The Race Won by Inches

 Hello, Friday Fiction Fans,

    I've been busy. I've actually been getting something written every day so far this week and I'm oh, so close to reaching the end of "Lake Wood" (Woodbreak Book 3)! Pray that I can actually finish it before the end of the month because next month I have other things I HAVE to work on.

    Another thing I've been doing this week is blog posts! Since I know later this year is going to be super busy, I'm trying to get as many posts done and scheduled ahead of time for Read Another Page as possible. At least I have all the posts for the rest of the year figured out even if I still have to write them.  One set of posts I have been working on are my Five Fall Favorites. :) Stay tuned for more information on that.

    Let's see, what else did I do this week? Oh, I spent almost all day Tuesday helping my brother pack orders for Light of Faith. But I took a break after lunch and went swimming with my nieces and nephews in their pool. I haven't been swimming (sitting in a kitty pool with my nieces and nephews a few years ago doesn't count) since I was probably 8 or 9. It was fun and very nice to cool off from the heat of the day.

     Today's story is especially for any young siblings. It's a short story, a retelling of a famous fable. I wrote it many years ago, and when I went to find something to post, I thought I'd do this story. I think we can all learn a lesson from it. Don't you?

 

The Race Won By Inches

 

            One beautifully sunny morning, Cecil Centipede stopped to laugh at Inez Inch Worm slowly inching himself along the ground.

            “Ha, ha!” he jeered. “You are so slow! You can’t even make it across the sidewalk before I have crossed it ten times! You are the pokiest, loiteringest, slowest insect I have ever seen!” He continued to taunt as Inez humped along.

            Now Inez was growing irritated because Cecil Centipede kept bugging him day after day about his speed. That morning was the last Inez Inch Worm could tolerate.

            “Would you like to race?” he questioned, pausing half way across the sidewalk.

            “Race!” Cecil howled with laughter. “You’re not just slow, you’re stupid too. Ha, ha! Sure I’ll race. I’ll be at the finish line before you have even started! Ho, ho!” Cecil accepted the race as a joke because he thought it would be no contest.

 

            Well, the race was planned. Spencer Spider and Anthony Ant were finally chosen to act as the judges, and the race course was carefully chosen. The day of the race was perfect, not too hot or too cold.

            “Racers, take your places!” Anthony Ant bellowed. “On your mark, get set, GO!”

            The race had begun! Right from the start Cecil Centipede took the lead; his hundred legs working so fast that the onlookers could scarcely see them. Inez Inch Worm was soon left in the dust, slowly but steadily humping his way along the track.

            Cecil was gloating to himself as he ran of how easy this race was when all of a sudden one of his legs became tangled with another, and before he could stop, he fell. There he lay, his hundred legs all hopelessly tangled in one great big knot! How he squirmed. How he wriggled. But the more frantically he tried to free them, the more impossibly tangled they became. He comforted himself, however, with the thought that Inez was so far behind that he would never catch up.

            Inching down the track, Inez spied the tangled legs of Cecil off to one side. He decided not to say anything, but continued on his way one inch at a time. Before long the finish line was reached and cheers erupted on all sides.

            “Inez Inch Worm wins the race!” shouted Spencer Spider. “Three cheers for the winner!”

The exuberant cheers reached the ears of Cecil Centipede just as he finally succeeded in freeing the last of his legs. He leaped to his feet and raced to the finish line.

            “I demand a re-race!” he shouted indignantly, but no one heard him.

 

            Thus it was that inch by inch Inez the Inch Worm won the now famous and much talked of race.

 

The End

Are you eager for me to finish "Lake Wood"?

Are you more like Inez or Cecil in the story?

Do you have younger siblings to read this story to?

One Thing at a Time

 Good morning!

It's actually quiet here this morning. The guys building three small houses across the street haven't come to work yet. The last few days they've come just after 6 so it's rather noisy. So I'm going to enjoy the quiet while I can.

This week has been, well, busy.

