Chapter 6

     “You are just who I was looking for!”
     “You little-”
     “And you invited Mr. Skink to come too! What a pleasure! Sit down, both of you, I’ll get you a script!”
     In retrospect, Mr. Skink never stood a chance in the face of Pastor Basil’s relentless hospitality.  Before he could demand that the police be called or alert everyone to the burglar in their midst, we had both been ushered into a pew and handed scripts for the upcoming Christmas Pageant.
     “What is this?” whispered Mr. Skink, popping up his eyepatch to get a better look at the script.  I could see the tarantula nervously hunkering down beneath his collar.  
     “It’s a script for the Christmas Pageant.  We act out the story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem” I explained, hoping that if I was helpful, Mr. Skink might let my earlier breaking and entering incident slide.     
     “Where in tarnation is Bethlehem?” demanded Mr. Skink.
     “Uh...Pennsylvania, I think?”  I hadn’t realized we’d be doing geography.  “It looks like you’re playing Joseph.”
     “Who’s he?” 
     “Uh, Mary’s husband”
     “Who’s Mary?”
     “Um...baby Jesus’ mom and, uh…” I glanced nervously down at my script “me?”
To Be Continued
 
John 13:3-5
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 

A reading of Chapter 6 by Amelia Corbett