Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: HOT (08/10/17)
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TITLE: You're Getting Warmer | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
08/11/17 -
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An army of 100 million ponderosa and sugar pine trees lost the battle during the drought against the swarms of bark beetles in California over the past two years. Without enough sap to protect themselves, the giants were helpless. The lightning strike and resulting wildfire tore through the helpless haunches of the forest like a lion on a weakened wildebeest.
A 75% mortality rate along the slopes of the southern Sierras might as well have been a clear cut. Gaunt survivors hunched in place with drooping grey branches and frizzy red and grey needles. Orange circles painted on the jig-saw puzzle bark of naked limbed wood towers marked the next victims for the incessant buzzing saws – their chains sizzling hot from endless chewing through the mortally wounded.
“See Hume Lake?” I said, pointing toward the pristine body of water filled with paddle-boarders, canoeists, and kayakers from the nearby Christian Camp. “We played “red-hot” right on that far shore near the dam.”
“It seems like a kids dream come true,” Krissy answered. “Do you still think that climate change is responsible for ruining your childhood playground?”
“That’s a hot topic,” I said. “Take a look around. Our kids would spend so much time trying to climb over tree trunks that they wouldn’t have time to play games like “red-hot.”
Timber carcasses lay side by side, bucked up by the never ending drone of chain saws eating their way through the proud sentinels whose battle was over. Wildfires had voraciously ravaged their way up and down the hillsides ignoring who held the land titles where hell-like conditions pushed sweating firefighters to their physical, mental and emotional limits.
Krissy turned away from the lake and sat on a fallen giant. She took a longer swig of water from her water bottle as the sweat dripped from her temple and down her neck. “What was your version of “red-hot” like out here?”
I sat beside her, wiping brows and forehead with the back of my arm. “My youngest brother Billy didn’t really like it all that much. We used to find all the kids we could in the area and then designate one of them to hide something. It could be anywhere. When kids were looking this person would walk around and say “cold, cool or freezing” if the person was far away. If they began to walk closer to the treasure the person would say “warmer, hot or red-hot.”
“Did you ever not find something?”
The shiver up my back was in stark contrast to the small bubbles forming in the tarmac road nearby. “My cousin Ben will never be forgotten for what he did.”
“What did he do?”
“He hid his mother’s wedding ring on the end of a branch while she was in the creek cooling off. We were looking everywhere for it. Finally, a neighbour kid, bigger than Ben, saw the ring and went up on the branch. Ben was saying, hot, hot, hotter as the kid inched along the branch. Just as he said “red-hot” the kid reached for the ring and the branch broke.”
“What happened?”
“The kid and the ring fell into the whirlpool created by the drain in the dam. They were sucked under. None of us dared to jump in after him. The rescue team had to shut the dam down and drain the lake to find him. It’s the last time we played “red-hot.”
“Wow – that’s a heavy memory.”
“Almost as heavy as the message from the speaker we heard at the camp. He said that rather than playing games telling people they were “red-hot” at finding little hidden treasures, we should be witnessing to others about how “red-hot” they were at finding Jesus or how “red-hot” they were at being closer to hell.”
“I guess he’s got a point. All those people who don’t know Jesus are worse off than these dead pine trees waiting for the scrap fire. We’ve all got those little things like beetles threatening the core of our life.”
“You never think that while you’re just having fun playing games with your friends that something bigger could be happening that would change everything.”
“Little things create dead spots in us, lightning strikes, wham, things are more red-hot than you can believe.”
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This story had a powerful message.
It brought back memories of the kids in the neighborhood playing "red hot"
Congratulations on your EC award. I