The Oncoming Storm

I looked up to the flashing sky as we drove the long way home to Des Moines. We had just started our journey back and it looked like it was going to rain for the whole drive. I didn’t want to go home, but I didn’t want to stay in the Twin Cities either. Too many memories, too many things left unsaid that should have been said. What else could I have done, anyway? Anyone else would have done the same thing. Still, I hated leaving like this. I hated knowing that things could have been different.

It didn’t star this way. It never did. When the trip first began, I was excited at the prospect of finally telling Celeste how I felt about her. I had bee holding it in for quite some time, but I knew the time was right. I knew that it was time for me to step up and be a man. Celeste and I had been communicating daily for the past six weeks and this was the first time in the last four months that I would get to see her. This was supposed to be just a formality, of course. I was certain that she knew how I felt about her, so I didn’t think that this was going to be a big deal at all.

We arrived in the Twin Cities two days ago. Celeste knew I was coming, and we had plans to hang out and have dinner that night with our larger friend group. The next morning we planned to hang out and get breakfast with just each other. She told me that she had a surprise for me, and told her that I had one for her too. My plan was to tell her how I felt the following morning over breakfast when it would be just the two of us. Her plan, however, was different.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was about 7pm. Celeste and some of our other friends from the Cities were already there. When Celeste saw me, her eyes lit up and I immediately went up to give her a hug. “I’ve missed you!” I said, “I mean, we talk a lot, but I’ve still missed seeing you.” She smiled and said, “I missed you too, Luke. I’ve got so much to tell you!” When she said that, she glanced to the guy who was sitting next to her, who stood up and reach out his hand to me.

“Luke, this is Bryce. Bryce, Luke.” We smiled and shook hands. I looked to over to Celeste for a further introduction, when landed the bombshell. “Bryce, Luke is my best friend that I was telling you about. Luke, Bryce is my new boyfriend!”

My jaw dropped as I tried to register the words that were spoken. I looked at Celeste for a second, and then I would look at Bryce. I tried to smile again, but I found I couldn’t. I couldn’t even speak. Luckily, Nick, my buddy from Des Moines, saved me. He reached across me and said, “Wow! Congrats! Bryce, my name is Nick. I’ve known Celeste since college. How’d you two meet?”

By this point, I was at least able to recover my composure, but I still felt like I got punched in the gut. I sat down and listened to Bryce explain that they met while out swing dancing. I listened while he explained that he knew that he needed to ask Celeste out as soon as he met her. I listened while he explained that their first date was at this very restaurant, and that it had become one of the favorite places to eat since they started dating a two weeks ago. I even listened when Celeste described the circumstances of their first kiss.

When the waitress arrived, I only ordered water, explaining that I had an upset stomach. After about fifteen minutes, I excused myself from the table and went outside. I texted Nick and Celeste shortly thereafter, giving my apologies and explaining that I needed to leave because I was sick, that I would catch a cab to the hotel, and that I would see Celeste tomorrow morning for breakfast.

When I was finally safe in the hotel room, I wept until my eyes were dry and I finally crawled into bed. When Nick and the others got to the hotel room, I feigned being asleep, but I was wide awake. I listened to them as they whispered how shocked they were at Celeste’s announcement and how sorry they felt for me (because they all knew about my plans). I’m not sure when sleep overtook me, but it was well after the rest of the group fell asleep. I listened as their breathing regulated and Nick even began snoring quietly.

The next morning, I got up from the bed and took a shower. There were bags under my eyes and my head was pounding. I saw a text from Celeste asking if I was okay to still have breakfast. I texted back that I was, and that I would see her in a little bit. I finished getting ready, took a few aspirin, and went to meet Celeste at Victor’s Cafe (my favorite place to get breakfast). When I arrived, Celeste had already found a table and settled in.

She asked how I was feeling and said that she was sorry that I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know Bryce a bit more before I had to leave. I smiled and nodded, trying to hold back my tears again as I stared at the menu. When we finally ordered, Celeste looked at me and said, “Luke, you don’t look happy. What’s wrong?”

I closed my eyes as tears began to run down my cheeks. I opened them again to see Celeste’s concern written clearly on her face. “I got some really disappointing news before we left,” I lied.

“Really? What happened?” She really did care about me, I realized at that point, just not in the way I wanted.

I said to her, “I had a crush on this girl and I told her how I felt right before we left. She didn’t feel the same way. I was so sure that it was going to turn out differently, but I was wrong.”

Celeste sighed and said, “Wow, that is really hard. I can’t imagine how you are feeling right now. I’m sorry. And then to show up here and have the surprise about Bryce and me…it probably just made things worse for you.”

I nodded, and apologized, saying that it wasn’t their fault and that I was really happy for them. I told Celeste that I wanted to stay informed of how they were doing and that I would be praying for their relationship. She seemed to appreciate this, so I determined in myself that I would support their relationship, regardless of how it made me feel. What else could I do?