On Saturday morning I had an email from my pastor asking if I could switch my teaching of Children's Church to the next day instead of the next week. I said yes, which meant I had to make sure I was ready. Thankfully it was the story of Ruth, so that wasn't hard. :)

Sunday I taught, then had a relaxing day except for thinking about the Christmas play I'm supposed to write and talking ideas over with my sister. I emailed the pastor to get his approval on the idea before I started writing.

Monday was filled with mostly normal things. I did get to write that evening for the first time this month! And I actually wrote 1k words! I was quite happy. Oh, and my BF was home from her 3 1/2 months in Canada. I got to see her.

On Tuesday my sister and I went out to my brother's again to spend the day packing orders. This time my oldest niece helped most of the day. And of course several of my nephews. but my youngest nephew couldn't "help" (he's 3) because he had a bad cold. We got a lot of orders packed and could hardly fit them all in the vehicle to be taken to the post office at 5.

Wednesday came and I spent a good part of the day preparing to teach the children's class that evening. It was my first time teaching the summer Wednesday classes, so I had to figure out what I was doing. The class went well and we ended up only having 10 kids instead of the 20 or so they have other times.

Yesterday a friend came over in the morning and she, my sis, and I went down to a nearby bike/walking trail and walked and visited. That was nice. We don't usually get to talk long at church. Then I spent the rest of the day working on this and that. I wrote a little. After supper I went walking with my BF.

And today . . . Well, today we clean the house and I'm hoping to get some other things done. Like more writing!

Well, I should go and let you read. I wrote this story seven years ago when I was feeling just like Meg. Enjoy!

 

