After dismissing my Careers in Sports and Fitness class at 1:20 yesterday afternoon, I asked, "Do any of you want to help me eat a pizza?" They looked at me, then one another, but none of them said anything. Darrius was blanketed with that look that people get when they want to either ask or answer a question but aren’t sure that they want anyone else to hear them.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Well, you asked us if we wanted to help you eat a pizza. I’d love to help eat a pizza, but…" here he paused and looked around the room, "I don’t see any pizza."

I grinned, "No, there’s no pizza in the room, at least not so far as I know. If you want to help me eat a pizza, follow me over to Clark’s."

Clarks is a gas station-convenience store and Laundromat that sits on the opposite side of Main Street, facing the building in which our class meets. Bill Clark and his employees also cook pizzas and have seven or eight booths where people can sit, drink coffee and chat. Or… eat pizza.

My students are unusually helpful people; six of the seven decided they would, indeed, help me eat pizza. I choose a couple of booths and told my students to get themselves something to drink. "Be sure to show the cashier what you got so she can write it down on my ticket." They scattered like bees in a flower garden. Then, we sat down to wait for the cooking.

Even when the bread we break is the thin crust of a loaded pizza, it’s a good thing to break bread together. It is an ancient fellowship by which friends grow closer, strangers become friends, and some, without knowing it, have entertained angels.

I don’t believe there were any visible angels at the table, but it was a good time. Four of the kids sat at the adjoining booth while the two guys who drew the short straws sat with me. We all had time to visit in a different setting and get to know each other a little better. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves, especially the ones who’d had to skip lunch so they could get to class!

So far as I know, none of them were skipping someone else’s class so they could eat.

I don’t know that I’ll alter anyone else’s life by taking time to buy pizza and sit and visit for a while with a half-dozen young adults.

But I do know that it broadens mine.

H. Arnett

2/23/11