me she's going to BSU, and wants to teach elementary school when she finishes college. She's in her second year and lives in the dorms. She asks about me and I tell her how I just moved to Boise and am going to Boise High. After I watch her help a few customers she asks me if I feel comfortable helping the next one on my own. I tell her sure. When the next customer comes in, I holler, "Welcome to Chick-fil-A, I can take your order here when you're ready."

A guy approaches the register and says, "I'll have the number one combo."

"Will you be dining in with us?" I ask.

"Yes," he replies.

"What beverage would you like with your order?" I ask.

"I think I'll have a Diet Coke," he answers.

"Can I get a name for your order?" I ask.

"Heather," he says.

I give the guy a questioning look, and repeat, "Heather?"

"It's for my girl friend," the guy explains.

"Okay," I say, "Will you like any sauces with your order?" I ask.

"No, thank you," he says.

"Your total comes to $6.45," I say.

The guy fumbles through his wallet and hands me a five dollar bill, a one dollar bill and two quarters. I hand him a nickel in change.

"Your order will be brought to you in a few minutes," I say.

"Thank you," the guy says.

"My pleasure," I say. That's what everyone is taught to say when customers say thank you.

After the guy steps away Mindy gives me some feedback on how I handled the guy's order. She tells me I should ask if there's anything else, like a side salad or a desert. She says this is called a suggestive sale and gets the customer to think about ordering more than they initially planned. This is one way the restaurants make a little extra by suggesting other things the customer can order. She tells me I did really well with my first customer and that each customer will be a little different but I was getting the hang of it. The rest of the evening I do most of the work and Mindy stands behind me and observes and helps with getting the customer's beverage. It's always a beverage, not a drink. When the customer wants a refill we are to ask if they would like their beverage refreshed, and are to ask them to hold their lid while you refresh their beverage.

The evening rush goes by pretty quickly and I get in the habit of using the proper terminology for everything and am really having a good time when it's time for our break. After three hours we get a fifteen minute break so I go and sit at one of the tables with Mindy and we talk a little bit.

"Boy, that was kind of fun," I exclaim.

"Yeah, it can be fun if everything is running smoothly," she says.

"I bet there are days when it's constantly busy," I say.

"Mostly during lunch and on weekends, but Thursday evenings are not too busy," she tells me. "Have you been given your schedule yet?" she asks.

"No, I forgot to ask Keith about that earlier," I tell her.

"Saturdays are usually really busy from about 11 until about 2, but the mornings and evenings are pretty slow," she explains, "I usually work from when the restaurant opens to just before lunch starts. Saturday's are my short days."

"I wonder if I can find Keith and see if he has my schedule?" I ask.

"He may be in the back," she suggests.

I get up from the table and walk in the back and find Keith talking to another guy about making shakes. After he's finished he turns to me and I say, "I forgot to ask you about my schedule."

"Right, I forgot to give it to you. Let me find it and I'll bring it out to you," he says.

I go back out and sit down with Mindy. I tell her what Keith told me.

"He gets a little too busy and forgets things sometimes," she says.

"Yeah, I bet. There's so much going on around here, and so many people," I comment.

I sit and watch several people cleaning tables, while a few others are going around asking customers if they want their drinks refreshed, while a few others are carrying trays with food looking for the customer. All this time there's a constant buzz of conversation and the sound of music playing over the intercom system with the occasional scream of a baby. Keith comes out from the back and hands me a piece of paper with my schedule on it. I look at it and see I'm scheduled for Friday from 3 to 6, and Saturday from 6 to 12, and again the following week on Thursday from 3 to 6.

"It looks like I'll be working Saturday morning with you," I tell Mindy.

"Saturday mornings are a good time to learn how things operate around here," she says.

The time for our break is over and Mindy and I return to the cash register and begin taking customer's orders. Between customers Mindy shows me how to clean the counter and around the beverage machines, and how to restock the cups and lids. Before I realize it's nine o'clock and time to go home. I go down to the basement to the locker room and find Karl changing.

"How did things go your first day?" Karl asks.

"Great," I tell him. "I worked with Mindy and she showed me a lot."

I hurry to get changed, and we leave and walk out the restaurant. Karl and I walk across the street before we go our separate ways.

"See you tomorrow at school," I say.

"See you tomorrow," he says as he walks down the street in the opposite direction I'm going.

I hurry home and find the apartment dark and empty, and figure my dad is out with Carol.

Chapter Seven – Friday

The next morning I get up glad it's finally Friday. I slept pretty well and am ready to start the day with a nice breakfast and a little talk with my dad. After shaving and taking a shower I go out to the kitchen but the lights are off. Usually my dad is the first one up and is sitting at the table drinking his coffee by the time I get up. I turn on the lights and check my iPhone and see I missed a call and have a text message. I left my iPhone in my locker and forgot to check it after I got off work. I see the missed call is from my dad, and so is the text message. I read the text message aloud: "Carol and I went to Jackpot and will be home Saturday." Jackpot? I have no idea where that is. I'll have to ask Karl about it later. I finish eating a piece of toast and have a glass of orange juice and head to school. Today I hope to have some extra time to read the next few chapters in To Kill a Mockingbird. When I get to the library I find Karl there reading at a table in a corner.

"Hi Karl," I say,

"Hi Bill," he says. "I got home last night and my mom wasn't home. She wasn't home this morning either. I'm a little worried about her."

"I checked my phone this morning and my dad left a text message telling me he and Carol are in Jackpot. They will be home Saturday."

"Can you believe it, your dad and my mom went to Jackpot together?" he says, "I knew they liked each other but not that much."

"I don't know where Jackpot even is," I reply, sitting down at the seat across from him.

"It's on the border of Nevada. People go there either to get married or to do some gambling, or sometimes both," he explains. "I've never been there myself, but I've seen advertisements on TV about some of the shows they have and the special deals they offer."

"Wow, I don't think my dad would get married after just knowing your mom for less than a day," I say. "They must have gone to do some gambling."

"I don't think so," Karl says, "my mom doesn't gamble."

"Well, we'll know tomorrow when they get back. Anyway, it's nice for them to have some fun together. I was starting to worry about my dad not going out with anyone since he got divorced. He would always flirt with women and get their phone number but I think he had cold feet when it came down to going out."

"I can't blame him," Karl says. "I think it must be hard for old people to fall in love after they get divorced."

"Actually, my dad was telling me my mom was the first and only woman he has ever had sex with," I tell Karl, "but I don't think he really dated much before he got married."

"Yeah, that's the same thing with my mom," Karl says, "she got pregnant right after high school, and got married to my dad before I was born."

"I hope I never do anything stupid like getting a girl pregnant before I get married," I say. "I sure would hate to have to marry a girl just because she got pregnant."

"You never know how you will respond in a situation like that, but I sure hope if I got a girl pregnant she would want to marry me and not have the baby on her own or get an abortion," Karl says.

"Hey, you know I got my schedule last night and I work Saturday morning until noon, so I can go to Kelly's church dance if I want," I tell Karl trying to change the subject.

"Do you really think you want to go to her church?" Karl asks, "aren't you afraid of getting converted?"

"I don't know how it would hurt meeting some different people, it's not like I'm going to get converted drinking their punch or dancing with their girls," I answer.

Karl laughs at this and says, "Yeah you're probably right, but just be careful."

"I really haven't decided yet, but I'll wait and see if something else comes up and I can do something else Saturday night, I say, "maybe I can ask Tina or Jody out to a movie or something."

"That would be nice," Karl says, "I'm working Saturday until 9, and then I'll probably just go home and go to bed."

We sit quietly for a while reading until the first bell rings and then hurry off to class. On the way I see Tina and say hi, but she just smiles and walks on. I'm not sure what that means, but maybe she's just in a hurry to get to class. When we get to English class Mrs. Baker is standing at the front of the class telling us to hand in yesterday's assignment and she hands us a piece of paper in return. I glance down at the piece of paper and see it's a quiz over To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. Baker tells us to sit right down and start with the quiz since she has a lot to cover today and wants to finish going over the book so we will be able to write our book reports over the weekend. She tells us, "We will be starting the next book Monday, so if anyone wants to read ahead you can start by reading The Great Gatsby. You can download the book from the Internet or you can get the paper version today before class is over. You guys probably know how to use the Internet so I don't have to tell you where to find it or how to put it on your little iPhones," she says sarcastically. I really hate when teachers think we don't have anything better to do over the weekend than to write book reports and read old novels. What a way to ruin a kid's Friday, I think.

