The Bridge so Long

By J. Gordon Monson

This book, The Bridge so Long, is a story about Spenser Madison, a twenty something man with a very routine life, maybe even a very dull life, until that one particular day when he was to take Mr. Able, his boss, to catch a plane going to a conference. The short trip and the events that took place before he could pick up his boss changed his whole life from that moment on. He to quickly found out what ja difference just one moment in time can make. He also found out that he needed help from strangers to get out of the difficulties that came looking for him. Many of these strangers eventually became good friends to Spencer. One in particular, Emily, became much more than just a friend. How they met and what she did to help him in his time of need is revealed in the story. I let Spenser tell you his story in his own words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Gordon Monson
• Release date: Dec 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386578284

J. Gordon Monson

The author started telling his children made up bedtime stories as well as writing short stories when the children were still very young. He has written several hundred of these over the years. In 2012 he started writing longer stories like (novels) when he now has more time to write. His vivid imagination and his love for fiction are a good combination to produce his work. Most of his work is of interest to young and mature adults who have an interest in both human interest, family ties and include a sprinkling of Bible scriptures and christian faith in action.

Book preview

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint.’

Isaiah 40: 30 – 31 NKJ Version

Another favorite scripture for many can be found in Psalms 121: 1-2 KNJ version.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord Who made the heavens and earth.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1   DELAYED

CHAPTER 2  WAITING GAME

CHAPTER 3  THE MEETING

CHAPTER 4  HOME AT LAST

CHAPTER 5  ONE TEST OF WILL

CHAPTER 6  WHAT NEED AND WHAT WANT

CHAPTER 7  DECISION TIME

CHAPTER 8  THE TEST OF TIME

CHAPTER 9  ROUTINE BUT NOT ROUTINE

CHAPTER 10  MAJOR DISTRACTION

CHAPTER 11  THE PACE OF CHANGE

CHAPTER 12  MATCH MAKING OR NOT

CHAPTER 13  GETTING TO KNOW YOU

CHAPTER 14  WRINKLES IRONED OUT

CHAPTER 15   THE UNEXPECTED

CHAPTER 16  THE SON OF MY YOUTH

CHAPTER 17  STEPS OF TRANSITION

CHAPTER 18  MEETING OF THE MINDS

CHAPTER 19  MULTIPLE PLANS

CHAPTER 20  THE GATHERING

CHAPTER 21   FAIR SHARE

CHAPTER 22   ONE BIG DAY

SYNOPSIS

Spenser Madison, a twenty something year old man, lives alone in a house he had bought a couple years ago. It is located in a median income neighborhood not far from the center of town.

He always keeps his wavy brown hair cut fairly short. His deep blue eyes are what his mother called his best feature. Since his college days he’s lived a quiet life, most people might even call it a very dull life for a single, unattached man. He not into the night life like so many men his age and marital status might be. The last time he had anything to drink was when a group of his college friends invited him to join them to celebrate graduation after four hard years of college studies. He woken up the next morning with a serious hangover and with an empty wallet. That was more than five years ago, and it convinced him that life style was definitely not for him. Neither of these, the party life or the hangovers, left anything but negative feelings for him.

Spenser’s Godly mother lives about thirty miles up the road from him. She remains a big part of his life. She was widowed when Spenser was very young, about five years old, and she never remarried. She has been an office admin manager for the same company for ten years. She’s worked for the company ever since her husband died when Spenser was only two years old.

Spenser’s story has so many resent changes taking place in a very short time. I’ll let him share the rest of his story.

CHAPTER 1 

DELAYED

.

That one particular day, it was on Monday, started earlier for me than normal. I was off to work an hour early as my boss asked me take him to catch a plane at the nearest airport. Mr. Able was traveling to the Big Apple for a week long business conference. I was in charge of his office, a financial planning business, while he was away. This was not something I looked forward to, but it was necessary from time to time when the boss was gone for any reason. I’ve been working for him for just over five years. He was grooming me for a management position at some time in the near future.

I ran a comb through my hair, put on my specialty shades, before I climbed into my car. I determined, if all goes well, I should arrive to pick up Mr. Able long ahead of his time schedule giving him plenty of time to reach the airport with extra time.

I was just about five minutes from my house when it happened. I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw a black and white pull in behind me. Whenever this happens it was my normal reflects to look down at the speedometer. I saw that I was going just below the speed limit. I knew I hadn’t made any wrong turns or run any stop signs or lights, and I wasn’t on my cell phone so I felt confident that I should be good to go.

When the flashing lights came on behind me I spoke out loud even though no one was in the car with me, Okay officer, what on earth is your problem?

I pulled over next to the curb and waited for the officer to come to my side window. I’d retrieved my driver’s license, my car registration, and insurance information while waiting for him to come up.

