Jay Jay And The Five Thousand

A Robert Thadeus Brown Story

Inspired by Richard Papp

Hello again, it’s me, Robert Thadeus Brown, and this is my story. The last time we spoke, I was only ten and my brother thirteen. Well, a couple of years has passed. My brother? Let’s just say he’s reached that age where camping doesn’t seem to hold as much allure as it once did.

Which means, of course, he’s discovered, girls.

And before you ask, yes, I know about girls. They’re smarter than me, do better in school than me, and get all giggly and stupid when the older boys walk past.

Still don’t see what the big deal is.

So this camping trip it was just me, mom and dad and grandpa and grandma. It really hadn’t taken a whole lot of convincing from me to come back to this spot in the Ozarks where we’d camped two years before. Mom and Dad loved the place as much as I did. Plus, there was still a bit of exploring I needed to do.

As soon as the campground was set up, I lit out. Although it had been a couple of years, I was pretty sure I remembered how to get there, hoping that old shack was still there.

It was, but it had a new inhabitant.

She reminded me of my grandma, only she was a big old woman. I believe nowadays they call it voluptuous or something or other. Anyway, if that old woman decided to give me a hug, I’d probably suffocate between her bosoms before she turned me loose.

She spied me just as I entered the clearing, and her face brightened, and she smiled at me as if she’d been expecting me. Don’t know how that was possible ’cause I’d never seen this woman in my life. I smiled back, offered her a wave, and then crossed the clearing and stopped at the base of the stairs.

In my mind, I could see the image of that old shack from my first visit. Nothing had changed much, in fact, I was afraid of trying to make my way up those rickety steps.

The old woman adjusted the bun of hair on the back of her head, beamed another smile at me, and pulled another rocking chair close to her.

“Come on up here, boy. I reckon we’ve got time for a least one story before it starts to get dark.”

Just as I started up, the smell of baking bread washed over me, a rich malted scent that made my mouth instantly begin to water. Mingled among the aromatic smells, I could have sworn I picked up on the smell of frying fish.

“I don’t suppose you’re hungry, are you? I’ve got some bread in the oven and mess of fish I prepared for lunch. You can have some if you want.”

“Uh, no ma’am, but thank you anyway.”

“Polite as usual. I like that. So you ready for the story?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“This story’s about my son Jay Jay. He was such a good boy. Always respectful, and full of wisdom. Some say he was a great leader, but Jay Jay was too humble for that. All he wanted to do was talk to people, help them understand the path to enlightenment. And a lot of people listened to him. In fact so many people did, they followed Jay Jay everywhere he went. And when he stopped to talk to them they all sat around and listened. Hung on every word my boy said.”

“He was a great speaker?”

“Yes, he was son, the best. Shall I continue?”

“Yes, ma’am, please.”

“So one day Jay Jay and his team of marketers, I believe there were twelve of them, stopped at a base of a tiny hill just outside a town to rest and have lunch. As it always happened, a crowd began to gather, and before Jay Jay and his marketers realized the crowd had grown to almost five thousand people. Nobody wanted to leave Jay Jay for fear of missing out on something he said. So they all sat there, their bellies growling something fierce.”

“Yeah, mine always does that in church.”

“I know. Embarrassing, huh?”

“Uh, huh.”

“Well, think of five thousand stomachs growling at the same time. Jay Jay could have screamed his message and no one would have heard him. So before you ask, one of Jay Jay’s marketers came to him with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fishes. I believe they were cod. Might have been rainbow trout I forget, but at least they had some food.”

“Wait, didn’t you say five thousand people were sitting around Jay Jay?”

“I certainly did. I like a boy that pays attention.”

“How could Jay Jay feed all those people with only a few loaves of bread and two fishes?”

“Listen, and you’ll understand.”

“So Jay Jay took the bread and the fish from one of his marketers and he closed his eyes and gave thanks to his dad for the blessings of bread and fish, and then he gave the bread and the fish to his marketers and told them to start passing them out. Well, the marketers split up and each of them took a basket and they all walked all over the base of that hill stopping at each group of people and handing out fish and loaves of bread. And Jay Jay continued to talk, speaking of wonderful things and every single one of those five thousand people listened to Jay Jay as they ate their portions of fish and bread.”

“So, where did all the fish and bread come from?”

“I jus’ told you. The fish and the bread was in the baskets.”

“But there were only a few loaves and a couple of fish. That couldn’t have been enough.”

“Oh son, not only was it enough but after Jay Jay finished talking to all the people and they all left the marketers went around gathering what food was remaining. They collected twelve baskets of food and gave it to the starving people in the nearby town.”

“I don’t know how he did that.”

“You will when you learn to believe in the power of something bigger than you, boy, something bigger than all of us. Now I ‘spect it’s time for you to run along. Ms. G got some more baking to do.”

I said my goodbyes and stepped off the porch then started across the clearing, pulling up and stopping when it hit me. She’d called herself Ms. G., and here she was telling me a story just like the old coot from two years ago. This time I was going to be sure. I hurried across the clearing and made it up the steps again.

The scents of baking bread and fried fish had suddenly been replaced by the rank odor of rotting wood and mildew and mold. The door to the shack was opened, and I cautiously peered inside. No one was there. No one had ever been there.

I hurried back to the campsite, and later that night, I told the story of Jay Jay and the five thousand.

My grandpa, a preacher, simply nodded and smiled.

Thanks So Much For Reading

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