Respectful Words

“Tom!” Johnny called. “Tom! Where are you?” There was no answer and Johnny sat up in bed. “Mary! MARY!” Johnny got up and ran down the hall. He stopped. Yes, there in the kitchen was Mary. She seemed very tall, standing at the stove, cooking breakfast. She wore a long dress which almost touched the floor, and her hair was in a big gray bun on her head.

She looked at him and smiled. He liked Mary. Her smile was very kind.

The door opened and Tom came in with an armload of wood. He towered over Mary, and Johnny was a little afraid of him because he was so big. But when he smiled, Johnny felt better, too.

He had been here for two visits now. For two visits to his mother, that is. Tom and Mary had taken him in their car to visit his mother at the prison. Johnny didn’t like that place. He wished his mother was not in there. She couldn’t take him home and be his mother.

Before Tom and Mary, there had been Bill and Alice. Then a man and a woman whose names he could not remember. They were mean. Before that were others. Johnny could not even remember much about them.

After breakfast, Tom and Mary would always read the Bible. There was something very special about it. Then they would pray. It was not hard to believe that God listened to their prayers, and that He loved everybody.

This morning, Tom read, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord.”* (Leviticus 19:32) Then he read 2 Kings 2:23 and told the story of the little children who mocked the prophet, Elijah.

“These children knew they were not being respectful of the prophet,” Tom said. “They wanted to make fun of his bald head, and they did not believe that God took care of him.” He looked at Johnny. “So, a terrible thing happened to them.” Then Tom told about the two mama bears that killed them.

“If we are respectful of those who are older than us,” said Mary, “it will show in our words and in how we act. We will want to speak of them with respect. We will not speak to them as we do others our own age.”

Johnny thought for a little while. “You mean I should not call you ‘Mary’?” he said.

“That’s right,” she said. “What do you think you should call us?”

Johnny remembered how he was first told their names. “Mr. and Mrs. Logan?” he asked.

Mr. Tom Logan nodded. “Yes, Johnny,” he replied. “It would be much more respectful.”

“But, Johnny,” Mrs. Mary Logan said, “you can call us Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom, if you want to.”

Johnny smiled. “I love you, Aunt Mary,” he shyly said. He took Uncle Tom’s big hand and held it tightly. “I love you, too, Uncle Tom,” he whispered.