Red Wagons and Pink Flamingos

Erica Clark is planning her birthday party at Whit’s End and needs a theme. Her best friend, Kim Peterson, keeps suggesting pink flamingos, but Erica refuses to dress like one. Kim will not be able to help make decorations because she is auditioning for the role of Priscilla in Jack Allen’s play, a part she desperately wants.

Jason unveils a Bible-themed video game in which players flee Egyptians and launch plagues before parting the Red Sea. Children immediately crowd around it. Jason hopes to build a whole series of games based on Old Testament events, but Jack worries that their noise makes children hyperactive and that frantic button-pushing may teach them nothing. When Jack mentions Whit’s dislike of mindless games, Jason reminds him that he is not his father and has been entrusted with running the shop. Jack accepts Jason’s authority without fully expressing how much the new machines bother him.

On her way to Erica’s party, Kim sees a seventy-percent-off sale at Greenblatt’s. She means to stop only long enough to look for shoes, but loses track of time in the crowded store. By the time she reaches Whit’s End, the party is almost over. Erica is furious that her best friend has missed an event they discussed for weeks. Although Kim apologizes, Erica orders her to leave and even refuses her present.

At school, Erica and Kim will not speak directly. They force Courtney to carry insults a few steps between their lockers, turning a request for borrowed barrettes into attacks about clothes and head lice. Their anger worsens until each denies that the quarrel is anyone else’s business.

Kim then learns that she did not receive the role of Priscilla. Jack encourages her to audition for a future production, but she is crushed after all her preparation. Courtney tells Erica how badly Kim is hurting, yet Erica refuses to comfort someone she no longer calls a friend.

At Whit’s End, Jason questions a boy who has reached level five in the Elijah game. The player does not even know the game is about Elijah because the room is too noisy to hear the teaching between levels. Jason begins to understand Jack’s concern. Jack, meanwhile, unplugs the machines while Jason is away simply to relieve his headache.

Erica points out that Jack should discuss the problem openly because changes at Whit’s End affect him and the customers too. Jack realizes that he has been avoiding an honest conversation. He then tells Erica about a childhood quarrel with his best friend John, who accidentally left Jack’s prized red wagon behind a car. Jack swore never to forgive him, but the wagon eventually rusted away while the friendship proved far more valuable. John is the boy most people now call Whit.

Erica sees that missing part of a birthday party matters less than Kim’s friendship. Her time with Courtney also reminds her how many interests she shares especially with Kim - from pink flamingos to Nick Grant movies. Courtney bluntly tells her to end the foolish dispute.

Jack and Jason speak honestly and find a compromise. Jason will reprogram each game so players must answer Bible questions before advancing, and the machines will be placed in a soundproof room. The children keep an activity they enjoy, the shop becomes peaceful again, and the games will require them to learn.

Jack finds Kim’s unopened birthday gift near the garbage and gives it to Erica while Kim is sitting nearby. The girls approach each other awkwardly, apologize, and decide to finish celebrating. Inside is half of a handmade best-friend necklace; Kim is wearing the other half. Joined together, the two pieces form a pink flamingo. Erica and Kim put on the matching halves and leave to see the newest Nick Grant movie together.