The Spark (White Gates Adventures Book 4)

by Trevor Stubbs

  “Exactly. I want to live!”

  “Right, we both need to get praying, then,” he joked.

  “What are you discussing so keenly?” asked Matilda coming across for another cup of bru.

  “Football,” laughed Wennai.

  “Should have guessed. Anyone would think that football was more important than God, Himself.”

  “Oh, we’ve been talking about God, too,” said Shaun.

  “And praying,” added Jalli Bandi.

  “Good,” said Matilda, “it works.”

  After she had gone, the young people laughed – Shaun smiled at his nan’s predictable attitude to football, and Jalli giggled at the way they had told the truth about their mention of God and prayer, without saying why.

  You just can’t keep God out of anything, smiled Wennai to herself. God, you butt into everything.

  As they left the museum to take the bus back into Wanulka City, the suns were setting. Jallaxa had already dipped beneath the eastern horizon. The Rarga-Smith family took their leave of the Bandis. “Keep praying,” Jalli Bandi reminded Shaun.

  Jalli looked up at the memorial for the last time, and, as she did so, felt a gentle breeze graze her cheek. It was as if her grandma was greeting her with the breath of a kiss. She raised her hand to her face.

  “What’s up, Mum?” enquired Kakko.

  “Oh, it’s just the wind. I didn’t expect it… I was just thinking about Grandma.” Yes, she thought, you and Granddad, together with Mum and Dad, are indeed safe and happy. You are remembered in this place but you do not belong here, or anywhere in this universe. None of us do. We belong with you where all love has its source.

  “OK?” Jack extended his hand towards his pensive wife. Jalli took it in hers.

  “Yes. Very. I’m glad we came. They aren’t here, you know. Their bodies remain in this universe but they are free of them – free of it all. They are happy… and so am I… forever.”

  As the chill of the evening air struck her, Abby shivered and her attentive husband took out his coat to lay it over her shoulders. It was the same coat that he had been wearing when they were showered with the spiralling winged seeds from the trees in Renson Park Road when they had walked towards St Augustine’s. As he held out the coat, a small seed from the tree outside number sixty-eight fell from the pocket and finished its spinning journey to the ground. It landed in a small crevice in the damp soil a few metres from the memorial stone – a distance equivalent to that of Jack’s Kicking Tree from the front door of the house. As the family left for the bus, Jack stepped on the crack, closing it up and firming in the seed. Unbeknown to Jack, the same foot that had once kicked the parent tree was the one that now ensured a good start for its offspring on another planet in another galaxy in the vast, beautiful universe. It’s amazing what the Wind can do!

  <<<>>>

  Afterword

  Sadly, this is the last in the series – the tetralogy. And sadly, also, the characters of the White Gates Adventures are fiction. Nevertheless, I have had great fun journeying with them through their highs and lows. I hope you have, too. But, happily, the universe is populated by real people, all wonderful and all unique

  The following was written by a very real person, Ruth Eade, who made an impact on the many she met, and many thousands she did not, in Britain and beyond, in her lifelong commitment to education and care.

  I include these words here in thanksgiving for her inspirational life that came to its end on Earth in October 2016. Ruth Eade was in no doubt, however, that she had only just begun! New life beyond this dimension beckoned in all its glory.

  These words, used at her memorial service, are among the last she wrote. I thank her husband, John, for permission to reproduce them here.

  “God rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us away into the kingdom of his dear Son. There, as children of the Word, let us delight in the joy of the Lord and the playfulness of God—

  By living as if peace is breaking out across the cosmos;

  by learning to say ‘hello friend’ universally.

  By turning round those who fail to face the sun;

  by skimming stones on fathomless depths.

  By flying kites into glorious sunsets;

  by blowing a myriad multicoloured bubbles into time without end;

  by skipping to the rainbow’s end and banishing gloom.

  In the power of the Spirit let us go into God’s world and do it.

  Alleluia! Alleluia!”

  Dr Ruth Eade, 2016

  Ruth died, aged 74, on 24th October 2016 – United Nations Day.

