Kat and the Angry Rich Man

        What a strange day we had today. My mother and I were at the café having lunch, when this older woman walks in with her chauffeur. I’m not kidding you! Oh, and I had to look up how to spell chauffeur. It took me a long time too; I thought it started with an s. I looked out the window, and there was this long black limo. It was the first one I had ever seen in person. It was BIG!
        Back to the lady, she had these big rings on her fingers with millions of diamonds, diamond earrings, and a watch encrusted with diamonds. Encrusted? Is that the right word? Well, there were lots of diamonds on her watch too. The first thing she says (loud enough for everyone to hear) as she is walking in the door is, “What a dump. Of all the places to break down, couldn’t you have planned things better, Mickels?”
        Mickels didn’t say a word, and the woman just kept on talking. “Well, isn’t anyone going to seat me? Don’t you people know who I am? I could buy this place with the pocket change I carry in my purse.” Then she pulls out a wad of bills and holds it up for everyone to see. The chauffeur looked very uncomfortable.
        While watching this, I remembered a man Carter and I met in Dearth who was like this woman. It was while we were walking through a section of the eastern path that was the floor of a deep gorge with towering cliffs of brick red rock on either side. The path was only a couple feet wide at some points and even narrower where parts of the rock jutted out from the walls. It was so hot; the sun was beating down, and no breeze could penetrate. At the narrowest point of the gorge we came upon an angry, frustrated man. His puffy, purple face was dripping with sweat. He was wearing a thick coat that extended out from his body several inches, and on his back he carried a large backpack. It was obvious that he was upset because he couldn’t fit through the narrow space with the load he was carrying. His load was money. He had money stuffed everywhere, and he couldn’t fit through the tight bottleneck that was called The Needle’s Eye.
        We offered to help him, but he kept accusing us of trying to trick him out of his money. No matter how hard we tried to reason with him, he just wouldn’t trust us. Eventually we asked him if he would let us go past him, and he screamed at us to leave him alone. It was a frightening situation, and you can read all about how Carter and I got past the rich man in “Beyond the Dead Forest.” It was kind of funny, yet it was sad too. Once we got past him, and he finally realized that he would not be able to move through The Needle’s Eye unless he left his wealth behind, he sat down on a rock, hugged his pack, and a blank look came into his eyes.
        It troubled me that he was so desperate to hold onto his wealth even if it meant that he would not be able to move on to his final destination. Then Carter said something that made sense. “It’s what he worked for his whole life. He put his time, energy, and life into it. To leave it behind would be to admit that he wasted his life, and it had no value or meaning.”
        And that rich lady in the café who made such a show of her wealth, she complained about everything. Even though the waitresses and everyone who worked in the café tried to please her, she left in a huff and didn’t even leave a tip. Everyone was sure glad to see her leave.
        All rich people aren’t like the two in my blog, but there are some people who really don’t know what real wealth is. I’m glad Carter and I learned what is really valuable from our adventures we experienced beyond Dead Forest. Good night everyone.

Carter's Scary Story

        Hello everyone. Did you have a good Easter? Thinking about this week’s blog, I remembered another story Carter told me one night around the campfire as we traveled through Dearth. The story scared me so bad I couldn't sleep. This story didn't make it into the book about our adventures "Beyond the Dead Forest," but it needs to be told.
                                                       ****
        Perry was fifteen. He and his dad enjoyed taking weekend camping trips together. They liked fishing, hiking, and especially exploring. Parry’s dad heard a fellow at work talking about an out-of-the-way campsite that was supposed to be haunted. He said that he would never take his family there because most people never returned.
        Perry begged his dad to take him saying, “You always say there’s no such thing as ghosts. If you believe that then why won’t you take me there?”
        “Son, of course I don’t believe in ghosts, but there must be something up there that people are mistaking as ghosts. Even though it isn’t haunted, it still might be dangerous.”
        “Dad, why don’t you call the forest service and see what they say?”
        “That’s a good idea.” After Perry’s dad got off the phone he said, “I guess it’ll be okay. The ranger I talked to said that it’s a very rough place. There are some bears and mountain lions in the area, but as long as we’re careful we should be okay.”
        The first day of their trip, they arrived after dark and had to use their car headlights to put up the tent and start a fire. Once camp was setup the father and son roasted hotdogs on sticks and roasted marshmallows for desert. “You know, dad, it’s really quiet here. It doesn’t seem any different than the other places we have camped.”
        “That’s true, son. And most of the places we’ve camped have had bears and mountain lions. I don’t think we need to worry; but just in case, when you get up to relieve yourself, stay close to the fire, and take a flashlight with you.”
        “Sure dad, not a problem.”
        Tired from their long drive and planning an early start to go fishing, they crawled into their sleeping bags as soon as they finished dinner. Perry woke up after a couple hours. His father was snoring, and Perry had to relieve himself. Since he was going to be behind a tree just a few feet from the fire, he decided that he did not need a light.
        Once he got around the other side of the tree, it was darker than he expected; he couldn’t see a thing. He tried to walk back to the other side of the tree where he could see the fire, but he tripped on a rock and rolled down a long slanting cliff that he didn’t realize was on the dark side of the tree. He was badly banged up; his right arm was broken. He was in total darkness; he didn’t know where he was or what was around him. He yelled, “Dad! Dad! I fell and I can’t see. HELP!”
When he listened for an answer back from his father, he heard something. But what he heard was not from his dad. It was a low, long growl. Perry froze. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst. He didn’t know what to do. If he called out again, whatever was in the dark might attack him. If he ran, he would fall in the dark and be attacked. Then he heard large cracking sounds as something big moved toward him in the dark. Perry screamed, “DAD, PLEASE, DAD!”
        Perry’s Dad opened his eyes. He thought he had heard something. He sat up and listened. Hearing nothing more, he turned over and went back to sleep. When he woke the next morning, he looked over at his son’s sleeping bag. It was empty. He called out, “Perry. Perry, where are you?” The father searched the area, but there was no sign of his son. He called in the forest rangers, and they searched for several days, but they never found any trace of the boy.
                                                       ****
        That story always gives me the shivers. To think, if Perry had just taken the light, he would have seen the danger he was in. But with no light to illuminate his path, he fell into a pit where death was waiting. I cannot help but think that there is a life lesson here.

