My Father's Universe

by Mitch

  Careah whispered. “I’m sure there are lots of large birds hunting for food. It will be safer if we travel at night since most birds sleep then.”

  Kedar retorted, “What about bats, they can see at night can’t they?”

  “Not really,” she replied. “They cannot see clearly at night. Bats establish the location of an object by means of high-frequency sound waves. If we stay close to the gullies, they will not detect or find us.”

  “Gee,” remarked Kedar, “how do you know that?”

  “I read it in a book; reading is great for learning.”

  Kedar grumbled, “I’m not a reader.”

  “Kedar, please quit being disagreeable and try not to worry. Remember, God will provide safe passage, and so far, He has done a very good job. We should be very grateful. Don’t you think so?”

  He mumbled, “Yeah, I guess so. But I wish I knew for sure that He was looking out for us personally.”

  “Kedar, at times you can be so frustrating. Don’t be a pessimistic. You never expect anything to turn out well.”

  Hoping the black bird would be gone, Kedar looked out from under the rock; the bird was nowhere to be seen. As he was about to step out from under the rock, the shadow of the bird’s head fell on the ground in front of the rock.

  Shaking his head, he stepped back saying, “That sly bird is standing on top of this rock, waiting for us to come out.”

  Careah peeked out to see the shadow, when suddenly, out of the blue sky, a stork dived chasing after the black bird. Careah watched both birds until they were out of sight. She remarked, “How about that, that didn’t happen by chance! Someone is looking out for us and you know who.”

  “Yeah, the Lord. But we are still dumb for going on this needless trip,” grumbled Kedar.

  Careah became exasperated, “You know, anyone who is grumpy has a face to match it. You ought to see yourself right now. You look like a pouting child.” Giggling, she said, “Huh! Isn’t it odd that of all the birds in the world, a stork shows up to help us in our hour of need? God has a history of using the insignificant to accomplish what we think is impossible.”

  “Sorry, Careah, I wish I could see things your way, I really do.”

  She replied, “When I was a little girl, I remember my parents telling me storks brought babies. You know what? I believed them until I got older. I wonder how that myth got started. I mean about storks delivering babies in a sling hanging from its beak.” Actually, she was just wondering out loud to herself, as Kedar explained.

  Prince Charming

  "Well, as I remember hearing from my great-grandfather, many years ago, a king and queen lived in the country of Charming. It was the closest thing to paradise on Earth, possibly even more than Glory. The castle was in the city of Towers. It was called Towers because most of the houses had towers on them and it was situated by a large, beautiful sea. The King and Queen had given up hope of ever having a child who, one day, would inherit the throne. They finally accepted it as God’s will, that they should remain childless, and went about their lives loving each other like it happens in fairy tales.

  “Disturbing news came of an enemy’s army and navy, seven times as large as Charming’s armed forces, coming to plunder their land. The King assembled his armed forces: the army’s assault and combat troops, cavalry, navy, and marines. Each unit had a special division called”dragoon," armed with a short musket called “blunderbuss.” They shot very small grape-like seed pellets to coerce the devil out of the enemy. The only damage the pellets did to the enemy was sting like a bee. Picture millions of bees attacking, stinging, and driving the enemy mad.

  “He had his Royal Navy sail two days earlier with elite marines to get behind the enemy. The Cavalry Five abreast, followed the troop carriers, enabling them to get swiftly beyond the border of their kingdom to meet the enemy. He informed the Queen, if things went well, they would be gone only several months. Because they were at peace with the other nations, she would be safe while he was gone.”I’m sure the Lord will watch over you."

  The King was well on his way to meet the enemy when the Queen found she would soon become a mother. Late one dark night, the baby boy was born. It was too early to announce the good news to the citizens of Charming. Just before sunrise, a band of bandits, knowing the King and his men were out of the country, secretly crept to the castle, planning to kidnap the Queen and hold her for ransom. The crazed bandits stealthily made their way into the castle and to the Queen’s chamber.

