Chapter 2: The Brochure
Theodore had to admit that he was nervous about hanging out with Marcus at first. After a few sessions, however, he began to warm up to Marcus. Most of the time, they would go to the community gym and play some basketball. Other times, they would go to the park and walk around as they talked. It was only when they separated at church for their youth groups that they didn't talk to each other. Afterward, Theodore would wait by the door of the room in which his youth group meetings took place for Marcus to pick him up. On the drive home, they would discuss what their youth groups had talked about during the youth group meeting.
Surprisingly, both Alvin and Simon were glad that Theodore had found an older friend to hang out. Alvin had to admit that he wasn't exactly the best example for Theodore to follow, and Simon's speech often led the chubby chipmunk to confusion as he struggled to decipher the meaning behind some of the things that Simon said. With Marcus around, Theodore was not only gaining a positive role model to follow, but also growing in his spirituality as well. Through Marcus's years of Bible study, he learned several new things that he hadn't known before, such as the true reasons why God had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Unfortunately for Theodore, him bringing his Bible to school and reading it still proved to be a problem, particularly in reading class. One such incident involved Theodore reading it the last five minutes of class before he had to report to second period. Out of nowhere, Ms. Kerr had marched over to his desk, slammed his Bible shut, and said, "Theodore, we are not reading the SO catch you reading this crap in my classroom again, I'll report you to the office. Now get to class!" While this incident had not only left Theodore surprise, it had shocked him. It had been the very first time he'd heard a teacher yell in school, especially at him. He had shrugged it off as an incident of his adversary-Satan-trying to lure him away from his faith and continued to read his Bible daily, both in and out of school.
By the time fall break arrived, Theodore was relieved to be out of school for two weeks. Not only would it mean that he'd get to hang out some more with Marcus, but it'd also mean that he'd get some time away from school and especially from Ms. Kerr. He was thankful that Marcus never brought up his short story, even if Theodore had let him read it. Apparently, Marcus believed the same thing he believed: just because someone wrote about someone going through an issue didn't necessarily mean that the author was going through the issue themself.
There was one other incident that upset Theodore, but it had occurred in science class. After finishing his book work, he laid his head down, deciding that he'd rest for the next fifteen minutes before the class ended.
Ms. Shuffitt stopped at Theodore's desk and slapped a hand down on his desk, jerking the chipmunk's head up. "Get started on your work," she ordered. "Or have you already finished?" When Theodore didn't answer, she added angrily, "You better answer me, boy!"
Theodore glared at her. Standing up abruptly, he knocked his chair over. "I'm done, thank you very much! So, before you go shooting your mouth off, you might actually want to check my work!" He thrust her paper at her.
Theodore handed her his paper and waited patiently as she studied it. She made a mark on it with her red marker, then handed it back to him. He examined it to see that she had made a check mark on it, earning him an easy "A" in the class. Still, that didn't change the fact that she had gotten smart with him. While he was upset over this fact, he decided to shrug it off and quickly packed his things to go to his next class when the bell rang.
When he wasn't hanging out with Marcus or reading his Bible, Theodore was busy writing. Underneath his bed was a box full of notebooks that he wrote in. Every now and then, the ink in a pen would run dry and he'd have to substitute it for a new one. He bought the pens and notebooks himself with the allowance he earned from Dave. Othertimes, he would get them through birthdays or Christmases. While he wrote, he prayed that God would lead him in his writing, helping him to become a better writer in the process. He found much of his inspiration from the Bible and listening to music on the radio, most of it being Christian music. He listened to his music through headphones since his style of music annoyed his brothers. This was just fine with him since his radio was positioned on his headboard.
He remembered how God had tested Abraham's faith and had requested that Abraham sacrifice his only son Isaac to him. In a way, he felt as if his stern reading teacher was God's way of testing his faith. True, it was hard to resist the urge to slap her across the face and start preaching to her, but he realized that doing so was not God's way of doing things, and if he wanted to be an honorable servant of God, he had to do things in the way he thought God would want them to be done in. He knew that sooner or later things would get better.
Theodore contemplated about whether or not he should tell Marcus about his reading teacher. He felt as if he were being verbally abused by her, but didn't want to stir up any trouble for fear that he would only get himself in trouble. He considered Marcus one of his best friends-besides Jesus-and thought that Marcus woul appreciate him being honest with him. After all, he was honest with Jesus and being that Marcus was his brother in Christ, he thought he should also be honest with Marcus.
