The Last Man at the Inn by R. William Bennett

Author:R. William Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2019-09-16T16:10:44+00:00

In the week leading up to Alexander’s return home, Simon’s family told him more and more about their feelings—and with increasing intensity. Once they knew Simon was open to listening, they couldn’t resist. He had to smile at their passion. They each repeated the same things but used different ways to explain it all. He still wasn’t sure he believed everything, but he no longer felt like he was defending a line in the sand.

The day before Alexander arrived, Simon was cleaning the animal stalls behind his home when Samuel came out and asked to help. He gave his youngest son a job suited to his age and then went about his own work. After a few minutes, Samuel stopped working and, in a hesitant manner, asked a question.

“Father, are you angry at us?”

Simon stopped immediately and squatted down to look at his son. “Samuel, why would you say that? I’m not angry at anything! I am so glad to be back with you. Have I done something to make you think I’m angry?”

Samuel’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at him. “I was just worried.”

“About what?”

“Everyone is so excited about Jesus. But you weren’t here, and I did not know if you would be excited, and I was worried about our family . . .” His words trailed off and turned into sobs. He fell against his father, hugging him and burying his head in his shoulder.

“Samuel, Samuel,” he said as he stroked his head. “Samuel, I’m excited too.”

Samuel immediately picked his head up and looked at him.

“You are?” His eyes were red, but he was smiling. “You really are?”

Simon was perplexed for a minute. He did not want to lie to Samuel, but the boy’s feelings were clearly fragile. He chose his words carefully. “Samuel, I am excited that our family is so excited. I am still learning, but can that be enough for now?”

The boy nodded.

Simon asked him again, “Why were you so worried?”

Samuel looked off to the side, his voice cracking. “My friend Asher and his brothers and sisters and mother have all listened to the stories from the people that come to our town too, and they all want to hear more, like we do. But their father does not. He gets more and more angry every time they talk about it, and a couple days ago, he said they couldn’t listen to the stories anymore.”

Samuel’s eyes filled up with tears again, and his breathing became unsteady.

“Go on,” Simon said gently.

“And now Asher is not supposed to play with me if I talk about it. And his father said if they kept believing, he would have to leave.”

He took in a few sobbing breaths. “Father, I don’t want our family to be angry at each other. I don’t want us to be like that . . . I don’t want you to leave us . . .”

Simon comforted him quietly for a few minutes. When it seemed Samuel had calmed down, Simon took him by the shoulders and held him at arm’s length.

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