“Sorry it hurts.”
“I accept your apology. Now how about rounding up some of those confused people in the field and start leading them over here? I’d like to have a party at the Great Castle tonight. All are invited. Spread the word.”
Kirk hesitated briefly as he saw the people in the field carrying on with their own affairs. But once he gathered the nerve to approach them—these strangers preoccupied with futile things—he quickly reminded them why they had traveled the road to begin with. As he pointed out the existence and purpose of the bridge, many of them snapped to attention and headed for it. Even though some continued to focus on their games and such, while others continued to dive off the cliff to satisfy their ignorance or pride, some still reached the foot of the bridge and walked across with the Carpenter without hesitation. Once Kirk traveled from one end of the field to the other and back again, he stood at the foot of the bridge himself and took the Carpenter’s hand.
“You trust me, right?” said the Carpenter.
Kirk nodded as he took his first step onto the wooden plank. He didn’t know why he shouldn’t have trusted the Carpenter, or the bridge. How else was he supposed to get across?
“Excellent. Now let’s go receive your prize, my son.”
And with that, they walked across the bridge to enter into the Land of God, where the Storm had no dominion, where the great chasm posed no threat, and where everyone could fellowship with neither distraction nor obstacle. Kirk felt fresh air permeating over him when he stepped onto the other side. He realized that for the first time he could now truly breathe.
~~~~~
Author’s Note
Thank you for downloading Waterfall Junction and the Narrow Bridge. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked these stories or got something valuable out of them, please leave a review on your preferred retailer’s website, and tell others what you thought, and let me know what you liked (or didn’t like) about it. I appreciate all feedback and support from readers. Thank you.
A Brief History: In 2006, I was putting together a collection of eight short stories for Seven-Sided Dice: The Collection of Junk, Volume 3 and knew that I wanted to end the section with a symbolic story about trusting God in every situation He puts us in and call it “Waterfall Junction.” (I actually ended that section with “The Celebration of Johnny’s Yellow Rubber Ducky,” bringing the total of short stories to nine, but that was sort of a last-minute addition.) My goal was to create an allegory of a message that sometimes God doesn’t make sense (and why should he? He thinks on a higher plane than we do) even though He’s wiser than everyone else, and to base that allegory on a well-known biblical story about Abraham being called to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar—after Abraham had spent decades waiting for a son to arrive. In the story of Abraham, God calls him to sacrifice Isaac on the altar as he would a lamb. Abraham’s heart is very heavy from the request, and he most certainly doesn’t want to do it. But he decides that for whatever reason God wants this, he’ll trust Him, so he takes his son to the altar, puts him on it like he would a lamb for atonement, and prepares the sacrifice. Then God stops him before he can plunge the knife into Isaac’s flesh and tells him to spare Isaac’s life. It was all a test, and Abraham passes. His faith is proven strong, so he is therefore proven worthy to fulfill God’s grand plan for his life, which is to father a nation and ultimately create the line that would introduce the world to God’s Son (who was also made into a sacrifice, not just for Abraham’s sins, but for the sins of the world). It’s all very interesting when you really take the time to read it and think about how everything works together. Anyway, I’ve always found that story fascinating, and I wanted to write something that posed a similar message about rewarding faith, though with different stakes and setting it in a fantastical timeline.
Also in the same collection, and appearing before “Waterfall Junction” rather than after, I introduced “The Narrow Bridge,” which was essentially my attempt to adapt an illustration I had heard about, called “The Bridge Diagram,” while attending the Christian group InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in college. I thought the diagram was a clever tool for showing the core of the Christian faith, and I wanted to see how it would play out in a C.S. Lewis style allegorical fantasy. Now, I’m no C.S. Lewis, and I know that any attempt to emulate his style will be nothing more than imitation. But I thought this was a great topic for trying to imitate his style anyway. It’s not an easy thing to do, at all. I’m sure I hit below the line. But that’s all right. It’s much more like a C.S. Lewis story than, say, “The Celebration of Johnny’s Yellow Rubber Ducky” is. And I’m okay with that.