We finished our breakfast and left Victor’s. I met Nick and our other Des Moines friends back at the hotel. We spent another day in the Twin Cities, but I couldn’t remember much of it. It didn’t seem to matter anyway.

I looked around the car at my friends. They were silent; no one looked at me. There wasn’t anything to be said. They knew how I was feeling. I sighed and stared back out the window at the oncoming storm. It was late.

Mission Impossible

As I walked up to my secret base in the woods behind my mother’s house, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was an average Fall day, with the leaves turning and the air getting cooler. The sun was past its peak for the day and I journeyed as one on a mission—which I was.

I got to my base with relative ease. I had memorized its placement in the woods long ago. So long, in fact, that I could have probably found it blindfolded, if not for the trees I would have likely run into along the way. The base wasn’t very big, probably just 8’ x 15’, with a small ditch that usually held water in the middle. Spanning the ditch was a bridge made from old logs that I had placed there a few seasons back, and I used this to cross my base quickly.

When I arrived, I knew I didn’t have much time. I was needed. Next to the ditch, I had placed my most recent sword. The last few had broken in half during my missions, but this one had held up well. It was going to see much action today. I placed my small pistol in my pocket for safe keeping. I didn’t have a holster, so my pocket was just going to have to work.

I didn’t know what I was up against. All I knew was that I needed to infiltrate the enemy base and destroy their super-weapon that could destroy all life. If I didn’t, we were all going to be doomed. I couldn’t let that happen.

I left my base with a sense of gravity for my mission and walked toward the enemy lines. It wasn’t long before I had reached a spot where I could see the forces stacked against me. They were strong—stronger than I had realized. I told myself that I couldn’t chicken out now. The world needed me. I would just need to be a bit more stealthy than I had originally planned for. I could see their super-weapon; it was a large gun pointed into the sky, and I could see that they had begun charging it up. I started to revise my original plan.

My original plan had been, of course, to go in with my guns blazing and my sword slashing. I couldn’t do that now. If I tried, I’d get gunned down for certain. I looked around for an opening. There wasn’t a break in the line for miles that I could see, and I didn’t have the equipment to tunnel past the line or fly over it. I was in a pickle.

I heard a rustling to my left. I moved behind some brush and lowered myself to the ground. A small enemy patrol was making its way through the area and was headed right for me. I needed to get awa—no, I needed to take them out. This was my opening, and I was going to take it. I pulled out my gun and set it to knock-out. These men were my enemies, but I had a policy against killing people. It just shouldn’t be done.

I took aim at the foremost soldier and kept my sword in my other hand, ready to be used. I waited until they were just about on top of me and dropped the leader like a stone. The other soldiers, on alert now, drew out their weapons and began to form up. They hadn’t seen me yet, which allowed me to drop another one with my gun. Now, there were only two left. I can take two of them, I thought to myself. I got up and charged, sword in hand, leaving my gun behind.

I must have startled the two soldiers even more, because one dropped his gun while the other jumped behind his teammate for cover. As I reached the first man, I hit him in the face with the hilt of my sword, and he fell to the ground. The other seemed to get his composure back and lifted his machine gun toward me. I swatted it away with my sword and crashed into him. We fell together, and in the midst of the struggle, I was able to grab a rock and knock him out too.

I tied them all up to a nearby tree, and found that one of their uniforms fit me quite well. I put it on and found my gun behind the bush. I still didn’t have a holster, so I again put it in my pocket. I also grabbed one of their machine guns, so I could look more like one of them.

I made my way to the enemy line, knowing that I should be able to make it through without them taking much notice of me. In fact, when I arrived at the line, the men just waved to me like I was one of them! This was a good sign. Now, I just needed to get the super-weapon and blow it up. I had a few explosives with me, but I hoped I could just overload the controls. I would just need to see when I got there.

I remained unchallenged by the enemy until I got to the base of the super-weapon. A couple shouts of “Hold!” and “Stop!” weren’t going to make me slow down, however. I saw my opening, and I took it.

I ran up to the small control panel just as the first soldier got up to me. I used his momentum to smash his head against the control panel and then flipped him over onto his back. A downward punch to the face knocked him out of the fight. The next arrived then, and I was able to duck his first punch and then uppercut him into unconsciousness. The third, however, stayed back and leveled his gun at me. He shot, and I had to dive to get out of the way of the spray of bullets coming at me. Luckily, he also missed the control panel. He drew closer, and I realized that he was going to get me unless I could draw his attention away briefly.

I anchored the machine gun that I had stolen earlier onto a tree an fed a string to its trigger, using a stick to make sure that the string would be pulled straight back. I then ran to a different tree without my enemy noticing. He was cautiously walking around the area, but it seemed he had completely lost track of me. Good, I thought, Here we go.

