“What’s the plan,” Magellan yelled back to Monk. Even though he shouted at the top of his lungs, the wind swept the words away so that Monk could barely hear him.
“Plan,” Monk shouted back, “My plan was to follow your plan.”
“I’m not feeling motivated.”
“Not helpful.”
Ben shivered as he gazed into the forest. It was dark. The trees seemed to grow in a tangled mess over each other. Now and then a ray of sunshine slipped between the leaves.
“Come on,” Jed yelled, motioning to him. He stood on a fallen tree, ten feet into the forest. “What are you waiting for?”
John drummed his finger on the side of the elevator. It only took thirty seconds to ride down from the 29th floor, that is if someone was not getting on at every floor, but it always seemed to be an incredibly long and boring ride. John determined that at five-years-old. Recently, he declared that it had only gotten more boring in the twenty-six years since then. He was itching for something different. The daily grind of work was getting to him. Life seemed to be going down in the same boring way the elevator was.
The elevator stopped on the 18th floor. An older lady got on. She gave John a sweet smile, which he returned. As she attempted to put some papers in her purse, one of them fell to the ground. John picked it up. Perhaps, it was due to the fact that he worked with numbers all day or maybe it was something else, but his eyes fell on the number part way down the page: $836,790.00. His eyes widened in a bit of surprise. That was a lot of money. He wondered what it represented and hoped it was not a bill. Silently, he handed the paper back the lady.
“Oh, thank you,” she replied, “I’m afraid I can be a bit clumsy and did not have time to get everything organized. People these days do hurry things so.”
“Tomorrow’s the big day, tomorrow, tomorrow,” sang Jenny bouncing up and down on the couch.
“We know already,” Jack said, from the other end of the couch where he was playing a game on his phone. “Can’t you stop moving? You’ll make me lose my game.”
“Have I ever told you the story of Sammy Patterson?” Grandpa Joe asked, leaning back in his chair. Everyone settled down and got comfortable. Whenever Grandpa Joe started out with “Have I ever told you the story…” it was bound to be interesting. “It was the summer I turned fourteen,” Grandpa said, closing his eyes and reliving the past…
…The Pattersons moved into the Charles’ old home. Mr. Patterson worked at the grain elevator, Mrs. Patterson got involved with various societies at the church, but it was Sammy who caused the family to get noticed. He was a lanky lad with sandy-blonde hair and a face full of freckles with a mischievous smile plastered on it.
Well, one day, Jane Potter and I were biking when a bang startled us and a fireball whizzed in front of us. Jane swerved, running into me. We both tumbled into the ditch on the side of the road.
Monk was disgusted. They had been at this small beachside resort for three days and there was nothing to do. He had already conquered the climbing wall, that was a joke (at least for a monkey). He’d played all the games, explored every square inch of the swimming pool, and knew every grain of sand on the beach. He’d named two hundred of them before running out of names and then counted 16,578 more before lunch time. He wondered why his parents felt this would be a great place to visit. Any teenager could have told you it stunk. Now, he was sitting on a cliff overlooking the ocean, trying to figure out what to do.
The sound of a slight rustle, caught Monk’s attention. He perked up. Something or someone was sneaking through the bushes toward him. Monk glanced over his shoulder. Nothing was visible. He waited, every muscle ready to spring. The slightest sound came from the grass behind him. A second later, a lion sprung up and gave a mighty roar.
Everything was festive. Little girls danced around, clapping their hands in glee. Little boys ran shouting and laughing through the streets. The parents were too busy and too happy to stop them. Shopkeepers cleaned their windows and arranged their goods in the most pleasing manner. The street sweeper swept the street with special care. The baker put extra garnishes by his baked goods. Everything had to be perfect.
You see, King Theo was coming to town. Recently, this country coronated him as king. Things improved greatly after he took over. The farmer could tell you of certain improvements which helped him produce more. The baker would inform you that the price of flour had dropped, and the street sweeper would be sure to inform you that his living conditions were more pleasant. In general, everything was going well for the town and thus everyone was excited for the king’s arrival. The villagers had invited King Theo as a way to say thank you.
Madeline shook her head as she looked up from her book, “Who do you think will ever listen to you,” she asked. The question was directed at Erica who was singing warm-up scales across the room. Erica shrugged, “Someone will,” she said with quiet determination.
“Do you see concert halls full of people in your dreams,” Madeline asked contemptuously.
Charlie bounded out of bed and rapidly got dressed. Carefully, he counted the bills that lay on his dresser. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten dollars. Smiling, he shoved them in his pocket and slipped downstairs. He began making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Meticulously, he spread jelly and peanut butter on the bread. “Maybe,” he thought, “Darren won’t have any lunch or the money to buy a lunch and I can share with him.” With this thought in mind, Charlie took special care to make the sandwiches perfect. He packed them into his lunch box so they would not get squished. The door gently closed behind him as he walked to the street to wait for the Barlows.
It seemed forever before they arrived. Charlie jumped in the backseat. Frank Barlow and Andrew Johnson were already talking about everything that would do that day. When they arrived at the retreat center, Mr. Barlow helped Charlie through the registration process. He felt very big as he paid the ten dollars for the entrance fee and calmly said he did not need food.