by Billy Miner
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Juan says.
Chapter 8: Gotcha!
“Let me explain. I had math in school like any other kid,” Don Dijaun says. “If you really signed up 245 people, you should have earned $24,600. Correct?”
“I guess so. I didn’t count,” Juan says.
“Well, Gilbert swears he gave you half of that money, which is 50%. That should be a sum of $12,300. That leaves me the same amount.”
“Okay, sir. I don’t see the problem.”
“I got $20,300 back!” he suddenly yells in anger. “Would you care to explain where the $8,000 came from?! Certainly it wasn’t a donation from Gilbert! What is going on here?!”
“Oh that?” Juan asks. “Why do you care? Now you have more money, so what are you complaining about?”
“Don’t talk back to me, boy,” he says degradingly. “I know you’re up to something. You must have added that sum of money in there. At first, I was amazed at the amount you earned, which is why I asked for your arrival. I wanted to see you because I was impressed and wanted to thank you. But then, when I counted the subscribers and the money again, I knew something was wrong. You put your own money with it to give me a bonus or something. Why?”
“Oh, well… you see…”
But before Juan can say another word, the police kick in the door.
Bam!
“Put your hands above your head and kneel on the floor now!” one of the cops says.
Don Dijaun obediently kneels down and looks up. But Juan isn’t kneeling down. He smiles and shakes the cop’s hand. Then he walks to Don Dijaun and squads in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes.
“I guess I don’t need to explain myself anymore, do I?” he says smilingly. “The only reason why I committed all those crimes was to gain your trust. Adding my own money was just a simple way to impress you, so that you would talk to me and show me where you were hiding. It was hard to find out where you were, and the police were dying to know where to go to arrest you. They’ve searched all over the city, and the best way to get close to you and discover your location was to have an insider.”
“But you stole so much! Don’t you feel guilty?” Don Dijaun asks.
“Not really. The police have all my money. They have the addresses and they know exactly who to give it back to. Nobody lost their money forever, just temporarily.”
“How could you?! I gave you everything. I trusted you. You could have been a rich man. Why would you give that up?”
“I’d rather be honest,” Juan answers. “Besides, the police are paying me well for this little espionage. They interviewed me elaborately to know if I was the right guy, and I think that I have proved that I am.”
Juan winks at the officer next to him.
“Yes, you have,” the officer says. “By the way, sorry about the chase and your little adventure in the sewer. Those men didn’t know about our little deal, so they just chased you without realizing you were on a mission.”
“It’s okay,” Juan says. “Thanks to my new paycheck, I bought a new showerhead. Men, take this criminal away!”
“Hey, I’m supposed to say that,” the officer says.
“Sorry, I just always wanted to do that,” Juan says as he shrugs.
“Just you wait! I’ll get you! I’ll find you wherever you will be hiding!” Don Dijaun yells as he is being dragged over the floor towards the outside door.
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Juan says with a smile.
THE END
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Minecraft Tale
An Epic Minecraft Tale
By Billy Miner
Copyright @2015
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Billy Miner.
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Contents:
Introduction
Part 1: Family Issues
Part 2: The Lava
Part 3: The Hammer
Part 4: The Lake
Part 5: Abundance
Part 6: Thor
Part 7: Fetching Fish
Part 8: Balance
Introduction
Jack is a lumberjack. He loves his work. He chops wood all day and picks out the best trees, but recently, the forest has disappeared. He is devastated and desperate for a new solution to feed his family. He ventures into the wilderness, looking for other resources.
Meanwhile, a magical object is about to be found by this honest, zealous husband and father, an object with hidden powers stronger than he could have imagined. Will he be able to control the elements with his new tool? Above all, will this be enough to provide for his family? Find out and read more about this unusual Minecraft story about a simple man in a challenging adventure.
Part 1: Family Issues
“I am tired,” one of the kids said.
“That’s because you have been walking around being beautiful all day, Cammy,” Jack said.
“Sure, dad.”
“No, I’m serious,” Jack said. “If I were a young man and single, I would marry you in a heartbeat.”
“Okay, honey,” his wife Cornelia said. “That’s enough. Besides, it’s bedtime.”
