Wallie on Difference-Making

With school semester underway, Wallie the Imp, my Friend, and I have given quite a lot of thought to our pasts, presents, and futures, and the people who have helped us get so far. Our parents and teachers figured prominently in our talk.

My Friend and I wondered if we would ever make a difference ourselves.

Wallie listened to us and smiled. Whenever he smiles it puts me a bit on edge, because you can never tell what is going on in his head. When he suddenly got up and left, my Friend and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, because we were both a little hurt.

Last night Wallie found me in my bedroom. He climbed up on my desk and said in simple Impish*,

“Wallie want you draw.”

“I don’t feel like drawing, Wallie,” I said.

But he kept on insisting.

“You think your teachers always want teach-talk?” he asked.

He had a point. But mostly because I couldn’t get rid of him, I took out my pencil and paper.

“Fine,” I said. “What do you want me to draw?”

Wallie told me.

The next day, I showed my Friend. He was a bit surprised and not a little moved and embarrassed. Then I was embarrassed, and Wallie too, so you had better just see for yourself without my trying to explain. It’s not great, but it was just what was wanted (which proves that even silly little things make a “difference”)**.

Why try to shine, when you’re already in the spotlight?

*The language of the Imps

** Special thanks to my Mum, Dad, all you teachers and students (and the rest of us who really are just Imps at heart), who—dear God and by Him!—make more of a difference in all our lives, than we have half a wit to know.