As You Wish (18 page)

“You're really enjoying this, aren't you?” Christy asked as they stood in the checkout line.

“I haven't had so much fun in a place like this since I was a kid. When we lived on Maui, an old Salvation Army Thrift Store was between my house and Kam III, the elementary school. Almost every day Kimo and I would stop in there after school and go through all the stuff. It was the best entertainment a kid could have. We read comic books and played with a huge boxful of action figures. The guys there taught me how to fix the stereos and TVs that came in. That's where I bought my first guitar.”

Christy liked the way Todd had been opening up and talking more about childhood memories, especially Maui memories.

The cashier announced their total, and Christy pulled her folded-up cash from her pocket and handed it to Todd.

“What's this for?”

“That's my contribution toward the camp stove.”

Todd took the money and gave Christy a big bear hug. “We must be serious about each other if we're buying appliances.”

Christy enjoyed all the planning for the camping trip that week. Her only regret was that, when it came time to shop for the food on Thursday afternoon, she had to work at the bookstore.

Katie came into the store with something behind her back and pranced up to the register, where Christy was running the afternoon totals.

“Meet Chester,” Katie said, holding out a plastic bag with a nervous-looking goldfish darting about in the three inches of water.

“What happened to Rudy?” Christy asked. Katie had insisted they buy a goldfish on their way home from Bargain
Barn last Saturday. She had situated the fish in his new, twenty-five-cent fishbowl and had named him Rudy. She talked to him every day and fed him way too much.

“Rudy went to fish heaven this morning,” Katie said sadly. “Chester wants to live with us now.”

“You better get him in the bowl pretty soon,” Christy said. “He looks like he's drowning in that bag.”

“Drowning, ha-ha. Very funny.”

“Okay, then, he's suffocating.”

“I'm on my way back to the room now. I just wanted to find out when you're going shopping for all the food. I'll drive you, if you want.”

“Todd has the list,” Christy said. “He's at the store right now.”

“You let Todd go shopping alone?” Katie asked.

“It's a grocery store, Katie, not a thrift store. He'll do just fine without me.”

Katie gave Christy a wary look. “You think so?”

“Yes.”

“Love sure messes with a person's logic,” Katie said, turning to go. “I'll be leaving now with Chester, and you would do well to consider your boyfriend's shopping skills before it's too late.”

Christy soon found out what Katie was warning her about. Friday night the group arrived at the camping area in the Joshua Tree desert, and as they tumbled out of the cars, the entourage consisted of fifteen students; six tents; one brand-new, co-owned camp stove; boxes and boxes of food; and miscellaneous paraphernalia Christy hadn't had a chance to identify. That's when she discovered
that Todd had improvised on the menu she had made up.

The air was cold, and a wind snapped at the tents as the group tried to set them up by the light of Coleman lanterns. Christy asked one of the high school girls to help her organize the food. That's when they discovered enough day-old bread and gigantic cans of peanut butter to feed an army for a week. They had eaten at a drive-through hamburger place on the way to the campground, so dinner was taken care of. But Christy had planned for s'mores around the campfire when they arrived.

After quickly surveying the boxes by flashlight, Christy went to find Todd. He was telling two young guys to stay out of the girls' tents. Matt had started a fire, and most of the teens were gathering around it. As soon as Todd sent the two guys to the fire, he gave Christy his full attention.

She tried to be as nice as possible. “Todd, I can't seem to find the marshmallows, chocolate bars, or graham crackers. Do you know where they might be?”

“I forgot to tell you. I had to adjust the menu a little because of my budget. I eliminated the chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows because they were too expensive. I got a great deal on turkey hot dogs instead. I thought if they wanted to roast something over the fire, they could roast the hot dogs.”

Christy stared at Todd. “You're kidding, right?”

“No, the hot dogs are in the ice chest. They're probably better for these guys than all that sugar anyhow.”

“Todd, I saw the hot dogs. They're still frozen.”

“So they'll just take a little longer to cook, right?”

“Todd, how are these guys going to cook frozen hot dogs?”

“We have some sticks around here, don't we?”

“Todd, we're in the desert. That's why I put wire coat hangers on the shopping list.”

“Oh!” Todd's expression lit up. “
That's
why you put hangers on the list. I couldn't figure out why you wanted hangers. I thought it was to hang up dish towels or something. I bought six plastic hangers. They're in a bag somewhere.”

If the situation hadn't been so funny, Christy might have cried. Instead, she laughed.

“What?” Todd said.

“Katie was right. I shouldn't have let you go shopping by yourself.”

“I don't think these guys are hungry anyhow. We can just skip the snack and go right to the campfire time. That's the real reason for the trip anyway, isn't it?” Todd brushed Christy's forehead with a kiss and took off with long strides toward the campfire, which was whipping about dangerously in the shrill desert wind. All the students were standing back at least five feet from the fire.

“Watch out for the sparks!” Matt motioned for the teens to step back even farther. “It's too windy to keep this going. We're going to have to put it out.”

Even dousing the fire proved to be a challenge. The only water they had brought was in bottles sealed in plastic and shrink-wrapped in cardboard flats. The first three water bottles did little to calm the flames. Matt found a shovel and managed to put it out with scoops of desert dirt.

With the fire out, the night turned very dark, except for the Coleman lanterns near the tents.

“Look at the stars,” one of the girls said.

Christy stood shivering, her chin tilted toward the heavens in silent awe of the thousands and thousands of glittering diamonds suspended in space.

“Hey, there's a shooting star!” someone called out.

Everyone joined in with his or her discoveries.

“Isn't that Orion's belt?”

“Can anyone see the Big Dipper?”

“What is that bright, blinking star over there?”

“That's an airplane.”

