The Spanish Stranger

Beyond praying for peace--

I pray for the very SURVIVAL of Jerusalem! God will not permit His city to be annihilated altogether, but I pray for it not to be devastated.

I know that the "peace of Jerusalem" line is Biblical; but I don't believe it was written when a war was actually in progress. As every Zionist understands, there's a potential problem with "praying for peace" when a war IS in progress. It becomes easy to delude oneself that there is no need to take a side; that both sides are equally guilty, and what we need is just for everyone to kiss and make up. But as surely as Aslan was entirely in the right and Jadis was entirely in the wrong, so in our world Israel has a right to defend its own existence, and the terrorists are ENTIRELY wrong for trying to destroy Israel.

http://empowered-anti-nonsense.blogspot.com
 
Aravis of Archenland said:
The story pretty much explains it, but if I have a Q, I'll be sure to ask the expert!
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Don't be so sure about everyone.....


Copperfox said:
I pray for the very SURVIVAL of Jerusalem! God will not permit His city to be annihilated altogether, but I pray for it not to be devastated.

I know that the "peace of Jerusalem" line is Biblical; but I don't believe it was written when a war was actually in progress. As every Zionist understands, there's a potential problem with "praying for peace" when a war IS in progress. It becomes easy to delude oneself that there is no need to take a side; that both sides are equally guilty, and what we need is just for everyone to kiss and make up. But as surely as Aslan was entirely in the right and Jadis was entirely in the wrong, so in our world Israel has a right to defend its own existence, and the terrorists are ENTIRELY wrong for trying to destroy Israel.
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HUH? *:confused:*


NarnianPrincess said:
*clears throat* Um... tomorrow's come and gone. :p
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Sorry! Here's some more, it's not a lot, but it is some:

“Justin, be careful.” Jesse said.

“I think you sprained it really bad. Come on, we’d better get some ice on it.” Justin said as he helped Ricardo stand, supporting him on his right side after carefully looking at his ankle.

“OK, put your left foot on that little ledge right there,” Jesse told Ricardo. “Justin can support you, just lean on his shoulder and stand on that ledge and give me your hand.”

“I can’t do it!” Ricardo said. “I can’t get up there!”

“Yes you can. Just try,” Justin said. Ricardo put his foot on the rock, Jesse pulled on his hand, and he was quickly on the ledge just above where he just was.

“Justin, how are you gonna get up here?” Jesse asked.

“I can get up there, don’t worry. Take Ricardo back and get some ice on his ankle, and see if Dad can tell if it’s sprained or broken. I think it’s just sprained, though.” Justin said, determined to get Jesse and Ricardo back to the stable.

“OK.” Jesse said reluctantly. “Come on, Ricardo, you ride Loulou and I’ll walk.”

“Who’s that, why is he riding your horse, and where is Justin?” Eric, Jesse and Justin's dad, asked when Jesse walked Loulou carrying Ricardo into the stable yard.

“His name is Ricardo, he’s riding Loulou because Justin thinks he sprained his ankle really bad, and Justin is on that ledge. He said he could get up by himself. Batal is with him. Where’s Caitlyn?”

“I think she went inside. She said she had to clean her room.” Jesse’s mom Linda said.

“Oh, OK. I’ll be right back as soon as I cool off Loulou.” Jesse said as her dad helped Ricardo dismount. “Come on, baby, just a little more.” she said to the mare.

When Loulou was cooled off, Jesse put her in her stall, then headed up to the house, humming a song to herself. “Caitlyn? May I come in?” she said when she got to Caitlyn's room.

“OK.” Caitlyn replied flatly.

“Are you OK?” Jesse asked, seeing her sister lying on her belly on her bed with her face in her pillow.

“I’m fine.”

“I don’t believe that. I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re upset.”

“I can’t get Sass to leg yield!” Caitlyn said.

“That’s what you’re upset about?” Caitlyn nodded. “How about I help you teach her this afternoon?”

“OK. Maybe you could tell me why we got a new saddle?”

“Oh, that’s just a new show saddle. I bought it when I went to the tack shop last week,” Jesse said, trying not to let Caitlyn know what it was really for.

“Oh. Who’s it for?”

“Me,” Jesse said, conveniently forgetting the rest of who it was for. “Come on, let’s go see if Justin’s back yet.”