One Thing at a Time

    “There isn’t any time or I have no inclination!” The girl flung down her pencil and watched it roll across the floor and under a shelf with gloomy satisfaction.
    “No time or inclination for what?” asked an amused voice.
    Turning, the girl saw her brother standing in the open doorway. There was a look of fresh air and sunshine about him and his eyes sparkled with life and energy.
    With a deep, drawn out sigh, the girl turned to stare moodily at the wall, propped her chin in her hand and replied, “Everything.”
    “You’re right,” came the unexpected answer. “I have no time nor inclination to go join some of the other fellows in the saloon, or spend half the night at a party dancing, or play cards with Bill and Tom though they coaxed me to for half an hour yesterday.”
    “But it’s not the same thing, Max!” the girl pouted. “I’d think you, at least, would understand and help me.”
    “Suppose you explain yourself then, Meg and maybe I can.”  The young man settled himself on a chair where he could see his sister’s face and waited.
    For a moment Meg was silent, her pretty face clouded and gloomy. At last she spoke. “There’s nothing to explain. I just don’t have the time to do everything I want to do or should do, and when I do have the time I don’t want to do it.”
    Max nodded soberly though his brown eyes twinkled merrily. “Of course. Just what I said, not enough time and don’t want to. Anything else the matter?”
    At that, Meg glowered at him. “You’re no help! Why don’t you go play ball or go fishing.”
    Max laughed. “Because I don’t want to. It seems to be the same problem you have. Besides, there’s no one to play with. Seriously though, Meg,” his voice became sober. “It sounds like you have the same problem the Apostle Paul had when he said the good that I would, that I don’t do, but the evil that I don’t want to do, that’s what I do.”
    “But I don’t want to do evil, Max,” Meg protested. “The things I want to do are good, but when I have time to do them, I don’t want to do them anymore. And when I should do them, I want to do something else.”
    “Oh, so you’re problem is that you want to do good things when you want to do them and not when you should do them?”
    Meg shrugged.
    “Doesn’t doing something, even if it is good, at the wrong time make it wrong?”
    “No.”
    “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven,” Max quoted.
    “But that doesn’t mean when I draw and paint and when I practice the piano or weed the garden. Or study history,” she added in a lower voice.
    “It doesn’t? Meg, if I were to decide to work on my Latin when I should be preparing my algebra, do you think I’d be ready to recite in arithmetic class?”
    “No, but—”
    “And if you were to practice the piano when Aunt Jane was taking a nap, do you think you would be ready for your lesson?”
    Meg couldn’t help smiling over that idea though she shook her head. Her aunt would soon put a stop to her lessons if she tried it. “But my drawing and reading and weeding don’t disturb anyone.”
    Raising his eyebrows Max folded his arms. “They don’t? What about you?”
    A puzzled look crossed Meg’s face. “What do you mean?”
    “Doesn’t your reading disturb you, when you want to do it when you shouldn’t?”
    Meg’s eyes dropped and she half turned her face to hide a blush, for Max had spoken the truth. She did love to read and often her drawing and garden were neglected while she poured over her history book. “It’s that I don’t feel like drawing sometimes or working in the garden, even if I do enjoy those things.” Her voice was muffled by her hands. “And I have to study for history.”
    “Do you feel like you’ve accomplished everything well if you study your history when you haven’t finished the rest of your work?”
    Meg shook her head slowly.
    Silence fell on the room. A bee buzzed around the open window and the sound of robins singing in the tree outside broke the quiet. At last Meg, without looking at her brother said, “I tried to read only when it was time to study history, but I just can’t seem to help myself. I wish I had more time to read. Or more inclination to do the other things. But sometimes I’d rather be outside in the garden than even reading.” She sighed.
    Max stood up and gently pulled his sister’s hands away from her face. “I’d much rather study Latin than tug at those algebra problems, and if I let my mind be distracted by the Latin I wished I could be studying, I’d have low marks and Papa wouldn’t be very pleased. You love history and reading, Meg, but you also have other things to learn. You have to discipline yourself to focus on the thing at hand. Do one thing at a time, then, when you have extra time, you can enjoy all the more doing what you really like.”
    For a moment Meg sat with her eyes downcast, not noticing the half finished drawing that lay before her.
    “One thing at a time, Meggy,” Max repeated softly, using the pet name he had called his sister when she was small.
    Giving a sigh, Meg looked up into her brother’s kind eyes. “It’s just so hard,” she whispered.
    “Ask Jesus to help you, Meg. He will, you know.”
    Meg nodded and straightened. “Thanks Max. Papa and Aunt Jane are too busy to talk with me like this.”
    Stooping, Max reached under the shelf and pulled out the despised pencil. Handing it to his sister he said, “You finish your work and I’ll go finish algebra, then perhaps there will be time for a walk before supper.” And Meg bent over her paper with a smile.

Have you ever felt like Meg?

What are some of your favorite things to do?

How was your week?

Going Up

Good morning, FFFs!

Here it is. Another Friday. The days are marching on relentlessly, and they won't slow down. 

I did get to stay home most of this week. Well, at least compared to last week. This time my sis and I went over to my brother's on Tuesday and spent the day packing orders. I worked nursery Wednesday evening, and then last evening we went over to my brother's for Buster's 3rd birthday party.

I haven't written at all this week. I really wanted to, but that hasn't happened. Mostly because two of my evenings were busy, and I was tired on Tuesday. But I did manage to get the idea for this year's Christmas play at church. I had one idea, but it wasn't working. And I had all sorts of vague ideas that didn't go anywhere. Now I have the idea that is working. I just have to write the play now.

I am still hoping to work on "Lake Wood" though because I really want to get it finished.

Guess what I actually did yesterday? I worked on writing blog posts! I haven't really worked on them since June, so it was kind of fun. I need to work on them more often so I get enough of them scheduled for when I'm really busy, but I think I at least have ideas for most, if not all the rest of the weeks this year.

It sure is quiet without the chatter and business of Camp going on. But it also means I haven't been as distracted. 😉 Oh, I got asked to speak to a group of ladies (I think they are all reading or writing teachers) in January! I haven't come up with my topic yet. I was told it could be about how I get my ideas and write, ideas for promoting writing or reading in students, or anything else that relates. It should be fun since I love talking about writing. 😀 And I was told I could bring my books to display on a table. I don't think they realize just how many books I have. 😁

Today's story is just a sketch. I grabbed my "Emotion Thesaurus" and randomly picked an emotion and wrote about it. Enjoy!

