The (Almost) Author

 

Fun Fact #30

 

The husband is an author!

Well, almost :)  His book isn't finished yet, he's got about 8 chapters completed.

He's writing a chapter book and it is so good!

Yes, I am biased but seriously, it's good!  The thing I love about it is it's a book I think not only will kids and teenagers love but parents will like reading it to the kids too!  The main character in the book is based on Dakota and he weaves real things about Dakota and our family in with the fiction.  I'm posting the first 2 chapters at the bottom of the post if you want to take a peek!



Playing on that iPad can be exhausting!

 

 



To celebrate Halloween Eve we made scones! 

The girls had so much fun!

The family was shocked at the mother's creativity :)

We also had Navajo Tacos!

And here is Grandma Jan's Halloween tree all decorated and ready for the day of the dead!

 



 

 

The first two chapters of the husband's book (he hasn't decided on the title yet)....

1

            "Hey Josh, do you want to hear a fun fact?"

            "Not really."

            "Did you know that killer whales are actually super big dolphins?"

            "Dakota, where do you come up with this stuff?" begged Josh.

            "How about this?" I continued.

            "Did you know that if the entire world used as many resources as the United States, it would take two and a half planets to supply it?"

            "I've got one for you Dakota; did you know that I am getting pretty sick and tired of your silly little "Fun Facts"? Now shut your mouth and get ready to be blown away by the best wide receiver in the history of football." taunted Josh

            "Man, don't you know I'm the bus driver?" I teased.

            "Bus driver?" questioned Josh.

            "Ya." I said.  "I'm about to take you to school."

            Just then the nerf football was hiked and the kids on the playground scattered in all directions. I made sure to stay on Josh the best I could even though we both knew he was taller and faster. Sure enough just as I had expected, the ball came sailing in our direction. I was determined that I would stop the pass this time at all costs. Just as the ball got to us, a huge collision occurred, one that the rest of the sixth graders would not soon forget. Somehow in the clash of body parts, Josh came up missing some teeth and I had an unusual lump in the back of my head. The pass fell incomplete and the bell was warning us to get back inside. I helped Josh up and we quickly looked for the missing teeth in the grass but we both had an uneasy feeling about where those teeth might actually be.

            "You don't think..."  Offered Josh, reluctant to say the words out loud.

            "There's no way." I said.

            We both struggled to make it back into the school, trying the best we could to go unnoticed but the one thing about head wounds, they sure do bleed a lot. It didn't take the teacher more than a second of looking at our bloody shirts to assess that we needed medical attention right away. We both took the long walk of shame to the front office, hoping we would never actually get there, but when the school nurse laid eyes on us she became frantic, especially as we described the events that had taken place. By the time we got to the missing teeth, she was already on the phone with my dad telling him he needed to come take me to the hospital because I had teeth embedded in the back of my head.

            The car ride to the hospital was an interrogation that would have made any military leader proud.

            "Who ran into whom?" My dad asked.

            "It was both of our faults dad." I muttered.

            "Were you being reckless?" He accused.

            "Not any more than usual.” I tried to joke.

            "I'm going to ask you one more question and I want you to tell me the truth. Did he catch the ball?" he said with a smile.

            "No way!” I declared. "I was on him like a glove."

            "More like a mouth piece." Said my dad laughing.

            My dad has always held out hope that I would someday become a great football star like my older brother Jackson. I have tried to explain to him that I prefer individual sports but he thinks if I just keep at it, eventually I’ll like it. It hasn’t happened so far.

            We finished the short drive to the hospital and that's when I realized I hate hospitals. We waited in the lobby for an eternity and my dad had to fill out so many forms it seemed like he was writing a book. We finally got to see the doctor, who seemed like he had something better to be doing somewhere else. He quickly determined that there were no teeth in the back of my head but that the cut would require four or five staples.

             Getting the staples put in wasn’t as bad as you would think. Getting them out ten days later was what stunk. No warning or anything, the nurse just plucked em’ right out like she didn’t care if it hurt or not. It did.

2

There are few things in life I like better than being checked out of school early.  Today though, I have mixed emotions because my mom checked me out to go visit my grandpa, “Papa Dave,” in the hospital.  He got real sick last month after having some kind of terrible fall and he just can’t seem to get any better. I hope it isn’t serious or I don’t know what I’ll do. Besides my mom and dad, grandpa is the most important person in my life. Whenever I’m frustrated or have a problem with something he always listens to me and treats me like my feelings matter. I can’t always say that about my mom and dad. His condition must have gotten worse because I can tell my mom’s been cryin’, even though she doesn’t want me to know.

“Dakota, when we get to the hospital I want you to behave yourself, you hear me?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Make sure to tell Papa Dave how much you love him and then just sit down and hold still.”

 What does she think I’m gonna do, jump up and down on his bed?  I’m 12 years old now, not some kind of 3 year old spaz.

