Pencil in His Hand: A Mother's Journal of Stories, Thoughts, and Poems.

Free serialized story.  The Waiting Room. Episode Five: Katya and Jonah In a lull during the busy supper time rush, Tara opened the dishwasher. Her friend and fellow waitress, Katya, began loading it with glasses, and flatware. "Why not come with me tonight?" Tara asked brightly. "You've always been interested in the spiritual side of things." Tara knew it was highly unlikely that Katya would agree to go to the End-Time meetings, and would be very surprised if she said yes. She had in fact surprised herself by accepting her mother's invitation to the church meetings.  Katya closed the dishwasher door firmly. "No thank you. I'll go to just about anything except a Christian meeting. Narrow minded people are not my thing, and you know it. Why are you going, anyway? I thought you walked away from the church ages ago." Tara looked over at her customers before answering. They all seemed happy enough. "I guess I started thinking again. You know, ...

  Free serialized story. End-Times. Romance The Waiting Room. Episode Three: Oliver "I booked a table for  two at The Fig Tree." Oliver said as he opened the car door for Tara. "You'll love it." Tara smiled at her handsome date. "It sounds fabulous." Oliver was several years older than she, and already a rock star in the world of design. Tara on the other hand, was still studying at business college and working as a waitress part time. "You've been there before." She said. Of course he had. Oliver was always having lunch with clients. At the best restaurants. "Yes." He flashed a smile her way. Oliver ordered the fig and camembert starter and the couple settled in for a relaxed evening. But Tara found her mind wandering back to where it had been before  Oliver picked her up. "Do you believe in God?" She asked. Her voice sounded loud in the quiet ambience of their surroundings. Oliver's fork clattered to his plate. ...

  Photo: charlesdeluvio. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Ten Tears blurred the laptop screen as Rosie thought about her growing up years. It wasn't easy to look back; to remember just how dumb she'd been. But she kept writing, kept remembering. Maybe someone could be helped; would find Jesus through her testimony. Even just one person would make it all worth it. Now in her twenties, with a graveyard of failed relationships behind her, Rosie's eyes had finally opened, and her heart had found hope and healing. She was forgiven, clean, and whole because of Jesus. Jake had only been the first in a string of bad choices. Rosie remembered clearly how it had ended. They'd gone on a date to a local carnival. It was in the afternoon, and she'd been completely sober. They'd walked around for a while, taking in the sights and snacking on donuts. Then,  Jake had made a bee-line for the beer tent, pulling her along as though he were dying of thirst. "You're more...

  Photo: Laura Chouette. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Nine "I'll see you on Sunday. I'm sleeping over at Pam's place." Rosie announced brightly. "We'll probably go to the mall; watch a couple of movies." She shrugged. "The usual." At sixteen, Rosie had bloomed into a pretty young woman. Petite, with long, thick hair, the boys had begun to notice her. Her mother stopped mixing her cake batter and turned to look at her daughter. "Take care then, Rosie. Have you done all of your chores?" She accepted her daughter's quick embrace. It had taken some time, but she was now more used to going to church on her own. She often longed though, for the simpler days when her daughters were young and skipped along by her side to the services. "All done." Announced Rosie. "See you soon." *** "Stop fluttering your eyes." Laughed Pamela. She was applying mascara to Rosie's eyelashes. Rosie had been transf...

  Photo: Kyo Azuma. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Eight Rosie attended a solidly academic Catholic girls' school through all of her school years. She studied hard and brought home consistantly good reports. She often achieved A's and B's in all of her favourite subjects. Maths was not one of them, and she dropped it along with science at the soonest opportunity.  "Our Rosie will either be a writer or a translator one day. She won't be needing math in her career." Rosie's mom assured her husband. "She's always been a bookworm." Rosie's dad agreed. He was proud of both of his daughters. Cherry was musical and excelled at biology. Her goal was to study nursing. Unfortunately, both he and Rosie's mother were seemingly unaware of the dangerous undercurrents in their teenagers' lives. The school may have been Catholic, but it failed to produce young people with a yearning to know and serve God. Instead, it taught dry ritual and di...

  Photo: Matt Seymour. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Seven That Monday, Rosie gave a sigh of relief as she arrived home after school. She closed the small metal gate with a happy clang. As she skipped up the path, she imagined that the petunias and snapdragons were smiling with her. "It's so good to be home." She sang out as she walked through the door. "Come on through to the kitchen, Rosie. Tea's ready." Rosie dumped her satchel in the hallway and followed the aroma of freshly baked scones. Later, she would fondly remember the familiar scene: her mother and sister seated at the round kitchen table, the fat teapot and plump scones before them, and Minnie purring  contentedly in front of the still warm oven, the crumbs on the floor evidence that she'd already eaten her share. "So, how was school?" Rosie didn't mind answering her mom's usual question, although she didn't tell all. Just as she hadn't told all about the sleep...