He got close to me and I pulled the string, causing the machine gun to fire about fifteen feet from my current position. He ducked, and went to move behind the tree where I was hiding. He wasn’t expecting me there, however, and I was able to put him in a sleeper hold until he was out as well.

I walked out into the open as a few other soldiers were arriving. They had heard the gunfire, and had come running. They saw me in my uniform, and I was able to wave them off with little trouble, assuring them that the threat had been neutralized. I then made me way to the control panel.

After a few minutes of fiddling with the controls, I had set the self-destruct for 2 minutes. I then took off like a deer being chased by a wolf. I did not want to be around when this thing blew. I made it through the enemy’s line and into a safe hiding place when I heard it go off. I looked up and saw a huge fireball going into the sky. It was quite the sight to see. I took off the uniform and found my sword.

The world was saved and I headed back to my base. I would need to rest before my next mission. Who knew where the next one would take me? Who knew—my ears perked up at the sound of my name. I listened closer. My mother was calling me back to the house. Dinner was ready. I looked around the woods, dropped my stick off at my base, and headed in for dinner.

Night and Day – First Draft

“Hello, my friend,” Reid said as he held up his left arm to let Dark land on his fist. The falcon obliged, landing gracefully and letting Reid pet his head. “We’ve been with each other for some time now, haven’t we?” he asked as he continued his hike through the woods. She was the first bird he had worked with on his own and they had been hunting together for three seasons now, so Reid had become quite attached to Dark.

This morning was their weekly hunting trip in which they pursued various small game. The morning had not been very productive, and he had only been able to flush out one small rabbit from the brush. Still, the sun was shining and the woods were lovely this time of day. Deciding that the woods were getting a bit too thick for hunting, Reid decided to hood Dark so that she wouldn’t pursue any prey until they got into more of a clearing. The last thing he wanted was Dark running into a tree while chasing prey. There was little chance of that, but better to be safe than sorry.

As Reid made his way into the clearing, he noticed a couple of rabbits within about 30 feet of where he was standing. Slowly, he raised his right hand to the hood that Dark was wearing and took it off. Then, Reid began to walk purposely toward the rabbits in order to scare them into running. This accomplished, Dark sped into action and flew after the nearest rabbit, knocking it over and attacking it. Reid came up quickly, dispatched the rabbit, and calmed Dark, letting her rest on his fist again.

He looked at Dark and smiled. This bird was truly an amazing hunter and he was glad he was given the opportunity to study falconry under his uncle Theo. It had taken a few years before Theo was confident enough in Reid’s ability to allow him to raise a bird on his own, but when he had, Reid has seized at the opportunity. Theo had taught him how to approach a falcon’s nest and remove a chick safely, without harming either it or the other chicks in the nest. Theo had even gone one step further, teaching Reid to care for the other chicks in the nest as well. He would say, “Reid, you should always leave a nest better than how you found it. These are majestic birds, and if you treat them right, you will be amazed at what you can learn from them.”

Reid took the advice to heart and when he retrieved Dark, he made sure to take special care not to harm her or the other chicks. Uncle Theo had taught him how to spot various diseases and parasites and how to treat them, but Reid did not find any evidence of the ailments on the chicks. So, he took Dark and raised her on his own without any help from Theo. The only help he received with her was her name. On one trip to Theo’s house, one of his cousins asked him, “Does she have a name? She should have a name.” Reid agreed and asked, “What name would you give her?” The youngster just smiled at Reid and said, “Dark! Because she will be like a ninja when you are hunting with her! And we all know that ninjas hunt in the dark!” Reid laughed and said that it was a fine name, so the falcon’s name became Dark.

Coming back himself, Reid looked around the clearing and then up into the sky. “It’s getting close to noon. We should start heading back,” he said, reaching for Dark’s hood to place back on her. However, at that moment, Dark darted off of his fist toward what looked to be another rabbit. Before Reid had a chance to stop her, she was already in the air and chasing her prey. All Reid could do was watch and follow her as close as he could. He lost sight of Dark for a moment while she went around a bend in the clearing, so he jogged up to keep an eye on her.

As he rounded the bend, Reid looked up and saw a dark blur shoot down from the sky and he watched as a hawk flew down and attacked the smaller falcon. Reid’s eyes widened and he began running toward the fighting birds. “Get away from her!” he yelled and tried swatting the hawk away with his fist, but missed. At this, the hawk shifted its attention off from Dark and onto Reid, and he was forced to swing at the hawk a few times before finally hitting it hard enough to scare it away.

As soon as the hawk was gone, Reid rushed to care for his falcon and kneeled down next to Dark. He looked at the wounds that the hawk had inflicted, but he couldn’t move… He couldn’t…

…

…

…

…a choked sob broke the silence. Reid sat on the ground next to his friend and wept until his uncle found him later that day. One glance at the scene had told Theo what had happened. He walked over to Reid and kneeled down to hug him.

……………………..