Kelly didn't show up for class today for some reason. I hope she's okay. Maybe I'll give her a call later if I don't run into Tina again. After the quiz Mrs. Baker talks about the book the rest of the hour and tells us we should be able to easily write up a book report based on the synopsis we have been doing all week. She tells us she expects nothing less than 10 pages, double-spaced following the guidelines in the syllabus from Monday. The bell rings and she reminds us to take our copy of The Great Gatsby if we don't want to download it from the Internet.

As we leave class and head toward our next one I say to Karl, "It can only get better," to which he replies, "We can only hope."

As I hurry to my American Government class I run into Tina in the hall again.

"Hey, Tina, can I call you later tonight?" I ask.

"I don't have a phone," she replies.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you at church Sunday then," I tell her.

"Okay, see you Sunday," she says.

That's weird, I think. I don't know any high school kids who don't have a phone. Then I remember Karl doesn't have his own phone, but he uses his mom's wired phone. I guess some kids aren't as well off as I am, even though I don't consider myself to be wealthy, I guess I probably am. When I get to American Government class I see Danny Boyle talking to Mr. Bixby, and think he probably doesn't have his own phone either. After he finishes talking to Mr. Bixby he sits down at the desk next to mine, and says, "Hey Bill, I really need to thank you. Talking to Mr. Barton was probably the best thing I ever did. He got me set up at a group home and told me I only need this class to graduate. He even is helping me find a job."

"I'm glad I was able to help," I tell him. "If you need help with getting caught up in this class, let me know."

"I just talked with Mr. Bixby and he gave me the syllabus and the book so I'll get caught up this weekend," he says.

"Great," I tell him as the final bell rings and Mr. Bixby starts to take attendance. He talks about the constitution briefly and then gives us a quiz over the previous night's reading assignment. I think I get all the answers correct, except I have a little trouble remembering the order of the amendments. After the quiz he talks about the constitution some more and all about the bill of rights. The bell rings and I hurry off to driver's training. I am excited since I get to drive today.

I see Karl before I go out to drive and ask him, "Do you want to come over to my house and get started on the homework before work?"

"Sure, but I'm kind of worried about my mom," he says. "Do you think we can call your dad later and see what's going on?"

"I was thinking the same thing," I tell him, "I would have called him earlier but didn't want to wake him up."

I go out and get in the car and one of the girls drives first. The instructor takes us out on a busy highway and we get to change lanes and pass at highway speeds. We switch drivers so everyone has the chance to drive on the highway before we head back to school. I do pretty well driving on the highway, but the instructor tells me I have to be careful judging the distance of the car behind me before I pull into the other lane. It never seems like there's enough time in driver's training when we are out driving. Once we get back to the school I find Karl waiting for me and we walk to my place. Before we get too far I stop and take my iPhone from my pocket and dial my dad's phone. It rings several times before the voice mail picks up and I leave him a message.

"You know you really are lucky to have that thing," Karl says.

"I know it sure has come in handy this last week, I say. "Don't you ever think of getting one for yourself? I ask.

"All the time," he says, "but then I figure I could use the money for other things like paying for rent or food."

"You know Kelly wasn't at school today, I hope she's okay," I say.

"Are you still thinking of going to the dance with her?" he asks.

"Yeah, at least I'll call her later and tell her about the English paper we have due Monday," I say. "I really don't know if I'll have time to go to the dance Saturday since I'll probably need to work on the paper."

"I should be able to get it whipped out Saturday morning before work." Karl says, "now that I have a PC it shouldn't be too much trouble, thanks to you."

"You'll be surprised how much easier doing homework with a PC is," I say, "I don't know how people lived in the old days before computers."

"I guess they used typewriters and pens," Karl says.

"I know that," I say, "but having to look through a book to find the spelling of a word or to do research."

While walking home my iPhone rings and I answer it on speaker mode, "Hello."

"Hi Bill, this is your father," the voice on the iPhone says.

"Hi dad," I say, "Karl and I were a little worried about you and Carol."

"Nothing to worry about," he says, "We are now married, and having the time of our life. We will be home Saturday."

"Did you say you are married?" I ask not believing what I heard.

"That's right, and we have you to thank," he says.

"Sunday we will move Carol and Karl into the apartment," he says.

"Hello Mr. McDougal," Karl says.

"I'll have none of that Mister talk Karl, you can call me John," he says.

"Is my mom there? Can I talk to her?" Karl asks.

"Hi Karl, I hope you aren't shocked or anything," Carol says.

"Not really, I'm just happy for you," he says. "And I guess a little shocked."

"To tell you the truth, I still can't believe I'm married," she says.

"Well, you deserve the best," he says.

"I'll see you guys Saturday when we get home," Carol says. "You guys just stay out of trouble and work on your homework."

"Okay mom, I'll see you Saturday," Karl says.

"See you Saturday," I say and the call is disconnected.

"Wow," I say to Karl, "Can you really believe they got married after knowing each other for less than a day."

"My mom isn't really like that to get married or do anything else on the spur of the moment," he says.

"My dad isn't like that either, I wonder what happened to cause them to get married all of a sudden?" I ask.

"I guess we'll find out Saturday when they get back," Karl says. "For now I guess we should just get our homework done so we can have a nice weekend and not have to worry about it."

"Yeah, you're probably right," I say, "But I think it will take me a lot longer than just a few hours to write that paper for English."

"It shouldn't be that tough, we can work on it together," Karl offers.

After we get to the apartment I set up my laptop on the kitchen table and we start working on the paper together. "I guess since you will be moving in Sunday you can probably stay here tonight if you want," I offer.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure about all this stuff," he says.

"What about?" I ask.

"About everything the past week. It seems like some kind of dream to me, and I'll wake up and my life will return to normal," he explains.

"Sometimes I feel the same way," I say.

"Life sometimes just goes on like a straight highway with nothing happening and everything seeming to never change," he says, "Then out of the blue everything seems to change over night."

"Yeah, that's happened to me just about every time we moved," I say, "Especially when we moved to Boston from Topeka when I was in middle school."

"That must have been tough for you," Karl says.

"It wasn't so bad once I got used to it, but it seemed like nothing about my family was ever the same again," I say. "My mom started working and my dad wasn't home every night, and my sister and I kind of were left on our own."

"That sounds like what happened when my mom lost her job and we had to move out of our house into the trailer," Karl says.

"Sometimes changes in life aren't always easy, but you know in the long run everything seems to work out okay," I say.

"Yeah, I guess so," Karl agrees. "Lets get to work on that paper."

We work on the paper for a good two hours before it's time we have to get ready for work. Karl and I put on our uniform at home and walk to work. It's still warm and sunny out since it's just late August. By the time we get to work we both have worked up a bit of a sweat. Before we start our shifts we order a chicken sandwich and sit down for a late lunch. A new girl, her nametag says Fran, is working behind the counter. We give Fran our order and she brings it out to the table when it's ready.

"You know it really is hard to imagine my dad being married to your mom," I tell Karl, "I wonder what they saw in each other."

"I can hardly wait to ask them that question," Karl says, "Especially after knowing each other for such a short time. I bet it was purely a physical attraction."

"That maybe part of it, but knowing my dad I think he would see through a person's outer beauty and see the beauty of the inner person," I say.

"You think so?" Karl asks.

"Part of being a good recruiter is having the ability to size up a person in just a few minutes, and knowing whether the person will be a good fit for the military," I explain. "My dad has an uncanny ability to judge a person's character accurately."

"I wish I could do that," Karl says, "I'm not a really good judge of people."

"I think over time people just naturally get better at that." I say.

