Author: kelrohlf

Cereal No. 7

“You know what I long for, Lord; You hear my every sigh.” Psalm 38:9 NLT

Salvation

Tong. Tong. Tong. Tong. The railroad crossing bell kept rhythm with the red alternating signal lights. She could keep walking east or she could turn south on the rural route, perhaps finding at least a village or a small town, where she could replenish her supplies. Hunger and thirst made the decision for her.

As she entered the small town, she searched for a QuikMart. She would buy some snack food and fill her canteen in the bathroom, maybe even splurge, and buy a Coke. She kept her head down, so as to not attract attention. As soon as he spotted her, the owner of the farm supply called the local police. It was his civic duty to alert the police. And this girl looked like your typical runaway.

While she was in the bathroom, filling her canteen, the policeman parked outside the QuikMart. As she exited, she forgot to keep her eyes to herself and she noticed the policeman. The bell rang as she pulled opened the glass door. The policeman got out of the car and followed her into the store.

She had nowhere to hide, so she busied herself with the snack aisle. Maybe he would just get his coffee and leave. A tap on her shoulder. “Hey kid, what’s your name?” She didn’t answer. He cleared his throat and stood behind her staring at her stringy blond hair. “I asked you a question, young lady.” A thought popped into her head.

“Shirley Verne,” she lied.

“Well, Shirley Verne, being as I’m the head policeman around here, I’m responsible for this town, and we don’t abide having vagrants hanging around.”

“I’m no vagrant,” she sputtered. “I have a right to be here. I got money. What’s it to you whether I’m here or not? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Well, strange, unkempt girls are bound for trouble, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ASK you. Leave me alone. I’ll be out of your way soon enough. I’m headed to New York City.” She studied the Pringles cans on the bottom shelf.

He stifled a laugh. “Alrighty then, how about I give you a lift to the bus station, Shirley girl.”

“Uh. No, that’s not necessary. I can find my own way.” Her stomach lurched, and she decided she would buy the Pringles and a Coke, just as soon as she could dodge this cop.

He laughed outright. “Well, that will be some hike seeing that New York City is two states away and at least another thousand miles from hereabouts.”

She sighed. And then faked a yawn, as she tried to hide her disappointment from the nosy policeman. She wanted to curl up in the corner. Her mother loomed in her mind, frowning and counting out the money in her tin can. The girl stumbled forward and knocked the row of Pringles cans to the floor. The policeman caught her just as she fainted.

Posted on by kelrohlf 2

Cereal No. 6

” . . . and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:20b KJV)

Transportation

She startled awake. In her dream, Laverne and Shirley were singing the opening song to their show and doing their shlemiel and schlemazel dance, circling around her as she tried to take each step on the tracks. And then she joined them on the verse,

Nothin’s gonna turn us back now

Straight ahead and on the track now

We’re gonna make our dreams come true

Doin’ it our way

After that she remembered, Archie Bunker hollering to Edith, “God don’t make no mistakes, that’s how He got to be God.” Just before she woke, the last thing she remembered was Archie frowning at her across the kitchen table, while Edith cajoled her into eating some Lucky Charms cereal.

She stretched her limbs, pushed herself up from the pile of leaves, her makeshift bedding, to start her day. Her saltines and water only lasted through the first day. Thankfully, she brought a can of sardines from the pantry, but they made her thirsty. On the second day, she was on the lookout for a creek or a farm where she could fill her canteen. She still had the money, but she hadn’t even come across a town or village yet.

It was the third day, and she was still hoping for a train. She wondered if some big catastrophe stopped all the train traffic along this route. She chewed on a piece of damp grass to keep her mind off the hunger and thirst. She knew she could eat dandelion leaves, but it was early November. Dandelions were scarce. She didn’t even look for mushrooms, because she was afraid she’d choose the poisonous ones. And anyways, she couldn’t stray too far from the tracks, and miss her opportunity. She walked outside the tracks for some variety.

A twig snapped under her foot. And then she heard a faint wa-waaa sound behind her. It repeated and seemed to be getting closer. Could it truly be her train? She looked back down the track to the west, and the beam of the engine light out shined the early morning haze just enough to confirm her hopes. It seemed like it was at least a half mile away, so she had time to search for a good spot to jump on.

It was fairly flat, with a shallow ditch parallel to the tracks. She would crouch down in the ditch and then run toward one of the boxcars after the engine and several cars passed her.

WA-WAAAA! Her breath caught in her throat. She hummed the chorus from Laverne and Shirley, and imagined them crouched there with her. The engine passed. Her heart beat faster. One, two, three, four cars shwoosed past. Five, six, seven, eight tankers blurred her vision. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve boxcars, but she couldn’t move her feet. She thought she heard Laverne yell, “Run!” And so she leapt up and started toward the fifteenth boxcar, when she realized what her eye had already witnessed, the doors of each boxcar were shut tight, not open like she had expected.

Stunned, she lost count. She just stood watching car after car rumble on. After the last string of tankers, she sunk to the ground. And not even a caboose to hop on at the end.