About 10 months later, Reid returned to his uncle Theo’s farm to stay the Spring and Summer. He arrived just in time for supper and sat down at the table with his uncle’s family. After blessing the meal, Theo looked over to Reid and asked how he was doing.

“Fine, I guess. I’m just glad to be back for the season. There isn’t much to do in town if you don’t have a job,” Reid said. Theo smiled and and said, “Well, if you are looking for a job, I have a special project I could use your help with.”

At this, Reid’s ears perked up. “What kind of project?” he asked. Theo simply answered, “We’ll discuss it tomorrow.”

……………………..

A week later, Reid’s cousin found him feeding the new falcon chick they had trapped earlier in the day. “You got a new falcon?” she asked as her eyes lit up, “Does she have a name, yet?”

Reid nodded and said, “Yes. Her name is Light.”

My Escape – First Draft

In another world, at another time, I needed to escape. It was an odd feeling: essentially one of panic, fear, and exhilaration. It never crossed my mind that I might be put into a situation where I needed to escape. However, I was, and it was not without design.

In college, there was this island that contained a small chapel building. There were lots of rumors about this building: it was a tomb, it was haunted by a ghost named Wilhelmina, and that there were regular cultic rituals that happened around it that the college had been trying to halt for quite some time. Likely, it was just a building that may or may not have served as a tomb at some point. Either way, it was a cool little building with a lot of mystery around it.

On this particular night in late autumn/early winter, my roommates and I had been discussing the building in detail. We discussed the various rumors about it, and considered the validity of each. One of my roommates at the time mentioned that he had heard that there was something written on the back wall of the building, on the outside. At this point, we all had our curiosity up, so we decided that we needed to confirm this. Josh and I were chosen for this task, and we took up the mantle gladly. While it was getting late and was very dark, the other side of campus had not yet been closed yet (which happened at midnight), so we put on our coats, grabbed a couple flashlights, and ventured forth.

The walk to the other side of campus was fairly uneventful. We passed the giant rock that everyone painted, went by the Riley and Nazareth buildings, walked along the campus road, and finally crossed the bridge leading to the small island where the building was located. The air was crisp, and despite the darkness, there was enough light from the various buildings that we could see each other and see our breaths as well.

The island itself was a giant hill that had a path leading up to the building which was at the top. We made our way to the top and began looking around. Since our goal was to determine whether or not there was writing on the back wall of the building, we made our way there first. However, we were disappointed when we shined our lights on the wall. There was no writing. We thought that there might be a bit of writing, but it was so faded, we couldn’t really read it. We didn’t spend too much time looking, however. At this point, I was beginning to get anxious to start heading back to the dorm room, but Josh wanted to look at the building a bit longer.

We walked around the building for a few minutes and Josh was investigating the front door of the building. It was continually locked, and he wanted to see if there was a way to open it up somehow. We didn’t get too much time to look, however, because as he began to investigate in earnest, I noticed a car pull up near the path to the island. As I pointed it out to Josh, we suddenly saw a spotlight begin moving its way up from the bottom of the island toward us next to the building.

Taking decisive action, we jumped alongside the building as quickly as we could, outside of the path of the light. Realizing that it must be Campus Security, we knew that we needed to get out of there. We looked down the other side of the island, and began climbing down the steep embankment. At the bottom, we tested the ice to make sure that it would hold us, and we slowly walked around the island, willing for the security car to leave.

When we got to the other side, we saw the security car had left already. We supposed that since they did not see us, they simply moved on. So, we did too. We walked a bit further on the ice and climbed back onto land a bit behind the Nazareth and Maranatha buildings. I wanted to run back as quickly as possible, but Josh indicated that doing so would ooh suspicious, so we walked casually back to the other side of campus to our dorm room.

When we arrived, we began to tell our harried story. Though, before we could get too far into it, the other roommates began laughing uncontrollably. Not knowing what the joke was, we asked what was going on.

Kevin looked at us with a knowing smile and said, “Well, shortly after you both left, I called Security. I gave them an anonymous tip that there was suspicious activity going on at the island. I guess they decided to check it out.”

Stickmen – First Draft

When my mom would go out for the night, she would leave me with babysitters. This made sense; I was too young to stay home alone, and she wanted to go out for a bit. However, depending upon who the sitter was, the event could cause a lot of stress for a young kid such as myself. In one instance, called the “Stickmen Incident,” I was terrorized by my sitters and convinced I was going to die.

It was a normal enough day and the sun was shining. My mom decided with her friend Laurie that they were going to go out for the night and I was going to go to Laurie’s house to be watched by her kids, who were all more than 5 years older than me. As it turns out, they were not the only ones that would be there that night. They also had a few friends over at the house.

Now, I understand how they felt. Why would they want to have some punk kid over when they were hoping to have the place to themselves? It was probably a tragedy for them. They decided to make the most of it, however, by having their friends come over anyway. Their friends knew me too, and a couple of them babysat me a couple of times themselves.