"You know I thought Kelly was really a nice, sweet girl, but the more I talk to her the less I like her," I say.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, she is kind of shallow," Karl says. "Do you think you'll go to the dance Saturday?"

"The more I think about it the more I'm thinking I won't be able to go," I say. "Besides, I'm not sure I'll even have time Saturday, with work and homework. Then Sunday we have church and then we will be moving your stuff to our place."

"The weekend will be pretty busy, but we'll make it okay," Karl says. "My mom and I don't have that much stuff and we don't have to move everything Sunday."

"I think my dad and your mom will probably be pretty tired out when they get back Saturday, maybe they'll just take it easy Sunday," I suggest.

"I hope so," Karl says.

I look across the restaurant and out the window and see Danny Boyle walking across the parking lot toward the door. He comes into the restaurant and approaches Fran who is still working behind the counter. I over hear him say, "Hi, I'd like to apply for a job."

Fran says, "If you take a seat over there by the window, I'll have a manager come talk with you."

Karl is sitting with his back to the counter and doesn't see Danny, so I tell him, "Danny Boyle is applying for a job here."

"No way," Karl says.

I tell him, "Turn around and see for yourself." Karl then turns and looks and then looks back at me, and says, "I really don't like that guy."

"I think he may be a changed person from how he was a few days ago," I say.

"How can you be so sure?" Karl asks.

"I think Jesus may be working on him," I explain. "He was in my American Government class today and is living in a group home now and is going to try to graduate with our class."

"I'll have to see it for myself," Karl says, "I've known him for a few years and he has never been decent to anyone."

"Give him a chance," I say. "Like you said, Jesus is amazing."

"You know I say that, but I only half believe it myself most of the time," Karl explains, "I really need to have a little more faith."

We finish eating and I get up and go over and talk with Danny.

"Hi Danny, how are you doing," I say.

"Oh hi. Do you work here?" he asks.

"Yeah, this is my second day," I tell him.

"Cool, I'm going to talk to a manger about getting a job here too," he says.

"Good luck. I think you'll like working here," I say. "I better get started. I'll talk to you later."

Keith the manager comes out and sits down and talks to Danny. He gives Danny a piece of paper to fill out and then after a little bit they stand up and shake hands and I hear Keith say, "I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning at 6 AM."

I get to work out on the restaurant floor wiping tables off, sweeping the floor and empting the trash. It isn't as glamorous as taking orders, but it's just as fun. After a while one of the other workers shows me how to ask customers if they would like their drinks refreshed and how to ask them to hold the lid while I go up and refill their drink. I have to remember to call a drink a beverage though. It takes a bit getting used to saying words I seldom use.

The shift goes by fairly fast and before I realize it's time to head home. I haven't seen Karl the entire shift, and wonder where he was working. He comes out from the back and has flour covering his pants. I ask him, "What were you doing?" and he answers, "Making chicken sandwiches."

We walk back to our place and Karl and I are both pretty tired so we both head for bed. I let Karl sleep in my room, and I sleep in my dad's room. It's going to be different once Karl and Carol move in and Karl and I will be sharing a room. I've never had a brother so in a way I'm looking forward to it, but I'm thinking I might miss my privacy and spending time alone.
Chapter Eight – Saturday

Saturday morning the alarm on my iPhone goes off at 4:30. The night before I set it that early so I'd have plenty of time to get ready and be at work by 6, but I'm having second thoughts now since I woke up in the middle of a nice dream. After shaving and taking a shower I get dressed and get something to eat before leaving to walk the short distance to the Chick-fil-A. The city looks a lot different in the morning in the dark. The streets are empty of traffic with only a few cars out this early. My walk only takes about fifteen minutes before I'm at the Chick-fil-A, and since the place opens at 6:30 the inside is all lit up so it looks like the place is open. I enter the building through the back door, and as I make my way towards the front I see Keith busy preparing for the opening, getting the cash registers set up and supervising the crew in the kitchen preparing the biscuits and chicken filets.

"Good morning, Keith," I say, "What would you like me to do this morning?"

"Oh, I'm glad to see you this morning. We are going to be short handed since Mindy called in sick," he says. "I'll put you in charge of getting the dining room prepared for opening."

In the dining room all of the chairs are turned over on the tables since the evening crew mopped the floor and left all the chairs up. It takes me a few minutes to get them in the proper position. Next I wipe each table and chair and place a vase on each table with a small carnation. I always thought fresh flowers on the tables give Chick-fil-A a little class for a fast food place. In the middle of the dining area is a section with paper napkins, plastic spoons and forks, and different small packages of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and sauces. I check to see what items are in short supply, then go to the back and find a box with extras and bring them out to refill each item.

Keith instructs me, "After you're finished there you can resupply the area behind the counter."

The dining area looks pretty ship shape, so I go behind the counter and restock the cups, lids, and all the special sauces kept behind the counter. Outside in the parking lot I can see the lights of waiting cars at the drive through, and people sitting in their cars waiting for the place to open. A few minutes before we open a couple of other workers arrive I haven't met yet. An older woman, and a teenage boy come in together, and a girl who looks like she might be a college student comes in shortly behind them. They all gather behind the counter and Keith introduces me to them.

"Bill this is Sarah, David and Cathy. I'll have you work with Cathy at the drive through window this morning. Sarah and David will work the counter."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you all," I say. David stretches out his hand to shake mind, and Sarah and Cathy just nod and smile, and get right to work. Cathy puts on a head set and greets the first car in line, "Welcome to Chick-fil-A, are you ready to order?" She punches the order at the register and then turns to me, and says, "You can put the order in a paper bag and get the beverages ready while I take the customer's money."

On a video monitor it shows the order and I grab a sandwich from the bin, put it in a paper bag, and poor a cup of coffee and place a lid on it and hand it all to Cathy. She then hands the order out the window to a man sitting in a car and takes his money and returns his change, and says "Thank you for visiting Chick-fil-A, have a wonderful day."

Cathy and I repeat this over and over all morning as customers continue to come through the drive thru for several hours in what seems like a continuous flow of monotonous routine. Placing chicken sandwiches into paper bags, pouring cups of coffee and placing a lid on each cup. Each order is pretty much the same with a few variations of biscuit sandwich, hash browns, oatmeal and yogurt, or burrito. After a couple of hours the traffic slows down somewhat and Cathy and I are relieved and allowed to take a short break. We sit at a small table and talk a bit.

"Boy, is it like that every morning?" I ask.

"Weekdays are about five time worse, but Saturdays the rush is more spread out over the entire morning," she answers as she sips her coffee. "You sure were a great help. How long have you worked here?"

"Thursday was my first day," I explain, "I've only worked two afternoons."

"You are a fast learner," she says, "I've worked here since they opened in May."

"Do you go to BSU?" I ask.

"No, I go to Carrington College. I'm going to be a massage therapists," she says.

"I've never heard of that college," I say.

"It's a small private school," she says.

"I'm thinking of going to BSU next year," I say.

"Are you still in high school?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm a senior at Boise High," I say.

"Cool. I went to Boise High a couple of years ago," she says. "What teachers do you have?"

I have Mrs. Baker for English, Mr. Bixby for American Government and Mrs. Jones for Driver's Training," I say.

"Mrs. Baker is really tough. I had her for English and barely passed," she says, "Mr. Bixby is really easy. He makes his multiple-choice questions so everyone can pass his class."

"We have our first big paper due Monday in English," I say.

"Already? Didn't school just start Monday?" she asks.

"Yeah, we already read the entire book To Kill a Mockingbird," I say.

"I remember having to do that too," she says. "I loved that book!"

Out of the corner of my eye I see Danny Boyle come in the door. He walks back and greets Keith, "Good morning!"

Keith looks at him and says, "Weren't you supposed to be here at six?"

"No, you said ten," Danny tells him. "I think it was ten to four or something like that."

"Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time," Keith says. "I'll give you a written schedule later today for next week, and you better not be one minute late or that will be the end."

"Okay, no problem," Danny says.

"After we get you a uniform, I'll start you working in the kitchen. You can learn how to make a Chick-fil-A sandwich," Keith says.

