Randy Dyess's Blog, page 3

Book Review: Dead States

It has been awhile since I published a book review on my blog. Being sick over the week gave me time to actually read and finish a book. I actually read and finished two books this week. The second book review will come at a later date.

Dead States

Abrey Davis

I did enjoy this book. Without giving too much away, it’s about a group of kids in a small American town who survive the death of just about everyone else in their town and the country. I like how the author showed how she thinks this group of kids would pull together and survive. I grew up in small towns and currently live in one. I do believe the kids are different here than in the large cities and suburbs. They are used to working and have some skills other than going to the mall, playing computer games, or texting. This is a refreshing take on the “kids survive disaster when the adults didn’t” theme. Even though, I thought it had some rough spots and needed just a little more proofing – just like most new author’s works (and including my own in big letters), don’t let that stop you. Get the book and read it.

I’m glad I downloaded this one and am currently waiting on the next volume in this series. I what to find out what happens and if this small group of kids can actually come up with enough resources to survive.

FYI:

I checked today and the book is still free on Amazon.
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Status Thursdays

Ok. It’s Friday and I’m a little late with my status report. You sound just like the project managers at my day job – Where’s your status report? Where’s your status report? I’m sure it’s still Thursday in some alternative universe. Or maybe I did write and post it yesterday, but the NSA kept it overnight to read it first.

Whatever the excuse it, here is the status report for this week.

Even though I spent most of my evenings in my recliner watching TV or reading and whining like a baby, I do have some changes to my status report this week. I’ve been sick most of the week and haven’t been writing after my day job like normal, but I did find some time to do a little work on the books.

FYI

The below images will look different from last week’s report. The green checks indicate tasks that have already been completed before this week. The light bulbs are tasks I am working on this week, but haven’t finished and are still in progress. The smiley faces are for tasks finished this week.

Today’s reports in order of progress:

The questions this week are about the same as last week:

Will the order be the same next week?

Will The Meltdown replace its four flat tires and catch up to the other two? Or will Jonathan’s Journey leap ahead of the other two and get published first?

Will Randy stop acting like a baby and claiming he is sick to get out of working at night and FINISH something?

Will I never get to see the next episode of Jonathan’s Journey or Spider Wars?

Will The Meltdown ever actually get written and published or is it like road construction – ten years of promises before it’s actually done?

Find out the answers to this week’s question next Thursday (or Friday-Saturday-Sunday) in the latest episode of: Status Thursdays

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This Week

Sorry no newsletter or posts this week. This basically how I’ve felt most of the week – even after Monday was over. I’ll get out a quick status report tonight – I haven’t been totally down and out – and get back on schedule this weekend.

Thanks for putting up with me.
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The Storm – Part 3

To give back to those who have subscribed to this blog or my newsletter, I have made this piece of The Storm restricted. If you would like to read this post, please subscribe to the blog or the newsletter or both. For those who have only subscribed to the newsletter, this post will be reprinted in the next newsletter.

Thank you,

Randy

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Status Thursdays

Occasionally, I get emails asking about the status of one of my books. I’ve always replied something to the sender and then did whatever I do. This year, I told myself I will stay on track with the current works-in-progress and actually finish them before diving off into another book. To help keep myself in track and to make my progress more transparent to all two of you who care, I thought I would create Status Thursdays and post a screen capture of the progress I am making on each book. This way, you can keep track of me and harass me if I seem to have stopped on the current book you are waiting for.

Today’s Thursday reports in order of progress:

As you can see, the second episode of Jonathan’s Journey is moving along. The second episode of Spider Wars is starting to take shape. Let’s not talk about The Meltdown. It’s struggling to keep from being lapped by the other two.

Will the order be the same next week? Will some of the Spider Wars plot come to me in a dream and leap ahead of Jonathan’s Journey? Will The Meltdown replace its four flat tires and catch up to the other two? Or will Jonathan’s Journey leap ahead of the other two and get published first?

Find out next Thursday in the latest episode of: Status Thursdays
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The Storm – Part 2

I hope everyone is weathering both the Polar Vertex and the solar flares heading our way. I thought I would make you feel a little better with the second part of the series The Storm. If you haven’t read the first part, you can find it here. If you have already read the first part or simply do not want to, I thought I would recap it for you.

