They all laughed.
“Look,” Dan added, “I know that bein’ a Christian is what I needed. Last semester, with my drinking problem and all . . .”
Bucky said nothing.
“But some of the rest of this, I don’t know about.” Dan scratched his head. “This business of getting to church every single weekend and . . . all that.” He looked over at Sam. “What about you? Are you a ‘no dancing, no R-rated movies’ kind of guy too?”
The Vietnamese student nodded carefully.
“How’s Denise feel about that?”
“Hasn’t come up a whole lot,” Sam conceded.
Dan’s face was thoughtful. “I don’t know, guys . . .”
Sam reached down to pick up a potato chip that had fallen to the concrete. “That’s just the point,” he reflected. “Things like living a godly life – you really can’t understand it all until you really study it like you should.” He paused. “Then you get the beauty of God’s whole plan.”
Bucky gave him an appreciative look.
Glancing at his watch, Dan announced, “Well, we got assembly in five minutes.” Then he wrapped the remains of his lunch up in a tiny ball and hurled it at a trash can twenty-five feet away. “Missed.” He turned to Bucky. “You know they’re having the gymnastics team from that college of yours.”
The gymnasium echoed metallically as students milled around looking for favorite seat mates. A loudspeaker suspended high above the stage area barked out muffled directions that went largely ignored.
Bucky and Dan sat down in a half-empty row toward the back of the auditorium. Although Bucky scanned the rows ahead of him for Deirdre, the junior was nowhere in sight.
“These guys any good?” Dan whispered.
“I don’t know. Never seen ‘em before.”
Mr. Wallace walked out and tapped on the microphone. “Your attention, please.” An electronic howl filled the building.
Briefly he announced the athletic team. “This gymnastic troupe from Pacific College is one of the best touring the West Coast, and I know you’ll enjoy their performance today. We’ve had groups in here from Christian colleges before, and they’ve always been topnotch. So let’s give them a good Hampton High welcome.”
Bucky joined in the applause as the team bounded in from the wings. With a minimum of fanfare, the fourteen-member squad went right into its routine, an impressive variety of the latest gymnastic stunts.
“Boy, these guys aren’t bad!” Dan muttered approvingly as the smallest member of the troupe completed an intricate balancing act atop a pyramid of fellow students. Applause and whistles filled the gymnasium as the fourteen gymnasts lined up for their final curtain call.
A second round of low whistles went up as a pretty college freshman girl stepped forward to wrap up the program.
“Oh, baby!” hooted out one of the high school seniors in the back of the gym. Everybody laughed.
The girl smiled. “Hello!” She turned to the team. “Somebody liked us.” She teasingly gave the senior a “call-me” gesture, then beamed as the place erupted with applause. Quickly she listed the team members’ names and academic majors as the athletes waved to the student body.
“Now, before we leave, and let you get back to your classes,” she grinned, “we just want to tell you guys something. You know all of us go to a Christian college.” The auditorium grew quiet. “And it’s our faith in God that gives us the desire to be all we can be, not only in physical health and ability, but in every area of our lives.”
A surge of pride filled Bucky as he listened to her, “I know a lot of you guys face problems,” she went on in her simple way. “All of us here went through ‘em too. Just like you. But we’re just here to tell you that Jesus can help you solve any problem you may ever encounter. After the program, if any of you want to talk to a member of our team, that’d be awesome. Just come up to the front and find one of us. OK?”
As she closed, the beat of an accompaniment MP3 file filled the gym. Stepping to microphones the gymnasts began to sing. The contemporary melody echoed throughout the huge auditorium: “Amazing Lord.”
“This is totally cool!” Bucky told Dan as the music faded to a round of clapping. They filed toward the exit.
Looking over his shoulder, Bucky thought about going up to the team and introducing himself, but saw that a crowd of students blocked his path. Only three minutes until class, he noticed reluctantly.
