I cleaned for 6 hours today and then took the kids to Walmart and kite flying... I am exhausted.
I have been doing pretty good with writing on my novel (or really rewriting some things I have already written), but tonight I am probably not going to get to write anything because tomorrow is another early morning and I am just too tired.
But I did want to share some of the story with you again. Starting from the beginning. Please keep in mind that I suck at spelling and grammar and this is still not a final draft. Also, this is my original work and I ask that you honor that and do not copy it. Thanks.
So here is the first 12 pages, I will share a little bit more as I go-- but probably not the whole thing lol. I do want to eventually sell the books ;)
“Can I send her another sign?” Elijah asked as he knelt down on top of the giving cloud.
“Ha. Ha. Slow down boy. She knows your there. I promise.” The gentle giant placed his hand on Elijah’s shoulder and comforted him.
“No. She doesn’t know. Look at those tears. She doesn’t believe it yet.”
Elijah ran back to what seemed like an unending field of golden sunflowers.
The skies were purple and pink and the clouds were silver with the soft glow of flickering gold sunshine. The air was filled with wonder and magic, and there was an ora of peace that earthly humans could never experience.
He ran through the large field and jumped up to swing and spin on the bright green stem of the tallest most beautiful sunflower he could find-tumbling to the ground when it broke off into his small dirty hands.
Clumsily he brushed himself off and then ran back to The Giving Cloud, trying to dodge the hands of the gentle giant.
Tripping on a small pebble, the sunflower slipped through his fingers and floated down to the Earth below.
“I miss you mom,” Elijah whispered as a single tear fell over his freckled cheek.
…
Kelly felt the harsh cold September wind as she stopped to pull her dishwater brown hair out of her face. Her short stubby fingers ran through the knots and the bumps and into a rubber band. She twisted and twisted the elastic string until it was so tight it snapped. She then began to sob.
She was in the middle of the street, about a mile from home. She knew that trying to get out of bed was a bad idea today.
But every morning it was the same 2 mile walk through the same old neighborhood.
It was the same judging stares from the fancy cats sitting in front of their fancy houses.
It was the same fake smiles of the other mom’s jogging together with beautiful babies and beautiful bodies.
She hated it. She hated every second of it.
So why did she think today would be any different?
She pulled at the drawstring of her baggy grey sweatpants and wiped the tears that continued to crowd her eyes.
Her world was crumbling and everyone else’s world was still turning. It just seemed so unfair.
Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind. This clumsy breeze pushed all of her hair back into her face as a blanket of leaves swirled and danced around her.
There was a smell of pancakes and a sudden feeling of warmth.
As she slowly pushed the hair our of her eyes, she stood in amazement. At her feet laid the most beautiful golden sunflower you had ever seen, and it was as if it had just fallen out of the sky.
Was this a sign from the heavens?
It had been one year today that her son Elijah passed away.
…
“I still don’t understand. Why can’t she see me?” Elijah strapped up his sandals and grabbed a golden pear off the table and shined it with his shirt. He packed it into his pocket.
The gentle giant dumped a whole bowl of pears into his mouth and talked through each bite. “You have passed on from her world. One day she too will pass into this world and she will see you again.”
The giant finished his sentence with a loud and wet burp.
“She wouldn’t like that. Mom hated when people talked with their mouths full,” Elijah sighed.
“She sounds like a lovely woman,” the giant slurped up the last bit of pear skin between his teeth.
“Your not being very helpful.” Elijah stormed out of the house.
The sun was shining bright in the heavens as it usually did. A breeze blew and the smell of fresh pancakes filled the air.
Elijah loved the smell of fresh pancakes.
When he was on earth with his family, in the summer his mom would make pancakes every morning. She would hold him and dance to oldies and they would both laugh.
The heavens were a beautiful place, and there was no doubt that there was a peace that could never be felt on earth, but Elijah had always been quite serious and stubborn and he still didn’t understand why the separation of earthly humans and heavenly beings was necessary.
But the freckle face boy was also quite the adventurer, and the heavens were an endless beautiful landscape just waiting to be explored. There was no sitting still today. He took a bite of his pear and headed off down the dirt pathway surrounded by golden sunflowers and blue and purple butterflies.
…
Kelly walked into the kitchen and placed the sunflower into a clear glass vase and placed it on the counter.
She grabbed a browning pear from the wicker basket and took a bite of it as she stared blankly into space.