In the first part, geeky meteorologist Steve Matthews had been working the weather data with other meteorologists around the country. They come up with the conclusion that a record breaking winter storm was forming and about to barrel its way across the country. Blizzards in the plain’s states and Midwest. Ice and blizzard in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Snow and ice across the south going all the way down to Miami and the Mexican border. Southern cities like Miami and Houston would see ice and snow and parts of the country along the Mexican border from California to Texas would see below freezing temperatures with sleet, snow, and a little ice.

This rough map shows the extent of the storm.

This storm would be serious enough if it came and then went away like normal winter storms. Steve and his fellow meteorologist find out that the country will face below freezing (below zero) temperatures for seven to ten days after the storm hits. A few days of slightly above freezing weather in the south will be followed by another seven to ten days of artic air. The country will not thaw out for three weeks. Nothing will move. As the saying goes, trains, planes, and automobiles will be stationary for weeks. The country will be devastated by this storm.

In this part, we continue with the dire predictions and the rush by those in the know to get ready as best as they can. Will Steve be able to protect his family and friends from 12 inches of ice? Will the country’s population survive this massive storm? How many will die from the cold and lack of basic supplies?

The recent Polar Vertex we just went through was terrible, but this storm makes the Polar Vertex look tame in comparison.

Continue following the progress of the storm and find out how our characters survive with The Storm: Part 2

“Honey, I need you to wake up and listen to me,” Steve Matthews said to his groggy wife after she answered her cell phone.

“What? What time is it?” Robin said into the phone. “What’s going on?”

“Honey, I’m still at the station. There’s a dangerous storm coming in and we’re trying to finalize the numbers. It’s looking like this one is going to be horrible. We need to prepare.”

“What? I already went to the store and stocked up only everything on the three day list. I even bought extra. We can make it five or six days without going to the store…”

“Honey,” Steve tried to interrupt.

“Besides, we have Billy’s game tomorrow and Sara has to go to Millie’s birthday party. Your mother wants us to come over on Friday. How long is this thing supposed to last? When are you coming home? I need help getting ready for Wednesday’s church group. I…”

“Robin!” Steve yelled into the phone. “You need to listen to me!”

Robin had never heard her husband shout at anyone before. She stopped talking and looked at the phone. “Steve. What’s wrong?”

“Robin. This storm is going to be one of the worse storms in recorded history. When the kids wake up, I need you to go to the store. It’s important that you get there before the news gets out and the stores are emptied. We need to make sure we get everything on our checklist. We’re going to start releasing the storm data slowly over the next two days. Tomorrow, everyone is going to hint at the storm and say that the numbers are showing a possibility of a major storm hitting the upper parts of the country on Thursday night. On Wednesday morning, everyone is going to say the storm looks to be much worse than originally thought. Wednesday night, the actual size of the storm will be released. That is when everyone will panic around the country and storm the storms. The stores will be emptied by Thursday afternoon and I bet there will be riots going on by then. We need to prepare tomorrow.”

“I’ve already stocked up for a week. What else do we need?”

“Honey, I need you to go to the disaster book and pull out the checklists for a three month event.”

“Did you say, three months? Are you kidding? No storm lasts that long. Aren’t you overreacting?”

“When have you ever known me to overreact? Yes, I said three months. The storm will last for three weeks, but the cleanup will take a month or more after that. That’s why three months. The storm will be here on Sunday. By Monday morning, there will be at least ten inches of ice…”

“Did you say ten inches?”

“Yes. Overnight on Monday another two or three inches will be added to the total. I think we will have at least twelve inches of ice covering everything by Tuesday morning. It’s going to be devastating. Every tree will break. Power lines will snap. Those huge transmission towers will probably bend under the weight of the ice. Any building with a flat roof or weak roof might collapse. The weight of the ice will be too much. This will be one of the worse disasters ever recorded.”