Just as he entered the biology classroom, Deirdre pranced by on the other side of the hallway. “Hey, baby!”
As he looked up she puckered up her lips at him, then batted her eyelids slowly before easing down the hallway.
Between the gymnastic performance and Deirdre in the hallway, it was tough to concentrate in biology class. Bucky tried in vain to keep his mind locked on the topic of the day.
At last the bell! Scooping up his books, he glanced at his watch. Just twenty minutes to make it to the bank. As he walked down the hallway he suddenly heard someone calling his name. He peered into the classroom the voice had come from. It was nearly empty now with just a few students gathering up textbooks and sheets of notepaper. He cocked his head.
“Over here.” Then he saw Miss Cochran motioning to him from the front of the room. One of the high school’s English teachers, she was just in her second year, but already a favorite, especially among the boys on campus. She and Bucky had had several thoughtful discussions the year before when he had taken English I. “Got a minute?”
Glancing at his watch again, he apologized, “Well, just about a minute is all. I have to get to my job at the bank.”
“Oh, sure.” She motioned toward a seat. “Sit down.”
Curious, he set his books down. “What’s up?”
The last student finally exited from the room. Bucky waited expectantly as Miss Cochran looked down at her hands.
“That was a good assembly program,” she observed.
“Boy, it sure was.”
“They’re kids from your church, aren’t they?”
“Uh huh.” He nodded vigorously. “Well, our church is kind of linked up with them. Several of our kids go there, I know. But none of them were on the gymnastics team.”
She put an elbow on her desk and rested her chin in her hand thoughtfully. “They did a nice job.”
He waited.
“All during this last class I was thinking about – you know – the way they closed. With that song and everything.”
Bucky leaned forward. Once before Miss Cochran had shared just a hint of her own spiritual interest.
“ ‘Course, I know how you feel about things like that,” she went on. She gave him a warm look. “I guess just about the whole school does.” Miss Cochran paused, seeming to form her thoughts as she went along. “You know something? What that girl said really got to me. About trusting God to help solve our problems.”
He nodded. “Uh huh. I guess . . . I’m glad you liked it.”
Her face appeared troubled. “Well, that’s why it’s so hard to say what I guess I feel like I have to say.”
Suddenly he felt himself frowning.
“Bucky, this is a public school. It’s all . . . state. You know? Government?” She paused. “And as much as I liked what those kids did and said, and as much as I know you liked it, too, and agreed with it even . . .”
As he began to tense up, she licked her lips as she struggled to find words.
“That kind of presentation just doesn’t belong here. Not in a public school where kids have to attend.”
For a moment he didn’t know how to respond. All the pride, the pleasant memories, began to seep away. Jerking his head up in dismay, he said, “I don’t get it. What’s wrong with them just singing a song like that? Don’t they . . . don’t they have the right to do that?”
Miss Cochran shook her head slowly. “I remember this happened once when I was a student teacher. Some students from a fundamentalist-type Bible school came over and wanted to have
a Bible club at the high school campus where I was working. Pass out tracts and everything. And the principal wouldn’t let them.”
“How come?”
“Well . . . it’s hard to explain. But remember again, this is a public school. Everything’s paid for by the state. You know? Taxpayers’ money? And the state just doesn’t have any business pushing religion or even God on students. ‘Specially when they’re required to attend, like in assembly today.”
Bucky shook his head in baffled frustration. “Man, I never thought about something like that.”
She nodded. “It’s easy not to. Especially when someone’s a Christian like you are.” For a second she studied him. “It’s just natural to say, ‘Well, that sounds great.’ ‘Cause you believe in it. But what if some group had gotten up front and spilled a whole bunch of doctrine or beliefs you didn’t believe? Then you’d scream bloody murder . . . just like some parents are going to do when they hear about today.”
The boy was silent a moment. “Why are you telling me all this?” he said at last.
