Like us, she had been sitting in one
place too long. The stresses and strains on moving parts that had not
moved in years, brought a lot of things to the breaking point. But
she was the perfect boat for us, we loved her, and it was no small
thing that God had brought her to us in such a miraculous way*. So—as
is the case in similar situations—we kept fixing things, and fixing
things, in order to just carry on. Most of our money went in that
direction, too. Because when you love something, it doesn't matter so
much what it costs, you simply don't want to lose it.
Not to mention, there was a dream
attached to the Glory B that we might experience something of
a resurrection, ourselves. One that would allow us to fulfill some
“divine assignment” the Lord was still holding open for us. If
only we were brave enough to step out, and fully put our trust in
Him. There was a lot at stake. And the harder we worked at it, the
more valuable the whole idea became. So—necessity being the mother
of invention—I came up with an interesting (I thought) way of
breaking an entire novel into parts, and literally “living out”
the background and research as I went along. It would be fun. And
just as much fun (I hoped) for readers to share in those experiences
along the way.
I was going to mingle some truth with
my fiction. Goodness—had that ever been done before? Yes. Of course
it had. About as much as when I thought I had personally invented the
genre of Inspirational Adventure Fiction, before I realized how many
other authors had been turning out similar stuff for years. Anyway,
it was new to me. What I had no idea of (or I would have thought
twice about attempting such a thing), was that there are many worlds
other than our own individual spheres, co-existing all around us.
Which is fine if you stay where you belong, and don't make any
unnecessary waves in the great sea of shared atmosphere we all live
in. However, if you do...
You sometimes get a reaction similar to
splitting an atom.
At least, that's my theory for why
things began happening to us that were way off our charts. In
bunches. As if we had unknowingly stepped out from under our umbrella
and got drenched beneath some deluge we didn't even realize was going
on out there. It reminded me of that old movie, Back To The
Future, when the Delorean reached enough speed to intersect with
enough electricity to crack the time barrier. What in the world had
just happened to us? More importantly... where had we ended up?
Oddly enough, the water (which is
supposed to be frigid in these northern latitudes) was not cold. And
I remember thinking I had forgotten how wonderful it felt to swim in
salt water. But then the Captain, who was now leaning over from the
deck of the Glory B, said, “The briefcase—get the
briefcase!” At which point I realized it was floating right next to
me, having flown off the deck of the bigger boat at the very same
time. I grabbed hold and handed it up. But even though it had been in
the water less than a minute, my computer, my smart-phone, passport
and other important papers, were all drenched. And while the passport
and papers eventually dried out, all those state-of-the-art
electronics were never to rise, again.
Which is why we are halfway through
this journey, and you haven't seen any videos, yet. It is also why I
had to write that Stella Madison Caper over, again, from scratch,
with the help of the Captain's little Dell mini, and an old
fashioned notebook and pen (during the times we were without power).
However, the worst part of all was the discovery that Apple Care
(which I switched over to specifically for this trip, in case I ran
into any problems) does not cover accidents. Why didn't I know that?
Let's just say I come from a different era, when the word insurance
meant it covered everything except an act of God. So, all that new
equipment my wonderful husband sold his last truck to get me, was not
only gone, it was good and gone. A sobering thought that took days
for the shock to wear off, even to sink in.
Meanwhile, we were being stretched at
every turn, physically, mentally, spiritually, and monetarily. Not
only that, we seemed stuck in place like a perpetual rerun of the
movie, Ground Hog Day, as week after week continued to pass
by. And I don't mind saying I was even beginning to have some
hesitations at writing the next Stella Madison Caper, too. Because I
suddenly didn't like the name of it one bit. Lost In The
Wilderness. If the cover hadn't been done, already, I'd have
changed it. Which was probably just a result of having to travel past
places with map names like Raging Rapids, Whirlpool Rapids,
and Desolation Sound. But I still felt that way.
So, have we caught up with Stella?
Let's just say we are perfectly in-sync at the moment, as both of us
travel the same territory on our respective paths. The PushoverPlot is about maneuvering one's way past the darker side of
supernatural. Whether, or not, we have actually “converged”...
I will leave for readers to decide.
* The miraculous story of how we got the Glory B is in the ebook 21 Stories of Faith—which is FREE TODAY over at Amazon. It will cheer you up in 21 different ways!
