As they approached the gathering, they saw several teens dressed in black robes performing some sort of ceremony. “Oh Lord,” Linda cried out. “Could they… have done something to Clark?
Oh no, we’ve just lost Ted, and now—”
“Linda, no,” Paul consoled her. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. Wait right here.
Excuse me, boys,” he began hesitantly, approaching them. “Is it possible you saw this boy here…”
One of the boys smirked as Paul showed them a photo of Clark. “Your son arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time!” he shouted.
“Your son should not have come!”
Paul looked intently at the teen, then at his friends. In those robes, they all appeared nothing but dumb, and they’d been burning what appeared to be their grade cards. “Oh really?” he asked, putting his phone in his back pocket.
“Well…” Paul grabbed the boy’s collar and yanked him forward. “Listen, kid; You’d better speak out, or you’re going home with a broken nose!”
“Woah, woah, okay! Relax!” the boy Paul had warned said.
“I’m…I’m Chad! And I saw your son. We did nothing to him!
Mr. Bowen, the graveyard guard, grabbed him.”
“What?”
“He… he took your son, sir. I swear.
He lives right outside the cemetery! We just come here every night to scare people, that’s all!”
***
When Paul and Linda arrived at Mr. Bowen’s cottage, they noticed Clark and Mr.
Bowen seated on a sofa through the window. The parents wanted to burst inside and hug their son but stopped in their tracks when they overheard him talking. Paul and Linda were embarrassed.
They listened in tears and shock as Clark spoke about his heart’s worries, and Mr. Bowen advised him to reconcile with his parents. “They still adore you, little boy,” the older man said.
“Look, kid. I lost my wife and child. Their plane crashed, and I’ve lived in this nightmare for years, missing them every single day and night.
What’s happened in your family is any parent’s worst nightmare come true. How about we be kinder to them?”
Clark agreed, nodding at some point. Instead of grieving the loss of what you don’t have, take the opportunity to appreciate what you do have.
Paul and Linda could no longer wait. “I’m so sorry, honey!” Linda cried as she and Paul stormed into the cottage. She held her boy close as her tears flowed freely.
Paul looked at Mr. Bowen apologetically and thanked him for saving Clark. “Thank you,” he said.
“Thank you so much for what you did for our family just now.”
“No problem. I know the hell you’re going through. So, I understand.
Hang in there.”
Eventually, Mr. Bowen became the Wesenbergs’ close friend. In months, idyll returned to this family’s household.
They could heal from Ted’s loss and finally look at life positively. Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