Going Up

    Justin glanced down at his watch. Maybe there wouldn’t be enough time. It was half-past two. They didn’t have to be back until five. There was time. Too much time.
    “Hey, come on, Justin!”
    Looking up, Justin gave a nod. “Be there in a minute. Need to tie my shoe.” He crouched and carefully began tying his shoe, making sure it was secured with a double knot and then checking his other one. At last, with a sigh, he stood and followed the rest of his youth group down the trail toward the lookout.
    Collin and his sister, Paris, had lingered behind and waited for him to catch up. “Have you ever been up in the lookout tower, Justin?” Collin asked.
    “Nope.” Justin smiled quickly. “We don’t get to the park much. You know what happens when you live close to something; you never visit it.”
    “That’s the truth,” Collin admitted. “We lived near Mt Rushmore for three years, and I think we visited it twice.” He looked over at his sister for confirmation.
    “Yep,” Paris agreed. “We went right after we first moved, and then Mom thought we should go once more before we left. But you’ve lived here all your life, right?” She looked at Justin.
    “Uh huh.” He clenched his hands and then straightened his fingers and wiped them down the sides of his jeans. He could feel a tightness in his chest, and he drew a deep breath hoping it would go away. It didn’t. “I just won’t go,” he thought. “I can do that.”
    “I can’t wait to get up to the top and look at the view,” Paris said. “I’ve heard you can see for miles from up there.”
    Justin didn’t reply. He knew they were almost there. Almost to the tower. He could hear the voices of those ahead ,and he paused to examine the leaf of a tree.
    “Hey, Justin.”
    “Be right there, Collin.” He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the leaf. Then another of a tiny flower. The voices hushed, and Justin hoped they’d go up without him.
    “Justin!”
    So much for that hope. Justin recognized the voice of their group leader and started forward once again to join the fringe of the group.
    The leader looked around. “All right, a few instructions before we head up. No goofing off when we’re up there.” Mr. Thornton looked pointedly at two of the guys until, with sheepish grins, they nodded. “No shoving to get a better spot to take pictures. We don’t want any phones, cameras, or people taking flight.”
    Justin grimaced at the chuckles that went through his friends.
    “I think that’s all. Ready to head up?”
    “Yeah!” Cheers rang on all sides, and Justin tried to act excited.
    Mrs. Thornton went up with the first wave of young people, and her husband lingered on the ground watching the rest move on inside the structure and start up the stairs.
    If only someone else would linger and start talking. Justin glanced around but found everyone moving in the direction of the stairs.
    Collin beckoned him, and he reluctantly moved over. “Come up with us.”
    “It’s going to be such fun,” Paris added, her eyes sparkling.
    “I don’t think–” Justin began slowly.
    “Oh, come on, please,” Paris begged. “You don’t have to go near the edge if you don’t want to. But you should go up and see the view since you’ve never done it before.”
    Justin could feel the sweat trickling down his back. “I guess–”
    “Great! Come on!” Paris started up the stairs, and Justin found his feet slowly following.
    “It’s just a set of stairs,” he told himself. “I can do stairs. This is no big deal.” But each step became harder than the last. At the first landing he glanced up. The stairs seemed to never end. Behind him were Collin and Mr. Thornton. He had to keep going.
    To keep his mind off how high he was going, Justin began counting the steps under his breath. He would conqure this fear even if it killed him!
    “Hey, Mr. Thornton,” someone shouted down from above. “Does this tower move with the wind?”
    Justin froze. His hand gripped the railing and his knuckles grew white. His breathing sped up, and he accidentally glanced down. Closing his eyes against the sudden dizziness, he fought to keep standing as his legs turned to jelly and his head pounded. He had to get back down.
    “Justin?”
    Starting as someone touched his arm, Justin opened his eyes and saw Collin looking at him with concern.
    “Are you okay?”
    He tried to speak, but his voice refused to work. It was better after clearing his throat. “Heights–” He shuddered. “Can’t stand ‘em.” Quickly his shut his eyes again as the world seemed to spin.
    Collin said something, but it was taking all of Justin’s focus not to panic completely, and he didn’t understand him.
    A firm arm came around his shoulders, and someone pried his fingers off the railing. He was going to fall!
    “Justin!” Collin’s voice was almost sharp. “We’re going down. Take a step down.”
    Keeping his eyes tightly shut, Justin managed to step back down one, then two, then three steps. They had reached one of the landings.
    “Justin, there are seven steps to the next landing. You can make it down seven steps, can’t you?”
    Opening his eyes and forcing himself to look at Collin, he nodded. “I . . . I think so. You go on up. I’ll make it down now.”
    Collin shook his head. “No way. I’m not letting you go down alone looking the way you look now. Oh, good, here’s Axton.” Another young man, one of the older ones, stopped beside them.
    “Going down?” His voice was cheery. “Me too. I’ve had enough of the wind and the view.” He moved to Justin’s other side and took a light hold of his arm.
    To Justin, the steps down to the ground seemed like a hundred, and it felt like days before they reached it. But at last they had earth beneath their feet. Justin’s knees sagged, but Collin and Axton half carried him to a bench. There he sat in silence, his eyes closed, trying to slow his breathing down.
    At last, when the panic left and his heart was beating normally, he looked up. “Thanks. I thought maybe I could do it, but–” He shook his head. “You two should go up. I’ll be fine here now.”
    Axton shook his head. “I was already up. I don’t enjoy heights very much, so I’ll just stay down. Collin?”
    Tipping his head back and looking at the top, Collin shook his head. “No, I’m good. What if we take a look at the map and see if we can figure out how to get back to the cars without going on the trails we came on.”

