Sunday, June 6, 2010

Yo-Yo Adventures in Church

A kid was sitting in front of me in church this morning playing with a yo-yo. He didn't flip it out and "Walk the Dog" or anything, but I guess I was just amazed that kids played with yo-yo's at all anymore. Well, he was turning it in his hand when the thing slipped out, rolled across the aisle and ended up lodged under some old man's chair. The kid's little head snapped over to his right to see if his mom had seen anything. She was standing and singing along with the band. Good, he thought, she didn't see a thing.

He hesitated for a few moments, laying out his game plan. Do I just walk over there and ask the old man for my yo-yo back? The kid takes a church information card and slides it over with his foot across the aisle toward the stuck yo-yo. I think he was either creating a diversion or giving himself an excuse to go over there..."Excuse me sir, I seem to have dropped my card across the aisle and under your seat. And even though there are hundreds of other information cards scattered through the sanctuary I really want this one."

The kid, I think, realizes that his information card didn't slide far enough and the old man wouldn't buy the card routine anyway. So he sits back into his chair and thinks about his move one more time. I almost wanted to tap him on the shoulder and tell him that it was ok if he went over to get his yo-yo, that he wouldn't get in trouble. I almost volunteered to go get it myself. And then finally when the band was getting all wound up and the singing was at its peak, the kid crept over, crawled under the chair and grabbed the yo-yo. Whew. That was a close one. It was such a Tom Sawyer moment.

By the way, the kid sitting next to him (his brother?) just fiddled around on his mom's cell phone playing video games....Boring.