EXCERPT FROM
JOE THE DREAMER: THE CASTLE AND THE CATAPULT
By Ada Brownell
FREE
April 11-13
Joe sneaked into his uncle's office and used his dad's laptop to see if he could find any clues to his parents' disappearance. He's been reading his dad's blog, and there were threats amid arguments about whether Christians helped or harmed the world. Joe's dad, Darin Baker, related the history of education, beginning with Jewish men who had to learn to read scripture by age 12, and Christians who read both the New and Old Testaments, influencing the creation of the printing press after the Reformation so everyone could read the Bible.
Joe stopped reading. What was
that sound? How he wished Hefley
were still inside, but an adventure with Patrick’s chocolate had put him in a
backyard prison.
Something was going on outside. Perhaps the click of a car door? Or was
that Hefley adjusting the chain Faulkner had put on him? Were the neighbors
outside, talking quietly?
Tempted to trot back to bed, Joe
almost shut the laptop, but he heard nothing more and read on.
“In the United States, free public
education wasn’t available until the end of the nineteenth century, and
children weren’t required to complete elementary school until 1918.
“The world still is being educated
by Christians. Wycliffe Translators, who are Christian missionaries, live with
primitive tribes and give them a written language and then teach them to read,”
Darin wrote. “Wycliffe translated the Bible into hundreds of languages and
brought literacy to many nations. In their ‘Last Languages Campaign,’
Wycliffe’s translators hope to have the last twenty-two hundred languages
translated by the year 2025. Currently, Wycliffe has fourteen hundred
translation literacy and language development programs, touching nearly six
hundred million people in 176 countries.[1]
“But missionaries and literacy
bring other benefits in addition to the spiritual. For instance, AIDS
prevention education.”
Suddenly Hefley barked, snarled,
and went into a barking frenzy. Neighbors’ dogs joined the barking choir.
The night light blinked, and the
room plunged into darkness except for the computer, which ran on battery
backup.
A flash of light reflected off the
laptop. Was it lightning or a
flashlight shining through the window blind?
Hefley’s frantic bark from the
backyard continued to rip the silence.
Heavy footsteps in the hall jiggled
the floor.
Joe grabbed the laptop, dropped to
his knees, crawled to the closet, and eased the door shut. Uncle Faulkner was
going to catch him in his office.
“Naw, we don’t want the girl—at
least for now,” a deep voice whispered right outside Joe’s hiding place.
“She’ll be trouble. We want the son. Must be in the other bedroom.”
“We could take ‘em both.”
“We’ll have enough trouble getting
the boy without waking ever’body.”
The footsteps squeaked the
floorboards down the hall. Suddenly, weight rattled the floor, and voices
grunted and mumbled. A car engine roared. Tires squealed, and Faulkner’s shout
shook the house.
“What are you doing, Joe? Stop it,
and shut that dog up!”
Joe opened the closet door, walked
through the dark hall, and stood behind his uncle’s bed. “I didn’t make all
that noise.”
Faulkner sat up in bed.
“Someone was in the house. I was in
the office and heard them talking. I think they were after me.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. The one guy asked if they
should get Penny, and the other dude told him she’d be too much trouble. Then
they went down the hall and made lots of noise, but went out without finding
me. I hid in the closet.”
“Something did happen to the
lights.” Faulkner got out of bed and grumbled as he went to check the
electricity breaker box. He flicked the breakers off and on. No lights came on.
“Maybe they cut a wire.”
Joe trembled as if he were cold.
“Glad they didn’t find me.” His teeth chattered.
“What were you doing in my office,
this time of night, Joe? Your only reason to be in there is to kiss Penny
goodnight. My office is off limits to you.”
“I know. Sorry. I looked at Dad’s
laptop to see if there were any clues to Mom and Dad’s disappearance, and there
are threats on his blog.”
“I told you to leave your dad’s
computer alone! Did the burglar get Darin’s laptop? That’s probably what they
were looking for. Someone knows about the missing chip design. Must have
discovered you live here.”
“I had the laptop with me in the
closet.”
“Good...”
***
Joe turned to go. Anna stood
outside the door in her housecoat. “Did
you call the police?”
“I guess I should,” Faulkner said. “Joe says
somebody was in here, and we do have a problem with our electricity. If I were
guessing, Joe, I’d say some of your friends from that gang just burglarized my
home. I’m going to look around and see what’s missing.”
“Shouldn’t we call in the police
first to check for fingerprints?” Joe asked.
“I’ll try not to touch anything,”
Faulkner said. “Don’t you touch anything, either, and get back to bed. I’ll
take care of everything.”
With a sinking feeling, Joe flicked
on his flashlight. When he entered the bedroom, he noticed Patrick wasn’t
snoring.
“Guess that noise woke you, too.”
When he didn’t get a response, Joe
flashed the light toward Patrick’s bed. He wasn’t there. The bedspread was
gone, and empty sheets, yanked off the bed, crumpled into a pile on the floor. Strange.
Using his flashlight, Joe made his
way to Faulkner and Anna’s room where Faulkner was jerking pants over his
pajamas. “Where’s Patrick?”
“Isn’t he in bed?”
“No.”
Acting disgusted, Faulkner slowly
followed Joe. When he looked at the bed, Faulkner gasped.
“Patrick?” he yelled. He walked
through the house, shouting. “Patrick!”
Then he went back and surveyed the
bedroom. “The laptop I was going to give Patrick is gone too!”
Joe used his flashlight and went
outside with Faulkner to see what happened to the power. Wires dangled from the
house.
“Stay away,” his uncle said,
holding his cell phone in his hand. “The wires might be live.” His fingers put
in a number and he put the phone to his ear while they walked back into the
house, the flashlight beam penetrating the darkness. Hefly yelped.
“This is Faulkner Shaw. We’ve had a
break-in and my son is missing!”
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