DOUBTING TOMMY

(The following is a story I made up last year for our Sunday morning Kids and Family Mass. I try to write a new story for each of these Masses - and when I wrote this year's story, I said, "Uh oh! Didn't I write something like this last year?" You be the judge!

Once upon a time there was this kid name Tommy. He was a great kid. However, his mom and dad often told him, “Tommy, you have to think before you act.”

They would say this if he spent too much on his Game Boy and not enough time on his homework. As a result, he’d end up almost failing. Now Tommy had a good brain. Yet his parents would say, “Tommy, you have to think before you act.”

They would say this if he ate only dessert and skipped his green vegetables and salad and hamburger and potatoes – and all those things parents nag their kids about when eating. Then when he felt sick – because he took too much dessert, they would say, “Tommy, you have to think before you act.”

Now Tommy had a twin brother named Teddy. Now, Teddy loved his twin brother Tommy, especially because Tommy always got the corrections. Teddy just stayed cool, calm and collected, enjoying life in Tommy’s shadow.

One Sunday afternoon, their mom and dad, left the two of them alone – because they wanted to go to a wake. Someone in the parish had died suddenly. As they were leaving mom said, "Tommy, you're in charge!" Then out of habit she added, "Think before you act."

Tommy liked being the older brother. They were both 12 years old – but Tommy was 26 minutes older than his brother.

Their parents didn't think much could go wrong if they were out of the house for just an hour.

It was raining out. It was a Sunday. It was April. March madness was over. Nothing good was on TV. When T & T realized they forgot to recharge their Game Boys, they got out their lacrosse sticks and started tossing a ball back and forth in the living room.

Tommy wasn’t thinking before acting – but neither was Teddy.

They were doing well – when suddenly Tommy threw a lacrosse ball to Teddy – but too hard and too wide. Teddy lunged for it, but the ball crashed into a very expensive living room big mirror on the wall. Teddy, as he tried to catch the ball, hit an expensive Waterford crystal vase with his lacrosse stick. It was on an end table and had some spring flowers in it.

"Crash!" "Splash," went the glass of both the vase and the mirror. Water, flowers and broken shards of glass were scattered everywhere.

“Uh oh,” both of them muttered.

Then they both yelled in unison, “Uh oh! Big time!”

Teddy said, “I’m going to call mom and dad right away and tell them we just broke a vase and the mirror. Better tell them now than latter.”

“No,” said Tommy. "Let’s wait till they get home. We need some time to come up with a good story.”

Teddy, said, “Nope, I’m calling right now.”

So Teddy went to the phone in the kitchen – while Tommy pouted on the big couch – looking at the mess – wondering how he’s going to get out of this one. He could hear his mom and dad saying as they walked into the room and seeing the mess, “You have to think before you act. You could have gone out into the garage and have a catch there with your lacrosse sticks.”

Teddy returned from the kitchen three minutes later.

Tommy asked, “What did mom and dad say?”

Teddy told his twin brother Tommy, “They were upset, but they forgave us. Mom said, ‘Just as long as neither of you are cut.’”

Tommy said, “No way. No way they forgave us. I can hear them as soon as they walk in the house and see this mess. ‘We told you. No lacrosse, no football, no baseball playing, in the living room. You’re going to break something.’ Then I’m going to hear, ‘Think before you act.’”

Teddy repeated himself, “Nope. They forgave us. And they added, ‘Don’t try to pick up the broken glass. You might cut yourself.’”

The next hour was the longest hour in their entire life. They could hear every drop of rain falling from the sky. Finally, they heard the garage door opening and the car coming into the garage. Then they heard their parents come into the living room.

“Are you guys okay? All the way home we were worried you might be cut. We can always get a new mirror and a new Waterford vase, but we can’t get a new set of Twins like you guys.”

Teddy and Tommy were silent – amazed – and stunned.

Their parents continued, “All the way home we were thinking how you must be nervous wrecks worrying that we’re going to yell at you. Hey we broke things when we were your age. And we’re impressed that you called right away. Nice going. Not too many kids would do that.”

And Teddy didn’t give Tommy the “I told you so” look.

Tommy thought to himself, “Better to stay in Teddy’s shadow. There will be more broken windows and dishes and more, ‘I told you so’s’ – in the future, but for now, it was all forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness and lots of wonderful peace.