Steve could hear Robin gasp. “It gets worse. Ninety percent of the country will be affected by this storm. All travel will stop. Planes will be grounded. Trains won’t be able to run. Trucks will not be able to make deliveries anywhere. The whole country is going to shut down during this storm and not be able to do anything for weeks. The whole country, even Houston, San Diego, and Miami, will have ice for a few days. No one will be able to get food, medicine, water, or gas. I doubt if there will be three percent of the country that will have electricity after the first few days of the storm. Millions will be affected and thousands or tens of thousands will die.”

“What are we going to do?” Robin said in a weak voice.

“We prepare. Stock up on enough stuff to last through the storm and the cleanup.”

“Why three months?” Robin asked.

“The first storm will last seven to ten days. The temperature will not go above freezing here for over a week. The ice will not melt and no work by the county will clear the roads of that much ice.”

“Did you say first storm?” Robin butted in.

“Yes. We will go above freezing for a few hours after ten days and then another strong artic front will come through. Temperatures around the country, including us, will go below zero for a few days and stay below freezing for another week or so. We are going to be covered by ice for three weeks. It will be days before the roads clear and trucks can move again. Even then, every store will have to dump its food, clean up, and restock. Food everywhere will have to be replaced. Any crop growing in warm areas will be ruined. A lot of the food warehouses around here may suffer collapsed roofs and food will need to be reshipped.”

“It’s going to take months to recover, isn’t it?”

“Yes. That’s why we need to stock up for at least three months.”

“What about the house? How will it hold up to the ice?”

“I talked to a few guys up north and they suggested we get some roof heating cables.”

“What are those?”

“The guys up north use them to prevent ice dams from forming on their roofs when snow starts to melt. If you don’t have them, the ice starts to build up on the edges of your roofs and prevents water from running off. Damages the roof. The cables keep the ice from forming.”

“Where can we get them? I’ve never heard of them?”

“I ordered enough to cover the roof of the house and the roof of the garage. I paid extra for overnight delivery – they should be here in a day or so. I’m also going to stop and get another generator on my way home and extra gas cans and gas. I think I can get enough in my truck to keep the cables going for the first ten or twenty hours. That should be enough to keep the ice down to a minimum and keep our roof from being damaged. We can run the other generator to keep the house warm and the well going. I haven’t figured out what to do about the sheds yet. I’m hoping they have enough of a slope to prevent too much ice from building up and collapsing them. I’ll keep thinking about what to do about the sheds and hopefully we can come up with something later. We may have to move all the animals into one shed and heat it somehow.”

“What do you need me to do first?”

“Follow the checklists. We should have enough time to buy what we need before the panic. Also, I want you to start calling our parents, your sister, my sister, and your aunt. I’ll call my brother. We need to convince them to come stay with us or at least prepare for the storm.”

“Ok Sweetie, I’ll go downstairs and start making lists of what we have on hand already. There’s no way I can sleep after this. I’ll go first thing in the morning and buy as much as I can from the lists. I’ll try to get enough for everyone in case they decide to stay here. When are you going to be home?”

“I’m going to run another set of numbers and then Henry is going to call everyone in early. We are having a meeting in the morning to go over everything. I’ll leave right after that and run the numbers from home until the power goes off or they stop coming in. I’m not going to be trapped in the station when this happens.”

“Ok. Be careful. I’ll finish up downstairs and try to get a few hours’ sleep before taking the kids to school. I’ll call in tomorrow and hit the stores.”

“Be careful sweetie and I’ll see you tomorrow. I think we’ve already done enough prepping that we should be able to make it through this. Millions may die from this storm and the country may be a wreck after it’s over, but we should be fine. I’m more worried about our family than us.”

***

Steve walked into the main conference room and saw the worried looks of the other four meteorologists sitting around the conference room’s table. Henry must have told them about the storm and it had them just as scared as Steve was. He didn’t envy the on-air talent who would have to stay at the station during the storm. They would be trapped and not be able to make it back to their families once the storm hit. The station had a generator, but it wouldn’t last them more than a few days. He hoped they brought in extra supplies and figured out a way to keep warm. He knew Henry lived too far away to try to go back home after the power goes out and they were not needed anymore. Only Alexis lived close enough to walk home. Not that her tiny apartment would be any better than the station. At least they had more space and supplies here. He looked around the group and wonder who would stay. Steve knew Henry would be one, but didn’t know who the second person would be. He suspected it would be Alexis. She had just started and had recently moved from Houston. She didn’t have a husband or children and her family in Houston would be relatively safe from the storm. As long as they had enough food and could handle the power outage, they would be fine without her.

