Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Phillip. Be sure to check out About Dan here.
Phillip is a computer nerd who suddenly discovers a liking for track. Everything would be fine except for his father.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Phillip Home) (Last) (Next)
Brother Sam
Phillip had always had mixed feelings about home teaching, the Mormon practice which assigns pairs of priesthood holders to look in on other families. From the time he turned twelve until the previous month, he’d always gone home teaching with his father. Lance tried various ways of involving him in the visits, at first limited to having him say the prayer and later having him give short lessons. But somehow Phillip always felt he was just along for the ride. He couldn’t point to a single instance where he’d done something important.
Sometimes they would get an unexpected phone call from one of the families to which they were assigned, but Lance would respond by going himself. At first, when Phillip was 12, he would eagerly volunteer to go along, but Lance would smile paternally and say "no, you needn’t go" or "maybe it would be better if you didn’t" and then he was gone. After a couple years of this, Phillip didn’t volunteer for anything special and Lance didn’t ask.
The one exception was the summer that Phillip cut old Sister Wilkinson’s grass every week at his father’s direction. But she would slip him five bucks and whisper to him, very conspiratorially, not to tell his father. He didn’t. As far as he knew, his father never found out. The next summer, she was assigned to someone else. By then, Phillip had a job at the pet store and didn’t miss the income.
A month prior, Phillip was assigned as Brother Sam’s home teaching companion and Lance got Martin as a companion. What a change! Phillip didn’t know home teaching could be so interesting. For one thing, Brother Sam was only about 10 years older than Phillip and in many ways was just an overgrown kid. Brother Sam had once insisted on having Phillip—just Phillip, mind you—over for Sunday dinner to the little apartment Brother Sam and his wife Yolanda shared with their tiny daughter Katrina, only three months old. Phillip somehow didn’t know that babies could cry all the time. He thought it just happened in church.
Brother Sam—everyone called him that, even his wife—took Dan aside after dinner and talked with him about all four of the families they’d be home teaching. All of them had male teens in the family who were somehow "in different circumstances," as Brother Sam delicately put it. One of the boys had been arrested twice on drug-related charges. Another boy had attempted suicide. The third had quit school. And then there was Dan Cook, the same person who’d persuaded—strong-armed, really—Phillip into running track in the first place. Dan’s mother had died the previous December. Phillip thought the world of Dan but was frankly scared of him—and his best friend Peter.
What made Brother Sam different as a companion was the way he treated Phillip. He asked Phillip what he thought. He considered Phillip’s replies carefully and said things like, "well, now that you mention it, I see your point." He treated Phillip as though he mattered. Phillip liked it. And when they went to visit their families, Brother Sam went out of his way to include Phillip in the conversation. And when a family called for special help, such as for a blessing, Brother Sam always called Phillip, even though Phillip held only the Aaronic priesthood and therefore couldn’t help with the blessing.
The crowning touch that lifted Phillip’s spirits came only a week prior when Dan called Phillip directly to ask for some help. And then Phillip got to call Brother Sam. Dan was moving out of his father’s place into Peter’s place. He needed help—a big-deal athlete needed his help! Wow! Phillip hadn’t yet told his dad.
And so, on the Tuesday after the argument over the driving lesson, Phillip was waiting by the door at seven o’clock in the evening. He had his scriptures in hand. He’d even changed his shirt, since he’d spilled some ketchup on it at dinner.
Lance smiled at him. "Going home teaching tonight?" he boomed.
Phillip was caught off guard. "Yes. Brother Sam just pulled up. We’re going to see Dan."
"Good for you! Glad to see you’re doing your priesthood duty!" Phillip thought his father was overenthusiastic.
"Now Lance, he does his priesthood duties all the time," said Margo. "Have a good time, Phillip. Enjoy yourself." She managed to kiss his forehead just as he turned to go out the door.
Brother Sam was waiting for Phillip in his tiny, dilapidated pickup truck. Sam moved some debris off the passenger seat so Phillip could sit down. The truck smelled of baby diapers.
"Young brother Phillip," began Sam. "I’m concerned about something and want your advice." They drove off as Brother Sam earnestly discussed different types of back country backpacks he was contemplating. The colors. The size. The contours. What did Phillip think? Phillip didn’t have a clue, but offered a thought or two. Brother Sam considered every comment carefully.