who knew some things, a man to be listened to. When the girl next to Jimmy started whispering to the girl next to her, Jimmy punched her arm to make her shut up. Mrs. Porter didn't see him do it.
The girl rubbed her arm and glared at him. 'I'm telling,' she whispered.
Jimmy knew she was lying. If she told, she would have to admit that she had been talking. He punched her again. She yelped.
Mrs. Porter glared down the row of seats. 'Cynthia,' she said, 'hush.'
The girl's eyes welled up. Jimmy was disgusted. What a sissy.
The blind man retrieved his cane and demonstrated how he used it to avoid running into streetlights and mailboxes. Its metal tip scratched back and forth across the stage. 'And if I become bored,' the blind man said, 'I can always pretend I'm Zorro.' He raised the cane and slashed an invisible Z in the air. Everyone laughed.
When the blind man finished his talk, he asked if the children had any questions. After some hesitation, quite a few raised their hands. Principal Sturner called on the ones he wanted to, since the blind man couldn't call on them himself. Jimmy noticed that Mr. Sturner only called on the teachers' pets.
The first question was 'How do you eat without missing your mouth?' and the second was 'How do you drive a car?' Jimmy was peeved. It was obvious that the teachers' pets were all going to ask really stupid questions.
He had a question of his own, and it wasn't stupid. It was, he thought, the only important question anyone could ask the blind man. But he didn't raise his hand. He was afraid to ask the question in front of everyone else. Mr. Sturner wouldn't call on him anyway.
The last question asked was 'Do you have a job?'
The blind man smiled. 'Yes. I am an evangelist. That means that I spread the good news of Jesus and His love to everyone I meet. You see, despite all that I've had to learn in order to live without eyes, the fact is that none of it is worth a plugged nickel without the help of Jesus. His voice guides my life, and I assure you that I listen.'
He pointed his cane at the children. 'As should you all. Thank you for your kind attention.'
The curtain closed as the lunch bell rang. The children and teachers applauded. Jimmy watched the curtain sway as he waited for Mrs. Porter to herd them out of the auditorium. His question would have to remain unasked.
It was a miracle. It was as if Jesus had known what Jimmy wanted, and had given it to him. But Jimmy hadn't prayed for this. So how had Jesus known?
The blind man had come to eat lunch with the children, and he was sitting right next to Jimmy. His white cane was propped against the bench between them. Its handle was wrapped in red tape, darkened where the blind man's hand had gripped it.
Everyone watched the blind man eat. He opened his mouth wide and brought a spoonful of macaroni to it as if his arm were a machine. He chewed with his mouth closed.
Jimmy could see behind the left lens of the sunglasses. The blind man's eyelids were closed, the skin around them dark and puckered. Jimmy wondered if there was any eye in there at all, or just an empty hole. And if it was a hole, would the brain be exposed if the eyelids opened?
Mrs. Porter sat at the end of the table. She was watching the blind man too. She was also watching Jimmy, and scowling. She didn't want him to say anything to the blind man.
He would do it anyway, but he was scared. It would have been easier in the auditorium after all. Up close, the blind man was big, bigger even than Jimmy's father. And he had an odd smell. Jimmy thought it might be soap, but he wasn't sure.
The blind man swallowed and turned toward Jimmy. Jimmy saw his own face in each lens of the sunglasses. 'And what's your name, youngster?' the blind man asked.
Jimmy was surprised. He had to think for a minute. 'Jimmy Blackburn, sir,' he said at last.
'That's a nice name,' the blind man said. 'Have you been saved?' He asked this question in the same tone as Mr. Sturner asking who had flushed the wad of paper towels in the boys' rest room.
'Yes, sir,' Jimmy said. 'Last Easter.' Every child in the Fairview Baptist Church had been saved that day. The pastor had made them come up to the altar and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior in unison. Jimmy hadn't felt any different afterward, but now he was glad it had happened. He would have hated to tell the blind man that he was one of the unsaved.
The blind man smiled. 'That's wonderful. What better time to be saved than on the day the Lord arose. You'll remember it for the rest of your life.'
'Yes, sir,' Jimmy said.
'And He'll never leave you now, Jimmy. He'll live in your heart forever, and if you need help, he'll tell you what to do. He's the one friend you can always count on.'
Jimmy glanced at Mrs. Porter. She seemed to be concentrating on her food now. He leaned closer to the blind man and spoke in a quiet voice.
'Did Jesus really talk to you?' he asked.
The blind man's smile faded a little. 'He talks to me all the time, Jimmy.' His voice boomed.
Mrs. Porter looked up from her food and gave Jimmy a warning look. He pretended not to see her.
'I mean when you were on the stage,' he said, still keeping his voice quiet. Maybe Mrs. Porter wouldn't hear him over the lunchroom babble. She wouldn't like what he was saying. It was almost as if he were calling the blind man a liar. 'Did Jesus really whisper in your ear to warn you? So you wouldn't walk off the edge?'
The blind man's smile came back full and strong. 'Oh, that.' He picked up his napkin and rubbed it around his mouth. 'Yes, He did, Jimmy. He saw that I was about to do myself harm, and He stopped me. He'll do that for you too, if you keep Him in your heart and study His Word.'
Mrs. Porter's look had become fiercer. It was telling Jimmy to shut up and behave himself. But he couldn't stop now. This was too important.
'You mean Jesus was right there on the stage with you?' he asked. 'Invisible?'
The blind man chuckled. He tapped a finger against his sunglasses. 'Everything is invisible to me, so I must rely on what I can hear and feel. And I tell you truly, I heard the Lord's voice, and I felt His presence, just as I hear your voice and feel your presence right now. So don't be fooled by what your eyes tell you, Jimmy. The Lord may be invisible to your eyes, but not to your heart.'
Jimmy was excited. 'Is it true that anything you ask in His name, He'll give to you?'
'Why, of course,' the blind man said. He seemed surprised that Jimmy would ask such a question. 'That's promised in the Bible, in the Lord's own words. If you open your heart to Him, there's nothing He won't do for you.'
Mrs. Porter cleared her throat. 'Jimmy, you had better finish your meal now. Lunch period is almost over, and I'm sure you've pestered our guest quite enough.'
The blind man chuckled again. 'Ma'am, I only wish more youngsters would pester me as this boy has.' He smiled down at Jimmy. 'I'm going to be talking to the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders this afternoon, Jimmy. I hope that they can still believe in the invisible too. Sometimes older children can't, you know. The world has poisoned them. That's why it's good that you're already saved. For some people, it's too late. They've become too scarred to feel, too deafened to hear.'
'Yes, sir,' Jimmy said. He wasn't listening hard now. His question had been answered. He took a few more bites of macaroni, then drank some milk. The blind man was still talking, but not to Jimmy. He was addressing the children across the table, repeating some of what he'd already said.
