The Smiling Budda Loses

       When you are planning on deliberately disobeying your parent's desires, one needs to consider the options carefully. Mai decided that her parents never needed to know about her new friend Jedidiah, just as they never needed to know about the incident with Troy. Nor did her parents need to know that she prayed to someone other than her parent's beloved Budda. So Mai pulled out her secret tin can from under her bed containing her emergency funds. Her funds equalled exactly $2 and fifty cents, which she hoped would be enough bus faires to get her across town to the address list on the paper she uncrumbled from the bottom of her laundry basket. She couldn't ever imagine walking that far, though Jedidiah easily did it.

      Mai searched her messy room for her backpack and calmly put it on her back, and because no one was home, Her mother had finally left for the market, she started for the door. Mai waved to the Budda as she glided past him and out the front door. Mai skipped to the bus stop and for some reason she could not wipe the grin from her face.

          Jedidiah was preparing for Mai's visit to his run down house on Jefferson Street, exactly two bus stops away from the neighborhood where Mai Lin lived. He knew she was coming though just as sure as he knew his own name. He knew that as soon as the girl would leave that he would be on another trip across town as well so he began his usual scan of his room, searching for things that may prove to be useful. He did not know that this girl would be accompaning him on his next journey. Sometimes God does not tell you everything in advance,in fact sometimes God tells you nothing at all.

         The hour went by rather quickly as Jed filled his backpack with seemingly meaningless objects; a broken flashlight, two magnets, a brochure to an amusement park Jed could never afford to go to, a nerf dart belonging to his brother's broken nerf gun, three pieces of half eaten Hershey Bar and a bottle of hand lotion. Jedidah never questioned God's choices and so he grabbed the items that God lead him to without hesitation. Jed also filled his canteen and made four peanut butter sandwiches, not because he was particularily fond of peanut butter, but because it was the only thing he could find in the house to eat.

        At first Jed didn't realize that the knocking on his bedroom window was her. Mai Lin shyly threw a rock at the window, which just so happened to be Jed's room. On the third rock, the small scraggly head came to the window. Jed struggled to open the crusty window, but finally pried it open. There in front of him was the mermaid herself. Her beautiful doe-like eyes staring up at him and her ebony silk hair flowing over her shoulders. Jed opened his mouth and somehow was speechless. Mai Lin pulled out her crumbled paper and flattened it between her palms three or four times before getting the courage to speak. The odd silence gave Jed a chance to pray about this meeting.
   
      “Hi!” Mai yelled. “ I am here to give you your gift.” Mai held out the paper to Jed as if this paper was the gift itself. “Jesus saves!” She yelled. “Jesus saves!” Mai yelled again and again, her face was glowing and she bounced up and down with each call. After yelling for nearly five minutes, Jedidiah invited Mai inside. Normally Jedidiah would never invite someone inside. Inviting someonone inside meant that someone would see how poor a housekeeper his mother was or that someone may wish to call Department of Human Services to collect you and your brothers, as it so happened the last time someone came inside three years ago. Jedidiah wasn't worried about that this time. He knew Mai would not snitch on his mother's neglect.

       Jed lead Mai to the only spot on the couch that wasn't covered in grimy clothes. She sat down not worried about the filth surrounding her. She didn't glance down at the crumbs covering the floor or the broken cabinets in the disheveled kitchen. In fact Mai felt more at home here than at her clean tidy house. Mai hated her clean tidy house with the rules, the shiny smiling Budda, the nagging obsessive compulsive mother and the workaholic father who was never home. Mai purposely avoided cleaning her room as she knew how it upset her mother. She could even hear her mother now as she was surely home from the market. “Mai Lin clean your room now! Mai Lin come and help me in the kitchen! Mai Lin come and pick some herbs!” She grinned at the thought of what would happen when her mother realized Mai Lin was not coming out of her room to help her.

      “So did you pray to Jesus?” Jed got right to the heart of the matter. “Or did you just say the words?” Jed knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her admit it as that was an important step for a new believer.
       “Yes I prayed to Jesus in my room when I found this paper. I also prayed to Jesus right in front of the Budda.” Mai Lin smiled at that. “I also prayed to Jesus on the bus. I do not know who Jesus is, but Budda has not done anything for me and Jesus saved me from drowning so I will bet he is a better man that the Budda. Budda just sits and smiles his spooky smile at me all day long.” Jedidiah began to tell Mai Lin the short version of who Jesus was. He showed her the cross that never left his neck, one of the only things left from his grandma. He showed her a tattered bible and opened it to the Book of Luke.