It wasn't until Marcus picked him up on Sunday morning to take him to church. As Marcus stopped at a red light, Theodore suddenly blurted out, "I don't feel like going back to school."
Marcus looked over at the chubby chipmunk. "Why not?" He rested his arm against the steering wheel, staring at Theodore with concern in his eyes. "Someone bothering you or something?"
"Actually, it's my teacher." Theodore kept his gaze out the window, afraid that he'd start crying if he were to look Marcus in the eyes. "She's verbally abusing me."
"Are you sure?"
Theodore nodded. "Yeah."
"If you want, I could go in there and defend you. If I do and it turns out that she's not, then . . . you know . . . there's not much else I can do."
"I understand."
The truck started forward once more. Marcus took a right, starting down Lexington Road. "You're sure about this, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay."
Theodore's eyes remained outside as the truck swept across the parking lot of Hillvue Heights Church. He wasn't paying any attention to the empty parking spaces that they were passing. His mind was focused on the possibility that Ms. Kerr would get fired because of him. In a way, he was regretting telling Marcus about her in the first place. If she got fired because of him, then he'd be in trouble. He didn't want that. Perhaps his youth group could be of assistance to him.
When altar call was announced during the sermon, Theodore made his way towards the altar with the other church members making their way to it. Shaking, he knelt at the altar, folding his hands together and bowing his head until his forehead was resting on his folded hands. Closing his eyes and talking in hushed whispers, he began to pray while the pastor put a quivering hand on his back and began to pray with him. Afterward, he rose from his praying position and wiped some tears from his eyes as he made his way back to his seat. As he walked, he no longer was worried about Ms. Kerr. Jesus had taken care of his worry and had replaced it with a sense of peace. For some odd reason, he felt as if everything would be all right and there was no need to worry at all.
On the drive back to his home, Theodore shared his experience at the altar with Marcus. He felt as if God himself were lifting a large weight off his shoulders. While his counselor was thrilled that talking to Jesus had made him feel better, he still wanted to go in and defend Theodore since he felt that it was the right thing to do. Theodore didn't argue, knowing that his friend was wanting to help him. He knew that Marcus's heart was in the right place, and that was all that mattered.
Unfortunately, Marcus talking to Ms. Kerr did little to help. As long as Marcus had done his best to help, that was all that mattered to Theodore. The least he could do was pray for his teacher that she would eventually come to realize Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. If a sinner could do it, surely a reading teacher could.
Theodore finished tying his shoe laces on his shoes before stuffing his gym clothes in his backpack and standing up. He zipped up the pocket that contained his gym clothes and slung one of the shoulder straps over his shoulder and made his way to the gym. He stood quietly by the gym doors, waiting for the bell to ring while he clutched the shoulder strap that was over his shoulder. He looked up at the bleachers when he heard someone say, "You suck at sports." He cast his gaze back to the doors, ignoring the white girl with short brown hair and freckles known as Kandi Haman that had spoken the insult to him.
Kandi Haman, on the other hand, seemed determined to get on Theodore's bad side. She marched down to Theodore and glared at him. "Did you hear me?"
Theodore nodded. "Oh, yeah, I heard you. I'm just choosing not to pay any attention to you." He left the gym as soon as the bell rang and went to his fourth period class.
With three minutes before class started, Ms. Shuffitt hoped that she could talk to Theodore about something concerning Kandi Haman. Poking her head into her classroom, she called, "Theodore, come here."
Theodore closed the book he was reading and rose from his seat. He walked into the hall to see Mr. Curry and Ms. Shuffitt standing in front of Kandi Haman.
"Kandi here says that you hit her," Ms. Shuffitt said, pointing to Kandi. She raised her hand and began counting on her fingers. "She also claims that you called her a bitch, a slut, a skank. Would you like to add anything?"
Theodore shook his head. He knew that there was no point in saying that he'd done nothing.
"I'd better not hear about something like this happening again," Mr. Curry said. He pointed to Theodore. "You keep your hands to yourself."
Ms. Shuffitt pointed to Kandi. "And you keep your opinions to yourself. Now both of you get to class."
With Kandi beside him, Theodore went in Ms. Shuffitt's room and took his seat.
The boy sitting beside Theodore looked over at the chubby chipmunk. "What happened?"
"He hit me, Keith," Kandi replied.
