Snow Globes & Stuffed Dinosaurs

Justin’s and Jessie’s families were on vacation together. They had traveled many miles from home, stopping at some fun places with lots of things to see and do, like the Ark Encounter where they learned all about Noah’s huge ark and how he took care of the animals during the flood. Today they explored the Creation Museum.

“Wow! That was super cool,” Justin exclaimed as they left the room in the museum.

“It’s amazing how many kinds of bugs God created,” Justin’s mom commented.

“I thought the dinosaurs were great! Rarrh!” Justin growled at Jessie.

Jessie giggled then said, “My favorite part was in the beautiful garden with Adam and Eve and all the animals.”

“Hey! Can we go to the gift shop?” asked Justin. “I wanna get a stuffed dinosaur.”

“And I want to get Ellie another coloring book. She’s already finished with her first one,” said Justin’s mom.

Justin’s dad lifted Ellie out of her stroller and folded it. “I think you can walk now, Sweetie,” he said. “But stay with one of us, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy! I go with Justin,” she said as she grabbed her brother’s hand.

Everyone started browsing the shop. Justin and Ellie headed toward the toys.

Suddenly Ellie stopped and pointed to a shelf with beautiful little snow globes all lined up. “Those are pretty.”

“Yeah, they are pretty,” he said, “but don’t touch them.”

Ellie’s lip stuck out in a pout. “You show me, please?”

Justin looked at Ellie’s sad little face and decided to show her how the snow globe worked. He carefully picked one up and tipped it over to make the white snow fall. Ellie clapped her hands.

“Let’s go over there where the stuffed animals are. I’m going to buy a dinosaur with my own money.”

Justin was about to set the snow globe back on the shelf when he heard Jessie call his name, “Justin! Help me decide which shirt to get.”

“Okay, just a sec.”

Justin turned and let go of the snow globe, thinking it was back on the shelf. But Ellie jostled his arm when she stepped past him. Crash! Smash! The little glass globe fell to the floor and broke to pieces.

“Oh no! Ellie, look what you made me do!” Justin scolded.

Justin saw people staring at him and Ellie. The storekeeper turned his head toward the noise. Justin panicked and darted away as fast as he could, leaving Ellie standing by the broken globe.

His heart was beating fast as he peeked around the corner to see what was happening. Uh, oh! Justin’s parents were next to Ellie now.

“Ellie, where’s Justin? You were supposed to stay with him,” said Mom.

Ellie shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know where her brother went in such a hurry. Soon Jessie and her parents came to find out what was going on.

“Justin was just here,” said Jessie. “I can try to find him.”

Jessie wound around the shelves and T-shirt racks and finally found Justin with his back to a shelf.

“What are you doing?” Jessie asked.

“Shh!” Justin hissed. “I don’t want to get in trouble, so I’m hiding.”

“Hiding! Justin, you know you have to come out sometime. Besides, Ellie’s the one who’s in trouble for breaking the snow globe.”

Justin looked down at his shoes.

“Isn’t that what happened?” Jessie looked hard at Justin.

“No. Ellie didn’t break it. I did,” Justin confessed.

“You broke it? That’s not right to let Ellie take the blame.”

Justin knew Jessie was right. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out and walked toward his family.

“There you are,” said his parents. “You were supposed to stay with Ellie. Now look what happened.”

“Yeah. I know what happened, because I did it. I picked up the snow globe, and when it broke I got scared,” he said. “I didn’t want to pay for it because I wanted to buy a dinosaur.”

“Justin,” said Dad, “I’m sorry this happened. But trying to hide what you did only made it worse. We almost punished Ellie for something she didn’t do.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I need to pay for it, now,” Justin said sadly.

“Yes,” said Dad. “Somebody needs to.”

The shopkeeper came with a broom and dust pan. “You know, the globes are on sale today—half price.”

“Really?” Justin perked up. “Maybe I can still get a small dinosaur, too!”

Justin paid for the broken snow globe then he and Jessie hurried to the shelves of stuffed dinosaurs.

“Here’s a pink one with sparkles,” Jessie suggested.

Justin scrunched up his face—he didn’t want pink or sparkles. Finally, he found one with shiny silver and white scales.

Justin looked at the price tag. “Aw, it costs too much,” he said gloomily.

“You know what, Justin?” said Mom. “Since it was partly Ellie’s fault that the snow globe fell, I can help you buy that dinosaur.”

“Really? Thanks, Mom!” Justin exclaimed. “I’ll call him Snowy. He can help me remember not to try and hide something I’ve done wrong ever again.”

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