      Mai just sat there on the ragged couch and stared at Jed. Her brain so full of questions that she didn't know how to ask. All she could manage to say was, “What now?” Jed didn't know what she meant by that question, but he had the need to get up and guide her to the door.
       “I am off to my next adventure.Please visit me again soon.” Jed knew as soon as the words left his lips that she was going with him though.
       “Okay we go on adventure together.” Mai stood up confidently and followed Jed to the door.
   
       Jed couldn't argue even though he wanted to. He knew she was going just like he knew that he needed a broken flashlight. The two children left Jed's house and headed east on Webster past the middle school that Jed would soon go to. Mai, who usually would have complained about having to walk more than two blocks, said nothing to her silent companion. He seemed to know what he was doing. Jed did know where he was headed. His latest dream revealed a large shopping center garage. He was crouched between an Audi TT and a Nissan Sentra, watching the scene unfold. He saw two large men who could easily be fugitives from prison. He wasn't able to see the end of the dream, God woke him up at that moment, but he could feel the urgency of the situation.

    Several blocks later, Jed stopped. Sometimes he could smell the danger in the air, but all he could smell this time was a passing garbage truck. Mai gave him a look that could melt chocolate. Jed had to stay focused though and turned away quickly. He did not want to regret bringing her. The garage was three blocks down and as soon as Jed saw it he knew.
      “We are here, you might want to stay out here while I go inside.”
      “What? Are you calling me a chicken. I can tell something is going to go down by the look on your scrawny little face.” Ouch that stung, Jed thought.
        “Okay but stay behind me and crouch low.” The two children crept up to the third floor of an almost vacant garage. Jed positioned himself between the two cars from the dream. Nothing happened. Nobody came out of the elevators. No cars other than the two he crouched between entered the garage. Jed sighed. “Am I early? am I late? What is going on Lord?” Jed sat there baffled and finally the voice, the same one that he knew was not his conscious, said “Wait be patient!”
   
         So he sat and waited. Finally after an hour, soon after the sun had went down, the two men from his dream walked out of the elevator. The huge men were arguing. One man had a skull tattoo on his shoulder. The other man had an unkept moustache. One man mentioned the gang Nortenos and the other man started spouting off angry words in Spanish. Jed didn't think this was his moment, not yet. There was something else he was supposed to do. He began his prayer shortly after the argument was over. Mai just squat next to him her heavy breath beating on his cheek. She knew better than to speak, even though she had a million and one questions.

       Just as Jedidiah said “Amen” a car drove up. It was a white Prius with Arizona plates. The driver parked her car three spots away from the arguing gang members. The man called Junior stopped arguing and snickered. He rubbed his moustache and grinned. The other man, Luis, stroked the knife in his belt. Both men started walking towards the lady. Jedidiah put his hand out to Mai Lin signalling her to stay put and before she could object he darted out in front of the two gang members. Jed calmly grabbed the bottle of lotion from his backpack as if it were a pistol. He walked toward the two men and aimed his lotion bottle at the floor in front of them. The lady, totally oblivious to the men was still putting on make up in her car. Mai, ignoring the advice of her new friend, crouched behind the cars and started towards the lady in the Toyota.

The Crumbled Paper

Jedidiah woke up covered in sweat. He knew that today she would come. It had been three months but he did not forget her beautiful face nor her innocent smile.

Mai Lin, however, had no intention of going anywhere today. She didn't want to get out of her slippers and robe nor did she want to climb off her bed. It was one of those days where mother complained at her every move. "Mai the herbs needed to be plucked and you left out the blue pot to get dirty. Mai you made a mess in the bathroom again. Mai get dressed. Mai wash your clothes. Mai your music is too loud." The music was purposely too loud to drone out her mother's nagging voice every three minutes. Mai's father was down at the family's dry cleaning business and her mother was supposed to go to the market, but for some reason got delayed. Somehow it was her fault, as it was always her fault.

