Christian and I were driving in the car last night on an important mission. We were out to purchase his very own first set of scriptures. I kept telling him that we would go when my work was done, and he was less than thrilled when we finally walked out the door at 7:30 p.m.. His mood was soured even more when we pulled up to the local LDS bookstore at 7:45 p.m. to find that they had closed at seven in honor of Family Home Evening. Nice.
He sat in the backseat of the car, completely dejected and morose and giving off the vibe that if he doesn’t make it to heaven, it’s probably my fault. I called Ryan at home who looked up the phone number of a competing LDS bookstore and, thankfully, they don’t observe Family Home Evening! I only had seven minutes to get there before they closed at eight.
I drove as fast as I could, walked in the door with Christian two minutes before they closed, grabbed a set of scriptures and a bag and headed straight to the check-out. It wasn’t until I signed the VISA slip for $83.32 that I started second-guessing this purchase. I had intended to spend about half that amount.
“Christian,” I said as we walked out to the car, “I think we should go shopping tomorrow and look for a different set.”
“Why?”
“Because, that’s a lot of money. I think we can find a better deal somewhere else.”
“So, I don’t get to keep them?”
“I think we can find you something that you’ll like just as much for a lot less money. That was almost a hundred dollars.”
“I know. It was $83.32.”
“Right.”
We got in the car, Christian’s head hanging low.
“So, I can’t open the plastic on these?” he asked.
“No, I think we should just wait. Why, were you going to read them tonight or something?”
“I was planning to.”
“Oh. Well, I really think it will be better to wait. That’s way too much money to spend on them.”
The car was quiet as we made our way out to the road. I looked in the rearview mirror, catching the silhouette of his frowning profile staring out the window.
“Gosh,” he finally huffed, “we should have just stole one from a hotel room.”