Easter Gift from Kat

      HAPPY EASTER!!!

 

    Y F J S                             

  S T E O R B           O A Z A        

Z U P C S O K R       R L E T E I      

V S M O E M R B       I B H C H B      

L E E V P A Q P     V I I I S T E S    

  J U E H N W     E R R O P T A A E W  

    C R M S       B D J I N O M R A O  

      U           D E C W A N I T L R  

S M   P     T Y A R E A W J E R H E S T

A A   I   Q H Y S S D R A E F A Q D H V

L R L P C I N C A R N A T I O N U S I L

  Y O   R U X   E S I R N U S S A L P X

      S U H     E F I L R G P Z K N L S

        C       Z D M G N E I I E J E V

        I       A E S G Y O P S L M D Q

        F         R Y L U A H O U A O  

    Q G I G R     A E N E A D F R Z T K

  L I N E N B E Q E V T B G R I B T R E

S S U N D A Y I Y P K S E E N D L O E Z

J T O M B W R A P P E D P P G A S O D D

C H R I S T P I L A T E M N E S I R H Y

ALIVE        EARTHQUAKE   MARY        SEALED

ANGELS       EMPTY        PERFUMES    SIGN

APPEARED     FEAR         PETER       SPICES

ARIMATHEA    GUARDS       PILATE      STONE

BODY         HOLIDAY      PILATE      SUNDAY

BRIBE        INCARNATION  PROOF       SUNRISE

CHRIST       JESUS        REJOICE     THIRD DAY

COVER UP     JOSEPH       REPORTED    TOMB

CRUCIFIED    LIFE         RISEN       WORSHIP

DAWN         LINEN        ROMANS      WRAPPED

Kat and Innocent Blood

        Many things happened to Carter and me beyond Dead Forest in the land of Dearth. Some of those things still haunt me. There is one that broke my heart.
        Carter and I had been traveling on foot through some very rugged country when we were surprised and happy to see Guard on the side of the road that we had been looking for. As usual, Guard had some of our favorite food waiting for us. At the end of our visit, a flock of sheep heading west made it impossible for us to continue our journey east until they passed.
        Soon after we resumed traveling on the eastern path, we discovered that one of the sheep was following us. He wasn’t quite fully grown, and we tried to take him back to his flock, but he ran away from us until we finally decided to let him tag along. We didn’t have much choice; however, Carter and I actually became very fond of the little sheep, and we even gave him a name, Jessie.
        Stroking his thick wool was a comfort to us as we sat around our campfire at night. Traveling during the day on the rocky, chuckhole riddled path, we held onto Jessie’s wool to steady ourselves to keep from turning an ankle or breaking a leg. I began to feel that Jessie had come to us as a help and encouragement, but the truth was that he came to us for something much more important.
        The day we met Guard, had lunch, and met Jessie, Guard had cautioned us to stay on the eastern path until we came to the adobe. Traveling the eastern path was dangerous and exhausting, so when we saw a paved side road with a sign that said Adobe Road, Carter insisted that this easy road would take us to the adobe building we were looking for. I wasn’t sure, but I let Carter convince me to go along. I have to admit that it didn’t take much convincing. Adobe Road was smooth and wide and we were so tired from struggling on the eastern path, that it was a welcome relief. But as we traveled Adobe Road I couldn’t help feeling that we were making a mistake. Then when the road began to narrow and deteriorate, I was just about to make my concerns known to Carter when I was interrupted by the terrifying roar of a huge mountain lion! It was perched on a large rock looking right at us. We knew if we ran it would chase us down and kill us, so we stood frozen. However, the beast must have been hungry because it jumped off its rock and charged straight for us. We didn’t know what to do. Then Jessie ran past us directly toward the lion. He distracted it away from us, and the lion grabbed Jessie by the back of the neck, turned, and ran off with the poor little lamb hanging limply from its slobbering mouth.
        Carter and I ran as fast as we could back to the eastern path. What else could we do? We couldn’t save Jessie. The little lamb gave his life for our bad choice. If it hadn’t been for him, we would have died. It should have been us—he was innocent. I think somehow Jessie knew that we were going to make a wrong turn, and that’s why he came to be with us. He knew that we needed to be saved from ourselves. I think about that a lot… I’m tired… Good night, everyone.