Before my mom and Laurie left, Laurie let us know that we could set up a bon fire and have s’mores if we wanted. That was a win-win for a kid like me. I loved to watch a fire and liked s’mores quite a bit too (well, at least the chocolate anyway). It wasn’t dark yet, so we didn’t want to start the fire until later.

Then they left. I was left alone with the teenagers. The first hour or so went by as one might expect. I hovered around the bigger kids trying to entertain myself when I had nothing to entertain myself with. They were understandably irritated for having to take care of me, so they decided to make the most of it.

Darkness was setting in when they decided to bring their plan to fruition. I do not know whose idea it was, but when it got going, everyone joined in. The likely culprits were Jim or Brian; they were Laurie’s kids and they had a history of pulling pranks on me. Jim and his friend Mason went outside to get the fire going while Sabrina (Mason’s sister) got the s’more stuff ready. I was inside as well, hanging around Sabrina because she was the only sane person in the group. When it got dark enough, we went outside.

Since we were out in the country, the buildings were fairly scattered and there were a number of trees round. Recently, one of the huge trees around the yard had been cut down. It was still lying there, as Laurie’s husband had not yet cut it up. The fire was in the middle of the yard that was adjacent to the house. We gathered around the fire to start cooking up the s’mores, but soon after we did the incident began in earnest.

Crack!

“What was that?” Jim asked as he pointed to where the sound had come from. We all instantly turned to listen for more. When no sound was reproduced, we all turned back to the fire.

Crack!

We all turned again, this time to a different direction. Brian looked at Jim and then said, “I hope it isn’t stickmen.” I must’ve looked confused, because he continued, “Stickmen are stick-like creatures that live in huge trees. They usually don’t come out unless a tree has been recently cut down.” He pointed to the big tree that was recently cut down. “They might be out tonight if they are angry over that tree.”

“Whoa! Move away!” Jim cried as he shot up from his chair and ran over to the other side of the fire. The rest of us also shot up and moved toward where Jim was. We huddled together and looked all around, but it was dark. I certainly couldn’t see anything that looked like it was attacking. However, I had no idea what to look for.

Just then, Brian and Mason ran forward and grabbed sticks off the ground and threw them into the fire. “We saw them walking up!” I huddled close to Sabrina. I didn’t understand what was happening and I just water to feel safe. Jim mentioned that we should move away from the fire because it would attract the stickmen. “I know it doesn’t make sense, because the stickmen are made of wood, but they are like moths and are attracted to it,” he said.

Crack!

We all turned as one toward the garage. I said to everyone, “We need to go into the house!” The bigger kids refused, however, saying that the house was likely already infested. They said that the stickmen would go into the house before coming after us. I didn’t know what to do. In my mind, we were sitting ducks.

Just then, Mason and Brian came up with an idea. They said that there was a wood pile on the other side of the house and that they should check it out to see if there were any stickmen coming from there. Perhaps, they could stop them. I didn’t want them to go, but they were adamant that they should and before I knew it, they had went around to the other side of the house, leaving me with Sabrina and Jim.

After a while, I asked Jim when they were going to be coming back. He looked at me and said, “If they aren’t back by now, they are probably dead.” My eyes widened, “But…but…wouldn’t we have heard them?!” He said, “No, probably not. Stickmen rip out a persons voice box before killing them, so we would not have heard anything.”

We were still huddled in the same spot in the yard, pretty close to the fire, but far enough away to feel safe from stickmen attracted to the fire. After what seemed like an eternity, Brian made his way back to us. “Where’s Mason?” he asked. Jim looked at him, “We haven’t seen him, but he was with you! Did you guys get separated?” Brian nodded and said that they were attacked as soon as they got to the woodpile. He ran off and lost Mason on the way. He didn’t know where he was.

Now, I must mention at this point, that throughout this entire escapade, I was wondering if they were playing a trick on me. I hadn’t caught them yet, which is what was making me believe it was real. However, the time between Brian and Mason leaving and Brian’s return was quite great, and Jim wasn’t keeping the tension up (likely, because I was watching him).

I turned to look at Brian. As I did, I saw him throw a rock at the garage.

Crack!

Everyone turned again…except me. I was already looking. I saw Brian throw the rock. I pointed at him and said, “But Brian, you threw that rock! It was a stickman!” He tried to recover, “Well, I saw one over there. I got him with the rock.” However, it was too late. The spell was broken and I was let go from its grip. I started saying that I wanted to go back inside, and after some persistence, we all went in (I still didn’t see Mason for some time. I don’t know where he went).

I was extremely upset with everyone, Sabrina included, who had never played a trick on me up until that point. The rest of the evening was spent inside the house waiting for my mom to return to take me home. I don’t remember if I ever told her all the details of what happened, but I was exhausted by this point, and I’m certain that I fell asleep shortly after I was put to bed.