He asked me for them and simply said, I’ll be right back.

I thought about calling my boss to let him know about this, but I thought to myself, ‘This shouldn’t take but a couple minutes. I have extra time built into this trip. I’ll just wait until the officer comes back before I worry about calling.’

Well, the two minutes turned into five. When the officer came back he asked me to step out of my car without giving me any explanation for why he had pulled me over. He told me to place my hands behind my head and lean forward against my car, before he added, You are being arrested for driving with a suspended driver’s license. Your car will have to be impounded and you are going off to jail. The report said you were arrested last November for a DUI.

I turned my head towards him as I leaned against my car. I shook my head, What did you say, a DUI and suspended license? Is that short for driving under the influence? You must have gotten the wrong information. I don’t drink and I’ve never been arrested for anything in my life! You have to believe me! You have the wrong person!

The officer looked at me out of the corner of his eye before he said, I’ve heard so many similar stories before. I can’t let you go on just what you’ve told me. I have no choice but to take you in. Now are you coming willingly, or do I have to place a further charge of resisting arrest as well?

Just then a second police car drove up. The second officer came over to assist the first officer with my arrest. They placed me in the back of the first officer’s car. I was told to sit there until the two officers went over the details. I asked if I could use my cell phone. I explained the reason why I was out at this time, and that I needed to let my boss know what was happening. They agreed to let me make the call. They kept the window down part way so they could monitor my conversation.

Mr. Able, something terrible has happened. I am being arrested as we speak for something that I don’t know anything about. They claim I have a suspended driver’s license since November of last year. They claim I was arrested back then for a DUI. But, this is the first that I have ever heard of it. You may have to take a taxi this morning. I’ll have to get to the bottom of this situation. It may take a while. I don’t even know where to start. But, I need to clear my DMV records somehow. They are also impounding my car. I’ll have to solve that too. This is a total shock to me. I will get this all solved as soon as I can, and be back to work when this is all cleared up. In the meantime I don’t know who will be there to run your office. I can’t today, unless I can get bailed out right away. Also, I will need to find another way to get around until I can clear up my records at DMV. I guess that is where I need to start. DMV records show I was stopped in November last year for a DUI. There is something wrong with their records. I am sorry that you are caught up in this too. It may be a day or so before I can get this all cleared up.

Mr. Able sounded kind of distant when he responded, Well Spenser, this is a fine fix. You are out of commission, at least for today. I need to call June and have her run me to the airport. I’ll have her go back to run the office by herself. I can’t change my travel plans now, but I may cut short my time back east. There are some customers scheduled to come in later this week that will take either you or I to help. Monty Billings is coming in on Thursday to change his policy to term, and delete some of his beneficiary names. You can do this, but June may not do so well. I will have her delay anything else she can. Call me as soon as you are available to go to the office. I will keep my cell phone on vibrate until I hear from you. Hope it is today. Both for your sake as well as mine. I hope you get your DUI problem solved real quickly. Now, I better get a ride to the airport as soon as possible.

Mr. Able then hung up without saying goodbye. That added even more suspense to my mental state. This stop by itself left was creating so many loose ends. Maybe Mr. Able was just in a great hurry, and then again, maybe he was really miffed about being stranded, or even worse, not believing my real story about this DUI problem. At any rate, I could do nothing about his short response at the time. I really needed to get the false DUI record cleared up so it would allow me to get back to any semblance of my normal life.

The next few hours were not the way I would ever choose to spend my morning. The ride to the county jail in the back of a police cruiser, the fingerprinting and mug shots were done by a gal who exceeded my one hundred ninety five pounds by at least another hundred. She took my hands and slammed them onto the print pad with the force of a professional wrestler. The photo op, if you wanted to call it that, was a slight improvement. Then I was issued some orange jail house garb before being marched past what appeared to be the entire group of jail house residents. I heard cat whistles from a few with calls, Hey pretty boy, come see me tonight, and hey good looking, what you got cooking tonight.

These were intimidating. They caught me totally off guard. It felt like I was in the lion’s den without a thing to protect me from their paws and teeth. I needed to get out of this place, and get out of here fast.

I turned to the giant woman guard and asked her how I could get ahold of an attorney. I needed someone’s help to clear up this DUI mix up. Further I need to find someone to get released on bond.

She answered with her deep powerful voice, You’re in for the next twenty four. Tomorrow you can have access to the phones make your calls, but not today. I’ll make your request known to the head jailer. He can arrange for you to get to the phones tomorrow morning.