It was a small cluttered kitchen, evident of a family who like to bake. There were silver cooling racks and rainbow colored mixing bowls, wooden rolling pins and stainless steel oven doors, jars of sugar and flour, and a large purple notebook where Kelly had started to jot down ideas for a cook book she had dreamed of publishing one day.
“Hey,” Kelly heard a gentle whisper as Elijah’s father Levi walked into the kitchen.
“Hey,” she whispered back.
Levi was a semi tall, slender thirty something who lived in basketball shorts and comic book character teeshirts. He was also the kind of man who would wear socks with sandals if Kelly would ever allow it.
They were a quiet nerdy couple who mostly kept to themselves; This being especially true since the death of their son.
“So, what do we do today?” Kelly asked slouching over the island cradling the speckled green fruit in her hands.
“Go back to bed and stay there forever.” Levi answered.
“Ok.” She walked over and hugged his neck.
They honestly had no idea what they were supposed to do with this day. It was an anniversary of their worst nightmare. Staying hidden away from the world just didn’t seem like the worst idea.
Kelly showered, got into her pajamas and then climbed into bed next to Levi who had already crawled back into a safe space of covers drawn over his head. She unfolded her big purple notebook and began jotting ideas for new recipes.
She sighed as she wiped the tears away and took a deep breath.
As she placed placed her shaking fingers on the pencil and placed the lead to the page, she heard the doorbell.
“Crap.” She looked over at Levi who didn’t budge and wondered if she should just ignore it too.
Today was the perfect excuse to just be a horrible human being and ignore the rest of the world.
But then it rang again.
Kelly sighed and placed her notebook to the side and shuffled to the door.
She placed her head silently against the cool smooth wood and took another deep breath before slowly opening it.
It was her neighbor Erin with her six month old daughter strapped to her hip.
Erin was a larger woman dressed in business casual with her maple colored hair pulled up into a perfect bun.
She was obviously in destress and was juggling a diaper bag in one hand, her baby in the other arm, and a cell phone to her face.
“Hold on. Hold on. Yes. HOLD ON,” she shrieked. She then paused her phone conversation to flash the most fake smile she could muster up at Kelly turning the conversation to her.
“Is there anyway you could watch her today? Just for a few hours. I have a very important meeting and my sitter canceled.”
“Oh umm…” Kelly fumbled through her words as if someone had just punched her in the gut. She could barely breathe. Watching some one else’s child? Today of all days? The one year anniversary of the day she had lost her own son?
“I am…I am sorry. But I can’t today,” she heard her self whimper out.
“Tommy, I will call you back.” Erin shut off her phone and looked at Kelly like she was looking at a child that had just disobeyed her parent.
“I’m sorry. Today is the one year anniversary of Elijah’s passing…and….” Kelly started to explain.
“OH God. I am so sorry,” Erin tried to fake sincerity, but was more transparently selfish than ever.
And then suddenly it was like a giant lightbulb lit up over Erin’s giant forehead, “Oh! I know,” She swooned over the young child in her arms, “Maybe this little pookie here could help cheer you up? She could give you guys some practice, ya know incase you guys are ready to have another one? Now would be a great time to move on.”
As Erin continued baby talking her daughter in the grossest baby babble imaginable, Kelly slowly closed the door, locked it, and then walked back to her bed.
The doorbell rang again.
“Who is that?” Levi asked from under his mini blanket fort.
“Satan.” Kelly answered.
…
The Giant ran behind Elijah huffing heavily and trying to catch his breath.
“Boy! Boy!” he shouted through the tired breaths.
Elijah continued to move swiftly down the dirt path ignoring the calls. It wasn’t very often that Elijah was obedient to his new guardian.
“Boy! Quit being so stubborn and come here.” The goofy monster stomped.
Elijah paused in his tracks and sighed, letting the giant run and catch up.
“Boy. There is something I want you to see,” the giant huffed through deep breaths, “There is a surprise for you.”
While Elijah was a bit on the serious and stubborn side, he also loved a good surprise. So he decided to entertain the silly giant’s diversion.
“A surprise? Where is it?” The freckles on Elijah’s face seemed to glitter in the sunlight with excitement.
“Come with me and I’ll show you,” the giant sighed.
Elijah’s steady shuffle picked up to a nice brisk jog as he followed the giant down the dusty road. His loud laughter joined the chirping of the song birds to create make the most beautiful music.
