The Artist I was impressed with is Christina Perri. Watch her video, it’s pretty cool. One draw back is it’s from the Breaking Dawn movie. Pobody’s nerfect.

Manuel loved the beach. He just didn’t like getting wet. He loved everything else about the coast. He loved how different it was to his home. The change lit up his senses. He was excited to get there but he was in no hurry. He took the scenic route. A steady stream of cars snaked their way on the highways from the coast to the coastal mountains and into the valley. Those people were smart. The tidal wave was coming and most of the coast would be washed away and dragged back into the ocean. Manuel saw the shaky video on the Internet web sites and later on the news. Buildings that were built to stand the test of time were washed away like sand castles. A wave 180 feet tall and traveling at the speed of sound was coming to the west coast of North and South America. Scientists could not judge the magnitude of the earthquake because there wasn’t anyone alive to ask. At magnitude 15 and rising, they stopped transmitting information. Sensors from surrounding lands were used to estimate the quake at approximately magnitude 33. No one believed it. Everyone did believe the reports from Asia of the massive damages along their coast. It didn’t take a scientist to understand what was about to hit the West.

Manuel was a 85 year old man who out lived most of his friends and family and maybe his usefulness. He was in poor health but he was proud he could still get around under his own power, as slow as that was. He couldn’t eat what he wanted. He couldn’t do many of the things that he loved. He was too slow, too creaky, too old.

His daughter, Abigail, pleaded for him to stay. She took his car keys and hid them. Luckily, Manuel had a hide-a-key under the wheel well just for emergencies. Before anyone was awake, he left for the coast.

Abigail called the police on her father but they were too busy evacuating the coast. The major roads were turned into one-way freeways. Manuel was in no hurry. His little bug puttered along the winding coastal back roads until he came to his destination.

Manuel fished out his can of clam chowder from a cardboard box next to his lawn chair that faced the beach. A slight breeze pushed the swings at the park and rustled the leaves. Sea gulls floated above and the familiar crashing of the waves pleased Manuel. He shuffled his supplies around looking for the can opener. It wasn’t there in the box. It wasn’t in his car. He forgot it. He mentally beat himself up for being so forgetful. But that happened a lot these days. Getting old takes away so much, his friends, his family, his wife.

His wife Miranda died early. Too early. Breast cancer will do that. The only thing Manuel ever truly hated was cancer and it was never his fight to fight. He had to watch on the sidelines. Watch Miranda fight it. And she did. She was amazing. But that battle was not her’s to win.

He still had Abigail but she had her own life, her own family. Miranda never got to see the two beautiful grandchild but she would have loved them.

Manuel thought of banging the clam chowder against a rock but it wasn’t worth it. He’ll just settle for a beer. Lucky for Manuel it was a twist top. It sapped most of his energy but once the dark chocolaty flavor filled his mouth, everything was okay again.

Manuel soaked in the smell, sounds and sights. This was a familiar place. His favorite place and soon it will be gone like everything else.

He used to come here with Miranda, Abigail and his best friend Brad and his family. They spent countless weekends at the coast shopping, playing in the park and best of all, eating clam chowder. Brad had lost his wife too. Cancer is easy to hate.

Manuel had beer, napkins, spoons, bowls, cans of clam chowder, and packages of his favorite candy, red licorice. He’s not suppose to eat red licorice.

Manuel bit into a strand of licorice and laughed. Doctor Amy Rory would be mad at him. Sure, this is going to wreak havoc with his blood sugar but today it just doesn’t matter. Today is jubilee day.

Manuel watched the sun descend into the horizon. A much higher horizon than usual and he knew.

It was coming.

A car pulls into the parking lot.

Manuel looks at the car, recognizes the driver and turns back to face the ocean that is slowly receding with every wave.

The driver pulls out a webbed lawn chair and sits next to Manuel, “Abigail wants me to bring you home.”

“You better get in your car and save yourself. I’m not leaving, Brad.”

“I think it’s too late anyway, Manny. I would have gotten here sooner but with the evacuation, I had to take the scenic route.”

“Is she mad?”

“To say the least. She loves you. I think she understands.”

“Want a beer?”

“No. I brought my own,” Brad reaches into his ice box and pulls out a cold beer. Opens it and smiles at Manny.

Manny smiles back. They tap bottles together and drink.

Brad reaches into his ice box again, “I brought you something.”

“If it’s one of your watered down brews. I don’t want it.”

“No, I think you’ll like this,” Brad hands Manny a can opener, “Abby said you forgot this. Again.”

Manuel was the happiest man, today, “You want some clam chowder, Brad?’

“Not it’s your favorite you have it all.”

“No, brought enough for you too.”

“You didn’t know I was going to be here, Manny.”

A tidal wave shaped shadow fall across the two old friends.

“No, but I had hoped.”

FRAGRANCE – You didn’t pass gas, you’re decomposing

Not only is the book chock full of knowledge written by Onsoomyu but the author illustrated the cartoons that accompany each quote. They are as funny as the advice you will find in the book. It’s a very short read and available to borrow from Amazon if you are a Prime member. Otherwise it’s only 99 cents.

It’s a great book that will tickle you funny bone but be careful it might take a bite out of you too.

Acts 15:

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [34] [d] 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

During the festival of Tres Reyes, our hero sets out on a quest to find his wife and save her from a gang of thieves known as The Twelve Drummers.