In the previous story, "The Intruder," Dalton had moved into the neighborhood. Andy did not like Dalton, but his friend Joey did. Andy was jealous of Joey and Dalton's new friendship and wouldn't play with either of them. Mother had helped Andy to decide to at least give friendship with Dalton a try.

When Andy Roberts went looking for Dalton and Joey, he found them in Joey's backyard, hunched over a bunch of screws and washers and nuts and bolts spread out on the picnic table.
"Hey, guys, you wanna play some ball?" he asked.
"Andy!" As Joey looked up, his face brightened. "You said you were sick!"
"Wel-l-l, I feel a lot better now," Andy said. "What're you doing?"
"The axle on the radio-controlled car broke," Joey explained. "Dalton's trying to fix it."
"Oh," said Andy. "But how about some ball, instead? Maybe there are some guys down at the park, and we could get a game going."
Joey and Dalton looked at each other. Andy sensed they weren't sure about playing with him. Suddenly, he forgot all that Mother had said. Jealousy began to squirm through him again.
"Well," he said, tapping his bat against the ground impatiently. "Do you want to go or not?"
"Dalton's not supposed to run around a whole lot," Joey said. "His mom says sometimes he has trouble breathing. I don't know if he would be able to go."
"Come on, Joey. You haven't played with me all week." Andy's voice was close to a whine.
"Go ahead, Joey," Dalton said. "It's OK." Carefully he laid the bolts he'd been squeezing in his hand on the table. "Maybe we can figure this out another time."
"Well, OK, if you're sure." Joey swung his legs over the bench and stood up. "See you."
"Bye."
"Honestly, Joey," Andy said as they walked out of the backyard. "What do you want to hang around with him for? What a joke. He can't see, he can't hear, he can't breathe. Gimme a break!"
It was a cruel and cutting remark. Neither one of them saw Dalton's tears soak into the rough wood of the picnic table as he gathered up the parts to his car.
The next day Andy went looking for Joey again. When he didn't find him at home, he decided to go to Dalton's house. A thin, pale woman answered his knock at the door. She stood looking at him, her forehead creased into a slight frown.
"Is Joey here?" Andy asked.
"Yes." The corners of the woman's mouth lifted into a pleasant smile. "You must be Andy Roberts. I'm Dalton's mother, Mrs. Williams."
"Pleased to meet you," Andy mumbled. He felt kind of ashamed. He hadn't been very nice to Dalton, and yet Mrs. Williams was treating him like she had no idea how mean he had been!
"Joey's with Dalton in his room. Here, I'll show you." She led him through their small house.
"Dalton," Mrs. Williams called. "You've got company."
The door to Dalton's room opened, and Dalton peered around the doorjamb. "Oh, hi."
"You boys have a nice time together," Mrs. Williams said. "I'll have lunch ready in about half an hour. Would you like to stay, Andy?"
"Um—OK. Thank you," he said, remembering his manners.
"Well, come on in, I guess," Dalton said. He gestured with his hand, and Andy walked into the room.
Once inside, his eyes popped wide. Every wall in the room was covered with books, models, rocks, jars, cans—you name it, it was there.
"Hey, Andy!" Joey sat cross-legged on Dalton's bed, half of a large gray rock cradled in his hands. "Come look at this."
Andy looked. The rock Joey held had been split in half, and the cut surface glistened like glass where it had been polished to show off the swirling patterns inside. "Isn't it neat?" Joey asked.
Andy nodded. "Can you guys play?"
We're working on a model rocket," Joey said. "Dalton's showing me how the booster goes together, and then maybe we can launch it when his dad comes home."
"Dalton can do that?" Andy asked, puzzled. Dalton nodded. "How do you know how to do that?"
"Me and my dad do stuff like this. He shows me a lot. And you can find out a lot from books too," Dalton said. "Hey, Joey," Dalton turned to Joey, "Come here a second. I want you to help me with something."
Both boys left the room. Andy wandered around, taking a closer look at the shelves. Models in various stages of construction were displayed on one set of shelves. Andy was so absorbed in what he saw that he didn't hear the two boys come back in.
"Hey, Andy, I think your mother's calling you," Dalton said.
"Huh?"
"I heard your mother calling. I think she wants you home right away," Dalton repeated. "Didn't you hear her Joey?"
Joey studied the scuffed tops of his sneakers as he nodded.
