Tamar reluctantly pulled away from her new friends once breakfast was over, and went to her mother, as she’d been told.
Mom probably had a list of chores for Tamar to do, payment for consorting with the teenages and abandoning her family.
“Finished breakfast already?” Mom asked, as she directed the younger boys to clean up their dishes.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I think I can handle the boys. Just check in later.”
“Okay.” Tamar breathed relief, yet wondered why her mother was being so easy.
Tamar ran back to Ariel. “My mom doesn’t need me.”
“Oh, good. Want to explore? We have half an hour free before classes begin.”
Tamar followed Ariel outside. The other girls were heading to the girls’ cabin, and Tamar watched them leaving, nearly longing to be with them or to at least go where they were going.
“They are probably just going to do their make-up,” Ariel mocked. “Or at least Gretchen is. I think Faye doesn't wear make-up… she says she hates having to wash it off. You know, she hates water and all that.”
“So she doesn’t even like drinking it?” Tamar asked.
Ariel’s nose puckered up near her eyes. “You know, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her drink anything. But she has to, right?”
They left the cafeteria. A large cloud of tapioca floated down near them. Ariel reached out and touched it, mindlessly swirling her fingers through the transparent mass of weirdness.
“You can touch it,” Tamar said in awe.
“Sure. Feels pretty weird. Here, try?”
Tamar shook her head, hiding her hands in her pockets. “I’d rather not. Looks disgusting.”
Ariel laughed. “A lot of people are often freaked out by it, but I think it’s pretty neat. But then I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know about it.”
What would it be like to accept a complete impossibility as a natural thing? Tamar had no idea. But she wasn’t ready to accept this tapioca glob quite yet. They say seeing is believing, but Tamar just couldn’t.
They walked down a steep hill, spotted with patches of fading grass, to the edge of a placid lake. Every few steps Tamar caught sight of pieces of glass buried in the dirt on the hill or scattered among the stones at the edge of the lake. Ariel led the way halfway down a buoyed dock, and they sat down, slipping their flip-flops into their hands and sticking their feet into the water.
It was cold, although the sun was out and ready to burn Tamar’s face. Tamar shivered and pulled her toes back up.
“Hey, don’t be a sissy,” Ariel teased. “Your toes will warm up after a bit.”
Tamar reinserted her toes into the lake. “So, what do we usually do all day?”
“Classes in the morning, sports in the afternoon, evening services. Oh, and food. Lots of yummy food.” Ariel rubbed her stomach, slightly bulging and bloated from breakfast.
Tamar giggled at the spectacle.“So a pretty tight schedule?”
“Not really. There are lots of long breaks, like right now. Gives people time to freshen up before stuff or hang out or such.”
“Do most of the youth hang out regularly? Like is there a place where everyone just goes?”
Ariel shook her head. “Not really. I mean, they all hang out. I’ve always been kinda the outcast, despite half of them being my cousins and all.”
Awkwardly, Tamar splashed her toes in the water. What did you say to something like that? I’m sorry was too cheesy. Silence didn’t cut it either. Tamar said, “Oh.”
“Yeah, Faye and I used to be like this—” Ariel crossed her two first fingers around each other. But then two years ago everything changed. She and Rayne somehow started hanging out more which I totally don’t get because Rayne is super bossy. And then the two of them somehow cliqued with all the older kids. And I just kinda didn’t.”
“Oh,” Tamar said. She felt stupid for not saying more. That did sound tough.
“I know, boring you with sob stories and old drama. Sorry.”
“Oh, no way! I just don’t know what to say, is all. I’m really sorry that’s all happened.”
Ariel shrugged into a smile. “You know how kids and their cliques get. No big deal. I have friends at home, so, besides church, I only have to deal with this one week of the year.”
“I guess that’s good.”
“Ya bet.” Ariel pulled her feet out of the lake and put her flip-flops back on. “We should probably get on to our classes. They’ll be meeting in one of the air conditioned buildings, and let me tell you, I’m ready to get out of this heat.”
Everyone else was already there when Tamar and Ariel entered a small room attached to the back of a game hall. Both of the boys sat on the floor against a far wall, Mr. Cowell had the only chair, and the girls were squished on a couch, with just two spaces left for Ariel and Tamar. Tamar sat beside Faye.
“Hey,” Faye said. “Enjoying camp, or miss your books yet?”
“Can I say both?” Tamar said, trying to be funny. She looked at Declan from the corner of her eyes. But he didn’t seem to hear. Faye rewarded her with a chuckle.
Ariel took the last of the open space at the end of the couch. She knocked her hips into Tamar, sending a wave through all the girls. “Make some room, y’all,” Ariel teased. “The thing’s going to cave over.”
Mr. Cowell handed Cameron a stack of booklets titled “His Body”. Cameron passed them around, along with a container of pens.
“If you brought your Bibles, open that up to the twelfth chapter of first Corinthians.”
Tamar hadn’t even thought to bring her Bible. Neither had Ariel. Everyone else had theirs.
