: Laura L. Morgan
: Redemption at Dead Man's Hole
: BookBaby
: 9781098359270
: 1
: CHF 6.30
:
: Erzählende Literatur
: English
: 180
: kein Kopierschutz
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
Fifteen-year-old Rogan Chaffey and his family live in a small community on an island in southeast Alaska, where life is naturally a grand adventure: hunting, fishing, camping, caving, and exploring. Danger also lurks, with sinkholes, angry bears, and wilderness survival. After he and his family are faced with tragedy, Rogan struggles to reconcile his feelings that God is supposed to be a loving God, so why would He allow this to happen? The teen not only deals with inner turmoil, but with a nemesis in bully, Nico Vega, as well as an unstable neighbor, Crazy Hoffman. There is a local legend of a young man who attempted to jump Dead Man's Hole with fatal results. The town's youth, however, aren't sure if it is a myth or an actual event until Rogan is confronted with the answer in an up-close and personal way.

CHAPTER 4

The Angry Bear

They all lined up and held out their hands.

“One for Peg, one for Lainey, one for me, and the biggest one for Rogan,” said Mrs. Chaffey as she grabbed galvanized pails with handles off the upper shelf in the mudroom.

“Why doI get the big one?” Rogan teased. “I think Peg should be the one to get it.” He held his bucket out like he was handing it to his youngest sister.

“No way! I’m the littlest, so Ican’t pick as much.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Mom! Tell him. I’m only eight, after all. Picking huckleberries is hard work.” Peg looked forlornly up at her mother. Rogan could tell his mom was trying to hide her smile at her children’s banter by the twitching of her lips.

“I think your brother is teasing you, Sweetie.”

Peg paused, looked at Rogan, who gave her his slightly crooked smile and a wink. She busted a smile.

Elise Chaffey noted that Rogan had his .44 Magnum pistol in its holster on his hip. She, too, was armed, but with her Glock 19. It wasn’t as effective as the .44 to deter bears, but she was comfortable with it and it fit her grip well. They’d never had any serious trouble with the black bears who shared in harvesting the juicy, some purple, some red huckleberries, but she wanted to be prepared just in case. It could be easy for a bear and a berry picker to surprise each other, which wouldn’t be good.

It was a nice August day, partly cloudy, and time to gather some berries. Mrs. Chaffey would make jam and jelly, pie, and also freeze some for the winter that they could relish when fruit was scarce. Rogan’s favorite was Huckleberry Buckle, a sort of coffee cake with the succulent yet tart berries baked into the dessert.

“Are we going to our favorite spot down by 108 Creek?” Rogan asked, saying it as “one- oh-eight-creek,” a fifteen-foot wide stream that eventually flowed into the bay.

“You betcha,” his mother replied.

They called for Sitka, their faithful family dog, piled into their blue, older model 4Runner, and headed to the pullout where they parked, hopped out, and headed down the trail. Fann