FRECKLE FACE story

“Donna!!"

There goes my naggy brother Chris again. He must think I’m his slave, just because he’s one year older than me.

"WHAAT??" See, I know how to yell loud, too.

"Come 'ere! Hurry!"

"Why?"

“Because."

If he would explain, then I could decide better.

"I want to show you something."

Mom doesn't like to see us fight. But we do. Then after awhile we're friends again. Sometimes brothers can be such a pain.

"Coming," I say. My brother needs me a lot since my dad moved far away. When he left, it made us sad. But I still love him, even if he won't be with us this Christmas.

My Sunday school teacher says I should learn to love everybody. "Even my brother?" I asked.

"Yes." Then she opened up my bible and showed me John 3:16 --
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”

I like reading my bible. I think he gave it to me for grading. It’s a nice gift. At first I thought it was because he felt sorry for me. "How come he did, mom?" I asked.

"Maybe because we're new in church and..."

"And?" I interrupted. Sometimes I can be a pest.

"He said you have such cute freckles for a little girl!"

"I'm not a little girl mom," I said. “I’ll be eight soon. Pastor should know that."

"Are you coming or not?" said a loud voice tumbling down the stairs, and into my thoughts.

I finally went up to my brother's room. I made sure my feet stomped all the way.

"Well what do you want now?" I scolded.

Chris has more freckles than me. At school they tease him all the time. He said they call him 'freckle puss.' "Nobody better call me that," I said back.

"Lookit what I built for you," My brother said.

Suddenly I became very quiet. "For me?" It was a blue and white cross, made out of Lego. He knew I like to go to Sunday school. Sometimes my brother can be very nice. I think this must be one of those times.

We played with his Lego for a while. And I made a house with a funny roof. With a barn in back, and some animals drinking from a pond.

I thought about Christmas coming soon. And baby Jesus. So I made a new house. This time it was not a funny house. It wasn't even a castle, just a small stable for a little boy. He would even grow up to be our Savior.

"Thank you," I said to my brother, "for letting me play with your Lego." Then I gave him a big hug. "This Christmas won't be so bad," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you're my special brother. And I love you."

He was so surprised, he couldn't say any words. So I rushed to get my Bible. Then I sat on the floor beside Chris and read John 15:11-12.

Jesus said, "This is my commandment. That you love one another, as I have loved you."

"That goes for me too," Chris said with a big grin.

* * *

© 2008 Richard & Esther Provencher
All Rights Reserved

URL for Richard L. Provencher
http://writers.ns.ca/Writers/rprovencher.html