Ron awoke the next morning on the floor, he could of sworn he had made it to the bed. He looked up at his clock radio, 9:42, there was sunlight coming in the room so Ron knew it was morning. He crawled up to the bed and drug himself up to a sitting position, "floor isn't the best place for sleep, have to wake up, where's Rufus?"
His mind was starting to function, Bueno Nacho bag, on the floor, hole in the side, Rufus was sleeping in the card board nacho container. Ron drug his right hand up and down the back of his neck, looked at the cast and at his two fingers in splints. "That hurt, don't want to do that again, Rufus must have been hungry he chewed through the bag, better let him sleep. What day is it? I remember the hospital, I'm hungry, get up, brush teeth, where's my scooter?" Ron was starting to cut through the morning haze.
Ron snuck out of the room quietly so he didn't wake Rufus, went to the bathroom, "I have to make accommodations for mechanics of nature, cast was not user friendly." He smiled to himself.
Ron brushed his teeth, wanted to shower but didn't want to take a chance on getting the cast wet. He then went down the stairs to the kitchen, made himself a bowl of cereal, and grabbed some snackage for Rufus.
Ron sat eating the generic breakfast cereal, "Not bad, tastes like name brand" he said to no one in particular.
"Smarty Mart label food is starting to get better." he thought.
"Yea, that's it, I'll use a Smarty Mart bag to cover the cast." he thought.
Ron finished the cereal and looked around the kitchen, spotted a note hanging on the fridge, "IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU YOU'LL BE HERE WHEN I GET BACK!" the note read.
Ron shrugged, "Mom must be in a sharing mood, I'll pretend I didn't see that." He thought.
Still groggy on good pain pills, Ron rummaged around in the pantry found a Smarty Mart bag. He took Rufus's food back upstairs with him, once Rufus was taken care of it was time to try and shower.
Ron took off his cloths and stepped into the shower, the Smarty Mart bag covering the cast meant having to do everything with his left hand. "This is going to take some getting used to." he thought.
Ron stood under the hot water and let it run over him; he made an appraisal of his injuries, 2 broken fingers, "1 broken hand, right arm feels like it's made out of lead. Was it worth it? You bet" Ron said out loud.
Once out of the shower and dressed, Ron nudged the Bueno Nacho bag with Rufus in it. "Hey buddy, get up and eat, we got things to do today." He told the sleepy mole rat as he emerged from the bag.
Rufus looked at Ron and gave a big gaping yawn, then perked up, "Cheese" he said happily.
Ron went downstairs to the garage, there set the blue scooter right next to the dreaded garden gnome. Ron made sure to walk with his back to the gnome so he wouldn't make eye contact and become mesmerized. The scooter had a note on it, "Great another death threat from mom." Ron thought.
Ron finally made it over to the scooter to read the note, "We fixed the scooter for you, Jim and Tim."
Ron nodded his head up and down, "The scooter will either work, or explode and I'll be back in the hospital with 3rd degree burns." Ron thought.
Ron stared at the scooter, "Kim never did give me an answer, I remember that." He thought to himself.
Ron came to a dead stand still in the garage, "I better not push the subject, I might not like the answer I get." He thought.
"I think me and Rufus will hit the road today, I really want to talk to Rabbi Katz." Ron thought.
Bonnie and the whole Jew thing had been bothering him, not as much as the Kim thing, but it was troubling his mind.
Ron went back upstairs and put Rufus in his pocket, "Time to hit the road little buddy, just you, me and the road." He told Rufus in his best tough guy biker voice.
The scooter started up on the first try, and Ron was careful taking it down the drive way, "don't want to explode in big ball of flames." He thought to himself.
The little scooter did run better, Ron was able to travel at the blazing speed of 20 mph. Not bad, considering its cruising speed before was around 3 mph.
Ron puttered the littlescooter thru the streets till he reached the Temple, parked the bike and went in to see Rabbi Katz. Ron saw Rabbi Katz coming down the hall, Rabbi Katz seen Ron coming up the hall. Rabbi Katz tried to make a quick dart into one of the prayer rooms, when he heard Ron call out his name. "Too late, I've been spotted." The Rabbi thought.
Rabbi Katz turned and looked at Ron, "Oh, it's you Ronald; I didn't see you come in." the Rabbi told Ron.
Ron caught up to Rabbi Katz, "I have some questions for you Rabbi Katz, I need some advice." Ron said in a distressed voice.
The Rabbi showed Ron into the room, "If this about the Bar Mitzvah thing, for the 85th time, yes you are a man now, Ronald." The Rabbi told him.
Ron shook his head, and proceeded to tell Rabbi Katz of all that had happened on Monday, and Bonnie, the fight, his mother and Kim.
