Mid Weak Munchies : The Race p10

As Puffy grew tired and breathing got harder she noticed a small stick floating by with a note atatched. Someone had written the words "hopeless" and "abandoned" on it. "Is that ever the truth for me?" she whispered to herself. "I've made such a mess of my life. Would anyone care or even notice if I just quit and died right here?" Puffy's body was oil soaked, but her eyes were still sharp. She could actually see a mile up ahead where a beach was. "Was this the beach were we started the race?" The beach was empty and silent. Well not totally silent. Someone had left a radio on and Puffy could hear and old song she hadn't heard in years. "You just call out my name, and you know wherever I Am, I'll come runnin to see you again. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall; all you gotta do is call. I'll come runnin'. You got a friend." As Puffy listened to the old song she remembered stories of a lifeguard that watched the beach. Platty would always talk of Him and the great teachings she learned from Him. She remembered the gorilla that fell in and called out for help. But it was too late for Puffy. She had done way too many things wrong to expect any mercy or help from the lifeguard. Another piece of driftwood floated by with some wet newspaper torn on it. The words "guilt" and "shame" were legible but the rest of the page was smeared and torn off. Puffy began to shiver from cold and fear. Her head bobbed in the oily water and she began to choke and cough. Another piece of wood floated by with the words "The end" and "Give up." carved in the wood.

Soon there were many pieces of wood floating around Puffy. Each one had acusations and hopeless words tied to it. Oddly enough the pieces of wood began to fuse together in the shape of a cross. A very strong wind was whipping the pieces of wood together. Where the word "Hopeless" was, there was a new word forming. Like a whittler's knife was cutting away the old word, a new word was being carved in it's place. Puffy heard a strange sound in the sky overhead. It was the sound of a single engine plane, like a crop duster's plane. But this was no ordinary crop duster. The pilot was swirling and making letters across the sky. Slowly he spelled out "H" then "O" and "PE". When Puffy said "Hope" the words vanished from the sky. Disgusted with herself for 'making' the letters disolve Puffy began to sob uncontrollably. The water around her got hot and steamy like someone had just put a branding iron in the water to cool. As Puffy continued to watch, a Rancher riding a white mustang was racing across the water towards her. He had a lasso around a red hot iron that was stamping into the cross's wood. From left to right it spelled "Hope". And the smell was wonderful too. Like fresh cedar but better and stronger. Her sobs became giggles. But she was still dirty and weak. She watched as the upright piece of the cross was fusing together. Like the thorrnbush Puffy had been caught in, there apeared to be a thorn patterned vine drawing the wood pieces together. This was a tall piece of wood and the word from top down read "Abandoned". In each letter were worms and octopus suckers. Puffy remembered the hideous octopus when the race first started. Upon closer examination of the letters she could see each letter was actually a leg of a giant octopus. Not able to escape the working of the cross, the octopus tried to destroy Puffy. He reminded her of each time she messed up. Each letter of "Abandoned" spoke of one of her worst experiences in her life. The last letter "d" was her defeat, her death, her destiny to die. To the left of Puffy sat the Rancher on the white mustang. The mustang was not in the water, but stood upon the water. To Puffy's right was another odd but familiar sight and sound. At first she thought it was a zebra with all the black and white stripes.

Now I am up to date on the story.--------