“I see,” Whit said thoughtfully. “And you thought it would happen right away.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe not right away. Dave kept saying I had to be patient. But I didn’t think everything would go wrong while I was being patient.”
“So why don’t you give it up?”
Surprised, Jimmy looked at Whit. It was the last thing he thought Whit would ask.
Whit chuckled and said, “Well, why don’t you?”
“Because—” Jimmy began, but he didn’t know how to go further. Finally he blurted, “Because I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because my mom and dad would be upset,” Jimmy stammered.
“I thought they were upset with you already. What’s the difference?”
“It’s a different kind of upset,” Jimmy explained. “That’s the difference. See, now they’re upset because I keep making dumb mistakes. Before they were upset because I kept doing things to get in trouble.”
Whit’s eyes lit up with laughter. His white mustache spread across his round face. “That’s wonderful!” he said. “I’ve never heard it explained so well. So you’re telling me you became a Christian to please your parents?”
“No.”
“Then what were you thinking when you did it? I mean, I’m sorry you had a bad week. And I’m deeply sorry you lost your grandmother.
Because of her poor health, though, I think you would have lost her whether you became a Christian or not. So I don’t understand why you think it all connects to your becoming a believer.”
Jimmy thought about it for a moment. “It connects because it happened after I said yes to Jesus.”
“Because you thought He’d make everything all right when you said yes. Is that it?”
Jimmy nodded. That was it in a nutshell. He thought Jesus would make everything all right, and instead everything went wrong.
“Do you know what I think?” Whit asked. “I think everything is connected. It makes perfect sense—if you think about how God works sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jimmy, God loves you more than anyone in this world ever could. He loves you so much that He sent Jesus to die for you. But Jesus didn’t die so you could walk around with a smile on your face or so you’d never have a problem. The fact is, He died so you could be friends with God; so you could learn to love God the best you can; so you could be changed into the person He wants you to be. Do you understand that much?”
Jimmy said he did. It was another way of saying what Dave had said the night Jimmy became a Christian.
“Here’s the next part,” Whit continued. “Jesus’ death didn’t come easily, and neither does our change. It’s a struggle, a battle, against all the things inside us that want everything to stay the way it was. That’s why we make a lot of mistakes. We do things we know better than to do. Our family might get annoyed at us. And I’m not surprised that your friends have turned against you, though I’m a little surprised they went as far as knocking you around. They want to keep you the way you were. But Jesus is inside you now and wants you to fight to be more and more like Him. Are you still with me?”
Jimmy nodded again.
Whit went on, choosing his words carefully. “Sometimes God strips away the things in our lives that keep us from relying on Him.”
A light went on in Jimmy’s head, and he sat up straight.
Whit noticed Jimmy’s change in expression but slowly went on. “Sometimes God strips away the things we think are important to make room for us to see Him more clearly. Only then can He make the changes He needs to make. That’s what growth is all about. And, yes, sometimes it hurts as we lose friends or suffer the loss of those we love. Sometimes we feel completely alone and figure that no one else in the whole wide world knows how we feel.
“But that’s wrong. God knows. And that’s why you’re never alone. God is there, first and foremost. Then there’s your family—who love you even when you get on their nerves. And then there are friends you have who are Christians—or the friends you haven’t made yet. Like me, Jimmy. I’m always here if you need to talk.”
“Thanks,” Jimmy said softly and hung his head.
“Oh, now, Jimmy,” Whit said with a smile. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re only at the start of this new adventure. It’s bound to be overwhelming for you.”
“You never met my grandmother, did you?” Jimmy asked.
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“Because she said the same things you just said,” Jimmy answered.
“She must’ve been a very wise woman,” Whit said, chuckling.
“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “I’m going to miss her a lot.”
Whit took the ice pack from Jimmy and looked closely at his wounds. “Just remember, Jimmy,” he said, “that God never takes anything out of our lives unless He’s going to replace it with something else—something that will help us the same way or more. You just have to keep your eyes open for it.”
Whit pressed the ice pack against Jimmy’s face again. Jimmy looked into his eyes and saw heartfelt kindness looking back. I need to hang around Whit’s End a lot more, he decided.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Monday
JIMMY SAT DOWN at a lunch table with his tray of food. At another table across the room, he saw Tony and his old friends laughing at a joke Jimmy would never be a part of again. He wished he could be friends with them. But at this point in his life, he didn’t know how. He closed his eyes, said a quick prayer of thanks for the food, and hoped no one saw him.
He opened his mouth to take the first bite of his pot roast, and his lip stung. It was a cruel reminder of the day before. There wasn’t a lot of swelling on his face, but it still hurt a little. “Okay, God,” he prayed, “it’s just me alone at this table with a face that hurts. But it’ll be all right if You’ll help me.” He sighed. It had been another bad day so far.
Jack Davis came up to Jimmy’s table with a brown lunch bag in hand. “Hi, Jimmy,” he said. “Okay if I sit down?”
Jimmy shrugged. He was afraid Jack had come over to tease him.
“What happened to your face?” Jack asked.
Jimmy self-consciously glanced over at Tony.
