Free From – Chapter 1 – July 1st

I hope you will join me this month as we JOURNEY each day through our short story. It is about finding FREEDOM in the midst of all the captivating pieces in life that steal our peace which we need FREE FROM!

FREE FROM
July 1, 2021

James 4:7-10, ‘So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud “NO!” to the devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet “Yes!” to God, and He’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom; cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.’ (MSG)

Chapter I

     The sun was high in the sky and radiated in every direction. Asphalt bubbled and felt mushy to the touch. He knew this because the little boy sitting some feet away had a chunk in his hand and was working it like putty. He’d even been able to stretch it for a minute as if he was pulling taffy. A puddle of water gathered around a metal street grate, and it looked like it had almost come to a boil. A strong stench of city sewage, spoiling trash, stagnate water, and fuel and grease fumes filled his nostrils; nauseous, his stomach churned. He hadn’t eaten in several days; the rancid slice of bread, limp fries and leathered chicken leg he’d dug out of one person’s sack left on the outdoor table of a fast-food dive hadn’t sat very well with him. In fact, the food had sat on top of his empty stomach like a hockey puck, and he imagined it being so rotten, it couldn’t possibly digest. Eventually, he’d made himself puke behind the Five&Dime, worried the grub would petrify like a wooden stone and someday absorb into his body. Unnatural. Legend shivered.
     The atmosphere sizzled. It was so hot, the air felt flushed even. A couple black birds levied on a heatwave, too energy-less to fly. The breeze, which was stirring, should have been welcomed, but it too was so hot, it became a nuisance. He heard the rustle of leaves on the towering tree overhead where he had claimed the one sliver of shade at its base. That would be gone soon. He laid his head back against the trunk, glancing up through the leafy branches to patches of blue with white clusters sailing past. He sighed. His breath was blazing. The mirage of torridness painted a sea of waves ebbing and flowing across the city sidewalk. He shook his head and blinked his eyes, wanting the delusion to go away.
There had to be more than this. The thought again, like every other day since this same time last year, toyed with his head. Sick, how he could recall last year’s sultry summer steam feeling nearly this unbearable. Even sicker, for a second, the heat emblazoned in his memory sent a chill across his skin that reminded him at once of how bitterly frigid the winter winds had been not long ago. He had squeezed himself in the gap between two storefronts in that alley right over there just to stay alive for days on end. The sweat that dripped in his eye now stung and brought him back to reality. Sometimes he thought he might be slowly dying when the daydreams replaced reality so much that he wasn’t sure what was deceptive, what was true. Yeah, there’s gotta be more than…
     “Hey, no, no! No, you don’t. Nuh uh!” He had just looked up, covering his eyes with a tent his fingers made to shield the brilliance of the sun. What he saw infuriated him. Nuh uh, he whispered to himself. “Nope! Not today!” he yelled, jumping to his feet. He may be an old card, but he still knew how to shuffle, and he might even still know how to deck someone, as he raced down the sidewalk toward the gathering crowd.

To Be Continued…