Young Whit and the Traitor's Treasure by Phil Lollar & Dave Arnold

Author:Phil Lollar & Dave Arnold
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books
Publisher: Focus on the Family
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The next day was Sunday, church day. The Whittakers attended a church that was closer to the university rather than the one in Provenance. Harold liked it better because many of his colleagues went there as well.

Normally Johnny found going to church to be a cross between a habit and a chore—something he did because he had always done it, and something he had to do because his folks made him. But with all that had happened that week, he was actually looking forward to morning worship. There was something peaceful about the old stone building, even when people were singing (sometimes terribly off-key), and he knew that the sermon was always quality “thinking time.” Besides, none of his schoolmates went there, which meant he wouldn’t have to put up with their avoiding him because of his newfound status.

As the family pulled out of their driveway, Johnny saw Emmy and her family getting in their car to head across town to the Catholic church they attended. He’d tried to tell her yesterday afternoon about the last article he had found with the picture of Thaddeus Knox’s ghost, but when he went to her house, she wasn’t home, or at least she pretended not to be. She saw him in the car now, and he waved to her, but she didn’t wave back.

Stubborn, he thought.

The peace Johnny hoped for when he entered the sanctuary eluded him. He didn’t know why. Everything seemed the same as every other Sunday service, but he didn’t feel the usual wave of calm wash over him. The singing was lovely this morning, though he’d never realized before just how many hymns dealt with blood.

Most surprising was that his quality “thinking time” during the sermon kept getting interrupted by the sermon. The pastor talked about the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

That last part kept intruding on his thoughts. He knew he hadn’t given Emmy or anyone else a lot of neighborly love the past week. He tried to rationalize it by telling himself that, except for Emmy, no one had exactly been neighborly to him, either, but he knew that wouldn’t fly. His mother, grandpa, dad, and stepmom had drilled into him that he needed to love his neighbors, even if they didn’t love him in return.

But how was that even possible? How was he supposed to love Wilson and Arty and the rest of their gang when they treated him like dirt? The pastor’s answer was blood again: The shed blood of Jesus makes it possible. But Johnny wasn’t sure he bought into that. Maybe if he shed a little of Wilson’s blood ...

Once the service was over, they piled back into the car, drove home, and ate the delicious Sunday dinner of roast beef and potatoes that Fiona had prepared. After the dishes were clean, Johnny went up to his room and positioned his desk chair so he could watch out the window for Emmy’s car to pull up.

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