A Magic Wand for Christmas

A Magic Wand for Christmas

   Daddy said, “Lucy, here's your Christmas present from Grandpa.” Lucy tore the blue and white wrapping paper off of her gift and opened the box.  It was a purple fairy costume with a magic wand.

   “Thank you, grandpa,” Lucy said and gave her favorite grandfather a big hug.

   “Try it on, Lucy, but be careful with the magic wand. It’s real.”      

   Lucy ran to her room. When she came back to the living room, she was a pretty fairy.

   She waved her wand at the Christmas tree and said, “Abba cadabra, go on.” The Christmas tree lights came on. “Abba cadabra, go off.” The Christmas tree lights turned off. Lucy liked the pretty lights, so she waved her magic wand and said, Abba cadabra, lights on.” The red and green and yellow and blue lights turned on.

   Lucy had four gold coins. She waved her magic wand and “Abba cadabra, you are candy.”

    Daddy picked up a coin and said, “Wow, this is chocolate.”  He gave Lucy a chocolate coin. Lucy took a big bite of the sweet candy. Lucy loves chocolate, so she ate the other chocolate coins too.

   Now Lucy wanted Grandpa to chase her, so she said, “You can’t catch me,” and ran down the hall.  Grandpa roared and ran after her.

   She waved her magic wand and said, “Abba cadabra, freeze.” Grandpa froze, with his arms out to grab her. She laughed and ran behind him. “Abba cadabra, unfreeze.” He whirled around and chased her again. “Abba cadabra, freeze.” Grandpa froze again while Lucy ran into the living room.

   Mommy and Daddy were kissing under the mistletoe. Lucy liked Daddy kissing Mommy, so she waved her magic wand and said, “Abba cadabra, freeze.”  They kept kissing, and kissing, and kissing.

   Lucy said “Abba cadabra, unfreeze,” and waved her magic wand. They stopped kissing.

   Mommy said, “Lucy, it’s silly to freeze people. Why don’t you play with your new doll?”  Lucy put down her magic wand, picked up her baby doll and sat on the rocking chair.  She pretended to rock the baby to sleep.

   Daddy asked, “Why is there a statue of grandpa in the hallway? Lucy, did you freeze Grandpa with your magic wand?”  Lucy nodded her head and laughed. “Unfreeze Grandpa right now.”

   But Lucy couldn’t find her magic wand. She forgot where she put it. 

  So she said, “I lost my wand.”

“Oh, no,” cried Daddy, “Grandpa is still frozen. We must find it or you can’t unfreeze him.”

  They looked under the Christmas tree. Lucy found a sticky candy cane, but no wand. They looked under the couch but only found an old smelly shoe.

   Daddy asked, “Oh where oh where could it be?” They walked past Grandpa, who was still frozen, and looked in her room. She looked in her closet and found her old pink blanket. Daddy looked on the shelf and found an old cookie, but no magic wand.

They went past Grandpa again and into the dining room. Daddy tripped on something.

   Lucy said, “There it is. I found it.”

   Daddy said, “No, I found it. You lost it.”

   She said, “I found it.”

   “No, I found it.”

   Mommy said, “Lucy, unfreeze Grandpa right now.”

   Lucy waved her magic wand at her grandpa and said, “Abba cadabra, unfreeze.”  Grandpa quickly grabbed Lucy and gave her a real big tickle.

   He said, “You’re a silly little girl.”

  “No, you’re a silly grandpa.”

The End

A Drive Through the Snow

A Drive Through the Snow

The masked woman said, “This is a perfect storm for a getaway. Do what we say and no one gets hurt. Drive east on Highway 28.” A masked man held a gun to her head. The woman clutched a laundry bag of stolen money.

Five minutes before, Ingrid Bonkowsky was at a cross country skiing trail head, attaching her skis to her red Volkswagen Beetle after an afternoon outing. She didn’t see the armed duo emerge from the stolen white sedan until it was too late.  They forced her into her car, with the man in the front passenger seat and his female companion in the back. As she turned east, a light snow coated the highway. A Minnesota blizzard was expected to hit Stevens County very soon.

Ingrid, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota at Morris, considered her predicament. Winter break would be over in three days. Nobody will miss her until then.

The man said, “We don’t need these anymore.” Ingrid immediately recognized the voice as Mikhail, fellow Russian emigre and abusive ex-boyfriend. He pulled off his ski mask to reveal a crop of short brown hair and a scarred cheek. The woman removed her mask to reveal long red hair and angry green eyes.

He said, “Ingrid, meet Tanya, my partner in crime. Tanya, this is Ingrid, the woman who sent me to jail for half a year.”

Tanya said, “Hey, if she knows you, we have to kill her.”

