Maria

By Robert E. Bryant

This is a book of Short Stories that I hope people will enjoy. I am a pilot and I love flying aircraft. I hope readers would like Maria. Maria is a down-to-earth story and this pertains to a pilot who's looking for answers; searching for the right answers in the time of need. I hope the readers have a blessed day!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524660413

Robert E. Bryant

Born in Royston (Franklin County), Georgia, Robert E. Bryant moved to Greenwood, South Carolina in 1958 and has called this quiet Southern town home ever since. He has been interested in aviation all of his life and began flying when he was just twenty-nine years old. Later, at age forty-one, he received his pilot’s license (the same month his daughter, Yvette, received hers). Though he is a welder and welding instructor by vocation, he is certainly a pilot by avocation. His experience with aviation has afforded him to meet a number of interesting individuals, most notably Robert Morgan, pilot of the Memphis Belle; Charles Duke, Apollo 16; Charles Boland, Shuttle Commander; Jan Davis, Missions Specialist; Robert L. Scott, author of God Is My Copilot; the living members of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Black Sheep Squadron; and General Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, first to break the sound barrier. Another life-long passion is storytelling. His stories come to him with such powerful imagery and meaning that he believes they must be divinely inspired. When the stories come to him, he feels compelled to share them. “They must come out,” he says. “They must be told.” He truly hopes his readers will enjoy the stories and be blessed and inspired by them as much as he has been blessed of God with them.

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© 2017 Robert E. Bryant. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/19/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6042-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6041-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017900933

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Maria

Twelve Years Later

The Track

The Clown

The Sting

Why I Write

About the Book

MARIA

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P eter Pete Jenkins was just out of NASA and was looking forward to going to Houston, Texas and going into space. He was driving through the Sumter National Forest in the Fall looking at all the combinations of the colors of reds, greens, browns, yellows, and oranges of leaves on the trees. He crossed a bridge with a small creek under it and came suddenly upon a distinctive tree that reminded him of a tree he and his dad used to climb when he was a little child. He gets out of the car and notices the wind is blowing a small breeze through his hair. He walks down the embankment and says to himself I’ve got to climb this tree because it looks so inviting. So he climbs on up the tree about ten feet up off the ground and just sat there reminiscing about when he was growing up with his dad on the farm.

All of a sudden, off to the left the leaves started to shake as if somebody were watching him and moving around. He looked around, but no one was to be seen. Now, the leaves off to the right started to shake. He thought it could be a deer, but nothing could be found. He climbed down out of the tree and walked toward the creek and saw a beautiful plaque under glass with a picture of a girl named Maria. It said: MARIA. SHE WAS MY SISTER. I WAS FOURTEEN. SHE DIED RIGHT UP AGAINST THIS TREE. HUNTERS IN THIS AREA NEVER CLIMB THIS TREE. IF YOU WILL, PLEASE RESPECT THIS AREA WHERE SHE DIED. SHE WAS STABBED AND BLED TO DEATH RIGHT HERE. IF I CAN FIND THAT KILLER, I WILL KILL HIM. It was signed by her brother Jesse Wilcox.

Pete read the plaque and saw that it had been fifteen years since this had happened and the police still had not captured the killer that had done this. He was about to take a step when he heard a voice saying Pete if you help me, I’ll help you later. He turned around, but nobody was there and he said to himself My God and he was about to take off to his car. He took another step and then Pete if you help me, I’ll help you later on. All I want you to do is to wait seven minutes for the sunlight to shine on the murderer’s bracelet that I removed from his wrist. So he uses his watch to count down the minutes and as he does so he notices the sun coming through the trees above and a sparkle begins to shine on the ground. He walks over and picks it up and holds it in his left hand. He drove to the next town to the Sheriff’s office like that the whole way to not let any more tampering be done to it. He arrived at the department and went inside and asked for the sheriff, and an older gentleman came out of his office. I am Sheriff Nichols, what can I do for you? Pete produced the bracelet he found at the scene and gave it to the Sheriff. Pete told him where he found it and the sheriff put the bracelet in an evidence bag. Pete told the Sheriff that he did not need to get involved with