Have you ever had something you wanted more than anything else in the world? Well, if you have, then you know exactly how Dane felt. More than anything in the world he wanted to ride dirt bikes. His Dad had a big General Store called Mac’s and Dane was expected to work there every day after school. Dane saved up every penny he earned to buy parts so that one day he could have a dirt bike built for him exactly like the one he always dreams about.
Little by little he bought the parts until one day he had them all crossed off his list. His Dad loaded up the supply truck and took all of the pieces over to Travis’ Garage. Travis said that he could work on it but that it would take at least 3 weeks for him to put the whole bike together. Three weeks seemed like a long time, but Dane knew it was worth the wait.
At the end of the appointed time, the bike was ready. It was even better than he dreamed. He couldn’t wait to take it out back in the field and try it out. Every day now, after school he would help in the store until it closed at five and then race the bike until dinner at six. He started out taking it slow, getting a feel for the bike. Then once he got the hang of it, he started going over small jumps, and building ramps until he could go over the biggest ramp without losing control of the bike.
One afternoon when Dane was in the store Mrs. Emma came rushing in. “Help! You have to help me! Little Joy was playing in our rowboat when it drifted off the shore. The waves carried her over to the other side. Joy got out, but can’t get back over. The waves are so violent right now that they smashed the boat into the shore and broke it into pieces. Scott has been trying to row out to get her, but the wind has picked up and the current is so strong that he can’t make it across.”
Dane’s Dad jumped up and started talking to the other men in the store trying to think of a way to get across to Joy. But none of their ideas seemed like they were going to work.
Dane walked over to his Dad. “I can help her,” he said.
“How can you help, Son?” his Dad asked.
“Well, if you guys can quick build me a ramp on the shore, I know I could jump across the river on my bike. I know it is far, but Dad I’ve jumped farther than that out in the field.”
“I don’t know, Dane. It seems kind of dangerous to me.”
“Trust me Dad. I know I can do it,” pleaded Dane.
The other men started talking right away saying things like ‘I have a bunch of scrap wood in my garage,’ and ‘I have my toolbox in my trunk’ and so on. It was finally decided that they would let Dane try.
Working together they had a ramp built in less than 15 minutes. Dane watched them so that he would be able to build one on the other side to get back. Jeffrey Wyatt had a lumber yard along the shore and he told Dane to use any of the wood he had for a ramp. When they finished, Dane fastened his helmet and climbed on his bike. He could hear Joy crying on the other side of the river and knew he had to do this right, the first time. He’d only have one chance. His Dad walked over and squeezed his shoulder.
“Please be careful, Son. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I will Dad. I know I can do this. Honest I can!”
Dane rode over to the end of the ramp, and counted to ten to calm his nerves. Most of the town was outside watching. Mrs. Emma and a bunch of the other Moms were standing in a circle holding hands. Dane could tell they were praying.
“Well, here goes,” thought Dane. He started off in second gear and quickly had to shift up so that he could go fast enough to hit the ramp in just the right way. At the top, he felt himself floating through the air. He tried to look down to see if he was going to land on land or water but he couldn’t tell. Then all of a sudden he felt the bike hit the ground. He had to hold on tight to the handlebars to keep from bouncing off. Immediately he slowed the bike down and went over to comfort Joy.
“It’s ok, Joy. I am here to help you. Don’t worry. I will get you back to your Mommy.”
Joy stopped crying and held on tight to Dane’s shirt. “Right now I need you to help me, o.k.? We need to make a ramp that we can ride over to get us to your Mommy and Daddy. I need you to be my little helper.”
“O.k.,” said Joy softly.
Together with the wood from the lumberyard and pieces of wood from the boat, they lined up the boards one after the other. It took a lot longer building it on this side, but they did a mighty fine job. Dane walked on it checking to make sure they didn’t forget anything. Giving it his final approval, he got on the bike. He gave Joy the helmet and told her how to grab both sides of his shirt into tiny fists and to hold on no matter what.
He drove to the end of the ramp and told Joy they were going to count to ten and then go. Together they counted.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.”
And they were off. Dane hit the ramp the exact same way he had hit it the first time and felt Joy’s little arms get tighter around him.
Finally, they hit solid ground. Dane let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Mrs. Emma came running over, crying. “You saved my baby! You saved my baby!”
Dane’s Dad walked over and gave him a big hug. “I am mighty proud of you, Son. You did a very brave thing back there. Good job.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
Dane looked around and saw all of the townspeople clapping and cheering. “That’s my boy!” his Dad shouted.
“Uh, Dad. I am glad that you are so proud of me because I have been meaning to talk to you about something. How would you feel about your son having a career in motorcross?”
