January 2019 – Be Bright

January 28, 2019February 15, 2022

Are you crazy enough?

11 Union Jacks snapped to the attentive wind.

Captain Arthur Phillip glassed the beach.

772 men in zebra uniforms packed the 10 decks behind him.

300 bloody red Royal Marines dotted the herd of convicts.

Arthur refitted his tired tri-corner cap.

For eight stormy months, he had carried the dross of England’s society.

Wretched men, unwanted. Men wasted by law breaking.

The Crown commanded him to forge a colony in the vicious Outback.

He decided to grow a garden of humanity instead.

“In this new country there will be no slavery, no slaves.”

1786 Britain thought he was nuts.

The perfect guy to take 10 boat-fulls of bad guys to the edge of the world.

Captain Governor Phillip was crazy enough to believe the convicts were capable of becoming a community.

And they were crazy enough to believe him.

Arthur sailed from Sydney Cove in 1792.

Every position of leadership was filled by a formerly fallen man.

The heart of New South Wales was full of farms, families and the dawning future.

If you’ve read this far, I’m pretty sure you are crazy.

Crazy enough to believe in a few law-breakers.
Crazy enough to believe in your Captain.

I like crazy.

January 24, 2019February 15, 2022

The white wind tumbles and the sails flip and fly like a rebellious summer dress likely to unstay except for the proud tapered masts standing still while the wind walks her keel through the adolescent waves.

January 21, 2019February 15, 2022

He loved her to death…

Nikolina Vucetic always made it home on time but today she wouldn’t make it home on time.

Today a bloody attack would break every heart in Pancevo.

—

“If heaven exists, it’s probably a giant park.” Leo thought.

“Leo, all you do is watch. Why do you love the park so much?” Biljana said.

Leo avoided people, mostly. He loved his family. He didn’t need anyone else.

Something was different at the park. People played at the park. Little children laughed. Grown ups traded grins. And he loved taking it all in. A part of him was part of all of it.

So he watched.

—

“When you’re nine you can be scared but when you’re ten years old you’re not scared anymore.”

That’s what one of the boys at school had said. He was ten years old in the nine-year-old class so he knew more things.

Nikolina was trying to be brave. She looked over her shoulder again.

She walked faster. That large dog was still getting closer.

She ran.

He charged.

—

Her scream liquefied Leo’s heart.

Her anxious blond hair flagged for help as the beast razed her footing.

Leo drank in the scene.

“That thing is going to kill her.” he thought.

—

Witnesses at the park that day say they “heard a scream and then saw a brown missile streak across the park.”

“Leo saved the little girl?”

“Yeah, that little dog that always watches from the hill, he just jumped in, and, and… man, there was a lot of blood.“

—

When Leo rocketed into him, the bull mastiff let Nikolina free.

15 pounds of sacrificial love versus 150 pounds of malevolent muscle.
The dogs tumbled and snapped and snarled.

Nikolina held her bloody arm and ran.

—

A little girl’s smile broke every face in Pancevo.

A little dog died and broke every heart in Pancevo.

They built a statue for Leo the Fearless.

They planted flowers and watered them with their tears.

“To all small heroes with big hearts.”

January 14, 2019February 15, 2022

Walking on moonbeams…

Why is he always telling stories?

Why doesn’t he just say what he means?

A full moon smile rose on the strange boy’s cheeks.

“Here’s a good one. Once, dad fired one of our orchard managers.”

“Okay. What happened?”

“Before he cleaned out his desk, the manager called a meeting with all the orchard people.”

“No, I mean why did he get fired?”

“And at this meeting he says “Alright everyone, I’m feeling generous today. Everyone who owes us anything, get our your bills, mark them down by half. I’ll sign off.” Just like that he cut all their debts in half, on his last day!”

“What!? He was already fired. He can’t do that, right?“

“He figured his little display of generosity might win him some new friends. It worked too. They loved him for it. He couch-surfed with some of them until he found steady work again.”

“Well, what did your dad do, wasn’t he mad?”

“Hah, no way! He almost rehired him.”

“But the guy cheated! He basically gave away your dad’s money!”

A laughing stream broke their path.

“Here, I know the way across. Watch where I put my feet.”

“You still didn’t tell me why he got fired.”

“Oh. I guess he got afraid. He got stingy with the orchard, anyhow.”

On the other side, the strange boy drew some numbers in the dust.

“How much is $1,000 worth? Or $10,000? Or $10 million?”
“How long does any wealth last?”
He looked up and the sun filled his eyes.
“How much is a friendship worth?”
“How long does a friendship last?”

Daylight was courting the horizon now.
The confident path sped their steps.

“Still, I don’t think your dad should let people just give away his stuff.”

“If you owned all the stars, how many would you give away?”
“Can you waste something that never runs out?”

Something in his chest sprung.

“It’s like I always say, little brother…
…the only way to lose your life is to try to save it.”

Moonbeams are quite soft underfoot, you know.
So they went on silently, for a while.

January 7, 2019February 15, 2022

Your mission…

Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head.
Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are.
We build ourselves out of that story.
– Patrick the Rothfuss

What story do you tell yourself?

It must be a good one… 🙂

Our world needs a good story.

Keep telling it, would you?

January 1, 2019February 15, 2022