The Book of Jeremy

Dad approached the big blue van. “OK, are we all packed and ready to go?”

“Yes, yes!” we all chorused.

“Are we there yet?” I asked.

Dad jumped into the driver’s seat. The first of many camping trips to the new property was underway.

The long ride gave me time to ponder. That school year had gone fast, and summer would go even faster, and my thirteenth birthday would be here soon. Then we would begin homeschooling. I wondered if I would still get to see my old friends.

Debbie was sitting next to me watching a video on her phone. It caught my attention when I saw floods sweeping away homes and people.

“What is that?” I asked.

Debbie glanced at me. “Oh, I found this site that shows what is going on all over the world. Look at this. There are all kinds of things happening that the regular news doesn’t tell us. There are fires in Australia, locusts all over Africa and Asia, a volcano is erupting in the Philippines, and someplace else had 6.8 earthquake and a flood.” She turned to me. “The lame stream media doesn’t tell us any of this.”

Beth sighed as she looked out the window. “I wish I could have gone on that bike ride with Carl and the bike group. They were going to Mt. Tamalpais. The pictures looked heavenly.” She turned to Dad. “Do you think I could get a bike?”

“We’ll talk about it later, sweetheart,” he answered.

~~~

After an hour or so, we were finally out of the cramped cities of the Bay area. Silicon Valley was behind us, and the countryside began to open up. Cows and rolling hills gave way to orchards and small farms. We went north through the Central Valley, then west through more hills to the lake.

Dad drove us alongside the lake before turning up the hill to our property. The sunlight glistened on the blue water like diamonds. I thought it was beautiful and wished we could live there.