Miss Cochran pursed her lips. “Well, because the church you go to has a connection with them. And I know for a fact that Christ Our Redeemer and its sister churches are very careful about this kind of thing. You know, ‘separation of church and state.’ In fact, I saw a magazine once, and I think it was your church that printed it.”
He shrugged. “I guess. I’ve never seen it.”
“Maybe you could let your pastor or somebody know what happened today,” she suggested. “I mean, like I said, I think somebody just slipped up. Everybody meant well.”
They lapsed into silence for some time. “Boy,” he said finally, “I never would have thought about something like this.”
“I know.” She leaned forward. “And, Bucky, please don’t get me wrong. It was a nice performance, and really, a very nice gesture, too. Everybody meant well. But in a public school setting, we have to be so careful. And wise.” Slowly she stood. “And in a way, it’s that kind of religious ‘carefulness,’ or religious freedom, that makes America the unique kind of country it is. Separation of church and state has really protected our nation from many hurtful abuses that other countries have endured. You know, like the Taliban and their Sharia laws?”
“Yeah. You’re right.” He gathered up his books, then paused. “Thanks.”
Her face softened again. “Sure.”
His mind in turmoil, Bucky headed down the hallway toward the front parking lot. Could a simple witnessing gesture like that actually be wrong? He thought of all the times during the past two years that he had shared his faith with fellow classmates. Of course, I’m just a student, he reminded himself. It wasn’t the same as an official school program. Or was it? Confused, he shook his head.
As he walked out the front door of the classroom complex, he glanced at his watch with a groan. “Late on my second day,” he muttered unhappily to himself, quickening his pace.
Just then a car honked. “Goin’ my way, good-lookin’?” Deirdre was motioning toward him. “Hop in.”
He climbed into the passenger side of her car. “Boy, I am so late for work, this is really a lifesaver.”
“You get detained after class for chewing gum or something?”
“Nah.” He paused. “Kind of complicated.”
She raised an eyebrow as her expensive car wheeled out of the high school parking lot. “California State Bank, right?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at his watch again. “I should make it with about four seconds to spare.”
She briefly glanced at him. “While you’re passing out money at the bank, Mr. Stone, I have an invite for you.”
“Sure. Lay it on me.”
The car noiselessly slid around a corner. Down the street was the bank. “My cousin scored me two tickets to see Endorphins a week from Saturday. Down on Fisherman’s Wharf. You gotta come see them perform with me.”
Chapter Six: Pizza Parlor Plan
“Now I don’t need to tell you how important these details are,” Mr. Willis emphasized.
Bucky nodded, but his mind will still on Deirdre. What about this concert? He’d heard of the club where the hot band was performing. Teens were allowed, but it had a reputation for risqué performances, and there was always booze and – some kids said – a flow of drugs running through the seedy establishment.
During his break, he had gone to the general computer in the back and done an internet search on the featured band. Endorphin featured a battle-scarred female lead singer dressed in a tawdry tank top and G string, and the web site flashed with scarlet lyrics that made him blush with shame. He knew he couldn’t go with her, but how could he turn her down and still keep the flickering flame of romance alive? Should he even try? Was taking her to the prom a fool’s errand that was bound to end in an eventual breakup anyway?
Forcing his thoughts back to the present, he focused on the bank manager’s instructions. “If you’re in a situation where you need to activate the alarm, there are several ways you can do it. One, of course, is with the bait money. That’s the last stack of bills in this drawer here.” He demonstrated. “See, when I pull these out, the red light goes on immediately.”
The high school boy had a questioning look. “Don’t most bank robbers already know about that?”
The manager nodded reluctantly. “Yes, that’s true. You may get one who knows all the ropes: the bait money, the regular alarm switch under the counter, everything.”
“Then what?”
Mr. Willis looked at the two other trainees before answering. “Always” – he emphasized the word with a little pop of his fist on the tabletop – “always do the safe thing. Protect yourself and the lives of your fellow workers first of all. The money comes second after that. Is that clear?”
