The Dream
Brenda had just said Good - Bye to the last group of people
leaving her house. Brenda had thrown a baby shower for one of
her closest friends. She had gone all out for the party, and spent
most of her pay check on things to make the party nice. She had
one dollar bill left in her change purse. Brenda closed the door
and looked at her living room, it was a disaster, they had trashed
the place.
Brenda said it’s too late and I’m too tired to fool with cleaning it
up tonight, it will have to just stay this way until after I get off
work tomorrow. She said I’ll have a snack and go to bed. Brenda
walked into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator door, all
that was left was one Dill Pickle in a jar. The guest had eaten
everything else in the house. She said That pickle will for sure
cause me to have bad dreams, or at least that is what I’ve always
heard people to say.
Brenda ate the pickle anyway then she went up stairs and got
ready for bed. Before she laid down, she opened up her change
purse and looked at the old worn out one dollar bill. She said You
are all I have got left to by food and gas with, for the rest of the
week. She took out the one dollar bill to see if another one was
hiding in the bottom by chance, but the change purse was
completely empty.
She put the dollar back in her purse, she said If I had a few more I
could catch the bus out in front of my house this week to ride to
work. I guess I’ll be walking to work before this week is up, my
car is almost on empty now. Brenda laid down in bed and said her
prayers, she asked that the Lord provide for her some way this
week because she didn’t know how she could make it on her own.
That night she had a dream - She got up to go to work, when she
went down stairs, she found more trash then there was the night
before. Her computer was on and a message was on the screen, it
said - Brenda I will visit you today, you know not the hour in
which I will come. Signed Jesus.
Brenda didn’t want anyone to see her house in such a mess, so she
started to work on cleaning it up. The more she worked, the less
she seemed to get done. Then she thought about the fact that there
was no food in the house. She grabbed her purse and went off
walking to the store in the cold, she was afraid she would run out
of gas if she took the car. She said I have to hurry , he may come
any time, and I still have a big mess to clean up.
She was in the store trying to find something nice to eat for a
dollar, She wasn’t having any luck, everything was a lot more than
she had. She felt someone tugging on the bottom of her over coat.
Brenda looked down and saw a small child, he was asking her to
help him find his mommy in the big store. She went up and down
each isle of the store twice trying to find her, she asked the child
What is your Mommy’s name? The child said Mommy.
Finally after a long time a woman came and said I’m his mother.
Brenda said, I’ve got to go , nice meeting you. She went on
searching for something she could buy with the single dollar bill
she had. In the deli she saw a large sub sandwich and it looked
delicious, the best one she had ever seen any where. The Sub was
94 cents plus tax, that would come to one dollar exactly and that
was all she had.
Brenda bought the sandwich and quickly started home, she took a
short cut through the park. On her way through the park she saw a
homeless man digging through trash cans looking for food. Then
she looked at the sandwich she held in her hand. She called for
the man to come to her. The she said, I’ll give you half of my
sandwich.
Brenda sat on the bench and ate the other half of the sandwich, she
was hungry too. Brenda talked with the man as they shared the
humble meal. When they had finished Brenda said I’ve got to go
nice meeting you.
When Brenda returned home, the mess had grown even bigger
while she was gone. She just started trying to clean some more,
when there was a knock on the door. Brenda opened the door to
find a little old man standing there on her porch with out a coat on.
It was cold outside and the wind was blowing.
The man said Can you tell me when the next bus comes through?
Brenda said, In about a half hour. The man thanked her and
started to walk away to wait on the bus. Brenda said, Come
inside, out of the cold, you can see the bus coming from the
window in here where it is warm. The man came in and got warm.
Brenda remembered that she had a coat upstairs that might fit the
old man, her ex-boyfriend had left it there. She got the coat and
gave it to the old man. He said, I think I’ll just go back home
instead of riding the bus, He said, Here this is for all that you have
done for me. He handed, her a ticket instead of money, the ticket
said, "Admit One."