Jack and Cornelia’s seven children climbed on their laps in front of the fireplace and waited for the long-desired story time. Each night, Jack would tell a different story. Some of them were funny, others scary or adventurous. It was like he had a never-ending imagination and a knack for doing voices. The kids would listen carefully and get into it completely. None of them liked the “to be continued” stories, since they were anxious to hear the ending. But sometimes Jack was so tired that he indicated to his wife that the day was over.
After yet another intriguing narrative, Cornelia told their four daughters and three sons to go to sleep.
“And don’t stay up talking for so long this time,” she warned the oldest two.
“No worries, mom,” they said at the same time.
Jack and Cornelia talked for a while and went to bed. They were deeply enough, even after so many children… especially af
ter so many children. They supported each other and were satisfied with their marriage. Nothing seemed to be able to get in the way of their happiness. But something went wrong…
The next morning, Jack went to work in the forest.
His job as a lumberjack was fulfilling. He gained some muscle and liked the feeling that he was providing for his family by working hard and getting as many logs sold to the people in the village as he could. The year was tough. The harvest hadn’t been as good as in previous years, and all the villagers had been using some of their savings and food storages to get through the cold hard winter. For Jack, the winter was a good season. There were plenty of trees to be chopped and everybody needed lumber to keep their homes warm and to cook.
But this was a bad day. This day was terrible. Jack stepped outside and gazed at what had been the forest the day before.
It was gone.
Totally gone.
Where did all the trees go? He shook his head in disbelief and looked at the ground. There it was… the cause of this disaster: There had been a fire. The fact that there cottage hadn’t been affected by it was a miracle. Some trees were still standing, charred by the fire of the previous night. Jack couldn’t believe that they didn’t notice anything that night. He must have been really tired, falling asleep and not waking up by the slightest sound or temperature change.
He was grateful that his family had been spared, but here was the worst part: Because the trees were gone, his job was gone. And although he had been chopping so many trees in the past weeks, there was no way he could sell some of these charred pieces of wood.
What was he going to do?
This had been his profession for years. It had always provided them a solid financial foundation, but now that the forest fire had hit them, they were out of resources. No more wood meant no money, which meant no food. And starving children was the last thing he wanted on his conscious.
After searching the forest and analyzing the damage, he returned home and reported the incident to his wife.
“What?” she said in panic. “How can we survive if there is no more wood to chop and to sell?”
“I’ll try to find a way,” Jack said.
“You better find a way. Do you realize we have no more food storage? We are out. OUT! Well, almost… if we are frugal, we can still squeeze a few meals out of what we have, but after that, it’s OVER!”
“I know, Cornelia,” Jack said. “And I wished it weren’t that way.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Jack’s wife sneered.
“I will do my best.”
“Your best?” she asked. “Your best may not be enough. What are you going to do?”
“Take it easy, Cornelia,” Jack said. “I love you. We’ll find a way.”
He gave her a hug. She hugged him back and apologized for her outburst. She was in tears. It hurt Jack a lot to see her this way and he was determined to do something about it. After comforting her, he took his axe and left the house, promising her that he would not return until he found a solution. They said “goodbye,” embraced each other one more time, and watched each other by looking back as Jack walked and walked until he was out of sight.
Part 2: The Lava
Jack walked for hours. He had no clue where to go, and he hoped that something or someone would guide him through this difficult time. With his big beard and dark overall, he looked like a rough man. It was never his intention to come across this way, but his wife had told him that it looked “cute” on him and that he should keep the beard. His shiny belt was the only thing in his attire that made him stand out as an average class citizen. He was a little scared to ask for help in the village because of this reason.
But his appearance wasn’t the reason the villagers rejected his plea for help. The dire circumstances of the previous harvest was the reason actually, which had left everyone desperately compiling their assets and becoming overly suspicious when others expressed a desire for food, money, or any other useful resource.
Jack knocked on one door after another, asking for help and hoping that someone could spare a little grain, a little meat, or a piece of cheese for his family.
He received nothing.
After a few hundred doors, he gave up.
It was pointless, and he knew it.
“We don’t even have enough for ourselves,” was often the answer, and, “Sorry, man. Can’t. Good luck though.”