What I didn’t know was that things would get much worse before they got better. It was a long afternoon with nothing to do but think. At the evening meal I was approached by two inmates. One looked me over before he asked me a leading question, How about you and I spending a little time together tonight? I can make life a lot easier for you here with your co-operation. However, if you fail to co-operate, life for you here can be very bad.

I looked them both over. I felt confident that I could take them both on unless they caught me off guard. I had taken enough classes in self-defense that would take me a long ways. Of course, the numbers were a question. Would just the two of them come? Would they sneak up on me, or come out in the open? Would they come planning to rough me up, or would they just attempt to scare me? Maybe I could I talk my way out of trouble and not have to use muscles? I continued to eat my meal which consisted of something between unseasoned stew and soup, along with some dry sourer dough bread.

I pasted a fake smile on my face and responded to what he had said, I’ll think about your offer and let you know by this same time tomorrow evening.

The two seemed to be taken back by this delay. They were apparently planning to act now, not wait until tomorrow. They didn’t know how to respond, so I added, You have my answer for now. Tomorrow evening I’ll let you know. No sooner and no later. Understood?

I was sure they wouldn’t make a scene here in the dining hall. I watched them stand up and walk away. And heard one of them turn and say, Tomorrow evening at chow then. You can count on us coming to see you, Pretty Boy.

This had the makings of one of my all-time worse days. The last thing I needed on top of all the other events of the day was to be faced with some rape party. It was pretty obvious what they had in mind. I had never had to face such a thing before, but if they came after me, I would fight to my last breath if necessary. I wouldn’t sleep much tonight as I needed to keep my wits about me just in case they, or someone else had other plans.

I looked around the mess hall and saw two fellows that had cuts and bruises about their faces and neck. I made it a point to seek them out before they headed back to their bunks. I found out both had been brought in two days ago. Both had been confronted by a gang of thugs who had beat them and raped them. One of them, Johnnie Beal, said, These guys go after anyone new. They approach the newbees at the evening meal and offer protection for special favors. Look out for them special favors, they ain’t so good, if you knowed what I means. Dats all I is agoin to say about dat.

With that they both walked away without looking back. That left me to think about what Johnnie had shared. Would those same thugs come after me tonight? Would I look like those two wounded inmates in the morning, or maybe even worse? If things went my way those thugs would look a lot worse for wear as well. I headed back to the sleeping area. It was one big long open room with double decker bunks lined up along both walls and a wide area in between, with picnic style benches, where men could sit and read or write, or just hang out.

I wished I had something to read. My favorite thing to do was a good book with a captivating story line. It didn’t matter if it was a mystery, or romance type, as long as it kept my attention with a good plot. The best book I had read of late was about an adventurer’s trip in to the Amazon Jungle. He had to deal with snakes, bad water, the heat, and even one encounter with a black panther. His native guide ran off after the black panther near miss, and he had spent several eventful days finding his way back out. The book title was, Lost in the Amazon.

The only romance in that book was the flirting with the dangers the adventurer had, and the interaction with a very attractive flight attendant on the flight back home. She left him with the idea that she would be available to go out with him once they were back in the states. The only disappointment he had with that happened when she let him know she had to continue on to the next stop when he got off.

He gave Miss Jasmine Blake his phone number and told her to call if she was ever off duty in his city. Maybe that would happen, and then again, maybe not. The answer to that question was left up to the reader’s imagination.

I needed to plan out my day for tomorrow. A call to an attorney, or a bail bondsman to get me out of jail were the first on the list. Then I needed to see about getting to DMV to get the false report straightened out. Also, my car had been towed somewhere. I sure needed it back. Then, I was needed at the office. My boss would be counting on me to cover for him in his absence. Too many things to do, and so little could be done while I am incarcerated. To think that I was not looking forward to running my boss’s office for a few days. What I would give to be there doing that every day for the rest of the year, rather than be here in this place for one night. And, what would this night bring? Would I be confronted with those thugs between now and morning? Could I even get a little sleep before morning? What would this night bring? How could I get my mind off what might be coming?’ How could I think of something more pleasant?

It was eight when I laid down on the bunk. The lights were still on. The next thing I heard was a noise across the way. It was dark, but I could make out two men standing over a bunk of a third person. The fellow in the bunk was saying, Get away, I don’t want any part of this.

The one man standing on his right answered, If you know what’s good for you, you will help us or else. Now get out of that bunk and come with us.

I took this opportunity to quietly slip out of my bunk, put my pillow under the blanket to make it look like I was still in bed. I then moved out of the limited light, standing in the shadows to watch what happened next. The three climbed over the center tables and headed straight for my bunk. They were there in an instant, ready to attack whoever was laying in the bunk. I didn’t hesitate another second. I raced over and grabbed one fellow and slammed his head into the metal frame of the bunk. He dropped like a fallen bag of sand. Then I did a leg kick to the next guy’s midsection and slammed him into the wall. He too went down. The third one just figured out what was happening as I came around to his side of the bunk. I gave him a chop to his throat. He gasped for wind just as I gave him a blow to the back of his neck. He too ended up on the floor. Then I took one at a time and put them outside on the back landing. It was really cold out there. They would wake up a little chilled. Maybe cold enough to forget any further confrontations for now.