“Yeah, I know, but not yet. We need her to drive.”

“You kill me and you’ll be convicted of first degree murder.”

He said, “Only if caught. Sniff the barrel of the gun.” Ingrid was horrified by the smell of discharged gunpowder.

Ingrid stared ahead, struggling against the vicious side winds and increasing snowfall. A gust pushed the car to the right shoulder. She swerved to the left, crossed into the oncoming lane and skidded back into the right lane.

He said, “Ingrid, slow down. Turn right at the next road.” Ingrid’s mind raced a mile a minute. They must have ditched their first get-a-way car. They are using my car to drive to their hideout or another waiting car. Then they kill me. Mikhail will have his revenge while the storm covers their tracks.

Ingrid accelerated, blowing past the intersection at forty miles per hour.

“Hey, I said slow down and turn right.” He smashed at Ingrid with a vicious backhand.  

“Shoot me now and we crash. I die, you die.”

He snarled, “Nice try, but you can’t drive forever.” He jammed the gun into her ribs. Ingrid accelerated to fifty. She didn’t tell her captors the “Fuel Low” warning light was on.

Meanwhile, the Great Blizzard increased in fury, obscuring everything in a white maelstrom. As the red Beetle hurtled through the whiteout, a dark shape loomed ahead. Ingrid swerved into the oncoming lane, barely missing a disabled truck.

“Hey,” Tanya protested, “You’re going to get us all killed.” Ingrid slowed to forty miles an hour, still insanely fast for the road conditions.

Ingrid’s knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel in her desperate attempt to stay on the road and keep moving. The small town of Starbuck was ten minutes away. If she could make it there, maybe she could get help.

Mikhail said, “Don’t get any big ideas. You drive through Starbuck without stopping and nobody gets hurt. Understand?” He jammed the gun into her sides again. Ingrid merely nodded as she sped past the Starbuck’s City Limits sign. A red light flashed ahead at the main intersection. Too scared to keep going and too terrified not to, she maintained her speed as she passed under the red traffic light. Nobody in the Beetle saw the Minnesota Highway Patrol Car until red and blue lights flashed and police sirens added to the howling of the blizzard.

Mikhail yelled, “I’m not going back to jail!” He rolled down the window and fired at his pursuer. The Patrolman backed off from the pursuit as Ingrid continued through the town. Two more police vehicles joined the chase. Mikhail fired three more rounds and reached into his coat pocket for another clip.

Ingrid slammed the brakes and jerked the wheel. The Beetle skidded, rolled over twice, and came to rest right side up, facing the angry police. Mikhail dropped the gun, flung open the door and dashed into the blizzard.

He was followed by a large, well trained German shepherd.

Casandra's Curse

Cassandra’s Curse

Eighteen year old Cassie Rechvik hesitated prior to stepping in to Sunny Meadows Retirement home. Young Cassie had no idea why she was asked to come here. Her namesake, Cassandra Romanov, was a permanent resident here. The old woman was one hundred eight years old. Alzheimer’s disease had long ago taken its toll on “Granny Cassie.” The nurse escorted Cassie into her great-great-grandmother’s room and closed the door. The old, shriveled woman sat up and inspected Cassie from head to foot.

 “Good morning, Cassandra. Thank you for coming.”

“Good morning, grandma.”

 The old woman said, “That would be great-great-grandmother. I bet you wonder why I called you here today.”

Young Cassie said, “To tell to you the truth, yes. You’ve never known who I was.”

“Oh, I’ve known you ever since you were born. You are Cassandra, my youngest living female relative. There’s something I need to give you before I die. It’s in that trunk over there.” She pointed a withered finger towards an ancient oaken trunk. Cassie opened the trunk, found a smaller wooden box and placed it on the bedside table.

The old woman said, “Go ahead, open it.”
 The box was lined with deep blue velvet and contained a crystal ball mounted on a silver base.

“Wow,” Cassie said, “This is really cool. Is it real?”

“This crystal ball has been in our family for a hundred generations. Forgive me for giving it to you, but I must.”

“Why should I have to forgive you?”

“Because there is a curse…” the old woman started to say, but she closed her eyes and fell back on to the bed. She was dead.

A month later, Cassie was showing her best friends, Amanda and Debby, the crystal ball.

Amanda asked, “You don’t really believe it, do you?”

Cassie said, “Of course not. But you have to admit, it looks really cool sitting on the table.”

Debbie joked, “Hey, Cassie, tell me my fortune.” The girls giggled at the thought.

When Cassie looked, flames erupted inside the ball. Horrified, Cassie looked closer.

She said, “I see a yellow house on fire. Debbie, it’s your house. I see your house on fire.”

Debbie laughed, “Hey, you’re pretty good. You act like you really saw something.”