  Their body odor took away the element of surprise of getting to the Queen unawares. The Queen ran toward the bell tower to call the town people. The biggest and the smelliest of the bandits drew his sword and raised it ready to do bodily harm. “Stop! She is the Queen,” screamed her attending maids. One of the bandits, trying his best to gag and tie the Queen, told her to be still. Her squirming made it hard to be tied. Oh, how she wanted to spit in his face.

  The leader of the bandits barked, “I’m Andy Handy, I am the dirtiest, meanest nightmare you will ever meet. Resist, and you all will regret the day you were born.” He spied the crib by the fireplace. Being curious, he went over to the crib and looking in, saw the baby sound asleep. In a husky tone, he roared, “Whose baby is this?” Fearing for the child’s life, the maid broke loose from another bandit and ran to protect the baby. Andy, the bandit leader, swung his fist, hitting her so hard the blow knocked her to the floor. He growled, “If you want to live, tell me who the mother is!”

  The Queen was frantic and shoved the bandit who was trying to tie her up. She ran and stood between the maid and the smelly bandit. “The baby is mine. Please don’t hurt him or my maid anymore!”

  “This is even better!” The bandit leader, with an evil gleam in his eye, bellowed, “I’ll take this child instead of you. I know the King will pay more for his son than he would pay for his wife.”

  The Queen began crying hysterically, pleading, “Please, take me and I promise I will be no trouble. Just leave my son.”

  “No way!” he bellowed again. Picking the baby up, he tied the four ends of a blanket together, making a sling. With a smirking grin, he retorted, “No harm will come to the child if the King pays the ransom! I warn you all, do not call for help or leave the castle until we are away from here and out of sight. If I hear any screaming, we will feed your son to the crocodiles. You and the King will be notified how much and where to send the ransom.”

  The Queen, sobbing uncontrollably, tears flowing down her cheeks, asked, “Don’t any of you have a sacred conscious? How empty is it that you feeble minded morons do not have an awareness that what you are committing is dreadfully wrong? There is no way my husband, the King, will let you get away with taking our son.”

  The maid, weeping, uttered through her bruised jaw, “Nor will the good people of Towers stand by for this atrocity. All of Charming will hunt you to the ends of the world; you will not be able to hide anywhere. They will find you, that’s a promise.”

  Andy Handy had just about had all he was going to listen to. “Now I’m warning you, no one had better try to follow us. I mean what I say. Any of my men can attest to the fact I do not speak idle words! This is a fact, keep your mouth shut.”

  The Queen said in desperation, “Handy Andy, since you will not take me along to feed the baby, please take a flask of milk to feed the baby when he becomes hungry.”

  He looked at her with one eye closed, saying rather roughly, “It’s Andy Handy, you silly woman.” Grabbing the flask of milk, the jackals left as quickly and quietly as they had come.

  Neither the Queen, nor any of the other servants, could do anything to prevent the bandits from kidnaping the baby boy. There were just too many of them. They had no choice but to wait for the King and his men to return from battle. She knew her husband would be outraged and go after their son, the son he didn’t know he had, and bring him safely home. Going to the high tower, she opened the window and saw an innumerable number of abductors disappear over the hor
izon with their son. Tears flooded the Queen’s face and she cried out, “Please, bring our baby back.” Any other time she would have noticed the stork was not there. She spent the rest of the day and all night in the Chapel, crying and asking the Lord to keep her son and husband safe from harm. Food was the furthest thing from her mind. Not realizing she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, hunger pains began to make her uncomfortable. Although being hungry and thirsty, she had no desire for food, and she refused to leave the Chapel.

  It was early morning before sunrise when the King and his men unexpectedly came to the outskirts of Towers, victorious. They had won the war without any casualties. As he and the service men neared Towers, expecting to hear cheers from the crowds, no one was in sight. The King and his men grew very concerned, this just was not normal; then realized they had arrived before the news of their victory over the dreaded enemy.

