Now this is a story that actually builds from another story... but for time's sake, I think I will only post the second half. For it is in the second half of the story that things get interesting, and as it can stand alone, I do not wish to bore my readers with a long introduction.
Three interns, including myself were driving home from Joska on Thursday evening. We had picked up Victory from school and we were crunched on time to get back to the house, shower, and then meet a short term missions team for dinner on the other side of town. Actually we had a target time of showering and being ready in 15 minutes.
When we arrived at the gate we found it locked as usual. We gave a tug on the horn to inform Elizabeth that we were home and she should come open the gate. After two minutes with no response we decided to call her. As it turns out she was in class and unable to come home. But she had left the keys inside, so all we needed to do was scale the wall.
This wall isn't like chain-linked fences back home. It is concrete cinder blocks with broken glass on top! But, where the gate is, despite the piercing metal arrows, it is more approachable. It wasn't too long until that little-kid energy took over and I remembered just how I would do it back in the day.... A little running start, pick a nice place for the hands, swing the leg, and hope the landing was soft and sweet. No problem... or so I thought.
In-fact it was a very big problem. Where as we had though we were just locked out of the compound, it turns out that we were locked out of the house as well. I called Elizabeth, "Where are the keys?!!?" Her response confused me. "They are in the Kitchen." I am not a thief, nor do I have any experience of breaking into houses, but even if I did, breaking into a Kenyan home is much different than an American one. Here everything is reinforced with iron rods. The doors are double locked with padlocks, then two iron rods lock into place so that only someone on the inside can open them. Then there are the windows. All of the windows are glass... with an iron grate!!! Even if the windows were unlocked, there would be no way to squeeze my body through the narrow opening unless I was skinnier than a four year old. That's it! Where was Dave, our sweet adorable 4 year old adopted brother?
We ran out of the compound and towards his school. Luckily he was still there playing on the playground with his friend. We called him over to the fence and asked him if Spiderman could help us. At the mention of his pseudonym he became excited. He looked at us with his four-year old eyes, full of understanding and great commitment, "Spiderman can do it!" he responded. Thrilled, we lifted up part of the wire surrounding the playground and had Dave crawl under. We had no time to walk all the way around and have him officially exit the school. No, we kidnapped little Spiderman so that he could aid us in our dire situation.
While we ran/walked back home, Dave was a bundle of excitement -I can spin my webs and climb walls -I can do anything. "Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can," he sang all the way home. And soon my own spirits rose with the confidence of this four year old boy.
Upon reaching the house we found an open window and we hoisted Dave up. His lithe little body slipped through the window and then landed with a soft thud on the other side. Once inside he poked his little head up and spoke in a rushed whisper, "ok, now what is my mission?" "Find the keys Dave, find they keys!" we replied in an equally harsh whisper. "I'm on it," we heard as his little feet turned and ran towards the kitchen.
What happened next could only be accomplished by spiderman. Here was Dave -or I should more correctly call him Spidy, scaling the cabinets and searching frantically for lost keys. For those hard to reach places he had brought in back up -a trusty stool to hoist him up. It was only a matter of time before he spotted them, "There!" he cried with exuberant satisfaction. "I have found the keys!"
And so he had, and our worries about canceling dinner were obliterated with the help of Spiderman. Thanks Spidy!
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