"Cool," Danny says, as he follows Keith to the back.

Cathy and I finish our break. She returns to work the drive thru, while I clean up the dining area and assist customers refreshing their beverages, and wiping down the tables. It isn't too long before it's time to go home and another group of workers have arrived to take our place. I see Karl come in and say "Hi" and he quickly gets to work. Cathy sits down and has another cup of coffee, while I order a sandwich for an early lunch. I sit down next to her and we talk a little bit more.

"I'm glad that's over with," I say, "now I have the rest of the weekend to finish the paper for English."

"Is that all you're going to do all weekend?" she asks.

"That's all I have planned today," I say, "Tomorrow I'll go to church and then I'll help my dad move."

"What kind of stuff do you do for fun?" she asks.

"I like going to movies or reading," I say.

"You seem like a typical nerd," she says.

"Yeah, I like nerdy kind of stuff," I say, "I guess that's just the way God made me."

"Why don't you and me go see a movie tonight," she suggests. "I have some homework to do too, but we can go to an early movie, say about five or so. Is there anything you want to see?"

"I've been dying to see the Lincoln movie," I say. "I've heard Daniel Day Lewis is excellent playing Lincoln?"

"I've heard it's kind of boring," she says. "Have you seen Zero Dark Thirty?"

"No, I haven't seen that one yet," I say.

"Well, then we'll go see that one," she says. "I can even pick you up unless you want to just meet me at the theater."

"I don't drive yet, and I'm not sure which theater it's playing at," I tell her.

"Write down your address and phone number and I'll come by and pick you up," she says.

I find a piece of paper and a pen and write down my phone number and address, and hand it to her. "I'll see you later then," she says.

"Okay, see you later," I say. She walks out the door and I watch her get into an older Toyota sedan and drive off. I think to myself, that was weird, being asked out by a girl. These Idaho girls must be pretty forward or something. I've never had that happen to me before. Maybe I'm just getting lucky or something. I walk back home with an extra good feeling, but I'm feeling just a little bit tired from having to get up so early this morning.

I think about Kelly and not being able to go to her church dance. I remember I was going to call her and tell her about the English paper due Monday. I find her number in my contact book and call her. After a few rings she answers, "Hello".

"Hi Kelly, this is Bill McDougal", I say.

"What's going on?" she asks.

"I didn't see you at school Friday. I was just calling to let you know I won't be able to make it to your dance tonight, and wanted to tell you about the English paper we have due Monday," I say.

"Oh, I forgot all about that," she says. "My grandmother fell down and broke her hip and she's in the hospital. We all drove down to Salt Lake Friday and won't be back until late Sunday."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope she is doing better," I say, not knowing what else to say.

"Did you say something about an English paper we have due Monday?" she questions.

"Yeah, we have to write a ten page paper on the book To Kill a Mockingbird," I explain. "It's due first thing Monday. Mrs. Baker won't accept any excuses for later papers."

"Well, I guess I can work on it here at my grandmother's house and have it ready Monday," she says.

"Well, I wish I could help you out, but I still need to work on mine too," I tell her. "That's why I can't make it to your dance tonight," I lie.

"We have dances just about every month, so you can come to one later," she suggests.

"I'd like that," I tell her, "but for now I think I need to get working on the English paper. Have a nice weekend. I'll see you Monday at school."

"Okay, thanks for calling. I'll talk to you later. Bye," Kelly says before ending the call.

After talking to Kelly I decide to take a short nap and then work on the English paper some more after I feel a lot more awake. After a short time I awake feeling refreshed and ready to finish the paper for English. The day before I got a pretty good start on it so I jump right in where I left off and in no time I have a little over ten pages written. Returning to the beginning of the paper I reread what I wrote the day before, making a correction here and there, and rewrite or add to parts to make it clearer. When I look at the clock on the PC it tells me the time is 4:43, and I start to wonder when Cathy will be by to pick me up. As I finish reading through the paper my iPhone rings and the caller ID shows a local number. I answer it, "Hello."

"Hi Bill, this is Cathy," the voice on the iPhone says.

"Oh, hi, how are you doing?" I reply.

"Great, I'm outside your building but can't find a place to park. Are you ready to go?" she says.

"Sure, I'll be out in a minute," I tell her and end the call.

All I need to do is put on some shoes and I'm ready to go. After getting my shoes on I check myself in the mirror and brush my hair and run out the door. Cathy is waiting for me in front of my building. She smiles when she sees me walking toward her and I open the passenger side door and climb inside. Her car, although on the outside it looks about 20 years old, the inside looks like it's brand new.

"Nice car," I tell her.

"It used to be my grandmother's," she says, "She hardly drove it. I got it after she passed away."

"I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother's passing," I say.

"Oh, don't be sorry. She was old and it happened a couple of years ago so I'm over it now. The movie starts in about a half hour or so," she says as she starts the engine and drives out on the street heading toward downtown. She drives beyond downtown and turns on the highway going west the locals call 'the connector'. She plays country western music on her car radio. I can hear the song ending and it goes into a commercial for a local tire shop.

"So I take it you like country music," I say.

"What makes you think that?" she asks.

"You have your radio tuned to a country station, don't you?" I reply.

"You are very perceptive," she says. "I like that in a guy."

"I prefer rock and roll myself," I tell her, "Classic rock like the Beatles, the Stones, and Led Zeppelin."

"I like that stuff too, but I also like a little country too," she says. "I like just about everything but classical and opera."

"I've never really listened to country music before," I say, "I pretty much listen to whatever my dad has playing on the radio."

"Don't you want to expand your horizons and see what else the world has to offer?" she questions.

"Yeah, I guess that's just part of life and growing up," I explain, "I think everyone eventually will grow beyond their parents and develop their own likes in music."

"I was talking more than just music," she says. "It seems to me you are living your life under your dad's wing and haven't ventured too far out from the nest."

"Wow, you sure seem to have me figured out after just talking with me a few minutes," I say. "Talk about being perceptive!"

"I've dated nerdy guys before and know all about them," she says.

"So you're saying you think all nerdy guys are the same?" I ask.

"Well yeah," she says, "In my experience once you know one nerdy guy I think basically they are all the same. They might have some small differences, but fundamentally all guys are basically the same."

"Well, I'm a pretty unique dude," I say.

"What makes you so unique?" she says.

"Um – a lot of things." I say, "I just can't think of any one thing specifically."

"I can think of one thing that makes you unique," she says, "You are very naïve."

"Well, in some ways I guess I'm a little naïve, but I don't think that makes me unique," I say.

"I bet you're still a virgin," she says.

"Yeah, but that isn't so unique, I'm only 17," I say.

"Most high school seniors have experienced intercourse," she says in a matter of fact way. "I lost my virginity when I was 14."

"Isn't that kind of young?" I ask.

"It wasn't for me, I guess," she says, "I was just a little more mature than most kids my age."

"Well, I'm saving it for marriage," I say, "Call me old fashion, but I think it's a special gift from God to be shared on the honeymoon."

"Boy, you are naïve. Most guys can't wait to experience sex," she says.

"At least the boy I lost my virginity to was that way," she says. "He was a little bit older. He was a neighbor kid I knew growing up."

"How did it happen?" I ask.

"Do you want all the dirty details?" she asks.

"Whatever you want to tell me," I say.

"Well one day when my mom was away at work we were just hanging out watching TV at my place, you know just sitting on the couch together. I could see he was getting a little aroused from the lump under his pants. I had never been with a boy before and I was a little curious about it, so I touched it. After that it was like I flipped a switch or something. Before I knew what happened, he was on top of me with my pants off and was inside me," she explains.

"It sounds more like you were raped," I say. "The guy took advantage of you."

"It wasn't like I didn't want it," she says, "I knew what I was doing when I touched him."

"So, how did it make you feel afterwards," I ask.

"It was a little painful, and I was bleeding a little bit, but it was nothing to get all excited about," she says. "In a way I was glad to get it over with and not have to wonder what the big deal about sex is all about."