  A servant who decided on his own to follow the bandits trail, at sunrise, met the King with mixed emotions and told the King about his newborn son. The servant was not able to finish telling the King all that had transpired. Hearing the good news, he sensed sadness in his servant’s face—the reason would have to wait. Winning the war was great, but having a son, an heir to the throne, was more than he had ever expected. Leaping off his horse, he ran into the castle yelling, “I have a son, I have a son,” and raced up the steps, two at a time, to the Queen’s chamber.

  She, nor the baby, were in her chamber. He finally found the Queen in the Chapel, crying her heart out. Perplexed, he asked, “What is wrong?” Through choking sobs, she told him what had happened to their precious son and how her maid had been abused. As she finished telling him of the tragedy, she fell into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. This kind of bad news hit hard, and anger flushed through him. His face turned crimson; bright as his bright-red dress uniform he had on.

  He was very angry with himself for not leaving guards behind to guard the castle. Holding his wife close, stroking her cheek, wiping her tears, comforting her, he promised he would get their child back He would not tolerate such actions in his kingdom. Asking his wife how many bandits there were, she said the hillside was loaded with them, probably a hundred, maybe more. Leaving the Queen’s chamber, he turned at the doorway saying, “I’ll be back with our son, you can count on that!”

  The servant had related the kidnapping to the King’s men. The news of the kidnapping went through their ranks like lightning. While waiting for the King, fury was boiling. Every soldier, sailor, and marine was in a rage; impatiently wanting to get on the trail of the bandits. They all made an oath; they would not return until they got the Prince and punished the bandits. The King mustered his best men of the Army, Navy, and Marines and a squad from the dragoon to guard the Queen and castle. Even though it was a high honor to be selected to guard the Queen, they all wanted to go with the King to find their Prince.

  The King noticed hostility growing in his men and knew he had to tame his own anger before he could calm them; if not, they would turn into a violent, uncontrollable mob. Calling his men to attention, reigning in his own anger, using his authority and wisdom, he calmly spoke to them, “As you well know, men with uncontrolled tempers cannot think straight. Remember, we came home from the war without any losses because each one of you kept your heads and followed orders. Act as a mobilized team, we will get those breakers of the Eighth and Tenth Commandments. I’m going to add an eleventh commandment: break any of God’s commandments, you will get caught. Now, after those fifthly bandits! We will teach them to pick on someone their size.” What a sight: The Army dressed in bright-red uniforms, the Navy in their dress whites, and the Marines in their blues.

  Storks, being state birds, were allowed to build their nests anywhere, as long as there wasn’t any danger to themselves or the people. This kindness was about to be repaid a thousand-fold. What the King and the people of Towers were not aware of was that one of the storks which had her nest in one of the castle’s main tower saw the bandits stealing the baby and leave the Towers. She knew this was not right and said to herself, “Something is mighty smelly about those dirty ones,” and decided to follow, unseen by the bandits.

  The Bandits traveled all day and on into the night to get as far away from the castle as possible. Feeling safe, they finally stopped and made camp. The stork waited patiently in a high tree until the time would be right. She was unsure just what she would do, but she was intelligent and believed the answer would come. Hoping for the chance to get the baby, her sharp eyes intently watched one of the bandits cut a nice-size limb off a sturdy tree, leaving about a foot to hang the blanket sling on. The stork’s eyes glistened, knowing now what to do to get the baby safely away. There was nothing to do but wait for the right moment.

  Andy went to feed the baby. While feeding the baby, he tickled it under its chin saying, “coochy-coochy-coo.” Whispering to the baby, “If the King doesn’t pay the ransom, you will become my son.” On the second night, as before, the baby was hung on a cut limb. Feeling quite safe, the bandits began drinking strong wine and having a raucous good time. Soon, the strong wine took effect. One by one their eyes grew heavy and they went into a sound sleep, including the guard.