“Well, as long as you aren’t jumping over rivers, it sounds just fine to me, Son. Just fine indeed.”
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A Fairy Tale Wedding
Have you ever met someone that made your heart melt? Someone that you just can’t stop thinking about? Someone that makes you smile every time you mention their name? I have. And I want you to meet her. Her name is Sonja and she is the most beautiful fairy that ever lived. Do you see her over there on that daisy? Isn’t she dreamy? I am going to marry her some day. Well, if she says “Yes” and her Dad says “Yes.” That is the tricky part. You see Sonja has been my girl for some time now, but she isn’t just any girl. Her Dad is the chief Fairy over all of Fallen Forest. I have been afraid to ask him if I could marry his daughter.
This here is my best friend Chip. He keeps telling me to go for it. He says that I will never know until I ask. I know he is right. I try to go in and talk to her Dad, Mostra Moss, but then I chicken out and wind up talking about the weather, or some other silly thing.
I called him today and asked if I could come over and talk to him about something. This is my chance. I need to just do it. Wish me luck.
“Knock, Knock.”
“Come in, dear boy. Come in.”
“Hello, Mr. Moss. I was wondering if I could talk to you about something. You know that your daughter and I have been good friends for over a year now and I like her, and she likes me, and we really like each other, and I know you like your daughter and I think you like me. And, well, I was wondering if perhaps you might agree to let me, or well, to let her, I mean to let us get married, sometime?”
“I thought you would never ask, Boy. Of course you can marry my daughter!”
“Really! Wow! Thank you! I am so excited, I am going to tell her now.
Thank you sir!”
I ran out of the house right over to where Sonja was hanging up clothes on the wash line and gave her a great big hug. “Your Dad said ‘Yes’ Sonja! He said we could get married!” I swept her up in my arms and swung her around and around. Sonja was so happy she was giggling.
“When should we get married?” I asked.
“Let’s get married next weekend!” she yelled. “I don’t want to wait another minute.”
So we began planning for the big event. Now, the daughter of the chief must get married in the Enchanted Gardens. She must get married at midnight with 10 fireflies holding the back of her gown. She must have fresh rose petals lining the path and pure white baby’s breath flowers in her hair. While Sonja and her Mom were busy sewing strands of gossamer together for the dress, Chip and I were cleaning up Enchanted Gardens. There were a few weeds that needed to be pulled and an occasional piece of trash that had blown in. Everything had to be perfect. One night, two days before the wedding, Chip mentioned that his Dad had made a special candle for them to burn at the wedding. He brought it for me to smell and see if I liked it. We took it to the Garden and lit it while we lay watching the stars. It smelled fantastic-like a mixture of early morning dew and a hint of lilacs. It was just the thing for the wedding. After a while we drifted off to sleep. Next thing I know, I woke up to the horrible smell of smoke and looked around to see Enchanted Gardens on fire. “Oh No! What are we going to do?”, I thought. I woke up Chip and we began to help the other fairies that were there dump buckets of water on the fire. However, the fire was big and our buckets were small. So by the time the fire was finally out, most of Enchanted Gardens was gone.
The chief came to inspect the damage. “There will be no wedding here until the gardens grow back.” he proclaimed.
“What? Oh, Dear! What are we going to do now?” I yelled out to Chip.
Sonja began to cry. I flew over to her and put my arms around her. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. I’ll think of something.”
All night and the rest of the day I thought. And I thought and I thought, but I couldn’t come up a solution. It was the fairy law that all daughters of the chief got married in Enchanted Gardens. But that wasn’t possible now, and it wouldn’t be possible for many months. The whole Garden had to start over.
As Chip and I were laying on our favorite mushroom, I called it My Thinking Spot, I began to think that if there was just a way that I could get all of the fairies together maybe we could come up with an answer.
“How can I get a message to all of the fairies at once?” I asked Chip.
“You could fly up to the top of the tree and yell.”
So I flew up to the tallest tree in Fallen Forest and yelled. But even the group of girls in the next field over playing Dandelion Ball couldn’t hear me.
“Any more ideas?” I asked Chip again.
“Well, maybe you could put a note on everyone’s door.”
“Chip, do you know how many fairies live in our forest? My Dad says it is over a thousand. That would take me days or even weeks.”
“You know,” said Chip suddenly, “My Dad has this magic powder that he makes out of butterfly dust that makes messages in the air. The only thing is that you need a big fan or something to blow it up to the sky.”
Just then an airplane flew overheard and gave me a great idea.
“Chip, tell your Dad to make me the biggest batch of that magic powder he has ever made and have it ready for me in an hour.”
“If he is making a big batch, you better give him two hours.” Chip said chuckling.
“Alright. I will meet you here at 2:00 then.”