It wasn’t a bus ticket, or movie ticket, she knew what they looked
like and it didn’t look like this one did. Brenda placed the ticket
in her empty change purse and thanked the man. When he left she
started back to work on the mess. She worked so hard that she had
a heart attack and died.
Brenda found herself standing at the pearly gates. She started to
go in but a man stopped her, it was St. Peter. He said, None can
enter with out a ticket She opened her change purse and reached
him the ticket that the old man had given to her. She said Will
this one due?
St. Peter took the ticket and said, It’s the only ticket that will get
you through the gates and into heaven, Jesus hands them out
personally. Brenda was confused at this. St. Peter explained that
the little old man was Jesus. Brenda said I’ve heard of stories like
this, was he also the little boy in the store and the homeless man in
the park? St. Peter said No those were people that needed help and
Jesus allowed you the chance to help them, do you know what
would have happened to them if you had not of helped them?
Brenda said No, not really. St. Peter said The little boy was ready
to run out side into the parking lot to see if his mother’s car was
still there, but he would not have made it that far, a car would have
struck him and he would be up here now. Brenda said What about
the homeless man? St. Peter said He would arrive here tomorrow
from finding and eating spoiled meat and getting food poisoning,
he would have died alone in an alley. But because you helped
them out, they in turn will help out others.
Brenda started to go threw the gates into Heaven. Then she woke
up to the sound of the alarm clock going off. She said, What a
dream, it must have been the pickle I ate before I went to bed. She
got ready for work and was in her car. The fuel gauge was
flashing that the tank was empty. She said, Well my last dollar is
going to go for gas it seems.
Brenda pulled into a gas station and put in one dollar worth of gas,
being very careful not to go over that amount, because she knew
all she had was the one dollar bill. She pulled out the one dollar
bill and laid it on the counter in front of the man. He said Don’t
you have anything smaller lady? Brenda looked at the bill she had
laid down and still had her finger tips on , so the wind wouldn’t
blow it away. It was a crisp new $50 bill. She couldn’t believe it,
she knew what she had laid down. Brenda also knew the Lord had
stepped in to see that she had what she needed. He had answered
her prayer.? Brenda said, Hold on and let me fill my car up with
gas. The man said, You should have done that in the first place
lady. Brenda filled the car up with gas it took $20.00 to fill it up.
She paid the man and he gave her back the change. Brenda
bought herself breakfast and lunch, she didn’t have to go hungry at
work after all. She wanted to clean her house up before she went
to the market to buy food for the week, on what money she had left
over.
When Brenda got home after work she was not looking forward to
cleaning up the mess. She opened up the door and the house was
spotless. There was a note left on her computer screen, it said.
Sorry we made such a mess, so we stopped by and cleaned it up, I
hope that’s OK with you. Signed The Girls from The Baby
Shower. Brenda said Thank You Lord, that was more than I had
asked for.
She said, Now all I have to do is go to the store and buy some
food. She walked into the kitchen to get some Ice to have for a
glass of cold water to drink. When she opened up the refrigerator ,
it was full too. There was another note hanging inside. It said,
Sorry we ate you out of house and home, so we chipped in and
went grocery shopping for you too. Signed the girls. Brenda
praised the Lord for all he had brought about for her, no one else
could have turned things around like that.
When she went to go to bed that night, she looked in her purse
again to make sure she had not been day dreaming about it all.
She opened the purse and the money left over from filling up her
car was still there. There was also something else in the bottom of
her purse. It was a ticket that said, "Admit One." Brenda cried
and prayed, Oh thank you Jesus for giving me so much, when I
would have been so happy with a lot less. The she went down
stairs and ate a pickle again that night, she said Who ever said
eating a pickle before you went to bed would give you night
mares? If that was a night mare, I hope I have one every night
when I go to sleep.
Written By: Johnny lee Hall
