The First Annual Thanksgiving Rant!

I am here to rant about Thanksgiving. No, I do love the holiday. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth and giving thanks for where we are today. There is especially nothing wrong with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, peach cobbler, or whatever else you may enjoy. Nothing wrong at all. Stop drooling.

What IS wrong is these commercials before Thanksgiving. I was watching Jeopardy! when a commercial for Macy’s came on. At least I think it was Macy’s. I immediately tuned out when I saw it wasn’t about anything I cared about. I mean, how many sales can you have?! But then it got my attention with people wearing Santa hats looking all happy, jolly, and “Ho, ho, ho!” Meanwhile, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” played in the background. It immediately got me thinking. WHY do these stores start advertising for Christmas before the turkey has even been bought?!

Black Friday also troubles me. Last year, a Wal-Mart employee was killed after a horde of shoppers rushed inside the store to be the first to snag  the latest items. They trampled him and he was pronounced dead around 6 in the morning, an hour after the doors had been opened. This is what is wrong with our society today. We must be the first to get the new toy for our kids, first to get the new SMART phone, first to get the new car, first, first, first. Why can’t we slow down, be calm about things? I’ve waited a couple weeks to get the new Alex Rider book, one because I have a gift card, and two, I keep forgetting to give it to my dad to use when he comes home from work. But I wait. No intense whining, just, “Darn,I forgot to give you my card again today, Dad. No worry, I can wait.” 

Pass the cranberry sauce, please.

 

Rescue Is Coming!

Rescue Is Coming!

It’s Funny How…

I keep linking you to my sports blog:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/nfl-week-8-preview/

World Series Preview Link!

World Series Preview is now available at:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/world-series-preview/

New Power Rankings!

I have new Power Rankings set up at:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/nfl-week-7-power-rankings/

Once Again

I link you to my sports blog:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/nba-preview-post/

I’m going to keep doing this…

Here is another sports post of mine:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/schedule/

Look Here!

To direct you to my new blog and a new post of mine, click this:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/

Or for the direct route:

http://360sportsjam.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/nfl-week-7-preview/

New Blogs!

I have set up two new blogs using wordpress.com:

verarde.wordpress.com

This blog will be used to post my popular story, The Epic of Verarde. No longer will you come here for those new book posts. You should now go to above web address for new book posts.

The other blog is 360sportsjam.wordpress.com

This blog will be used to for commenting on worldwide sports news (hence 360), mainly more nationwide news, but world news as well.

I hope you enjoy my new blogs! Remember, please go to verarde.wordpress.com for my book, and 360sportsjam.wordpress.com for sports news. These two blogs are still in the making, so if you don’t see anything, don’t worry! Material will be posted.

Chapter 4.1

I couldn’t resist this, and the whole chapter was taking too long for everyone to wait much longer.

 

The Epic of Verarde

Chapter 4

 

            “Be careful today,” Daniel’s mom yelled after them. “We don’t want any collisions with archrivals this game.” She smiled.

            Daniel looked at Rachel.

            “You told her?”

            Rachel looked down. “Mom couldn’t get you to tell her anything, so she asked me. You know how it is.”

            Daniel grinned. “I’ll get you!” She squealed and ran off. Daniel chased her, calling, “Get back here!” Behind them, their mom smiled, then went inside.

*     *     *     *     *

 

       She immediately went upstairs, almost on a run, to the office. The children’s father was there.

       ”What’s the negotiations status?”

        He shook his head. “No luck.”

       “What do they want?” she asked.

        “They won’t say.”

        “We ended that part of our lives 13 years ago, Brian. Why do they need us now?”

       “I don’t know. I suspect they have noticed Daniel and Rachel.”

       She gasped. “Brian, are you thinking — no, they wouldn’t dare.”

      Brian nodded. “I’m sorry, Lisa. But right now your job is to keep watch on them. Look for any move they make on the kids. We can’t let them take Daniel and Rachel.”

       “I’ll pick them up after their soccer game.”

       “Good idea. In fact, I’ll come with you. It’s time to take out what has been put behind. Time to reclaim our rightful position.”

       She nodded and left. When she was gone, Brian sat in his chair and thought. What would he do? How would he and his wife reclaim their rightful positions? How would he protect his children and family? A million questions spun through his mind, each one presenting a fresh challenge needing an answer.

       He jumped up and closed all the curtains in the room. He went to the closet and tapped in a code on the inside right wall. The wall slid open, revealing a room with an old box inside. The box was long and rectangular but wide enough to hold a gun.  He slid it out of the room, out of the closet, and into the office. The box was brown, with two locks. The locks looked new, but in fact the box had come there 13 years prior and hadn’t been opened since.

       Again, he sat in his chair, looked at it, and thought. He knew that if he did this it would be a treasonous action and would likely result in the death penalty — for him and his whole family. Then he stood. He knelt and opened the box, first the two hinges, then the lid. A shine filled the room as he lifted out a radiant sword. The remaining light in the room gleamed off the word on the hilt.

      Essarl.

       He took out a leather belt and metal scabbard and strapped them around his waist. He put the sword in the scabbard and then, thinking better of it, took it  out. He opened the curtains and light flooded the room. He drew the sword, the sound ringing throughout the house. He held it straight and pointing forward.

       Then Brian Verarde said, “It is time.”

*     *     *     *     *

 

Copyright 2009

Fourthmanstanding Publishing