Jeffrey Reid's Blog

A Preview of The Smile People (coming 2016)

Originally posted on Zack and Mack--The Two-Headed Turtle:

Ancient legends tell us that in the beginning the snake churned a river of milk to start the process of creating the earth. In today’s creation story, spots of the Milky Way churned and swirled forth gases that spun round and round until they became liquid. The heavier portions of theses liquid gases sank toward the center of this swirling mass creating suns and planets. Thus began the creation of the earth, from white hot milky gases to a now cooled solid mass.

Some 4.3 billion years passed since those first swirling gasses. A single land mass spanned across the center of the earth surrounded by vast seas. Across the center of this land lay a forbidding desert. To the north and south of this equatorial center grand monsoons swept the lands twice a year giving life to simple trees and non-flowering plants. The first creatures threw themselves upon the…

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A Brief Excerpt from the Upcoming Novel: The Smile Thief by Zack and Mack

The bale of turtles began moving forward as the late afternoon sun filtered through the ravine, casting shadows into the dry creek bed. Zack and Mack pulled up along side Malea.

“Food and water are going to be a real problem soon,” Mack confided to Malea.

“What are we going to do?” asked Malea. “There are 200 of us turtles, some of the smaller ones are starting to get weak.”  Zack looked ahead into the distance where he saw what appeared to be a bend in the creek bed covered by brush.

“Malea, can you see the brush there ahead of us?” asked Zack.

“Yes, Yes I can,” Malea replied.

“With brush growing in the middle of the creek bed, it must mean that there might be moisture, perhaps a small bit of water,” Zack reasoned.

“Oh, let’s hope so,” Malea replied.

In the middle of the line of marching turtles, Loredana struggled to keep pace. Beside her, a sprightly turtle named Peppi, tried to cheer on Loredana to keep going.

“You can do it, Loredana, just one leg in front of the other. It’s getting late, so we will be stopping soon,” encouraged Peppi.

“Oh, Peppi, my leg hurts so much, I think I cut my foot sliding down the hill,” Loredana confided. “If I can just rest a moment, I know I can make it.”  Loredana noticed that the late afternoon sun was growing dim, and that a shadow swiftly began to grow around her. Loredana felt sharp sensations, like needles trying to stick into her shell. Loredana turned her head to try and see what was happening to her shell. As she began to turn her head, she felt someone climbing on her from behind. It was Juri. The shadow now surrounded Loredana, she saw a flash of feathers and beak. Loredana instinctively withdrew her head inside her shell just as the beak swooped down.

Juri had seen the danger from the sky as the hawk dove down. As fast as his tired legs could move, Juri rushed to meet the danger. The only weapon he had was his strong beak. He climbed up the back of Loredana’s shell from behind and reached out to snap at the legs of the hawk as it tried to wrap its talons around Loredana. Juri’s first snapped missed, but his second bite managed to draw blood from the leg of the attacking hawk. It was a ball of confusion as flapping wings and cries from the hawk filled the air. The hawk’s talons stopped its search for a hold on Loredana’s shell. Juri saw another blur of flapping wings and feathers and then nothing. It was over as quick as it happened.

“Loredana, Loredana, are you okay?” Juri asked, still on top of her shell. Loredana slowly poked out her head.

“I’m fine, I’m okay, what happened?” Loredana asked, confused as to what had just transpired.

“Hawk,” Juri simply said.

“Peppi, did you see the hawk?” Loredana asked. “Peppi did you see it?”  Juri looked to where Peppi had been just moments before.

“Peppi!” Loredana cried out. The line of turtles had stopped, the ones behind Loredana and Juri had seen what had just happened, the one ahead began sensing that something very bad had just transpired.

“Hawk!” Juri cried out. “Hawk’s got Peppi!” The turtles began scrambling for cover that did not exist. They were in total danger from above. Plump little targets ripe for the picking.

In the sky above, Peppi flailed his legs as though he was swimming in the air. The hawk held Peppi with its sharp talons on either side of his shell. The needle like claws scratching deep into Peppi’s carapace and plastron. As Peppi tried to fight his captor, he saw the hawk’s wings slowly flap as it tried to gain altitude. Try as he might, Peppi could not free himself from the hawk’s grip. He looked down and saw his fellow turtles moving around in a panic. Some of the turtles were looking up at him, others were attempting to find any possible cover. Some hid behind rocks, others stood still and withdrew into their shell. Peppi could see one turtle racing from the rear of the group toward where he and Loredana had been. It was Zack and Mack, who could mistake those two heads.

“Zack, Mack, I’m up here!” Peppi cried out.

Maybe it was the bite that Juri had made on the Hawk’s leg moments earlier, but for whatever reason, the hawk had loosened it grip of Peppi ever so slightly. Peppi continued to flail his legs, a common trait of turtles when they are picked up.

Zack and Mack craned their necks to keep the hawk in their sight. As Mack was watching Peppi’s peril, he saw the hawk attempt to adjust its grip of Peppi’s shell. It was at that moment Mack saw Peppi drop.