  Acknowledgements

  I have many people to thank for their contribution to the White Gates Adventures tetralogy. They extend over many decades and I cannot name them all. Each in their own way has contributed to the adventures, the characters and the themes.

  I want to begin by thanking those to whom I owe my education. I was not born into an environment where books played a big part. When I was young it was all about passing the 11+ exam – which, unsurprisingly, I ‘failed’. However, the headteacher, Jack Newitt, and the staff of Cherry Orchard Secondary Modern School, Northampton did everything in their power to compensate, and I left school having passed sufficient ‘O-levels’ to get to the grammar school and eventually King’s College London and then, in my fifties, the University of Exeter. When you fail an exam at the tender age of eleven, it can take a lifetime to get over a sense of being ‘second rate’, and I have never taken for granted the wonderful opportunities in education that have come to me over the years. So, I want to thank those early teachers who went out of their way to believe in us young people of the 1950s and 60s. Another person who did wonderful work in restoring confidence in my abilities at King’s College was my tutor Professor Gordon Dunstan; but there were others, of course, and I cannot list them all.

  I must credit my publishers, Matador, and their editors and proofreaders for ensuring such a good product. I am grateful for excellent cover designs which have brought universal praise. I also want to thank Lasse Voss for his work on the website. I value the friendship and assistance of the members of the Association of Christian Writers, the Alliance of Independent Authors and Media Associates International. I have gained a great deal from their training days and conferences and thoroughly enjoy meeting fellow authors from around the world. The feedback and reviews I have had from readers young and old have been invaluable – your contributions have been very important in giving me the resolve to conclude the series.

  I greet the staff and students of Bishop Gwynne College, where I was based between 2009 and 2011, and Confident Children out of Conflict, both in Juba, South Sudan, and honour them for their inspiring example and encouragement. I am grateful to the people of Keynsham among whom I now live and worship, who give me the time, space and incentive to work. As someone who writes for young adults, it won’t surprise you that I love young people and I want to thank them for accepting someone in his later years as a youth volunteer – and, of course, for being just so, like, awesome.

  If it weren’t for my wife, Tina, I would never have embarked on this project. She has been behind it all at every stage: the initial concept, always there with helpful suggestions, skilled and strict editing, and spending many hours on proofreading. The books wouldn’t have come into being without her. Her patience is prodigious.

  Finally, I have to thank God who, I believe, empowers all of His/Her creation. God did not create the universe, wind it up and set it going like some great scientific experiment whilst remaining outside of it. He is intimately involved in every part of it, in each moment, at every interface and in all its complexity. He both transcends and indwells it – and that includes each and every human being. I hope those, like Wennai, who do not find God so clearly in the life and loves of the world, will be able to live with my overt language and affirmations and still enjoy the stories.

  None of the characters in this series are based on actual people
– but, of course, their traits, their foibles and their strengths and witness are all drawn from my experience of working, living and playing with so many people over the years. I love people; they are constantly amazing – especially those who do not seek to be anything other than themselves. We are all ‘wonderfully made’ and it is great when we can just be that.

  Some of my recent experiences come from South Sudan where I was privileged to live for a few years. They live in some of the most challenging places on Earth. We do not have to visit different planets to find different worlds. Unlike the White Gates characters, we are not called to travel the whole universe in search of people who need our help; there is so much we can do in our own world. If these books inspire you to do something, whether it be in your own neighbourhood or overseas, you will find lots of opportunities if you look. Unlike Jack Smith, you no longer have to visit the local library to find them – they are at hand on the Internet. Check them out and see what you can do to make a difference – whether it be for just one person like Shaun in Australia, millions as in Kakko’s case or over a cup of tea like Matilda. And, incidentally, you are never too old to start.

  Happy adventuring.

  Trevor Stubbs

  About the Author

  Trevor Stubbs was born in Northampton, England in 1948 and studied theology in London, Canterbury and Exeter.

  He was ordained an Anglican priest in Wakefield Cathedral in 1975. He is currently retired with the title Canon Emeritus of Salisbury Cathedral.