 

 

Posted on by kelrohlf 2

Random Journal Day, Fiction and You Tube

Remember how short my time is!
    For what vanity you have created all the children of man! (Psalm 89:47 ESV)

Welcome to Labor Day Weekend! Before I unplug for a few days, I wanted to post my Random Journal Day contribution, update you on the progress of The Cereal Bowl Series and practice a little vanity. Ha! (By sharing some of my favorite You Tube uploads.)

So it’s Random Journal Day, and I have been making many journals, and writing in them, too!

photo-001
simple “junk” journals using recycled boxes and junk mail, etc

I found this simple technique on You Tube, where you basically make a cover with duct tape and two pieces of cardboard. Then use a large rubberband or thin hair band to secure “pages” inside. I made a You Tube video of one that I will share in this post. And I hope to do some more “flip throughs,” as the journals get filled up and used.

The Cereal Bowl Series is my first attempt at publishing fiction. I had the idea of writing a page a day from another writer friend. (Thanks, Amanda!) I have five episodes to date, and plan to write more as the weekend unfolds. But I may just be lazy and do nothing this weekend.

And without further ado…You Tube videos starring moi and some of my creative adventures.

 

 

Posted on by kelrohlf 5

Cereal No. 5

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:2b ESV)

Fascination

The red flashing lights washed over the walls of her empty bedroom. The fire department had squelched the fire in the woods behind her house. Her parents were worried sick. And she was hunting for a train.

After her parents had fallen asleep, she crept out the back door. She wore her father’s wool army jacket with the canteen slung over one shoulder, and the knapsack over the other. The fifty-six dollars she borrowed from her mother’s tin can, she secured in a zippered pocket inside the jacket.

Her next stop before the railroad tracks was the shed, where her father kept the lawnmower. She jimmied open the latch, and quietly stole inside to take the gasoline can with her. A box of matches from the pantry were in her jeans pocket. She closed the shed door, and started towards the woods.

Once at the fort, she set aside her travel gear and started pouring gasoline around the perimeter. She stepped inside searching the dark night air with all her senses. A fiery memory singed her throat. She took a breath, and doused the bench seat with the remaining fuel. She ran back outside gagging from the fumes. She threw the can into the underbrush. She struck a match and whoosh the fire engulfed the fort in minutes.

Running with her gear slung over her shoulders, with the night vision of a cat, she made her way to the path that led to the train. To the train that would take her to the city. Her bulging belly slowed her down, and the crackling sound of the brush catching fire behind her tempted her to stop. But she kept going. No looking back now.

At the railroad tracks, she thought she heard the faint sound of an approaching train. Just a whistle in the wind or was that the train retreating? She sat on the damp grass beside the tracks to catch her breath. She waited. And waited, but no train.

She heard the sirens of the fire trucks, she almost looked back to see the woods aflame. Instead she hefted herself up from the ground. Looked to the west. Looked the east. Not even a hint of a train.

She knew the tracks would lead her towards her destination. She stepped over the rail and started walking east, stepping from railroad tie to railroad tie. Smoke filled her nostrils with a strange desire, a fascination with her own power. A new found ability to erase the past propelled her forward. A flutter in her belly reminded her that a new life dwelt within her.

Posted on by kelrohlf 1

Cereal No. 4

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— (Luke 14:28 NKJV)

Calculation

The mother noticed that her girl was gaining weight despite her birdlike eating habits. She also noticed that the box of saltines was missing from the pantry. She kept close account of her pantry. The evidence was adding up, but the mother didn’t want to believe the possible answer.

Should she confront her daughter, then she would have to disclose her knowledge to her husband. Maybe if she just waited, things would work themselves out. But, to be sure, something was amiss.

The girl was working out some of her own calculations. If she told her mother about her condition, then her father would be included in the discussion. If you could call it a discussion; he still regarded her as a nuisance to be avoided. The only time he paid any attention to her was when he was good and drunk.

Then he would get semi-interested. He would come into her room and watch her sleeping. She knew this because she wasn’t really sleeping; just pretending. She would hear him sigh, and sometimes she thought she heard him quietly sobbing. But that couldn’t be true, he could care less about her. Or so she thought.

Anyways, she couldn’t tell her mother. She would try to talk her out of keeping the baby. And she really didn’t believe her father would care one way or the other. She had a better plan. She would escape.

The railroad was south of their property. As kids, she and the neighbor boy, used to hike down through the woods and across the county line to flatten pennies on the track. They would carefully place a few pennies on the rail, and then wait. And wait. The train never did come while they were waiting.

They would get bored, and then go play hide and seek in the woods. The next day, they would hike back and the pennies were gone. They speculated that the pennies were stolen by Indians or the train was so fast that the pennies stuck to the wheels instead of the track. Either way, their penny flattening adventures were always a bust. But this time her adventure was going to be grand, she just knew it.

With a baby on the way, and a train to hop, she was going to the city. She would pack her knapsack with saltines and fill the old army canteen with water. Her mother kept some cash in an old tin can in the back of the pantry. She would just borrow it, and then someday pay her mother back.

She had heard of hobos traveling across the country to get work. Maybe some nice hobo would help her find her way. She figured she’d go east towards the Big Apple. If she couldn’t make it that far, there had to be a lesser city where she could start her new life.

She had a plan. She would leave Saturday night, after her parents returned from the tavern, and when the train most likely would be going through the woods.

But before she left, she had one more thing to do.

Posted on by kelrohlf 2