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Back The Brave Journey
Chapters (40)
  1. Cover
  2. THE KINGDOM AT THE END OF THE DRIVEWAY
  3. Dedication
  4. INTRODUCTION
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. Acknowledgements
  40. BOOK TWOK

TOM CAME HOME at the end of the week from his business trip.

The Biggs family was again complete. They ate, shopped, watched TV, and went to church together. But Benjamin spent a little time every day (and evening) outside “playing” in his hideout.

Soon the first day of seventh grade was upon him. The yellow school bus groaned down the road, signaling that he had thirty seconds to get to the end of his driveway. He grabbed his backpack and made sure there weren’t any leftover, ahem, things.

He made his way down the aisle to his usual second seat from the back. Some younger kids up front greeted him. The bus rattled down the road, passing the pastures he and his friends had crossed. His mind wandered to their adventure of only a week ago: Malcolm, wild goats, the gigantic boar, the old barn…he tried not to think about that.

The bus stopped somewhere it never had before–a mile from his driveway at a yellow house with a chain link fence. A tancolored dog walked its owner to the gate. The girl was Jessica Howell–the Leon Summer Jubilee’s Watermelon Queen! She was two years older than he was, but he remembered her from the festival. She sat in the middle of the bus. And just like that, the boy had a renewed interest in going to school.

Benjamin looked back at her house and yard. Her dog walked alongside the bus, then sat in the grass. It had tan fur, a black smashed-in face, and a curly tail. A pug! The smiling boy and dog stared at each other while the bus accelerated. Benjamin almost thought the dog smiled at him as it scratched behind its ear…with its one little black foot.

THE END.

Acknowledgements

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THE PEOPLE IN THIS STORY ARE FICTIONAL. However the animals, fortunately, are not. Some of them I have owned. Some of them I have come across. But more curiously, some of them may be your very own pet. And just like Benjamin Biggs, you aren’t aware that your furry friend is a part of a greater story. As a boy, I grew up in an area that inspired the places in this book. I hope you enjoy this adventure, as it gets much deeper than you can imagine. Thanks to the help of Karen S. Davis, editor; Tim Ladwig, illustrator; Jim Hellman, designer; and Joanne Bolton, printing broker, The Brave Journey, which started on a notepad in a pasture with a lawn chair, has now taken its complete form.