We pulled into the parking garage and it suddenly hit me that I wouldn’t be here unless they were pretty sure Papa Dave wasn’t going to make it.  I had a real bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I felt like I might start crying, but I didn’t need my mom to have another reason to treat me like a baby so I tried to think about something else and we went inside.

I hesitated for a moment before entering room 143.  It seemed small, cold and sterile.  Immediately, I was hit with the overwhelming scent of get-well flowers.  Over the intercom a drone-like voice called out various codes and in the corner a heart monitor kept a rhythmic beat.  My dad was sitting in one of those stiff waiting room chairs over by Grandpa’s bed next to an old wheelchair.  My grandpa was lying on the hospital bed surrounded by IV bags and tall metal stands.  He had a bunch of wires hanging off of him and he looked like he was asleep.  At least, I hoped he was just asleep. 

My mom reached over the cold metal bed rail and kissed his forehead and grandpa opened his eyes.

“Well aren’t you all a sight for sore eyes? How long have I been asleep?” he asked.

“Not too long,” said my dad.

“I don’t know what they’re giving me, but it sure makes me tired,” said grandpa.  “Who’s that over in the chair?  Is that you Bones?”

“Yes grandpa, it’s me.”  My grandpa calls me Bones because when I was little, I heard one of his brothers call him “Horace” and when I asked him why they called him that, he said it was his nickname.  I must have thought that was pretty cool because I told him I wanted one too.  He called me “Bones” and I thought that was pretty awesome.  Still do.

“Come over here where I can see you,” said grandpa.

“We’ll leave you two alone for a minute,” said mom.  When my mom and dad left, grandpa told me to hurry and shut the door.  I went over and closed it quietly.

“You see my suitcase over there on the table?  I need you to hurry and get in the side pocket and bring me what’s in there.”

“Is this it?” I asked.

“Yeah, bring it here.”  I handed him a small metal box.   He carefully opened it and started to pull something out when the door swung open.

“It’s time for your pills Mr. Brooks,” a nurse announced.

“Come on Ilene, can’t we just forget the pills this one time?”

“Now you know better than that,” said the insistent but kind nurse.

She gave my grandpa three of the biggest pills I have ever seen and a small glass of water.  He reluctantly swallowed the pills and she left satisfied.  I went and closed the door after her and raced back to grandpa’s side, anxious to see what was in the box.

“Bones, the way everybody keeps talking to me, I get the feeling they don’t think I’m gonna be around much longer.  If that’s the case, I want you to have something I consider to be my most prized possession.” Just as grandpa started to pull something from the box my mom came back through the door with some snacks and I watched as my grandpa quickly slid the box underneath the sheets on his bed.

What was in that box and why was he hiding it from my mom?  It was painfully obvious that I wasn’t going to find out until we could be alone once again.  Papa Dave asked my mom if she could track down some apple juice for him. “Sure,” she said and quickly left the room. “That should take a while,” said Papa Dave with a smile, “they only have grape and cranberry juice.”

I closed the door again and went back to see what grandpa had in the metal box.  He pulled it out from underneath the sheets and opened the rusty lid with care. He reached inside and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper that had several tears in it.  “This is his most prized possession?” I thought.  It’s garbage.  As Papa Dave unfolded the paper I could see some pictures and some writing on what looked to be some sort of map.

“Is that a map?” I asked.

“It sure is Bones.”

“What kind of map?”  I asked skeptically.

“A treasure map, Bones.”

Alright, I thought, Papa Dave is in the hospital because he is crazy.

“Like a pirate treasure map?” I asked as sarcastically as possible.

“No,” said Papa Dave, “there aren’t too many pirates here in Utah.  This is a map of a place where Butch Cassidy and his gang hid some of the money they stole from robbing trains.”

“Who?” I questioned.

“You know, Butch Cassidy…. the Sundance Kid? ….The Hole in the Wall Gang?”

“Never heard of them,” I said.

“Well, they were some of the most famous local outlaws from back in the day.  They used to rob trains by stopping them and blowing up the safes on board.

“Oh, yeah, what does that have to do with your map?” I asked, still puzzled.

 “My mom’s daddy was a train engineer for Union Pacific back in those days.  His train got hijacked by Butch and the Kid and while Butch was busy blowin’ stuff up, Sundance set about givin’ granddad the beating of his life.  During their scuffle granddad kicked the Kid’s satchel behind a burlap sack there in the engine car. Granddad said it was a good thing the explosion happened when it did because the Kid nearly killed him.  When Butch started yelling for Sundance to come help him with the heavy gold bars in the safe, Sundance forgot all about his bag, and granddad, and went to help Butch with the loot.  After they left he pulled out the satchel and found a map inside with the locations of some of their secret hideouts.

“If that’s a real map, how come you didn’t just go get the treasure yourself?”

“I’ve been searching off and on for many years and I finally got it narrowed down to an area in southern Utah.  But then I slipped and fell and got sick and, well, here we are. I want you to have it.”

“Me? Why don’t you give it to my dad?”

