Genesis 29:15-28

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Robby puts another two quarters in the machine and leans in, concentrating. He guides the joystick... first, a little to the left, then down. A little more. Now up just a tap. He presses the red button and the metal claw lowers into the pile of toys and plastic goodies. As the cord pulls the claw upward, the three, metal fingers are drawn together, gliding smoothly over the intended target. They clank together. Empty. Yet again.

“Dang,” Robby says.

“You’re gonna blow your whole paycheck before you even get it,” says Dan, who is on break with Robby.

“I gotta get it,” says Robby, dropping two more quarters in.

“Don’t you know it’s a scam? These things never work.”

“I haven’t tried this angle, yet,” says Robby, eyes squinting.

Robby started working at the amusement park earlier in the week. It's a small park, with a wooden roller coaster, bumper cars, and a carousel that by all standards is an antique. In fact, if the park were closer to a big city, it could easily be marketed as “vintage” for connoisseurs. But, most of the clientele are locals... several generations, now, of people who - at some distinct moment - are surprised to realize that they are old enough to have kids who are now the same age that they were when they first went there. After shock of the revelation wears off, they figure they may as well take their kids on the rides they used to love when they were young... which really doesn't seem like that long ago.

A couple weeks into the season, the Tilt-a-Whirl operator just up and quit... after seven seasons at the lever. When Jinny brought Robby home last weekend after an evening at the lake, her Dad told Robby about the job, “The owner’s a friend of mine. It’ll be good for you. They even have a place for you to stay.”

Jinny had told her dad about Robby leaving home. Her dad had remembered Jinny talking about Robby back during her freshman year. He never got the impression that there was anything romantic between them, but you sure couldn’t tell by the way she moped around up in her room all summer after he dropped out. The last thing I want is this kid staying here, he thought to himself. She’s got her future to think about.

A quick phone-call to his old friend , and the job was lined up. He started to get a little anxious the next morning when Jinny asked to go with him to drop off Robby at the park, but there were no tears this time.

She just smiled and said, “Make sure you call your mom.”

For about a week now, Robby has dutifully been taking tickets from the Tilt-a-whirl passengers, opening the chain to let them in, making sure that the lap-bar is latched into place, and pulling the lever to start the ride in motion. Each day, he watches each clam-shell shaped cart go around the track, up and down. The savvy riders know how to lean to one side at just the right time, using their body weight to maximize the centrifugal thrill of the ride.

“Ten times around,” his boss said on the first day. “No more.” Robby tries, but, on more than one occasion, the riders have gotten a couple extra rounds when his mind wanders. And, honestly, that is his only complaint about the job... too much time to think.

That, and the housing... which is an old storage shed with a couple of cots put in it and a slop sink in the back. Dan is his room-mate and, except for the occasional snoring, isn’t a bad guy to live with, considering the circumstances. All the other workers have homes or families nearby and seem to disappear after the park closes at night.

The first two nights, Robby and Dan wandered the empty park alone. After that, they learned to call it a day when the park closes down because they have to be up pretty early in the morning. It's a little arrangement - their boss calls it - in return for the free housing. Each day, before the park opens at noon, Dan and Robby are expected to put in four hours of trimming the wild grapevines.

No one knew who had planted the first, little grape... or when or where exactly they did it. Wild grapes aren’t native to the area, but in the past, few years, they have spread like wildfire… climbing way up into the mighty old native oaks and maples. They have climbed up pretty much every tree surrounding the park. If let go, they will totally take over.

As long as Robby and Dan keep cutting the vines, they have a roof over their heads. Any casual observer can see that the boss got the best end of the deal. There's more than a summer’s worth of work for the two of them. And, Dan complains the whole time.

But, to his own surprise, Robby actually enjoys it. He loves the feeling of release as the clippers finally break through the vines. And, he loves pulling them down out of the trees. It's like a wrestling match... a test of strength. He especially loves when he yanks the vine at the bottom of the trunk, and way up in the tree, the birds startle and bluster off. Sometimes, he has to jump up in the air and pull on the vine with his whole body weight, just to rip its tendrils loose.

The most annoying part is dragging the vines and chopping them up into a big pile behind the tool sheds. But, even that brings something to look forward to. The bigger the pile of vines, the bigger the bonfire the boss promised at the end of the summer.

Robby has never been a morning person, but he finds himself getting up early to get his hours in before the heat of the day settles in. Out among the trees, totally focused on wrestling those vines down, the time flies.

Before he knows it, it's time to wash up, put on his uniform, and head over to the Tilt-a-whirl for the test run before the park opens for the day.

After that, the days seem to go a lot slower as kid after kid piles on and off the ride. As the carts swirl around, riding the curved track like boats riding some strange, jerky waves, he thinks about his mother. It's been three weeks now since he left home, and he actually finds himself missing her.

The truth is, though, he can’t stop thinking about his dad. When he was younger, right after his dad died, he would dream about him. His dad would always be smiling in the dream... it was like he was right there with him. Robby could see every detail. Every time, he would wake up in tears. Now, he struggles to remember what his dad looked like. He doesn't have the pictures on the walls to remind him.

So, he searches for clues. He looks for traces of his Dad in the faces of the dads who pile on the cars with their kids. He watches them put their arms around their children, pulling them close. Several times he has started to catch a glimpse... a memory, something. But, then he realizes it's time to start the ride, and it all gets lost in the whir of gears and the blur of the ride.

His first day on the job, he was starving when his break finally rolled around. He went over to the snack cart and saw Dan place an order. He watched the girl dunk a ladle into this pot of gooey batter and then pour it out into a vat of hot oil. Nasty, he thought. But, then, it simmered and popped and puffed up into this golden dough. She grabbed it with tongs, slid it on a plate, and sprinkled on powdered sugar.

“Ever had an elephant ear?" Dan asked. "You should try it.”

It was fluffy and crispy and delicious. Robby was hooked. Every brake now, he orders one... watching the batter transform into heavenly dough before his very eyes.

After finishing the elephant ear, he heads over to the arcade, always. Straight to the Toy Grabber. It's filled with all the standard junk that one finds in any of those machines... plush animals, balls, plastic toys, little trinkets... all in bright, obnoxious colors and surely made in Taiwan.

For the remainder of his brake, he is glued to the machine. He is convinced there is a treasure in there. The very first day, he noticed it - nestled between a stuffed dalmatian and a pink gorilla: a pearl ring. Hidden among all that junk. He's sure it's the real deal. He's been after it ever since.

"Dang, I'm out of quarters." Robby says, "How about ten more bucks? I'll totally pay you back."

"You already owe me thirty," Dan says, "You seriously think that ring's real?"

"Definitely," says Robby, "She's gonna love it."

"Who?" wonders Dan.

"Dang, break's over," says Robby, "We gotta get back. I just saw the boss man over by the bumper cars. He looks extra ticked today. Gonna have to get up extra early tomorrow morning with this heat wave."

"Don't remind me," says Dan. Robby smiles.

Just a couple of kids are waiting for them back at their rides. Most people are home with the air conditioner turned way up.

Robby opens the chain and takes the tickets of the children as they file past him. Two boys and a girl. No dads with this crew. He pulls the lever and the big machine starts to whirl.

He can't stop thinking about the ring tucked away amidst all that junk in the toy grabber. One day, he'll get it.

 

Amen.