Jack must have noticed, because he said, “Never mind. You don’t have to tell me.” He shook his head and continued, “Boy, you’ve really been through it.”
“What do you mean?” Jimmy asked.
“I dunno. It seems like a lot’s happened to you lately. I’ve never seen a kid go through the wringer like that.” Jack bit into his sandwich. He kept talking, even with a mouth full of food. “I guess you and Tony are on the outs, huh?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy said, wondering what Jack might be up to.
Jack silently chewed his food, swallowed, then said softly, “That happened to me—y’know, being friends one minute, then not being friends the next. You remember Colin.”
Jimmy did. He was a kid Jack had befriended who turned out to be an uncontrollable liar.
“Anyway, I was thinking that I know how you feel,” Jack said. Then he stayed silent for a while.
Jimmy gazed at Jack while Jack looked down at his potato chips. Could they be friends? Jimmy wondered. Did God send him over to be a replacement for Tony, as Whit said? But there was no way to replace Tony or the years they had as friends, any more than his grandmother could be replaced.
That didn’t mean, however, that God couldn’t bring someone new into his life.
“Jimmy,” Jack said, and Jimmy was suddenly embarrassed for staring him.
“Yeah?”
“I saw you at the youth group meeting that night, and then I heard a rumor that you became a Christian.”
“So?”
Jack scrunched his face up as if he didn’t know how to ask what he wanted to ask.
“Well, I was wondering…I mean, what’s going on? I think about Jesus sometimes because, you know, my parents are Christians, but…I can’t make up my
mind about what it means.”
Jimmy looked at Jack intently. “You want to know Jesus? I can tell you how to get to know Him. But it isn’t easy, and it isn’t always fun. In fact, right now it hurts more than anything I’ve ever done in my life. But you know what? It’s all there is…and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Jesus’ll get me through this. I don’t know how, but He will.”
“I figured you’d say something like that.” Jack smiled and paused. “Y’know, me and Oscar and Lucy are going to Whit’s End after school today. You wanna come with us?”
“I’ll ask my parents,” Jimmy said.
The day didn’t seem so bad after that.
Author’s Note: Most of the details in this story were taken from firsthand, factual accounts of slaves who worked in the South and escaped with the help of the Underground Railroad. Other details were provided by a variety of historical reference works, writings from the time period, and eyewitness sources. To convey historical accuracy and portray the true horror of the slaves’ treatment, many words, phrases, and colloquialisms have been maintained.
CHAPTER ONE
BANG! THE DOOR TO the hatchway slammed shut. The noise echoed down the dark tunnel and left nothing but a ringing in the ears of Jack Davis and Matt Booker.
“Oh no,” Jack said. The tunnel was so dark he couldn’t see his friend at all.
Matt scrambled up the ladder-like steps, turned the thick, metal handle, and pushed as hard as he could. The door wouldn’t lift. “Well don’t just stand there,” Matt snapped. “Climb up here and help me.”
Jack felt his way up the splintered wooden steps and stopped when he was side by side with Matt at the top. “Quit breathing on me,” Jack said.
“You’re the one with the bad breath,” Matt replied. “Now push!”
With grunts and groans the two boys pressed on the door with every ounce of strength they had. It refused to lift.
“It must’ve locked when it slammed down,” Matt gasped.
“What do we do now?” Jack panted.
If they had been in the afternoon light outside, Jack would’ve seen Matt scrunch up his nose as he often did when he was thinking. “Scream for help?” Matt finally suggested. He pounded on the door and yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Hold it! Wait! Stop it!” Jack called out to Matt. “Who’s going to hear us?”
Matt groaned. Jack was right.
The two 11-year-old boys had been playing catch with a football behind Whit’s End, a large soda shop and “discovery emporium” where most of the kids in Odyssey liked to hang out. Jack had gone long for a pass from Matt, but the ball flew over Jack’s head and into a patch of woods nearby. While searching for the ball among the fallen leaves and dry branches, Jack stumbled onto a large, metal covering on the ground. It was half covered with leaves. A small sign bolted to the top said to “Keep Out.” For the naturally curious Jack and Matt, that meant “Get in if you can.” It was an invitation to a new adventure.
Jack had flagged Matt over and turned the latch while both of them yanked at the door. It creaked and opened. A large, black, square hole beckoned them.
“What do you think it is?” Matt had asked.
Jack had shrugged and told Matt to go down and look.
Matt had refused and said Jack should be the first to have a peek since he discovered it.
They had argued back and forth for a few minutes until accusations of “chicken” and “coward” were thrown around. Finally they agreed to go in at the same time, using a rock to prop the door open for light. But no sooner had they reached the bottom of the stairs and faced the yawning, dark tunnel than the rock slipped and the door closed.
“Maybe we should follow the tunnel to see where it leads,” Jack suggested.
Matt snorted. “And get lost in some kind of ancient maze under Odyssey? No way.”
“Then let’s just follow it a little ways in,” Jack said irritably. “If it doesn’t go anywhere, we’ll come back here.”
“And then what?” Matt wondered.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll just sit on these stairs until we starve to death.”
“That’s not funny,” Matt said as he crept down the stiff, wooden steps to the tunnel floor.