“Ok,” Henry said after letting Steve sit down. “Now that Steve is here, we can start this doomsday meeting. I’ve talked to all of you, but I’ll let Steve go back over everything. After that, we need to coordinate with our sister stations to slowly release this information to the public.”

“Why not tell them right off?” Alexis asked.

“What we hope to accomplish by spreading out the news over several days is to try to keep panic from setting in right away. Give people a chance to realize that this storm is going to be bad and they need to do something extra. This way, not everyone will rush out to the stores one the first day and strip them bare. We are hoping to give everyone a chance by letting the news out over a few days.”

“Ok,” Alexis responded while not looking happy about the answer.

Steve stood up and started going over the numbers. He mentioned how the rest of his meteorology group had confirmed his analysis and they all were in agreement about the strength and duration of the storm. He went through the federal and state agencies that had already been informed and talked about their action plans and time tables. Red Cross, national guard and regular military units, and state transportation departments would be starting to roll into action in the next few hours. FEMA would be releasing disaster planning checklists during news casts and in TV ads and open their camps for refugees. He also talked about his own plans for his family and how they were planning on surviving. None of the other meteorologists at the station had taken any time to prep for more than a small storm lasting few days. A few others made notes to go online to order roof heating cables Steve mentioned and call their family members as soon as they could. Steve said he would email his disaster checklist to everyone at the station as soon as he got home.

The meeting lasted several more hours and after it was over, Steve got up and wished everyone good luck. He would not be coming back to the station until the storm was over and chances are he wouldn’t see them for at least another month. Maybe, even longer. Steve lived out in the country and knew the recovery agencies would be hard pressed to make their way to his home for weeks after the storm had ended. He told everyone that he hoped they and their family would be safe and make it through the upcoming weeks. They all acted like it would be fine, but Steve and the others knew that someone in the room would probably lose at least one family member, if not more.

I hope you enjoyed reading the second part of this series. As usual, this is a quick post and it hasn’t been through a complete rewrite or edit. You will find typos, errors, missing words, etc. Please ignore them or send me an email and I’ll come fix them and update this post.

Also, let me know what you think. I love to get comments about my posts. Check back in a few weeks and hopefully, I’ll post the third part of the series.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading my works.

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Happy New Year

Well, it’s time to get back to work. Not that I didn’t work during the past few months, my day job only has 6 days of holidays and it kept me busy for 8-9 hours each day. A few holiday events, a week of food poisoning, and two weeks of fighting the flu meant something had to give and that was my writing. I usually slow down at the end of the year, but not as much as I did the past few months.

I did spend time looking back over the last year to make plans for this year and I hope you will enjoy what is coming down the road. I plan on making this blog one of my primary vehicles for introduction of new material. Some of this material may never find its way into a novel, some might. You may find a series introduced on this blog and then stopped all of a sudden for various reasons. It may be that I have lost my way with the series and don’t know where to take the series. It may also be because I find out that no one is actually reading the posts and stop spending time on the series. It may also be that I really enjoy the posts and want to put them into a novel I am currently working on. In this case, if you are not signed-up for the newsletter – you may not get to see how the series ends.

Let me explain that last sentence by explaining what I am planning on doing this year.

The Website:

The website is going to get an overhaul in the upcoming months. I picked the current theme a few months ago and am not really happy with the current look. The current theme I am using seems to be a little hard to navigate and doesn’t do everything I want the website to do. So in a month or two, the website will be rebuilt with a new theme and look. Hopefully, I will be able to keep all posts up and the information on every registered user as well. All you may find is a few broken links and some brief periods of downtime on the website.

The Blog:

For those who visit the website or subscribed to the blog postings, you will find a few other changes this year. I plan on posting general blog posts with material I will probably never use in a novel. These blog postings will be accessible by anyone who navigates to the site – registered or not. I plan on at least one of these blog posting a week, but reserve the right to increase the time between these postings as I get busier.