"Wow, I never knew it was like that," I say. "Maybe it's different for guys."

"I think it must be since after that first time the guy kept coming around wanting to do it again," she says. "I told him I didn't like it and to leave me alone. A few weeks later the guy moved away."

"Was it his first time too?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. He didn't say, but he seemed to know what he was doing," she says.

"So I guess now you don't think sex is so special," I say.

"Yeah, it really is no big deal," she says. "I can take it or leave it."

"I guess I'm still thinking it will be something spectacular, like fireworks going off and everything," I say.

"Yeah, I guess you are naïve," she says, "But that's what I like about nerdy guys."

"So, you think nerdy guys are safe and don't want to have sex with you?" I ask.

"Well, it's not that they don't want to have sex, they just aren't socially equipped to know how to go about it," she explains. "I feel a lot better being around a nerdy guy who isn't trying to get in my pants than some jock boy with one thing on his mind."

"Yeah, I guess a lot of guys are just after one thing," I say, "I guess that's one thing that makes me unique."

"You aren't Mormon, are you?" she asks.

"No, I'm a Christian," I tell her, "I'm going to be baptized tomorrow."

"What church do you go to?" she asks.

"I've only been in Boise for about a week but I attended the youth group at the Pursuit Wednesday night," I tell her.

"I've seen a lot of cars around town with The Pursuit stickers on them, but never really knew what it meant," she says.

"Do you go to church anywhere?" I ask.

"I used to be a Mormon, but I don't go to church anymore," she says.

"What's it like to be a Mormon?" I ask.

"I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it's kind of something I was born into and it seems kind of weird now, but it was almost like being in a big family with a bunch of different cousins and aunts and uncles and they were all really concerned about following the rules," she says. "My parents mainly tried to follow the rules, but when they got divorced they left the church. I think actually they weren't allowed in church after they got divorced."

"My parents got divorced this past year and my dad just got married Thursday," I say. "I really don't know what the big deal was that made him get married so soon after getting divorced, but maybe some people just like being married."

"I haven't figured that one out either," she says as she drives into the parking lot of the theater and pulls into a parking spot. "We have about ten minutes before the movie starts," she says. We walk to the ticket booth and I buy two tickets and once we get inside she says, "I have to use the little girl's room." She walks into the ladies room and I wait outside for her. The theater is a large building with 22 theaters. From the outside the theater doesn't look too fancy, but inside it's decorated with high ceilings, and fancy chandeliers. In the center of the lobby is a huge snack bar selling soda, popcorn and candy. After a few minutes she comes back out. I ask her if she wants some popcorn or anything, but she suggests we have dinner somewhere after the movie. I agree that sounds like a good idea. We find the right theater and find seats in the back.

"This is a really nice place," I comment, "I'd like to work at a place like this some day."

"It would be better than working at Chick-fil-A," she says. "After I finish massage school I'd like to open my own massage business."

"That sounds like a nice goal," I say. "I think I'd like to be a lawyer."

"I can see you doing that," she says. "You seem to be the lawyer type."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You know, real studious and serious, she says.

"What made you want to get into massage therapy?" I ask.

"I like helping people and making them feel better," she says. "Have you ever had a massage before?"

"No, I never had," I tell her, "I never really thought about it before."

"Well, one of these days you'll have to let me give you one," she offers.

"That might be nice," I say, "I'm really kind of shy about my body though."

"Well it's not like you're naked or anything," she explains. "We are trained to cover the entire body with sheets, and only expose the part of the body we massage. Besides, you have a nice looking body, why be shy about it?"

The theater gets dark and the previews of coming attractions are shown and then finally the movie starts. It's a pretty intense movie in spots. Cathy holds my hand during parts of it, and in other parts she wipes the tears from her eyes. In one scene she places her hand on my leg and briefly squeezes my thigh. As she runs her hand up my leg she brushes against my erection, sending a shiver up my spine. I'm feeling a little confused by this since I've never had a girl do this to me before, and the feelings I experience are ones I have never felt before. Soon the movie ends and the lights come on and we stroll silently out of the theater.

"Boy, that was one intense movie," I comment.

"Yeah, it had me on the edge of my seat," she says.

"Where would you like to get something to eat?" I ask.

"Do you like Italian food?" she asks.

"I love it," I tell her.

"Olive Garden is pretty close by, why don't we go there?" she says.

"That sounds good to me," I tell her as we walk across the parking lot to her car.

We are both silent while she drives to the Olive Garden and I'm thinking about not mentioning what happened during the movie while I watch all the buildings and cars pass as we drive down the road.

"You sure are quiet all of a sudden," she says, "Is there anything bothering you?

"No, not really," I lie. "I was just thinking about the movie."

"Did it bother you that I felt your erection?" she asks.

"A little bit," I confess, "No one has ever done that to me before."

"I can't believe you have never even had a hand job before," she says.

"I guess I was a little sheltered growing up," I tell her.

"Well, I'm sorry if it bothered you. I just find that part of going out with a guy on a date," she explains.

"I never really dated much before," I tell her.

"I kind of figured that out already. You really need to experience life a little more," she tells me.

"I've had girl friends before, but not serious like that," I tell her.

"I guess it depends on how you were raised," she says. "After I had sex the first time I kind of knew what guys wanted and what turned them on. Even though I knew it was wrong, I still felt like I had to do it just to make the guy like me."

"Don't you know guys were just using you?" I ask.

"I do now, but back then I kind of liked the attention it gave me," she explains. "I was always the girl getting asked out and hardly ever spent a weekend night at home."

"I was always afraid of girls like you," I tell her. "I guess I still am kind of afraid."

"What's the worst thing that could happen?" she asks. "You might lose your virginity or fall in love."

"Or get my heart broken," I say. "My mom kind of did that to my dad when she had an affair."

We arrive at the Olive Garden and find a place to park. We go into the restaurant and find a small crowd waiting in the lobby and outside the front door. I approach the hostess and tell her we'd like a table for two. She tells me a table should be available in about five minutes. We stand off to the side until my name is called and we are escorted to a table. The waiter comes and takes our drink order, and we silently read the menu.

"Do you know what you want?" I ask.

"I can't decide between the seafood alfredo or the lasagna," she says.

"I think I'm going to have the lasagna," I tell her.

"Why don't we share an order?" she offers. "I'm really not that hungry."

"I don't know. Do you think they'll let us do that?" I ask.

"I'm sure they will. All we have to do is ask?" she says.

When the waiter returns with our drinks and asks if we're ready to order I tell him we would like one lasagna and have it on two plates. The guy gives me a funny look and I explain we aren't really hungry enough to both eat the entire lasagna. He smiles and says he thinks he can do that for us. I thank him, and he says no problem. A few minutes later he returns with salad and bread sticks. We both sit silently as we eat.

"You mentioned earlier your dad just got married?" she asks.

"Yeah, after knowing the woman for just a day," I tell her, "How weird is that?"

"That seems pretty unusual," she says, "but love does strange things to people."

"Have you ever been in love before?" I ask.

"Not really. I thought it was love, but it was just lust. After I gave the guy what he wanted he dropped me like a hot rock," she says. "What about you?"

"No, I don't think I have." I say, "I thought I loved my mom, but after she cheated on my dad I don't have any feelings for her anymore."

"You always have to love your mom and dad, no matter what they do," she tells me. "It is just part of life. In return they have to love you no matter what. That's why it's called unconditional love."

"Who made that rule?" I ask.

"I think it was God," she says. "It's in the Bible somewhere, if I'm not mistaken."

"I don't know that much about the Bible yet, but I'd like to learn more. That's one reason why I want to go to church tomorrow," I tell her.

"Since God loves us unconditionally he expects us to love one another unconditionally, not just our parents, but everyone," she explains.

"That's a pretty hard thing to do," I tell her.

"It is without God," she explains. "With God anything is possible."

"How did you get so religious all of a sudden?" I ask.

"I was raised a Mormon. Just because I don't go to church anymore, and have some problems with religion doesn't mean I don't believe in God," she explains.