Mai had completely forgotten about the slip of paper that was stuck at the bottom of her laundry basket. She would never forget the small mousey blond boy who risked his life to save hers. He had a funny name and he was very strange talking about Jesus. Mai heard of Jesus, but being a Buddhist she never talked about him nor really thought much of it. She regarded him as a skinnier version of Buddha.

Mai dumped out her laundry basket to find a certain pair of jeans that she contemplated wearing and saw the crumpled phone bill with Jedidiah's scribbled writing on the back. Mai stared at it for a long time as if the paper was poisonous. Finally she reached into the basket and pulled out the paper, which despite being moldy and a little wet was nothing to fear. She opened the crumpled wad of paper and straightened it to read the words on the back. "Jesus Christ Saves". "Hmmm..." Mai thought as she recalled the words the funny boy told her. "I am to go to this house."
Mai had never prayed to Jesus. She had knelt many a time to the Buddha in the hallway and said her chants. But this was different. She wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do nor did that matter. She got on her knees as she had seen done in movies and she closed her eyes. "Um Jesus...you there?" Mai felt rather silly, but was compelled to continue. "I don't know if you are real, but you saved me... I guess. I mean that boy did but he said it was you. So...." Mai stopped, what do you say when you don't even know who you are talking to.

"I want to believe in you Jesus, but I don't know... and my mom will kill me." That last statement made Mai Lin smile. "Jesus I will do it. I will believe in you." Mai Lin stood up and grabbed her back pack, it was time to pay the odd boy from the pool a visit.

Jedidiah and the Mermaid

Jedidiah had no idea where the community pool was, but the image of the beautiful drowning mermaid was forefront in his mind. He took Jefferson street west for three blocks and then turned north for another two. If Jed had arrived five minutes earlier he would have been directly behind a skipping Asian girl, but then he would have been too early.
Mai Lin danced into the gate of the community pool and eagerly counted out $1.75 to the scrawny blond haired teenager at the window. Mai Lin's grin was contagious and the scrawny teenager smiled back. Mai Lin was totally oblivious to him and continued skipping onward to the poolside. Troy and his bumbling buddies were already in the pool area standing by the life guard booth. Mai Lin took off her street clothes to reveal a beautifully embroidered pink bikini and a equally stunning yellow sarong upon her waist.
Robby Larson, Troy's handsome older cousin, was also undressing. He took off his shirt to reveal his muscles and began to flirt with the life guard on duty.
"Hello Chink!" Yelled Troy's gangly red-headed accomplice, Walter Cunningham.
"Yes, May Lin How are you?" Troy cut in. Mai didn't even realize that Troy mispronounced her name, nor did she realize the condescending tone to his voice.
Troy was also grinning ear to ear, but not because he was happy to see Mai, but because of the fun he was about to have with her.
"So Mai, are you a good swimmer?" Troy moved closer to Mai as he walked forcing her to walk further along the edge of the pool away from the safe shallow end.
"Um not really," Mai shyly returned.
"That's too bad. We are excellent swimmers." Troy snidely responded. This time Mai could sense danger. She also could hear her mother's voice in her head, first in hurried Mandarin and then in choppy English. "Those boys are trouble. You need to to get away." Mai turned to run but Walter forced her to turn towards the pool instead with a sharp blow to her side.
"Let's see if Chinagirl can swim." Troy exclaimed as he pushed Mai forward. Mai lost footing and plunged face first into the freezing pool. After her apparent belly flop, she began thrashing her arms frantically, bobbing and coughing in between each thrash.
Jennifer Jones, the cute 17 year old life guard, was still flirting with Robby Larson and did not notice the drowning girl.
At the very moment that Mai had stopped flailing her arms, Jedidiah was digging in his backpack for $1.75. He found exact change in a small forgotten pocket, and quickly paid the young attendant. Three laughing boys nearly toppled over Jedidiah as he rounded the corner to the pool. The red-headed one elbowed Jedidiah as he rudely passed by.
Jedidiah had never been to the community pool so the initial shock to his nasal cavity was enough to make him nearly gag. Then he saw her. The mermaid from his dream was floating in the pool. Jedidiah wasted no time. He jumped into the freezing water head first and pulled on the dangling body. It was as if God had given him fins and gills as Jedidiah glided effortlessly through the water.
Mai Lin hacked and wheezed, spitting water all over the concrete floor. "Th- ank you" , she gasped.
Jedidiah found her towel and placed it on her delicate shoulders as she wheezed and hacked some more.
Then all of a sudden she rose. Jed followed.
"It is my family's custom to thank someone properly. How can I find you to return this favor?"
Jedidiah reached into his back pack and found a pencil and a piece of paper. "Funny thing", Jedidiah thought, "I didn't put those in there." The paper was an overdue phone bill complete with his address and mother's account information on it, not something you would usually hand a stranger.
Jedidiah turned over the bill and began to write his initials vertically down the left side of the paper.
J
C
S
It was almost artistic as if he were going to write an acrostic poem. Then he began to write his name, but he stopped on the e, and continued to write Jesus. On his other initials he wrote Christ Saves and then he handed the paper to Mai.
Go to the address on the back and yell these words. That is the only gift I need. Jedidiah turned to leave so he didn't see the shocked expression on Mai Lin's face. "What an odd thing." She thought.
"Jesus Christ Saves" Mai Lin knew her Buddist parent's would hate that. The rebel in Mai Lin smiled. "Yes he does!"