Another thing I have worked on in the last month is how to make a blog posting restricted to those who have registered on the site. I’m planning on using this functionality to post material which will be in a novel one day. Give you a little something extra for taking the time to register.

I am also thinking about creating a web-only series which is only available to those who register on the website or subscribe to my newsletter. These posts will eventually form the basis of a new book at the end of the year or next year. This series will be nonfiction homesteading, prepping, survival “How-To” wrapped up in a fiction story. I’m still working on the title, but it will along the lines of “The School of Prepping”. I haven’t found a title I like yet. Maybe some of you can offer a few suggestions. I’m hoping to be able to keep up with a weekly posting for these restricted items.

The Newsletter:

The third piece of this website will be the newsletter. At this time, I want to do a weekly newsletter but I may change my mind and change the newsletter to only come out twice a month instead of each week if I get busy. I encourage you to sign up for the newsletter, in addition to registering for the website. There will be extras contained in the newsletter you will not see on the website or in the blog postings. The newsletter will contain a summary of general viewing blog postings since the last newsletter, the text of any restricted blog postings written since the last newsletter, and as a special treat. I will include pieces of one of the novels I am currently working on in each newsletter. You will get to read a scene or maybe even an entire chapter before anyone else. It may be a rough draft, but it will be material that should be include when the book is actually published.

Those who take the time to sign up for the newsletter will also be entering a monthly drawing for a free book in addition to any other free book offerings I have included in my books or on the website. The free book can either be one of the currently published titles or I can put you on a list to get a free copy of one of the books I am currently working on, once the book is completed. You will have to learn how to “side-load” the book into your Kindle, but I will send you instructions on how to download the Kindle book file and load the file directly into your Kindle if you do not know how.

The Novels:

I have been slack over the last 6 months in completing the novels in my queue. I vow to do better this year and actually complete several novels I have planned and have been talking about for the last 6 or more months.

The Meltdown

I have started the third novel of the Out of Gas series several times, but have not like where the novel has taken me. I would scrap the entire thing and start over again and outline a new one. Start writing off the new outline and then stop again. Some of you may know this already, but I’m not into the violence found in most post-apocalyptic novels. I will mention mutant zombie biker gangs, but don’t spend a lot of time writing out fight scenes. Just not me. Unfortunately, The Meltdown, has tried to take me there several times. I find myself getting deeper and deeper in some gang war as I wrote from my old outlines. I’m hoping this last outline will allow me to keep with the themes of the series without becoming a war novel.

Jonathan’s Journey Season 1

I spent several days in July traveling the route from Madill, Ok. To San Antonio, TX that my character, Jonathan, would have to travel in the rest of the season episodes. I made pages of notes and have worked them into something to use for the next 5 episodes.

The second episode of this season is underway and hopefully will be out the door in the next month or so. The next 4 after soon after that. Whether there will be a season 2 is still up in the air.

Spider Wars Season 1

Many of you probably don’t realize that I had completed my first attempt at a sci-fi book last summer. I really enjoyed writing the first episode of this book, but stopped the season once I realized no one was downloading and reading the first episode. I told myself two months ago, I would finish the season this year, even if no one reads the episodes. I enjoyed writing the first episode and want to get the rest of the book out of my head. That is a problem I have, some story gets in my head and I have to get it out or I can’t work on anything else. One of the reason why I have the beginnings of 5 books stored on my computer. I’m great about coming up with the idea and writing the first 2 or 3 chapters. Then something else pops up and takes over and I never finish the ones I have already started. Who knows, I may just put all those unfinished book chapters into the newsletter and blog over time and see how people like them.

Other Changes

I’m also going to start including periodic updates on the works-in-progress on my website, in the blogs, and in the newsletter. I’m hoping some of you will harass me about why there seems to be no progress on a particular title you are waiting for. Go ahead, harass me. Send me an email or make a comment on a post. Do something to keep me on task. I won’t mind and will probably give you a free copy of the title if you harass me enough to actually finish writing it.

Here’s the link to my contact page. You can use the contact form on the page to send me harassing emails or use the newsletter form on the page to sign up for the newsletter.

