Faith boarded the bus to church camp. Her older cousin was to accompany her, but she called on her cell phone to let them know that there had been an accident on the highway and traffic was stalled, there was no way she would be able to make it.
Someone sat down beside her, maybe Terri was able to make it after all. Faith turned expecting to see her sanguineous cousin but as she turned she noticed she was no longer on the bus, she was on what appeared to be a white mist in the shape of a plane and the person sitting next to her definitely wasn’t Terri.
“Logos?!,” she exclaimed incredulously. “Good morning Faith,” he replied. She gazed at him wondering why he had come and where they were going on such unusual transportation but she was hesitant to ask. Logos smiled at the young girl, and took her hand between his two hands, powerful hands with scars she could feel. “We‘re going on a short trip?” Logos explained, the look on his face becoming more serious. With her next breath Faith was in the most incredible place she had ever seen.
When she finally adjusted to her new surroundings, “Unbelievable!” was the only word that Faith could think of to describe all the sights and sounds. “Logos, this is the strangest place I have ever seen.”
Right in front of her a child was chasing a flying clock, “How time flies!,” he exclaimed remorsefully. By the time the words were out of his mouth he had aged from the child to a very old man. Across the street at an outside café three men were sitting sipping coffee, “Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow,” one said laughing, then they all laughed, suddenly the cups in their hands crumbled, their nice suits became ragged and dirty, their clean shaven faces suddenly sported unkempt beards, and they couldn’t find their wallets to pay the bill. The waiter angrily chased them from the premises.
Faith was feeling rather numb with all the unusual sights and sounds, trees were changing from green leafed, to autumn colors, to bare, and back again to green leafed all within a few minutes. Flowers were growing, dying, and growing again. In the distance she heard what sounded like a child practicing piano, but it got better and better till the music was so wonderful she hoped it would never stop.
Faith turned around and could see right into the living room of a home behind her. A young man was sitting watching TV, he appeared to be hypnotized by the image he was watching, which to Faith looked like a swirling mass of colors. She heard a woman call, “Toby, go mow the lawn right now.” Not now mom, my TV show isn’t over, he called back, while Faith stood watching the grass and weeds grew up in their lawn right before her eyes. Next door a woman came to the door and started sweeping just as her husband arrived home from work for lunch. It wasn’t dust the coming out the door, it was images, images of the woman sitting watching soap operas, talking on the phone, playing solitaire, and other unproductive activities. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done I need to do,” she complained to her husband.
“What is this place,” Faith asked?” “Time Junction,” answered Logos. “People seem to waste a lot of time here, and they certainly like clichés,” Faith mused. “Not everyone here is wasting their life away, there are many productive people here as well," Logos responded, “look at the office building up the street.” Faith looked in the direction Logos pointed and saw a young woman, appearing to be in her early 20s, walking down the stairs of a monotonous looking office building, a large group of people at the top of the stairs were waving their hands and handkerchiefs, and most of them were crying. The young lady looked back and waved then ran down the rest of the stairs and started on her way when Logos motioned for her to come over. Faith noticed as she walked toward them she held a bouquet of roses in her hands, and roses were growing up along the path she was taking. “Logos, it is wonderful to see you,” she said excitedly as she approached them. She threw her arms around him and gave him a big warm hug. “Prudence, I would like to introduce you to Faith Victor.” “It’s very nice to meet you Faith, I’m Prudence Jones.” “Do you work in that building you just left?” Faith asked. “Oh, no, not any more,” Prudence exclaimed. “I worked there for thirty years and I just retired, my friends gave me a wonderful retirement party, I will surely miss them all.” Faith was flabbergasted, “but you can’t be old enough to retire.” “I’m 54 years old Faith, I just learned very young to spend my time and my life wisely.” “You give your best, forget the rest, and take time to stop and smell the roses.” “Logos, bring Faith over for cookies and milk, I baked some outstanding cookies yesterday, if I do say so myself, and my husband would love to see you again.” “That would be very nice, we’d be pleased to accept your offer,” Logos replied. Faith began to feel just a little impatient, she still didn’t know why Logos brought her here, but surely it wasn’t for cookies and milk, and she would just as soon they got on their way. She still didn’t quite understand this place he brought her to, but this was Logos and she knew she had a responsibility to obey him even if she couldn’t understand everything that was going on. One thing she was certain of, by the time this adventure was over with Logos would make sure she understood it’s purpose.
Peter Jones was busy in the garden when they arrived, he appeared to be a young man, a little older than Prudence, but now Faith knew better than to try to judge how old he was by his appearance. “Look who’s come for a visit, dear,” Prudence called out to her husband as they drew near. “Well, as I live and breathe, if it isn’t Logos,” he said grabbing his hand and shaking it as one would a dear friend he hadn’t seen in a while. “And who is this adorable child with you?” Peter asked, turning to give his wife a loving kiss on the cheek. “This is Faith Victor, Peter,” Logos replied. “It’s nice to meet you sir,” Faith said shyly, not sure whether she was greeting a very young or a very old man, or somewhere in between. “We’ve come for your wife’s wonderful cookies,” Logos told him, smiling teasingly. “Well come in, come in, we’ll make sure you don’t leave hungry.”
Prudence certainly hadn’t exaggerated about her cookies, they were the best Faith had ever tasted, but why wouldn’t they be in this strange place. Things were pretty normal inside the Joneses home, Faith almost forgot she was in such a strange place. The conversation was pleasant, laughter was abundant, Faith actually began to enjoy herself.
Faith suddenly became aware that it was time to leave, by now she wished she could stay but Logos stood up and took her arm and lifted her up. “Peter, Prudence, we appreciate your hospitality, the wonderful cookies and milk.” “It was good of you to come visit us,” Peter responded, “please come again soon.” “You can count on it.” The goodbyes said, they started for the door, as soon as Peter’s hand touched the doorknob to show them out the house and everything and everyone in it had vanished and they were in a beautiful rose garden.
Logos showed Faith to a bench and they sat down. “Faith, you may not be aware of it but you visit Time Junction everyday, and the decisions you make about how you use your time will determine the person you will become when you are older.” Suddenly Logos was no longer visible, but Faith knew he was still with her. She was back on the bus headed for church camp and she knew there would be opportunities there and throughout her life to use the lessons she had learned on her trip with Logos.
© 2009
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