The Park Ranger (by Suzanne)

It was the rookie park ranger who first noticed the orange car with Michigan license plates as it slowed near the entrance of the state park. In the dead of night, the ranger could hear the tire go over a rock then onto gravel at crawling sped. As a matter of course, the ranger put on his coat and gloves, grabbed his keys, and walked out to inspect the matter.

I’m the rookie – gotta pay my dues. They told me you see the strangest things on the night shift.

As he was saying this to himself, he knew this wasn’t a routine matter. He turned on his flashlight, walked into the road, and motioned for the car to stop. When he approached the car, his suspicions were confirmed. The license plate was tied to the bumper with a child’s jump rope. But getting a good look at the driver made the ranger think he should have called for backup. The man was wearing sunglasses and a tiara, held around his neck with pipe cleaners.

"Sir, I need you to get out of the vehicle, please."

The man grunted and slowly opened the door. A cork, a book of matches, and a shoehorn fell out of his lap. A coaster was stuck to the bottom of his shoes. When he took off his sunglasses, the ranger could see how bloodshot his eyes were.

"Please put your hands against the vehicle."

The ranger frisked him and took out from his pocket a jar of buttons.

"What’s this for?"

"In case I find a needle and thread?" The man doubled over laughing at his own joke.

Not amused, the ranger looked into the backseat of the car and saw it was strewn with leaves. His flashlight found a bucket with brushes, wallpaper, paint chips, sponge sticks. And seashells. Stuck to the mat was a lollypop piercing a stale doughnut. But no empty bottle of alcohol.

Well, according to everything I learned in training, there’s nothing more for me to do, he thought.

"You do know the park is closed. Please state your purpose."

"I was hoping to catch a bear – make some bear jerky." Again, the man doubled over laughing.

"OK, I’m going to have to call the police to take you into the station."

Four more months of the graveyard shift, he thought, as he called the police station.
 

(This story is from today's writing exercise at Unlocking Words. Suzanne was using the same word list as Betsy's post based on the writing prompts displayed on our table today: bear hat, tiara, license plate, tie, sunglasses, shoe horn, jump rope, coaster, pipe cleaners, leaf, toy car, stone, lollipop, key, cork, seashells, matches, wallpaper, paint, sponge paintbrush, glove, button jar. It's fascinating how two stories using the same words can be so different!)

Treasures at Grandma's House (by Betsy Herman)

"Hey kids. Hey, Suzy and Alex, I'd like you to put your tablets away."

Reluctantly, Suzy, age 7, and Alex, age 5, put their tablets on the car seat between them.

"Look out the windows, kids. We're almost to Grandma's house. And like we said, you're not allowed to play with your tablets this weekend. I'm sure you'll find plenty of interesting things at Grandma's."

Sullenly, the two children handed the tablets to their parents and looked out of the window at the mountain roads.

"Why is there a picture of a bear on that sign?" Alex asked. His father replied that in the mountains lived bears, and that was a bear crossing sign. "Look out the window, you might even see a bear!"

The family soon arrived at Grandma's house, a home they hadn't visited since the children were younger, so the kids barely remembered it. They parked near the open garage and Alex immediately noticed the collection of old license plates Grandpa had once nailed to the wall inside the garage. Suzy first noticed the colorful jump ropes.

Dad pushed back his sunglasses and removed the key from the car. Grandma was coming out of the house, wearing a hat and gloves, even though it was only September. It does get cool in the mountains.

The children walked up the stone path toward Grandma's house and they noticed the huge leaves on the ground. Suzy asked, "Why are those leaves so big?" Grandma replied, "They're sycamore leaves, from that tree over there."

Although the outside of Grandma's house had some white paint peeling from it, when the kids walked inside they saw colorful wallpaper on the walls. However, the thing that grabbed their attention most was the jar of lollipops on the kitchen counter. After greeting their grandma, the first thing Alex asked was, "Can we have lollipops?"

"You may each have one," Grandma replied. After finishing their candy, the little ones began to grow restless. "Grandma, do you have any toys?" asked Alex.

"Oh, I do have some toys," she replied. "But before I show you the toy cabinet, you need to make a costume from my treasure box."

Curiously Suzy and Alex followed their grandmother out into her warm sun room. She opened an old trunk and said, "This is my treasure box!"

The children began removing items, Alex immediately put on a big fuzzy bear cap and Suzy donned the sparkly tiara.

"What's this?" Suzy asked.

"A shoe horn," Grandma replied, explaining how it was used. Then she noticed five packs of matches from various restaurants in a bowl near the treasure chest. She moved them out of reach so that the kids wouldn't be tempted to play with them.

Then the two children began creating costumes from the treasures they found: a clip-on tie, a coaster (worn like a Sherriff's badge, held on with pipe cleaners), toy cars peeking out of pockets, a cork, sea shells, and buttons became necklaces with some string from the box, and Alex stuck a sponge paintbrush in his back pocket, trying to look like a builder.

It's going to be a good weekend at Grandma's!

~

(This small story was a written during a writing exercise at today's Unlocking Words. We were presented with a table full of visual aids, and we were asked to include every word/item in our writing. It's fascinating to see that when 8 people are using the same list of words, our stories or essays usually turn out very different from one another. For example, here is Suzanne's story, using the same key words. Here's the word list we used: bear hat, tiara, license plate, tie, sunglasses, shoe horn, jump rope, coaster, pipe cleaners, leaf, toy car, stone, lollipop, key, cork, seashells, matches, wallpaper, paint, sponge paintbrush, glove, button jar.  -Betsy Herman)

The Bridegroom Proposes (by All of Us)

Today at Unlocking Words we were reminiscing about a writing exercise we did together last June. One person wrote several sentences, then folded the paper so that the next person could only see the last line. The next person wrote several sentences, then again folded the paper so the next person could only see the last part. We passed the paper around the circle, and in the end we had an amusing story! Enjoy:

 

 

Ray and his girlfriend, Misty, drove all night to arrive in Chicago by dawn to see the sun rise. Ray had been planning this trip for months down to the last detail of how he was going to drop to his knee and ask Misty the question she had been wanting to hear forever.

"Are you a writer?"

"Well, I like to write..." Misty said.

"Do you write? Is there something deep inside you that just wants to put words on paper?"

"Yes!" she replied.

"Then you are a writer."

"I am a writer," Misty said. "I am a writer!"

"Really? That is strange. I figured you to be a singer. You've got such a smooth, refreshing voice. I don't know, it's just something I saw. Do you like music?"

"I love to sing to His songs, dance to His rhythm, and His flow. Listening to His spirit on where to go. His words are life and I sing them, so that others may know... the song in my heart when joined with others is free of melody and harmony, but often when I sing alone, it sounds off key! The most beautiful sound is when we all know and do our part! That sounds great!"

"Let's swim with the dolphins, they'll protect us from Jaws."

"And then we'll swim back to land, eat coconuts, and run barefoot through the forest!"

As our feet hit the soft forest trail, and our lungs take in the crisp, clean air, our souls imbibe the greenness of life in the forest, as it makes glad the temple of God that is our body. The river of life flows forth from the throne room and imparts life to THE Body, in preparation for what our Bridegroom is readying to pour out through us to heal a broken world.