Who cares about advent....I'm actually posting!
Wow. I don’t post in forever and suddenly I’m going to do the Advent? This ought to be interesting. But I do hope to finish it this year. Before I go on to the Advent, though, I will give a brief update on my life. My oldest brother and his wife had another little girl in November. Poor Jennie. Baby Kate’s head was still in Jen’s ribcage when her water broke so they had to do a C-section. The operation was fine, but complications from everything else has made Jennie one sick person on the road of recovery. But she’s getting better. And little Katelyn Mary is the cutest little baby ever. Cute cute cute.
Okay. Cute babies aside, it is on to the advent. At the moment, it seems that my advent is going to be short summaries of some fairytale retellings I am doing. We’ll see how it goes. I only have 14 lined up right now so I may end up interspersing the summaries with explanations of the overall story or other such things. Now that I think about it, maybe I’ll make this first post an explanation of the beginnings and post the first story tomorrow. (Sorry
koola, but I did tell it to you already). I think that’s a good idea. Okay. So that is now what I’m doing for the advent. I’ll be posting 14 story summaries, but in between some of them I’ll be posting random bits of information about the world and overall story.
Long explanation short, if you want to know anything about the world/story, just comment and I will do my best to answer. Now on to the advent…
Well, here is why the stories are being told in the first place.
There is a little town, out in the boonies near some mountains, called Last Ditch. It is an everyone knows everyone sort of town that feels slightly like it is in a time warp because it is hours from anywhere big. Well, in an attempt to be rebellious, 15 year-old Jackson Taylor sneaks out at night on the first day of Summer Vacation and joins some school friends in setting off fireworks in the field of the school (note: this school isn’t nearby, they got there because one of the kids had an old beat up truck, so Jackson is quite a ways from home).
After they sneak onto the football field and are in the process of setting up the plethora of illegal fireworks (on a lightening storm night that is threatening to rain nonetheless) a gang of punks/thugs shows up. Jackson and his friends scatter, but one of them gets nabbed so Jackson decks the punk, thus changing who gets nabbed. None of Jackson’s friends stay behind to help him.
Jackson is feeling like his life is going to end right then and there when a stranger comes out from the bleachers and asks that they keep it down because he is trying to sleep. When the gang goes after him, the stranger easily dodges them. The stranger really looks like he has been having a bad day and when the gang members throw Jackson aside to try to get “Twinkletoes” things start getting really weird.
On the ground, Jackson really isn’t sure if he is actually seeing what is happening as it starts to rain. The stranger grabs a railing from the bleachers, rips it off and bends it as if it was a garden hose. This startles the gang, and they stop because the guy did just do some impressive property damage. The stranger bangs the rail against the bleachers and tells them to please leave. Most of them begin to back off, but one of them reaches to pull something out of their jacket. Jackson yells as he gets up because he’s pretty sure it is some kind of weapon and he figures he has to do something.
There is a crash of lightening and it just feels like it is going to him them. But the stranger quickly waves the rail he is holding and that gets hit instead. Jackson finds himself thrown to the ground and his head is ringing. As he gets up and tries to orient himself, he hears the stranger asking the gang to leave and they run off with several commenting that the stranger is some sort of freak.
The stranger drops the smoking/buzzing rail, which springs back to its original shape. Jackson isn’t sure what to say or do until the stranger stumbles a little bit away and proceeds to throw up. As Jackson gets up, the stranger goes and curls up underneath the bleachers. Jackson goes to check on this person and asks him if he’s seriously planning on sleeping under the bleachers because they really weren’t going to keep him dry.
The man laughs a little and tells Jackson he should go as well. Jackson is a bit of a punk himself and says no. The stranger had saved him from getting his butt kicked and so Jackson wants to at least know the person’s name. The stranger sits up and actually has a real (though sad) smile on his face. Jackson introduces himself and holds his hand out. The stranger stands up and tells Jackson his name is Eugene.
When Eugene moves to shake Jackson’s hand, he almost collapses. It becomes pretty apparent that Eugene is very sick. Jackson digs through his pockets and then tells Eugene to stay there. Jackson really is a good kid. He goes to the payphone and calls his dad, knowing full well that he was going to be grounded for most of the summer. While waiting for his dad, Jackson asks Eugene about what he saw and Eugene asks him if that could actually happen in reality (though Eugene pronounces reality with an accent).
