Point of No Return (8 page)

Jimmy realized he wasn't alone after all. His wish-that-was-really-a-prayer had been answered.

They talked until dinnertime.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tuesday at School

J
IMMY KNEW HE WAS OFF
to a bad start at school when, that morning, he found a handwritten note in his desk that said, “Hi, Saint James— Super Christian.” It was Tony's handwriting.

At lunch, Jimmy decided to eat by himself. Tony and Brad had other plans and sat down with him.

“So, how's the preaching, Super Christian?” Tony asked.

Brad chuckled.

“Leave me alone,” Jimmy said.

“Oh, come on, Jimmy. Quit being so serious,” Tony said.

“Then quit teasing me,” Jimmy said.

“Okay, Saint James, I won't tease you anymore.”

Jimmy scowled at Tony.

“We really wanna know more about all this church stuff,” Tony said, barely keeping the smirk off his face.

Brad leaned close and added, “Are you gonna start wearing one of those white collars like the priests do?”

“He'll wear a blue shirt with a big S in the middle of it,” Tony said. “For
Super Christian
!
”
Then Tony sang the
Superman
theme and stretched out his arms as if he were flying around the table.

Jimmy tried to remember the verse his grandmother had written in the front of his Bible. “Don't let people look down on you…. Be an example and behave,” or something like that. He stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth and got up to leave.

Tony grabbed his arm. “Don't you wanna pray before you go?” he asked with a laugh.

Brad said, “Isn't he supposed to dismiss us with a hymn or something?”

Jimmy jerked his arm away and said through his mouthful of sandwich, “Just leave me alone!”

As he marched away, he heard Brad ask, “What did he say?”

Tony laughed again and said, “I think he said to
weave him a home.
”

Jimmy tried to figure out why Tony was being so obnoxious. Okay, so Jimmy had become a Christian. Why did that make Tony so mean? Just a few days ago, they were best friends. Now Tony acted as if they were enemies. What was going on?

Since there was still some lunchtime left, Jimmy walked out to the playground. On the dodgeball court, he saw Jack and Oscar, with Lucy standing nearby, talking to a group of girls. Jimmy didn't know any of them very well, except that Jack and Lucy went to his church. He wasn't sure about Oscar. Maybe he should try to be friends with them now that he was a Christian.

He was thinking about going over to talk to them when he heard an approaching hissing noise, like air coming out of a balloon. He turned around just as Tony and Brad, arms outstretched, raced around him like two Superboys. They hissed through their teeth to make it sound as if they were flying through the air.

“It's Super Christian!” Tony announced. “Faster than a speeding Bible!”

“Able to leap tall churches in a single bound!” Brad said.

“It's a bird…. ”

“It's a plane…. ”

“Go away!” Jimmy shouted.

“It's Super Christian!” they yelled together as they circled around and around him.

Jimmy tried to move past them, but they stayed with him no matter where he tried to go. “Cut it out!” Jimmy shouted at Tony.

“Super Christian! Super Christian!” Tony said over and over.

Finally, Jimmy had had enough and stuck out a leg to trip one of them. He caught Brad's foot. Brad spun to the ground, landing in a way that knocked the wind out of him.

Tony nearly tripped over the ashen Brad, but he caught himself in time. He angrily pushed Jimmy. “What're you doing, Super Christian?”

Tony demanded. “Super Christians aren't supposed to make people trip.”

“Leave me alone,” Jimmy said through clenched teeth.

“Make me,” Tony said and pushed Jimmy again.

“Go away.”

“What're you gonna do, cry like you almost did yesterday? Huh, Super Christian?” Tony teased as he pushed Jimmy once more.

Tony's remark wouldn't have been so stinging if Jimmy hadn't felt like crying—but he did. Tony was supposed to be his best friend, and it made no sense that he would act like this.

Jimmy then did the one thing he never thought he'd do. He looked straight into Tony's face, with its twisted smirk and defiant eyes…
and punched him in the nose.

Tony's expression of surprise burned itself into Jimmy's memory, but no more so than the way Tony staggered backward, tripped over Brad, who was trying to stand up, and fell flat on his backside.

The image stayed on Jimmy's mind even as Mr. Parks grabbed his arm and led him to the principal's office.

“What did you think you were doing?” George Barclay asked Jimmy as they drove home from the school half an hour later. “Is that your way of bringing people to Jesus—by punching them in the nose?”

“He was teasing me, Dad. He's been teasing me ever since I told him I was a Christian,” Jimmy complained.

“So let him tease you. Who cares what he thinks?” George said.

“I do. He's supposed to be my best friend. Why's he being such a creep?”

George shrugged. “Maybe he doesn't like Christians.”

Jimmy thought about it, then shook his head. “I never saw him act like this with the other Christian kids at school.”

George was thoughtful for a moment. They drove on. Finally he said, “But the other Christian kids at school weren't his best friend, were they?”

“Huh?”

“Think about it, Jimmy. You were best friends, and suddenly you go through a change that Tony's not part of. Since then, he's been teasing you and picking on you, right?”

“Right,” Jimmy said.

