Posted in Short Stories

My friend Lulu sent me a short story that she has written.  I think you'll enjoy it.  Please be sure to leave a comment and let her know your thoughts.


 
                8 year old Katie Beddows felt tears sting her eyes as she hugged her father in the train station. He released her and turned to hug her twin sister Kathy and then her mother.
 
                It was 2006 and Jim Beddows was going off to Iraq to fight. His brown eyes were shadowed with pain as he surveyed his family.
 
                He ascended the steps of the train and disappeared from Katie's sight. As the train slowly moved out of the station she unashamedly let her tears flow.
 
                Later that evening Katie's family was gathered in the living room. "Mommy," Katie asked pushing back a lock of her straight blonde hair.
 
                "Yes dear?" her mother responded.
 
                "What do you think Daddy is doing right now?"
 
                "Well he should be calling us soon so you can ask him yourself."
 
                As she said the phone rang a few minutes later. "Hello," Mrs. Beddows said. After a few minutes of conversation she turned the phone on speakerphone.              
 
                "Hi girls," he said.
 
                "Hello Daddy," they responded gathering around the phone.
 
                "What are you doing?" he asked.
 
                "I'm sewing something for you." Kathy responded playfully.
 
                "I miss you, Daddy." Katie said in her soft voice.
 
                "I miss you too, honey."
 
                They continued talking and soon they ended the conversation. Later that evening Katie cried herself to sleep as she thought of everything that could happen to him. She loved her father and couldn't live without him.
 
 
 
 
 
 
                8 months later Lieutenant Jim Beddows sat in the office trying to comprehend what his commanding officer was saying.
 
                "Now there is no guarantee that anyone will make it back from this mission but we have to try," the man said.
 
                The army had decided that Jim should lead 3 men into dangerous territory by night to gather information. Jim knew that the chance of their making it back was slight and he was worried. He did not fear death-for he was a Christian- but he worried about what would happen to his family if he died.
 
                When he left the office he went to his room and sought comfort by seeking his heavenly Father in prayer. He finished with a peace that whatever happened, God would provide for his family. 
 
                That evening the men set out. As they walked along the ground in the danger zone Jim could see fear in the other men's faces-a fear which he himself felt.
 
                All of a sudden he heard voices and footsteps running along the ground. They were discovered. He heard bullets punching the air.  Next to him Sergeant Hines fell and up ahead Bradford yelled in pain and pitched forward. Jim felt a searing pain in his thigh and, realizing that they could go no farther, started to run back. His thigh burned with every step. When he entered the thick woods his mind started to reel. He staggered a few more steps and fell headlong. Everything went black.
 
 
 
 
 
                Katie was jumping rope in front of her house when Kathy ran up behind her and snagged her rope. Katie turned around and chased her around the yard. She finally caught her and pushed her to the ground and tickled her.
 
                "Katie, stop!" Kathy shrieked.
 
                "You deserve it!" Katie giggled. "Why did you do that?" she asked stopping and leaning back.
 
                "Because I felt like."
 
                "Katie, could you collect the mail please?" her mother called.
 
                "Okay Mom," she responded. She sauntered to the mailbox, grabbed the thick stack of mail and started walking toward the house, sorting through the mail as she did so.
 
                "What's in it?" Kathy asked. It was a family rule that whoever retrieved the mail could look at it first, but that didn't keep anybody from asking.
 
                "Um, Junk… junk… oh-here is our American Girl magazine. And there's more junk… hmm, here is a strange letter addressed to mom."
 
                They reached the house and Katie said, "Mommy there is a strange letter for you."
 
                "Here let me see it," Mrs. Beddows replied wiping her wet hands on a dishtowel. She took the letter from Katie and studied it for a moment. Her face turn pale and she sank down into a chair. With trembling hands she opened it and Katie leaned over her shoulder to read it.
 
                "Dear Mrs. Beddows," it began, "we are sorry to inform you that Lieutenant Beddows went missing while on a mission a few days ago. We have recovered his body and are flying it to you for burial-"
 
                "No!" Katie shrieked feeling as if her heart had been torn in two. She felt her mother's arms encircle her but she tore herself away and ran to her room. She threw herself onto the bed and sobbed. "He can't be dead. I love him," she thought. Katie's worst nightmare had come true.
 
