Chapter 13

It wasn't long before both men returned back downstairs, the smell of food luring enough, especially after the long journey. Sure it was quite late in the evening to be eating dinner, but both men were famished.

Steven had tried calling Tippy, but she hadn't been home. Oliver at least managed to reach his wife, but the connection was terrible, and he could only hope that she had caught everything.

Meanwhile, Robert – or Bob, as they learnt – had arrived too, and even though the man who Oliver estimated to be in his late forties, had already had dinner, he was more than willing to join in with their late Christmas Eve meal.

As soon as everyone was seated around the kitchen table, the whole family closed their eyes, and Jethro said the blessing. Oliver had looked around a little uncomfortable, and had been surprised to see the big blue eyes of Jenny glued to his. While Jethro was asking God's blessing for the food, Jenny held up her small, folded hands, and indicated for Oliver to do the same, then pressed her eyes closed tightly, only opening one slightly to see if Oliver was following her example. When she saw that he had, she closed her eye again, and waited for the prayer to be over. Oliver opened his eyes after the word 'Amen', and found his eyes drawn back to the little girl. She looked at him seriously at first, then suddenly, her whole face transformed into a big smile. Oliver couldn't help but smile back, and unbeknownst to him, both Ruth and Jethro were pleasantly surprised by the exchange.

During the meal, the people got to know each other better, and somehow Oliver started to relax, despite the foreign environment, and the obviously religious people. Until the meal was finished.

"Jen-Jen, can you get my Bible please?" Jethro asked, and the girl hopped off her chair and disappeared to the living room, only to return with a big, heavy book, which she brought to the bus driver. He took it from her, and ruffled her hair. "Thank you, Jen-Jen."

The little girl sat back down in her seat, obviously content at having done something right. Jethro pulled out his reading glasses, and put them on. Letting his gaze go around the table, looking at each of the occupants, he spoke. "Tonight it is Christmas Eve. We are too late for the Christmas service, but that does not mean we should forget about what it is about. I'll be reading the Christmas story from Luke."

Oliver knew he could not leave the room, it would be impolite, and he was sure he could live through the experience of a religious family reading a Bible story. After all, he put up with doctor Clint Cassidy for a couple of years already. He just hoped they wouldn't ask him to pray or something equally horrible.

Jethro though opened the large Bible, and quickly found the passage he was looking for. He read the story of how Jesus came to Earth, and how there was no room for Him except in a stable. Oliver knew the story, and didn't really care to hear it again, but he found himself listening closely anyway. After Jethro finished reading, he asked if Jenny had understood what the story was about. The girl thought for a moment.

"The people didn't have room in their houses, so baby Jesus was borned in a stable with the animals, and then angels came and sang to the shepherds, and kings came and gave baby Jesus presents," Jenny finished, then suddenly realized she had everyone's attention. Shyly, she looked at her lap.

"That's very good, Jen-Jen," Jethro praised the girl. She looked up, and beamed at the compliment. Then she looked at Oliver again. "If you don't un'erstand, Mr. Jethro knows everythin'."

Taken aback, Oliver didn't know what to say for a moment, but then quickly looked around the room, and chuckled embarrassed. "Hehe, ehm, that's ehm, that's good." He nodded, hoping the girl would leave it at that. Unfortunately for him, she didn't.

"Do you un'erstand everythin'?" she asked curiously.

"Ehm, no, no, not everything," Oliver said.

"Then you should ask Mr. Jethro what you don't un'erstand," Jenny said decidedly.

Helplessly, Oliver looked at the old bus driver, hoping he would help him out. The bus driver however was looking at him, waiting patiently for any question the doctor might ask. Glancing around the table, Oliver found no help forthcoming from the other people either. With a sigh and another look at the face of the girl, Oliver quickly thought of a question, which he hoped would be answered soon, so that they could move on to another subject.

"Ehm, well, I've always wondered why, ehm, God would eh, send His Son as a baby. I mean, if God is so powerful, He could have just sent a grown man. Why go through the trouble of waiting till Jesus was old enough?" He felt a little self-conscious asking a question about religion to a table full of Christians, but when he met the gaze of the bus driver, he found no condemnation; only patience.

"That's a good question. I don't know the answer," Jenny's bright voice broke the air before anyone else even had a chance to reply. Ruth smiled, and caressed the young girl's hair.

