There were two little boys who loved to play with each other. One was tall thin and had freckles scattered about his whole face. They were like stars in the sky. His name was Freddy but his friends called him Dots, because of all his freckles. The other boy was short and pudgy. His name was Leroy but all the kids called him Tiny. Tiny loved to laugh and play. Mostly he loved to be with Dots.
Every day Dots and Tiny would walk to the park and play soldiers. Each day they would win the war together and then place cockleburs on their shirts like metals. After the war they would run to the other side of town to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream sandwich. Each night they would sit on the back porch and talk about their day, until their mothers would make them come in for supper.
Every summer the two boys would go to camp together. They were in the same class at school. They liked the same t.v. shows. They played on the same team. Everyone who knew the boys, knew that if one was there, the other could not be far away. They were inseparable.
Never were two boys better friends than these. Never was there such a love between two children. Few friendships had ever grown to this intensity.
For years the boys lived in houses that shared a fence. They would call to each other from their upstairs windows and make plans for the next day. Even when their mothers would scold them for talking, and not sleeping, they would flash messages with their flashlights from one bedroom window to the other.
One year Tiny wanted to get Dots something nice for his birthday. Tiny knew there was one thing that Dots had always wanted. So Tiny pulled the big jar out of his closet. It was now full of shiny coins that had taken him many years to save. Tiny poured all the coins onto his calico rug and began to stack the coins.
Tiny had noticed the way that Dots always stopped at the hardware window. He stopped to admire the red bicycle that sat in the window. “Wonder how fast she will go? Wonder how far you could go in one day? I just wonder!” were always his words. Dots had left many finger and nose prints on that window. Tiny supposed that the man who cleaned them off should have just left them, because, they we just gonna be there again the next day.
Two days later Tiny walked to the hardware store. His rug was slung over his shoulder, like Santa’s bag, and was full of jingling coins. “One hundred and thirty four dollars and sixteen cents,” said Tiny as he struggled to put the rug full of coins on the counter. “I want to buy that bike in the window. It is one hundred and thirty two dollars,” he said in one breath.
Neither of the boys had ever had a bicycle, because you see, their families were very poor. They had often dreamed of owning one like that one that sat in the window. It seemed an illusive dream.
Dots loved the bike more than anything he had ever received as a gift. Often he would ride Tiny on the handlebars for miles and miles. They were able now to go so much farther than they could walk much farther than Dairy Queen.
There came the day when Dots wanted to go over the big hill. “Over the big hill?” questioned Tiny. “That is too far! My mother would never allow me to go that far off.” But Dots was determined to go. “Your mother will not let you go, Dots!” said Tiny.
“I know!” said Dots, “But I gotta know what is over there!”
So Dots went over the big hill. When he returned, he told Tiny the story of a carnival that was there. He told how he peeked under the edge of the tent and of all the wonderful things he saw. “Some day I am going to be in the circus,” said Dots. “Maybe I will do tricks on my bike; tricks like no one ever did before, like riding it on the high wire.”
Dots would disappear over the hill. How Tiny wished he could go, but he knew how angry his mother would be. So each day he waved goodbye as his friend would ride off to his daily adventure.
One day, as Tiny sat alone on his front steps, he felt sad inside. It had been a long time since he and Dots had played in the park, or won the war, or sat on the curb licking their ice cream sandwiches. Tiny felt something he had never felt before - real loneliness. His heart was breaking because it had been months since he had been with his friend. The only time he would see his friend was as he watched Dots ride out of sight on his bike.
Tiny knew how much Dots loved his bike, but something inside made him feel sorry that he had given his friend that gift.
After a long time of not seeing Dots, Tiny decided to tell Dots about his loneliness. He walked to Dots’s house. As he mounted the step, he could smell the dinner cooking through the screen door. But he also could hear the muffled sound of crying. He knocked on the door. Dots’ mother came to the door. “Mrs’ P, can I talk to Dots?”
“I can’t find him. I was hoping that you knew where he was. We are frantic!” said Mrs P. “He left this morning on his bike and we haven’t seen him since,” she said with great distress in her voice.
Many years passed. Tiny now stood on top of the big hill. He was old enough to go where he wanted now. Tiny looked down where the carnival used to come to town. They did not come anymore.
His friend was gone. The sadness of losing Dots was still breaking his heart; it seems just as strong as those days, when he sat on the steps, crying and wishing for Dots’ return.
“I wished I had never given him that bike,” thought Tiny.
Morale: Even the good things, that God gives us, can take us away from Him.
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