“Peppi!” Mack screamed out. Mack watched as Peppi began to tumble through the heavens, a green stone rolling over and over in the pink and gray afternoon sky. Zack watched with shock as Peppi hit a large rock jutting out from the side of the ravine and continue tumbling down the hillside, finally coming to a rest in the creek bed a short distance away. Zack and Mack raced toward their comrade. There, Peppi lay motionless on his back, with his legs limp; eyes closed and mouth open. A small trickle of blood formed along a crack on Peppi’s shell. Zack and Mack nudged one of Peppi’s legs with their snouts.

“Peppi! Peppi!” Zack and Mack cried out. By now other turtles approached the scene. Wails of sorrow began rising from the turtles that had been through so much. Loredana and Arana moved through the turtles to reach Peppi.

“Peppi,” Loredana wept. Tears were streaming down her face as she too, began nudging Peppi with her snout. “We were just talking, we were just talking. You were trying to cheer me up. Oh, Peppi, oh Peppi.” Loredana cried with great sadness.

Arana knew that if something was not immediately done, panic would ensure amongst the remaining bale. Danger still lurked in the sky and daylight was fading. “Turtles, Turtles!” Arana cried out. “Friends gather round.” Arana waited until the outlaying turtles had made their way to the rest of the group.

“Turtles,” Arana continued. “This is a horrible tragedy. But we will have to wait until later to mourn our dear friend Peppi. Nightfall is coming. We need to find cover. Ahead there is brush where we can take cover for the night. We have lost a good friend and fellow turtle. But there is still danger above. We have to quickly bury Peppi and make our way to the brush.”

“What about food and water?” a voice shouted from the back of the group.

“We need our best diggers to come forward,” said Arana, ignoring the question. “We need guards to watch over, those that want to pay their respects to Peppi are welcome. The rest of you, head toward the brush and scout out the area.”

There was a murmur from the bale. Several turtles began moving forward through the gathering. Turtles parted to make way for the diggers, who were to prepare a grave for their friend, Peppi. Malea was among the diggers.

“This is so sad,” Malea said quietly to Zack and Mack.

copyright 2015 Zack and Mack The Smile Thief

Worms

We have been enjoying the tasty treats of worms.  Our human has taken to going out on the property and digging up fresh worms for us.  Big worms, small worms, fat worms, skinny worms…all in all, tasty worms.

We sort of slurp them like a noodle.  We just can’t get enough.  We like em, worms.  Our motto is, when life gives you nothing but worms…Eat the Worms!  They are tasty.

Just a Short Note

We write this after being picked up along the Indus River. Malea was put in a box next to Zack and I. All the other turtles have been gathered as far as we can tell.

They came in with a fog. That is, a grey nothingness descended along the river filling the land until nothing could be seen. Naturally, we withdrew into our shell. All of us are battered and bruised, surviving our own dolorosa.

The humans that plucked us from the river’s edge are small, like children. We wondered if Constnce was there, but she wasn’t there. We don’t know where we are heading, or why. We will write alter when we figure it out.

Zack and Mack

The Smile Thief

We have been busy at work on our new adventure titled           “The Smile Thief. ”    It is taking a while because we are still living the adventure and when things slow down a bit, we write a few lines.  So, at this point in time, we do not know how things will end.  We know how it starts, we know the middle, we just don’t know the end, or exactly when the end will be the end.

Confused?   So are we.

Anyway, we are somewhere in the neighbourhood of Pakistan, India and China, (we think.)  Wherever we are, we are a long way from Maytown.  Constance is here, along with her mother and father.   It has been a long time since we saw all three of them.  A lot has happened since the Maytown Fair.

Anyway, this is a short hello and update.  We will be in contact again soon.  Zack and Mack

#JeSuisCharlie

Zack et Mack position pour la liberté.

In the Jungle

http://tinyurl.com/kwz3odo

The boys wanted to take a walk today out in the jungle that is their land.  Being the obliging owner, the beasts were released onto the terrain.

On another note, Zack and Mack have been writing the sequel to The Smile Ambassadors.  The new book is titled The Smile Thief.  Later in these pages, the boys want to have a preview of their new tome.  They expect it to be  released later this year.

While we are all here, the boys want to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year.

Take Us Around the World

Take us around the world. As everyone by now knows, Zack and Mack like to travel.  Since they lack any pockets, the boys are asking that folks cut out there picture and take it to interesting locations around the planet.  Photos can either be posted here, or at their facebook page, or at their twitter account @zackandmack.

Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day to our UK friends and beyond.  We remember visiting England during our World Tour as The Smile Ambassadors  http://tinyurl.com/lnzeeue, http://tinyurl.com/kwz3odo

Merry Christmas

Zack and Mack want to wish everyone today, a very Merry Christmas.  Tomorrow, we will add another post regarding new things for the new year!  Keep enjoying the egg-nog and Christmas Cheer!