Worn down,Worn out,Day after day,Until unspilled tearsBurnWith the doubt. “Respect” is just a word,Not understoodNor valued.The more given,The more painWhen not received. Quit!Then what?Places, faces change;Poison lingers.FailureIs just as painful. Dig deeper, persevere;Determine, again.No one saidHuman RevolutionWould be easy.No one else can do it. Inner transformation,Realigning,Day after day.Repay debts of gratitude,Un...
“You guys are nuts.” The Skeptic was in rare form as the four men studied the petite singer flitting around on the dim stage. “I mean, sure she’s cute, but in a small-town high school cheerleader sort of way. No way is she this smoking’ hot sex object you guys keep raving about. But…” The Skeptic stopped as the singer approached the microphone stand. Waited for A bright spotlight to shine on her, then broke into the g...
“I will gladly endure pain after pain after pain if it means being happy in the end. Unless of course, it kills me, in which case I have not earned that happiness.” “That’s the definition of insanity you know.”“We’ve already established that I’m insane.” This was taken from a recent conversation I had with my best friend, who is going through a breakup with her boyfriend of 3 months. I’m…in the same situation as her, hear...
Even though the Sheriff and his deputies would be coming in a few days, no one seemed that concerned. There was too much to do. When Alice and I went to the cabin to get settled, there was a vase on the wood stove with wildflowers and a note from Morning Star that said, "Welcome to your new home." "I don't believe we're actually here." Alice read the note again. "Me either. I feel like I'm starting a new chapter in my lif...
Tim and Gabe moved the round table back to the center of the room and placed the chairs around it. Tammy placed the oil lamp in the center for lighting it later when it got dark. Dan brought in several arm loads of wood, while Liz and Atticus followed with a box filled with kindling. Tammy filled a pot with water from her five gallon jug and measured out rice. Several unopened cans of black beans sat on the counter. "I’m...
My dad waved at us as we came though the waist high grass in the pasture. Standing with Glenn and Dan, he held his sketchbook and pointed to some place on the other side of the orchard. Atticus straddled his father's shoulders, while Liz and Tammy knelt by the fire, preparing lunch. Alice grabbed my hand and started running towards them. I glanced back at Grace walking slowly, the branch cane over her shoulder, her eyes s...
A short, pot-bellied man walked towards us through the tall brown grass. Bald, except for a thin patch of gray hair above his ears, he had a small silver badge on his tan shirt, a holster with a black-handled gun on his hip. I’m not sure why he left his hat in the car.Glenn stiffened and watched the sheriff approaching. "Uh-oh," my dad muttered. Alice swallowed and glanced at me. I knew she was thinking Bendula. Atticus p...
Turns out, I didn’t have to go downstairs. A few minutes later, just as I was telling Alice about Elizabeth’s message, my dad came into my room. I know he heard me say, "We have to find out if it’s the Bendula." Our eyes met, and then he took a deep breath and I could see how frustrated he was with not knowing what was going on. "Right, we’ll go right after school." I knew it was late and wondered if I should skip another...
When we got home the next day, it was late Tuesday afternoon, and both Alice and I were eager to tell Gabe and Tim what was happening and to call Elizabeth. We had already missed two days of school. It didn’t matter to me, but I was surprised that Alice didn’t seem to care either. For most of the trip, I was quiet, but listened to Glenn and my dad talking about all the possibilities and how to get started transforming the...
It was late Sunday afternoon when we arrived back at the farm a week later. We would have left on Saturday, but Glenn's friend, Edgar, needed to use the van to move some furniture and said we could borrow it the next day. We met Tim and Gabe at Charley's for pizza one night and told them what was happening. "Wow, it's like an adventure movie," Tim said, and Gabe said he wished he could go and see the Indians and the farm...
It took quite a while to find the small gravestones. They lay twentyor thirty feet in the woods, surrounded and hidden by dozens of birch trees and green bushes. Grace wasn’t certain exactly where they were, but knew they were near two huge pine trees that towered over the other trees, “I know they’re near these trees,” she said. “Now I feel bad that I haven’t been here in fifteen years. I should have realized the woods w...
"What if we paid the back taxes before it went to auction?" Glenn asked. "That way, they wouldn’t be discovered." "I’ve already thought of that," Grace said. "It’s a possibility and would solve one problem but not the more serious one." Alice and I listened, surprised at Glenn’s idea and, even more, surprised that Grace had already thought about it, but I didn’t know what she meant by the more serious problem. "You’re rig...
We arrived at Glenn’s farm a little after three in the afternoon.Instead of the VW bus, Glenn had borrowed a larger, newer, blue van from his friend, Edgar, someone he had met at Occupy Wall Street. He knew about Glenn’s plan and was interested in being part of it if it got off the ground. Glenn wanted to make sure his mom would be comfortable, and this van had more seats and a lot more storage space, so the trip was a li...
It was a long drive home. My dad took over the driving somewhere in Massachusetts and Glenn was able to nap. Alice was asleep on my shoulder. l also dozed off, but kept waking up to see where we were. My dad was quiet and listened to a jazz station. Glenn woke up and continued driving when we got closer to New York where bumper to bumper traffic brought us to a stand still. It took us an hour and a half to reach the Verra...
It was just past noon when we got back to the farm and started getting ready to leave. The sky was blue without a cloud. The fire was out and dad picked up the grill from the rocks and leaned it against the rocks that surrounded the pile of ashes. Glenn carried the blue ice chest to the van and Tammy gathered the cooking utensils, the iron skillet, coffee pot and orange plastic jug of water. Alice and I went to the cabin...
