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I promise when I wrote him I had no idea.
😂Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle nahh you’re good
if anything it’ll make me root for the character more.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
Here’s Ethan’s brother, Jonas
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle ooh! Judging from his quotes he seems like either an upbeat character or a super sarcastic one. Lol.
I apologize if I got that terribly wrong
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
So Ethan is the super quiet, let’s think this through, I’m not going to move until I’ve annualized every angle, I’m not going to talk unless I have everything thought out, and I’ll stop in the middle of a thought to decide the best way to finish the sentence,
Jonas…… let’s just say Jonas is the complete opposite, which is really funny and they get along really well because they balance each other perfectly, but they can also drive one another insane.
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle They sound amazing!
I love sibling interactions between characters. (although I’ve probably mentioned that already lol)
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
They’re great! I love writing them together.
You want me to find a scene with them and post it to you?
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle yes please!!
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
Okay, here’s one when they’re older teenager looking through all their old little kid things……..
The two began looking about, and as they did they drifted to opposite ends of the basement. Ethan pushed aside a few boxes of woman’s clothing. All at once he came across a grey-blue coat. He picked it up and saw it was a woman’s. Ethan crouched down and held the coat close, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent. He could still smell a faint hint of flowers, fresh air, and good cooking. It had been four years, but Ethan still missed his mother.
“Hey, come look at this!”
Ethan set down the coat and moved through the dim basement to where his brother was on hands and knees beside a large assortment of bins and boxes. “Remember this, Ethan?”
Ethan dropped down beside his brother and looked at the odd stack from a new angle. From low down, Ethan could see that the bins and boxes had been positioned to create a fort. A slow smile spread across his face. “Our fort. I don’t think we’ve played in this for years!”
“I certainly haven’t gone in here since Mom died,” agreed Jonas. He crawled around the boxes, searching for something. “Ah, I thought I knew where it was. Here’s the entrance, Ethan.”
Ethan followed his brother, and the two wormed their way through the small entrance into the fort. Ethan sat up and saw that Jonas was looking in an open cardboard box. “Hey, I remember this!” He pulled out a flashlight and tossed it to Ethan.
Ethan raised his eyebrows. “Dad gave me this on my tenth birthday. Wow, I never thought I’d see it again.”
“Hey, my rubber-band collection!” exclaimed Jonas. He pulled one of the bands from the bag and shot Ethan with it.
Ethan picked up the rubber band to shoot his brother back, but when he stretched it, the band snapped. “The weather certainly hasn’t been kind to them.”.
Jonas pulled out a notebook and flipped it open. “Goodness, look at how bad you used to draw people!”
Ethan was testing all the rubber-bands in the bag, but he leaned over Jonas’s shoulder and looked at the stick figures. “That’s not that bad.”
“That’s because you still draw like that,” chuckled Jonas.
“I do not,” replied Ethan, testing another rubber-band against his brother’s back.
Jonas ignored him and kept on flipping through the notebook. “Look, it’s a record of all the day’s passwords we had for entering the fort, and a log of who was out when.” Jonas flipped another page. “Good grief, it says here that I was killed in action on May 5th eight years ago.”
“Well that’s funny. What are you now, a ghost?” Ethan asked, trying out another rubber-band on his brother.
“If I am, you are too. ‘Captain Ethan was shot in the chest seven times and died in front of the gate’.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow and shot Jonas again.
“Oh look, I came back to life in time to be ‘drowned dead’ in a flood,”Jonas remarked cheerily.
“I always knew there was something off about you. It must be all the brain trauma,” Ethan said dryly.
Jonas continued flipping through the notebooks, and Ethan crawled further into the fort. He found a bin and opened the lid. “Oh man, Jonas, you’ve got to see this.”
Jonas looked up just in time to catch the stuffed cat Ethan threw at him. The little animal was threadbare, and the stuffing was all wadded up, leaving some places very lumpy and others with no padding at all. Jonas stared at the cat for a long moment, and then began laughing. “Well, of all things! It’s Ginger!”
Ethan was digging around in the bin, and a few moments later he lifted out a small stuffed dog in no better shape then the cat. “Willaby! I thought I threw him away!”
“Mom wouldn’t let you do that,” Jonas grinned. “She must have rescued these fellas when we grew too old to play with them.”
“Look, here’s an army jacket she made for Ginger,” said Ethan, pulling out a small coat sewn out of an old burlap sack.
Jonas abandoned his box and joined Ethan. “Hey! My old sailor hat!” he exclaimed, pulling a white hat out of the box. “Remember when mom made this?”
The two dug around for a little longer, and then Ethan began reading the labeling on the other boxes that made up the walls of the fort. All at once, he spotted a clear bin with a small box inside of it. This box looked as though it was made of wood, and it had carvings on the outside. Ethan got up and moved over to the bin. He pulled a few boxes off of it and opened the lid. Pushing aside a few odd and ends, he got his hands on the wooden box. Pulling it out, he sat back down on the floor beside Jonas. Ethan opened the box and found two stacks of envelopes, one tied with a blue ribbon, and one tied with a white. Ethan carefully untied the ribbon around the first stack and picked up an envelope. It was old, of that Ethan was sure. One hardly encountered letters these days, and they certainly never looked like this.
Ethan carefully opened the envelope and slipped out a piece of pink paper with white roses. Opening the paper slowly, he stared at the cursive writing within. Ethan’s mother and made him and Jonas learn cursive, but nothing so fancy as all this. Ethan stared at the paper for a minute, and finally made out the beginning.
