Good morning!
It is a very windy morning here. I was woken up after 4 by the wind. It rattled the door until we put something in it. And it just keeps blowing. Going to head out and walk in a little while. We'll see how hard it is to walk against the wind.
This week has been pretty normal. I once again had to mow the yard since we've had so much rain and then sun and then rain and then sun. I also taught my next to last writing class for the semester. I worked on formatting Lessons from Liberty, and made some progress on cleaning out my kindle. I had so many books on there and many were ones I got without really knowing if I'd be interested in them or not. It is so nice now to have many books gone that I either wasn't interested in reading, or wasn't going to like.
You probably want an update on Don Wood, don't you? Well, what if I were to tell you that after writing, editing and adding, rearranging and more editing and rewriting, that I'm scrapping it? Now don't burst into tears. I'm not getting rid of Don Wood. I've just reached the conclusion that the mystery I had wasn't going to work because Don wasn't interested in it at all and it's hard to make the readers interested in something that the main character isn't interested in. So . . . My mom had a new idea, it seems to fit Don a lot better and he's actually interested in it. I will still keep some of my favorite scenes from the other unfinished version, but I'm starting over. This is a first. I've never started a book over again. But I'd rather have a story that works and is as interesting to the readers and MC as the other books in the series. Wouldn't you? You can be praying things go smoothly with my writing.
Today's story is one I've posted before way back in 2013, I think. I looked back and realized that I really don't have a lot of stories to repost because I either have reposted them in the last two years, or I've published them. I do have some more scenes I wrote last July. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this short story. I wrote it when I gave my writing class an assignment and thought I'd do the same assignment.
Changed Plans
Why would anyone plan a wedding for such a perfect day, the two boys wondered sadly. Jason Harris and Silas Coffman had made their plans for this Saturday several days before. Since it was such perfect weather for baseball, and the summer games would be starting soon, the two friends had agreed to spend Saturday at the park practicing. Jason had hurried through his chores in record time, grabbed his bat and ball, hollered a quick good-bye to his mom and raced to the park. He was afraid he was late. Actually, he was a little early and did a few warm up laps around the field. Then he waited. Tossing the ball up and then catching it again, Jason kept glancing around in hopes that Silas would appear. At last he spied him, but something was wrong!
“Hey, Si, what’s with the suit and tie?” Jason called, snatching up his bat and hurrying over to meet his friend.
“I can’t play,” grumbled Silas, shoving a hand into his pocket.
“Why not?”
“Got a wedding to go to.”
“Ah, man!” exclaimed Jason in disgust, “who would want to get married today when it is the perfect weather to play baseball?”
Silas was equally glum and answered, “Yeah, I know. It’s some relative. I didn’t even know about it until I was getting ready to come out. Then Mom made me put this thing on,” and he pulled at his tie as though it were choking him. “I tried calling your house, but your mom said you had already gone out.”
“Couldn’t you just not go?” Jason queried.
Silas shook his head. “I already tried, but both Mom and Dad said I have to go.” He gave a long sigh and both boys fell silent, each gazing sadly at the other. A car horn sounded and Silas glanced around. “I have to go. Dad let me walk out here to tell you why I couldn’t play, but I guess they’re all ready to go now. Sorry I can’t stay.”
“Me too. Bye.” Jason watched his friend hurry to the car and climb in. His day was ruined.
Feeling lonely and sad, Jason slowly pushed the tire swing back and forth. After he had watched the Coffman car disappear down the street, Jason had looked about the park in hopes that someone else he knew would be there to play ball with him. No one had been. Forlornly, he had trudged across the grass to a large tire swing. Many times he had enjoyed swinging on that swing or climbing the rope and disappearing into the tree, but today was different. Today he had been going to play baseball and the plan hadn’t worked. Dropping his bat, he had listlessly climbed onto the swing.
“Bother,” he muttered, “weddings shouldn’t be planned for such perfect weather. Everyone planning a wedding should know that. I don’t know anyone who is getting married, do I?” He thought hard. “Nope.” He couldn’t think of anyone. If he had he would have been sure to tell them not to plan it on a great day for baseball.
For several minutes he just sat still and let the breeze shake the tree branch which in turn bounced the tire swing up and down. This was not how he had planned on spending his day.
“If I go home, Mom will find more chores for me to do,” he said to himself, walking the swing over to the tree and then pushing off with his legs. The swing swung out and turned, coming back to the tree trunk where Jason pushed off again, harder this time.
“I didn’t ask Silas how long the wedding was going to be. Maybe he’ll be back after lunch and we can practice this afternoon!” Then he remembered the few weddings he had been to. They had lasted for hours and hours. Often they didn’t get home until supper time. “I guess it’s no use waiting for him. Maybe I should just go home.” His feet dragged slowly in the dust.
With a broad smile on his face, Jason hit the ball and listened to a delighted bark. He had been about to take his bat and go home, when his baseball rolled right to his feet. Blinking in surprise, Jason had glanced around to see a medium size dog, with tail wagging, waiting eagerly.
“Well, hello fellow,” Jason greeted the dog. “Where did you come from?”
The dog, evidently excited to be noticed, bounded over and jumped up on Jason, licking his face and whining. Then, as Jason pushed him down and stood up, the dog picked up the baseball and wagged his tail.
“You want to play?” Jason asked.
Excitedly dropping the ball once more, the dog barked.
“Okay, let’s go!” Snatching up his bat and ball, Jason headed over to the wide, empty field at the edge of the park. Although the dog couldn’t pitch to him, Jason figured he could toss the ball and then hit it. Maybe the dog, who had brought him the ball to begin with, would bring it back. It was worth a try. Whack! Across the field the ball flew with the dog following in a mad dash. Jason grinned. This was going to be fun! Back the dog came with the ball in his mouth.
“I ought to name you Fetch,” Jason noted as he ruffled up the dog’s ears and picked up the ball. Giving a few excited barks, Fetch backed up, tail wagging and eyes on the ball. To him, this was a delightful game as well. Whack!
When a dinner bell rang out faintly across the air, Jason started in surprise. Could it really be lunch time already? “I didn’t know we’d been playing for so long, Fetch. Come on home with me, Boy,” and Jason shouldered his bat and patted his leg. To his delight, the dog trotted along beside him, carrying the baseball.
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