Sleep Travelers

The story of Ning, Dog, and Boss

Hello, friends! Today I want to introduce you to my book titled

Sleep Travelers  Book 1 The story of Ning, Dog, and Boss

This book was featured at the LA Times Book Festival on the campus of UCLA. On April 22-23. I plan to post one chapter daily of this book and, when finished, a chapter a day of the sequel called Sleep Travelers Book 2, The Amusement Park.

A child’s imagination is a wonderful thing and must be encouraged. They vividly imagine being the Captain of their Pirate ship, the hero of their adventure, handsome, beautiful, brilliant, and strong. They conquer the world and do anything and everything. The lucky ones keep that childhood wonder! It is so sad many adults lose it on the long bumpy road to adulthood. This is the story of a young girl named Dawnie, who will never lose that childhood wonder. 

Okay, onward and upward! I apologize for the delay in posting chapters; we have been moving into our new house.

Chapter 12  Mr. Shirl cooks

Just as they were closing their eyes to “think inside,” a tall man appeared in a Brown uniform and hat with the Zoo Park insignia on the front. He looked amused at the sight of the animals and a little girl all standing around looking longingly at the firmly closed door of the Cook Shack. 

“What are you doing here in the middle of the night, Young Lady? And what are all of you animals doing out of your cages?” He said, sounding friendly and curious. 

Dawnie again stepped in front of the group and said, “We came to visit the Zoo animals and have had an absolutely grand time. These are my friends Beauty, Blackie, Tigger, Ella, Ning, Dog, and Boss, pointing to each one and finally to herself, “I am Dawnie. We are all sleep travelers and are hungry, but I am the only one with hands and not allowed near a real stove. We need some help.” She said, looking up at him with those big brown/green eyes and a sweet smile.

With a gentle smile on his face, he scooched down to be close to her height, “Well, we will have to do something about that, won’t we, Little Lady?” And with a big smile on his face, he got up, unlocked the door, opening it wide for everyone to come in. 

“My name is Shirley, but everyone calls me Shirl.”

“That is my Daddy’s name too!” Said an excited Dawnie.

“That is interesting.” He said as he rolled up his sleeves, putting on an apron in preparation to start cooking.

What do you all want to eat?” He asked. 

He was bombarded with shouts of “French Fries! Hot dogs! Burgers! Something to drink!

He lit the grill and the fryers for french fries. As he worked, the whole group stood in rapt fascination. After all, they had never had any of this food, and they were amazed watching Shirl prepare it for them. Mr. Shirl worked quickly, producing everything they asked for. 

When he had dished out food for everyone, including himself, they all sat down at the booths or stood at the tables and munched the food until they were so full they knew another bite would make them burst.

“Oh, Mr. Shirl, thank you so much; we enjoyed the food.”  Miss Dawnie said as she jumped up on his lap and threw her arms around his neck, planting a big kiss on his cheek. Looking up into his blue eyes, she thought, “His eyes are just like my Daddy’s. As a matter of fact, he looks just like him. But it can’t be him; he is home sleeping.

Tigger grabbed a ketchup bottle in his paws and squeezed it until a heavy stream of red sprayed Blackie in the face. He laughed hysterically at the look on Blackie’s face. Blackie not to be outdone, grabbed a bottle of mustard and, squeezing, was pleased to see the thick stream of Yellow flowing down the front of Tigger. Soon everyone, including Shirl, was grabbing bottles of ketchup and mustard, and throwing food at each other, shouting and laughing until there was nothing left to throw.  

“I’ve never done anything like that before, but now we not only made a mess of ourselves, but we messed up the kitchen. Mister Shirl, we are so sorry; what can we do to help you clean up?” Everyone said, kinda hanging their heads.

Stay tuned for Chapter 13, Daddy to the Rescue.

Published by Time Traveler of Life

Biography Creating worlds, characters, and wielding power like a madwoman, making my characters happy, sad, angry, and some of them with no redeeming qualities. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I sometimes laugh out loud when I am writing a scene, and I have been known to cry when one of my favorites has to die. I am a left-handed Gemini, what do you expect? Reading bedtime stories to my two children until they fell asleep or until they just told me to go away, was fun. Making up wild stories for my grandchild, and creating Halloween costumes from Cowboys to a Dragon, was another favorite thing to do. I missed that so much when they were grown, that I started writing. My yearly newsletters frequently were drafted third-person by my Love Birds, Miranda our motorhome, and by Sir Fit the White Knight, our faithful Honda. Throughout the years, some of my creative talents centered around writing letters of complaint expressing my displeasure with services or products. One crucial, at least to my Son, was a note to our local school bus driver petitioning her to allow him back on the bus. He was kicked off for making an obscene gesture at his buddy. I reminded her that it was not directed at her, and that “obscenity can be in the eye of the beholder,” kids use that gesture as a greeting. He rode the bus until he graduated. I loved driving my English teacher crazy. Leaving a “continued next week” at the end of my five handwritten pages required each week. He was one of many people that suggested I “do something about my writing.” I graduated from the School of Hard Knocks at the top of my class. After 30 years, in the trenches as a Real Estate Professional, I have found that truth is stranger than fiction. My books are filled with characters I met in that profession. Their names were changed to protect the guilty. Others were from people we met traveling around the country in Miranda, our Motorhome. I am married nearly 60 years to the love of my life, Shirl, and partner-produced two exceptionally talented children, and one grandchild who is our pride and joy.

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