The Jelly Tree
A Story of Faithfulness
by
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After a long while, as the evening light began to fade, Angela Marie Mason stood up from the lawn chair. “Well, I had better get home before it gets too dark,” she said. She looked at the plums, again.
Ricky John thought, ”She wants some plums. Give her a plum.” He reached up into the limbs and picked a big juicy red plumb. It was ripe, but not too ripe. He handed it to her and said, “Here, try this.”
Angela Marie Mason took a bite of the plum from the jelly tree. She closed her eyes and said, “Mmm, that’s good.”
Angela Marie Mason leaned forward and kissed Ricky John Rakestraw right on the mouth. It was not a peck. It was not a friendly kiss. It was a real, honest to goodness passionate kiss. Then Angela waved her hand kind of sideways and said, “Byyyyeee.” She walked out the driveway and back down the hill.
Ricky John stood under the jelly tree, unable to take a step in any direction. His mind was blank. His brain was empty. He had kissed a girl. Well, she had kissed him, but he was there when it happened, at least. He was in on it, sort of.
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About the Book
What he discovers is not a shame, but an ancestral legacy of strong, honest people who changed a nation. Deep inside this old story, there’s a life so wonderful and a love so tragic that it must be told.
Emotional courage is required if you are willing to find the end of this family’s story. It grabs you up by the collar and jerks into the middle of the Rakestraw family tree. By the time you turn the last page, not a skeleton in your closet will ever dare to rattle its bones again. But if it does, you’ll be able to answer quietly, “I know and I understand.”
About the Author
Born the eighth child in a family of twelve children, Dan Barnwell is a native son of
The Barnwell home, however, was full of happiness and hope. Every child believed a better day was coming, because their mother, Alice Barnwell, made them believe. Dan was a dependable source of stories and poems for his brothers and sisters. Each tale carried a positive message. “Keep trying. You will find greatness soon.”
Dan still lives in
In his first book, “The Owls of Thunder Hollow”, he escorted his readers through the childhood of a misfit who finally found his talent and became great. The birds in that story became personal friends of the readers.
In this book, Dan uses his amazing storytelling talent to create a family around the reader. This is not an emotional roller-coaster. A person knows that there is no pain at the end of a roller-coaster ride. Not so, this ride. Dan has exposed the pain of love, faithfulness, honesty, and loneliness. He has also created a very real adventure full of great struggle and amazing accomplishment.
Dan doesn’t tell this story. He grabs the readers by their minds and jerks them into the middle of it.