Keith Johnson grinned at Theodore. "Did you really?"
Theodore shook his head. "Don't listen to her. She's a liar."
Keith turned around in his seat and tapped Kandi on the shoulder. "Do you like him?" He pointed to Theodore.
"Hell, no," Kandi replied.
Theodore glared at her. "I don't know why. I haven't done anything to you." He was grateful when Kandi said nothing in response. Hearing the door close, he turned and looked to see Ms. Shuffitt enter the room. Without another word to Kandi, he opened his book and began doing the section problems that were written on the dry-erase board.
December 2005
Like any other child, Theodore was excited about Christmas, and just like any other child, he found it hard getting to sleep on Christmas Eve. Throughout most of the night, he stayed awake, staring up at the ceiling and smiling to himself with his hands folded together behind his head. He knew, though, that Christmas wasn't about the presents, as Alvin liked to believe. For Theodore, being a Christian, it was all about the birth of his Lord and Savior. Presents were only minor material possessions when compared to this specific historical event. He did hope, however, that he had gotten the CDs and DVDs that he'd asked for. He hoped that the CDs and DVDs helped him increase in his spirituality, just as prayer and Bible study did.
With Alvin and Simon early on Christmas morning, he sneaked downstairs to the living room to see the Christmas tree fully decorated and piled with Christmas presents. He sat on the living room couch and waited patiently for Dave to get up and pass out the presents. He could feel his excitement building and his patience wearing thin as he waited for Dave with his older brothers. He finally let out a sigh of relief when he heard footsteps proceeding down the stairs a few minutes later.
"Morning, boys," Dave greeted his sons as he entered the living room and sat down with them on the couch.
They grinned and greeted him in unison: "Morning, Dave."
"Anyone in the mood for some boiled custard?" Dave inquired.
"Not right now," Theodore stated. "Maybe later."
"All right," Dave agreed. "Shall I pass out the presents?"
"Yes," all three chipmunks cried.
Smiling, Dave knelt down by the Christmas tree and lifted a gift wrapped in red wrapping paper with light brown bows on it and a golden bow taped on it. It was still early in the morning, so it was difficult for him to see properly. He stood and turned on the light that was attached to the spinning fan that was attached to the ceiling. Peering at the tag taped to the package, he said, "Who does this go to?"
It was incredibly easy for the boys to tell which presents were there since each of their presents were the same colors as the color of their clothing. Alvin's presents were red. Simon's presents were blue. Theodore's presents were green. And Dave's presents were yellow. The package that Dave was holding in his hands was clearly Alvin's and it didn't take Alvin long to make this simple fact known to the man. Dave handed him the present and watched him eagerly rip it open, tearing off the wrapping paper to reveal a pair of headphones.
Theodore ended up getting the CDs and DVDs that he had wanted, as well as a few books that he'd picked out at the Christian book store. He had gotten Alvin a few video games and he had gotten Simon a book on mechanics since he was certain that they'd both get him something. He felt it was only right that he get them something as well. Otherwise, he'd feel bad if he didn't.
After Christmas, the boys went back to school, much to Theodore's annoyance. He prayed that God would give him the strength to help him get through the rest of the school year.
The next section that Theodore's reading class discussed was theater. For their next assignment, they were to write a play that lasted at least five minutes. While Theodore had never written a play before, he was excited for the new experience in writing. He was always looking for new styles of writing to try, including poetry. On his drive home from school, he thought about his play. He decided to once again use the same characters he'd used for his short story back in September: Erik Matthews and Colin Phillips. Instead of writing about controversial issues in his play, he would discuss the power of friendship in prayer. The play specifically dealt with a friend of Erik and Colin's in the hospital. While Erik was worried, Colin was not and he would end the play with a dramatic fight between the two before they eventually decided to go to the hospital to visit their friend.
On his way to fourth period from lunch on the day that he turned in the script for his play, Ms. Kerr approached him. He froze, believing that she wanted to scold him for mentioning prayer and the Bible in his play. To his utmost surprise, she congratulated him on a job well done and reported that she was giving him an "A" on the assignment. He smiled, hoping that maybe God was causing a work in her and hoping that she would eventually give her heart to the Lord. He could only continue to hope and pray for her "without ceasing," as the Bible commanded.