Here’s my email if you would rather send me something directly: randydyess@randydyess.com

Thanks for reading my books, my blog postings, and for listening to me spout off today. I hope you enjoy the upcoming year.

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The Christmas Gift

After a little nap and some downtime playing with the dogs, the story that had been swirling around in my head finally came back to the surface. I started typing this up around 9 tonight and after 2 1/2 hours, I have finally finished getting it out of my head. It may be a little rough and have usual typos, missing words, and other things you find in these posts of mind. I hope you overlook them for the underlying story and enjoy the story for what it is.

Owen Marshall tried his best to pull the collar of his ratty coat a little tighter. He looked up at the sky and begin to worry about the clouds moving in. “There’s a storm coming,” he said to himself. “I hope we make it before it hits. We should only have a few more miles. I can feel it. A few more miles.”

“Daddy, I’m cold,” his oldest daughter said. Owen looked under the thin blanket he had draped over the top of the grocery cart containing his two daughters, Cheyenne and Dakota. His wife pushed a second cart with his son, RJ, and what little possessions they still had.

“Just a little farther, sweetie. I need to find a good place to stop,” Owen said to his daughter.

“Ok.”

Owen knew they were on the right track. He had dreamed of this location for months. He knew there would be a little out-cropping of rocks surrounded by trees just up ahead. Something had whispered to him in his dreams, they would find shelter there.”

“Honey. How much further?” Sera called out.

“A little farther. There’s a storm coming and I need to find a good spot. Let’s try to make it to those hills. Maybe, we can find something there.” He had not told Sera of his dreams or of the voice in his head. He didn’t want her to think he was going crazy. He barely believe it himself and as he watched his kids grow weaker and weaker, he often thought he was going crazy as well.

The small family kept moving forward. To stop without shelter was to die like the millions of other Americans who just couldn’t cope over the last few months with the collapse of civilization. Owen had to trust the voice and keep moving.

*****

The Marshall’s had once had everything. A very large house filled with the latest gadgets. Fancy sport cars and country club memberships. Thousands of dollars were spent each month on utility bills, meals at restaurants, and the premium wines Owen and Sera just had to have with each meal. Today, Owen would trade it all for a case of beans and a few pieces of camping equipment. When the world’s economy crashed due to a global fuel shortage, Owen was one of those who refused to believe it was happening. It wasn’t until the electricity went off and the water stopped that he even began to believe the crash might be real. Even then, he refused to leave his house for over three months. It wasn’t until they had eaten the last crumb of food and drank the last drops of water available in their neighborhood that Sera had been able to convince him they needed to leave. He still doesn’t know how they had managed to survive the last four months wandering around northern New York looking for this place he dreamed about each night.

When they left home, neither one of them had any survival skills or supplies. They set out with a their $1,000 rolling suitcase set filled with clothing that fell apart the first time the going got rough. $600 shoes were tossed aside for hiking boots they managed to find in an abandoned house. Name brand jeans gave way to the old set of overalls Owen took off an old-fashioned scarecrow someone had put up at a small farmer’s market. Today, all of their possessions were gone. The thousands of dollars of clothing they left their house with, were ripped, shredded or ill-suited for a life outdoors. Sera cried when she finally gave up and tossed her $2,000 designer coat aside for a greasy work jacket dug up from the floor of a burnt out gas station. Her coat was useless in the cold winds of late fall and early winter, but the dirty smelly jacket wasn’t.

*****

“We have to stop,” Sera shouted. “It’s getting too cold out in this wind.”

She was right, but they were lucky. Owen knew exactly where they were. He knew just over the berm in front of him, there would be the rock out-cropping with shelter from the wind. “I think we can pull up over there,” Owen shouted as he pointed to a small outcropping of rocks surrounded by trees. “Those rocks should offer some protection.”

Owen and Sera pushed their carts to the edge of the road and helped the children out. Owen looked both carts over for anything they could use as Sera walked the kids to a sheltered spot out of the wind. Owen followed with their few blankets and the last few bites of the food they had scavenged from the dumpster of a small restaurant they passed yesterday.

