Let the Children Come to Me

To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must be as a child.

 

“Come on, Renee, I want to go on the rides!” Jill said, grabbing Renee’s hand.

 

“Jill! Don’t run!” Renee said, feeling her shoes scraping the asphalt as Jill pulled along. “Jill, don’t run! You could fall and hurt yourself!”

 

“But I want to go on the ride!” Jill whined, yanking Renee’s hand. “Come on, before we have to wait too long!”

 

“Jill for crying out- arg!” Renee found herself in line waiting with others, under the hot sun on the seemingly burning asphalt that was almost melting her shoes. She blinked once when she saw some people she recognized.

 

The two who were right in front of her were beautiful to look at. Everyone said what a great looking couple they were. They had matching pearl smiles, her golden blond hair cascaded down in perfect waves while his dark brown hair was short and spiked to the sky. Their pale complexions seemed to reflect the sunlight and there were no visible flaws in their bodies. She wore a maroon peasant skirt, wrinkled in fashion with a white skin tight spaghetti strap shirt. His dark blue football jersey smelled ever so softly of cologne, from the bottle that was tucked into one of the big pockets of his baggy jeans. Everyone always wanted to hang around them.

 

There were two more people in front of them. There was no denying they were a lovely pair either. They held each other’s hands so that she could feel the softness in their hands as well as in their souls. They seemed to radiate with an inner light that she recognized but couldn’t put her finger on. She noticed as people were giving them disapproving looks as they walked on, but they weren’t brave enough to voice it. She blinked her eyes softly, understanding, though not sure if she herself approved of them. She understood why people would disapprove of them together. But for them, it was more of a societal reason than moral. Nobody seemed to have morals anymore these days.

 

“...so what are we doing tonight, baby?” the girl asked. He shrugged.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe stay in.”

 

“I want to do something,” she said. “I don’t want to sit around and do nothing like we did last night. It was boring!”

 

“Well, I don’t have money to do anything tonight,” he said, not looking at her.

 

“That’s funny, you had plenty of money last night going out to the bar with the boys!”

 

“That was last night, and I don’t have any money to do anything tonight!” he said, his voice raising.

 

“What, your job at the precious sport’s store didn’t give you another paycheck last night?”

 

“No, I’m just out of dough, alright?” he said, glaring into her eyes. “You got a problem with that?” Renee pulled Jill a little closer. This was something everyone else didn’t see, and there wasn’t a part of her that wanted to see it, and Jill didn’t deserve to be sucked into it either. She looked at the other couple of ahead of them. So content to be where they were. They’d probably be content anywhere, as long as they were together.

 

“You always waste your money on you and your boys!” she nagged, her voice going up a notch. “You never take me anywhere or do anything for me!”

 

“I took you here, didn’t I?”

 

“Oh, yeah, real big spender!”

 

“Anytime I take you anywhere, you don’t like it! You’re just ungrateful, that’s what you are!” Renee wanted to just get out of line to the back. Waiting an extra half hour to get on would have been preferable to standing there listening to that argument. She looked down at Jill, feeling uncomfortable with the increasingly harsh words.

 

“I’m sorry, you need three people,” the man at the controls said to the other couple. “Can you find one more person?” They looked behind them, past the arguing couple to Renee and Jill. Renee looked down at Jill, whose eyes had lit up.

 

“Oh, pick me!” Jill yelled, jumping up and down. “I’ll go with you!”

 

“Jill, don’t-”

 

“It’s ok,” the shorter of the two said. He turned to the taller man. “We can take her with us, right?”

 

“Oh yeah, we’d be glad to take her with us, if you don’t mind,” he agreed. Renee sank.

 

“But-”

 

“We’ll take care of her,” the first one said, his deep bass voice seeming to calm her fears. Renee glanced at Jill, who was about to fly out of her grasp towards them. A little uncertainly, she slowly let Jill’s hand go. Jill ran for them and ran up into one of the men’s arms. The other one smiled a thank you to Renee and they walked her to their compartment to get boarded. She still felt uncertain leaving Jill in their care. But something told her that Jill knew something that she once knew long ago. When in her twenty years did she lose faith?

 

“I guess you’re riding with us then,” the guy in front of her said. “We would have had three except she didn’t want my friend to come with us-”

 

“He smells bad!” she protested.

 

“Adidas cologne doesn’t smell that bad!” Renee rolled her eyes as the three of them boarded.

 

Not once did she take her eyes off of the compartment in front of her. Not that she had much of a choice anyhow- she lost interest in the argument next to her when it moved from the smell of cologne to how bad they both were in bed. They were so shameless. She watched carefully as the three in front of her interacted. It felt a little uncomfortable the way the guys leaned into each other, but their warmth extended to Jill. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but by the sounds of the happy laughter coming from Jill, they were keeping their promise to take care of her. When the ride was over, she watched as they got off the ride, and the one with the deep bass voice lifted Jill into the air, as if lifting her up to heaven. All three of their smiles matched as they playfully went along. The couple kissed in front of Jill and laughed when she scrunched her nose up in playful disgust. They kept going along, reveling in just being together. Renee finally smiled when she realized that they too were shameless- because there was nothing to be ashamed of.

 

“What a bunch of f**s,” he said next to her. “I can’t believe those queers kissed in front of a little kid.” His girlfriend nodded in blind approval. Renee turned to stare at them for a second, not saying a word. She found she didn’t even need to say anything- her own look of disapproval kept them in their cowardly silence. When the man at the controls let them off, she ran for them, not looking to see if she knocked anyone over. They were all holding hands, heading for another ride that Jill was tugging them towards. Jill turned around and saw Renee.

 

“Renee!” Jill ran for her, and Renee scooped her up and hugged her tightly.

 

“Hey you,” she said, the sunlight returning in her smile. “Ready for another ride?”

 

“Yes! I wanted them to see this one ride I want to go on and they said they’d go with us! Isn’t that cool?” She looked up and almost melted at the welcome in their smiles.

 

“Yup, real cool.” She walked to them, carrying Jill to them. Without hesitation, she handed Jill to them.

 

“Hey, thanks for taking care of her.”

 

“You’re totally welcome,” he said, beginning to tickle Jill. The other one stood and admired Renee for a second.

 

“I’ve seen you around before,” he said.

 

“Yeah, I know,” she said, looking down. “I’ve seen you before too.” He nodded his head.

 

“Why didn’t you say anything to us? I mean...why the distance?” She shrugged as she thought about that.

 

“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I just didn’t know you guys that well.” He nodded slowly, wanting more than she was giving. She sighed.

 

“I was also uncomfortable leaving her with you guys,” she admitted. “I felt weird leaving her with two guys in a relationship and all, I’m just not used to it. It’s totally nothing personal against you guys it’s just-” He put his hand up to stop her and let her know all was forgiven.

 

“It’s ok, we get that a lot,” he said. “But I’m really glad you left her with us. Sorry you had to sit with those other two though.”

 

“Yeah. I am too.” The four of them walked together to the next ride.

 

“Everybody get into fours!” They all smiled at each other. They were altogether for this one.

Reviews

[Anne Hill]

This one was good too!

[Puzzle-bot]

Onee of your best

[DarkAngelWriter]

Awww I love this. You're right, "To The End" is right up your alley ;)

ahh, this is a little different :) *b***h slap for the homophobic person though*
like the way it ends- all four of them being all together, this is pleasant, and well thought out- well done on it :) x