Tamar shuffled awkwardly in her seat hoping no one noticed. But Declan did. He reached for a stack of Bibles, and offered one to both Ariel and Tamar.
Just like a real gentleman. Tamar nearly swooned, staring at the Bible as if it were an engagement ring. She accepted it with a much too enthusiastic, “Thanks!”
Ariel, without even looking at Declan, took a Bible too.
“No problem,” Declan grinned.
“Let’s go around reading a verse each, and read all of chapter twelve.” Mr. Cowell said. “We’ll start with Ariel.”
Ariel fumbled with her Bible before finding her verse.
Tamar’s toes curled under her feet, pinching down into the foam of her flip-flops. She had to read next, and for some reason that made her nervous. She couldn’t even focus on what Ariel was reading. Yes, she was an avid reader, but what if she messed up? What if Declan thought she was just some poorly homeschooled kid who didn’t really know anything?
Okay. Enough thinking of Declan. She was here to learn about God, right?
Ariel banged elbows with her.
Right. Her turn to read. Tamar’s voice shook as she read verse two, but at least she pronounced every word correctly. She was able to breathe then… and hear the words as everyone else read.
“There are different kinds of gifts…”
“ … of services … of works … but in all of them … it is the same work to God.”
“To one is given… to another is given…”
“All of these are the work of one Spirit… just as He determines…”
“Just as a body has many parts…”
“We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body…”
“ … there should be no division in the body …”
“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it …”
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it…”
Tamar found herself forgetting when she read; when others read; all she heard were the words of the scripture, spoken aloud by so many of them, somehow adding meaning and depth to the fact that it took many members not one person to do God’s work. It made her wonder, even more, what her part was in the body of the church.
Mr. Cowell spoke, “Do any of you have thoughts on this?”
Gretchen raised her hand, then said, “I think it’s interesting how it’s clear that not one gift is better than another and how, no matter who we are (greek or Jew) or what small role we play, we are loved the same by God. I especially love where it says ‘The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”’ We all need each other. And we shouldn’t mope around if we don’t have the gift we’d rather have.”
Tamar nodded along with Gretchen’s words, feeling a hope that maybe God would soon show her a gift that she could use to glorify Him. It didn’t have to be huge. Just something.
Rayne raised a hand, “I think if we aren’t careful we could fall into a trap here though.”
“Oh?” Mr. Cowell said, amused.
Already, Tamar was learning that Rayne had thoughts that went in all sorts of directions, but the others seemed to not make fun of her too much for it.
“Yes, we are each given a special role in the body, and a gift. But I think we need to be careful in becoming complacent in our role and refusing to do something just because ‘that’s not where I belong’. Such as, let’s say I have a gift of teaching, but not a gift of healing. Yet, I come across someone who is badly hurt. It would be wrong of me to say to that man, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t heal you because my gift is teaching. I do hope someone with the appropriate gift comes by sometime, though.’”
That got a string of chuckles from everyone.
“I should always be looking to serve God. My focus should never be on what my gift is or isn’t, but how I can always be serving Him with every part of myself.”
Mr. Cowell nodded. “I think this all plays into the next chapter… does anyone know what it’s about?”
Cameron answered, poking his glasses further into his eyes. “Love?”
“Exactly. To summarize it, in everything we do, we should remember that the greatest thing is to love God and love man. Without charity everything else is pointless, including our acts of service. And sometimes our lack of service will prove just how much more love we need to give.”
Everyone pondered Mr. Cowell’s words. Tamar’s brain buzzed with all of this, wondering how she might be able to apply it to herself. Everyone else in the room seemed to be doing just the same.
Except Ariel, who leaned into Tamar and whispered, “A bit over your head, yeah?”
Tamar shrugged.
Tamar took in a deep breath, then she raised a hand. “ Maybe it’s because I’m so young, but I feel like I have no purpose, no place in the body. Like I’m a useless limb paralyzed, or maybe someone’s hair, chopped off and thrown away. How do we know what our gifts are?”
“That’s a fair question,” Mr. Cowell said. “There’s a lot of tests people like to give to find these sorts of things out. But at the end of the day, God will give you His own test when He sends you something to do—maybe someone in need—and you find yourself obeying His voice.”
Mr. Cowell pressed the group to discuss the chapter a bit more, and then there was a questionnaire in their booklets. Tamar enjoyed every part of the morning.
Tamar’s mom allowed her to sit with the youth once more during lunch. And once more the kids started the lunch hour off by discussing what they’d learned. At first Tamar was starting to think these kids were all superheroes who didn’t know how to be real kids. But today the recap only lasted a few moments before they were laughing and joking like normal kids might.
Once they were done eating, Declan lifted a fist. “So who’s ready for some volleyball?”
Gretchen answered, a little shyly. “I am.”
Everyone followed Declan to the court. Rayne found the volleyball, and Declan assumed leadership once everyone was gathered around the nets. “I’ll count you all off. Ones on this side, twos on the other side with me.”
Ariel, Rayne, and Gretchen were ones.
That left Tamar with Cameron, Declan, and Faye.
