LITTLE ROCK — Kids do surprising things sometimes. Even after you work with kids awhile and think you know what to expect of them, they still come up with surprises.
When we lived in Wheatley, Ark., in the early 1970s, our two kids had neighbor friends. Two boys, Travis and Kevin, lived next door to us, and Paul, the school coach's son, lived across the street behind us.. Those three boys with our Jeff made an interesting neighborhood "crew." They got to know each other riding bikes.
Wheatley was a small town of about 500 in east-central Arkansas, and their many bike tours kept the town wellchecked on. But at times, the crew would run out of interesting things to do and then you never knew just what to expect. Often they would come to me, looking for something interesting to do. Occasionally I would come up with an idea that was appealing, like, "Let's get the tools and the oil and clean up and oil all the bikes!" Our house was the neighborhood bike shop: the place where kids came to air up tires, to get chains tightened, handlegrips put back on, handlebars straightened and tightened, seats raised or lowered. Those were interesting sessions, with the kids working, oiling, tightening and shining.
But, I always expected that on some days, no suggestion I had was going to sound interesting. I didn't always try to solve their boredom problems.
I thought they needed to use their own imaginations. Still, it was surprising what I got from them when I would make suggestions for something to do.
I'm remembering a couple of occasions in particular.
The first developed from a pile of bricks. The Wheatley church had built a new church building several years earlier, and 300 or so bricks were left over. Those had been stashed behind the garage, which stood 15 feet or so from the back door of our house. Although they had probably been neatly stacked at first, over time the stacks had been turned over, and the whole mess was in disarray. I had started moving a few of the bricks inside the building, stacking them neatly, intending to eliminate the mess outside. Here enters my crew, my boys, looking for something to do. So, I suggested that they carry the bricks from the jumble out back into the arrangement I had started inside. I told them, "I'll pay you a nickel for every brick you move!"
I was on my way out for an appointment, so I couldn't stay around, and I left the boys to their task. When I got back, to my surprise, every brick had been moved to a neat place inside the building, and most of the mess behind the garage was cleaned up. The thing was, the boys were ready to be paid, and I discovered that I owed each of them nearly $5 dollars!
Then they wanted to move the bricks to the other side of the garage for me. OK, enough spent on moving the bricks! I'll count the bricks more closely before offering my pay rate next time!
One day, the boys came to me saying, "We don't have anything to do."
On that day, I couldn't stay around to work with them, so I said, "Then go get some shovels and go out in the garden and dig to China!"
I thought they might actually enjoy digging out there for 10 or 15 minutes. I went on about my business and didn't return for an hour or two. I didn't see the boys at first, but soon I began hearing their voices out back in the garden. I went back to see what they were up to. At first, I saw my son, Jeff, and Travis, the other older boy, standing by a big mound of dirt, looking down and giving instructions!. As I got closer, I found that the two little boys, Kevin and Paul, were down in a hole nearly five feet deep in the ground, toiling like little miners!
I told the big boys, I hope you two haven't been just bossing the little boys and having them do all the work! No, they said, but they wanted to dig, too, so we are lettin' them dig, too! I don't think I ever saw a group of boys work so hard, for no pay, and for no purpose but the satisfaction of making a big hole in the ground. I asked them, "Have you'all almost reached China?"
Kevin, one of the 6-year-olds, looked up from deep in the hole, and asked me, "Mr.
Preacher, China ain't really down here, is it?"
Well, how do you give a straightforward answer to a question like that? Yes, China is way down there, on the other side of the world; but, No, you're not gonna get there even if you dig all day tomorrow and the day after!
I didn't ever have the boys fill in that shaft to China. Eventually I shoveled the dirt back in myself.
Contact Jerry Nichols by email at [email protected], or call 479-621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 07/29/2009