“My discovery of The Urantia Book has not caused me to abandon the religion of my parents. If anything, it has taught me the importance of raising my children in a tradition that stresses faith and love as the focal points of life.” page 4
“The soul is the self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world.” page 229
They bolted up as a freight train rumbled by on the other side of the fence. The engine struggled to climb the slope. Sparks shot from the wheels as they clattered on a loose rail. There was no caboose, just a red taillight flashing on the last car.
After a brief spell, the crickets and frogs resumed their night songs. But sleep didn’t come as easily for the travelers on the concrete table.
The storm had abated and the clouds parted to reveal the Milky Way spilling across the sky. The rinsed air smelled of wet earth and sage.
“What a night,” April said in a hushed voice, not knowing if Mark was awake. Her voice sounded like a purr and Mark wasn’t sure what she’d said. But he answered anyway, “I grew up a block from some tracks, but that train was really close”
“I left because there was no one left,” April answered the question he’d asked hours earlier.
She wanted to talk for the first time in weeks, and her story poured out interrupted only by the whoosh of trucks on the wet highway.
Dorothy slapped her cane pole on the water and scattered the carp.
“Cut it out Dot, we only need one more,” Evelyn pleaded.
“I’m sick of this!” Dorothy said and yanked on her pole gigging a five pounder with a treble hook and slapped it at her sister’s feet.
“Yes!” Evelyn shouted. She hit the fish with a rock and tossed it in the wagon.
A swarm of flies rose from the pile of trash fish and buzzed with indignation.
“I’m tired of catching pig feed,” Dorothy said as she watched a bronzed teenager cruise by on water skis.
The boy waved at them and sent a shock of pounding music in their direction.
“That’s what we should be doing,” Dorothy protested.
“We don’t know anybody with a ski boat,” Evelyn replied.
“That’s just it! We don’t know anybody!” Dorothy shouted, “We never go anywhere.”
“C’mon let’s head back,” Evelyn said.
Dorothy didn’t budge, “That's going to change real soon...cause I failed it!”
“Failed what?”
“The state tests, I failed’em all.”
“Failed?”
“Every single one.” Dorothy bragged.
“How could you? We've been studying for months…”
Dorothy pursed her lips in an villainous grin.
“You didn’t!” Evelyn cried in disbelief.
“We’re going to public school!” Dorothy announced