Crunch by Rick Bundschuh Read Free Book Online

girl said close to Bethany’s bunk.
    â€œWhat are we doing tomorrow? Does anyone know?”
    â€œI know we don’t have to worry about the van being stolen again. Sarah says Mike is sleeping in the new one tonight—just to be on the safe side.”
    â€œI heard that we were going to help give baths to kids,” Holly said.
    â€œNow that’s a unique concept. Are they going to want these baths? I mean we’re talking about little kids, right?” Bethany said grinning in the dark.
    Holly giggled. “Oh, these kids will want them. Eddie said they don’t have running water. He said that these kids only get a bath once every six weeks. So, there should be like a couple hundred kids lining up for a bath by the time we get there!”
    â€œOh, this is going to be fun,” Bethany said, remembering the eager faces of the little boys at the orphanage.
    â€œWe also get to check kids for ukus —except they don’t call them ukus here; they call them lice. Maggie said other groups that came from Hawaii were pros at finding them.”
    â€œProbably because every kid in Hawaii has had ukus at least once,” Bethany said yawning.
    â€œYuck! I’ve never had them,” Monica stated emphatically.
    â€œYeah, they wouldn’t dare, huh, Monica?” Jenna teased, and the girls laughed.
    â€œIt just came to me who Monica and Jenna remind me of!” Bethany exclaimed. “Anyone ever see that movie Grumpy Old Men ?” The girls burst out laughing again. “That’s them—except they are grumpy young women.”
    â€œGrumpy young women with lice!” Holly added with flair.
    â€œI’m starting to feel itchy. Can we talk about something else?”
    The girls laughed—including Monica and Jenna. But the truth was Monica wasn’t alone with how she felt; just talking about lice made everyone feel like scratching their heads like crazy.
    The conversation slowed, and in the dark, the deep breathing of sleep could be heard mingling among the last whispered conversations of girls who had not yet given in to their exhaustion.
    Bethany stared up at the dark ceiling, listening to the noise of traffic filtering in through the window. She thought once again about the little boy who wanted to see God’s face.
    The best father you could ever imagine having. In spite of the bitter cold that seeped through his thin blanket, Eduardo smiled as he thought about the words of the girl visiting the orphanage. His mother had told him God was the father in his dream. The girl had said it even better. Eduardo bit his lip. It had to be true!
    He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed—prayed like he had never done before—and asked God to please let him see his face. His brothers, after all, remembered the man they called father—remembered what his face looked like. I need a memory like they have, Eduardo prayed fervently. That way if I see you again, I’ll know who you are—I’ll know I have a father of my own that is watching out for me.

    five

    â€œThis morning all of you will have a chance to do something very simple and very humble,” Eddie said as Bethany and the team gathered in the meeting area of the dorm after breakfast. “We are going to a place called The Dump to give the children who live there a chance to get a quick shower and shampoo and some clean clothes. These are children and families who make their living collecting salvageable materials from the dump. They have next to nothing.
    â€œNow you can look at giving these poor dirty kids a bath as just a nice thing for one human being to do for another…and you would be right. But maybe, just maybe, when you are doing it for one of these little ones—one of these overlooked and ignored kids—you can think that you are really doing it for Christ himself.”
    Eddie smiled at them and then glanced to where Sarah was standing.
    â€œNow, before we head