The Prodigal, Jimmy

On a cold, blustery Saturday morning in Odyssey, Jimmy Barclay sprawls across his bed counting his savings and discovers he has almost fifty dollars. His good mood does not last long. His father, George, comes in with a list of things Jimmy has not finished. The bedroom is a disaster area. The dishes have been loaded into the dishwasher but never rinsed and never actually washed, because Jimmy never turned the machine on. Worst of all, George has found the spelling test Jimmy hoped would stay hidden, the one with a C minus at the top of it. Jimmy blames harder words. His father does not buy it. He points out that Jimmy has been spending far more time at the park, at Whit's End, and at the video arcade than at his books, and he grounds his son for the weekend with orders to study, clean, and pull that grade up. Then George leaves for a couple of hours at the office, promising to be home by three thirty.

The moment the door shuts, Jimmy talks himself into a bad idea. He is old enough, he decides, to choose when he studies and when he cleans, and there is a whole morning to waste before anybody would ever know. With a pocket full of savings, he heads to the arcade at Pizza City.

There he meets Mook and Howie, two older boys who have just been turned down by the arcade owner for free games. They notice Jimmy breaking a twenty and decide he is exactly the friend they have been looking for. Mook, whose initials sit atop the five highest scores on the alien game, offers to teach Jimmy his secrets, so long as Jimmy keeps supplying the quarters. Soon Jimmy is buying the games, the pizza, and the sodas while the older boys tell him how much natural talent he has. Then the money runs out. When Jimmy asks his new friends to pay for a turn, they admit they are broke, and when he suggests swinging at the park or playing army at the reservoir instead, they laugh at him for being a little kid and walk out. Alone, Jimmy asks the owner what time it is. It is three thirty. His father is already home.

Too scared to face what waits for him, Jimmy goes to Whit's End instead and spends the rest of the afternoon upstairs running the electric train, saying almost nothing to anyone. John Avery Whittaker quietly calls George to let him know his son is safe, then closes up the shop and comes upstairs. When Jimmy asks whether he might sleep at Whit's End tonight, Whit offers him a free drink at the counter instead and waits. The whole story comes tumbling out - the disobedience, the sneaking off, the two boys, the empty pockets.

Whit tells him it reminds him of another young man, one who demanded his inheritance from his father before his father had even died, took everything he owned to a distant country, and spent it all on foolish things and on people who called themselves his friends. When the money was gone and hard times came, the young man ended up feeding pigs and grew hungry enough to envy the slop. Jimmy recognizes it partway through as the parable of the prodigal son from Luke chapter fifteen, and he remembers the ending: the robe, the ring, the sandals, the celebration. Whit presses him on the part that matters most. The father never went hunting for his son. The son came to his senses, admitted he was wrong, and chose to go home. That turning is called repentance, and the welcome he received is called forgiveness. God feels that same joy whenever someone turns back, Whit says, and there is rejoicing among the angels over it. Jimmy points out that his own father is unlikely to throw a party. Whit agrees, and notes that the prodigal did not know how his father would react either. He also warns Jimmy honestly that being forgiven does not erase the consequences of what a person has done.

Jimmy decides not to spend the night after all. He asks Whit for a ride home, saying he has some repenting to do. When he walks through his own door, he speaks before his father can even finish asking where he has been. He admits the whole thing was stupid, that he spent all his savings and disobeyed on purpose because he wanted his own way, and he says plainly that he deserves whatever punishment is coming. George tells him they will talk about the punishment later. Right now he wants a hug. Jimmy apologizes through tears and confesses that he stayed away so long because he was afraid he would not be wanted back. His father holds on to him and tells him the truth he needed to hear all afternoon: being punished for doing wrong is not the same as not being loved, and no matter what happens, he can always come home.