All the villagers were just as desperate for food as he was. He had to look elsewhere, but the thought scared him. He had never been outside the borders of the land. His knowledge didn’t even extend beyond a certain territory. He had no idea what was out there, so a leap of faith was all he could do.
He sat on the pavement in one of the streets. Some of the villagers walked by but ignored him. His head was buried in his hands. Where should he go?
All of a sudden, he remembered someone talking about a lake in the north. Surely there must be some trees and plants for him to chop there. It’s a lake! Lakes have water. Plants love water; they grow around water. Perhaps there was a forest there. The lake was on the other side of the mountain though. Who knew what kinds of dangers were lurking beneath the shadow of the mountain?
He thought about it. Then he made his decision. He got up and started walking into the direction of the mountain. He hiked for four hours.
O-oh.
What was that?
Above him, he noticed a glowing substance sliding down and streaming near him. The substance was red, fiery, and hot. He looked at it up close.
Lava!
Fortunately, the mountain wasn’t exploding or anything, or the smoke would have choked him a long time ago, but when he started this little exploring journey, he didn’t realize that he was walking up a lava mountain.
“Maybe I should go back,” he decided.
He dodged some of the lava currents and hopped from rock to rock. Some areas were completely safe, which made his path secure and easy to tread. Other areas were covered in the dangerous stuff.
But then, when he was about to turn around, he saw something shiny. An object was hidden behind a small bush, almost blinding him when he looked into its direction.
Part 3: The Hammer
Jack came closer and got more curious. What could that glimmering object be? He lifted up the bush and glanced at it.
It was a hammer!
What was a hammer doing at such a distinct, odd location? Did someone leave it here? Who would come up here anyway? It was dangerous here.
It made no sense. Before he picked it up, Jack pondered the meaning of this coincidental occurrence. Mister imagination couldn’t think of any reason someone would leave a hammer like that in the middle of nowhere, in a lava area.
“Oh well,” he said after a while, and picked up the axe.
It seemed on fire, but it wasn’t; it was strange. It was a very fine axe. Even though Jack had never been a blacksmith, he recognized the material and was in awe by its sophisticated handiwork. Surely this was a valuable object he could sell to the villagers and get some money or food in return.
But then he thought about it. He had been a little scared to go on, since the lava was unpredictable and deadly. But now that Jack had found this hammer, he saw it as a sign. He took it as a sign that positivity was ahead, that there was still hope, and that he was headed in the right direction.
He held the hammer. It was truly brilliant. It had an aura he had never seen before, as if some kind of power was radiating from its very core.
With that in mind, he went on and climbed higher up the mountain. Nevertheless, for safety reasons, he deviated somewhat from his course, hiking around the mountain to avoid more lava and reach the other side.
Part 4: The Lake
Jack reached the other side of the mountain in a few hours. He was surprised by the speed with which he managed to finish his journey. The view in front of him was breathtaking. He was looking at a raw piece of nature, an untouched parti
cle of land that had been hidden from society as he knew it.
His gaze extended farther than he had ever been able to imagine, and enthusiastically, he descended down the mountain to the beautiful lake in front of him. The water was reflecting the sunlight, the mountains behind it had a purplish glow about them caused by the slow sunset at the moment Jack reached the shore.
There were trees, tons of trees, more than he could carry home. It was unfortunate that he didn’t have any more bags to carry lumber in; he had only two. But for now, it was enough. He could sell the valuable hammer and some of the logs he would chop here, and that money could easily be exchanged for some food for his family. He was glad he came here. It was worth it in the end.
It was getting dark though, and Jack knew he wouldn’t accomplish much by chopping in the dark. He set up camp, which didn’t consist of more than a simple blanket he pulled out of his backpack, and his backpack that served as a somewhat comfortable pillow.
It was night. There was no moon, and the stars didn’t provide enough light to help him on his quest. He decided to go to sleep, and within minutes, he did.
In the middle of the night, he woke up with a jolt.
“Whoa, what?” he said.
He looked around him.
Something was wrong.
Where was the light coming from?
He looked to the second bag he had laid against a tree trunk. Light was emanating from it. It was highly unusual and Jack wanted to discover everything about this weird phenomenon. How a bag could glow in the dark, he did not know, but he was about to find out. He did not hesitate and reached inside the bag.
It was the hammer.