"Growing up I never went to church and my family never talked about God or religion much," I explain, "But after moving to Boise both my dad and I have a desire to know God for some reason. It's strange."

"I don't know what it is about Boise," she says, "It might be the Mormon influence here, but I know God is working to change people's lives."

"I know He has made a big difference in me this past week," I say. "I can't wait until tomorrow morning."

"Maybe I'll come to church with you tomorrow and see you get baptized," she offers. "I'd like to check out the Pursuit too."

"Me too. I've never really been to a Sunday service there yet," I say.

"What time is the service?" she asks.

"We are going to the one at 9:30," I say. "At least that is what my dad was planning Wednesday night. So much has changed since then with him getting married and all. I don't even know if he's back from Jackpot yet."

"Why don't I come and pick you up and we can go together," she offers.

"Okay, that sounds great," I say.

The waiter comes with the lasagna on two plates and we sit silently as we eat our dinner. With the salad and the bread sticks I'm feeling pretty full after finishing the lasagna. When the waiter returns and asks if we would like desert, I'm thinking no, but then Cathy suggests we split a Tiramisu and I agree. After a few minutes the waiter is back with the Tiramisu and the bill. Cathy slowly takes her fork and cuts a piece of the Tiramisu and slowly savors it before exclaiming how good it taste.

"This was nice," I say, "I'm glad you suggested the Tiramisu."

"This whole evening has been wonderful. I'm so glad I got to know you better," she says.

"I'm glad I got to know you better too. I kind of hate to end our date," I say.

"The evening is still young. Do you want to do something else?" she asks.

"No, I think I really should get home and get some sleep. This has been a long day for me," I say.

"Yeah, me too. Getting up to be at work by 6 is a real killer," she says.

I pay the bill and leave a tip, and we walk out to the parking lot holding hands. We get in the car and Cathy starts driving. She gets on the highway heading downtown and we sit silently listening to the country western music on the radio.

"I really like this song," she says. "It's about a guy who cheated on his girl and wants to get back with her."

"Maybe that's why I don't' like country western music," I say, "I can't understand what the songs are about."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. The first time I heard this song I didn't understand it either, she says. "It took a few times before I figured it out."

"Isn't that the way it is with a lot of things in life?" I ask. "Sometimes I read something and have no idea what it means. Like To Kill a Mockingbird," I say. "Then the next day in class Mrs. Baker explains it all and it all makes sense."

"Even though she was a really tough teacher I really liked her class and learning all about those different books she made us read," she says.

"We start The Great Gatsby Monday," I say.

"You know I think Leonardo DiCaprio is starring in a movie based on that book," she says.

"I've never read the book before. Do you know what it's about?" I ask.

"We read it in English too. I think I remember it was about some rich guys back in ancient times," she says.

"It should be interesting," I say. "What are you learning in massage school?" I ask.

"Right now we are learning different massage strokes and techniques," she explains, "Each muscle group and body part requires a different stroke and technique we use to release the toxins from the muscles."

"I didn't realize there was that much to massage, I say, "I thought it was all about rubbing oil on people's backs."

"That's part of it, but there's a whole lot more to it. Getting certified requires a certain number of classroom hours combined with hands on training, she explains. Without being certified technically a person isn't allowed to give a massage since potentially it could cause a lot of injury to a person."

"I didn't know that," I say. We are getting close to my place and I ask her about tomorrow, "What time will you pick me up tomorrow?"

"That depends," she says. "Did you want to have breakfast first, and then go to church?"

"We can do that," I say. "How about 7:30? Is that too early for you?"

"It's not too early for me," she says. "I'll be waiting for you in front of your building."

She pulls up and stops in front of the building, and before I get out I reach across and give her a kiss. It's just a peck on the lips, but then she opens her mouth and it turns into an extended exchange of tongues. I break away and tell her, "See you tomorrow," and jump out of the car. She says, "I'll see you," and then drives away. I'm feeling pretty good as I walk up the steps to the apartment. I unlock the door and find the apartment dark and empty. I turn on the lights and discover no one has been there since I left earlier in the evening. I'm thinking Karl probably went back to his place and my dad and Carol must still be in Jackpot. I go to bed and fall into a deep sleep.

I hear the sound of my iPhone ringing waking me up. Before I answer it I check to see who it is, but the phone only displays the number. "Hello," I say into the iPhone.

"Hi Bill, this is Cathy. I hope I didn't wake you," the voice comes over the phone. "What time is it?" I ask.

"It's a little after ten," she says.

"I think I must have just fallen asleep," I say.

"I was wondering if I could stay with you tonight," she says, "I really don't want to be alone tonight."

"Is anything wrong?" I ask.

"I'm right outside your building. Is it okay if I come up?" she asks.

"Sure, I'll meet you downstairs," I say.

I get up from bed wiping the sleep from my eyes, and walk over to turn on the light. My pants are lying on the chair, I grab them and slip them on and go out the door and down the stairs without a shirt or shoes on. Cathy is standing outside the locked door and it looks like she's been crying. As I open the door she grabs me in a hug, and holds me tight.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"I was just feeling really lonely tonight after I dropped you off. I think I'm falling in love with you," she says.

"How can that be?" I think but the thought comes out of my mouth.

"You are just the nicest guy I've ever met," she says, "I don't think I've ever been treated so nice on a date before."

"Let's go inside," I suggest.

We go inside, take the elevator up and go in the apartment. The lights are all off except for the bedroom. I turn on the kitchen light and pull out a chair from the kitchen table and Cathy sits down. I sit in the chair beside her.

"I'm so sorry I woke you," she says. "I didn't think you'd be asleep so early."

"It's been a pretty long day," I say, "I got up at 4:30 this morning and only had a short nap."

"I was just feeling so bad after I dropped you off," she says. "I drove around a little bit but couldn't go home."

"Why were you feeling so bad?" I ask.

"Well, I didn't know if I might have scared you away by being so forward and all, and I didn't want to lose you as a friend," she says.

"To tell you the truth you did scare me a little bit, but I got to thinking about things a little bit and figure it's about time I ventured out and experienced life a little bit," I say. "I was really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow morning and having breakfast with you before church. Do you still want to do that?"

"Yeah," she says, "We can still do that, and I want to see you get baptized too. I've even been thinking about getting baptized too."

"That would be fantastic," I say. "In that case I think we better get some sleep."

"Is it okay if I stay here with you tonight?" she asks.

"Sure, you can sleep in my room and I'll sleep in my dad's room," I say.

"Okay," she says, "I guess I'll see you in the morning then."

I get up and show Cathy to my room, and close the door. Then I go to my dad's room and climb into his bed, and drift off to sleep thinking about what might happen tomorrow.

When I wake up I go into the bathroom and turn the water on at the sink and once it's warm I splash it on my face and begin to apply shaving cream. As I begin to shave, concentrating in the mirror, I notice out of the corner of my eye the bathroom door slowly creep open. Suddenly I turn to face Cathy standing in the door wearing only her bra and panties. I'm standing in front of the sink with my face half shaven wearing only my under pants.

"Good morning, Cathy," I say, "I kind of over slept, we better hurry if we want to have breakfast before church."

"I wonder if we have time to take a shower," she says, stepping into the bathroom and unfastening her bra. Her bra drops to the floor and I stare at the most perfect set of breasts I have ever seen. Actually, they are the first breasts I have ever seen in real life, other than in the pages of Playboy, which don't count, I have never really seen a girl naked before.

"I think we better hurry," I say, not paying attention to the growing discomfort in my under pants.

She steps into the shower, closes the shower curtains and turns the water on. I continue to shave trying not to think of the beautiful, naked girl taking a shower less than a foot away from me.

"Aren't you going to join me?" she says over the sound of the running water. "I'm almost finished shaving," I say.

"Oh, come on. I won't bite," she says.

I finish shaving, slip off my under pants and pull the shower curtain back and step into the shower. Cathy has her back to me with her face under the streaming water. Slowly I approach her and place my hand on her shoulder. She turns to face me, but she keeps her eyes closed. Our lips come together in a passionate kiss. I feel her hand run down the front of my body as she takes my erection in her hand and gently holds it.
Chapter Nine – Sunday

Suddenly my iPhone wakes me from a deep sleep and interrupts the most awesome dream I have ever had. The display says it's my dad calling. "Hello, dad!" I say into the phone.

