Sarah, Lenny, Ralph and Cheryl pushed forward out of the trees. They were back in the picnic area, not far from the parked van. From the paths leading into the woods on their left came the sound of feet and laughter as the rest of the Bryant family burst into the clearing.
"Hey, you beat us!" Jimmy shouted to his older siblings.
"Hello, guys. Have fun?" Dad said.
"Will you help me get out the picnic things?" Mom asked. To her surprise, they all immediately jumped to help, including the once belligerent Sarah. "Sarah?" Mara Bryant's eyes were wide.
The girl smiled. "Mom, when you have the time, I'd like to tell you what happened to me."
"You met Christ in the woods? Did anyone pray with you?"
"Yeah--a young woman named Mariel."
After a delightful and filling picnic lunch, the Bryant children were all laying contentedly on the grass in the shade of a huge oak, enjoying the air and the sunshine before they had to get back in that stuffy car. Cheryl was wondering how long it would take to get back into her Maychorian state of fitness. She had started by eating only as much lunch as she needed, not as much as she wanted.
Little red-haired Joy suddenly spoke up. "Cheryl, tell us a story."
"A long one," Johnny concurred.
"With love," Faith sighed.
"And sword-fights," Jimmy added.
"An' twees an' food," little Jerry put in, obviously thinking of their picnic in the park.
Cheryl smiled and fingered the tibian locket in her bosom. "I know just the one," she said compliantly. "Long ago and yet just a few minutes ago, this story happened far, far away and yet very, very near, in a land called Maychoria…."
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