Sammy's Lesson

Sammy didn't like popcorn, and that was where his troubles began. His friends invited him to the movies on Friday, and Sammy knew that they were rabid popcorn lovers. Therefore, to avoid embarrassment over something so silly as an intense revulsion of popcorn and other popcorn-based products, he declared to his dismayed friends that he never watched movies because films produced today were always of inferior quality. The only kind of movie he would ever watch, he said, was one he made himself.

Having established his story, Sammy began to pick up steam. "I produce and direct my own videos every weekend," he claimed. "I pay my younger brothers and sisters to be my cast. I have a huge shelf of my own movies at home." A thought occurred to him, and his eyes lit up. "As a matter of fact, one of my pictures won first prize at a small film festival."

Sammy saw that his friends were quite impressed. They left him standing in the school hallway and whispered among themselves about this previously-unknown accomplishment of their friend.

Several days later, in drama class, Sammy's clever tale came back to haunt him. When the teacher asked for a volunteer to direct the class' production of Julius Caesar, Sammy's friends had a wonderful idea, which they promptly voiced.

"Ms. Carlton," the girl sitting next to Sammy addressed her grateful instructor, "Sammy should direct the play! One of the movies he made in his spare time won first place in a festival." She smiled at Sammy and took his hand. His friends looked at him expectantly. He was forced to accept the job in a futile attempt to save face.

Needless to say, the drama was a disaster under Sammy's inexperienced hand, from the moment Sammy became director to the happy moment he was kicked out of the class. It was the first time Sammy had ever failed a course, and as a result his parents took away his telephone and driving privileges for the rest of the school year. Sammy's dislike of popcorn grew to a bitter hatred, as he made the innocent food product the scapegoat for his woes. Surprisingly, though, he developed a great affection for modern movies of inferior quality, once he found a cinema without a concession counter.

"People who can't be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty."--Proverbs 11:3

Copyright © 2002 Colleen Fischer | Last updated October 7, 2002