Moments for the Heart

Hey Weekend Writing Warriors. What a busy week. Wasn’t sure I would get around to my post. But I am writing on Saturday morning. As some of you may know I have Epilepsy. With this week being VBS at our church, I spent the week helping out, I talk about it in my Wrap-Up below. Well, one of the things my Neuro tells me is not to overwhelm myself. Well, I did just that this week. On Thursday, the last day (thank God), as we were driving home I had and episode. Mind you, I have Focal Aware seizures, which are relatively minor, but they are episodes nonetheless. But I had them all day Friday.

Today, Saturday, I feel much better and nearly back to normal. I was supposed to have an Author appearance at a local Marketplace, but had to cancel. Sad, but with a health condition, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. You can catch up with past entries here.

The Five Barred Gate is a Dystopian Suspense novel that takes place about 20 years after the events after the first novel. It surrounds the life of Michael, Jacob’s son. He faces the same, but different challenges his father faced. Times are much more difficult. I am excited to revisit this world. I love my characters and getting to revisit the Dystopian genre.

SYNOPSIS:

Still working on a full synopsis:

Michael Andrews is Jacob’s son. He is now the main character. His wife has been arrested for talking to someone on her trip to the store about God. Now he must find a way to fight for her release and raise their twins. He has the help of Rachel’s grandfather Frank Dunham, his parents, and a supportive attorney that will do their best to protect Rachel. But they must fight Federal and local laws that are even more strict than what his father had to deal with. They must also struggle with a corrupt accuser and an old family adversary to ensure justice is served and Rachel is able to come home to her family.

>>>If you are curious about the first novels snippets, I have them archived: Here is a link to them if you want to read up on The Fiver Barred Gate <<<

SNIPPET:

Summary:
In this week’s we move out of one meeting into another. Jonathan is giving Michael the details of what occurred in his meeting with Xavier Ford. You can catch up with the past snippets here.


—First, here is a bit from last week:

Johnathan looked over his file notes, as well as the documents Xavier had handed to him. Something wasn’t right, besides the crucial document short, his files page numbering was off. Page five’s lower right corner number wasn’t a number; it was a stick figure. That didn’t make sense. Why just one page number? However, the court’s clerical system was the least of his worries. He had a client to defend. Rachel had indeed violated the law. He needed to find a loophole that would exonerate her. Xavier did make a mistake. Johnathan hadn’t considered the possibility of Dr. Houston being a plant. This gave him hope and a new avenue to investigate.


We pick up in the next scene. Johnathan is meeting with Michael in a conference room.

Michael paced the room. He could tell he was making Johnathan nervous by his paperwork shuffling and pen clicking. Even he seemed lost.

“I’ve looked at this every way I can, Michael,” Johnathan said. “Unless this judge is apathetic to your situation, I don’t believe there is anything I can do.”

“So, what happened in your meeting?” Michael asked, finally picking a spot to stand.

Johnathan shook his head, “It started off fine, but then the prosecution dropped the bomb,” he pulled out the file Xavier Ford had given him and set it on the table. “Maybe you better sit down.”

::There is your ten (or so). Here is a bit more for good measure.

Michael didn’t like the sound of those words. The look on Johnathan’s face made it worse. He sat next to his attorney and read over the file. Seeing all the zeros almost made him sick. They didn’t even give him the courtesy of abbreviating it. And the years, Michael closed his eyes and did the math; the kids would be entering high school when she would be released.

“Do you need a moment,” Michael heard his attorney say. He opened his eyes and looked at him. His face was showed genuine concern.

“No. I’ll be fine,” Michael ran his fingers through his hair. “So, what do we do?”

“As I said, pray for a kind judge that will allow your wife to go home during the trial. That’s about it. There is nothing I can do at this point; she will see a judge and jury.”

“Because you think she’s guilty.”

“Michael, if she walked beside the woman and said ‘Jesus’ to someone next to her and this lady overheard her, she can be considered guilty. The fact that she spoke to her directly and already admitted that she invited her to church? Yeah, she is guilty, according to the laws that are written. And those laws will be spelled out in that courtroom,” Johnathan said, pointing toward the wall.

Michael released an exhausted sigh. “What’s next?”

“I’m heading in there and fighting for your wife, that’s what,” Johnathan said, meeting his stare. His dark grey eyes didn’t flinch. The wrinkles may have creased his face but only lent to his determination. “I have been on the sidelines of this way too long. Our common friends knew what was going on way before I did. But, according to to the prosecution, this isn’t like the situation your family went through.” Johnathan stroked his chin, “What strikes me is that I never mention your father or Frank to Mr. Ford, nor had it crossed my mind. Curious that he should bring it up.”

“What can I do to help?”

“How close were your dad and Frank Dunham?”

“Close. They worked together at the church before it closed a few years ago.”

“Would you be willing to talk to him? Or would it bring up bad memories?”

“What do we need to know?”

“How plants were used against him. Mr. Ford says they haven’t been used in years. But if we want to do anything about getting Rebecca out, we need to explore all possibilities, including Dr. Houston, herself, being a plant.”

Well, Johnathan seems determined. We shall see how far it gets him when Federal laws are stacked against him.

Side note: I am struggling writing Johnathan though. With him being the attorney, I would think he would know more about what happened 20 years ago. I may have written back and forth with him knowing more about the case and then not knowing about it. I will need to do a character study on him. You would think he would know. I realized that in his conversation with Xavier.

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Monday is Memory Monday
We remember an important event that occurred on that Monday or sometime that week.

Tuesday is Two Twenty-Two Tuesday
A weekly vlog where I talk about writing or something that’s been on my heart, all in two minutes and twenty-two seconds. — I am way behind on this… sorry.
This is posted on my YouTube channel.

Wednesday is when I post my blog for the week.
I speak from my heart on various topics from writing to faith.

Thursday is This or That Thursday
A weekly two-option poll that raises the question, do you like this, or do you prefer that?
I host this on this on Twitter, IG, and Facebook.

Friday is Fun Fact Friday
I find and share interesting or obscure facts on my pages.

Saturday is for Weekend Writing Warriors
Saturday is for Snippets from a current piece or past work.

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Featured Titles

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THIS WEEK’S WRAP-UP

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT:
Thanks for reading this week. And for your continued support.

No rest for the weary. Another busy week. We had Vacation Bible School at our church. It is always a fun week with the children of the neighborhood who don’t normally go to church and those who do. I am in charge of putting together a video of the week’s events to share on Family Night. I can’t share the video or images of festivities, but here are a few of the set up.

Sign up Table — 3rd Grade Room — Music Room


Again, I was not able to get a blog written this week, nor a vlog. I was winding down from our trip and attempting to dive back into work. You can still see my latest blog and vlog. I keep those up indefinitely.

Here’s to living the dream. God bless Writing Warriors!!

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In His Exciting Service,

Jeff S. Bray

Check out amazing established and emerging writers at Weekend Writing Warriors. Each week we post new snippets from either published works or works in progress for each other to comment on. Gain insight into how the mind of a writer works and a behind-the-scenes look at works before they hit bookstands everywhere.

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