In the end, Jackson isn’t sure what happened and decides to pretend like it was just nerves and Eugene ends up spending the summer in Last Ditch. He doesn’t tell anyone where he’s from, though it is obvious he misses and is worried about the people and place he has left behind. Eugene helps around the little town to repay their kindness toward him. By some encouraging from some of the children, Eugene begins to tell them stories. When someone asks him what version of fairy tales he is telling, he says that he got most of them second hand. And that is how the stories begin to be told over the summer.
Tomorrow will be the first story.
Okay. Cute babies aside, it is on to the advent. At the moment, it seems that my advent is going to be short summaries of some fairytale retellings I am doing. We’ll see how it goes. I only have 14 lined up right now so I may end up interspersing the summaries with explanations of the overall story or other such things. Now that I think about it, maybe I’ll make this first post an explanation of the beginnings and post the first story tomorrow. (Sorry
koola, but I did tell it to you already). I think that’s a good idea. Okay. So that is now what I’m doing for the advent. I’ll be posting 14 story summaries, but in between some of them I’ll be posting random bits of information about the world and overall story.
Long explanation short, if you want to know anything about the world/story, just comment and I will do my best to answer. Now on to the advent…
Well, here is why the stories are being told in the first place.
There is a little town, out in the boonies near some mountains, called Last Ditch. It is an everyone knows everyone sort of town that feels slightly like it is in a time warp because it is hours from anywhere big. Well, in an attempt to be rebellious, 15 year-old Jackson Taylor sneaks out at night on the first day of Summer Vacation and joins some school friends in setting off fireworks in the field of the school (note: this school isn’t nearby, they got there because one of the kids had an old beat up truck, so Jackson is quite a ways from home).
After they sneak onto the football field and are in the process of setting up the plethora of illegal fireworks (on a lightening storm night that is threatening to rain nonetheless) a gang of punks/thugs shows up. Jackson and his friends scatter, but one of them gets nabbed so Jackson decks the punk, thus changing who gets nabbed. None of Jackson’s friends stay behind to help him.
Jackson is feeling like his life is going to end right then and there when a stranger comes out from the bleachers and asks that they keep it down because he is trying to sleep. When the gang goes after him, the stranger easily dodges them. The stranger really looks like he has been having a bad day and when the gang members throw Jackson aside to try to get “Twinkletoes” things start getting really weird.
On the ground, Jackson really isn’t sure if he is actually seeing what is happening as it starts to rain. The stranger grabs a railing from the bleachers, rips it off and bends it as if it was a garden hose. This startles the gang, and they stop because the guy did just do some impressive property damage. The stranger bangs the rail against the bleachers and tells them to please leave. Most of them begin to back off, but one of them reaches to pull something out of their jacket. Jackson yells as he gets up because he’s pretty sure it is some kind of weapon and he figures he has to do something.
There is a crash of lightening and it just feels like it is going to him them. But the stranger quickly waves the rail he is holding and that gets hit instead. Jackson finds himself thrown to the ground and his head is ringing. As he gets up and tries to orient himself, he hears the stranger asking the gang to leave and they run off with several commenting that the stranger is some sort of freak.
The stranger drops the smoking/buzzing rail, which springs back to its original shape. Jackson isn’t sure what to say or do until the stranger stumbles a little bit away and proceeds to throw up. As Jackson gets up, the stranger goes and curls up underneath the bleachers. Jackson goes to check on this person and asks him if he’s seriously planning on sleeping under the bleachers because they really weren’t going to keep him dry.
The man laughs a little and tells Jackson he should go as well. Jackson is a bit of a punk himself and says no. The stranger had saved him from getting his butt kicked and so Jackson wants to at least know the person’s name. The stranger sits up and actually has a real (though sad) smile on his face. Jackson introduces himself and holds his hand out. The stranger stands up and tells Jackson his name is Eugene.
When Eugene moves to shake Jackson’s hand, he almost collapses. It becomes pretty apparent that Eugene is very sick. Jackson digs through his pockets and then tells Eugene to stay there. Jackson really is a good kid. He goes to the payphone and calls his dad, knowing full well that he was going to be grounded for most of the summer. While waiting for his dad, Jackson asks Eugene about what he saw and Eugene asks him if that could actually happen in reality (though Eugene pronounces reality with an accent).
In the end, Jackson isn’t sure what happened and decides to pretend like it was just nerves and Eugene ends up spending the summer in Last Ditch. He doesn’t tell anyone where he’s from, though it is obvious he misses and is worried about the people and place he has left behind. Eugene helps around the little town to repay their kindness toward him. By some encouraging from some of the children, Eugene begins to tell them stories. When someone asks him what version of fairy tales he is telling, he says that he got most of them second hand. And that is how the stories begin to be told over the summer.
Tomorrow will be the first story.