A friend named Roger
by Carrie Harris

“What a wimp!” Katie shouted, and the others around her joined in. “Wimp, wimp, wimp,” they cried, encircling Beth as they taunted. “Bet you wouldn’t know a spine if you saw one!” Katie continued, egged on by her peers, as she put the plastic spider back in her pocket. “Scared of a little toy spider!” Beth fought back the tears as she pushed her way through the crowd of taunting children and ran off.

Every day it was the same. Smaller than the other kids, Beth was often bullied by Katie and her cohorts, but she was ashamed to tell an adult what was happening. Either they’d tell the principal, and she’d be labelled a tattler, or – worse still – they’d tell her to stand up for herself.

Beth only had one friend. His name was Roger, and she was the only one who could see him. As she walked home that day, she met up with Roger, and told him her troubles. Roger, a handsome boy of thirteen, looked thoughtful as Beth spoke. When she was finished talking, they sat down on the kerb together.

“You know what I think?” Roger said, in his deep and croaky voice. Beth shook her head, and looked down. Roger put his arm around her comfortingly. “I think you shouldn’t care what they say. I think you should just smile at them and walk away. Do you think you could do that?”

Beth felt the tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks.
“They’re so much bigger than me, Roger. I could never stand up to them. Especially Katie … she’s huge, and she’d pound me into the ground.”

Roger smiled at his little friend.
“What if I was there with you? Could you stand up to them then?” he asked, and Beth looked up hopefully. “Could you? Would you? I’d feel much stronger if you were there!” Roger smiled, and stood up, then held out his hand.
“Okay kiddo. Tomorrow, I will come to school with you.” He walked her home, then wandered off down the street.

The next morning, Beth woke up, and smiled when she remember that Roger was coming to school with her today. She dressed quickly, ate her breakfast, brushed her teeth, gathered her things, and walked out the front door after saying goodbye to her Mum and Dad. She skipped out to the footpath, and found Roger walking toward her. She waved, and he waved back.

“So kiddo, you ready to go to school?” he asked, and she nodded eagerly. He took her hand, and they walked down the street, toward the school, with Beth chatting happily to Roger the whole way.

The first bell rang, and Beth made her way to her classroom. Katie nudged her roughly from behind as they stood in line outside the classroom, but the teacher didn’t notice. After they had filed into the hall and put their bags in their lockers, Beth sat down at her table and smiled at Roger, who had followed her in. She took out her maths book, turned to a fresh page, and began to copy down the sums on the blackboard. When she got stuck on a problem, Roger patiently explained it, and before long her work was done.

Beth raised her hand, and the teacher came over.
“Are you done already, Beth? What a clever girl you are! You may work on your art project for the next ten minutes, while I finish marking the roll, and then I will find some more problems for you to solve.” Beth felt great inside, until she happened to notice Katie’s nasty glare.

“Just ignore her,” Roger reminded her, so she did. She took out her coloured pencils and a blank piece of paper, and began to draw …

At recess, Beth found a quiet bench by the oval, and opened her lunch box to take out her apple. All of sudden, without warning, her lunchbox was flung from her hands.

“So you think you’re smart?” Katie taunted, and the group of girls around her leered. “If you’re so smart, how come nobody likes you?” Roger took Beth’s trembling hand.
“You don’t have to answer that,” he said quietly, so Beth said nothing as she leaned down and collected her apple, sandwich, and drink. Without a word, she placed them all back in her lunch box, stood up straight, looked Katie in the eye, and walked away.

Once she was around the corner of the building, where Katie and her cohorts couldn’t see, she smiled at Roger.
“That felt great!” she beamed. “With you here, they aren’t scary any more. Can you come to school with me every day?”

Roger took Beth’s hands.
“Not every day. I can come sometimes, but it wasn’t me that stood up to her. It was you.” Beth looked surprised.
“But I could only do it because you were here.” Roger smiled and said nothing. Just then the bell rang for the end of recess, and Beth made her way back to the classroom to stand in line and wait for the teacher.

Katie came up behind her, and hissed between her teeth,
“nobody walks away from me. You’re gonna get it after school!” Beth took hold of Roger’s hand, and said nothing.

The final bell rang for the day, and three hundred screaming kids spilled out of the classrooms, happy to be free again. Beth was one of the last to exit, and as she rounded the corner, she found Katie and her group waiting for her.

“You ready to be taught a lesson?” Katie sneered, and Beth shrunk back out of habit.
“You don’t need to be scared of her,” Roger reminded her gently, so Beth stood up as tall as she could.
“Sorry, but I’ve already had my lessons for the day, and now it’s home time,” she said, surprising not only herself, but the bully.

Katie wasn’t prepared for this, and took a moment to process it. She looked at her followers, and tried again.
“You walked away from me today, and I wasn’t finished with you!” she growled, more aggressively than she felt.

Beth looked at Roger, and felt herself grow bolder.
“Why shouldn’t I walk away from you? It’s not like you’re a friend or anything.” She smiled at Roger, who was standing behind Katie now.

Katie was thrown off balance, and she didn’t like it. Her followers would only follow her if she was in charge. This little kid was slowly taking that away from her, and it scared her.
“Oh yeah,” she said, but less confidently than before. “What are you going to do about it?” Roger was holding two thumbs up, cheering Beth on. Beth thought for a moment, then made a life-changing decision.

“This!” she said, and walked away.

Katie was seething, and she ran after Beth, her fists in the air. She knew she was losing her control, and she was determined to get it back. Beth turned around and, with her new-found courage, said,
“I don’t think you want to do that, Katie,” then turned back around and kept walking.

Some of the girls in the group ran after Beth.
“Wait up, I want to walk with you!” Sarah called. “Sorry Katie, but I don’t want to be your friend any more.” Katie began to rant and rave, but there was nothing she could do about it. Sarah and the other girls caught up to Beth, and began to talk to her. Beth was so surprised and pleased that it took a few minutes to realise that Roger was gone, but she didn’t have time to think about it as the other girls chatted to her.

Roger looked on from the end of the street, smiled at a job well done, then spread his wings and returned to Heaven to await his next assignment …

A still, small voice

As a toddler, when I fell and scraped my knee
A still, small voice whispered, "don't cry, I will heal you"

As a child, when my father abandoned me
A still, small voice whispered, "don't cry, I'll be your Father"

At school, when my friends turned away from me
A still, small voice whispered, "don't cry, I'll be your Friend"

As a teenager, when I wanted to go my own way
A still, small voice whispered, "I'll guide you" ... but I didn't listen ...

As an adult, when I had dug myself into a hole
A still, small voice whispered, "take My hand", and I reached out

As a new Christian, I thought I had done too much to ever be loved
A still, small voice whispered, "I love you"