The Lighthouse – First Draft

As James walked through the Hill Town, he noticed the Lighthouse. Compared to the rest of the town, it was a massive structure and stood at least twice as high as any of the other buildings. That made sense, since it was a lighthouse. It was supposed to be taller. Still, the Lighthouse was odd. It was in the middle of the town, and there was no water to be seen. It just stood there like a magnificent wonder in the middle of everything. It didn’t belong, but James couldn’t imagine anything else fitting there.

James was a bit surprised he didn’t notice it earlier, but he had just arrived in Hill Town the night before, and he hadn’t seen it. He was curious about it, however, so he decided that he was going to ask about it when he got to Barry’s house (his friend who was getting married that weekend). Until then, however, James was content to simply walk through the peaceful, but dwindling town and take in what sights there were to see. He had time; the rehearsal wasn’t until 4pm, and the bride had been adamant that they had enough help. So, he had time to kill.

The first place he stopped was an old antique store. It was a quaint enough store, full of odds and ends you might expect in a small town. In the corner next to the front desk, there stood a small model lighthouse, almost exactly like the one in the middle of town. He studied it for a few minutes before the store owner walked up to him and said, “Looking at the Hill Town Lighthouse, huh? It’s a good likeness to the real one.”

James looked at the owner and smiled, “Yes, it is. I’ve never seen anything like it in a town like this. What can you tell me about it?” The man nodded and said, “Well, old Jeb is the keeper of the Lighthouse, but he is crazier than jackrabbit scrambling eggs for Easter. Still, he is a good man and has kept the Lighthouse through as many years as I can remember. You see, the Lighthouse…it’s a symbol of the town. It is a representation of who we are. Now, it isn’t something we typically pay much attention to day-to-day, but I guarantee that if it were gone tomorrow, there would be a lot of upset people.”

James continued on his way and found his way into the local bar for a bite to eat midday. He ordered a burger and decided to ask another person what they thought of the Lighthouse and if they knew anything else about it. The first man he asked simply turned away from him. The second man, however, had a fire come into his eyes when James mentioned it. “The Lighthouse!!” the man yelled, “That thing should have been tore down years ago! It ain’t worth nothin’, it doesn’t do nothin’, and it’s nothin’ but an eyesore. Not to mention that crazy coot running the place. He just sits there all alone and doesn’t do a thing. If you ask me, he should be run out of Hill Town and made to pay back every penny he ever took for running the thing.”

After the interesting lunch, James decided to go to Barry’s house. He was still a few hours early, but there wasn’t too much to see around Hill Town other than a small town in decline. And although the Lighthouse intrigued him, he wasn’t too keen on meeting “crazy” Jeb. He wondered how many other people thought the old man was crazy?

After the rehearsal at Barry’s house, they all went to dinner at a local restaurant. It wasn’t too extravagant, but it was exactly what everyone was craving after an afternoon of getting things prepared for the following day. It was also a good opportunity for James to ask Barry what he knew about the Lighthouse. Barry said, “It caught your curiosity, then? Yeah, it is a bit odd, but it makes the town feel more like home. It doesn’t really serve any purpose, and they could likely tear it down and the town would continue running like it always has. But…it does have sentimental value to everyone, and most people seem to identify with it in some way or another. I wonder why it is even there?”

Barry’s last comment struck a chord with James. Why was the Lighthouse there? Why was it built in the first place? Sure, it was a beautify building, but it didn’t do anything and didn’t add any value to Hill Town. So, he decided to make a point to go there after the wedding and reception the following day.

The next day, the wedding went off with one hitch, and Barry was happily married to his beautiful bride. Since it was a Sunday morning wedding, it was only about 2pm when James found himself free to go home or stay in town a few more hours. So, he made his way to the Lighthouse. Once there, he hesitated a bit before knocking, worried about what kind of man he was about to encounter. Steeling himself, he lifted the knocker and let it fall a few times. A couple of minutes later, the door opened to show a very well dressed, short old man.

“Yes?” the man asked, “Have you come to tour the Lighthouse? Please, come back tomorrow between the hours of 2 and 4pm.” Before the old man could shut the door on James, however, he stepped up and said, “No, I didn’t come for a tour. I just wanted to ask you about the Lighthouse and what its purpose is.” Old Jeb looked at James with amazement, “No one has come asking after the Lighthouse in years. In fact, no one seems to notice it very much anymore. Sure, we’ll get the occasional tourist, but that’s about it. You want to know the purpose of the Lighthouse? Well, isn’t it obvious?”

James looked at the man and frowned, “No sir. I don’t think it is.” The man looked at James with a touch of irritation, “Well, it is to shine light to the town and to the neighboring countryside, of course! It is a lighthouse, after all!”

