EXCERPT FROM JOE THE DREAMER: THE CASTLE AND THE CATAPULT
By Ada Brownell
FREE APRIL 11-13
http://buff.ly/XeqTvH
Halting footsteps on the concrete
roused Darin Baker from a deep sleep the next morning, as someone limped to the
dungeon. The round-top door creaked open.
“The sun’s shining. Have I been
asleep that long?” Darin asked, struggling to stand when he saw Gorilla. For
the first time in weeks, he felt rested.
Gorilla’s huge body towered over
him. “Get up. Dr. Zogg said to take you out.”
“Why?”
“Cuz he’s the owner of this here
castle now, and he’s the boss,” Gorilla said, motioning to the stairway leading
to the door.
Confusion whirled in Darin’s mind
like a prairie dust devil as Gorilla limped up the steps on his broken toe, his
meaty hand holding Darin’s arm. Could execution be next?
“What happened to the other owner?”
Darin asked.
“None of your business,” Gorilla
snapped.
A few minutes later, another guard
shoved a sack into Darin’s hand. Inside the sack were two lukewarm breakfast
sandwiches. Darin’s mouth watered. He unwrapped one, took two huge bites, and
then stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. After he swallowed, he realized what
he had done. Horrified, he twisted the sack, leaving the other sandwich inside.
Kermesis strode up to him, a grin
on his tanned face. “Is this another bribe?”
“Get your tummy full, and we’ll
talk. You apparently weren’t hungry enough last night.”
“You know, you folks are repeating
the Holocaust!” Darin said. “Trying to eliminate a certain group in the United
States—the country founded for freedom! You’ll soon be pitching our starved
bodies over the wall.”
Kermesis cleared his throat, folded
his arms, and cradled his chin on one fist. “Dr. Zogg was quite upset about
your interruptions during last night’s meeting.”
“We’re still supposed to have
freedom of speech in America.” Darin shoved the sack toward him.
“Your freedom ends where ours
begins. We have thousands of people who want freedom from religion.”
“Not really. What you really want
is to force your own set of beliefs onto everyone else.”
“What I want is your software design.
You must have it here, because we’ve searched your house. Give it to me, and we
won’t need to train your kids in the art of suicide bombing.”
“What?”
Kermesis grinned and stretched out
his hand containing the food. “We also need you to lay stone, and you’ll work
faster if you eat.”
“No!”
“Take it, Darin. You have something
I want, and I have something you need—nutritious food.”
“Then why don’t you feed all of
us?”
“We tried last night.”
“It’s bad enough that you make us
work here, let alone starve us to death.”
“We’re teaching you a lesson you
refuse to learn.”
Kermesis shoved the sack into
Darin’s hands. “Keep it. Think about food and freedom.”
“How will you finish the wall and
gatehouse if we all die?” Darin asked. “Capture more Christians?”
“Dr. Zogg plans to start collecting
money.”
“Not quite like building a church,
is it?”
Kermesis crinkled his forehead.
“How so?”
“People work, sacrifice, and give because they love
the Lord, and the Lord sometimes stretches finances.”
“Well, people do love our cause.
You’ll see.”
“Did you grow up learning about
God? Did your mother serve the Lord?”
“Leave my mom out of this!”
Kermesis angrily spat on the ground next to Darin.
“I’ll pray for you and for her,”
Darin was about to hand the sandwich back, then decided to share it with
someone.
“Use your energy to get that wall
built,” Kermesis growled. “We’re supposed to have this wall finished now.”
Darin put the sack into his holey
pocket and walked toward the pile of stones.
“We have a man keeping an eye on
your children. Your kids live with that powerful newspaper man, but we’ll do
whatever is necessary to get the computer chip.”
Book Summary:
Joe the Dreamer: The Castle
and the Catapult
By
A.B. Brownell
Free April 11-13
Enter
an area where people are missing and radicals want to obliterate Christianity
from the earth. After Joe Baker’s parents and 30 other people mysteriously
disappear, he finds himself with a vicious man after him. Joe and an unusual
gang team up to find his mom and dad. The gang is committed to preventing and
solving crimes with ordinary harmless things such as noise, water, and a pet
skunk instead of blades and bullets. Joe reads the Bible hoping to discover
whether God will answer prayer and bring his parents home. In his dreams, Joe
slips into the skin of Bible characters and what happened to them, happens to
him—the peril and the victories. Yet, crying out in his sleep causes him to end
up in a mental hospital’s juvenile unit. Will he escape or will he be harmed?
Will he find his parents? Does God answer prayer?
No fantasy. No wizard, but suspense that
sometimes makes you smile. Christian payload. Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and
the Catapult http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
or https://www.createspace.com/3962829
©Copyright Ada Brownell January 2012
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