Baxter believed in the unbelievable. He loved superhero movies. Church was a place of great joy for him. Art was a passion, especially wood burning. And although he rarely sang in key, he enjoyed belting out song. He wasn’t worried about what other people thought of him because he liked himself and knew God loves him.
One day, Baxter was wood burning a plaque for his aunt. Using the writing-tipped burning pen, he carefully burned each letter into the wood, connecting them in cursive script as they spelled out her favorite scripture from the New Testament. When he finished the plaque, Baxter carefully nailed a saw-tooth picture frame hanger to the back of it. The plaque would look nice on her wall.
His aunt always said that the New Testament is the word of Jesus. And Jesus is Truth. She said to never be afraid to say His name, there is power in it. Baxter wasn’t afraid. In fact, he felt it, the love and power of the Lord. His parents didn’t talk much about things of the spirit, but he could always discuss them with his Aunt Kelly—which is why he chose to make her this gift. He enjoyed giving plaques to people who would truly appreciate them.
The Bible lay open beside him. He moved the Book closer to read it. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.” Paul was discussing the armor of God with the Ephesians.
Hmm. A thought came to Baxter. He went to his dresser and pulled out his belt. It was a thick, leather belt. Sturdy. Perfect. He brought it back to his desk. Baxter turned the belt over, grabbed a pencil and proceeded to write out the scripture he had just read. He spaced the words out evenly to complete the length of the belt. He choose a thinner tip for the wood burning pen and burned the words into the belt. It smelled different than wood, but it worked fine. The pen moved more easily over the leather backing than it did with wood.
Baxter took his time. While he burned the letters, he thought about how he would be able to hold these words close to him. They will cleave to him as his belt does. With this belt he would be ready for action, like a superhero! And he would be ready to fight against evil with Jesus as his defense.
His belt looked great. Only he and God knew the words were there inside the belt. The front of the belt looked the same as always. When he put it on, Baxter felt a tingling feeling which then turned into a warmth. It felt comforting and gave him a feeling of great strength and knowing. He would accept this power to help others and keep himself on the right path.
While Baxter was putting away his wood burning kit, he heard a knock on his bedroom door. “Enter,” he said.
“Hello, son.” His dad entered, holding his cell phone. “Your Aunt Kelly wants to know if you want to go over there today to help her bake some cookies.”
“What a coincidence!” Baxter exclaimed, smiling brightly. “I have a gift for her. Tell her I’m already on my bike on my way over.”
His dad nodded and walked out.
Baxter leaned his bike against the maple tree in the front yard. The ground was covered in colors as more leaves floated down. Aunt Kelly was looking out her front door. “Hey, Bax! How ya doing?” she asked.
“I’m great!” said Baxter, retrieving the plaque from his backpack and handing it to his aunt as he entered the house. “For you,” he said, smiling.
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” she read. “Oh, it’s beautiful. Very nice work, Bax. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome! Wow!”
“Wow, what?” asked Aunt Kelly,
“Well, your eyes. They are glowing.”
“Now that you mention it, so are yours. Maybe it’s hay fever.”
Baxter had a feeling it was not hay fever. By looking in her eyes he could tell his aunt was happy, and he also knew she had a secret to tell. He wasn’t sure how he knew this about her, but her eyes seemed extra revealing. If he looked at her a little longer he knew he’d be able to figure out her secret on his own. But he didn’t want to be intrusive. He wondered about this new ability of his. Would he be able to read other people, too. Did the belt have something to do with it?
“Come. Let’s bake some cookies. We’ll start with sugar cookies, then chocolate chip. I also want to try a new peanut butter one and make a loaf of chocolate chip pumpkin bread. You up for all that?”
“Yes! That sounds awesome,” Baxter replied.
After they finished the fourth batch of cookies and started on the pumpkin bread, Aunt Kelly announced, “Well, Bax. I have some good news!”
“I love good news!” yelled Baxter, jumping up and down, overly excited thanks to all the sugar he ate.
“I’m getting married!”
“Whaaa? Really? To Donald?”
“Yes. Of course to Donald.”
“Congratulations Aunt Kelly.”
“Thanks, Bax,” she replied, her eyes still aglow.
“There’s more,” Baxter observed.
“Why, yes,” she smiled. Giving him a sideways look, she added, “You are a smart one.”
Baxter smiled. He liked his new power.
“Donald has three kids!”
“Oh, yeah! I knew that. So, I will have cousins, kind of.”
“Yep!”
“Cool.”
“Do you want to meet them today?”
“Okay,” Baxter agreed. He could then test out his new power.
Aunt Kelly texted her fiancé and soon there was a knock on the door.
“Hey there, Buddy,” said Donald. Baxter looked into Donald’s eyes. He immediately felt like a kid. Of course Donald would feel that way–Baxter was, in fact, a kid. But, it was apparent Donald was in high adult mode. “I’d like you to meet my son, Adam, and my daughter, Liz. My other daughter couldn’t make it. You’ll meet her later.”
“Hello,” said Baxter, respectfully.
“Hi!” Adam and Liz replied in unison.
“You two are twins,” Baxter observed.
“Yes, we are,” said Liz.
“Fraternal, obviously,” Adam piped in. “I’d look ridiculous in a dress.”
Baxter laughed.
“Well, let’s not stand in the doorway. Come in and get some milk and cookies,” said Kelly.
Baxter liked his new cousins. Adam even commented on Aunt Kelly’s new plaque. Baxter promised to let Adam try out his wood burning kit. By peeking into their eyes, he could tell they were good people.
The kids decided to play in the back yard, raking leaves and jumping into the piles. Just goofing around, they laughed and screamed loudly, attracting a neighbor kid, Jess, to come by.
“Whatcha guys doing?” she asked, looking around the yard at the piles of leaves.
Baxter, seeing Jess’s eyes, felt some sort of darkness. He took a step closer to her. He knew this girl was very sad. “Hi, Jess! Meet my new cousins.”
“Hi,” she replied.
Baxter had never before noticed Jess’s sadness. He wondered if his belt was helping him see people or if he just developed this superpower on his own. He really wanted to cheer her up, so he grabbed a handful of leaves and sprinkled them over her head.
Jess smiled. Then Baxter tickled her. She laughed and pushed him into a pile of leaves. It ended up being a great day.
The next day, at school, Baxter tried out his belt on the kids there. He read a few kids’ emotions and intentions, by looking into their eyes; but, he was also able to feel people’s vibes just by being near them. He knew which ones were bullies to stay away from and which ones loved school. Then he took off the belt and put it in his locker. He looked a few kids in the eyes to see if he could still read them. Turns out, he could. It was a superpower! Still, Baxter believed that making the belt helped him become aware of this possibility of having a superpower, or extra sense, and awakened this empathic ability to see the truth. He believed that God had given him this ability, it just didn’t manifest until he made the belt.
He said a prayer of thanks to God and told Him he would do his best to use this skill of reading people’s emotions and truths in order to help them see what they cannot, or to help them feel better.
The eyes are the windows to the soul. Anyone who really looked into Baxter’s eyes could see he was truly an angel.
The End
Written by Celia Blake
Baxter is part of the Short Story Collection, titled, A-Z Bedtime Stories.
Copies of the complete e-book collection are linked on Twilight Letters home page.
Image created using YouVersion Holy Bible App