James’ frown deepened and said, “But how can that be? I didn’t see it when I got into town a couple of nights ago.” Old Jeb shook his head and said, “You must not see very well; the Lighthouse is so big, no one could miss seeing it!”

“But, it isn’t shining any light whatsoever,” James said, “It isn’t even on. How can you expect people to see the Lighthouse if it isn’t even shining its light?”

Tucker – First Draft

It is a horrible fact of life that every story about a boy and his dog will ultimately result in tragedy.

I remember picking Tucker up for the first time. She was just a pup, and I was a second grader. She was a Pomeranian-Poodle mix, which meant that she barked all the time, shed all the time, was a bit larger than a regular Pomeranian, and had shorter red fur.

I loved her immediately.

If my memory serves, my first glimpse of her was underneath a couch where we were picking her up. Like many dogs, she was very frightened of new people, and she did not want to be anywhere near us. They got her out, however, and we took her home.

On the way, we tried to come up with names for her. Since she had red fur, my mom suggested Ginger. I adamantly refused because I used to have a horrible babysitter named Ginger. I have no idea how, but we ended up calling her Tucker. I know that we came up with on the ride home, but I do not remember where the idea came from.

After a while, she got used to us and seemed to begin loving her new home. Since she was still a pup, she had lots of energy and would run around in circles in the house while I chased her or vice-versa. We got her a toy rope to play with and she would bite down so hard on it, that I could pick her up while she held onto it.

At night, Tucker would sleep in my room. I had a water bed and it was low enough to the ground that she could make the jump on top of it very easily. During the night, she would begin licking my leg and I would just let her do it. I don’t know why…maybe it was because she was a dog and I figured it is just what dogs do. They lick. Finally, I decided to count how many times she would lick. I got to over one-hundred before she stopped.

By far, some of my favorite moments were of her and our cat, TommyBoy (who was the only cat I really liked). They would play outside constantly. Tucker would see TommyBoy out in the lawn, and then dart off after him. TommyBoy would see her coming and crouch down as she quickly approached. She would then proceed to run over him, rolling him over on his back, and then he would get up quickly and jump on her back. They would do this all the time and it was an absolute hoot to watch.

However, like any good dog, she was also there when I needed her the most. I firmly believe that God placed her in my life because she was my friend when I didn’t think I had any. That…even if I thought everyone else hated me, she didn’t. That meant a lot to a teenager trying to figure out who he was. There were times that I would just hold onto her and weep into her fur. She would just stay there and lick me on the hand because she knew I needed her.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her.

However, after I left for college, her health began to decline. She was getting old and I knew she didn’t have much time left. However, that made it harder to see her. It made it harder to watch her get older and struggle. I wanted to stay away from home more, just so I wouldn’t have to watch it.

My mom did her best to keep Tucker going. She had at least one surgery to get rid of some tumors, and I can honestly say that I fully understand why someone would let a pet get surgery instead of putting it down. It was because she wasn’t a pet. She was family, we loved her, and she was hurting.

The surgery extended Tucker’s life. She hung on for a few more years. I was out of college and my mom and I needed to discuss what to do. Her health was rapidly declining and she was beginning to have a wheezing cough. In addition, the tumors were coming back. There wasn’t much time left.

I don’t know how long we held out before we decided it was time. I don’t care to remember. What I remember is that last car ride into town. I remember getting out of the car and carrying her inside the vet’s office. I remember weeping into her fur as other families looked on. And, I remember bringing her into the last room I would ever see her in.

I won’t describe the rest; that was between God, me, my mom, and Tucker. What I will say is this: I left that day knowing I had just lost my best friend. The end was a tragedy, but I will never regret one moment of the journey that led up to that moment. Tucker was my dog and I was her person.

Water Balloon Bowling – 1st Draft

When I was a kid, I used to go to my dad’s house every-other weekend. He had visitation rights since he and my mom were divorced. It was an arrangement that worked well for me. I had a lot of stability because I lived primarily with my mom, and I got to see my dad regularly as well.

On a particular weekend when I was pretty young, my dad decided to throw a party. He did this fairly often, but I remember this party pretty well. Now, these parties weren’t for kids. After a while, they would send us to bed, which made sense since we were kids.

Only…this time we didn’t go to bed right away, and my step-brother had a bag of water balloons. So, a plan was hatched. You see, the bedroom I shared with him was located on the second floor, and the roof slanted down toward the driveway right next to our window. So, we began filling the water balloons up and rolling them down the roof onto the driveway. It took a couple of tries to make sure we could get them to roll down all the way without popping first. However, soon there were going down at regular intervals.

Like I said, the driveway went right by that section of the roof and the balloons were rolling perpendicular toward it. Soon, we were waiting for cars to drive by so we could try to hit them. Our goal was to hit the windshield or roof of a car. It wasn’t very smart, but hey, we were kids.

A couple cars went by without any success and we were running out of balloons. Finally, we heard another vehicle about to come by, and we let one of the balloons roll down. It made it all the way down and we thought it was a good shot, but we didn’t hear anything to make us think differently.