Jedidiah 6 "Decisions"

One would think that after having a beer bottle hurled toward your head, you would want to get as far away as possible, but not Adela Stitch. Adela was as stubborn as the lid on a brand new spaghetti jar, and she was going to get her money from James Stitch. She pushed Jason gently aside and brushed the dirt from her blue jeans. This time she marched to the door. James was still there propped in the door frame, wiping frantically at his bloody nose with his blue paisley handkerchief that he got at a garage sale. Jimmy's blow had caused the bleeding to drip all the way down James' white tank top and onto his yellow nylon shorts.

"So James. How much are ya gonna give me?"
"I told you lady, I ain't got nothing"
"Well that be the case I will just take your keys to the Harley."

Adela walked over to the beautiful red 1957 Panhead chopper that was parked in his covered spot #204, which James paid an extra rental fee each month, to help keep the Harley in near mint condition. James Stitch had hardly anything of any value, but he had this. He didn't ride it and never did. He washed it, waxed it and stared at it from his plastic .99 cent Walmart chair from his tiny apartment porch.

"Not the Harley." James squealed like a little girl. "I may have some money in the sock drawer."
The "sock drawer" was James'private alcohol stash that he surreptitiously hid from his current wife Melody. It was a small black metal cash box that he kept under his bed among his yearbooks and boring motorcycle magazines. James offered the prized box to Adela. Once opened, it revealed only $250 in small bills. Adela laughed. "Seriously James? That Harley is worth at least $20,000 and you want me to settle for this, not even enough for one month's rent, never mind the four months I owe, nor the ten years of child support you owe me."

Meanwhile Jedidiah was tossing and turning on the couch. Usually after saving lives and souls, he had no problem sleeping midday. God had different plans for Jedidiah today, however. Jed slept for approximately 20 minutes, just enough time to dream. This time, he saw a girl. She was not much older than he with long black hair and a beautiful delicate face. Her hair was flowing as if she was a mermaid. Though her delicate face soon turned an awfuil shade of pale blue. She was not swimming nor struggling to do so, she was simply floating.

Jedidiah had never learned to swim, never even went to a public pool, lake or beach. This was odd for a child who grew up on the California coast, but Jedidiah was an odd child. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that he needed to dive in and save this drowning girl.

Jed got off the couch and looked in his backpack. He didn't think he would need the remaining items, but God had a funny way of surprising him so he left the contents alone. He found a pair of shorts that would have to serve as a bathing suit and put them on and then found a small worn towel to add to the backpack. Then he kneeled to pray.

Mai Lin is actually 2 months shy of 13. Her family moved to San Francisco 3 years ago from Nanjin, a large city in Eastern China. Mai's family owned a business and was very hard working, but Mai had a rebellious streak in her.