"Hi Bill, I hope you are still up to going to church this morning," he says. "Carol and I got back late last night and we stayed at Carol's. I can pick you up in an hour and we can all have breakfast together."

"That would be great," I say, "but I wasn't sure you were going to be back, so I kind of made arrangements with a friend to take me to church."

"That's okay, why don't we all meet somewhere for breakfast," he suggest. "How about the place we had breakfast last Sunday?"

"Okay, I'll meet you there at around eight," I say.

I'm not really sure where I am or whether the dream I was having is real or just a dream. After I get up and turn the lights on I realize it was only just a dream, but what an amazing, vivid dream it was, I think, trying to remember every detail. After I shave and shower and while I'm getting dressed I'm smiling the entire time just thinking about the dream. Sometimes I wonder if dreams can foretell the future or if they are just random thoughts being processed by the unconscious mind while I sleep. In any case, I really don't care what it may mean; I just liked the whole experience of dreaming about Cathy.

My iPhone rings again and it's Cathy calling to tell me she's waiting downstairs. I tell her I just have to get my shoes on and I'll be there in a jiffy, thinking I can't wait to tell her all about the dream. Before I go I grab my gym bag with a change of clothes, and hurry down the stairs. She's waiting in her car with the engine running when I step outside the building's main door. I can hear the country western music playing on her radio since she has the window down.

As I open the car door and step inside, I smile and tell her, "I had the most amazing dream about you last night."

"That's funny," she says, "I had the most amazing dream about you."

"Do you want to tell me about your dream, or do you want to hear my dream first," I say.

"I'll tell you my dream first," she says.

"I have to tell you first," I interrupt, "We are meeting my dad for breakfast at the Shari's on Franklin."

"Okay, that's where I was going to go anyway," she says, "It will be nice to finally meet your dad."

"Go ahead and tell me about your dream," I say.

"Well, it was kind of weird, to tell you the truth. In this dream I joined the Coast Guard and you and I were on the same ship together and some how we both get on a desert island in the middle of nowhere, just you and me, all alone," she says. "It was kind of like Gilligan's Island, but just you and me."

"That's weird," I agree. "So did anything happen?"

"No. About the time it was getting good I woke up," she says.

"Don't you hate it when that happens?" I ask.

"Yeah, it always happens that way. Okay, it's your turn. Tell me about your dream," she says.

"Well, I dreamt you called me and woke me up and wanted to stay with me last night," I tell her. "I let you in and we go to bed, you in my bedroom, and me in my dad's bedroom. Then I wake up and I'm in the bathroom shaving and you open the bathroom door and you're wearing only your underwear. Then you ask if we have time to take a shower, and you take off your bra and get in the shower. Then you ask me if I'm going to join you and I get naked and get in the shower with you and we kiss, and hug, and that's when I woke up."

"Wow, that was a pretty X-rated dream," she says. "You have quite the imagination."

"The weird thing about it was how real it seemed," I say.

"Well, I've heard dreams are one way our unconscious minds deal with what our conscious minds don't want to deal with," she says. "Maybe your repressed sexual desires are being exhibited through your dreams?"

"Yeah, you're probably right about that. After last night I've been thinking about sex a lot," I admit.

"That's normal for teenage boys," she says, "I've heard somewhere that teenage boys think about sex just about every ten seconds."

"Well, at least I'm normal in one way," I joke, "I was starting to worry there was something wrong with me."

Cathy pulls into the parking lot of Shari's and I see my dad's truck is already there. We walk into the restaurant and I see my dad sitting at a booth with Carol and Karl. "Hi dad, I'd like you to meet my friend Cathy," I say. Cathy smiles at my dad and my dad stands and extends his hand, "Nice to meet you Cathy," he says. "This is my wife Carol and her son Karl," he says. Cathy smiles at Carol and Karl, and says, "I know Karl from Chick-fil-A."

Karl says, "I thought I recognized you, but I just couldn't remember where I knew you from."

Carol says, "It's nice to meet you, Cathy."

We all sit down and silently look at the menus. The waitress comes over and takes our order, and then returns with coffee and glasses of water.

"Dad," I say, "I'm really surprised you and Carol got married."

"Yeah, so am I, to tell you the truth," he says. "There was just something that happened Wednesday night that got me to thinking about life being short and how we can't just sit on the sidelines, but we have to jump in and get in on the game."

"I bet it was the car accident," I offer.

"That was part of it," he says, "But it was also meeting Carol and getting to know her. Then Thursday when I called her and suggested we go out, I just got this strange idea to take a couple of days off from work and do something crazy."

"I suggested we go for a drive," Carol says, "and before we knew it we were in Twin Falls and heading toward Jackpot."

"Carol told me she had never been to Jackpot before and I told her I hadn't either, so we ended up in Jackpot and one thing led to another," my dad explains.

"On the drive down we had some pretty intense conversations about life and everything else and I got a good feeling about John and just knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him," Carol adds.

"I had the same feeling after spending just a few hours with Carol," my dad says.

"We talked about getting married again and we both agreed we wanted to once we met the right person. It just seemed to be fate we passed a wedding chapel with a sign out front that said 'get married without delay'," Carol explains. "It was kind of like a sign from God."

"After we got married we stayed the night in Jackpot, then we drove on to Salt Lake City and spent a couple of days there just seeing all the sights and getting to know one another better," my dad says.

The waitress brings the food and for a few minutes while everyone is eating no one says anything. The food is good and by the looks of everyone sitting around the table everyone looks hungry. My dad stops eating for just a few seconds, and looks around the table at everyone and says, "Tell us how you happened to meet Cathy, Bill."

"Cathy and I met yesterday when we were working at Chick-fil-A together. Then after our shifts were over we talked a little and Cathy invited me to see a movie with her," I explain. "Then I invited her to church and we were planning to have breakfast together since we didn't know whether you and Carol would be back in time."

"Well, I'm glad to see you are finally getting out and meeting some new people, Bill," my dad says.

"I thought Bill seemed a little lonely and shy, and I needed someone to go to the movie with last night," Cathy adds. "I'm glad I asked Bill to the movie."

"So am I," I say, "I would have just gone home and worked on my English paper all night."

"Well, you should have time later today to finish your English paper," Carol says. "You too Karl."

"I finished my paper before work yesterday," Karl says, "I even got it printed at the Office Depot just to be sure."

We all finish eating and have just enough time to get to the church before the early service starts. I give Cathy directions to the church and we all get there with a little bit of time to spare. The five of us walk to the church doors like a big happy family. As we get close to the door several men are standing around greeting people. "Good morning," everyone says to each other, and my dad and I shake hands with the men at the door. "Welcome to the Pursuit. Is this your first time visiting?" one of the men asks. My dad responds, "It's my first time, but my son is getting baptized today." The man smiles and says, "Praise the Lord."

We enter the auditorium and find our seats just before some guys with guitars come on the stage, and one guy starts talking. "Welcome to the Pursuit," he says. "Let's all stand and sing praise to the Lord," as the band begins to play. The words to the song are projected behind the band and people are singing and clapping their hands. Some people raise a hand or two in the air, and others are swinging to the beat of the music. The first song ends and the guy talks some more. I'm too overwhelmed by the whole experience to pay any attention to what he says, before the band starts playing the second song. After the second song the guy talks some more and everyone bows their head as he prays, and then he says we can all sit down. Another guy comes on stage and talks about a Bible verse and tells us about how much Jesus loves us all. He talks about how we are protected by Jesus from the evil one, and how he died and was resurrected on the third day to save us all from our sins. Then he tells us about the baptism of Jesus, and how we have the opportunity today to be baptized by accepting Jesus and dying to our old life, and being born anew as a new creature in Christ. He tells everyone who wishes to be baptized today to step forward. Several people begin to go forward.

