chapter 1 part 1

Part one

At this point, things began to go wrong for old Joe and his families. At the tender age of five his first born son, Adam, who lived in Los Angeles, California, witnessed their dog Pooch get hit by the milk truck. Having no brothers and sisters, with a father who was only home three months out of each year, Adam felt Pooch was the only thing that would always be there for him. He leaned over the poor dog’s suffering body and touched him gently on the nose.Nothing happened at first. Pooch just lay there. A few moments later there was a sniff. That sniff became a whimper which transformed into a full fledged bark. Adam, it seemed was blessed with the power of healing, among other things. The irony of it all was that this path would be not at all unique.

Unknown to little Adam at the time, was his little brother Jeremy in Seattle. He was only three years old but had already learned how to drive his mother out of her mind. Jeremy was diabetic and had been forbidden his favorite brand of apple juice. This, of course, would not stop him from drinking it. His mother noticed two interesting talents her son possessed. The first was to be able to reach the apple juice, no matter how high up she would place it. The second was that even though the boy would always have his beverage in his little cup, and would drink it constantly, they would never run out of juice in the fridge. These wonderful feats would go unnoticed for a few more years. In those years Joe would be blessed with 11 more children.

One summer, when Adam was 12, Joe returned from work early and decided to treat his family to an afternoon at the pool. The family had grown and included five souls. There was Joe, his beautiful wife Margaret, and their three children: Adam, Beth and Kate. Upon arrival at the pool, all had their rituals. Joe would immediately sit on the lawn and read the paper. Margaret would take the two girls to play in the shallow end of the pool, and Adam would run as fast as he could to stand in line for the water slide. This trip would be no different. As always, Adam stood patiently in line at the slide until he reached the top.
‘Dad! Look over here.’ He called.
Adam pushed himself down the slide as hard as he could, generating quite a bit of momentum in the process. There was a thud and then silence. A crowd of half naked men and women covered in sun screen, gathered at the rim of the pool. All were amazed. Adam picked himself up and rubbed his sore bottom in disbelief. What went wrong? He thought. Why is everyone staring at me?
Joe was as surprised as everyone else to see his son stand on the water as if it were stone.
‘Come here boy.’
He held out his hands. Adam walked across the water towards his father’s outstretched arms. As he stepped off the surface of the water everyone’s heart returned to their normal rhythm.
‘That boy is a miracle’ one woman said. ‘God be praised.’

Three things happened that day. Adam’s life had taken a turn for the biblical. He would now become a celebrity of sorts; at least until his half brother Jeremy would be discovered. Joe’s life would take a turn for the worse. His new found fame would call some unwanted attention to his, somewhat, unorthodox escapades. The third happened that evening when Margaret became pregnant for the fourth time.

That same year in June, Robert was born.