Mai did not know how to swim, but Troy Winters did. Troy was her parent's worst nightmare and part of the reason why Mai was so attracted to him. He was in the 8th grade and on the basketball team and most importantly, he was white. Mai was in the 7th grade and absolutely forbidden to date and especially not allowed to fraternize with white boys. Mai thought Troy was inviting her on a date to the community pool. Troy had other plans. Troy pretended to like Mai, but he secretly loathed her and all the chinks. He overhead Mai telling her friend Gloria that she couldn't swim and he created a plan.

Mai glided gracefully past the Budda statues that glared from each room. She silently slithered to the front door. Her mama was out on the porch tending to their tiny herb garden. Her baba was at the family's dry cleaning business so neither parent heard her leave.

Mai skipped the 4 blocks to the community pool towel swinging wildly in hand. Troy, however, was hiding behind the stairwell just inside the door. He was equally excited.

Jedidiah 5 "Confrontation"

Jed had no idea that his mom found an eviction notice plastered to their door that morning, nor did he realize that at this very moment his brothers were preventing her from doing something she would later regret if it didn't kill her.
Jedidiah had never met his father. James Stitch was one of those men who made your blood curl after meeting him only once. He was rough on the exterior and even more callous on the inside. Even when he chose to be sober and clean, he was an abusive husband and father. His rude demeanor and foul temper kept Adela and the boys living a sheltered life away from the neighbors and any friends they may have gained throughout the years.

Jesse, Jason and Jimmy all remember years with pop as stressful and even disturbing. Only Jared, the oldest replica of James, remembers the wildly fun side of dad, that Adela originally was drawn to. Jedidiah was a baby when James high tailed it out of Adela's crazy world, thus relieving her of further abuse. In fact the night he left, James violently attacked Adela. Jared, who was 10 at the time jumped in to protect his mother who was holding the baby Jedidiah. Jedidiah had already a divine protector though at this time had no idea of it. James fought his son with an open switch blade, but Jared, the fearless younger version of James, was not afraid.

Jimmy, Jason and Jesse stayed weeping in the corner. In fact, up to this point the three boys always observed from the corners. For some reason, as Adela traipsed across town with nothing but a torn eviction notice in her hand in search of James Stitch, the two older boys Jimmy and Jason got out of the corner and headed after her.

Both boys were a good twenty minutes behind their mom. Not because they wished to be, but to avoid her seeing them. They knew that their mom had a lot to say so that afforded the boys some extra time. Adela was owed 10 years of child support, not that their drug induced alcoholic father had any intention or means of paying it. He would at least let her make a fool out of herself, in his opinion before striking.

Jedidiah was extremely dirty and ravishingly hungry so he temporarily gave up searching for his missing mother and three brothers. Jesse, who was only 13, was actually only two doors down at his friend Mark's house, and was just as clueless as Jedidiah of their whereabouts. By the time Jedidiah had showered and ate a peanut butter sandwich, his mother and two brothers were all the way across town at James's apartment.

Adela was a small woman at on 5'2. When she knocked on the metal door she felt even smaller. When James, who was a good foot taller than her, opened the door she shrunk. His drunken 200 pound body shook the door frame as he leaned upon it.

"Whatchu want?" James yelled angrily.
"Well hello James." Adela calmly replied. "I am going to lose the house." She thrusted the eviction letter at James.
"How is that my business lady?" James slurred.
"Well your boys will need some place to live and you owe us lots of money." Adela bravely blurted out.
"Ha ha, I don't have any money for you." snickered an incoherent James.

By this time, two heads were poking out of the hedge across the walk way trying to remain silent. Also at this time, Jedidiah had finished his sandwich and was on his knees praying for his mother.

So when James Stitch threw a beer bottle at Adela, the two teenagers jumped from the bushes and headed toward their furious father. And at at the very moment when James rose his fist towards Adela, Jedidiah was praying.

"Lord please protect my mother, wherever she may be. Guard her from danger. Send your angels to surround her. Guide my brothers as they too are missing. Help them to make wise decisions, Lord." At the mention of the word "angels" James swung his fury towards Adela and Jason from the left and Jimmy from the right tackled their huge father.

Jason then grabbed his mother to comfort her. Neither brother ever suspected their youngest brother was praying for them, nor would they have considered themselves angels. God will use even two rough hooligan teenagers to act as his angels.

