The Gift

Chapter 1
Jonas Jarrett had a gift. Well, some would call it a gift. Other would say it was nothing more than wasting time when he could be hearding his sheep like other boys his age did. But Jonas Jarrett was not like the other boys his age. Not in any way. He was special. He could touch his tounge to the point of his nose, he could spell Bartholomew backwards without a hitch. No other boy in town could do that. Bartholomew was Jonas' older brother and would constantly criticize his brother and pick on him. Bartholomew and his father were always telling Jonas to work harder or that he got in the way too much. Jonas was sad. But the one person he could lean on was his mother, who would comfort him when he felt unwanted.
"Some day, Jonas," she would say, "You will surprise everyone and touch the stars. You are my son and I love you dearly. Don't listen to what the others say to you. Be proud of yourself, my boy. Very proud."
But let us get back to Jonas' gift. The boy had always had a fascination with tying string and small rope. It came in handy when he was tending to the sheep. He would tie a rope around the sheeps ankles so they would not escape and become the supper for the prowling wolves. The land where the town was where Jonas and his family lived was rocky and filled with dangerous cliffs, and often the young shepherds would often lose one or two sheep down them. As young Jonas grew, he became more and more brave and would try to climb the steep embankments to rescue the sheep. Unknown to his family or anyone else, Jonas began stealing rope from the barns and started tying tight ropes across deep crevaces. No others in the town knew how the ropes had gotten there, and Jonas never told anyone he was the person who had tied them.
This brings us to his gift. Little by little, Jonas would practice balancing on the tightly pulled ropes so he could clumb across or down into a hole to rescue the scared sheep. Soon, he could walk easily across the tight ropes without even a thought of falling. Indeed it was an unusual gift to have, but Jonas loved having such a gift. But it remained a secret that only he knew until the terrible incident involving Rolland, the town prankster. Rolland had decided one night to creap out of his cabin and play a trick on old mr Fritz, the town recluse. Roland managed to climb up the old apple tree in old man Fritz' yard and onto his roof. Roland had stolen two chickens from a neighbors house and decided to throw each poor bird down the old mans chimney. Luckily, therewas no fire burning in the fireplace. But the hens made such a ruckuss, flapping and squaking around inside the old mans house, that Fritz himself came running into the main room in the dark, carrying his old musket and a lantern. The weapon wasn't even loaded, thankfully.
As the old man stumbled to the front door to shoo the chickens out, Roland lit a match and threw it down the chimney, starting a fire in the cabin. Fritz was heard by his neighbors cursing as he ran confuzed around his yard. The chickens squaking only added to the noise. Annoyed neighbors came to their front doors and windows to see what was going on at such an ungodly time of night. In the confusion, Fritz stumbled and fell. He was alright, only banging his right big toe. "Dammit!" he cursed, swinging the lantern around. It was then that the people noticed the smoke filling the air and the fire burning the small cottage.
Meanwhile, Rolland had jumped from the roof to the tree and was half way down when someone spotted him. "Hey, it's Rolland!" someone shouted, holding up a lanteren and pointing at the plump little trouble maker. A crowd gathered near the apple tree. Then a large bearded man pushed his way through the crowd of people to confront Rolland.
"I say," said the bearded man, anger flashing in his eyes. "Come down here boy so I can I tan yer hyde! Come down, now!" The man was Rolland's own uncle, who the boy was staying with at the time. Rolland hesitated, then began to climb down. The bearded man grabbed him and ushered him away.
The towns people spent the rest of the night and early morning trying to put out the fire. They formed a long line leading from the well to the burning cottage. They passed buckets of water from one person to another and threw the water on the fire. It wasn't put out until morning. The smoke from the fire seemed to linger all the next day. In the confusion, the townsfolk had lost sight of Fritz. They searched the entire town but there was no trace of him anywhere. That's when Jonas woke up and went to see what all the fuss was about.
Someone told him that old man Fritz was missing. Jonas had a feeling he might know where the old man was. Jonas ran off towards one of the cliff sides, with a few others following. Just as he had suspected, he found the old man in a crevace near the cliff. There was already a tight rope leading from the edge of the crevace down into it. Jonas carefully toed the tight rope until he was down inside the crevace where the old man was hiding.
"Don't come any closer, boy!" shouted Fritz angrily. "I know you set fire to my cottage! Damn you!" Jonas shook his head. Trying not to sound intimidating, he said, "It wasn't me, sir. It was Rolland. Please let me help you. I need to get you back safely." Fritz hesitated, then sighed heavily. "Take me home," he said sadly, reaching out a hand to Jonas. Many of the townsfolk had gathered around the crevace to catch a glimpse of the old man. Many believed him crazy, but now that they saw the compassion Jonas was showing, some had a change of heart towards the old man.
Jonas helped Fritz up the steep, rocky embankment slowly, so not to injure the old fellow. Rolland's uncle had joined the crowd with a rope to help hoist the old man to safety. Jonas tied the rope around Fritz' waist and helped push him up as the towns people above pulled the rope. Finally, after almost an hour, the old man was safe, back on the grassy surface. Everyone cheered for Jonas and the effort he had made to save Fritz. From then on, he was considered the hero of the town, and finally had the respect he had always dreamed of.
Of course, Rolland was punished severly for his actions. But Rolland's uncle had compassion on Fritz and allowed the old man to stay with him until a new cottage could be built for him.