The Official Writing Challenge
BACK TO
CHALLENGE
MAIN
INSTRUCTIONS
how it works
submission rules
guidelines for
choosing a level
ENTRIES
submit your entry
read current entries
read past entries
challenge winners
Our Daily Devotional HERE
Place it on your site or
receive it daily by email.


TRUST JESUS TODAY

  • Share
  • how it works
  • Submit
Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Barbeque/Cookout (09/06/12)
In the Dead of Night


Tonight, sleep takes a detour. Despite the fact we’ve been fishing all day and are bone tired, Bo and I lie wide awake staring at the sliver of moonlight that filters through slits on the sides of the tent. Heavens! Even with night breezes and sleeping sun, I would bet my boot straps the temperature is a hundred degrees inside the tent. Over in one corner our cache for the day lie safely couched in mounds of ice, impervious to the sweltering temperature.

Bo thinks of it first, but it’s not difficult for me to sanction his insanity. I had been doing that ever since I met this hulk of unpredictability. A moon-lit cookout? Call it flight or fancy, I wasn’t quite sure. But we can’t sleep, so why not?

Bo pushes back the flaps of the tent and secures them. A soft, balmy breeze greets us as we step out into partially lit shadows. With our camping lantern teaming up with rays of moonlight we jauntily join the phantoms of darkness, pajama clad and barefoot, and gather anything dry enough to burn.

For Bo, starting a fire in the dead of night is as natural as the gentle zephyrs that whisper from the heavens. Night’s magic could not have worked a better spell on two dreary eyed and sleep deprived night raiders who are all fired up and ready to cook the day’s fishing booty in nature’s kitchen lit by heaven’s moonbeams.

On the banks of the Tiakawa that day, each of us had caught our share of good luck, although Bo’s stack of trout began to pile up quicker than mine. Now, as I sit before the dancing flames waiting for him to bring out the fish, I smile at the idea that dances in my head; our night out with a cookout.

“Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, this is going to be good,” Bo muses as he drops several pieces of the fresh rainbow trout on the waiting flames.

A canopy of stars rests atop the darkness, and when I gaze up at them I’m suddenly filled with a desire to cuddle.

“Even nicer because I’m eating it with you.”

Bo catches the cue, but we manage to make sure the fish does not burn.

We take our last bite somewhere around 2:00 a.m., down it with water purchased earlier at the campground commissary, and then shower the smoldering embers.

“Hey, little lady,” he says with a twinkle. “It’s been a long night. Don’t you think it’s time for bed?”

“What a silly question,” I tease back and race to beat him back to the tent.

It’s morning, and I awake with a pounding heart and panting breath to the sound of Bo’s voice calling out my name, but he is not beside me; only his picture – the last one I took of him that day at Tiakawa Lake.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
This article has been read 1013 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Terry Lee
09/13/12
Lovely, sweet, and heartbreakingly tender. Well done.
C D Swanson 
09/13/12
This was overwhelming and brought a tear to my eye. Wonderful job with this tearjerker. Memories and dreams until "we meet again.

Thank you.

God Bless~
Ellen Carr 
09/14/12
This is really well written with lovely language. And the ending is unexpected but moving. Thank you.
Noel Mitaxa 
09/19/12
Great descriptions and fun all the way through, but then wow, that ending caught the mood beautifully and tenderly.
Bea Edwards 
09/19/12
Beautiful and stunning piece of work. I never expected the ending which made it all the more poignant. Lovely~ just lovely story!
Loren T. Lowery
09/19/12
Nice piece of emotive writing, perfectly coloring each scene that leads to a reflective moment that catches the reader unaware. Great job!
Myrna Noyes
09/19/12
What lovely descriptions of the night and the fish fry! Your characterizations of the couple were simple but effective, as well. But that ending...! What a tender twist! Great job!
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
09/21/12
Oh this is such a lovely sweet tale. The ending sneaked up on me for sure. That doesn't happen often. I enjoyed this bittersweet tale. Congratulations for ranking 19 overall!