Rabbi Katz listened, shook his head, "Ronald the fight is why you're not in school? You do amaze me with all the different ways you find to get into hot water with your folks." The Rabbi said, amused at Ron's predicament.
The Rabbi continued on, "Your friend Bonnie called you a stupid Jew, now I know that you are not stupid, but I do know you're a Jew. The question that I have for you now is, do you feel separate from your classmates because of your religion?" he asked.
Ron thought the question over, "I don't feel different, I never really thought about it until Bonnie got in my face about being Jewish. I eat pretty much the same food; I like movies and Rap music and stuff. I don't think I'd call Bonnie a friend though." Ron answered.
The Rabbi nodded, "Is Bonnie pretty, ugly, tall, or short?" he asked Ron.
Ron said, "well, she's a cheerleader, she is pretty, but she is mean and nasty person, and I don't understand why?' Ron answered.
The Rabbi held his hands up, "Ronald some of the prettiest people can have the ugliest personalities, Bonnie for whatever reason sounds very angry to me, I don't think she's angry at you, but angry in general. There is little we can do for people like that except be patient with them. She may not be your friend now, but in the future, eh', who knows?" the Rabbi finished.
The Rabbi motioned for Ron to sit down in one of the chairs that were arranged in a circle around the room. Rabbi Katz pulled out a chair and sat down across from Ron, "Now about your mother wanting you to find a nice Jewish girl. Do you know why she is concerned?" the Rabbi asked Ron.
Ron looked down at the floor and shook his head and said that he didn't know why.
Rabbi Katz continued, "It is because children of interfaith marriages are rarely raised Jewish. Ron should you and Kim be lucky and grow close and become man and wife and have children, would they be raised in our faith?" the Rabbi asked.
Ron shot bolt upright in his chair and began stammering, "uh..ummm, yea, of course…I think, I mean if Kim don't mind." Ron said feeling awfully awkward about the question.
Rabbi Katz scratched his chin, "Ronald, I know your friend Kim; you've brought her to temple functions. Nice looking girl, you're very lucky, but I can tell she is not a believer in any particular faith. Her family is very scientific minded, Rockets, Computers, so on and so forth, they have no time for the Spiritual, they push it out of their lives. When she comes to temple with you, she tolerates it because she is your friend, but to her it is mindless superstition." The Rabbi said sadly.
Ron started to squirm in his seat, he didn't want to believe this but he knew in his heart it was true. Kim's family was not religious in any way, Ron learned a long time ago not to really talk much about his religion, because they would just nod their heads and act as if he was speaking Yiddish to them.
The Rabbi continued on, "Ronald you on the other hand have embraced your faith, you come to Temple every week, you participate in our activities. To you, Judaism is a very real and living thing, and there, is where the difference lies." Rabbi Katz finished.
Ron sat in the chair, "I get why mom's concerned, ok." Ron replied flatly.
Rabbi Katz could see the discomfort in Ron, his shoulders were dropping and he could see his little gears running away in his head. Rabbi Katz leaned over and touched Ron on the shoulder, "Ronald, it doesn't mean you can't be girl friend and boy friend, your young, go out with Kim. Enjoy this new part of your lives, there is no more passionate love than your first love, So go down this new road together, and if it don't work out?" The Rabbi shrugged, "Make your mother happy and find a nice Jewish girl." The Rabbi said with a wink.
Ron chuckled and nodded his head, "I hear ya, Rabbi Katz." Ron said laughingly.
Rabbi Katz then pointed down at Ron's injured hand, "Now Ronald, you know fighting is wrong, but if you must fight remember to jab twice with the left then come cross with the right."
Ron had a good laugh, nodded his head that he understood. "Ronald, why do you always come to me with these questions and not your parents?" The Rabbi asked Ron.
Ron just shrugged his shoulders, "They always tell me to ask you, so Ronman just cuts out the middle man and comes to the source." He said with a swagger.
Just then the Rabbi's cell phone rang; he answered it, looked puzzled and then handed the phone to Ron. "It's for you." He said in a bewildered tone.
Ron took the phone, "Hello?" Ron immediately recognized the voice on the other end of the phone as Wade Load the 13 year old computer genius that had aided Kim and himself over the last 3 years.
"Ron something's come up in Brazil, meet Kim at her house after school. Oh and Ron, how's the hand?" Wade said excitedly. Ron sat in the chair and wondered how on earth Wade knew he was there?
"I'll be there Wade, hand could be better." Ron answered.
He looked at the Rabbi, "Gotta run, save the world thing, you know how it is?" Ron said heading outside to the scooter.
The Rabbi followed him outside, "You be careful Ronald, and tell your mother and father I said Hello, huh." The Rabbi called after him. Ron didn't hear him, it was mission time!