“I’m going for firewood and water. You stay here and try to keep the kids as warm as you can. Let them eat the rest of the food. They need to energy,” Owen told Sera.

Owen hoped this wasn’t some mistake. He hoped the voice in his head had not led them to their deaths. If there wasn’t something in this woods for them, they would die tonight in the cold of the storm. He walked deeper into the woods looking for a tree he had seen countless times in his dreams over the last few months. If it didn’t exist…

“Thank you,” Owen said out loud as he saw the tree. He leaned up against a tree and started crying. “This is it. There is no way we can survive this storm if something doesn’t happen. You listened to that voice all those months ago and headed north instead of south. You justified it by saying you were heading away from the heat of the south. You justified it by thinking if you headed in the opposite direction from everyone else, you’d have a better chance of finding and scavenging food. Everything would be picked over by the thousands before you if you went south. You justified your decision by saying that it’s so nice upstate. There would be water everywhere. Cool temperatures and old farms. No crowds to fight you for each morsel of food. You kept saying to Sera that you could find some cabin or vacation house to stay in. But, the truth was that you listened to the voice telling you to come here. This overwhelming desire would fill you to head this way each time the voice spoke to you. Now that you are here. Now what? You’ve left countless places that could have sheltered us. Your family is ragged, starving, and exhausted from wandering all over the place looking for this place. This was somewhere that is supposed to give you a fighting chance.”

It was all he could do to keep from just sitting down at the base of the tree and waiting for something to happen. He didn’t have the stomach to go back and watch his wife and three children die in the cold. He made them come here; there had to be some reason. He put his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out an object he had taken from one of the homes they had stayed in last week. He didn’t know why he kept this object. Maybe, it was the voice. Maybe, it was some memory from his childhood controlling his thoughts that day. Whichever, he had pocketed the silver cross he saw hanging above the useless fireplace in that little house.

Owen fell to his knees and held the small silver cross in front of him. It had been decades since he last attended church or prayed. He once believed, but had that belief taken from him when both of his parents died of cancer a few years apart. He couldn’t understand why a god he had spent so much time talking to during his youth would desert him like that. He couldn’t understand why two people who defended their beliefs every chance they got had to suffer like they did. When his prayers were not answered the night his father passed away, Owen threw his cross and bible in the trash and closed his heart.

Tonight was different. This place was different. He felt the energy of the wind and storm swirling around him. Beneath this normal looking tree, Owen somehow felt more connected to nature and God than he had ever felt before. Maybe, he had been wrong all of those years. Maybe, tonight things would be different. He had changed over the last seven months. Even in these desperate times, Owen felt a peace he had never felt before. He had told himself and Sera those flimsy reasons why they should come north instead of going south like everyone else. He almost believed them himself. It was easier to believe in the false logic he made up for the decision than to admit that a voice was calling him. A voice that was pulling him to this small spot in the middle of nowhere. This was the spot of his dreams and the spot the voice directed him to.

“I know, I haven’t talked to you in years. I know, I even believed you didn’t exist for most of those years. I don’t know if I have the right to ask you anything, yet alone expect you to help me. It’s not for me, it’s for my family. Do what you wish of me, but please let them live. You have called me to this spot. Please tell me what I can do to save my family. Tell me what sacrifice you need me to make.”

Owen closed his eyes. He could feel the energy surrounding him. He felt himself merge with that energy in a way he couldn’t describe to others if he had to. He felt warm. He felt at peace with the world. Then he saw it. A vision of a small cottage just a few hundred feet in front of him. He knew this was the place they were looking for. He knew this small cottage was salvation for his family. The vision faded and he jerked awake. He didn’t know how long he had been there. He hoped there was still time to save his family.

Owen rushed back to his wife and kids. “Come on, grab the kids and follow me. I’ve found somewhere for us.”

“What? Where?”

“Just come on. We don’t have a lot of time. The storm’s going to hit soon.”

Owen grabbed Cheyenne and Dakota up his arms and walked as fast as he could. It was becoming dark, but somehow he could see. The path to the cottage was somehow lighter than the rest of the forest. He knew they were being shown the path.

“There!” Owen shouted as the cottage came into view. It was just as he dreamed.

