Moments for the Heart

Hey Weekend Writing Warriors. What a busy week. And to top it off my snippet ween poof last week. I am grateful for Jenna who realized my mistake and called me out on it. I had no clue. Glad I found it in my deleted archives and reposted it. Whew for archives. I will triple check before I click post today, well tonight since it is Friday night. I am burning the midnight oil since I am running late trying to complete a client job. I am late due to my illness this week. Well, time to complete this snippet. If you did not a catch last weeks after I fixed my error, 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 week’s snippet we are ending our courthouse meeting and moving along with Michael and his kids. It is the next morning and they are on their way to see Michael’s dad so he can head over to jail in hopes of seeing his Rachael. You can catch up with last weeks snippet here.


—First, here is a the tail end of last week:

“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.”

We are jumping ahead a bit and into the chapter and day. Michael is waking up with the kids and getting them ready for their grandparents. I will spare you the parental kitchen banter and get into the action

Michael buckled a wild-legged Aiden into his seat while Angela took care of business herself. “I got it, daddy,” she told him. She fussed with the buckle a bit, but eventually got the three-point harness connected. Girls definitely advanced faster than boys, as his wife would always kid with him each time Angela hit a benchmark before Aiden. The theory that twins were molded together was a myth, at least for these two. Even their heads mismatched. Angela was full of red curls, and Aiden; his hair was straight as straw and brown. 

“Hey, Daddy? What’s that?” Angela asked, pointing at the garage door.

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

Michael looked up, he couldn’t see what she was pointing at, but after staring for a moment, it was clear as day. “I don’t know, sweetie.”

On the garage door, it appeared that someone had etched four lines with a diagonal crossbar connecting them.

“Why did somebody scratch our house?”

Michael was silent. Not sure what to say.

“What does that mean, Daddy?” Aiden asked.

“Well, it means five. It is usually used to count. Four lines, and you cross them to mean five,” Michael said, drawing in the air. “But I don’t know why someone would do that.”

Michael unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’ll be right back. You two stay buckled in.”

Michael went to the garage door and ran his finger over the scar. It looked fresh. The etching was bright and not dampened by the dew. Michael spun around and looked for anyone on the street, but the only thing he saw was his neighbor’s vehicles parked in their usual spots. He took a breath and walked back to his truck.

After buckling in, Michael looked into his rearview mirror to double-check the tots when his phone rang. The half-smile of a preacher man stared at him, he answered. “Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“Hey, Michael. Change of plans. Don’t worry. We’re still able to watch the angels. I just need you to drop them off at the Rec Center instead of the house. I had to take care of a few things this morning.”

The Rec Center was code for the church. It had been since they disbanded five years ago. With the building funds originally coded for a civic center, it only made sense to call the location a recreational center. Jacob was always careful about coding his communication, even after twenty years. Michael supposed it had become second nature to him. He wasn’t even sure if his dad realized he was doing it now. In any case, he didn’t like leaving his kids there for too long, especially with his dad going against a federal mandate.

“Well, how long are you planning on being there?”

“Not too long. Just wrapping up a few things. Should be no more than a couple of hours.”

Michael growled under his breath but relented. He needed to get to the courthouse to see if they would allow him to visit Rachel.

Curious. Someone’s playing games here. If only Michael knew what it was all about. Only one man knows the truth behind The Five Barred Gate. Will Michael ask questions about it before anything else happens? Will Johnathan mention his encounter with his Five Barred Gate to Michael?

---

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.

---

Featured Titles

---

THIS WEEK’S WRAP-UP

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

Sickness and work do not pair. But I battled through. That and attempted completing my commitments here. I hope there is no missing parts, like last week. Thank you for mentioning it in the comments. I was oblivious to the entire missing snippet. It needs to be there this week, I am in the top slot. I guess it had something to do with how I create the snippet. Far to boring to explain, but needless to say, things need to change.

I tried, I really did. I had a subject and I had a mental draft but I was not able to get a blog written this week, BUT you can still see my latest blog and vlog. I keep those up indefinitely.

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

---

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.

---