“He doesn’t believe that the treasure exists and he blames it for my current condition.  You must promise me that you won’t tell him that I gave it to you.”

"Gee grandpa, I don't know.  How would I ever be able to look for it without my parents finding out?"

"You know your family has a week-long vacation planned for southern Utah this summer, that's more than enough time."

"I know but..."

"Look Bones, there are no buts about it.  This is very important to me and I need to know that you will carry on the search for me.  You don't know it yet, but you are the perfect person for the job.  Now come over here and let me show you something very important to your success, without this, your search will be fruitless."

I felt a stirring of excitement starting to build deep down inside of me, one that I haven't ever felt before.  Why would Papa Dave think that I was the perfect person for anything?  I couldn't wait to hear his explanation but just then my mom and dad came back into the room, spoiling everything.

"I'm sorry dad; I couldn't find any apple juice.  I hope grape is okay." My mom said, apologetically.

I'm not sure, but I thought I caught my dad giving grandpa a dirty look.

"That will be fine sweetheart.  Thank you very much."

"Well we better get going so you can get some rest," said dad, half smirking.

"But I'm not done talking to grandpa."  I exclaimed.

"Dakota, you heard your father, now grab your stuff and let's let grandpa get some rest." My mom said, authoritatively.

"But...."

"Bones, don't talk back to your mom" said grandpa.  "Now come over here and give your old Papa Dave a hug."

As I leaned in to hug him I felt grandpa stick the map in my shirt pocket.

"You do your very best for grandpa, you hear me?" grandpa whispered into my ear.

"I sure will grandpa," I said.

I reluctantly walked out of grandpa’s hospital room not knowing if I’d ever see him again. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around that possibility and I still had so many questions.

When we got home I rushed downstairs to my room where I could finally have some privacy.  I closed the door but I couldn’t lock it because, for some reason, in this house, the kids aren’t allowed to have locks on their doors.

When I was sure that I was alone, I carefully took the map from my shirt pocket.  I glanced at some of the labels on the map. Robbers Roost. Hole in the Wall. Old Spanish Trail.  Awesome!  It looks like Papa Dave did quite a bit of searching around Robbers Roost.  I booted up my computer and logged on to the internet.  I typed “Robbers Roost” into the search engine and hit enter.  Immediately it returned page after page of information.  I started reading as much as I possibly could.  Never before had I been so interested in history. 

Looks like Butch and Sundance could hide out here for quite a while after a robbery while they waited for the search to die down.

It says here that law enforcement never could find it because of the rough terrain.

I wonder if this is how my grandpa fell.

It says this is where Butch formed his crew “The Wild Bunch.”  They were all sworn to secrecy regarding the super secret location.

I bet Butch would be furious that Sundance was carrying around a map with a big X-marks- the-spot on it, I chuckled to myself.

It says here that Sundance had a girlfriend; I wonder if the map was for her.

I heard a door slam and feet go pounding across the floor upstairs.  Oh no, I thought, the girls are home from school.  I need to find a good place to hide my map, and quick, so those nosy little sisters of mine don’t get a hold of it.  I quickly grabbed one of my video game cases and folded the map and put it in there just as my little sister Gracie came bursting through my door.

            “Hey! You’re supposed to knock before you come barging in here,” I screamed.

“Where’s mom?” she demanded.

“Let me look in my crystal ball,” I sneered.

“Kota, you’re such a dork,” she yelled as she ran back down the hall and up the stairs.

“You forgot to shut the door!” I hollered.

I need to make sure they stay out of here.  I wish my older brother Jackson hadn’t gone off to college.  We used to share this room and the girls never came in here while he lived here.  Once, my sister Kloe made the mistake of coming in here and was playing with some of his stuff when Jax came home from football practice.  He scooped her right up and marched her down the hall to our bathroom.  She was pleading her case the whole way but she was doing it in Spanish which is what she does now that she's learning it in school, so as usual, we had no idea what she was saying and he hung her upside down over the toilet and flushed it threatening to give her a “swirly.”

That’s when I heard the loudest scream I’ve ever heard, Spanish or no Spanish. She got mom’s full attention now.  Jax got in some pretty good trouble over that.  Maybe it’s time for a refresher threat.

Mom started calling my name from the top of the stairs.

“Are you getting ready for practice?” she inquired. 

Oh no, I completely forgot about that.

“Almost,” I replied as I scurried for my duffle bag.

“We need to leave in five minutes and you need to empty these trashes before we go.”

I swear, the worst part of having a big family is the amount of trash we produce.  Yet another chore that fell to me when Jax left.

“Coming!” I roared.

 I quickly grabbed my stuff and headed upstairs, confident that mine and grandpa’s secret was safe.

I ran the trashes out to the cans on the curb while my mom pulled the suburban out of the garage.  I loaded my stuff in the back seat and jumped up front.  I needed the hour-long drive to practice to clear my head.  I put my headphones in and cranked up my tunes.  I laid my seat back and began the all-important process of getting my mind right for practice.