Angels on High: The Challenge

By Walter Deecki

Jimmie is happy with his quiet life in a small town. He has a loving wife, a close-knit group of friends, and a satisfying job at a community center for lost children. But the crux of his satisfying existence is deeply threatened when developers come to town, wanting to buy up all the property in sight. Faced with the challenge of fighting the l

• Language: English
• Publisher: WordHouse Book Publishing
• Release date: Oct 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685471767

Walter Deecki

After retiring from the United States Air Force in 1992 and from the Boy Scouts of America in 2009, Walter Deecki Sr., began writing stories inspired by his own childhood and that of his four children, 12 grandchildren and the endless number of youth that came into his life. He likes to reminisce about his family life and all the characters in his books encompass their personalities.

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Angels on High: The Challenge

Copyright © 2022 Walter Deecki Sr.

This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the products of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or historical events, are purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN

Paperback 978-1-68547-174-3

Hardcover 978-1-68547-175-0

eBook 978-1-68547-176-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022918849

Printed in the United States of America

101 Foundry Dr,

West Lafayette, IN, 47906, USA

www.wordhousebp.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ix

PREFACE xi

INTRODUCTION xiii

The Hospital 1

The Funeral 9

After the Funeral 17

Reading of the Will 21

A Stranger in Town 29

Unexpected Offer 37

Visit with Mister Barrow 43

Mister Dilworth Visits the Center 49

Breakfast at the Diner 55

Jimmie and Mister Dilworth Meet at the Lake 61

Visit From an Old Friend 69

The Field Trip 75

The Search 83

The Search Continues 89

A Walk in the Woods 97

Town Crises 107

The Storm 115

Return to Mrs. Geary 125

Friday Morning 131

Friday Afternoon 137

Five O’clock at Mr. Barrow’s Farm 143

The Beginning of a New Town 153

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my mother Romayne Elizabeth Deecki who died October 29, 2001. As a young boy growing up, I remember how she used to chase off bullies even when I instigated the confrontation, there was never a question as to whether she would come to my rescue but there were always consequences to face afterwards. She was a woman who dedicated her life teaching us right from wrong. Although I may not have followed her teachings all the time, she instilled the values and morals that guided me throughout my youth, my career and life. She was a special woman whom I love and miss very much, and I know that God has rewarded her by receiving her into his kingdom.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to acknowledge my wife Debbie who supported me during my Air Force career and our many years following. The first twenty years of our marriage she endured frequent moves and hardships. After my Air Force retirement, she supported me again through another ten years working professionally for the Boy Scouts of America that also required long days and extended work weeks, but her continued encouragement gave me the inspiration to follow my dreams and pursue the publication of Angels on High and Angels on High (The Challenge).

If you make the Most High your dwelling –

even the LORD, who is my refuge –

Then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

They will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.\

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Because he loves me, says the LORD, "I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him

and show him my salvation."

Psalm 91; 9 – 16

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright 1993, 1997, 1984 International Bible Society

PREFACE

This story is based on personal observations from living in and around small, secluded mountain towns that were very peaceful in nature. A small country road wound up the mountainside, it was a joy to take a Sunday afternoon drive up the narrow scenic trail, if only to escape reality for a single moment in time. Then one day, gambling was established and the small quite town rapidly changed. The mountain road became wider and faster so that tour buses would have better access. People filled the buses and more frequent the daily trips became. People who lived there most of their lives moved away. Some moved because they couldn’t afford the increase in taxes others because of the population increase. The reason for this change, I believe is that they thought gambling would bring in more money and would help support the local community. However, more money doesn’t always improve a lifestyle; the fact is, more money can destroy a particular way of life.

I believe there is more of a need to protect a way of life, a need to preserve what God has created. Everything on this earth, in the universe, belongs to God. He gave us this earth to protect; the darkness, the stars, and everything on it was given to us to care for and enjoy. As in the case of this small town, it’s apparent that they didn’t make the best decisions. God gave man the ability to think and to make choices and with this came the inner drive to want bigger and better, and because of it, the real purpose for our existence to serve the one who created us is sometimes forgotten.

