The Making of a Preacher's Family - Prep

Setting Description

ZoNed4 is the sort of place we used to dream about back on Earth. The hues of colors in the blooms of flowers, in every sunset, in the lush green, that accompanies the blues of creeks running through every set of woods, and even the colors of the paint on the wall of every building is ten times more brilliant than anything ever seen on the Earth.

The other day Aurora and I were walking from our house to Breezy Glade, which is a three-mile walk out and back. Not too back for a man, who passed his seventieth birthday a few years ago, wouldn't you say? Along the way, I staggered at the Spectacle Realty Building. It was about the middle of the afternoon, but still far enough away from noon, that the red, orange and yellow rays created screaming gold on the side with a blood-red crown, and at the top the two blue spires had the effect of making the whole building a butane torch.

A couple of miles outside of Fort Childhood is the little of Primary Rocks. We detoured a bit to see this display of creation as we had done so many times before, especially when Aurora was younger. (It seems to make her obstinant tendencies to mellow back then. We were a happy family for a few hours. That was worth the effort all by itself.)

The sight of red, yellow, and blue rocks strew all over the ground in the varying sizes of pebbles, larger river rocks, and boulders took our breath away every time. The three largest boulders were the most unique attraction in town. We approached the red one, which was so red as to make us squint since it appeared to be brighter than the sun, depending on the time of day. Aurora stuck out her left hand to touch the redness, and once, again, her hand disappeared into the cascading rogue. She giggled like the little girl she had been the first time we experienced the "disappearing hand" trick.

You may be wondering how that was possible. It's actually science since the primary colors are created by lichen and mosses of extreme hues, and of thickness, we had never seen in lichens and mosses on Earth. The aroma of this wonderful vegetation was not pungent as I had known them to be on our home planet, but it was a pleasant mixture of a small amount of honey, along with butterscotch syrup, and caramel topping with a hint of chocolate thrown in for good measure.

We all took turns putting our hands in the mossy blanket and pulling them back to our waiting noses, closing our eyes to experience the explosion of aromas, cleaning off our hands with joyful tongues, that danced in dreams of swimming in ice cream sundaes.

For some time we forgot completely about Breezy Glade but as the day grew long, we decided to pick up our pace to make it to our favorite natural playground, still having enough time to return home before dark.

Breezy Glade enjoyed a nearly constant gentle breeze, which ranged in intensity from five to fifteen miles per hour. The lush green, verdant, emerald vegetation seemed to cry out, "Lay back on us. Let us carry you away to a peaceful place where cares are no more." It seemed as though I had just laid my head down on the soft bed of a jade patch when Aurora shook me. "Dad, wake up. You've been asleep for a half-hour. If we don't leave now, we'll never make it home before dark."

The trip home didn't seem as long because we walked into the sun, squinting the whole way, but our steps were lighter on the sea of magenta and clementine with visual smoothings of lemon zest. What a vest for life! We were "Walking on Sunshine" until I found myself ensconced in my favorite easy chair.

What a day!