The Gonkers 3: The Apostles

By Mary Pearson

Travel back in time with the Gonkers as they visit Jesus and the Apostles. This is a book for young Catholic kids, or for anybody that would like to learn a little bit about Jesus through a light humored historical adventure seen through the eyes of children. It creates an excellent opportunity to share the faith with our little ones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Pearson
• Release date: Dec 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311026590

Mary Pearson

Mary Pearson grew up in an enormous Catholic family with fifteen siblings. Now, she has five daughters of her own, but no boys - at least as far as she knows (wink wink). She cantors for her church and helps out with charitable functions. She's a big fan of crazy vampire romance books, well made cookies, and Jesus (not in that particular order). She decorates cakes, and once got angry and threw a wedding cake at her sister because she had enquired when it would be ready. Her sister walked out covered in frosting and told the customer that it would be a bit longer than expected, She makes up her own language with her kids, using words like cheesewunks and scrullums. She once accidently tanned her upper lip by sitting out in the sun at a strange angle and ended up looking kind of swarthy for a while, her long hair and her tan moustache lip. She is one of the two stars of Buying Tyme - a true story about her and her mother buying a rundown bakery and trying to learn to make a living with it. That story just got translated for the Chinese by some folks in Hong Kong. You can find that story, written by a positively brilliant author, here on Smashwords for free. Mary also won a bunch of academic awards and crap and graduated from the University of Minnesota with honors. She's written lots of books and plans to put some of them here for you guys, her new best friends, to cherish and enjoy, and to run with your Nooks and Kindles out into your city to show the stories to anyone you're physically strong enough to hold down and force to read them.

Book preview

Gonkers 3

By Mary Pearson

copyright 2013 Mary Pearson

Smashwords edition

Babylon

Lily fingered the clover which she had laminated before placing it in the ark box. It had been her memento from the trip to see St. Patrick-- the largest and greenest clover she had ever seen.

It should have foy leaves, though, Molly was sitting beside her on the bed. Then it would be lucky.

Three leaves stand for the Trinity, Lily disagreed, and in my opinion it couldn’t be any luckier. She looked at Brody who, oblivious to the Gonker children, was playing with his cars. She could still picture him blue and lifeless, laid out on the ground with Aunt Gen giving him CPR. She had forgotten about the clover for a couple of weeks and was surprised to find it barely wilted, stuffed into the zipper pocket of her backpack. Maybe that was a bit of a miracle, too.

Lucien hauled the book out from the shelf in the rec yurt. The boys are going on a solo trip because you guys got to go to St. Therese without us.

Molly faced her brother, hands on hips. Boys ayen’t allowed in convents.

Well, girls aren’t allowed in lions’ dens, he snapped back.

Lily furrowed her brow. That’s old testament, right?

The boys nodded.

So how are you gonna get back?

Find Jesus’ ancestors. Logan’s response was almost too quick.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to look them up first? She had a point. So they hauled out the big Bible from the bookshelf and found the genealogy of Jesus at the front of Matthew’s Gospel. So when was it?

Logan’s lips moved as he read the introduction to the book of Daniel in the big Bible. Finally he found what he was looking for. During the Babylonian exile.

Okay… says here in the genealogy that Jesus’ ancestor then was named Jechoniah. She wrote it on a slip of paper and watched him put it in his pocket.

But we’ll know anyway. Lucien smiled confidently. He’ll be the guy with green eyes, right?

Lily paused before answering with less assurance. I guess.

All the other ancestors had green eyes, Logan reminded her.

Lily still couldn’t squelch her feeling of misgiving, but she nodded. Take some food, she suggested. In case.

***

Perhaps the Gonker boys should have done more research before they read their way into this adventure. Perhaps they should have brought more trail mix. The fact is they found themselves in a very huge, very exotic, and very pagan city. There were hundreds of thousands of people within its walls, many of them slaves. Most of the slaves had green eyes. The boys could not find a single person whose language they could understand. And no one seemed aware of them. They were like ghosts to everyone.

They spent the first day wandering the streets which were lined with golden statues of bulls and lions and dragons. At the center of the city there was a tower with seven square platforms. From the top of this building the Gonker boys could see that the huge city was a square surrounded by walls, each of which was at least ten miles long. It was overwhelming. Logan gave his brothers a handful of trail mix and they sat down to regroup.

Where do you think Daniel is? Lucien asked his older brother.

Logan shrugged. Maybe at the palace. He popped a peanut in his mouth. I think he was condemned by the evil king or something.

Where’s that? Lucien stood to get a better view.

Logan pointed. There, I think. Do you want my raisins?

Lucien shook his head.

I’ll take them, Finne gathered them from his brother’s palm. I’m hungry.

Logan smiled crookedly. You’re always hungry.

After sharing a bottled water they set off for the castle. Most of the people there were looking pretty somber. They wandered from room to room until they came upon an assembly in what appeared to be the throne