  Trevor has lived and worked in West Yorkshire and Dorset in the United Kingdom, Australia, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan. He currently lives in Keynsham, nr. Bristol, where, in addition to writing, he spends his time helping out at his local church working with young people and acting as an international consultant for Bishop Gwynne College, Juba, and other organisations in South Sudan.

  Trevor is married with three adult children and two grandchildren.

  The proceeds of Trevor’s books are donated to Confident Children out of Conflict, a street children’s organisation based in Juba (www.confidentchildren.org) and other charities including the Mothers’ Union relief fund, www.themothersunion.org/SouthSudan.

  ***

  For more information about Trevor Stubbs,

  to arrange a speaking engagement

  (distance no object – Trevor enjoys travelling!)

  or to contact him visit his website:

  www.trevorstubbs.co.uk

  and follow him on

  Twitter: @TrevorNStubbs

  Facebook: revtrev.stubbs

  The Volumes of the White Gates Adventures Tetralogy

  The Kicking Tree

  Two people. Two planets. One unbreakable bond…

  Through a series of apparent accidents, Jack from Earth and Jalli from Planet Raika are brought together, meeting in a beautiful cottage garden that belongs to neither of their worlds.

  Their relationship blossoms through a number of adventures and they appear immune to the evils of the universe, until a terrible tragedy parts them…

  Where is their Creator? Has She given up caring for them?

  Ultimate Justice

  Want to be free to expand you horizons – even beyond those you can imagine?

  We rejoin Jack and Jalli and their family growing up on Planet Joh as they once again travel the universe to new worlds through the white gates the Creator provides for them.

  Each character has his or her own role to play in the exploration – outwards to the stars, but also inwards to what makes us who we are and what we can become…

  Winds and Wonders

  Explore amazing new worlds and discover yourself…

  Teenage Abby runs into trouble when she comes up against authoritarian forces in school, as well as the churches she attends. Impatient Kakko still manages to save her millions of people, but goes through the worst pain she can imagine on the way. Shy Shaun makes a great impact on the football field, but how will it turn out in the game of life off the pitch? And parents Jack and Jalli, even Nan Matilda, manage some excitement.

  The Spark

  The more the darkness squeezes, the brighter shines the spark!

  A student of youth and community work and a celebrated footballer, circumstances now threaten to destroy Shaun’s steady way of life. The Spark celebrates the gift of love that offers an opportunity for healing and addresses issues of mental health and identity. But this story has its lighter moments with the fun elements of adventure and romance as, by means of the mysterious white gates, readers explore new worlds and revisit some old ones.

  Reviews for The Kicking Tree

  “Wonderful story. Its a great adventure that made me cry. I love the two main characters who meet across the universe…” Miss S (Amazon).

  “An interesting read. Was encouraged to read this book by a friend at church. Was not disappointed. An excellent way of putting Christianity in a modern perspective. Very thought-provoking too.” Aidie (Amazon).

  “… a perfect book for the adult-literacy teacher trying to encourage teens to read, with its strong narrative structure, simple vocabulary and positive, active role models. There are all too few authors who write well for this market, and Stubbs is one of them.” – Church Times.

  “Trevor Stubbs has an interesting philosophy of life: ‘I hate injustice and oppression, especially against the weak and the vulnerable and want to speak out.’ Trevor uses his undoubted skills as a master storyteller and a magical weaver of tales to bring about such justice.” – That’s Books and Entertainment.

  “Five Stars. Very good. Suitable for young people. I am a bit old for it but enjoyed it nevertheless.” Glenys Brown (Amazon).

  “This book is one of the most special books I’ve ever read. In a good way. It’s a love story. But it’s not really a love story – it’s about two people falling in love. It’s an SF-book. But it’s not really an SF-book: there is some time- (or perhaps wormhole-?) travelling going on and there are spaceships. It’s also a fantasy story. But it’s not really a fantasy story…” Linn (Good Reads).

  “I think this book is amazing. I like the fact that almost nothing bad happens, but that you still want to read more. It is hard to put away and there is not a sentence in the book that is boring.” Ebba (Good Reads).