Sleepy Yawns & Spraying Hoses

“Okay, does everyone know your job for the car wash?” Mr. Thomas scanned the faces of the kids standing around the church parking lot.

“Yes!” Members of the Kids’ Club enthusiastically waved sponges and hoses in the air.

Jessie opened her mouth and tried to answer along with everyone else, but a huge yawn came out instead. When she accidentally dropped her water hose, Mr. Thomas glanced in her direction. She quickly picked it up, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

“Jessie, you okay? Can you handle your job?”

“Oh, yes, sir! I can do it!”

He nodded then continued his pep talk. “Washing cars can be a lot of work, but remember, what we’re doing is really important. We’re raising money for our missionaries in other countries.” He checked his watch. “It’ll soon be time to start. Where’s our sign holder? Emily, isn’t that your job?” He grabbed a poster board sign that said: “Car Wash: $5.00” and walked over to Emily, who had plopped down on a turned-over bucket next to Jessie.

“Uh, yeah,” said Emily.

“Let’s hope you can be a little livelier than that!” Mr. Thomas chuckled then looked serious as he handed her the sign. “You’ve got an important job, Emily—letting everyone know to turn here so we can wash their car.”

“Yes, sir.” Emily covered a yawn and stood up, holding the sign up high for a moment.

“That’s a little better.” He turned to Olivia, who stood on Jessie’s other side, looking a little dazed and rubbing her eyes. “Olivia, where’s your bucket?”

“Oh, I forgot,” said Olivia.

Mr. Thomas trotted over to the supply table and promptly returned with a bucket of soapy water and a sponge. “What’s wrong with you girls this morning? You are all acting so tired.”

Jessie and Olivia looked at each other with guilty faces then glanced over at Emily. “We . . . uh . . . sort of stayed up too late last night,” said Jessie. “Emily had a slumber party,” began Olivia. “And we watched a movie until midnight then played a game until 1:00!” finished Jessie.

“Uh-oh,” said Mr. Thomas. “A slumber party, huh? Did you forget the car wash was today?”

“Well, we didn’t think we’d be so sleepy,” said Jessie.

“Besides, I’d been planning my party for weeks,” said Emily. “We were really looking forward to it.”

“Hmm.” Mr. Thomas rubbed his chin. “Maybe you three should go back home so you can get some sleep.”

“No, no!” The girls protested. “We can do it! Let us stay, please!”

Two cars turned into the parking lot.

“We’ll see how it goes.”

He gave the girls a look of warning then went to greet the customers. A mud-splattered car pulled into the spot assigned to Jessie, Olivia, and two older boys. The boys began on the other side of the car, one soaping and scrubbing, the other rinsing with the hose.

“Come on, Olivia,” said Jessie. “Start scrubbing.”

Olivia dunked the sponge into the bucket then swirled it slowly around on the side of the car. She stopped for a second and yawned. “This is hard work; I’m already worn out.” Jessie leaned up against the side of the car with the hose pointed downward, waiting for Olivia to finish scrubbing. The warm sun shone down on Jessie’s back, and her eyelids became heavy. The gentle breeze lulled her into pleasant thoughts of lying down on her nice, soft bed with her head nestled into her pillow.

“Hey, Jessie! Watch it!” Olivia screeched.

Jessie woke up to find herself spraying Olivia with the water hose. Jessie gasped, “Oh, sorry!”

The boys on the other side of the car hooted with laughter.

“Yuck! Now I’m all wet!” Olivia tossed her sponge into the bucket of suds. Sploosh! The bubbles flew all over the front of Olivia’s shirt.

Jessie couldn’t help giggling. “Well, at least you’re awake now.”

Olivia rolled her eyes then pointed at Emily. “Guess who else is half asleep.”

Jessie turned to Emily, who had sat back down on the bucket. She was slumped over with her eyes closed, barely holding on to her sign.

“Emily!” Jessie shouted, forgetting about the water hose in her hand.

Emily jerked upright when she felt a zing of cold water shoot across her back. “Whaaa!” she screamed as she jumped up and ran around in little circles, trying to get away from the spray.

“Sorry, Emily!” Jessie called out, pointing the hose down toward the ground.

Just then, Mr. Thomas walked over. “Girls, I thought you said you could do this. It looks to me like you’re all falling asleep on the job and making a mess of things.”

The girls stared at Mr. Thomas with sad faces.

“Look,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with having fun, even losing a little sleep once in a while. But sometimes we need to give up what we want in order to do something that’s more important, especially when it’s something we know God wants us to do, like raising money to help missionaries.”

Jessie sighed. “Sorry we messed up our jobs.”

Emily nodded. “I should’ve had my party another night.”

“Sorry we weren’t much help,” said Olivia. “I guess we better go get some sleep now.”

“That’s probably best,” said Mr. Thomas. “But I hope you’ll be ready to help at the next fundraiser.”

“We will,” said Olivia as she and Emily squeezed water from their clothes. “But let’s do something without water next time.”

Mr. Thomas smiled. “You got it!” he agreed.

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