In the four months that he'd been in school, Theodore hadn't made a friend besides Marcus. He wasn't very popular and his social skills weren't exactly very well developed. He wasn't bothered by this, however. In his mind, as long as he had Jesus, he didn't need anyone else in his life since he knew that his Savior would provide all his needs. Therefore, there was no need for him to worry about his needs being fulfilled when he moved out of the house when he graduated from high school to start life on his own.
When February arrived, Theodore considered giving Erik and Colin love interests, though he struggled with the idea of making them gay lovers. He knew better than that. He seemed to be obsessed with his characters since he wrote about them all the time. He wrote short stories involving the two characters and eventually began writing a novel entitled The Adventures of Erik and Colin, a very long prose involving how Erik and Colin met and following them throughout their school years and going through their adulthoods as the two of them experienced life's ups and downs. He developed two new characters: Melissa Daniels, a girl skunk with blue eyes who was Erik's girlfriend, and Brenda Connors, a girl opossum with baby blue eyes who was Colin's girlfriend. He didn't introduce the characters until Erik and Colin started high school, when their hormones started getting the better of them. Despite this attention to sexual desire, he made sure to keep the central idea of the novel on the importance of a relationship with Christ and how God could help anyone overcome any problem that they faced. Since he feared that the story would get him in trouble, he refused to let Ms. Kerr read it.
Near the end of March in 2006, Ice Age: The Meltdown was released in theaters. Marcus offered to take Theodore to see it and the chipmunk didn't refuse. Using Marcus's phone, he dialed Dave's phone number and told his father that he wouldn't be home until two hours later. Walking in the theater, they got their tickets and waited for at least seventeen minutes before they got their snacks and drinks and went in the viewing room where their movie was being shown. They sat beside each other for safety purposes, sitting near the near so they could quickly get out of the viewing room to avoid traffic upon leaving the theater. While Marcus had already seen the film with a group of youth group kids, he laughed along with Theodore at parts that he found humorous, but felt uncomfortable when Theodore asked him what a pervert was after the chipmunk heard the word uttered by one of the characters.
On Wednesday, before going to his youth group meeting with Marcus at Hillvue Heights Church, Theodore suggested that they leave early so he could go to Walmart and purchase a DVD that he'd been longing to have: Chicken Little. The character of Abby Mallard had caught his attention and was one of the reasons why he was buying the film in the first place. He couldn't help but think that she'd look cute in diapers and fattened up. Unfortunately, he was not good at art to do the ideas himself and would have to see if he couldn't find any pictures with his ideas on the Internet.
Marcus agreed to take Theodore to Walmart provided that it didn't take too long. Along the way, Marcus played some music by tobyMac with the windows rolled down. He parked his car, then led Theodore into the store. Together, they went to the electronics section of Walmart and found the film underneath the "new releases" section. Theodore had more than enough money to purchase the film since it was only ten dollars and he had twenty. With tax, he knew that it would cost a little over ten dollars. With Marcus, he paid for the film and followed him back to his car.
It wasn't until he got home after his youth group meeting that he finally got a chance to watch the film. He used Simon's laptop and a pair of headphones so as not to disturb his brothers while watching the film. Watching the film helped him forget about his problems at school, which helped him get a restful sleep throughout the night.
Thankfully, Theodore didn't have any problems throughout the month of April. May, on the other hand, had a specific event in it that would haunt Theodore throughout his high school years. Before school ended, Ms. Kerr assigned her class to do a brochure for the newcomers to the new school, telling the new students about anything that concerned the school, whether it was the rules or how to get to class or how to get to school. With him being a Christian, Theodore completely shrugged off the assignment and prayed to God to see what his Father wanted him to do. After thinking about it, he realized that telling any new student who happened to get his brochure about Jesus was far more important than telling them about the school. With this logic in mind, he began designing his brochure on paper before copying it down on his brochure, wanting to make sure that he got it perfectly right.
The next day, Theodore got to school early so he could turn in his brochure early. Luckily, Ms. Kerr's classroom door was open. He spotted her at her desk, grading some papers. Nervously, he walked in her room and set his brochure on her desk, leaving before she had a chance to say anything. He wasn't concerned about his final grade. The only thing he was concerned about was leading a fellow student to Christ.
Unfortunately, Ms. Kerr was more concerned about his final grade than he was. When he was heading to his first class of the day, she ordered him to follow her to an empty classroom. Shutting the door, she turned to him and thrust his brochure in his face. "Theodore . . ., this isn't what I asked for, is it?"
He didn't move.