Jack slowly followed him. “Hello?” he called out, not really believing that anyone would call back. He coughed. The air smelled of earth and mildew, like an old basement.
They pressed against the cold, stone wall of the tunnel and inched forward into the blackness. They couldn’t even see their hands in front of their faces.
“I heard that a man’ll go crazy in a couple of hours in this kind of darkness,” Matt said.
“Thanks for the encouragement,” Jack growled. “What kind of place is this? An old mine shaft maybe?”
Matt suddenly stopped. Jack walked right into the back of him.
“Hey,” Jack complained.
“Watch where you’re going,” Matt said.
Jack wanted to ask him how he was supposed to watch where he was going, but he decided against it. “Why’d you stop?”
“If this is a mine shaft, there might be big holes,” Matt said in a voice full of worry. “I think we’d better go back to the steps.”
Jack sighed. “And do what? Eat wooden-step sandwiches until somebody finds us? I think we oughtta—” Jack stopped mid-sentence with a sharp intake of air.
“If it’s a snake or a rat, I don’t want to know,” Matt whispered.
“No,” Jack replied. “Look up ahead. It’s a little red light.”
Matt squinted deep into the wall of black but didn’t see anything. The darkness was simply dark. Then the small dot of red light appeared to him as if out of nowhere. “What do you think it is? I mean, you don’t think it’s anything alive, do you?”
“Huh-uh,” Jack answered. But his tone wasn’t confident. “Let’s check it out.”
Matt didn’t budge. “You check it out.”
“Why do I have to do everything around here? You’re in front; you check it out.”
“Nope,” Matt said. “You saw it first, so you can do the honors.”
Jack grumbled his disapproval as he carefully navigated around Matt, keeping his hands on the wall and tapping the ground with the tip of his sneakers to make sure it didn’t suddenly open up to a bottomless pit. He listened hard to make sure it wasn’t some kind of red-eyed monster waiting to devour lost kids. He moved closer and closer until—
Suddenly the red dot turned green.
“Hey,” Jack called out to Matt. “The light turned gr—”
Jack heard a soft click, and the tunnel exploded with white light.
CHAPTER TWO
“OW,” JACK SAID AS he winced, covering his eyes with his hands. “Is somebody there?”
“What’s going on here?” Matt asked. He squinted against the light and could barely make out Jack’s silhouette ahead in the tunnel.
No one answered.
After a minute, their eyes adjusted and they realized there were floodlights attached to the length of the tunnel wall—from the steps to a door about 20 yards ahead.
“The lights must be motion sensitive,” Matt observed.
“Motion what?” Jack asked.
“They turn on if something moves,” Matt explained. “We have them above our garage. That red light was probably the sensor.”
Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “At least we know we’re not trapped in some abandoned mine shaft. Let’s go see where that door leads.”
With renewed confidence, the two boys walked quickly to the end of the tunnel. The door was large and heavy-looking with square, decorative panels and a round, bronze doorknob. Jack reached out, grabbed the knob, and turned it. The latch clicked freely, and the door opened a crack. “Unlocked,” Jack whispered happily.
“You know, there might be somebody on the other side of that door who won’t like us barging in,” Matt said.
“Do you want to go back to the steps and wait until
someone finds your skeleton?” Jack asked.
Matt frowned. “The least you can do is knock first.”
Jack thought that was a reasonable idea. He ran his fingers through his dark hair nervously, then rapped his knuckles against the hard wood.
“Nobody’s going to hear that,” Matt said and quickly pounded on the door with his clenched fist. They waited. No one answered.
Jack looked at Matt with a smug expression and grabbed the doorknob again. “Ready to go in?”
Matt lifted his shoulders and raised his eyebrows as if to say, “If you insist.”
The door swung open silently on greased hinges. They peeked in uncertainly. Beyond them was a workroom, obviously situated in someone’s basement from the look of the rectangular windows high on the walls. A dusty sunshine broke through to give the room a warm, orangy glow. Jack and Matt stepped inside.
The muffled sound of kids talking and laughing made its way down the stairs leading up from the room. “We’re back at Whit’s End,” Matt said.
Jack nodded. “This has to be where Mr. Whittaker comes up with all his inventions.”
Mr. Whittaker—or Whit, as most people in town knew him— owned Whit’s End and ran it as a place where children of all ages could enjoy themselves and even learn something in the process. Whit’s End was originally Odyssey’s old recreation center; a building that was part house, part church tower, and part gymnasium. Whit completely renovated it to include a soda shop, library, theater, the county’s largest train set, and room after room of interactive displays, exhibits, and constantly changing activities.
Standing in the workroom, Jack and Matt suddenly realized just how much time and effort Whit put into his shop. Workbenches littered with tools, electronic parts, and gadgets sat beneath Peg-Boards adorned with schematics, diagrams, cords, wires, safety glasses, and even more tools. Boxes, sawhorses, large drills, a tool chest, and what looked to Matt and Jack like pieces of computer hardware were scattered around the floor. The room was an explosion of half-finished devices, bizarre contraptions, and peculiar equipment—all there for the purpose of making Whit’s End a fun and interesting place to visit.
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