Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ADAGE (10/05/23)
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TITLE: The Scarlet Porcupine | Previous Challenge Entry
By Donna Powers
10/08/23 -
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Not with Jessamyn.
The first day I met Jessamyn, it was in the school cafeteria. I’d reached into the pocket where my lunch money was supposed to be - but it wasn’t.
I suddenly remembered I’d changed my jeans at the last minute, before going to school. My lunch money was in those other pants.
So…. yeah. I didn’t have lunch money.
I stepped out of the lunch line and figured I’d just skip lunch for today. It wasn’t the first time it’d happened. I just thought I’d go to the library for a while when I was ambushed by someone who looked like she was wearing a scarlet porcupine on her head.
Yeah, it was red and scraggly. She smiled (three teeth missing, sparkling bright blue eyes) and held out a dollar. “Here,” she said. “I’m Jessamyn. Have some lunch.”
I had no idea who she was and told her so. And, why in the world would she give me a dollar?
I asked her. She answered, “A friend in need is the one you feed.”
“What???”
“It’s a saying. You know… a friend in need… Anyway, you need lunch. I wanna help you out. We’ll be friends.”
“That’s not the saying. And I don’t know you. Why are you doing this?”
“I just wanna be friends. You look nice. I’ve got a dollar. Maybe you’ll help me one day. Anyway, take it and eat lunch.”
I could see there was no malice in those bright blue eyes. So, I took the dollar and ate lunch. I sat next to her that day, and I couldn’t help liking her. She was just pure kindness in a clown wig, and her kindness asked nothing of me - except to be myself.
Her fractured phrase upon meeting me turned out to be one of many. During our first lunch, she regaled me with, “an apple a day keeps the pie full of apples,” “a bird in the hand will eventually fly away,” and “A stitch in time will make a seam.” By the end of our first lunch, I’d concluded that Jessamyn’s little sayings were pretty true - and that she was the friend I hadn’t known I was looking for.
Over the last five years, we’d forged an unbreakable bond. You can imagine what the other kids thought of her - and, by extension, me. But her kindness was infectious. I even found myself repeating some of her phrases. And, for some reason, those phrases gave me joy. They took a formerly sad and shy kid into one who was bubbling over with joy.
To me, Jessamyn wasn’t weird. She was beautiful. As Jessamyn says, “Beauty is in the eye of the one with glasses.”
A few weeks ago, Jessamyn’s Mom took her to church. I told her not to turn into a religious fanatic. She just laughed and said, “It takes one to make two.” But, despite that, her phrases slowly began to be replaced by Bible verses. At least, I guessed they were Bible verses. After all, I’d never been to church.
It seemed a bit strange to have Jessamyn make sense. It almost scared me away. But, at her essence, she was still Jessamyn. Her kindness and joyous nature didn’t change. If anything, it became more intense. So, I wondered…
What had happened to cause Jessamyn to start saying things that made sense? It was as surprising as if Jessamyn’s flyaway hair had been instantly gathered into braids; as if her eyes had turned brown, and her missing teeth had grown back.
None of those things had happened, but Jessamyn was changed. And she was my best friend. So … just as she’d changed me before, perhaps it was time for her to change me again.
“Tell me about Jesus, Jessamyn,” I asked her.
And Jessamyn did. And, for once, Jessamyn made perfect sense.
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