Elijah was ready for an adventure. He was ready for excitement. He was ready for a…
“SURPRISE!” a large crowd announced as Elijah and the giant walked behind a patch of flowery bushes and on to his favorite rocky beach, “Happy one year in Heaven!”
“I baked you a cake,” a sweet voice said coming from the crowd.
“I baked you an even better cake,” he heard from a second voice.
“They are both good cakes ladies. Let the boy be!” said a third voice.
It was Elijah’s grandfather, Gus and both his first and second wives.
“Hello Grandpa,” Elijah hugged his way down the line, “Hello Grandma Helen. Hello Grandma Josephine.”
Grandpa Gus was first married to Grandma Helen. The couple met in their teenage years and married young. Helen passed away during childbirth with Elijah’s mother. Soon after Helen’s passing Gus met and fell in love with Grandma Josephine who helped raise Elijah’s mom.
Later Gus and Josephine passed away in a tragic car accident, and since their arrival in the Heavens, there has been a constant “one up” battle between the two wives of Gus.
“I’m just saying that I know what the boy likes, and he likes chocolate. So my chocolate ganache cake is going to make him very happy,” Grandma Helen pushed her cake into Elijah’s face like a used car salesman who has trapped their next buyer into a corner.
Helen was a very prim and proper lady with a flowery button up dress and lacy collar. Her head was covered in sparkly silver pin roll curls and she smelled of a sweet rose perfume.
But of course, Grandma Josephine had to top her. “But I know just how much the boy likes chocolate AND strawberries, and I made this chocolate cake topped with chocolate covered strawberries.”
Josephine was quite the opposite of prim and proper. She was more of an eccentric who wore crazy patterns and wild beads. Her hair was long and wild. And if the wind blew in the right direction, you could smell a very earthy mix of pachouli and peppermint.
While the two ladies couldn’t be anymore different, both grandmothers loved to spoil their grandson. And just like Elijah’s mother, they felt that baking was an essential part of the spoiling process. The two ladies loved to compete with each other to see who could make the most elaborate cakes to try and please the freckled face boy.
However, the truth was that Elijah preferred a simple vanilla cupcake with sprinkles to anything fancy. He especially loved the cupcakes his mom used to make, and Grandpa Gus knew this. As the two bickering grandmas continued with their fancy cake competition, Grandpa Gus lured Elijah away with a vanilla cupcake with sprinkles.
Gus was an adorable old man with little hair but lots of spunk. Like his second wife, Josephine, he was quite the eccentric as well. He wore colorful and wildly pattern shirts complimented with his loudly mismatched socks. Elijah and Grandpa Gus got along well, because they both loved a little mischief and a lot of adventure.
“How is your mom today? Did you see her?” Gus put his hand on Elijah’s shoulder. He knew how much Elijah missed his parents, and he too missed his beautiful daughter.
“I went to the giving cloud and sent her another flower.” Elijah said quietly.
“Grandpa,” he continued, “I could still she was still sad. She doesn’t believe in the signs I send yet. She doesn’t know it is me sending them. I don’t know that she will ever know.”
“It will come in time. You have to remember that she never wanted to lose you. This all came as a shock to her. Parents expect to see their children grow up; They expect to come to the heavens first,” Grandpa Gus struggled on trying to explain, “She loved you more than anything, and she will miss you until the day she joins us in the heavens. But in time she will be able to feel the connection you two have. I promise. Just give her time.”
“Yeah…I guess.” Elijah murmured as he shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth. The icing was blue and it left an awkward blue ring around his lips.
Grandpa Gus gave him a reassuring hug and told him to go enjoy the party. Elijah walked into the large group of family members and family friends who had gathered to celebrate his time spent in the Heavens. Each one greeting him with hugs and laughter. All of them he had seen before, except for one new face.
He walked over to a girl that looked to be around the same age that he was. She was short and lovely. She had colorful hair with bright golden eyes.
“Hi,” she said. “My name is Angel.”
So, like I said...it is a starting part. I am really on like page 70 or something lol and I have a LONG way to go, but I feel like I am making some really good progress.
Anyways, I really do need to get some sleep. Hope you guys have a beautiful night and enjoyed the beginning to my story.
I love you all.
Please keep praying for our world. Pray for our country. Pray for my family. Pray for me. Pray for you! And always always pray for my sweet Elijah. Thank you.
Look at those sweet lips and that those fat cheeks.
Oh I miss you so much.
I love you my boogie.
Always.
<3
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