Do you like heights?

Is there something you are terrified of?

How was your week?

Responsibility - Part 4

Hello, Faithful Friday Fiction Fans,

I have no idea what happened to this week! It can NOT be Friday! Do you think this week is missing a few days? I'm not sure what days, but it just can't be Friday again already.

I worked on Monday.

Spent all day Tuesday at the polls.

Caught up on things on Wednesday and mailed a couple things.

Tuesday morning I mowed the yard. Some of it REALLY needed it and other parts barely did. And I weeded two flower gardens. Then I did other things.

Today my sis and I are heading over to help my brother pack orders for his book business. He's been swamped with orders and can't get caught up by himself.

Tomorrow afternoon I get to go to my heart-sister's baby shower.

Hmm, I guess there's no day of the week missing. But it sure feels like it. Maybe they were just missing some hours each instead of a full day. ;)

I haven't written at all this week. I was planning to a few times but always got interrupted or something. Hopefully next week I can write again. I want to get back to "Lake Wood." 

Today is the final part of this story.

Responsibility

Part 4

    “Speaking of home,” Preston said, offering his hand to his sister to pull her to her feet. “We’d better start back now. Raymond, you think you can find the way out of this tangled patch of trails?”
    “Yep.”
    “I’ll take Sundance back at a slow pace,” Levi announced. “Just leave a lantern in the trail where I have to turn and I can find the rest of the way back.”
    At that Danielle clasped her hands together and exclaimed in delight, “Then I can ride Arrow! I’ve always wanted to ride him.”
    “No, you may not, Danielle Perry,” Levi replied quickly. “You’re not strong enough to handle him, and I’m not about to let you possibly injure yourself so you get out of chores for weeks.”
    “But—”
    “You’re riding double with me.” Preston’s voice had a “don’t-even-try-to-argue” tone in it and Danielle didn’t press further.
    “Well, are you two coming?” Raymond’s voice moved Preston into action and, after swinging up into the saddle, pulled his sister up behind him, and they started for home, leaving Levi to follow slowly with Sundance.

