Worry Warts & Slime Buckets

“Ah ha! I found the missing piece, Jessie!” Justin triumphantly pushed the last puzzle piece into place then looked at his friend. “Jessie? You-hoo!”

Jessie paid no attention; she was listening to their mothers talking in the kitchen. “Did you hear about the burglar in Jan’s neighborhood?” asked her mom.

“Oh, yes,” Justin’s mom replied. “He was getting in somehow through the garage, I guess.”

Jessie turned to Justin. “Did you hear that? There’s a burglar in town!”

“Yeah, I heard. Creepy, huh?” Justin replied. “The puzzle’s finished. Wanna go outside and play now?”

“No! I don’t want to go outside! The burglar might be out there hiding in the bushes, waiting to jump out at us.”

Justin laughed. “A burglar is supposed to be sneaky. He won’t jump out at anyone.” Justin tugged on Jessie’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

Jessie slowly rose from her chair. “Okay, but I’m still worried,” she said, frowning.

Justin raced out the door and headed toward the swings while Jessie plodded slowly behind. They both grabbed a swing, but as Justin pushed off with his feet, Jessie just sat there, glancing back and forth. “What if he hides behind the swing set?” she asked suddenly.

“It’s too skinny to hide behind,” Justin replied.

“What about a tree?”

“Nope, you don’t have any fat trees. We’d see him for sure.”

Jessie gasped. “What if he gets in and takes all my beautiful dolls? Or my cat?”

Justin grinned, imagining a grown man carrying an armful of curly-haired dollies and a big, fat cat. “You sure are a worry wart. So, what do you want to do about this burglar?”

Jessie looked up. “You mean you’ll help me?”

“Since you’re so worried about it, maybe we can do something.”

Jessie smiled. “I heard your mom say the burglar gets in through the garage.”

“So, how about if we booby-trap the garage door that leads into your house?” Justin suggested.

“Yeah!” Jessie replied excitedly. “But how?”

“We can stack up cans that’ll make lots of noise if he opens the door and knocks ’em down. And Matt told me how his brother put a bucket of water above the door so it poured all over him when he opened the door,” Justin explained.

“Ooh! That sounds great.” Jessie felt better already. “Hey, instead of water, let’s use the slime we made at school.”

“Great idea!” Justin nodded. “We’ll do it after dinner.”

That evening, Justin ate dinner at Jessie’s house. “Where’s your dad, Jessie?” he asked, reaching for more French fries.

“Mom said he’s working late tonight,” answered Jessie.

After eating, the kids took their plates into the kitchen where Jessie’s mom was cleaning up. “I’m going to give Mikey his bath and put him to bed,” she said, turning to go upstairs.

As soon as Jessie’s mom left the room, the two kids quickly set to work building their burglar-proof trap. First, they grabbed a bunch of cans from the cupboard and carried them into the laundry room.

“Wow! Your cat eats a lot,” said Justin, stacking the cat food cans in front of the door that led to the garage. “I brought some toy cars to spread around, too,” he explained. “If the burglar tries to run away, he’ll slip on them and go smack! Right on his backside.”

Jessie laughed. “This is great. Daddy always uses the front door, so we can leave this trap here all the time, just in case the burglar ever tries to come in.”

Soon, the trap was set, and Justin went home. Jessie sat down with her mom to listen to a story. Just as they turned to the last page, they heard a horrible sound—crash—smash— clunk! Then someone hollered, “Whaa! Whoa!”

“What in the world?!” Mom exclaimed as she and Jessie jumped up and ran into the laundry room. They stopped suddenly, shocked at the sight of Jessie’s dad slipping and sliding among the rolling cat food cans and toy cars as ooey-gooey slime ran down his face.

“Our trap really worked!” Jessie exclaimed. But then she realized—it caught the wrong person. “Oh no!” she gasped. “You were supposed to come in the front door.”

“Oh, David, let me help you,” said Jessie’s mom, trying not to laugh as she helped her husband step away from the mess.

“Jessie,” said her dad, cleaning gooey slime out of his left ear, “what were you thinking?!”

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Jessie began. “I was really worried that a burglar was going to come in through the garage, so Justin helped me make a booby trap for him. But then you came in instead.”

“Of all nights for me to forget my front door keys!” Dad laughed. “But why were you so worried about a burglar?”

“I heard Mom talking about a burglar. And I was worried that he would come here, too.”

“Jessie,” Mom said, “you don’t need to worry. That burglar is in jail now.”

“Besides,” said Dad, “Jesus tells us not to worry. He promises to take care of us. We can be smart and lock the doors and windows, but God is in control. He will always be here with us, no matter what.”

“So I don’t need to build any more traps?” Jessie asked.

“Well, I’ll put it this way: if I forget my keys again, I’d better not get slimed!”

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