Village Shepherd

Those who think they can see everything are often the ones who are really blind! The bystanders in this gospel story had far less insight and vision than Bartimaeus, who knew that the most important thing in the world was to get to Jesus. The bystanders didn't have that same priority, and did their best to stop Bartimaeus from achieving his burning desire.

This is a story about Greg and his friends, who discover they can't "see" quite as well as they thought.

It was Greg's birthday party, but he was utterly fed up. He'd been looking forward to this day for months and all his friends were coming, but his mother had suddenly dropped on him that she'd invited a girl! That was bad enough, but worse, Greg didn't even know the girl. She didn't go to his school, and had only just moved into the area, which was why his mother had invited her. Greg was disgusted and disappointed. And he didn't know how he was going to square it with his friends.

When Alice appeared, hanging onto her mother's hand, Greg refused to speak to her. He turned his back and went off with a group of his friends. Alice's mother stayed around for a bit looking anxious, but eventually handed Alice over to Greg's mother and slipped away. Greg noticed all this out of the corner of his eye, but still refused to go near Alice.

And Alice was hopeless at the games. When they had team games where they had to run or to pass things to each other, Alice was terribly clumsy and awkward and slow. She kept dropping the ball, and blundering into things. Greg was deeply scornful and muttered out of earshot of his mother, "I wish you'd never come!" He saw Alice blink back a tear, but he didn't care. It was his party, and his mother had no right to wish uninvited guests upon him, especially anorak girls.

When it came to tea, Alice took a small plate and sat by herself in a corner. Greg and his friends soon started a food throwing battle, and laughed hysterically when a sandwich hit Alice in the middle of her face. Greg's mother was furious, and made him apologise. And she threatened to send all Greg's friends home unless they quietened down.

When she suggested a game of Blind Man's Buff, Greg stared at her in horror. He hadn't played that game since he was four years old. But one look at her grimly determined face and the anger which still remained in her eyes, told him he'd better agree. Greg himself was blindfolded first, spun round three times and sent to discover who he could identify. He was hopeless, and until somebody laughed or spoke, got it completely wrong.

Then Alice had a go. To Greg's surprise, she was brilliant at this game. Even though she hadn't met any of the boys before, she instantly knew every boy she caught. She was far better at the game than any of them.

Greg groaned again when his mother produced a drawing of a donkey, blindfolded one of the boys, spun him round three times, and handed him the donkey's tail complete with drawing pin to fix the tail onto the donkey. But even Greg had to laugh when he saw the tail pinned on to the donkey's nose by one boy, and its leg by another. And he himself didn't manage to pin the tail onto the donkey at all. His effort ended right off the page.

But Alice was unerring. She pinned the tail exactly at the right spot. "Hey," shouted Greg. "That's not fair! She can see through the blindfold, she must be able to."

A small smile hovered at his mother's lips. But all she said was, "Why don't you tie the blindfold then, and we'll see if Alice can do it again."

"I am not using that blindfold," Greg said, and fetched his thickest scarf, which he tied as tightly as he could around Alice's head. Then he made her not only spin round, but walk in circles around the room, and while he was doing that, one of his friends turned the donkey upside down. Then they all waited with smirking faces to watch Alice fail.

But she didn't. Despite all they had done, Alice got it right first time. Greg and all his friends were stunned. Greg's mother removed the blindfold, and they all crowded round Alice, asking her how she had done it.

Alice smiled. "I see differently to you," she explained. "I can see anything in the dark, and I can find my way around perfectly when there's no light at all. But I'm not very good at things you're good at, like catching balls or running races."

"But that's impossible," exclaimed Greg. "How can you see in the dark, but not be able to catch a ball?"

Alice looked straight at him. "I'm blind," she said simply. Then she grinned and added, "Or perhaps it's you that's blind! After all, none of you noticed that I'm blind, and none of you could play Blind Man's Buff or pin the tail on the donkey! So who is really blind? Is it me, or is it you?"

And Greg really wasn't at all sure.