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.