“Hey, Wedding boy, what are you up to?”
“You’ll see. I’ll show you at 2.”
While Chip and his Dad were making the powder, I flew to the airport to look in the window at the flight schedule. Sure enough there was an airplane planning to take off at 2:15. I knew I would have to hurry, but I could do it.
Right at 2, Chip showed up with the powder. “Strap it to my back,” I yelled.
“I don’t know what you are up to, but you have that crazy look in your eyes.”
“Hurry! You will see in just a minute.”
So Chip strapped the bottle to my back and I flew off toward the airport. It was a bit difficult flying with that heavy bottle on my back, but I knew I had to do it. I just kept thinking about Sonja and how sad she had been when her Dad said there would be no wedding.
I flew to the airplane and held on just as it was about to take off. Chip and I would sometimes ride on the planes when we were younger and more daring. It was such a rush feeling the wind through our wings. Even the best fairy can’t fly that fast. But this was no time for fun and games. I worked my way toward the jet engine on the side and slowly slid the bottle off of my back. I knew that I would have to work quickly to scratch the message in the powder before the wind carried it away. Very carefully I let the gossamer powder out of the bottle and hurriedly wrote this message into it:
“Calling all fairies. I desperately need your help. Bring all the plants and flowers you can to Enchanted Garden tomorrow night.”
“I hope this works,” I thought the whole way back to Fallen Forest.
As I got to the ground, I looked up into the sky and sure enough. There was my message like a white streak across the bright blue sky.
I went to bed thinking that this was my last chance. All day I wondered if my plan would work. I sent Sonja a message that said, “Get ready for the wedding. Maybe a miracle will happen.”
Once nighttime fell, I heard the faint sound of singing as hundreds of fairy wings fluttered to the ground. One by one the fairies came to the Garden each with something to give. Some had ferns or ivy, some had star gazer lilies, or tulips, and some just brought strands of ribbons and bows. I flew to get the chief for a final approval. If he said it was good, the wedding might still be on.
I held my breath as he walked through and looked. Finally, he came back to me. “The Garden looks even better than before. The wedding is on!” he declared.
A cheer rang out from among the fairies but none as loud as mine.
There under the light of the smiling moon, with the glow of the fireflies and the scent of Chip’s candle and all of the other blossoming flowers Sonja and I were married. It was the most magnificent wedding you could ever imagine. Not because of the flowers, but because my Sonja was the Bride.
In case you are wondering, fairies still write messages to each other in the sky. Anytime they need help, or something big and exciting happens, they let each other know. To you, it just looks like a white line in the sky. Your eyes are much too big to see.
So the next time you look up into the sky and see a white line behind an airplane, remember that there really are fairies and they might be closer than you think.
This here is my best friend Chip. He keeps telling me to go for it. He says that I will never know until I ask. I know he is right. I try to go in and talk to her Dad, Mostra Moss, but then I chicken out and wind up talking about the weather, or some other silly thing.
I called him today and asked if I could come over and talk to him about something. This is my chance. I need to just do it. Wish me luck.
“Knock, Knock.”
“Come in, dear boy. Come in.”
“Hello, Mr. Moss. I was wondering if I could talk to you about something. You know that your daughter and I have been good friends for over a year now and I like her, and she likes me, and we really like each other, and I know you like your daughter and I think you like me. And, well, I was wondering if perhaps you might agree to let me, or well, to let her, I mean to let us get married, sometime?”
“I thought you would never ask, Boy. Of course you can marry my daughter!”
“Really! Wow! Thank you! I am so excited, I am going to tell her now.
Thank you sir!”
I ran out of the house right over to where Sonja was hanging up clothes on the wash line and gave her a great big hug. “Your Dad said ‘Yes’ Sonja! He said we could get married!” I swept her up in my arms and swung her around and around. Sonja was so happy she was giggling.
“When should we get married?” I asked.
“Let’s get married next weekend!” she yelled. “I don’t want to wait another minute.”
So we began planning for the big event. Now, the daughter of the chief must get married in the Enchanted Gardens. She must get married at midnight with 10 fireflies holding the back of her gown. She must have fresh rose petals lining the path and pure white baby’s breath flowers in her hair. While Sonja and her Mom were busy sewing strands of gossamer together for the dress, Chip and I were cleaning up Enchanted Gardens. There were a few weeds that needed to be pulled and an occasional piece of trash that had blown in. Everything had to be perfect. One night, two days before the wedding, Chip mentioned that his Dad had made a special candle for them to burn at the wedding. He brought it for me to smell and see if I liked it. We took it to the Garden and lit it while we lay watching the stars. It smelled fantastic-like a mixture of early morning dew and a hint of lilacs. It was just the thing for the wedding. After a while we drifted off to sleep. Next thing I know, I woke up to the horrible smell of smoke and looked around to see Enchanted Gardens on fire. “Oh No! What are we going to do?”, I thought. I woke up Chip and we began to help the other fairies that were there dump buckets of water on the fire. However, the fire was big and our buckets were small. So by the time the fire was finally out, most of Enchanted Gardens was gone.
