Books by JF Carringer

WYLIE IS WRONG

Wylie Steals

         Six year old Wylie didn’t see anything wrong with borrowing some things from his friends without asking them.  It wasn’t like he was stealing.  He’d give everything back after he played with it for awhile.

            He pulled his little bag of treasures out from under his bed and slipped outside.  When he reached the creek, hidden by some trees, he sat down on the ground and poured everything out where he could see it.  There was the little red truck he’d taken from his friend Joey.  Joey had more.  He’d never miss it.  There was the bag of marbles he’d taken, one by one, from Mikey.  Mikey had tons of them.  His very favorite was the cowboy cup he’d found at Jimmy’s house.  He knew Jimmy probably missed it, because it was his favorite, but Wylie really wanted it.  And he was going to give everything back.  Even as he thought it, he knew he didn’t want to return anything.  He wanted to keep it all.  He pushed the thought aside.

            When he heard a rustling sound behind him, he hurried to put everything back into the bag.  Who had discovered his secret hiding place?  Just in time, he managed to hide his bag between two rocks. 

            He saw only feet when he turned.  Very large feet.  Wylie felt his heart start to thump.  He raised his eyes and looked up.  Way up.  Before him had to be the tallest man in the world!

            Wylie swallowed.  “Who are you?”  he asked, his voice squeaky.

            The man didn’t say a word.  He merely smiled and sat down next to the little boy.

            Wylie watched as he opened a box he was carrying.

            “Hey,”  Wylie gasped when the man pulled out a large plastic horse, a toy tractor and then an autographed baseball glove.  “Those are mine!  Where’d you get them?”

            The man’s eyes met Wylie’s.  “They were scattered around in your yard.  I figured you didn’t want them or you’d have put them away.”

            “But I do want them!  You stole them!  Give them back!”  He reached out to grab some of his toys, but the man put strong, yet gentle, hands over his arms.

            It was at that moment that Wylie noticed something he hadn’t seen before.  “You have wings!”

            “That’s because I’m an angel,” the man told him.

            Wylie shook his head.  “No way!  An angel wouldn’t steal a little kid’s toys.”

            “Why is it any different for me to take your stuff than for you to take things from your friends?”

 “I didn’t steal anything.  I’m giving it all back,” Wylie said.

            “So am I,” responded the man.

            “I’ll bet you were going to keep everything.  Why else would you bring it out here?  Just because you’re an angel doesn’t mean you can take my stuff.”

           “But it’s all right for you to do it, right?”

            Wylie was becoming very uncomfortable. 

            The man spoke.  “You know you were stealing, and you know it’s wrong to steal, don’t you?”

            Had the angel come to punish him?   Wylie began to sweat.  He totally forgot the man beside him had his toys.

             The angel looked deeply into Wylie’s eyes.  “You didn’t like it at all when you saw me with your stuff, did you?  You’re thinking I had no right to just take it without asking you.  You have every right to be upset with me and to want your things back.” 

            Wylie found himself squirming.  Tears started falling from his eyes.  He knew the words were true.  “I was wrong,”  he said.  “I knew all along I was stealing, but I made myself believe I was just borrowing things.  I won’t do it anymore, I promise.  Please don’t let God be mad at me!  He must be really mad, or you wouldn’t be here!”  He wished the angel would go away so he could take everything back and tell his friends he was sorry for what he’d done.  Maybe God wouldn’t be so mad at him then.

            “God loves you, Wylie.  He didn’t send me here because He’s mad at you.  He wanted you to see that stealing is wrong, and taking something without asking is stealing.  If you do it while you’re small, you’ll keep doing it when you’re grown.  More than likely, you’ll end up in prison.  God doesn’t want that to happen to you.”

            Wylie raised his tear-streamed eyes to meet those of the angel.  “I don’t want to go to jail!  I’ll never steal again, I promise.”

            The angel gave him his toys.  Then he stood up and helped the little boy to his feet also.  “You made God very happy when you said that, Wylie,”  the angel said.  “He knows the words are from your heart.”

            Wylie sniffed, then smiled through his tears.  “I never meant anything more in my whole, entire life, believe me!”

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A BIBLE VERSE FOR WYLIE:  Thou shalt not steal.  Exodus 20:15