I decided to pair the two stories together in a single e-book for the reason that both are Christian allegories, both are somewhat fantastical in setting, and both are short. And, seeing as how they were side by side in my original collection (though in reverse order), I thought it was fitting to keep them side by side in this collection. So there you go.
Ebook Version
About the Author
Jeremy Bursey is the author of many short stories, essays, and poems, along with a modest number of novels and screenplays, each covering topics and genres that differ from what he had written previously. He hopes to bring many of these into the e-book generation over the course of the next few years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Central Florida and currently works at a local college as a writing tutor. He appreciates feedback for anything he offers to the public.
Other Books
Did you enjoy reading Waterfall Junction and The Narrow Bridge? Then check out these other titles by Jeremy Bursey, available as an e-book at your favorite retailer.
Short Stories and Novelettes
Shell Out
Eleven Miles from Home
Amusement
When Cellphones Go Crazy
The Celebration of Johnny’s Yellow Rubber Ducky
The Fallen Footwear
Novellas
Lightstorm
Cards in the Cloak
Gutter Child
Novels
The Computer Nerd
Teenage American Dream (Coming June 2016)*
Sweat of the Nomad (Coming September 2016)*
Zipwood Studios (Coming December 2016)*
Collections
The Fountain of Truth
Zippywings 2015: A Short Story Collection
Waterfall Junction and The Narrow Bridge
A Modern-day Fantasy Annual Edition
Cannonball City: A Modern-day Fantasy, Year One
Superheroes Anonymous: A Modern-day Fantasy, Year Two (Coming May 2016)
*Dates subject to change. Consult Jeremy’s blog at Drinking Café Latte at 1pm for details and updates.
Contact and Questions
Want news about my upcoming books or check if you’ve got them all? Visit any of these links for more information.
Blog: https://zippywings.wordpress.com/
If you just want general news on upcoming releases, then click on my “Future Books” direct link: https://zippywings.wordpress.com/future-stories/
If you want additional info on my e-books past, present, and future, then check the category marked “Published Ebooks” and it will find every post related to them. Or, check the right sidebar for icons of book covers to link you directly to that title’s description and retailers’ location page. You can also click on the main category “Fiction” for other blogs and sneak previews that focus on my fiction.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.bursey.3
If you want to ask me a question or offer me some feedback, then feel free to message me on Facebook, and I will respond as soon as possible.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeremyBursey
E-mail: zippywings[at]hotmail[dot]com
If you would rather contact me through e-mail, please head your message with the name of the book(s) you are inquiring about so that I know to click on it. This is the best way
to inform me of errors or issues you may find in this book.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14054852.Jeremy_Bursey
Here you can find out what books I like (or rate and review this one).
Coming Soon
What’s next? I am currently updating one of my earliest short stories, “Sweat of the Nomad,” into a full-length novel (or at least a hefty novella) for a summer 2016 release. It is about one man’s odyssey through a burning city on the hottest day on record to get back to the home he was once forced to leave and kick out the interloper who stole it from him. After that, I will be revamping my short story, “Zipwood Studios,” which is about a janitorial trainee who encounters occurrences beyond the ordinary with his once famous mentor at a secluded movie studio while on a quest to find out why the place is going nuts. My plan is to convert it into a novel. I hope to release it for immediate download sometime between August and October 2016. I am also drafting a third novel based on a short story from the 2006 era about a slacker high school student who must help his father win a bet with the principal by graduating with honors. That story, Teenage American Dream, will come out before the other two, by April 2016.
All three novels are available for preorder. Click on their links for details.
Don’t forget, the sequel to my epic novel Cannonball City: A Modern-day Fantasy, Year One is also available for preorder, and will be released on May 27, 2016, right in the middle of superhero saturation month at the box office.
Thanks again for your time.
###
Waterfall Junction and The Narrow Bridge Page 5
