Into the Land of Nede

By J. Gilchrist

After he punches his brother, eight-year-old Lincoln is banished to a wooden staircase for a time-out. As he sits on the step, Lincoln stares at a deer woven into an old rug at his feet. Suddenly, he begins to feel dizzy as he realizes what he is seeing. The deer has come to life.

An arrow whizzes by his head, and Lincoln finds himself transported from the step to a wet jungle. As a shot rings out, the deer drops to the ground; two boys run to its sidethrilled with their victory. Frightened and unsure where he is, Lincoln begins following the boys as they carry the deer back to their village. All Lincoln wants to do is find a way to return to his family, but he has no idea what awaits him. The Kirubu people have been waiting for him to come and set their village free.

As Lincoln encounters the great Squamata, an evil monster who has been asleep at the bottom of a river, he must find a way to put Squamata back to sleepbefore the monster can unleash its power on the Kirubu people and Lincoln can return home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 7, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450254342

J. Gilchrist

J. Gilchrist has enjoyed escaping into books since childhood. Now, as a mother of four she creates her own stories. She lives with her family in southwestern Connecticut.

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Into the Land of Nede

J. GILCHRIST

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

Into the Land of Nede

Copyright © 2010 by J. GILCHRIST

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-5432-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-5433-5 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-5434-2 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010912979

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 08/31/2010

For my sweethearts. Connor – Keep Reading.

Many thanks to Patti and Don.

Patrick you are my lighthouse.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

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Chapter 1

Time out

Uugh! I thought to myself, as I plopped down on the bottom step of the stairway. I was having another time out.

I don’t understand why I cannot get better control of myself. My Mom is right. I am eight years old and I need to start to learn that I cannot punch my younger brother every time that he messes up my stuff. A rage boils inside and I ignore what is happening until I cannot take it any longer. The top blows off my pot and I completely lose control.

My thoughts come too quickly and I get frustrated because I am not able to get the words out quick enough. My reaction is just a release of my frustration. I need to have structure. There has to be a point. I don’t play just to play. I have a plan.

My brother is not like me. He just does stuff with no purpose. He gets in my way. The rage boils right out of my hand as I thrust my fist toward him, trying to make him stop. I know it’s wrong but I don’t even seem aware of what is happening until it is too late.

I could hear Mom in the other room, tending to the damage that I did to my brother’s face when I punched him. I actually didn’t mean to punch him in the face. I aimed for his back and he turned right into my fist and got a real pop, right in the cheek.

I could hear Mom speak to Franklin in the next room.

Now put your head like this on the pillow and hold the ice. I am going to check on Lincoln. My brother let out a final sniff as Mom’s slippers came sliding across the floor toward me.

"What were you thinking?" Mom asked calmly, as she sat down next to me.

I stared at the wall across the hall and didn’t move.

Lincoln, Mom’s voice sounded tired. What were you thinking? What happened?

Well now, I really didn’t have to answer because she was asking two questions and I was confused about which one I should answer first.

"Lincoln? she tried again, angry, this time. What’s going on?"

Suddenly I felt the words just flying out of my mouth.

Well, he bashed my guys that I had set up and knocked them all down and he didn’t even say sorry, then he laughed and thought it was funny. I blurted this out quickly and held my breath waiting for a response from the Almighty Lawmaker, also known as Mom.

Is that the way that we are supposed to handle things, Lincoln?

No, Mom, I answered, completely defeated because it didn’t matter that he had started it, only that I had responded incorrectly. I quickly remembered to add. Can I go say sorry?

"Your brother is knocked pretty hard. He is on the couch with the icepack. I am going to go sit with him and you, my son, are going to sit here for your time out and think about what you could’ve done differently. Think about how you might use your words and not your fists to explain yourself." Mom leaned over and kissed me on the side of the forehead, and then she got up and went around the corner. I heard the whoosh of the cushion as she sat on the couch next to Franklin.

I was eight years old and in second grade. My brother was six years old and in Kindergarten. I was always getting in trouble for retaliating against my brother when he acted up. He started it, I was just reacting to him but he never got in trouble.

Franklin actually seemed to enjoy watching me set my stuff up and just when I got ready to actually play, he would come and knock it down. He had been doing it since he was born. Well, actually, he had not been doing it since he was born but, since I could remember he always messed with my stuff when he was tired and looking for attention.