The chief came to inspect the damage. “There will be no wedding here until the gardens grow back.” he proclaimed.
“What? Oh, Dear! What are we going to do now?” I yelled out to Chip.
Sonja began to cry. I flew over to her and put my arms around her. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. I’ll think of something.”
All night and the rest of the day I thought. And I thought and I thought, but I couldn’t come up a solution. It was the fairy law that all daughters of the chief got married in Enchanted Gardens. But that wasn’t possible now, and it wouldn’t be possible for many months. The whole Garden had to start over.
As Chip and I were laying on our favorite mushroom, I called it My Thinking Spot, I began to think that if there was just a way that I could get all of the fairies together maybe we could come up with an answer.
“How can I get a message to all of the fairies at once?” I asked Chip.
“You could fly up to the top of the tree and yell.”
So I flew up to the tallest tree in Fallen Forest and yelled. But even the group of girls in the next field over playing Dandelion Ball couldn’t hear me.
“Any more ideas?” I asked Chip again.
“Well, maybe you could put a note on everyone’s door.”
“Chip, do you know how many fairies live in our forest? My Dad says it is over a thousand. That would take me days or even weeks.”
“You know,” said Chip suddenly, “My Dad has this magic powder that he makes out of butterfly dust that makes messages in the air. The only thing is that you need a big fan or something to blow it up to the sky.”
Just then an airplane flew overheard and gave me a great idea.
“Chip, tell your Dad to make me the biggest batch of that magic powder he has ever made and have it ready for me in an hour.”
“If he is making a big batch, you better give him two hours.” Chip said chuckling.
“Alright. I will meet you here at 2:00 then.”
“Hey, Wedding boy, what are you up to?”
“You’ll see. I’ll show you at 2.”
While Chip and his Dad were making the powder, I flew to the airport to look in the window at the flight schedule. Sure enough there was an airplane planning to take off at 2:15. I knew I would have to hurry, but I could do it.
Right at 2, Chip showed up with the powder. “Strap it to my back,” I yelled.
“I don’t know what you are up to, but you have that crazy look in your eyes.”
“Hurry! You will see in just a minute.”
So Chip strapped the bottle to my back and I flew off toward the airport. It was a bit difficult flying with that heavy bottle on my back, but I knew I had to do it. I just kept thinking about Sonja and how sad she had been when her Dad said there would be no wedding.
I flew to the airplane and held on just as it was about to take off. Chip and I would sometimes ride on the planes when we were younger and more daring. It was such a rush feeling the wind through our wings. Even the best fairy can’t fly that fast. But this was no time for fun and games. I worked my way toward the jet engine on the side and slowly slid the bottle off of my back. I knew that I would have to work quickly to scratch the message in the powder before the wind carried it away. Very carefully I let the gossamer powder out of the bottle and hurriedly wrote this message into it:
“Calling all fairies. I desperately need your help. Bring all the plants and flowers you can to Enchanted Garden tomorrow night.”
“I hope this works,” I thought the whole way back to Fallen Forest.
As I got to the ground, I looked up into the sky and sure enough. There was my message like a white streak across the bright blue sky.
I went to bed thinking that this was my last chance. All day I wondered if my plan would work. I sent Sonja a message that said, “Get ready for the wedding. Maybe a miracle will happen.”
Once nighttime fell, I heard the faint sound of singing as hundreds of fairy wings fluttered to the ground. One by one the fairies came to the Garden each with something to give. Some had ferns or ivy, some had star gazer lilies, or tulips, and some just brought strands of ribbons and bows. I flew to get the chief for a final approval. If he said it was good, the wedding might still be on.
I held my breath as he walked through and looked. Finally, he came back to me. “The Garden looks even better than before. The wedding is on!” he declared.
A cheer rang out from among the fairies but none as loud as mine.
There under the light of the smiling moon, with the glow of the fireflies and the scent of Chip’s candle and all of the other blossoming flowers Sonja and I were married. It was the most magnificent wedding you could ever imagine. Not because of the flowers, but because my Sonja was the Bride.
In case you are wondering, fairies still write messages to each other in the sky. Anytime they need help, or something big and exciting happens, they let each other know. To you, it just looks like a white line in the sky. Your eyes are much too big to see.
So the next time you look up into the sky and see a white line behind an airplane, remember that there really are fairies and they might be closer than you think.
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