Dear Aden,
Isn’t this exciting! My hand is shaking a little as I write! This is my very first letter to you! I know we saw each other yesterday, but I couldn’t wait a moment longer. I hope you are doing well, and I pray that your family is safe. How is the farm? I can’t wait to come and see it again!
“What did you find?”Jonas asked, startling Ethan.
“These are very old letters it looks like. It’s written by a woman to a man named Aden,” replied Ethan, showing his brother the letter.
Jonas took the paper and let his eyes skim down the page. “Weird.”
“What?”
“The way she talks to him… it sounds like Song of Solomon.”
Ethan leaned over Jonas’ shoulder and followed his pointing finger. “Goodness, it kinda does.” He looked back at the box in his hands. “Do you get the feeling that if these were found they would be destroyed?”
Jonas nodded, still reading.
Ethan sat a moment longer, and then scrambled to his feet. Jonas looked up. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go show these to Dad. He’ll know what they are,” Ethan said. “Come on, bring that one with you.”
Jonas folded up the letter and crawled out of the low entrance to the fort. Standing up, the two brothers hurried for the basement stairs, the box of letters tucked safely under Ethan’s arm.
(Ethan was a little more talkative here because none of their conversation was super deep, if you know what I mean. I can dig up some more scenes if you want)
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle aww I loved that scene! That was really cool.
Now you’re making me hope neither of these characters die, which I realized is a very likely possibility.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
I’m so glad!
Lol. Yes it is. A VERY likely possibility.
Want more?
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle haha
Sure!!!
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
UGH!!! IT’S NOT SENDING! I’VE SENT THIS FIVE TIMES SINCE YOU POSTED.
When Ethan finished praying, he remained on his knees. What lay before him seemed impossible. It was dangerous and could land him in prison or get him killed. He wasn’t sure which. The thought of what he was about to try to do was terrifying. However, he was ready to move forward in faith. As he knelt there, Ethan could feel God’s peace washing over him and he let out a slow breath. “I’m ready, Lord.”
“Ethan?”
Ethan started up and spun toward the door. Jonas was standing there, looking a little confused. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?” Ethan asked.
“Your hands are shaking a little.”
Ethan shoved his hands in his pockets. “You just startled me.”
Jonas arched an eyebrow. “I don’t think I’ve startled you that bad in a long time. Besides, didn’t you hear me coming up the stairs?”
Ethan shook his head.
Jonas stepped into the room. “You’re acting strange, Ethan. What’s going on?”
Ethan stood still for a moment, and then he shook his head. “I guess I won’t be able to keep it from you for long.” He sat down on the edge of his bed and motioned for Jonas to join him. When his brother was seated, Ethan began. “I’ve felt for a while that there was something missing. I’ve been feeling a strange urge, but I couldn’t place it. I felt like God was trying to tell me something. Then, we found those letters. After I read them, everything clicked into place, and I understood.”
“Understood what?” asked Jonas.
“What God was trying to tell me.”
“Which is?” Jonas urged. Unlike his father, he did not have enough patience for Ethan’s slow way of putting thoughts into words.
Ethan didn’t reply, and Jonas shifted impatiently. Finally, Ethan looked up at his brother. “I want to get married.”
Jonas’s mouth opened but no sound came out. He stared at Ethan as if he were crazy. Finally, Jonas managed to speak. “To who?”
Ethan shrugged.
“Wait, you want to get married and you don’t even know who she is or if she’s out there?” exclaimed Jonas.
“I don’t know who she is, but I am sure she’s out there,” Ethan replied.
“How?” challenged Jonas.
“I… I don’t really know. Except, I feel God telling me that she is.”
Jonas stared at his brother. “Ethan, do you really think that if there was a girl out there who was right for you that she would do this?”
Ethan looked surprised. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“Well, Ethan, what you are talking about doing is technically illegal. And, in case you haven’t noticed, breaking laws like that isn’t a simple thing around here. You could get yourself thrown in jail… or worse. I’m not sure that any girl in her right mind would willingly put herself in that position.”
“Mom did,” Ethan pointed out.
“That was different. It wasn’t illegal back then. Just uncommon.”
“But then it was illegal and Mom and Dad didn’t divorce or separate.”
Jonas shook his head. “That’s different.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “No it’s not.”
“Yes it is!”
“No, it’s not.”
Jonas crossed his arms. “How so?”
“They obeyed God rather then the laws of our government,” Ethan replied.
“Yes, but they were already married before it became illegal. You would be asking a girl to deliberately break the law and put her life in danger.”
Ethan looked straight at his brother. “I believe that God has called me to do this. If He has, I know that He will have also called her. We will be ready when the time comes.”
Jonas shook his head and let out a deep breath. “Ethan, we’re already at so much risk. Why must you do this?”
“God said that it is not good for man to be alone. He created marriage, and He has called many to it. True marriage is one of the most beautiful pictures of Christ and the church. A man who finds a wife finds a good thing,” Ethan explained.
Jonas ran his fingers through his hair, causing it to stick up wildly. “Alright Ethan. I don’t fully understand, but if you say that this is from God, I will stand behind you. I’ll be praying for you as well. You’re going to need it,” he added with a wry grin.
Ethan smiled. “Thank you.”
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
FINALLY!
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
Ohh *sneaks in* this is the marriage story right? If you post a section where the characters explain why marriage is banned versus discouraged, I’d like to read it. I liked the first scene you shared too.
Also I had to meme-ify this 😅
But no one’s perfect at the beginning of a book, it’s a good story idea to see someone grow out of objectifying something.
“Everything is a mountain”
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