*****

Owen walked up to the back door of the cottage. He just knew it wouldn’t be locked and it wasn’t. They hustled inside and shut the door behind them. The place felt warm. Warmer than it should have been if it was simply an abandoned cottage. “This looks too clean,” Sera said. “Someone has to live here.”

“Hello! Anyone here?” Owen shouted. No one answered back.

“Maybe, they’re just out getting water or firewood.”

“I’ll go look around. Stay here with the kids. If someone comes back. Hopefully, they’ll forgive us and let us stay until the storm passes.”

Owen didn’t know if anyone else lived here or not. The voice only said to come to this spot, not what to do once he got here. He looked around the place. It was clean and looked well stocked. He even found food in the pantry. At least they may be able to eat something before being kicked out.

“Sera! No one’s here. There’s some food in the kitchen. Let’s eat something and then go to bed.”

The small family filled their stomachs for the first time in months. After eating, everyone was exhausted. Owen wanted to look around some more, but could barely keep his eyes open. He needed to find out why he had been called to this remote cottage, but decided it could wait until tomorrow. Owen, Sera, and the kids all walked through the small living room of the cottage and made their way into what should be the master bedroom. It had a large bed, piled high with big fluffy blankets. A small wood stove sat in the corner surrounded by pieces of stacked wood. Owen had no trouble starting a small fire in the stove which soon filled the room with heat. They all crawled into the big bed and slept in a way they had not done since the meltdown ended civilization.

*****

Owen opened his eyes and saw the sleeping form of his wife. He thought he heard laughter coming from the other room, but was having a hard time understanding who could be laughing. No one had laughed in almost a year. Why would they be laughing now?

“Where’s the kids?” Sera asked.

Owen looked around the room. The kids were missing. He sat up and swung his feet off the bed. Standing up he headed for the source of the laughter in the next room. Sera was right behind him. They yanked open the door and looked into the small living room. The sun was shining through the windows, filling the room with a soft light. “How could it be morning already?” Owen thought. “We just went to bed.”

“That wasn’t there last night, was it?” Sera said as she looked at Owen. “I didn’t see it there. Where did it come from?”

Owen refocused his eyes back into the room and saw his three children sitting next to a Christmas tree. Each one had a small pile of opened presents sitting next to them.

“Look mommy, Santa Claus came last night. He found us and left us presents,” Dakota called out. Her face glowed from joy and she tried on a pair of shoes. They fit perfectly. Somehow Owen knew they would.

“I don’t know honey,” Owen whispered back. “Maybe, Santa left it.”

Sera just looked at him as he headed into the room. “Where’s my present?” he asked Cheyenne.

She pointed to one of the boxes left under the tree. “I think that one’s yours daddy.”

Owen played along and tore off the wrapping and opened the box. It had two books in it. Owen picked up the smaller of the books and opened it. It was the biography of preacher who rode around the country during the early days of the country. He knew what the other book was without even picking it up. It was a bible, but not just any bible. It was his grandmother’s bible. He knew it the moment he saw it by the small stain on the front cover. He had made the stain when he was five by spilling his milk on the bible one day while sitting in his grandmother’s lap reading one morning. His mother was horrified that he had spilled milk on the two hundred year old bible. His grandmother just shrugged it off. It was only a book. It was not the bible itself that needed to be treasured and cherished. It was the words within that were important.

After seeing the bible, Owen finally knew why he had been led to this remote place in the woods. He had his answer. He knew this place would provide for them and keep them until everything calmed down and the world started up again. After building a fire in the fireplace and helping Sera figure out how to start the stove in the kitchen, he went back into the living room. Sitting in the chair nearest the window, Owen opened to the first page of his grandmother’s bible and starting reading.

The post The Christmas Gift appeared first on Randy Dyess.

Christmas Week

I wanted to bring the subscribed readers of this blog and my newsletter subscriber a Christmas story this week, but my daughter thought she would give me the flu for Christmas – how nice of her. So while I fight this bug, I thought I would share with you how the last few days have gone with a image I stole off of the internet. I hope you like the image and I will try to get the story out before – you know – Christmas.

The post Christmas Week appeared first on Randy Dyess.

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