  Photo: Jeremy Bishop. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Six "How about coming to my house for a sleep over on Saturday, Rosie? Our last one was in the holidays. Please say yes. It will be such fun." Pamela's pretty eyes pleaded. "I've got three movies to catch up on and they're too scary to watch alone. Besides," she giggled, "my brother Carl's friend Rob is going to be there." "Rob?" Rosie's eyes widened. "He's dreamy." Her face fell though as Pamela pressed her for an answer. Pamela was her best friend, and she'd do anything to go to the sleep over. But she knew without a doubt that her mother would say no. Sleep overs were only allowed in the holidays, and it was all because of church. "I dont know, Pam. You know what my mom's like." They were walking to art class, which was Rosie's favourite. Now she felt unusually gloomy as they entered the class. "Why not ask your dad?" P...

Photo: Wren Meinberg. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Five Rosie snuggled down into her covers while Minnie stirred then re-arranged herself as only a comfortable cat can do. It was winter in the Cape, but it was also Saturday morning. Rosie felt happy down to her toes. There'd be no cold walk to the bus stop and no annoying school. She was free for the day, and she knew exactly how she was going to start it off. Rosie reached for the mystery novel on her bedside table and settled in for a long read. Then, in what felt like mere minutes, she heard a soft knock on her bedroom door. Rosie's mother entered the room. She wore a pretty apron and a bandana over her thick, dark hair. She perched on the edge of Rosie's bed and smiled. "That looks like a good book, but you'll need to put it down for a bit. You have chores to do, and we need to go to confession later on, OK?" Rosie groaned from behind her book. "But it's Saturday, Mom. Can't I just stay...

Rosie's Story. Episode Four   Photo: Nate DeWaele. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Four Rosie sat at her father's feet. He'd just gotten home from work and his usual large red mug of tea sat waiting on his side table. The small table held familiar items that her father seemed to treasure: a crossword  puzzle book, a thesaurus, a collection of lotto cards, as well as an assortment of pens. "How was school, Rosie? Did you learn anything useful today?" Daddy's eyes twinkled as he took a sip of tea. Rosie smiled back. This was one of her favourite times of the day. "We learned about dinosaurs. That was fun." "And useful too." Rosie's father tapped her on the head with his pen. "Dinosaurs help us understand evolution. And you never know when you might find one in a crossword puzzle. Can you spell diplodocus?" "Dip-lo-do-cus."Rosie spelled the word out for him. "My little bookworm."He ruffled her hair before ...

  Photo: Sandy Millar. Unsplash Rosie's Story. Episode Three "Goodnight, goodnight." The greeting rang cheerily through the house as Rosie pulled her pink blanket up under her chin. Her orange and white cat, Minnie, turned around several times before settling down alongside Rosie. Her purrs grew louder and more content as Rosie stroked her. Unlike her owner, she fell asleep with ease: Rosie's mind kept going back to the stupid thing she'd done earlier. In a fit of jealousy and rage, she'd knocked Cherry's angel figurine off of the bedside table. She had one of her own, but it was smaller, and not her favourite colour. If only Mom had thought to give her the pink one. Why did Cherry have to get the nicer one just because she was older? Cherry had cried of course, and she'd received lots of attention and hugs, while Dad quickly glued the angel back together. She, on the other hand, had been sent sternly to her room and had had to go without pudding. ...

Photo: Jon Callow. Unsplash   Episode Two Rosie's Story. Episode Two Rosie couldn't get enough of the "great out doors" as her parents called it. Whether she was at the beach, the botanical gardens or at the park, each outing was filled with delight. With awe. "Cherry, come over here." Rosie was crouching precariously on the edge of a rockpool. "A starfish! Look at his squidgy legs!" Cherry raced over and crouched near Rosie. "Five. It has five legs." She smiled. Together, they identified several more wonders before it was time to head over to the beach umbrella for lunch and more sunblock. For all of her love for nature, Rosie was a true bookworm, and with  her long brown braids and freckles, she looked the part. Cherry, on the other hand, was an outgoing redhead who never seemed to sit still. It was Rosie who often had to be coaxed out of the book world she'd wondered into.  Rosie's favourite mode of travel was the tired old arm...

  Dearest Readers, Welcome to Rosie's Story, an inspirational fictional tale which will appear in short episodes once a week. (God willing, as I always say.) Writing and blogging like this is manageable for a busy wife and mom. :) Enjoy, and please share the story and blog with friends and family. If you are looking for longer stories, pop over to my  Books/Links page Also, a big welcome to all new blog visitors. Please make yourself at home by catching up on older stories and perhaps subscribing. (See sidebar.) *** Rosie's Story Photo: Aaron Burden. Unsplash "Why do we go to church?" Rosie asked her mother as she skipped along the cracked sidewalk. "Because," smiled the beautiful woman beside her, "it's the right thing to do. My mother and father took me. Now I take you. It's the right thing to do." "Oh. Ok." Rosie kept skipping, taking care to avoid the cracks. She didn't question her mother further. Rosie didn't really ...