 
 
 
 
 
                Jim awoke that morning with a new sense of determination. He had been hiding from the insurgents in a ditch for 3 days. He had survived by eating berries and drinking sparingly from his water canteen. This morning he decided that he would attempt to go back to camp. It was a treacherous journey with 15 miles between him and the camp. It would take him twice as long with his hurt leg. The wound didn't seem to be doing well so he wanted to get to a doctor quickly.
 
                When darkness began to envelop the land he set out. He limped along as quickly and as quietly as possible.  Five hours after he started he heard a sentry challenge him.  "It's me, Lieutenant Beddows," Jim called out weakly. He stumbled a few more steps and fainted.
 
                Jim awoke in a hospital bed. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs from his mind. Suddenly he remembered the incidents of the previous days and looked down at his leg in alarm. It was still there. He fell back against the pillow with a sigh.
 
                "Ah Lieutenant, you're awake," said a doctor coming to his bed.
 
                "How is my leg Doctor?" Jim asked.
 
                "Well it will never be the same again. You will always walk with a limp but it won't have to amputated. You are going to receive an honorable discharge."
 
                Jim suddenly spotted his commanding officer approaching. "Lieutenant you surprised us," the man said. "We thought you were dead. We found the remains of another soldier and assumed it was you. We already sent a notice to your family saying that you had been killed and that we were going to send the body for the burial. As a matter of fact we are planning on just sending you instead as a surprise. In a week you will be able to see your family again."
               
                Jim, almost fully recovered, gently lowered himself into the seat in the tiny airplane.
               
                A little man entered the plane and sat down next to him. "Hi I'm Barry Weaver," he said in a nasal tone. Jim hid a smile in the back of his hand.
 
                "I am a reporter here in Iraq and I heard your story. I think it would make an interesting story and I am going to travel with you."
 
                "Well it is good to have you Barry. I'll have someone to talk to during the flight."
 
                Jim looked out the window as the plane lifted from the ground and gave a sigh of satisfaction. He was going home.
 
 
 
 
                Katie splashed water on her face in an attempt to wash off the tear stains. "Katie," her mother called. "We need to go to meet the plane now."
 
                Katie walked slowly to the car and slid in next to her sister. Kathy smiled weakly at her and turned her head away quickly. She was not the kind of girl who showed her feeling easily.
 
                The whole drive to the airport Katie fought to keep her tears from falling. A few neighbors were gathered there. They stood on the runway as the plane that carried her father's body taxied in. Katie swallowed hard and a solitary tear slid down her cheek.
 
                The door of the airplane slid open and the steps fell down. A man's legs appeared and then when she looked up she saw that the legs belonged to her father. She gave a shrill cry and flew forward dimly aware that Kathy was following her. Her father knelt down and the girls ran into his arms. Tears ran down Katie's face as she embraced the father she thought she would never see again.
 
                The next morning the family was eating breakfast. "Girls look you're in the newspaper," Katie's father said. Katie rushed over and looked at the paper.
 
                Barry Weaver had snapped a picture while the girls were embracing their father. Kathy's face was radiant, but Katie's face portrayed the deep emotions that she felt.
 
                Katie lay her head down on his knee and sighed with contentment.
 
 
 
 
 
        P.S. I thought of this story when I saw a picture of a soldier hugging two little blonde girls. One little girl was crying and the other one was smiling. It was such a sweet picture that I kept looking at it until this story came to me.
 