"Well, I guess I better go," Andy said. To his surprise, he really wanted to stay. If Dalton had
collected all this stuff and knew what to do with it, he might not be that weird after all. "See you guys later."
Mother was in the kitchen kneading bread dough when Andy trotted through the back door. "What are you doing home?" she asked. "I thought you went to play."
"You called me to come home."
Mother shook her head, "No, I didn't."
"But—" Andy's chest began to feel funny, as if there were a big lump of rock squeezing to get out. "Dalton and Joey said they heard you call me." Mother shook her head again. He blinked his eyes because they were starting to burn. "Th—they said you wanted me home right now!"
As Mother watched, the funny feeling in Andy's chest exploded into a storm of sobs. "They didn't want to play with me!" he sobbed. Mother put her arms around Andy and pulled him close, patting his head while he cried. Then she sat down on the couch and hugged Andy to her side.
"Your feelings are really hurt, aren't they?" she asked.
Andy nodded, unable to talk.
"It's very sad when someone treats you badly and doesn't want to play with you, isn't it?"
Andy nodded again.
Mother was quiet for a while as Andy sobbed and then she said, "Do you think that Dalton felt the same way when you said you didn't know why Joey wanted to play with him because he was such a joke?"
Andy stared at the floor, feeling his cheeks tingle with shame. He hadn't realized that Mother knew what he had said to Joey about Dalton.
"The reason I know what you said is that Mrs. Williams came to visit me after you and Joey left Dalton at Joey's last week. She told me how hurt Dalton was. Andy, I was very upset with you, and I intended to punish you for being so mean, but Mrs. Williams said she thought it would be better if we let you boys work things out among yourselves, and after thinking about it, I agreed. And, since this has happened, I know she was right. I don't think there is any other way you would understand how badly you've made Dalton feel, except by experiencing it yourself. Am I right?"
"I don't know," Andy mumbled.
"Sweetheart, Dalton is a boy just like you. It makes no difference that he has to wear glasses or a hearing aid or that he has to take asthma medicine. All it means is that his handicaps are on the outside where everyone can see them, not hidden inside like yours are."
"I'm not handicapped!" Andy snapped. "He's handicapped, but I'm not!"
"Well, Andy," Mother's voice grew firm as she put her hands on Andy's cheeks and looked into his eyes, "You are troubled by a selfish spirit and by jealousy, and by not caring about other people's feelings. And, Andy, those are really a kind of handicap. They are a lot worse than Dalton's."
Andy thought for a long while. Then he looked at Mother and said, "I don't want to be handicapped inside, Mom. It really does make me feel bad." Andy rubbed his eyes with his fists until they were clear of tears.
Mother smiled. "Let's pray, Andy, and you can ask Jesus to help you not be jealous of Dalton so you and he and Joey can all be friends and have fun together, just like Jesus means you to." She took Andy's hands in hers, and they knelt together. Andy squeezed his eyes shut tight.
"Dear Jesus," he prayed. "I am so sorry for being so ugly to Dalton. Please help me not to be jealous of him, even if he does know more neat stuff than I do. Help us all three to be good friends. And thank You for listening to me, even though I know I hurt You by being so mean. Amen."
Mother hugged Andy hard. As they stood up the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Andy said. He swung the front door open and was surprised to see Dalton and Joey standing on the porch.
"My mom sent me over," Dalton said, twisting the toe of his sneaker on the rope welcome mat. He looked at Andy, then back down at his shoe. "She said I should apologize for tricking you," he mumbled. Joey blushed.
"That's OK," Andy said. Dalton's eyebrows formed little V's over his eyes. "I was the one who was being a nerd. I'd like to be friends, if you're not too mad at me."
Dalton grinned, "I'd like that."
"So, come on." Andy said. "Let's go work on the rocket. I'd like to know how you can build all this stuff."
"Hey, great!" Joey shouted, clapping Dalton on the back with relief. He grabbed Andy by the arm, dragging him out the front door. "Wait till you see this stuff! This is great! We're going to have so much fun!"

The End

Adapted from "Peace!" by Melinda Monaghan, Primary Treasure, March 13, 1993.