Endangered Species

by Terri Conlin

The small boy fidgets while he waits. Tuesdays are his favorite day of the week at school. Pastor Bill Towne comes around the corner and a broad smile brightens the boy’s face. His lunch buddy has arrived right on time, just like all other Tuesdays for the past year-and-a-half. Sometimes Bill brings his own college-age daughters, sometimes he is swinging a piping hot bag stamped with the golden arches, but today he is alone and the bag is plain brown paper. The boy and his fourth grade friends crowd eagerly around Bill at the long lunch table asking a million questions. The boys delight in the detail that Bill is the boss of another boy’s lunch buddy.

Usually a game of wall ball or tag follows lunch, but today Bill and the boy head to the library to research the spotted owl. The assignment is due today, but with no help from home, the report hasn’t even been started. There is only silence from the boy’s mother, no attendance at parent/teacher conferences, no returned phone calls, no school supplies, no help with homework. The young boy tells Bill, though his father lives nearby, visits are rare, perhaps twice a year. He talks of long hours playing violent video games and watching slasher movies. Those influences show in his lacking social skills and playground play. He revels in having Bill all to himself, soaking up all the attention and affection he can squeeze out of their Tuesday time. Together they learn that the plight of the spotted owl is complicated, involving old growth forests, the logging industry, entire small town economies, the federal government, even other owls.

Their friendship is threatened by a possible summer move across town to a new school. Unsettling for a boy who has never been outside these few familiar square miles between school and the apartment complex where he lives with his mother, her boyfriend and assorted siblings. Bill hoped to arrange summertime outings with several students and their lunch buddies, but mom says no through her little boy, leaving two disappointed hearts. Other pairs head for the zoo or summer camp. Bill just keeps coming faithfully every Tuesday. And every Tuesday the teacher catches the boy’s eye and whispers behind her cupped hand, “See I told you he would come.” Before the school year disappeared, Bill spoke words of encouragement, “You are a joy to have as my lunch buddy. You are kind to my daughters. You are a good thinker and a great young man with a big heart.” The boy stood with rapt attention and full eye contact. He held Bill’s hand until the bell rang and then hugged his leg and asked, “Would you be my Daddy?”

Bill walked to his car with a smile and a sigh, marveling at what can be done with faithfulness and a brown paper bag. When the lunch bell rings in September, Bill will be looking for his friend with anticipation, hope and a brown paper bag.

If you would like to join the Lunch Buddy Program, contact Cathi Presjak at cpresjak@comcast.net.