Posted in Short Stories

Adam awoke from his slumber to the sound of a lion breathing in his ear. The lion had fallen asleep on the ground beside Adam the previous night. Adam yawned and rolled over gazing at his wife. “She is so beautiful,” he thought. Only two weeks previously, God had put Adam to sleep, took one of his ribs, and created a being just like Adam called woman. “Eve was a perfect name for her.” thought Adam to himself. “I am glad that God had me name all of the animals because if he had not, I would have been clueless as to what name to give to my lovely wife.” Adam rose up, and walked up to a puddle filled with water left over from last night. He cupped his hands to the water and drank, and then splashed his face with the cold clear water. Every night God made mist to come from the rivers and out of the earth to water the garden. The puddles were made from the leftover water that had not dried up. Adam scooped a handful of water, and gently poured it onto Eve. She awoke and yawned.
   “Oh, that is cold water!”
As she looked up she saw her husband and said cheerfully,
   “Blessed be this day my lord Adam! The air smells so fresh!” Adam helped her to her feet, and together they walked over to a kiwi bush. They picked a few of its fruits, peeled them with a sharpened stick, and ate them for their morning meal. Afterward they walked around until they came to a great oak tree. Propped against the tree was a sharpened stick and a few baby plants inside half of a coconut shell filled with water. Last week, Adam had started cuttings from a Cholla (a type of grass which produces small beads of chocolate) so he could reproduce them faster. During their daily walks with God, some of the knowledge God had shared with the two humans was how to cultivate plants. Looking back, Adam vividly remembered the conversation about propagating between the three of them.                           
   “My Children, (God had explained), the process of making more of a plant without waiting for it to reproduce by itself is called cultivation. To do this, you must first take your stick and cut a healthy steam or branch from the plant you want to cultivate. Find a container (be resourceful) and fill it with water from the river. (To Eve he said, “You may help by watching Adam and fetching the water when you gather it to drink”.) Place the stem inside the container of water and leave it in a cool spot for a long time. Periodically, check on it and soon you will see it begin to sprout roots.” God went on to explain for a while everything a person could know about roots. Then God continued; “Once the roots have sprouted and grown to a descent size, take the plant out and dump the water. Pack the empty container with some moist soil from the river bank. Finger a small hole in the soil, and place the rooted plant inside and cover with dirt.”
Adam and Eve drank up the knowledge like thirsty deer, and they stored it into their memories so that they would not forget the wonderful lessons that God had been teaching them. Although the garden was perfect, God had left large areas of fertile soil all over for Adam and his Eve to cultivate. Using this knowledge received from God, Adam started the day’s work. He took the baby plants out of the half of an empty coconut shell and hunted around until he found a drier spot to plant it. Afterwards he took the rest of the cholla branches and planted them near the river where it was very wet. Eve had given Adam the idea to experiment with the plants to see where they would grow to their fullest.
After they had together completed their gardening tasks, the two humans went each to their own ways to start new projects. Eve had discovered that to make a tool to untangle her hair, she could use boar’s hair wound together on a sturdy stick. She had completed this project, but she wanted to make another brush, bigger this time, to use to groom her favorite animals. She had a pouch made from fig leaves holding the hair she had already collected. When she had last collected, the boar had become impatient, and ran off to eat. Eve now set off to find another boar to continue plucking hair, along the way gathering several different kinds of foods to tempt the creature.
Adam was cutting branches from a willow tree to use as bedding for the night. Every morning he went out to cut fresh braches and carried them to their designated sleeping place. Adam had picked this spot under one of the great willow trees that was centrally located near the Tree of Life. By the time Adam had finished this task, it was nearly dark. His spent the remainder of the daylight finding Eve and eating the evening meal with her. They talked over the adventures of the day as they lay down on their willow-branch mats. After a while they both dozed off. The first to actually fall asleep was Adam, for Eve sat up for hours gazing at the Tree of Life only a few yards away.  God had given permission to eat of any tree or bush in the whole garden including the Tree of Life save for the tree growing right next to it. It was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they were told not to eat of this tree, the two humans were puzzled over what evil and good were and why they could not eat its beautiful fruit. However at the time, they were so eager to begin exploring their new world that they never really thought about the Tree of Good and Evil. Yet lately, Eve began to think of the great tree with its alluring fruits. It also held the resemblance of some of her favorite fruits. When she finally went to sleep, she dreamed of what it would be like to know what evil meant and how delicious the fruits of the forbidden tree tasted.
The bright yellow Sun slowly disappeared as the Moon took her place in the night sky. The stars came out too, lighting up the darkness with millions of tiny specks of dim light.  All around the nocturnal creatures came out of their hiding places and began to search for their fruits while the diurnal creatures went to their sleeping places to begin their rest after a long day. While hearing the crickets chirping, cows softly lowing, the dinosaurs running around finding a place to sleep, and the great whales singing from the deep; Eve fell asleep.

Posted in Short Stories

 

Why I like Domino

 She is good.
She loves to be petted and Paul loves her
and James loves her and Beverly loves her
and I loves her me Mei and Mark loves her.
She loves food and she loves sitting in mom lap and Paul lap.
She is a tuxedo cat and her eyes are green.
She goes in and out and in and out and in and out. 
We all love her.