Cassie said, “I’m serious, your house is going to burn down tonight.”

“Yeah, right, and I have homework to do. See you tomorrow.” When her friends left, Cassie looked at the ball again. The yellow house was engulfed in flames.

The next morning, the newspaper headline read, “Three Dead in House Fire.”  Cassie shrieked as she read about Debbie and her mother and father.  She stuffed the crystal ball back in the box and shoved it to the back of the top closet shelf.

Amanda dropped in for dinner three weeks later. Both girls were still grieving for Debbie, but Amanda was nervous about something else.

Amanda said, “I met this new college boy in town. He’s invited me to a fraternity party tonight. Before I go, I want to ask you a favor.”

Cassie said, “You’re my best friend. I’ll do anything you want.”

“I’m not sure about him. He seems nice enough, but I want you to look into your crystal ball.”

“No way!” Cassie shouted. “I don’t ever want to look at that stupid thing again.”

“I know you have a gift. Debbie would still be alive if she believed you. Please look into the ball.” Against her better judgment, Cassie retrieved the crystal ball and placed it on her table. She couldn’t resist peering into the glass to see images that only she could see.

“I see a nice looking boy, with brown eyes, long brown hair, a nice tan, wearing an Ohio State Jersey.”

Amanda said, “That’s Gerry.”

Cassie uttered, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”

Amanda asked, “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Cassie replied. “I see you and him and many other people. Everyone is drinking beer and laughing and joking. Wait, Gerry is putting something in an empty glass. Now he’s putting beer in the glass. He’s handing it to you and you’re drinking it. You put the glass down. It’s still a quarter full. You have a blank look on your face.  He’s leading you out of the room, to a back bedroom…”

Amanda suddenly snapped, “Get out of here! You’re lying. Gerry would never do a thing like that. You sound just like my mother. You never like any of my boyfriends!” Amanda stormed out of the room and out of the house.

Cassie kept staring at the ball, trembling at the vision enfolding before her eyes. Her best friend wasn’t going to survive her worst nightmare. She wondered why Amanda didn’t believe her. Why was she so mad at hearing the truth? Why did Cassie say “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?” Where did I hear that before? Suddenly, the answer hit her like a bolt of lightning. Another Cassandra, a long time ago, during the Trojan War. Her ancient namesake could prophesy, but no one ever believed her. She had Cassandra’s Curse.

She peered at the ball again, desiring to know which fraternity house Gerry was taking her. The crystal ball showed her the house and then went blank. She had no idea where it was, except that the fraternity houses were on the side of town. She packed her Mace and cell phone, grabbed her car keys and rushed into the dark night.

It was past ten when she found it. Drunken revelers were carousing on the lamp lighted street and throughout the frat house. She parked her car two blocks away and ran back to the party. When she arrived at the house, she punched 911.

A female voice said, “911, what is your emergency?”

“There’s a large noisy party at 10340 Gate St. Lot’s of underage drinking. My friend is in there and she’s going to get hurt.”

The 911 operator responded, “I don’t believe you,” and hung up. Cassie , clinging to her phone, ran through the house and searched desperately for her friend among all the partiers. She noticed a bedroom door closing, the door in the vision. She rushed through the door to catch Gerry throwing Amanda onto a bed. She immediately punched her cell phone to call back the 911 operator.

Cassie said, “You leave her alone. I’ve called the police and they’re coming.”

Gerry sneered, “I don’t believe you,” and lunged for her throat. Cassie shot a blast of Mace into his eyes and kicked him in the groin. He lashed out, knocking her to the floor.

A male voice said, “911. What is your emergency?”

She said, “Sorry, my mistake. There really is no problem at 10340 Gate St.”

The 911 operator barked, “What do you mean no problem? I heard the struggle. The riot squad’s on the way!”  Gerry stood over Cassie glaring in anger until he heard the police sirens. The drunken thug cursed at Cassie and bolted through the door.

Cassie placed a blanket over Amanda and nonchalantly left the party. Amanda will be okay until the police find her, passed out with a date rape drug. The entire frat house will become a crime scene and angry detectives will find Amanda’s, and her assailant’s, fingerprints on the quarter full beer glass.

Cassie will have nothing to say to the police. After all, they won’t believe anything she says.

Evan's Story, Chapter 27

 

Inclusion and Exclusion in the Church

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in?

