Faith In Fiction | The Unexpected Savior

It was April 8, 1955, a warm spring day in the small town of Sayre, Pennsylvania. As the school bell rang this Friday afternoon before Easter, siblings Andy and Jane ran excitedly across the schoolyard towards the exit. Andy, at 6 years old, was barely a year older than Jane but a much faster runner.

“Wait for me or I’ll tell Mama,” yelled Jane.

With a shout of “hurry up,” Andy slowed down a bit but stayed well in front of his sister just to annoy her. Andy thought for a minute, then asked Jane, “it’s Friday afternoon and mama said that we can watch a show on the new television set when we get home. What do you want to watch?”

He asked just to tease his sister; he knew that he could convince Jane to agree to his choice, The Gumby Show. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jane responded, “The Mickey Mouse Club, that Annette Funnyjello is the ginchiest.”

The two argued back and forth as they continued to walk, each trying to convince the other which show was the best. Their arguments were a daily routine but to Andy, today was a challenge. Although he had always been able to convince Jane to concede to him, she was insistent that she would choose today’s show and he would have to watch The Mickey Mouse Club.

Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, Andy suddenly broke into a run, yelling “Run, Jane, run.”

Jane, assuming that Andy was playing a trick on her as usual, stopped walking and looked around. There, atop a nearby hill, she saw a goat with its horns down, running straight towards them. Although Jane knew she should run, her feet felt frozen in place as she stood staring at the fast-approaching animal that was clearly headed straight toward them.

Much to her surprise, Andy, shifting directions, ran past her towards the goat instead of away from it. Grabbing its horns and holding the angry animal in place, he yelled to his sister, “Run, Jane, run as fast as you can to the next house.”

And run she did, as fast as her little legs could go. See Jane run. Run, Jane, run! Although it only took a few minutes, to her, it seemed like forever before she dashed up the steps and onto the porch of the Murray’s house, screaming for help. Hearing Jane’s cries, Mrs. Murray hurried to the door. Upon seeing the angry, bellowing goat, she quickly opened the front door, and pulled the little girl to safety inside the house. As soon as he saw his sister enter the neighbor’s home, Andy let go of the goat’s horns and sprinted at full speed, bounding up the steps and through the door, with the goat following closely behind him.

“Goodness gracious,” Mrs. Murray said, “in a million years, I never would have expected a six-year old to do something so brave to protect his sister. Proverbs 17:17 is true, ‘A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.’”

Jane, in tears, hugged Andy, her unexpected savior. The children then watched in wonder as Mrs. Murray, without warning, rushed out the door, waving a broom and shouting, “Go away, goat, go away, goat.” There in the middle of the lawn, stood the goat, nibbling on the laundry that was hanging on her clothes line.

“Too bad Mrs. Murray doesn’t have a brother to help her in time of need,” chuckled Andy.

“A friend is always loyal,” Jane said, quoting the Bible verse that she’d heard moments earlier, “and Mrs. Murray is our friend so doesn’t that mean that we should help her?” With that, the two children raced out the door to help their kind neighbor fend off the billy goat. Together, the three of them chased the animal, around and around, until it finally bolted out of the yard.

As the goat ran down the street and the children headed home, Andy, with a grin, stared at Jane, “Remember, I saved your life today. Tell mama that we want to watch The Gumby Show.” Jane nodded to her brother, her hero, at least for today.

Little did they know that when they got home, there would be no time to watch television this afternoon. The goat, you see, was now at their house, on the porch, knocking over and eating dozens of peach pies that their mother had baked for the church Easter gathering on Sunday. The resulting mess would take hours to clean up. But that’s a story for another day.