| Author | Message | ||
| Jerry (Jerry) |
A fable The sun had long since settled below the western hills that sultry Saturday night at Camp Meeting. All the little grade-schoolers sat around the bonfire to listen to stories. Their big eyes flickered with the light from the flames as they stared intently at the dark robed figure slowly floating out of the big tent nearby. "Oooo! This is going to be SCAARRYYY," Nathan whispered in Ruthieís ear, his eyes wide with anticipation and excitement. Ruthie let out a little squeak and covered her mouth with her trembling, slender hands. All the fidgeting and wiggling stopped as the hooded apparition sat on the Children's Leader's canvas chair. A restless breeze scampered around the campsite, shaking the trees, knocking over paper cups, and blowing dust into everything. Suddenly! A beam of light shot up from below the hood and revealed a hideous, deformed face with a heavy brow, sunken eyes, and a large upturned nose. A low, raspy voice began to speak: "It was a DAAARRRRRKKKK and SSSSSTORRRRRMMMMYYYY night . . ." Thunder grumbled from the dark clouds of a distant summer storm. They started in the ìusualî way, these chilling stories, but they were different from any stories other children heard. No headless horsemen, snow monsters, gremlins, or trolls haunted these legends. I remember one about a ìlong baby with a horse,î or something like that. We were so young, so eager to learn, so willing to listen to every word. None of us understood how these stories would end or how they would affect us throughout our lives. Anyway, we just thought it was fun, at the time. (Your turn, if you like. Or Iíll continue later) | ||
| Susan_2 (Susan_2) |
And, then the visions came. Because it was the childrens division at the Soquel Campmeeting the tent flaps had to be drawn and closed tight. The adults told the children it was to protect them from the cold, chilly, California coastal air. But, the children all knew it was so OUTSIDERS, journalists from the Santa Cruz newspaper who had been informed of the weird and strange goings on at this SDA campmeeting couldn't observe for themselves the visions, the apparations of the campmeeting heroine, Mrs. Ellen G. White, who would appear ghostlike before the children and scare them into committing themselves to the Seventh-day Adventist church for all of eternity. (Now someone else can take over.) |
