Arkansas Noah

ARKANSAS NOAH


It wasn’t the alarm that woke Andy. It was talking and loud noises from outside. Andy jumped out of bed and hurried to the window. He had to see what all the commotion was about. At the old house across the road, there were a couple of moving vans and trucks with trailers. There were two dogs jumping around the yard. They were playfully barking at the people unloading the trailers.
Andy was so excited he flew outside. He didn’t even get dressed, or give a second thought to Saturday morning cartons. That old house had been empty as long as Andy could remember. The nearest neighbors lived in town, which was too far for a six year old to walk.
Andy was about to cross the road when he heard his mom yelling his name. “Andy, get back in this house. You’re sick.”
“I’m not sick anymore; I feel better,” Andy said.
“You were still running a temperature last night, and look at you,” she said lifting up his chin. “You still have a runny nose.”
“But Mom…”Andy began to plead.
“No buts,” his mom said, “one more day, then we’ll see.”
Andy stared out the window all morning. He could barely contain himself when he realized his new neighbors were unloading animals. Animals in cages, in tanks, and on leashes. He had never seen so many animals except at the zoo. Andy couldn’t tell what all the animals were, but it looked as if there were two of every kind. There were two cats, two big birds, two big fish tanks. There were even pigs and horses, two of each of course.
Sometime after dark the two moving vans pulled out of the yard. Andy watched until they were out of sight. He was about to turn from the window when the porch light across the road came on and the front door opened. An old man in overalls and a grey bushy beard came out. He hung a sign on his mailbox. It was too dark for Andy to see what it said. That made him more anxious for Sunday morning to arrive.
Andy tossed and turned all night. He woke when the first ray of sunshine broke through his window. Andy was outside before his parents were out of bed. He just had to be close enough to read the sign on the big, brick mailbox. Andy knew the alphabet, so he recognized the letters on the nameplate, although he wasn’t sure how to pronounce them.
“N-O-A-H, N-O-A-H,” Andy kept repeating to himself as he went back into the house. His mom was coming down the stairs as he was closing the door. “Mom,” Andy said slowly. He didn’t want to forget what he was spelling. “What does N-O-A-H spell?”
“Noah,” she said, “which reminds me, you need to get ready for church, since you look like you’re feeling better.”
In children’s church Andy was so distracted by the thought of meeting his new neighbor, he could hardly pay attention. He forgot to clap his hands and stomp his feet during his favorite song “If You’re Happy and You Know It”.
“Today we’re going to learn the story of Noah’s Ark,” the youth pastor announced. She had his full attention once he heard her mention his neighbor’s name.
On the way home from church Andy kept thinking, what if my new neighbor is the same man from the bible story? He did have a lot of animals.
After Andy changed out of his church clothes, he went to meet his neighbor. He heard hammering coming from the backyard, so he followed the noise. The old man that had hung the sign on the mailbox was building something. He was surrounded by tools and boards.
“Hi, I’m Andy from across the road,” he said as he stuck out his hand.
“well hello Andy from across the road,” he put down his tools and shook Andy’s hand. “My friends call me Noah from “The Arks”.”
Andy wasn’t sure what to think. Could it really be HIM?
“So young fellow, what do you think about helping me build my boat?”
It is him Andy thought. “Why do you want to build a boat, Mr. Noah?”
Noah Laughed, “well I need a place to keep all my animals.” Thunder started to rumble and grey rain clouds filled the sky. Noah looked up and said, “I guess it’s too late to build my boat now.”
Andy’s stomach started turning. If there’s no boat, he though, everybody’s going to drown. Without another word he ran home. He packed his duffel bag and threw it in his dad’s fishing boat. Then he went to the kitchen and started packing the food.
“What are you doing, Andy?” his mom wanted to know.
“Hurry Mom!” he yelled,” pack your bags and get in the boat!”
“Why Andy?” she asked.
“Just do it; we’re running out of time!” Thunder shook the house as rain pounded the roof. The lights started to flicker and Andy let out a scream, “Ahhhhh! The world’s going to flood. Mr. Noah couldn’t build the ark.” He started cry. “Everybody’s going to drown.”
“Slow down, honey. What are you talking about?”
Andy tried to catch his breath and start over, “Noah lives next door; he said he was from the ark,” Andy said slowly. “He’s building a boat for his animals, and when it started to rain he said it was too late.”
Andy’s mom sat him down.” Andy, Noah’s his last name. His first name is Henry and he’s from Arkansas. He has so many animals because he’s an animal doctor. The boat’s a hobby, like building model airplanes.” She grabbed Andy’s hand and took him outside. “It stopped raining.”
Andy pointed to the sky, “Look a rainbow!”
“God’s promise to never flood the earth again,” Andy’s mom said as she gave him a big hug.