Whistlestop
Authors: Karl J. Morgan
Tags: #angels and demons, #evil and good, #elven fantasy, #dragon adventure fantasy, #multiverse fiction
Whistlestop
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2016 by Karl J.
Morgan
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic,
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any
information storage retrieval system without the written permission
of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
Cover and text
design:
Atelier Sommerland (courtesy of
Shutterstock) and
Sabrina Lueck
Sacred Life
Publishers
™
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Table of
Contents
This story is dedicated with love to
Leiv Benjamin, my grandson. Whistlestop is an adventure story that
spans the multiverse, full of unimaginable creatures and places
along with a sprinkling of cosmology. I have attempted to create a
magical journey where anything and everything is possible, and that
is exactly the life I hope Leiv will have. While some look at the
things that hold us back, I choose to look at the limitless
possibilities all around us. It is also a story about family and
love, which are the two things that make each of our lives special
and meaningful. As the heroine of this tale learns, the universe is
here for each of us to use to fulfill our dreams. All the
best!
No one ever said raising children was
easy, and Jerry Winslow was not about to espouse that either, yet
somehow, raising his son, Jeremy, had become even more overwhelming
in recent days than he could have imagined. His wife, Lynn, said it
was his fault, and that obviously did not make him feel any better.
Fortunately, little Jeremy’s sister, Lilian, was the polar
opposite. She was affectionate, bright, studious, and her heart was
the size of Earth. She even shared her love, toys and candy with
the Little Monster, as she called him. Jerry just started a new job
after having been laid off for six months. His wife told him the
constant attention he gave little Jeremy was the source of the
problem. Now that his father is out of the house all day, little
Jeremy was lashing out, expressing his frustration at his father’s
absence. Of course, the rebuttal was that he was at school during
the day and therefore not coddled by anyone continually. Perhaps
his school friends were coaching him in better ways to get
attention at home? His office phone rang, so he picked it up. “This
is Jerry Winslow.”
“
It’s me, honey. Do you
have a minute?” Lynn said in her not-very-happy voice.
“
Of course, sweetheart,
what’s up?”
“
I just put the kids on the
bus an hour ago,” she sighed. “I went upstairs to make the beds,
and Jeremy’s bedroom is in shambles. All of his clothes are in a
big pile on the floor. The mattress is half-off the box spring, and
there is trash all over the place.”
“
I’m sorry, Lynn. I promise
I’ll talk to him when I get home.”
“
Jerry, I don’t think
that’s enough. You really have to give it to him. No TV for a month
or something to get his attention, okay?”
“
Why don’t we both sit down
with him, and you can explain how his trouble-making makes you
feel.”
“
A guilt trip? I like that,
but no, I want you to put your foot down and give him some rules
and punishment for not following them, okay?”
“
Yes, dear.” She hung up.
He put the phone back in its cradle and held his head in his
hands.
“
It can’t be that bad,
Jerry,” said a voice in the doorway.
He looked up to see his boss, Brad
Lincoln, smiling at him. He was a tall, lanky man with brown hair
and dark brown eyes. He closed the door and sat on chair in front
of the desk. “It’s just the kids, Brad.”
“
Is it anything
serious?”
“
No, it’s just a behavioral
issue with Jeremy. Lynn says he’s acting out because I’m not at
home during the day.”
“
Jerry, your son is what,
eight?” He nodded. “For Christ’s sake, all eight-year-old boys are
trouble-makers. That’s what they do. I’m sure you were a handful at
that age too.”
“
Yeah, I know, but Lynn is
getting fed up.”
“
Sports!”
“
Huh?” Jerry
shrugged.
“
Listen, your son’s problem
is boundless energy. All boys his age have more energy than sense.
Sign him up for soccer or Little League. Let him use up his energy
on a field somewhere, anywhere other than your house.” Brad stood
and began pacing back and forth in front of Jerry’s desk. “You
know, I manage a Little League team on the weekends, and I bet your
Jeremy would be a good fit. We can always use another hand. What do
you say?”
“
I used to love baseball
when I was his age,” Jerry reminisced. “Let me talk to Lynn tonight
and I’ll let you know tomorrow, okay?”
“
Uh, tomorrow’s Saturday,
Jerry.”
“
Oh, I’m sorry; this whole
thing with Jeremy must be messing with my mind.”
“
Don’t sweat it. My team
plays at the Bayside Park fields. Maybe you two should stop by
tomorrow and see what it’s all about. We usually get underway at
about 1:00 PM.”
“
Thanks, boss.”
