• Two sisters whose parents both died in the last year or so.  They are all that’s left of the family and they don’t speak to each other.  

• A daughter that is furious with her mother because of differing political views.

• A pair of college aged guys who have been best friends for years but have currently written each other off over what was probably a mistake or misunderstanding.

• A brother and sister who seem willing to write each other off over politics.  

• The dad and daughter that are estranged over differences related to their family business.

Those are relationships that seem to be worth rescuing.  As you read the story of a couple of fourth graders, think about the implications of the three alternate endings.  How does grace factor in?  Why do we sometimes value payback more than reconciliation?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Fourth Grade Forgiveness

Walking home from school alone, Willy didn’t have the usual bounce in his step.  The three blocks were normally filled with talk and laughter as Willy and his best friend Mike would talk about the funniest things their fourth grade teacher, Miss Helton said or how she caught Charlie Lanier drawing pictures of fighter jets when he was supposed to be doing vocabulary words.

They would always get to Willy’s house first.  Mike’s house was across the street and a block farther.  But today Willy walked alone, wondering why his best friend (or former best friend) would act the way he did.  As he reached his own driveway, Willy looked back and saw Mike about a half block behind on the other side of the street.  Neither waved or acknowledged each other.

Willy walked in the front door of his house and headed to the kitchen for a snack.  It’s hard to believe.  Mike had been his best friend as long as he could remember.  Now that Damon and Jimmy started including Mike in stuff, Mike just dropped him and acted like he didn’t know Willy.

What made it worse is that Damon asked Mike to come over to play some video games.  When Mike asked if he could bring Willy, Damon said “nah, we don’t need him.  Jimmy’s coming too and he doesn’t like Willy.  Besides, Willy is kind of a geek.  He’ll probably be at home reading or something.”  Mike just kinda laughed and said ‘yeah you’re probably right.’  He didn’t realize that Willy was close enough to hear the conversation.

Damon and Jimmy weren’t really mean guys.  They were better in sports and stronger than most guys their age, so nobody messed with them.  They made fun of some of the other kids once in a while but nothing too outrageous.  And the girls seemed to think they were cool. 

They were probably the two most popular guys in fourth grade.  It just seemed like everyone liked them.  Even Miss Helton seemed to like them best.  So when they started including Mike in stuff, naturally Mike was all about it.  It was like an endorsement from two celebrities.  But for Willy, it meant going from having one close friend to having none.

A few weeks went by and Willy hadn’t spoken to Mike.  It bothered him a lot.  Mike had been his best friend since first grade but there didn’t seem to be much he could do about it.  He started hanging out with Carlos, a kid whose family had just moved to the area in the middle of the school year.  Carlos was pretty cool but he didn’t like to do the same stuff that Willy liked.

It was getting close to the end of the school year and Mike and Willy still hadn’t spoken for a month.  Nothing more than a basic ‘hey’ or ‘hello’ when they passed each other at school and couldn’t avoid eye contact.  

Ending – option #1:

On the way home from school one afternoon, Mike yelled to Willy “hey wait up”.  Willy turned to see Mike crossing the street and trotting toward him.  He waited.  Mike caught up “I got the new Madden game.  You wanna come over and play it?”.  Willy was surprised but said “sure, I have to finish some vocabulary words but it shouldn’t take long and then I’ll head over.  Oh, are Damon and Jimmy gonna be there?”  “Nah”, said Mike.  They don’t like Madden.  They always want to play GTA.  Besides, you and me haven’t hung out in a while.”

An hour later, Mike and Willy were playing like old times.  Somewhere in the midst of intense gaming and friendly trash talk, a fourth grader-level, sort-of-apology happened (“You still hang out with Damon and Jimmy?”  “Not so much.  Sometimes they act like they’re better than everybody else.”) and an important friendship was restored. 

Ending – option #2:

On the way home from school one afternoon, Mike yelled to Willy “hey wait up”.  Willy turned to see Mike crossing the street and trotting toward him.  He waited.  Mike caught up “I got the new Madden game.  You wanna come over and play it?”.  Willy thought for a second.  He was still mad about how Mike had just dumped him as a friend when he thought he had become one of the cool guys.  “No thanks.  I better get home and get my homework done.  Maybe you can ask Damon or Jimmy.”

Mike looked down at his feet.  “Yeah okay.”  He turned back toward his house.  He had hoped he could make things right with Willy but the two never really talked to each other much after that.  A year later, Mike’s family moved to a different school district.  

Ending – option #3:

On the way home from school one afternoon, Willy was just reaching the chain-link fence that marked the edge of his yard when he saw Mike coming up the street.  He thought about how they used to get together almost every day after school to play video games or watch TV before dinner time.  In that moment, he forgot how mad he was that Mike had snubbed him.  

Mike saw Willy standing there and looked a little uneasy.  But Willy just said; “hey Mike, you want to come over and hang out for a while until dinner?”  Mike looked relieved.  “Sounds great!”  For the next hour, they watched TV and laughed.  In the middle of it, one of them said “I’m glad we’re friends again” and the other one said “yeah me too.”  That’s how two fourth graders forgave things and moved on.  Not a lot of words or analysis.  They both just seemed to understand.