    Dani had finished her supper, which would have been more than bread and butter in the kitchen had not Preston put his foot down and gently but firmly reminded his mother of what she herself had told Dani, and she was now seated in the family room telling about her adventure while Raymond bound her ankle, for she had twisted it in the tree. Preston could tell she had begun to think she was quite important because of the fuss being made over her, and he thought it was time that idea was changed. Before he could say anything, however, the door opened and Levi entered.
    “How’s Sundance?” Dani asked eagerly, catching sight of him.
    “She’ll be all right after a week’s rest.”
    “A week! How can I survive without being able to ride her for a whole week,” Dani wailed. “Poor Sundance, she won’t like it either when I ride another horse and leave her behind.”
    Preston cleared his throat. “You won’t be riding any horse at all for the rest of this month, Danielle.”
    Turning to stare across the room at her oldest brother, Dani gasped, “Not ride?”
    Levi leaned over Preston’s chair and muttered, “Don’t forget her chores.”
    A very faint nod was answer enough for Levi, and he crossed to a chair to sit down and take off his boots.
    “But, Preston,” Dani asked, “what about going to town?”
    Her brother’s voice was quiet. “You’ll ride in the carriage with Mother and Natalie. And as soon as you are firmly back on your feet, you’ll be doing your regular chores and any others that Levi assigns until this month is over.”
    This seemed too much for Dani and she burst out, “Extra chores! Preston, why? You can’t mean that—”
    Levi opened his mouth to speak but Natalie leaned over and whispered something to him and then the two of them rose and slipped from the room, Raymond following as soon as he had settled Danielle’s foot on a stool.
    Preston listened in silence to his sister’s protests until the others had left the room, then he interrupted. “Danielle, I mean every word I said. You have been late for supper four times this week alone, . . .”
    “But—” Danielle started, but her mother’s hand on her arm silenced her.
    “You have neglected your chores and then talked Raymond into helping you finish them, you frightened Mother and the rest of us by riding off into the woods alone, which you know you are not to do unless you have permission and,” he added, his voice slightly stern, “I haven’t heard you say you were sorry as though you really meant it.”
    At that Dani burst into tears and flung her arms around her mother’s neck. “Oh, I am sorry, Mother, I am. I didn’t mean to make you worry, but please, please say I can ride as soon as Sundance is well. Please Mother! I promise I’ll never go into the woods again if you will.”
    Mrs. Perry stroked the tangled locks of her youngest daughter and sighed. Why was it so hard to say no to her? Wanting some help, she looked up at the face of her eldest who had risen and was now leaning on the mantle, and as he shook his head firmly, she said, “No, Danielle. Preston has given sentence and I’ll not change it. You must learn to be responsible.”
    Finding that her mother wouldn’t yield, Danielle tried to persuade her favorite brother to change his mind. Turning tear-filled eyes on him she began, “Preston, please—”
    “Dani,” he interrupted. “I’m not going to change my mind. And if you put up a fuss about it, I may be tempted to do what was suggested to me and turn you over my knee. And I will do that if I ever hear of you neglecting your chores for pleasure again. Is that understood?” Preston hadn’t spoken sternly, but with a firmness which his sister knew and understood.
    Swallowing back her tears, she nodded. With her eyes fixed on the floor she sat in silence for some minutes before she said in low tones, “I’m sorry, Preston. I know I shouldn’t have gone into the woods, but I just didn’t think. And then after I did think, . . . I just kept going. Will you forgive me?” She looked up.
    The corners of Preston’s mouth twitched and he smiled. “Of course I will. Now you’d better tell Mother good night, and I’ll carry you up to your room. It’s late.”
    As Mrs. Perry hugged her daughter, she heard her whisper, “I am sorry, Mother. Maybe this punishment will make me stop and think before I do something.”
    “I hope so,” Mrs. Perry whispered back with a kiss.

Do you seem to be missing any days this week?

Did you get any writing done?

Do you think Preston's sentence was strong enough?