For bedtime stories we walk our children through the bible-chapter by chapter until a book is done and then someone suggests the next book. They are pre-teens now and have had opportunity to go through the Bible quite a few times but there are book collections that never cease to fascinate them. One of them is the Samuel-Chronicles series. The evening readings don't always go the same way. Some days find me reading to a drowsy lot fighting monumental battles with sleep. Other days are relatively lively, and I find myself being bombarded with hard-to-answer questions from all corners of the room. On such days I can hardly get a word edgewise as I'm frequently interrupted with rambling and at times, irreverent commentaries. Some time ago we got to II Kings and boy, wasn't it a difficult run? My daughter, usually struggling with sleep at that hour, was unusually hyper. At every sentence she peppered me with rapid fire questions. My son, ever the contemplator par excellence...