"It is indeed a good question," Jethro confirmed, and almost unconsciously, Oliver relaxed a little. "It goes back to what Jesus came to Earth for. Do you know what He came to do, Jen-Jen?"

"Uhuh," the girl nodded. "He came to save us, 'cause we do bad things, 'nd God don't want us to do bad things, but He don't want to punish us too, 'cause then He hurts too, so Jesus… came and saved us." She trailed off for a moment, not sure where her argument had started, but finally deciding that she'd leave it at that.

"Very good. Jesus came to take our punishment. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to this world to save us, so we could be with God again," Jethro finished the argument Jenny had started.

Oliver was about to argue that that didn't answer his question, when he saw the bus driver wasn't finished yet.

"The reason He came to this world as a baby, is because in order to carry all of our sins – all of our punishment – He would have to become a human being, so He could understand all of our pains, joys, longings and needs. He had to become as vulnerable as a baby – in need of love, shelter and food – so He could truly understand us. And so we could understand Him. The only difference between Jesus and us, is that He was without sin."

Jethro could see that his answer had given the doctor something to think about, but he also saw the confused look of the little girl. "Jen-Jen, do you know the story of Lazarus?"

"Uhuh," the girl nodded. "Do you know that Jesus cried when He heard that Lazarus had died?"

Again a nod.

"He could have saved Lazarus. Jesus could have gone to Lazarus and healed him before he died. He didn't. And He cried, like anyone would when a close friend had died."

He saw the girl think. "But Jesus made Lazarus alive again," she said confused.

"Yes, He did. He made Lazarus alive again, and He knew He was going to when He cried."

"So why did He cry then?" Jenny asked, completely confused now.

"Because He was a human being, like the rest of us."

It slowly started to dawn on the little girl. "So that's like when Lizzy said that I couldn't understand what it was to live with only a daddy, but then I said I could, 'cause my mommy is in Heaven, and I also only live with daddy." Suddenly she trailed off, as she realized that she currently wasn't even living with her daddy, and Ruth's arm went around the little girl's shoulders.

"Yes, Jen-Jen," Jethro continued softly. "You know what it is like for Lizzy, because you have experience with living only with your daddy. Jesus came to Earth as a baby, so He could experience what living like a human being is like."

Oliver had watched the scene, and felt oddly touched by watching the little girl with this crisis-family. Bob had been quiet, and when Oliver looked at him, he could see that he was affected as well. Strangely enough though, the man's eyes did not hold only the traces of pain, they also held a measure of peace, and it was the latter Oliver did not understand. The doctor knew that Bob had lost his parents at a very young age, and that despite the warm, loving family he had found in the Turners, he'd still had to struggle through living without his own parents.

For a moment, Oliver was immensely grateful that he still had both of his parents, and that he'd never had to struggle through having only one parent. He was reminded of the young boy back at home, Raul Garcia, who had lost his only parent at the age of eight. His respect for both Raul and the Jackson family went up a notch as he realized in part what they went through.

So lost in thought was Oliver, that he didn't realize that Jenny had approached him, until the moment she grasped his hand. "I understand it a bit better now. Do you?" she asked. Her eyes spoke of a concern for him, a man she'd barely met, while her own pain was still visible in the barely-controlled tears.

"Yes, honey, I do too," Oliver said with a cracked voice. Suddenly the girl was in his arms, tightly ensconced in an embrace. She looked up at him, and said, "God's pretty smart, don't ya think?"

Oliver was unsure what to say – he needed more time to think all of this through. The past few minutes he'd been through an emotional roller coaster. And the funny thing was, it wasn't for himself – he'd felt so intensely for the people around this table, and those he knew back home – that he'd hardly had time to think of himself. The only person whose happiness he had ever really considered above that of his own, was his wife, Lynn. And even that could partly be led back to his own happiness, for if Lynn was happy, he could be happy. No, the pain he'd understood from these people who had lost their parents at an early age, did not bring him to the conclusion that God was 'pretty smart'. After all, if He was so powerful, then why did these things happen in the first place! An anger swept through him, but he kept it from showing, not wanting to hurt the little girl in his arms any further.

Instead of replying, he just hugged her tightly again. "I think you're a very smart girl," he said. She smiled brightly at him. Suddenly Oliver became aware again of the other people in the room, and he looked around a little uncomfortable.

Ruth, Jethro and Steven smiled at him, and Bob gave him a wink. "I think it's time we said grace," Jethro said gruffly.

TBC