“No fair,” Ariel said. “We’re outnumbered.”
Tamar bit her lip, hoping she wouldn’t have to leave now that she was actually with Declan…
“You guys can have Faye,” Declan said.
Faye made no objection and went to the other side of the net.
Tamar tried to steady her beating heart as Delcan looked at her and told her to guard the back. “Cameron, you get front, I’ll have middle.”
Tamar wondered if she should say that she knew nothing about volleyball. No-one else seemed to be saying anything. Anyways, she didn’t know if she could open her mouth and actually say anything. Besides, how hard could it be to catch on? Just hit the ball over the net, right?
A bit of tapioca floated toward Tamar. Her back arched and she squirmed around it. Disgusting. It looked a little pretty, but she still bet it was slimy and dirty. How could it not be?
Rayne sent the ball flying over the net—Declan hit it back smoothly, the ball thudding against the impact of his fists. It went high, and then over and down onto the other side … right into Ariel’s waiting thrust. The ball came back falling at Tamar’s face. She freaked out and covered her head with her hands.
The ball sailed over her and fell on the sand outside the court.
“Good job, Tamar!” Declan said.
“Wh—”
“It went out of bounds. I was afraid you were going to touch it at first.”
Tamar looked at the ball laying outside of the court. Well, that wasn’t really anything good on her part. But Declan reached for a fist pump. Despite knowing she’d have covered her face either way, she inflated with pride.
“Thanks,” she said.
Cameron gave her a thumbs up.
Declan retrieved the ball, then asked Tamar, “Want to send it back over?”
She did… and she didn’t. “I’m not so good at it.”
“Not that hard. Here, let me show you. Just hold the ball out like this..” Declan rested the volleyball on his left arm, hand, extending it out before him. “Tuck your thumb, then swing and hit.” With his right arm he swung at the ball, but purposely missed it. “Here, try,” he said, handing the ball to Tamar.
Their fingers brushed and she knew she wouldn't be able to get the ball over the net. But she tried.
Instead the ball swerved right and slid down the hill toward the lake. Cameron jogged after it.
“Ours!” Rayen called out.
“Hey, give her a few tries to figure it out,” Declan called back.
Rayne crossed her arms. Tamar flushed at Declan standing up for her.
Cameron threw the ball to Tamar. “You got this.” He grinned.
So, Tamar tried again, while Declan encouraged and told her that her form was good. She hit. And the ball hit Cameron in the back.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I—”
Cameron laughed, “Been needing to pop that joint for a while.”
Declan said, “At least the ball went straight this time. Just try throwing it a bit. You’ll get it this time.”
By this time, Tamar was ready to be done embarrassing herself. She’d try, though. She threw it up, hit it, and it went over the net. Just barely.
“Awesome!” Declan hollered.
“Great shot!” Cameron hooted.
The ball came sailing back over and Declan jumped high, arms raised. The ball never had a chance, but went back down onto the other side. Faye and Gretchen collided, reaching for it at the back. The ball landed on the ground, in bounds.
“Oh, yeah! One point for team Tamar!” Declan raised a triumphant fist.
Tamar was starting to feel like she might actually enjoy this game. At least the time playing it. Gretchen hit the ball over, and Declan said, “It’s yours, Tamar.”
Tamar was going to hit it over. She could see it, she would not hide.
Right as she was going to jump another gooey cloud of tapioca floated by, right where the ball should’ve been. She stumbled backward, falling on her backside, the ball bouncing off the side of her head.
Everyone stared at her.
“What was that?’ Ariel asked, sounding confused.
Declan came over and leaned down. “You all right?”
“Yeah. I just don’t know how to play this game and… That stuff floating around is gross.”
Declan laughed, “It’s not too bad once you get used to it. It’s…” He trailed off as if wanting to say more about the stuff. But why would he, or wouldn’t he if he did?
Cameron retrieved the ball again. “Also, when you were going for the ball, before you fell, your arms were wild. Keep them controlled, and don't hit the ball with your finger tips. That’d hurt. Hit like this.” Cameron showed a fist. “Or this.” Then he locked his fingers together and curved them upward.
“Ready to try again?” Declan asked.
This was proof Declan was a real gentleman. Some other guy would have kicked her off the team by now.
Tamar stood, grunting at the bruises already starting to form, and resumed her position. Declan tossed the ball back to the other side and they served it toward them.
“Yours!” Cameron and Declan called to Tamar.
She forced her eyes to not shut. She intertwined her fists together. There were no more tapioca clouds. And she shot out at the ball. Her fists hit, the ball went up, up, up… but it wouldn’t go in. Cameron jumped and sent the ball flying straight.
Whew. She’d done it.
Declan and Cameron hollered.
“That’s how it’s done, yeah!”
Even Ariel called out from the other side, “Good hit, Tamar!”
Tamar didn’t do any better the rest of the game, but she found herself having fun and glad to be with these kids and how already they were becoming great friends. This was going to be the best week of her life.
The next installment will be published on the first Monday of next month.
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