I'm sitting on the aisle, and I stand and start walking to the front of the auditorium. When I get to the front I turn around and see my dad following behind me, and behind him is Carol, with Karl and Cathy following behind him. We all stand in the front of the auditorium until another person directs us to another room. Once we get to the other room the guy tells us, "You can leave all your stuff here in this room. You should take off your shoes and remove anything from your pockets you don't want to get wet. If you brought an extra set of clothes you can change afterwards in the rest room." Everyone starts to take off their shoes and their watches, and wallets and cell phones, and they leave them all on the floor next to their shoes. "We'll give you a towel to dry off afterwards," the guy says. Once everyone is ready the guy asks, "Who wants to go first?" I tell the guy, "I'll go first." The guy tells everyone to fall in line behind me and he leads us back to the auditorium.

The auditorium is dark with everyone singing and the band playing. A spot light is shining on the baptismal font, which looks like a large fiberglass hot tub. The preacher is standing off to the side of the baptismal font and he directs me to step into the water. I climb in and the water feels nice and warm. He tells me to kneel on my knees, and then he asks me if I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I answer, "I do", and he says, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost," and then he pushes me forward and my face goes under the water for just a second and he lifts me back up. The crowd erupts in cheers and clapping, and I'm handed a towel as I climb out of the tub and the next person steps in. I stand off to the side drying myself off and watch as my dad, and then Carol, Karl and Cathy each get baptized. After each person is baptized the crowd erupts in cheers and clapping while the band continues to play song after song. We all stand off to the side drying off and watching as the next person is baptized. After the last person, a little kid, is baptized we return to the other room and gather our belongings. We then all go out to the car and get our change of clothes and go into the rest room to change. "I didn't know you were going to be baptized too," I say to Karl and my dad.

"I didn't know either until I saw you stand up and walk forward," my dad says. "It was something I had been thinking about for a while. Even though I was baptized in the Catholic Church as a kid, I felt I needed to recommit myself."

Karl says, "I never felt the urgency to get baptized until Wednesday night after the accident. Even though I've always believed and trusted in the Lord I had never taken the step to be baptized."

After we get changed we all stand around in the lobby waiting for Cathy and Carol to come out of the rest room. Karl sees Jeff come in for the next service and we go over to talk with him. "Hey Jeff, how are things going?" Karl asks.

"It's been tough the past few days without any wheels," he says. "But I'm thankful no one was injured in the accident."

"Have you found out anything about your car?" I ask.

"The insurance company is still deciding whether to total it", he says.

An older man and woman approach us and ask Jeff, "Who are your friends?"

"This is Karl and Boston Boy." Jeff answers, pointing to me, "I can't remember his name. They were both in the car when I had my accident." Jeff answers.

"I'm Bill," I say extending my hand to shake. The man grabs my hand and says, "I'm Jeff's father. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm so thankful none of you were hurt in the accident," Jeff's father says. "We better get in before the service starts," he says to Jeff as they walk off toward the auditorium.

Cathy and Carol finally come out changed in dry clothes chatting like old friends. We all gather around them and the five of us leave like we came in, only with our hair wet and wearing different clothes. My dad, Carol and Karl get into the truck, and Cathy and I get in her car. I ask Cathy, "What took you so long getting changed?"

"Carol and I were having a nice conversation," she says.

"What about?" I ask.

"Oh, the usual stuff girls talk about," she says. "Nothing you need to know."

"What do you want to do the rest of the day?" I ask.

"We are all going to Carol's place and help her get moved to your place," she says.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," I say. "Thanks for coming along today."

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Chapter Ten – Epilogue

It's been about a year now since the Sunday when we all were baptized together. I'm now going to Boise State and am still working at Chick-fil-A. I haven't chosen a major yet but am thinking of pre-law, since I still want to be a lawyer. Cathy no longer works at Chick-fil-A after she finished her massage therapy training and got her license. She makes pretty good money doing massages and is happy with what she does. We still see each other occasionally when we have the time, and every now and then she'll give me a massage, but nothing else happened between us, despite the dream I had. We both are trying to remain celibate until we get married, but sometimes it's pretty tough. Cathy has become like a sister to me. We talk all the time on the phone and I can tell her just about anything. I think we will one day get married, but for now school is my main priority.

My dad and Carol are happy together. A couple of months after they were married Carol found out she was pregnant and she gave birth to a healthy little boy in June they named Joshua. Carol stays home and takes care of Joshua, and my dad is still a Coast Guard recruiter, but he talks about retiring soon. He says he wants to go to college and get a teaching certificate and teach grade school. Karl is attending Boise State and we share an apartment together. He still works at Chick-fil-A but we usually work different shifts. We both passed driver's training and got our license but we still walk nearly everywhere we go and I'm still saving for a car. Right now paying for college, rent and everything else that goes with living is more important than having a car.

A few days after being baptized I called my mom and we talked for a long time. I told her I forgave her for cheating on my dad and she confessed she was wrong, and is not very happy right now being married to Jerry McCoy's father. She explained how she misses my dad and me, and still loves my dad and regrets having the affair. She told me Jerry dropped out of school and is trying to get his GED while working at Wal-Mart nights stocking shelves. He still lives at home and my mom gets stuck cooking and cleaning for him and his dad. My mom also brought me up to date on what my sister Mary is doing and how she is expecting a baby real soon, but still doesn't know the baby's gender yet. Mary and her husband still live in Lowell and are happy together.

Danny Boyle worked at Chick-fil-A for nearly a year and graduated with Karl and me. He just completed Coast Guard basic training and is now assigned to a ship out of Sitka, Alaska. He went to church with us a few times and got baptized, and really caught fire for the Lord. He wants to go to college and hopes to become a preacher some day, but joined the Coast Guard after talking to my dad and learning about the education benefits he can get after finishing his enlistment.

I never did go to one of the dances Kelly invited me to at her church. She told me they have dances nearly every month and I was welcome to come anytime I felt like it. Kelly moved back to Utah after we graduated and is going to BYU now like she wanted. She plans on going on a mission when she is old enough.

After I started seeing Cathy, Kelly didn't seem to want to talk to me much after that. It was funny how things changed after that weekend for me. For some strange reason I kind of lost the desire to know anything more about the Mormon religion. I am still curious about some of their believes and how they are different from what the Bible teaches, but I now know Mormons are just people like everyone else, seeking the Lord. Whether their Jesus is the same Jesus in the Bible or a different Jesus is no longer important to me since I found Jesus for myself, and am growing in a relationship with Him. Every day I try to read the Bible on my iPhone and I try to remember to say a prayer whenever I get stressed or just to let Him know how my day is going, and to give thanks for the day. In subtle ways I see Him working in my life, but I still struggle with sin like everyone else, but now I know I'm forgiven. For a little while after I was baptized I questioned whether it was for real. The entire first week after I moved to Boise seems like a dream to me now. Maybe it's because so much happened that first week and I was living in a kind of a fog. Thinking about everything else that happened that summer, with my parents getting divorced and having to chose between my mom and my dad, I can even see the Lord working in my life before I even acknowledged Him.

Going to college full time and working is tough finding the time to go to church every Sunday, but I can usually get a ride with Carol and my dad. Karl and Cathy sometimes come too. Every now and then I run into Jeff at church. He still calls me Boston Boy even though I think he really knows my name. The insurance company finally decided to total Jeff's car and he bought a newer Honda Civic. Sometimes he'll give Karl and me a ride home from church.

Sometimes I stop and wonder what life would be like if I never moved to Boise with my dad and stayed in Lowell with my mom. Something tells me God would have brought me to Him some how and I would have ended up being baptized, but just not like the way it all happened in Boise.

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I really hope you enjoyed this novel. If you liked it feel free to share it with others and look for my future novels on Smashwords.

About the Author:

Jim Barnes graduated from Boise High School with the class of 1978 and now works and lives in Boise after spending 20 years in the Coast Guard living all over the country. This is his first novel.

Connect with Me Online:

My blog: http://www.outofbarnes/blogspot.com

My email address: JimBarnes@Outlook.com