Well, that is, until we heard the door slam downstairs and feet rushing through the house and up the stairs. As it turns out, we hit our mark and hit it a little too well. The truck that went by had its passenger window open, and the balloon fell right into the trucks interior, splashing everything (including the driver). So, the driver of this vehicle came rushing up the stairs yelling at us the whole way. I’m don’t really remember what he said, but I’m sure if I did, I wouldn’t want to repeat the words anyway.

When the man got to the top of the stairs, he immediately focused his attention on my step-brother, and I got out of the way as quickly as I could. He rushed over, grabbed my mattress and shoved my step-brother down against his own bed. Pressing my mattress on top of him, the man told him in no uncertain terms that he was never going to do that again, or there would be trouble.

My step-brother sounded frantic underneath the mattress, and I suppose that having an angry man rush up and shove you down with a mattress would do that to a person. However, there was another reason why he was so frantic to get out from under the mattress. You see, that was my mattress, and I had a little problem when I was growing up. I tended to wet the bed once in a while. Unfortunately the previous night was one of those occasions.

The mattress was still wet, and it was being pressed onto his face.

Needless to say, we never tried that little stunt again, but I will forever remember the look on by step-brother’s face after it was over. He deserved it, after-all. The whole thing was his idea!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKDFaKkkHs

There and Back Again: a Tale of Playing in the Woods as a Kid – First Draft

I grew up in about 7 miles away from a small town. My house was in the middle of a small clearing in the middle of the woods. As a young child, this gave me a sense of ownership over the woods and I would often play out in the woods by myself. I could only go out in the Spring and Fall because the mosquitoes and wood ticks would be too thick to go out in the Summer.

As I would go out to play, I would first go to my “base,” where I would spend a bit of time while I would make up the storyline I was about to enter. It was a pretty cool spot in the woods; there was a shallow pit there that would hold water after a heavy rain. It usually had water in it, so I gathered logs to set across it for a bridge: 2 crossing the pit, then a number of smaller ones crossing those two logs. That was my place of solitude: my “base of operations.”

Now, typically, I would play some sort of war game. I am a male, after all. I would bring out a toy gun or find a long stick to serve as a sword. From there, I would be the leader of a small army, out to save the world. I would rescue my friends from the clutches of an evil overlord. I would stop the hordes of zombies from overtaking the planet (with ferns serving as zombies, since they were so abundant in the woods). I would fend off alien attacks until more help could arrive. I was the star of my own show, and I loved every moment of it.

I would go out there as much as I could during the Spring and Fall times, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to go out during the peak Summer months or any of the Winter months. Well, I could have, but it wouldn’t have been pleasant.

Then…it all changed.

One summer, my mother decided to let men come in to log the forest. There were may poplar trees, and my mom learned that she could get good money for them. So, for a good month or two men came in and took out trees. I watched as their machinery not only cut down the trees, but remained gripping them after their trunks were cut so they could be moved. It was an amazing sight.

It was also a tragic and horrifying sight. All I could do was pray that my base was unaffected. I just wanted that…just that. So, when they left and the Fall season had effectively removed the mosquitoes, I entered the woods once again. It was like entering a completely different land. There were trails and tracks everywhere. Stumps remained where tall trees stood and my base…

My base was destroyed. I could see the logs crushed where they had driven over my makeshift bridge. It was gone and so was my childhood in the woods. I would never again play like I had in previous seasons. I was growing up, and while I had a new land to explore, it had lost its innocence, and so had I.

We Lost It Up There

Submitted to Revolver:

We lost it up there. We lost it, and it was up to us to get it back. So, we hatched a plan in order to get it. It started simple enough; I tried to give Bubba a boost, but he couldn’t reach the top. Then, he tried to give me a boost, but I couldn’t reach either.

In hindsight, we should have known that the sum of our two heights would be about the same, but we were getting desperate. If we didn’t get it back, Bubba’s “friends” would likely get quite angry and we would be in big trouble.

Next, I asked Bubba to get a rope while I found a boat anchor. I attached the anchor to the rope and Bubba threw it. We tugged at it a couple times to make sure it held, and Bubba started to climb. About halfway up, though, he lost his grip and fell on his back. I tried next, but Bubba must have loosened the rope, and it untied as soon as I put any weight on it.

Frowning, I threw the rope away and came up with another idea. We found a number of barrels and began to stack them on top of each other. This time, I tried to climb up first, but the barrels were unstable under me. I fell off, right onto Bubba.

We really began to despair at this point. We had run out of options and didn’t know what to do. We sat down on a nearby rock and Bubba began to cry. I tried to console him the best I could, but it was no use. We were in big trouble.

Finally, my little sister arrived with Dad’s ladder, climbed up to the roof, and threw the Frisbee back to us.

Mission accomplished.