“And now you're thinking that he's rejected you, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And what's
he
thinking?” George asked.

“That's what I can't figure out!” Jimmy said.

George rubbed his chin. “I'm just guessing—and I'm not trying to excuse what you two have been doing to each other—but…isn't it possible that Tony thinks
you
rejected
him
?”

“What!”

“Sure,” George said. “You're a Christian now, and you think Tony should come along with you into your new adventure. But what if Tony's afraid you're going to leave him behind? Maybe he resents what's happened to you because it'll take you away from him.”

“But we can still be friends if he'd stop acting like such a jerk!”

“Can you?”

“Yeah!” Jimmy said. Then he thought about it for a moment and added, “I mean, can't we?”

“I don't know,” George said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Sometimes Christianity can tear friends—even families—apart.”

They pulled into their driveway, and George turned to Jimmy. “You know you'll have to be punished. I can't have you going around punching kids in the nose—even if it seemed like self-defense.”

“At this rate, I'm gonna be grounded for life.”

“It's going to seem like it. I'm adding
two weeks
to your restriction,” George said.

“But Dad!”

“Don't argue. You might get time off for good behavior, but you're going to have to be
really good.
”

George opened his door to get out.

Jimmy sat and stewed. Tony had gotten him in trouble
again.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tuesday Evening at Home

J
IMMY WENT STRAIGHT
to his room and paced around like a lion in a cage. Two more weeks' restriction, and all because of Tony. It wasn't fair!

His mom peeked in on him. “Hi, Jimmy,” she said.

“Hi,” he said unhappily.

“Sorry you had a bad day.”

Jimmy frowned at her.

“Dave left some material on your study desk, if you want to look at it,” she continued. “Considering what happened today, you should probably read it.” And she retreated from the room.

Jimmy went to his desk. He wished he'd been there when Dave came. He needed to talk to Dave or Jacob. He frowned again and thought how stupid it was that Jacob was taught at home. If he'd been at school with Jimmy, he could have helped Jimmy deal with Tony and Brad.

“To Jimmy B,” said the writing on the large, yellow envelope. He flipped up the clasp on the back and dumped out the contents. A small paperback book fell on top of his normal junk. “Tips for New Christians,” the cover said.

In his frame of mind, Jimmy didn't have the patience to read the book. He simply flipped through the various sections about the importance of Bible study, prayer, sharing the faith—and one particular section about the life of a new Christian.

“Purity is a vital part of the new Christian's life,” the book said. “You need to be pure in what you see and hear and do. As a new believer, you don't want to expose yourself to anything that will stunt your growth in Jesus. With a prayerful heart, look closely at the books you read, the television shows you watch, the music you listen to. Maybe it's time to clean your house and—and your soul—of risky, un-Christian material.”

Jimmy had the sense to know that as long as he was mad at Tony, he wouldn't have a very “prayerful heart.” But he glanced over at his CD player and saw some CDs Tony had played the night Jimmy smoked the cigar.

He picked one up and thought about purity.
This'll stunt my growth in Jesus
, he said to himself. Clenching the thin disc between his fingers, he angrily broke it in half. Then he grabbed a second CD and broke it.

It made Jimmy feel good.
Pure
, he thought.

He broke one CD after another—until he exhausted his own collection and wondered how pure his parents' and sister's collections were.

“I'll kill him!” Donna Barclay said.

“All right, let's not get carried away,” George said.

Jimmy sat on the living room sofa and watched his judges and jury. He was no longer mad at Tony. That emotion had been moved to a position of lesser importance now that his family was ready to hand him over to a juvenile detention agency.

“When did you do it?” Mary asked in a bewildered tone. “How did you do it so
fast
?”

“We were in the family room watching the movie,” Donna offered. “That's when he did it. We thought he was upstairs doing his homework or…or reading his Bible.”

George leaned against the doorway into the dining room. “I can't keep up with you anymore, Jimmy,” he said. “Today you punched your best friend in the nose, and tonight— What possessed you?”

“We don't want anything in the house that'll stunt our growth in Jesus, right?”

George and Mary looked at each other as if to decide who would answer. George shrugged helplessly.

“Right,” Mary said. “But you should leave the decision of what will stunt
our
growth to
us
.”

“Did you see what he did to my room?” Donna growled. “He took down my posters! He went through my books! He broke my CDs!”

“Not the
Christian
ones,” Jimmy said in his own defense.

“That's not the point! You're supposed to keep your hands off my stuff!” Donna insisted.

“Okay, calm down,” George said to Donna. Then he turned his attention to Jimmy. “Son, I appreciate your enthusia—”

“Enthusiasm!” Donna cried out as if she might tear at her hair in exasperation.

“Yes,” George said. “If I remember right, enthusiasm is normal for a new Christian. Don't you remember, Donna? When you became a new Christian, you tried to plaster Christian bumper stickers all over the car. And I don't think you asked us first, either.”

“That was different.”

“No, it wasn't. You were enthusiastic about your newfound belief— just like Jimmy. But what we need is
balance
and
consideration
. So, Jimmy, next time you get the…uh, inspiration to purge the house of things you consider less than Christian, talk to us first, okay?”