Read Online Crunch by Rick Bundschuh - Free Book Online

Spanish.
    â€œHe says he knows he will see you again,” Eddie translated with a sad smile that said that it wasn’t likely to happen.
    She glanced back at Eduardo, waved, and hurried into the van before the little boy could notice how upset she was—or see the lone tear that had escaped down her cheek. She would’ve given anything to stay a little longer—to feel like she had helped him more.
    Bethany sniffed loudly as she plopped onto the seat next to Kai. “I think I’m getting a cold or something,” she said, not looking at him.
    â€œMust be catching,” Kai whispered as he motioned to the seats behind them.
    Bethany glanced back.
    Holly, Malia, Jenna, and Monica were all sniffling as they looked out their windows at the mob of kids that congregated around the van. It was like the whole Hanalei girl’s surf team had suddenly developed allergies…to other’s suffering.
    An hour later, the grime of tramping around the dump with Eduardo had been scrubbed away, but the shower had done nothing about easing her troubled heart. Bethany sighed and sank down on one of the couches in the meeting room and waited for the other girls to finish their showers.
    â€œReady for another feast at the taco stand?” Eddie asked, rubbing his hands together as he entered the room.
    Bethany shrugged. “I guess I don’t have much of an appetite tonight.” She sighed again. “Isn’t there some way we can help those people out—I mean help them more? ”
    â€œYou did more today than you realize,” Maggie said with an understanding smile as she entered the room.
    â€œYeah, well it didn’t feel like enough,” Bethany said as Maggie sat down beside her.
    â€œWe are not going to end poverty,” Eddie said soberly. “Even Jesus pointed out that ‘the poor you will have with you always.’ But we can make a difference—one person at a time.”
    â€œHave you ever heard the story of the starfish?” Maggie asked.
    Bethany shook her head no.
    Maggie smiled. “Imagine a huge tide coming in, washing up thousands of starfish all along the beach. When the tide goes out, thousands of starfish are left stranded. We all know what will happen once the sun comes up, right?”
    â€œThey’ll dry up and die,” Bethany replied slowly, trying to figure out where Maggie was going with the story.
    â€œSo, this man decides to take a stroll on the beach and is startled to find thousands of starfish lying about everywhere. Then he notices a young boy picking them up one by one and hurling them with all his might back into the ocean.
    â€œThe man watches the boy for a short time before he finally decides to approach him, saying, ‘Son, you might as well give up. It’s no use. There are just too many starfish. What you are trying to do makes no difference.’
    â€œThe young boy, holding a starfish in his hand, looks up at the man and then flings the starfish out into the water and says, ‘Well, it made a difference to that one!’ “
    Bethany grinned for the first time in hours.
    â€œWe can’t change the problems of the whole world,” Eddie said gently, “but we can help change someone’s world. If tonight a child goes to bed without hunger, without the itch of bugs, or with clean clothes, we have done something worthwhile.”
    â€œCan I see Eduardo again?” Bethany asked suddenly.
    Eddie frowned. “We aren’t scheduled to go back to the homes at the dump again for another month.”
    â€œMy heart is telling me to buy Eduardo a new soccer ball—just something to let him know I believe in him,” Bethany said shyly. When she looked up, she saw Eddie and Maggie looking at each other.
    â€œWell…, “ Eddie said with a slow smile spreading across his face. “Maybe we could swing by for a minute or two tomorrow.”
    â€œReally? Thank you so much!”