Mosaic Part 4

Last time in the Mosaic Series: It was revealed that Solomon's son, Ash, had been disowned because of his new found religious views. Now we jump back in time to a rather dusty tale, but a heartwarming one. 

A painful slush ball collided with Charlie's nose. They had found him. He had tried to maneuver quietly through the halls of Pinewood Elementary School to the back door and slip undetected back to his house, about half a mile away. But he had not gone "undetected".

Adam, John and "the other John" had spotted the newest student as he bolted for the trail that led through the snowy woods to Charlie's neighborhood. Cunningly, they had taken a short cut and laid an icy trap for the tormented boy. Running did no good; snow ball after frigid snow ball hit the poor child as he tried to evade the cruel boys.

Sure, Charlie had to wear glasses, his middle name was a laborious "Alexander", and he aced every test; but were these reasons for the older boys to taunt, tease and bully him? Charlie had had a terrible experience at Pinewood. In fact he had had a terrible experience at just about every new school he had enrolled in. Perhaps it was the streak of pride in his personality, or his lack of social skills. Whatever the reason, he had never been well liked at any of the schools he had attended.

Suddenly, the barrage stopped. He had outran them! But not for long. They would catch up.

"Hey. Umm... if you wanna hide from them, you might wanna, uh, come hide in here... maybe." Turning towards the voice, Charlie began debating whether or not to trust this character. Unfortunately, he was running out of time. Rather loudly, he crunched over to an open under a fallen tree."Here they come. Better decide."

"Ok! I'm coming!" fearfully whispered Charlie. The group of boys stalked by the hiding place under the roots of the fallen tree. "What's your name?" questioned Charlie.

"Uh, Solomon"

"And I'm Eli." Charlie jumped at the sound of another voice in the dark hole.

From that moment on Charlie would be an everlasting "friend" to Solomon. Solomon may object to this statement and say that Charlie is more of a loyal "follower", but we'll leave this debate for another time. 

How had the kind-hearted, sympathetic, adventurous Solomon become the bitter, elderly, ungrateful Solomon? Perhaps the answer lies within in a different picture... a different memory.