I went back inside and choose not to return to my bunk, but did grab my pillow and blanket. I sat up wrapped up in my blanket in the shadows next to the far wall and waited for the gang of three to come back in. If need be, I would go through the whole process again with them. They needed to find out that life can be tough, and not everyone is an easy pushover. As I sat there, reflecting on my judo classes and how thankful that my friend, Rodney, had talked me into taking those classes. I had almost decided not to go, but, once I started, I gained a strong appreciation for both the quality of the training, and for the instruction methods they used. We were told that this was to be used only when there was no other options.

My instructors added, Your hands and feet can be lethal weapons. You can kill someone with one blow to the right area. If killing is necessary, it must be only when someone is intent to kill or maim you. You must first only render them unconscious. If that proves to be not enough, then and only then, you must act to take them out.

What I had done tonight was simply to make them unconscious. They will recover, and they would learn that others have rights too. If they didn’t learn this time, I can only hope that they would learn it soon before they inflicted their lustful actions on anyone else.

I was still sitting there when Johnnie Beal found me, I saw what you did to those thugs. It twas like music to mine ears. Da needed to be taken down. I jist wish I could do vat you did.

I said quietly, Johnnie, I don’t want you to say anything to anyone about what you saw. I don’t want them to know who stopped them, or why. If they get wind of who did this to them, they may get bold and try something in the daylight, or anywhere. We don’t want to be on guard 24/7, if you get my drift.

Johnnie bobbed his head up and down, Okay Champ, I be quiet as a church mouse. Nary a word from me.

I answered, Now, let’s head back to our bunks and see if we can get some sleep before morning, Okay?

I didn’t hear the three attackers come back inside. I must have fallen asleep right after I laid down. But the next morning the three were missing during roll call. Someone said they all were at the dispensary getting medical treatment. When I next saw two of the three, one was nursing a big bump on his forehead. The other had a serious case of what the doctors called laryngitis. The third fellow was still in medical care with a concussion. No one revealed what had happened to them. Apparently Johnnie wasn’t about to say anything either. But I noticed that everyone gave me plenty of room. It was apparent that they didn’t want to get in my way. It was also apparent that everyone was being especially nice to me. I felt that word must have gotten around that I had handled all three of them without help.

Now, if the rest of my life could be cleared up as quickly. I did get to make my calls that morning and was able to gain the help of an attorney, who promised to get me bailed out by that afternoon. I called work and was able to help June with a couple items. I told her if it all worked out, I should be in sometime in the late afternoon or first thing in the morning. She had heard from Mr. Able. He was hoping I would be released soon so he wouldn’t have to fly back early. He left a message with her for me to call him just as soon as I was back in the office. The earlier the better were his last words.

There was another one of those subliminal messages hidden in Mr. Able’s last comments. I wondered how this whole stupid comedy of errors would affect my job and my life in general. Would I ever be able to get this all cleared up? How long would that all take? Maybe by the time I was released and had some time at DMV and with my car back things would look a whole lot better. Still there is a lot of unknown and lots of things to get done between now and then.

CHAPTER 2  

WAITING GAME

It was after breakfast, if you could call that mush they served a good meal, that I had some time on my hands. I sat down at that center table in the sleeping area to wait for someone to get me out. All of my calls were done and now it was time to wait for some action to take place.

I wished I had something to read. A book or anything that could take up time while I waited. I spotted something on the next table. I stood up and went to see what it was. It looked like a brochure of some kind. The headline said, Are you in trouble? The next line simply read, Read on. We have some good news for you. News that could change how you are feeling right now. News that could change your current situation. News that you can also share with others who are in your same situation or worse.

These words I’d read compelled me to read on. I read the whole folded leaflet from front to back. Then I read it again, "There is a real purpose for everything that happens to us. We are all subject to bad things happening to us. No one can get by in this life without some troubles finding them. We may go for years without anything bad finding us, but one day life has a way of doing a U-turn on us. We usually don’t see it coming. We were just going down this smooth road when it happens. It looks like your life might never be the same again. There could be long term complications that follow. You might be affected even for the rest of your life. You also may not be able to see or to find a way out without some help - help from those whom you may not have ever needed to contact before. But, here you are today, deep in this mire that you might not have even brought on yourself. Climbing out of the mire may take more strength or