  Hearing the weird loud snores and grunts of the sleeping demon-inspired bandits prompted the stork to get ready. She knew it was time to act. Slowly, she spread her wings and glided quietly down over the bandits. The rancid body odor and rank alcohol fumes rising from the drunken bandits made her half-sick. Holding her breath to the last moment, before opening her beak and smoothly following through, she grabbed the blanket sling without awaking the sleeping baby. Not one bandit moved or woke by the stork’s swift action.

  Finding a jet stream enabled her to fly faster than ever before. As she was flying over Towers, the people saw her flying overhead, carrying the baby in the sling. The citizens of Towers, who did not know the Queen had given birth to a baby boy, thought it was bringing the baby for the King and Queen, because they didn’t have an heir to the throne.

  A clamorous cry went up out of Towers, echoing high and wide over the entire city. The King and his men, who were in the process of leaving the city to find the bandits, heard the loud roar of the crowd. Being anxious to go after the bandits, they had to check what caused such an outburst. The King, leading his men, charged into the heart of the city.

  People were shouting and pointing up, drawing the attention of the King. He saw the stork, flying with a sling hanging from its beak with a baby in it, entering the main castle tower. He jumped off his horse and entered the castle, running up the steps three at a time.

  The Queen saw him running up the steps and yelled, “What’s happening?” Grabbing her hand, he raced up to the tower. Entering the tower, they saw their son’s hands reaching up from the nest, playing with the stork’s beak.

  As the King and Queen approached, the stork stepped back bowing her head, chatting, “He is safe.” The King and Queen were beyond ecstasy. Picking his son up, the King turned to the stork, bowed respectfully, thanking the stork for the safe return of their son. The Royal couple thanked the Lord for giving the stork the intelligence to know what to do when she saw the bandits taking their son.

  Later, the King made a pronouncement that all storks were to be protected and honored; the stork who saved the prince would have the title of “Royal Stork.” Finally, the time came for the King and his determined men to leave the city to find the bird brain bandits. Even though it was getting dark, tracking them was not too difficult. Andy Handy and his bandits had, mistakenly, not expected the King and his armed forces to return home so soon; therefore, they were careless in covering their tracks and had overconfidently camped a couple of days earlier than they should have.

  Arriving at the bandit’s camp at midnight, the King and his men surprised the whole gang, including the sleeping guards. Because the Brigands awakened confused and still intoxicated from the strong wine, it didn’t take long to round them up without much of a fight. The
King decided not to have any of the bandits killed; instead, they put them in chains and marched them back to Towers to let the people decide their fate.

  Early morning, the Queen and the Prince, surrounded by the King’s guards, went out to meet the King so they could enter the city together. News of the bandits kidnaping the prince had spread like wildfire. People came from all over Charming and lined up on both sides of the street in Towers, cheering the King and his men not only for winning the war, but also for finding the bandits. What a sight, bandits in chains were being booed as they marched in front of the dragoons. They had to shoot only once, and Andy Handy obeyed after being shot at his backside.

  Following the dragoons were the King and Queen in the Royal Chariot. Every eye was on the Queen who was holding their little Prince. The King reinforced his proclamation that all storks were to be forever protected and honored. In addition to showing his gratitude for the Stork’s bravery, he commissioned a master sculptor to create a beautiful statue of the Royal Stork flying, carrying a baby in a blanket sling.

  The citizens of Charming knew the King did not like outright killing unless another person took another life. They decided on a more fitting punishment for the reeking bandicoots and assigned each of them tasks and taking a bath every day. What did these dirty bandits do? You have never heard such moaning, groaning, and crying; their skin would come off taking baths every day. Other tasks included cleaning streets, stables, castle yard, and keeping the seashore trash free. They were required to attend church, no exceptions. This requirement really busted their ego; going to church was worse than death. Everyone had to sit in the church balcony. If any went to sleep during the service, they had to sing songs of praises. If any refused, cleaning the lion’s den was the alternative.