“
Don’t mention it, Jerry,”
he smiled as he turned to leave. He opened the door and then
stopped and turned around. “By the way, how are the month-end
figures coming? Corporate has been on my ass all day.”
“
I’ll have the flash report
in about fifteen minutes. Is that okay?”
Brad smiled again and replied, “Great,
just come to my office when you’re ready.” He walked out of the
room.
Jerry pulled his Toyota into the
driveway at 5:45 PM. Fortunately traffic had been light today. As
he exited his car, he caught a glimpse of Mr. Tompkins, the next
door neighbor, glowering at him from his living room. The drapes
were closed, and Tompkins held them open just enough for his face
to show. When his eyes caught Jerry’s, he quickly closed the
drapes. Within seconds, the neighbor’s door was open and Fred
Tompkins was hurrying in his direction. “Afternoon, Fred, what’s
up?”
Tompkins marched forward, finally
stopping less than a foot in front of Jerry, his face bright red
with a bulging blood vessel ascending his forehead. “What’s up? Are
you asking me what’s up? Jerry, what in God’s name is going on
inside that house of yours?”
“
What are you talking
about?”
“
This morning, I noticed
Lynn taking your kids down the street to the bus stop. I was just
sitting on my porch enjoying the paper and a cup of coffee. A
strange noise caught my attention, coming from your house. It
sounded like crap being thrown around. You got some strange
contraption or rowdy visitors in there or what! You know Irene
sleeps in when she’s not feeling well. The damned noise woke her
up. Now, I’ve been listening to her bellyache about it all
day.”
“
A strange noise?” Jerry
asked. “There’s no one in the house but Lynn, me and the kids.
Maybe it was coming from another house.” Tompkins did not respond.
He stared at Jerry for a few seconds, turned on his heel and headed
back to his front door. Once inside, he slammed the door shut.
Jerry did not know what to think, so he turned and walked into his
own house. He put his keys into the small bowl on a table near the
door and headed into the living room. “Hello, I’m home!” There was
no response. He continued into the kitchen which was also deserted.
Glancing out a window, he noticed Lynn sitting on a lawn chair in
the backyard with a glass of red wine. Lilian was sitting at a
small table nearby, working on her homework. Jerry grabbed a beer
from the refrigerator and went outside to say hello. As he
approached Lynn, she shot him an angry look. He came up to her and
kissed her on the forehead. “Is it that bad?”
“
Daddy, Jeremy is in big
trouble, right?” Lilian cooed from her seat.
Jerry walked over to her and kissed
her on the head. “Why don’t you worry about your own homework,
Lil?”
“
I’m sorry if I’m acting
like a bitch,” Lynn said. “I just don’t understand why Jeremy is
acting out like this.”
“
Brad thinks he should try
out for soccer or baseball. It will give him another outlet for his
energy.”
“
We tried that already, if
you recall. Jeremy doesn’t like the kids on Brad’s team. He says
they are a bunch of losers.”
“
That was two years ago,
honey. Maybe they’ve matured a little since then.”
Lynn stood and walked over to Jerry,
kissing him lightly on the lips. She tapped his beer bottle with
her glass in a toast and said, “To our sanity.” After she took a
sip, she continued, “Sure, it’s worth a try. Right now, I need you
to go up to his room and talk about what he did. I told him to
clean up his room before dinner if he wanted to eat. Go talk to
him, and please tell him I love him and am doing this for his own
good.”
“
I’ll do it right now,”
Jerry replied. “By the way, Fred Tompkins just jumped down my
throat about odd noises coming from our house this
morning.”
“
It was probably me crying
after seeing Jeremy’s room.”
“
Actually, he said he heard
it while you were taking the kids to the bus stop. Do you have any
idea what he’s talking about?” She looked bewildered as she shook
her head. “Okay, let me go see Jeremy.” Jerry went back inside, set
his beer on the dinette table, climbed the stairs to the second
floor, and then turned left and headed down the short hallway. A
bathroom was the first door on the left, followed by Lilian’s door
and Jeremy’s on the opposite wall. The door was closed, so he
rapped softly as he turned the handle. “Can I come in?”
As he walked into the room, Jeremy
rushed over and threw his arms around his father’s waist, hugging
him tightly. “I’m sorry Daddy.”
“
It will be okay, Son. You
know your mother and I are doing this for your own good, right? You
can’t keep making these messes.”
“
I know it’s my fault
because this is my room. I don’t want Mommy to hate me.”
“
She could never hate you.
We both love you very much. Come sit down with me.” The two sat on
Jeremy’s bed. “So, why did you make the mess?”
