Chocolate Milk & Fresh Flowers

Riiing! At the sound of the recess bell, the students lined up to go outside. Justin noticed his classmate William gathering his backpack and jacket. “Where’re you going, William?” Justin asked.

“I’m going home,” William replied. “I don’t feel very good.”

“Oh, I hope you feel better soon,” said Justin.

“Me, too,” added their friend Jessie.

“Thanks.” William gave a little wave as he left the room.

A week later, Justin and Jessie were swinging on the swing set at afternoon recess. “I wonder what happened to William,” Jessie remarked.

“Yeah, he’s missed five days of school!” Justin exclaimed. “He’s gonna have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on.”

“Do you think he’s all right?” asked Jessie.

Justin shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I wonder if there’s something we should do to help,” said Jessie.

“We did tell him we hope he feels better soon,” remembered Justin. “At least we said something nice.”

“Yeah, but remember our Bible lesson? We should do more than just say nice words,” Jessie reminded him.

“You’re right,” agreed Justin. “We should try to help somehow.”

“I’m going to ask my mom about it when I get home today,” said Jessie as she hopped off her swing.

After Justin’s mom brought Jessie home from school, Jessie found her mom baking in the kitchen. “Hi, Mom,” she said, snatching a cookie from the cooling rack.

“Hi, Sweetie. How was school, today?” Mom asked.

“It was fine,” Jessie replied, “except that William didn’t come back yet.”

“William?”

“Yeah, he’s in my class at school. He’s really good at math,” said Jessie.

“So, where did he go?” Mom asked.

Jessie explained how William had missed the last week of school.

“Maybe he came down with a bad cold. Sometimes it can take a while to get over it,” Mom explained. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“Could you call William’s mom and find out what’s wrong?” asked Jessie. “He didn’t feel good when he left school, but all Justin and I could do was say we hope he feels better.”

“That was nice.”

“Yeah, but I wondered if there was something we could do. William shared in class that his dad was out of town and his mom was going to have a baby soon. What if they’re all sick with no one to help them?”

“All right, I’ll call and check on them,” decided Mom.

“Thanks, Mom!” Jessie jumped up and gave her mom a hug.

After the phone call, Mom said, “You were right, Jessie. Something is going on at William’s house. But it’s not what you thought.”

“What is it?” Jessie asked.

“Well, first of all, William has a new baby sister and a new baby brother!”

“You mean twins?” gasped Jessie.

“Yes, so his mom suddenly has two new babies to take care of. But William’s dad is still out of town on a job.”

“Wow! That’s great news,” said Jessie. “But what about William?”

“He did catch a bad cold, so he’s staying home until he’s better. And he’s taking care of his younger brother so his mom can rest and care for the babies.

“Well, at least we know they’re all okay,” said Jessie.

“Yep. But for now, I need to do some grocery shopping for dinner.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Jessie. “Can we do some shopping for William’s family?”

“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. I’m sure it’s hard for his mom to get to the store right now. Why don’t you ask Justin to come?”

“Okay!” Jessie ran next door to invite Justin.

At the store, Justin and Jessie picked out some yellow bananas and a few red apples, and then they went to the cereal aisle. “Which kind should we get?” Justin asked. “I like the cereal with stars in it.”

Jessie disagreed. “I like the kind with pink marshmallows.”

“Since William is a boy—like me,” Justin pointed out, “I think we should get the kind I like.”

“Okay.” Jessie gave in. “But we should get some pretty, fresh flowers for William’s mom since she’s a lady—like me, and I like flowers.”

Justin laughed. “It’s a deal. Oh, and we should get some chocolate milk. William always has that in his lunch.”

The kids had a great time shopping and even included a few special treats. Jessie’s mom added diapers and bath toys from the baby aisle. Soon they were headed to William’s house. When they arrived, Justin and Jessie grabbed the groceries from the trunk and hurried to the front door, excited to show their friend all the goodies they brought.

William answered the door. “Hey, guys!” he said with a croaky throat.

“Are you still sick, William?” asked Justin.

“I got a sore throat that makes me sound weird, but I’m getting better.” Then William spotted the chocolate milk. “Is that for us?” he asked excitedly.

“Yep!” Jessie replied.

William’s mom came to the door, too. Her tired eyes brightened when Jessie handed her the flowers. She sniffed them and smiled. “My favorite color! Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome,” said the kids. “We had fun shopping for you.”

“Want to see my new baby brother and sister?” asked William.

“Yes! I love babies!” Jessie gushed.

“We got stuff for them, too. Check out these pink and blue duckies.” Justin squeezed the rubber ducks. Squeak! Squeak! Everyone laughed as they went inside to meet the twins.

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