In this story, Jimmie sometimes needed a little reminder to ask God for help. It was a good thing his wife Becky was around to help now and again. We all tend to believe in God the most when everything is going well. But, when we come face to face with hard times, we tend to blame God. Life is not a rose garden! Even if it was, roses have thorns and the sweet smell doesn’t come without obstacles. We can see the thorns on roses, and therefore, avoid them by wearing gloves, or cutting the thorns off before picking them. But life doesn’t work that way all the time. Thorns, storms, or life obstacles, it doesn’t matter what you call hardships, we face an unpredictable life! That’s the glory of it all! We have an opportunity to serve God no matter what the situation.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

INTRODUCTION

How often do you take people for granted especially the ones you love? What would you do if tomorrow morning you woke up and they were gone? In the first book Angels on High, Jimmie and Becky began their relationship as childhood friends, at a time when Becky, was the new girl in town. She was the sort of girl who liked playing sports, basically, anything competitive really. But, in order to participate in the town’s popular sport of ice hockey, she had to prove herself before Jimmie and his two friends would accept her as their equal. Jimmie and Becky often laughed as they remembered how Becky never played before, but she and Sam agreed to race with the understanding that if she won, she played and if she lost, she went home. It was very amusing when Sam tripped and slid face first on the ice as Becky crossed the finish line literally by a nose. Sam’s that is. Becky knew from the first day they met, when Jimmie’s mother forced him to walk her to school, that her new best friend Jimmie would someday marry her.

As a young boy Jimmie’s best friend, besides his childhood friends, was an elderly man by the name of Samuel Pulaski or Mr. P, as he liked to call him. Samuel a kind man with a heart of gold came to the United States from Poland at the persistence of his mother during a time when the country was at war.

After arriving in the United States, Samuel decided to travel and see more of the country than just New York City where he worked briefly in a small restaurant. He continued his travels until he met a wonderful woman Maria who became his wife. Maria loved Samuel with all her heart and he loved her. After a few years, God placed two troubled young children in their care through adoption. A boy named Antonio who survived the city streets until his rescue by Mister Pulaski, and a young girl by the name of Angela whose mother gave her up because she was terminally ill and unable to care for her any longer. Samuel and Maria raised Antonio and Angela to love God just as they did. Life was wonderful until cancer overcame Maria, and this terrible disease took her life.

Samuel worked very hard at fulfilling his promise to Maria to raise their two children, as she wanted, and to make sure they both finished college. But feeling alone and depressed with out her, Samuel sold his home and began traveling again as he did when first arriving in the United States, but this time it was in search of the answer to not only the most popular question why me but why her. After a while, he once again found refuge in a small mountain town where he felt compelled by God to climb a mountain a few days before Christmas in the quest to regain his faith through the guidance of an angelic being.

Samuel spent the rest of his life helping people on his daily visit to all the shops in the small town. At the end of his daily routine, he spent hours entertaining the children at the local hospital, but most of all, he enjoyed the days he spent telling stories to Jimmie. Jimmie loved Samuel and adopted him as his grandfather and his fishing partner since Jimmie’s boyhood friends rarely fished.

Samuel instructed Jimmie on the art of reasoning life’s obstacles through story telling not only did he share his stories with Jimmie, but Samuel would also tell his stories to anyone who was willing to listen. Samuel's involvement in the community, church, and with his family brought the entire town to understand the importance of friendship and love of one another. Samuel’s love for everyone especially God, was rewarded through God’s acceptance of Samuel into his kingdom at a very old age. Jimmie continued Samuel’s legacy as God charged him with the responsibility of carrying on his kindness and determination. Jimmie’s destiny: to care for and run the boys home and to help people who are lost and in need of a strong friendship that would never give up, no matter what struggles or evil ways of the world, are placed before them.

The cycle of life continues every day. People go home to be with our Lord and another life is born. What we teach our youth