"Is it?" she demanded.
He shook his head.
She lowered his brochure and glared at him. "You know, Theodore, I have dealt with you all year, and I am fucking sick of it."
He said nothing. He looked at his brochure again. On the cover he had drawn the school with Jesus hovering above it with his arms spread out with a light shining around him, illuminating the black sky that surrounded Him. On the back were several Bible verses. Inside the brochure, he had discussed the importance of having a relationship with Christ and how to develop a relationship with Him. While he could understand why Ms. Kerr was mad, he felt proud of himself for following his Father's command.
"You know what?" Ms. Kerr said. "Just go. I'm tired of dealing with you. Just go! You're getting a 'F.' Don't come crying to me when you're held back." She turned aside, allowing him to leave the room.
It wasn't until he was in Ms. Kerr's classroom that he started praying to God. "Father, why do I bother?" he asked. He felt a lump bob up and down in his throat as his feelings had been hurt by Ms. Kerr, but she didn't care at all. He allowed the tears to flow, hoping that God would make him feel better.
"Ms. Kerr, Theodore's crying," a girl pointed out to the teacher.
"And he should be," Ms. Kerr replied, glaring at Theodore.
The school day went by slowly for Theodore. At lunchtime, the same girl who had told Ms. Kerr that the chipmunk had been crying asked the chipmunk why he had been crying in the first place. He didn't answer her. He kept his gaze away from her, afraid that he'd start crying once again if he looked at her.
When he left the school on the last day of school on May the twenty-seventh, he didn't see Marcus waiting on him like usual. Their sessions had come to an end, and Theodore doubted that he would ever see the young man ever again. At least Marcus had introduced him to his favorite new Christian artist: tobyMac. Back in April, he had gone to a Christian music store and had purchased a couple of tobyMac's CDs for less than twenty dollars. As he walked home, he listened to a tobyMac CD to make him feel better and help him forget about the day's events. Sadly, as soon as he got home, he ran up to his room and cried himself to sleep. It was only when he went to sleep that he completely forgot about his confrontation with Ms. Kerr.
Throughout the summer, Theodore toured with his brothers as they promoted their newest CD. While on the road, he did some writing in his notebooks and read a couple of books and listened to some music to keep himself occupied. His writing seemed to keep him occupied more than anything. When he wrote about Erik and Colin, he seemed to be completely lost in his own little world, as if he became so engrossed in his own story that he couldn't stop writing. Even when asked a question, he wouldn't respond, almost as if he hadn't heard them at all. To keep his brothers from poking their noses into his writing, he listened to music as he wrote, not wanting anyone to see what he was writing, even if he wasn't writing anything inappropriate.
Long after the tour ended, he continued writing, filling each page with words and descriptions of the scenes and locations in which each scene took place. He crafted each character until he could clearly visualize them in his head. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to get his stories published. He doubted that anyone would publish them. With him being a musician, he didn't think anyone would say no when it came to publishing something written by him, even though Alvin wrote most of their songs. Every now and then, Alvin would accept a song written by someone else, such as a fan or even one of his brothers, but it was a rare occasion when one of his brothers wrote a song. Still, Theodore thought it would be exciting to see one of his books on the shelf of a book store with the famous headline above many books that he'd seen in book stores: "New York Times best-seller." Perhaps in the future he could get one of his books published. For now, he had to stay focused on his schoolwork.
Luckily for Theodore, he had no trouble throughout his eighth grade year. The only problems he had were several people spreading rumors about him. One rumor was that his father had molested him when he was a child. Another rumor was that he was depressed and suicidal. He quickly reassured anybody who believed the rumor spreaders that he was not depressed, suicidal, and he hadn't been molested by his father when he'd been younger. He reported the rumors to the principal and the boys who had spread the rumors in the first place were eventually suspended. While he was relieved, it still didn't change the fact that many people at Henry F. Moss Middle School still believed the rumors. He quickly found it annoying how people asked him if he wanted to sue his father for sexual abuse or if he wanted to attend counseling to help him get over his supposed depression. He simply ignored them in hopes that they would eventually leave him alone, but to no avail. People continued to pester him to no end about the supposed true rumors. He was tempted to knock them out, but refused to do so, knowing all too well that he'd be the one at fault and the people pestering him wouldn't get in trouble at all. He could only hope that the people eventually moved away or forgot about the rumors. Hopefully by high school, they would.