“No, it's not. It's a satellite.”

“Where's the moon?”

Todd quoted several verses that Christy recognized from Psalm 8. “ ‘When I look up into the night skies and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have made—I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him! And yet you have made him only a littler lower than the angels and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head.' ”

Christy was so absorbed in the canopy of wonder that she didn't notice Matt when he slid over next to her. “What was it you told me when we were watching the fireworks back in Wisconsin that summer?” he asked her. “Something about the one who rides across the ancient heavens. Your friend was writing a song about it, wasn't he?”

“I'm surprised you remembered that,” Christy said.

“Did he ever finish the song?”

“Yes, it's from Psalm 68.” Christy began to sing Doug's song softly.

“ ‘Sing to the One
Who rides across the ancient heavens
His mighty voice thundering from the sky
For God is awesome in His sanctuary.' ”

Katie joined her and so did Todd. When they finished singing, one of the girls said, “Sing it again.” This time, as they sang, several of the teens joined them. It seemed like a wonderful, holy moment until Christy noticed several of the guys slipping away from the rest of the group. She tapped Matt's shoulder and pointed. He took off after them.

It turned out to be that kind of night. The group ended their impromptu song time when several of the girls declared they were too cold and made a dash for their tent. Then the girls tried to sabotage the inside of the guys' tent. Matt caught them, and Todd gave the group stern instructions about how he expected them to act. Stern for Todd, at least. It didn't turn out to be stern enough for two of the younger guys, who tried to sneak out again after everyone was supposed to be zipped up in the tents.

Todd was helping Christy cover the boxes of food with a tarp to keep out sand and desert critters, when the guys tried to escape. Todd turned his flashlight on them, and they slipped back into their tent.

Christy had a hard time falling asleep. She was warm enough because she had made sure she wore sufficient layers of clothes, and she had a decent air mattress under her sleeping bag. But she kept listening for the sound of a tent zipper and wondered if Todd was going to have to sit up all night on guard duty.

The morning sun rousted all of them as soon as it appeared
because the penetrating heat immediately warmed the tents. Christy hadn't spent much time in the desert and was surprised at how far she could see when she looked out across the sand. Aside from an occasional cactus lifting its two arms, as if frozen in time like an Old West bank teller in a holdup, she could see nothing for miles in any direction.

The air warmed quickly, and Christy felt her skin drying and tightening. The wind was gone this morning. Her extra layers of clothes quickly became too hot, and she peeled down to a T-shirt and shorts.

“I'm impressed,” Katie told Christy after they had fed the group and were putting away what was left of the cereal and milk.

“Impressed with what?” Christy asked.

“You. Look how happy and organized you are. This is a big improvement over our camping trip last summer.”

“You said the key word,” Todd said, reaching into the back of Matt's truck for his guitar. “Organized. Christy likes being prepared.”

“Yeah, well, she could teach you a thing or two,” Katie said. “What about that shade you promised?”

“Matt is working on it with the tarps over behind the biggest tent. We're going to sing and have our morning devotions, and then we're going to take the dune buggies out for a spin.”

Christy finished cleaning up and joined the others. Her favorite part of any camping trip was the chance to sing with the group. It turned out to be a short string of songs because it was getting so hot, and only a few of the kids were singing.

As Todd taught, holding his Bible open and standing
before the group, Christy glanced at the teens. A few of them really were listening. Mostly the girls.

These guys don't know what a gift Todd is to them. He really cares about them. He'll be their friend for the rest of their lives, if they'll let him. And what he's telling them right now is the truth. They do need to trust God in every area of their lives. Why aren't they soaking up his words? It could mean the difference between life and death for some of these guys!

Christy decided to pray. She had been doing that a lot lately. Ever since that first Sunday morning when Gus broke down on the way to church, she realized they were fighting a battle with invisible enemies for these teens' souls. As she felt the sun pouring over her right shoulder and burning her forearm, Christy adjusted her position so the sun was to her back and kept on praying for Todd.

“Let me leave you with this thought,” Todd said in conclusion. “None of us knows when his life will come to an end, and he will stand before Almighty God. The Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Each of us will stand before God one day. Not Saint Peter at a golden gate. Not in front of a clerk at a desk like you see on TV. We will stand before the Lord.”

Christy began to look around the circle and prayed for each student, even though she didn't remember all their names.

“The Lord Jesus Christ will hold out His hands to you, and you will see the scars that are still there two thousand years after He died in your place. He will say to you, ‘Come on in. I've been waiting for you, my friend. The relationship we started when you were on earth can now be made complete here in my home.' Or He will say, ‘I invited you to come to me, but your whole life you
pushed me away. Now it's too late. You didn't want me so now you will spend eternity separated from me.' ”

Christy noticed how quiet the group had become. All eyes were on Todd.

“What's it going to take for you to come to Him? Don't wait. Nobody knows when he will die. And once it's over, it's just begun. Either you'll spend eternity with Christ in heaven or eternity without Him in the place He made for the demons, those fallen angels who turned from Him.”

Todd paused a moment, then added, “What's it going to be for you? Heaven is a very real place. And so is hell.”

The two troublemaking guys snickered, but everyone else sat still. Todd closed the time in prayer. Instead of saying “Let it be so” at the end, he concluded the prayer in a way Christy had never heard before. “As you wish,” Todd said. The group wasn't sure the prayer was over yet.

Once they figured out that they were done, the teens took off for the recreation vehicles and spent the rest of the day doing what Katie called “frolicking.” They took turns going out into the desert flatness in the various vehicles Todd had arranged for the trip.

Christy stayed at the camp, and close to noon, she talked two of the girls who were there into helping her to make peanut butter sandwiches so the food would be ready for whoever wanted them after the runs in the sand.