He looked around. “Never jeopardize people. Never take chances. If a thief has a gun in your face and says, ‘No bait money,’ then no bait money.”
“Does stuff like this really happen?” Bucky asked, a tingle running up his spine.
“Not much in this area.” Mr. Willis glanced at a sheet on his desk. “Only two in this whole county the last year. But we always have to be prepared.”
Sheila, a red-haired girl in her late twenties, raised her hand. Bucky grinned at her six - month - pregnant abdomen straining at the buttons on her smock. “Didn’t you say we would learn some signals each month to let another teller know there’s trouble?”
“Right. Getting to that now.”
Bucky scribbled down several notes as the training session continued. More and more, he was feeling like the banking world could really be a niche for him someday.
Later that evening he described to his father what he was learning. The two of them conversed casually in the garage while Dad planed a door that had been sticking in the frame.
“Why don’t they just give you all machine guns?” Dad teased as he slid the clumsy metal plane over the stubborn wood.
“Oh, and he told us all about cash transfers from branch to branch. You know, with those weird-looking trucks.”
“Brinks?”
“I guess that’s them. Anyway, he said they don’t use them so much anymore. Too much risk.”
Dad felt the edge of the door with his finger, then frowned. “Well, isn’t banking pretty much all electronic now? With debit cards and online banking? Who uses cash anymore?”
“Well, somebody must.” Bucky leaned over and sighted along the door’s edge. “My drawer at work has thousands of dollars in it sometimes.”
“Ah, money, money, money.” Suddenly the plane hit a rough spot and slipped, rapping Dad’s free hand hard on the knuckles. He let out a grunt, then hissed a quiet string of curses through his clenched teeth while clutching the bruised fingers.
“Are you OK?”
Dad walked around in a tight little circle, still rubbing the sore spot. “Yeah.” Lilting the knuckle to his mouth, trying to ease the pain, he looked over at his son. “Sorry.”
&n
bsp; “ ‘s OK.” His son tried to mask his startled look. It was the first time he’d heard his father swear in months. Picking up the heavy tool he set it on the edge of the door.
“Aaaah, leave it.” Mr. Stone went into the kitchen without speaking.
The next day Bucky waited expectantly outside a classroom door on the second floor of the main complex. A little homework paid off as promptly at noon a flood of students came pouring into the hallway. Right in the middle of the crowd was Deirdre.
When she saw him, her face lit up. “Well, Mr. Stone, what a delicious accident.”
“No accident. I painstakingly planned this for months.”
“I’m touched.”
“And I’m starving.” He looked at her. “How ‘bout lunch?”
“Don’t you always eat lunch with your gentlemen friends?”
Bucky shrugged casually. “I gave them the day off.”
The couple sat at a small table in a corner of the lunch area. “Did you bring my suitcase full of $100 bills yet?”
“Still working on it.” He grinned.
They chatted easily for several minutes. Bucky couldn’t help but notice the admiring glances from several of the guys going past their table.
Finally he finished the last bites. “Listen, are you doing anything this weekend?”
A delicate shrug. “Not really.”
He took a breath. “Could we . . . I don’t know, go out for pizza or something?”
She pretended to think hard, then, “Well, I think I can free up my calendar.”
“All right!” His stomach did its usual flipflop.
The enthusiasm dimmed a little bit when he noticed the questioning look in her dark eyes. The S.F. club still lingered as a cloud between them, he knew. We’ll talk about it then, he told himself.
With Wednesday being his off day at the bank, Bucky wandered over to the ballfield to watch practice. Dan, standing in the batting cage, was rocketing pitch after pitch up against the wall in left field. Two of them sailed beyond the home run fence.
“Not bad!” Bucky gave his friend a thumbs-up gesture as Dan trudged contentedly over to see him.
Bucky Stone: The Complete Adventure (Volumes 1-10) Page 36