Saturday's Storyteller: "Two clean-cut young men in shirts and ties stood on my door step and asked me if I had heard the message of their Lord, Aslan."

by Belinda Roddie

Two clean-cut young men in shirts and ties stood on my door step and asked me if I had heard the message of their Lord, Aslan. I promptly invited them inside for drinks and a good old-fashioned literary conversation. They were pretty satisfied with the fact that I had appreciated the joke.

In truth, the boys were named Ivan and Jonathan, and they wanted to promote literacy to at-risk students. We were young adults all living in a low-income district of the city, and many of the elementary schoolers were English learners. Ivan and Jonathan had taken on the door-to-door routine as partially a joke, partially a message on literature. Unfortunately, many people hadn't gotten the hint.

"We actually wound up at a Mormon's house, and he was none too happy about our set-up," sighed Ivan as he enjoyed the bowl of nilla wafers I had set out - I didn't really have a lot of sweets in the house, and my husband had used some of the cookies for a cheesecake crust. "He thought we were making fun of him. So he slammed the door in our faces."
"Not a C.S. Lewis fan, I take it?"

"Funnily enough, considering how religious his books are," replied Jonathan after a sip of coffee. "I figured he'd get the joke. You know, Aslan...God...juxtaposition and all that."

"I think it's great that you two are working hard to get others to read," I said. "I'm guessing you have a fund?"

"We do, but it's puttering out fast. Not a whole lot of people interested in donating."

"What would you plan to do with the money?"

"Start a reading center," smiled Ivan. "Johnny and I just graduated from university with English degrees. We want to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy reading."

"That's admirable."

"Thank you, Mrs..."

"Washington. Tracey Washington." I smiled. "I'm the English teacher at the local high school."

"No kidding?" grinned Ivan. "My little brother is a sophomore there."

"Would I know him?"

"Richard Rinckley ring a bell?"

I shook my head. "Is he an honors student?"

"No. Maybe that's why."

We talked like this for some time, eating cookies and drinking coffee, until my husband came home. We each offered twenty dollars. We wished we could provide more. Ivan and Jonathan didn't mind. They thanked us, hugged their Narnia books to their chests, wiped the nilla crumbs off their neckties, and went on their way.

"Did you tell them we have an Aslan altar?" whispered my husband, grinning.

"Shush."

"I wear a mane and everything. I'm the minister."

"Stop it."

"That would be funny, though. Aslan altar. All hail the great lion."

"The great lion can make me cheesecake," I teased.

"Hey, I'm not a lion. And that was for my business meeting."

"But the lioness wants cheesecake!"

"I'll buy some."

"Not the same!"

"The power of Aslan tells you to resist temptation!"

"Aslan likes cheesecake, too!"

This week's prompt was provided by Daniel Bulone.