Warrior scholar
/“Berry, what are you doing?” Cyndi asked.
I was quite surprised that she wasn’t asleep already since she’d been horizontal for a good thirty seconds.
“I’m reading my book. I want to get in another chapter before going to sleep.”
“Why are you holding the bug zapper?”
“I want to get rid of that irritating housefly that keeps strafing my head.”
It was at this point in the evening when trouble started. Cyndi was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe.
“You look so funny lying there, book in one hand, bug zapper in the other,” she said.
“Just think of me as a warrior-scholar.”
“Ooh, a warrior-scholar?”
“Well, I am reading Quantum Man, about particle physicist Richard Feynman. The book is good and fun to read but almost all of the physics is way over my head. I have no idea what they are talking about most of the time, so it makes me feel very scholarly.”
“So what about the warrior part? You are holding a plastic bug zapper.”
“Well, this is not a toy. This is serious bug-zapping technology. I am making your life, and your side of the bed, safer and more comfortable, by going into combat for you.”
“A real warrior. Wow.”
“Remember that time at the ranch when I killed hundreds of wasps with a vacuum cleaner? This zapper would have been even better?”
“Easier?”
“Well, not easier, but more satisfying.”
Then she said, “This reminds me of the time when you were drinking ice water out of a coffee pot while reading your book. I still can’t get that image out of my mind.”
“I had to drink out of the coffee pot because the hotel room only had flimsy little plastic cups. They were worthless. And I had just run four miles in 90-degree heat. I needed to rehydrate.”
"I can just picture you sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard, reading your book, and drinking ice-water out of a coffee pot. Why didn't you just drink out of the ice bucket?"
"Because the ice bucket was too big to hold with one hand."
Once again, Cyndi was too proud of my ingenuity to speak. She just held her sides with both arms and laughed and laughed. After about five minutes I interrupted her and asked, "Why are you still laughing about something that happened in Farmington, New Mexico, in 1998?"
“Seeing you in bed holding your book and the bug zapper at the same time reminded me.”
“Well, you’re laughing so hard you’re shaking the bed. This book is hard enough to read without all the bouncing.”
“So what happens to the housefly when you zap it? Will it fall into the bed? Will the flaming bug parts set our bed on fire?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I should get the fire extinguisher just in case. The instructions did say that not only do you get rid of the fly, you get a satisfying poof of smoke.”
So, if Cyndi appeared more tired than usual last Friday, it wasn’t my fault. No matter what she may’ve said. She just wouldn’t go to sleep.
“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32
Journal Entry 022812: Warrior scholar
To learn about Berry’s books, “Running With God,” go to www.runningwithgodonline.com , or “Retreating With God,” go to www.retreatingwithgod.com ,… Follow Berry on Twitter at @berrysimpson or on Facebook … Contact Berry directly: berry@stonefoot.org … To post a comment or subscribe to this free journal: www.journalentries.org