When Jedidiah was done praying. He was spent and sweating. A warm jolt of peace had surged through him. He knew it wasn't his lunch but he could not exactly explain it either. Adela knew her youngest son was unique. She knew of some of his special "powers" yet she did not know that the power of Jedidiah was really the power of God.

Jedidiah then laid down on the couch in front of the television, which he rarely watched. He knew his mother would return soon and he needed to rest.

The Mud Pile--Installment 4 Jedidiah Stitch

When lying in a mud puddle at the edge of a drunk man’s feet, you only have a few options.  One, stand up and hope that the drunk man forgets that he was trying to kill you. Two, roll away and start running, and three, lay there until the stench becomes unbearable. Jedidiah lied there long enough to pray and realized that yes, the mud was not all that comfortable and the stench was unbearable.

Installment 3 Jedidiah Stitch

“Mickey Massacre”


        Any normal 10 year old would never think of walking towards the barrel of a loaded gun. Fortunately, Jedidiah was not a normal 10 year old. Jedidiah was not always so brave, however. There was a time, almost a year before, that Jedidiah was made fun of at school for his long name, his short stature, his messy blond hair that even gel could not tame, and his clothes that were usually quite worn looking as they were passed from brother to brother, finally arriving at the youngest of 4.
       Then Jedidiah met Mickey “Massacre” Smith, the meanest biggest bully in the 5th grade. Jedidiah was the smallest wimpiest kid in the 4th grade. Mickey would give wedgies to the kindergartners and steal lunch money from little first grade girls leaving them in tears.
      Nobody dared to stand up to The Massacre because he was so huge and terrifying. Jedidiah would not have stood up to him either if it weren’t for Susie Sullivan. Susie had eyes that sparkled like diamonds, a smile as sweet as ice cream, and curly golden locks the color of sunshine. Mickey made Susie cry by spitting on her ham sandwich. Jedidiah couldn’t stand it any longer.
       Jedidiah was a flea compared to Mickey. Despite this, he walked right up to Mickey confronting him. He raised his right fist as high as he could, which only fell to Mickey’s belly. Jed was sure that Mickey’s belly was as hard as a bag of rocks, but none-the-less he started to slowly move his fist towards it. Right before contact was made, Jed heard a voice. The voice said “Stop! Pray!”
     Now Jedidiah recognized a voice as his conscious, the softer version of his own voice when faced with indecision, but this voice was different. He knew this was God. Jedidiah accepted Christ into his heart at a tender age of 6 and at that time, even though he truly meant well, he did not know what that meant entirely. He never heard this voice so clearly before. This voice was telling Jedidiah to not only stop, but to pray….for Mickey. Jedidiah slowly put his fist down. He stood silently in prayer, while a very shocked Mickey started to laugh.
     “Have you met the Lord Jesus?” Jedidiah calmly asked the huge 5th grader.
Mickey’s mouth dropped open. His knees gave way and he fell to the dirty cafeteria floor. Then his chuckles turned to sobbing.
      Jedidiah, determined to make a difference, kept at it. “Jesus died for you and me. You can know him as I do and change your ways.”
      Mickey looked up and directed his anger, frustrations and sadness of his horrible home life towards the heavens; putting aside all of these, he replied, “I want to change. I do. I do.”
      By this time the entire 5th grade, and most of the 4th, were surrounding the two boys, mostly standing in awe of what they were witnessing. The smallest boy at Thomas Morrow Elementary School had brought the biggest boy in the city to his knees in submission.
      Of course, Jedidiah knew that it was God and not by his own strength that had done this miracle, but most of the kids did not. Close to 4o students witnessed Jedidiah lead Mickey “the Massacre” to Christ and they wanted to have that same power.
      Ever since this incident a year ago, Jedidiah has spoken directly to God. His dreams and visions tell him what to do and his prayers give him the tools he needs to accomplish his missions. This is why Jedidiah was not afraid to walk towards the barrel of a gun, a loaded one at that. After all, the Lord was in charge and this was not his ending. In fact, as Jedidiah continued to walk forward, at approximately the same time that the man pulled the trigger, Jedidiah tripped on a stick. He fell to the muddy ground and narrowly, but not coincidentally, missed being shot in the face by a deadly bullet