Tales from WannaBea Farm

"Hurry, Joey", Kevin panted, "we can look out the window and see where they've hidden the eggs, and get the prizes". Gasping for breath, Joey was running up the stairs right behind Kevin. They had been looking forward to this Easter egg hunt for weeks now. Whoever found the Golden Egg would get a gift certificate good for a bicycle from Evans Hardware. And the Silver Egg would be for a big Radio Flyer wagon with sideboards.

Kevin had sneaked up the stairs of the no longer used Sunday school building the week before to make sure that they would be able to see all of the church grounds from the window and also look for likely spots where the eggs might be hidden from view from where he now stood. Yep, he was pretty smart he thought to himself, he and Joey would come up here first and then run back downstairs and scoop up the prize winning eggs before the rest of those dumb kids even found their first egg. Uh huh, pretty smart.

But things didn't go quite as planned Easter morning. After Kevin and his brothers were all scrubbed and dressed in their finest, they grabbed their baskets and ran to the car where they discovered the car had a flat tire and their dad was pulling the spare tire from the trunk. "Oh no" Kevin moaned, "We can't be late. Not today of all days".

His dad just laughed, "We've got time, and we’re not going to be late. Besides, the egg hunt is not until after church", and he proceeded to change the tire.

Kevin watched and fumed, he had planned on being early so he would have plenty of time to see where the eggs were hidden before church. Now he would have to really hurry after church to get up those stairs and back down in time to pick up the Golden Egg.

Finally, they were on their way and it looked like they would actually be a little early, so maybe he would have time, he thought. But no, as they were getting out of the car, Mrs. Jones called to them, wanting to know if Kevin could mow her lawn on Monday and he was trapped. It was time to go inside.

Fidgeting and fretting, Kevin thought the sermon was never ending, but finally it was over and he and his family were leaving, when his dad spotted the new baseball coach and insisted that Kevin introduce him. Frustrated, Kevin introduced them and then ran to the old Sunday school building, calling to Joey to come with him, just as they heard the pastor say "GO” to start the hunt.

Bobby, Kevin’s younger brother, watched as Kevin and Joey ran to the Sunday school building. He knew where they were going as he had overheard them planning their strategy, but he didn’t approve, especially doing something like this at church. “It just isn’t right”, Bobby was thinking and ran around to the hunting ground, just as the pastor yelled “Go”.

Now, breathing hard, Kevin and Joey reached the window, and looking out over the grounds, they were just in time to see Bobby, pick up the Golden Egg and another boy pick up the Silver. Turning, they ran back downstairs, but by the time they got to the hunting grounds, there was not even a small, candy egg left.

Later, during their customary Sunday dinner at their favorite restaurant, Dad reminded them that some of the old “Dragnet” TV series were going to be reshown later that evening.

Bobby, with a huge grin on his face looked straight at Kevin, winked and said, “Yeah, Kevin, we don’t want to miss the “Crime Doesn’t Pay” episode, do we?”