Matthew 25-38

Our relationships with other people changed after Evan was born.  Since most of our friendships were within our church, most of what I will say involved other church members. Some people distanced themselves from us for reasons I do not understand. The most hurtful incident happened when Evan was about six. We were friends with another couple in the ward. I worked with the husband in my church calling and Cindy worked with the wife in her church callings. Their five year old son was very friendly with Evan. They had been to our house and we had been to theirs. When they gave their son a birthday party, they invited other children but excluded Evan. She mentioned this in passing to Cindy and didn’t feel it was such a big deal. If she had taken a big stick and hit Cindy over the head, it would not have hurt more. It would have been okay if we had considered them jerks beforehand. But these were our friends. Good members of the LDS church. If we were going to drop out of the church due to hurt feelings, this would have been the first time.

It was a relief to us when they moved away, but this intentional exclusion poisoned our attitude concerning the relationship between Evan and his peers. We were always on the lookout for further slights. I’m not sure we are over it yet.

Other families grew closer to us. Sam and Lennie-Lee Hodnett were shining examples. One of their twin boys was born with a heart defect, so they had a strong common bond with us. Tragically, their son died on the operating table, just shy of his eighth birthday. The Hodnetts moved to Nipomo, a community south of us, and then to the Sacramento area. Sam Hodnett served as a Bishop in the ward near our daughter April.

When Evan was older, Jeff and Katie Stassell, with their son Ryan, moved into our ward. Jeff and Katie had recently lost their oldest son to cancer. It goes without saying, they empathized with our situation. Ryan was a little younger than Evan and treated him very well. One of my biggest blunders involved this young man.

I was a stickler against people pushing Evan, since I wanted Evan to be strong enough and independent enough to wheel himself. So when I saw Ryan pushing Evan in his wheelchair, I told him not to. Ryan felt bad about this and later told his mother. His mother mentioned this incident to Cindy. Cindy told me about Ryan’s reaction after we had retired to bed. She could just as easily have said, “I love you. By the way, you’re a really big jerk.” I called the Stassells the next day and apologized to the parents and to Ryan.

As these boys grew up, Ryan continued to friendship Evan. His father also treated Evan very well. Neither Cindy nor I were surprised when Jeff Stassell was called as the Bishop to the newly formed Arroyo Grande Second Ward. Ryan grew into a fine young man. I can’t say enough good things about him.

Of all of the young women in the ward, the girl who was friendliest to Evan was Tori Burton. She knew how to talk with Evan, without the wheelchair coming between them. I later met Tori’s father, a carpenter who was paralyzed in a workplace accident.

I wish my memories of the other youth were as uplifting. Most children were not able to converse with Evan because of his mental delays. I witnessed many times when he was completely ignored by his peers. Perhaps they always thought that if Evan had his father with him, it was permissible to ignore Evan. Sometimes I was annoyed and other times I was incensed. The month prior to Evan’s big operation, I was serving as a counselor in the Bishopric. Our church had a large camp out involving scout troops from this area of the state. Evan was treated poorly by many of the boys. I was so sick and tired of it, I almost took Evan home. Cindy talked me out of it. Years later, Evan and I were at the church building for a Youth Temple trip. Evan was invisible to the other boys. When everyone was in their cars and ready to leave, Evan and I were alone. I was so angry and hurt, I did put Evan in the van and I did intend to just go home. One woman, Geri Murphy, saw what was happening and intervened.

Yes, Cindy and I complained the entire time Evan was in the Young Men’s group at our church, from age twelve to nineteen. Most of the bishops, counselors, Scout Masters and Young Men presidents did NOT believe there was a problem. I could handle this better if I considered these men to be jerks, but they were, and still are, hard working members of the church. I am an active member of the church in spite of these experiences.

Evan did go to other Scout Camps and they were mostly positive experiences. Most of the other boy scouts at these Boy Scout camps are from troops that are not LDS troops. In those troops, if a boy is behaving like a brat, they are dis-invited to attend. One year, Evan worked very hard to earn his merit badge for Archery. When he did get enough points on the range to earn the badge, entire troops of boy scouts cheered for him.

Jeremy Gardner was the best youth leader for Evan. Jeremy was actively engaged in getting Evan involved in any way he could. He even took Evan out on an ocean kayak during a scout outing. Today, Jeremy Gardner is serving as a counselor in the Arroyo Grande Second Ward. He and his wife are also raising a wonderful family.

When Evan grew out of the Young Men’s program, he was ordained as an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. From that time forward, Evan meets with the Elders’ Quorum. Todd Woodland knows how to talk with Evan and he successfully reached out to him. Billy Fairbanks has also reached out to Evan. Today, Billy promised us he would make sure Evan is more involved in the Elder’s Quorum. I can’t thank these two brethren enough.

So what is the big lesson here? I’m not sure. The best people in Evan’s church experience are those who actively reached out to him. Evan is very quiet and easy to ignore. In a world where the squeaky wheel gets the attention, he is often overlooked.

For his part, Evan has remained cheerful at all times. He’s a much better man than I.