a view from under the pew: wilma the worrybird

Gary Mitchell: Religion columnist

amos the churchmouse:

a view from under the pew

Editor’s note: Amos is a churchmouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift, and he shuns punctuation marks – except hyphens and dashes.

wilma the worrybird

the other day

boss

wilma worrybird was passing

by the church worrying

about the way she was hopping

down the sidewalk

oh dear she chirped

there s a crack

i hope i don t step on it

i wonder if it would really

break my mother s back

oh dear

hopping down a sidewalk

is so tiring – almost as bad

as crossing a street

oh dear oh dear

finally she hopped off

the sidewalk and

crossed the street

where she came

face to face with tardy turtle

boss

you remember tardy –

he s a real likable

fellow but as slow as a

century plant – anyway

he hadn t seen wilma

in a long time

so he wanted

to chat

h-e-l-l-o tardy said

slower than an aggie bug

can read

hello tardy said the

flustered worrybird

listen

i m in an awful rush

maybe

we can talk later

what-is-the-matter

asked tardy

five minutes later

oh dear

said wilma

calling over her shoulder

i m worried that i won t get

to where i m going and

then if i do get there

i m worried that i won t get

there early enough

oh dear oh dear

and she hopped

on her way

down another sidewalk

worrying even more

meanwhile

boss

robin redjoy and sally sparrow

were watching wilma s antics

with interest

robin turned to sally

and said

wilma had better

watch it she s acting

more and more like a

human being day by day

that s true

sally chirped

they sure have a

lot in common

you know

robin confided

i would really like

to know why wilma

and such humans

rush about and

worry so

sally thought and

turned to her friend

robin

i think that it must be

they have no heavenly father

like he who cares

for you and me

amos