Valentine's Day Story
Submitted by Mark on February 14 2000 at 21:04:34
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Just for fun, I took a Valentine's Day story written by Max Lucado and changed the woman in it to a boy (and made a few other minor changes). The result is sort of unrealistic; maybe someone else could do a better job. The man came out sounding a little "predatory" and preoccupied with physical attractiveness, but that's the way Max Lucado wrote it! And to think that he's a popular Christian writer! ;-) The Boy with the Cap John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way along the street. He looked for the boy whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the boy wearing the red cap. His interest in him had begun thirteen months before in the local library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with a note folded between its pages. The handwriting looked like that of a teenage boy, and the note reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Nicholas Maynell. With time and effort, he located Nicholas's address. He wrote him a letter introducing himself and inviting him to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. A deep love was developing. After Blanchard finally returned home from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting--7:00 pm at the main intersection in town. "You'll know me," Nicholas wrote, "by the red cap I'll be wearing." So at 7:00 Blanchard was looking for a boy whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. A boy came toward him, his build sleek and athletic. Wisps of blonde hair gently touched his forehead and neck; his eyes were a deep blue. His exquisite face had a gentle firmness, and in his white shirt and blue shorts he was like springtime come alive. Blanchard started toward him, entirely forgetting to notice that he was not wearing a cap. Almost uncontrollably Blanchard made one step closer to him, and then he saw Nicholas Maynell. He was standing almost directly behind the first boy. A boy well past 16, Nicholas had short black hair which barely showed under a worn cap. He was more than plump, his thick-ankled feet thrust into an old pair of sneakers. The boy in the white shirt and blue shorts was quickly walking away. Blanchard felt as though he was split in two. So keen was his desire to follow him, and yet so deep was his longing for the boy whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld his own. And there he stood. His pale, plump face was gentle, and his eyes had a warm twinkle. Blanchard did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of he book that was to identify himself to Nicholas. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which Blanchard had been and must ever be grateful. Blanchard squared his shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the boy, even though while he spoke he felt choked by the bitterness of his disapointnment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Micholas Maynell. I'm so glad you could meet me; would you like to get something to eat?" The boy's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, Mister," he answered, "but the kid in the white shirt who just went by, he begged me to wear this cap. And he said if you asked me to eat with you, I was supposed to tell you that he's waiting for you in the diner across the street. He said it was some kind of test!" (Adapted from "The People with the Roses" by Max Lucado, in Stories for the Heart.) |