“Huh?”

“Well—long story. You’ll find out,” Jesse said with a sigh.
 
Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Here's some more.


“Daddy?” Jesse said when she and Caitlyn walked outside. “Where’s Ricardo?”

“He put ice on his ankle, then he hopped over to Invador and played with his mane. I can’t even do that!”

“He wasn’t playing with his mane. He’s obsessing over a little white spot behind Invador’s ear.” Jesse told him. He gave her a confused look, but she just said, “I’ll tell you later, it’s a little out of the ordinary.”

“That’s for sure.” Justin said as he walked up behind Jesse. “Hey, I’m gonna put Batal in his stall, then I can make breakfast. How does pancakes and bacon sound?”

“Delicious!” Jesse and Caitlyn said.

“Good. I’ll make extra so Ricardo can have some, too.” Justin said as he led Batal into his stall. “Breakfast should be done in twenty minutes, maybe a little more.”

“OK. I’m gonna go on a little walk.” Jesse said, snapping Loulou’s lead rope onto the mare’s halter.

Jesse walked for a half mile or so, then sat down on a big rock, gazing northwest. “I wonder if we could go to see Lake Erie again,” she said to herself and Loulou. “It would be nice. We could have a long ride on the beach, and go looking for seashells for your mane and my collection.” Loulou nodded as if she agreed. “Come on, we’d better get back or I won’t get any pancakes!”
 
When Jesse walked through the door, she started laughing. “What are you laughing at?” Justin said over his shoulder as he put a very big pile of hot pancakes on the table.

“Nothin’,” Jesse said, trying to suppress her laughter. “But you might want to change your jeans…”

“Why?” he said as he turned around to try to get her to tell him.

“I’m not telling!” Jesse squealed as she ran away from Justin who was trying to tickle her, her one unfailing weakness.

“Don’t make me soak you!” Jesse playfully threatened with a glass of water.

“You better not!” Caitlyn said from the doorway.

“Thank you, Caitlyn!” Justin said.

“Jesse, Daddy wants you to ride Sapphire today. He said she’s been spooky on the trails and hasn’t been noticing things as soon as she used to.” Caitlyn said.

“OK, I will after I’ve done my barn chores. Oh, Justin, you either sat in wet paint or you got flour on your jeans.” Jesse said, blocking Justin’s attempt to smack her. “I’m out of here!”


~ {O} ~​


“Jesse, I need to talk to you. In my room. Now.” Justin said when breakfast was over and everything was cleaned up.

“Can’t it wait? I need to go do the stalls,” Jesse replied, pulling on her shoes.

“No, it can’t wait,” Justin said, his dark blue eyes serious.

“Why? What happened?”

“Nothing. It’s about Ricardo,” Justin said after he took Jesse into his room and closed the door. “I just… I want you to be careful. I don’t think he told us his entire story—”

“I’m not going to sweet-talk it out of him if that’s what you want.” Jesse interrupted.

“I wasn’t going to ask you to. I just think since you’re little Miss Find-What-You-Want-On-Google, you could look to see what you can find.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It was intended as one. Come on, I’ll do all the stalls if you look ‘Queti’ up. Please?”

“OK, fine,” Jesse said, walking back to her room and opening Google on her computer. “The one thing I can’t live without,” she said to herself with a smile. “R-I-C-A-R-D-O Q-U-E-T-I,” Jesse spelled to herself as she typed it into the search box. “Search.”

“Your search - “Ricardo Queti” - did not match any documents,” it said when it finished searching.

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Tell me what ya think! Do you think Ricardo is really as honest as he looks? I'm working on it now, so I might even have more up today....... maybe.....
 
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I think maybe he has a past of hurt, and is living under a false identity. Very curious to see how Jesse and Justin get to the bottom of this.
 
Aravis of Archenland said:
I think maybe he has a past of hurt, and is living under a false identity. Very curious to see how Jesse and Justin get to the bottom of this.
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You're close..... maybe..... :D Only I know what Ricardo's really like! Well, most of the way...
 
“OK,” Jesse said as she took out ‘Ricardo’. “What about just Queti?” A few hundred results came up. Jesse clicked on the second one, it looked promising. “Nope,” she said after reading about a Spanish Arabian stallion named Queti.

She tried the third link. Nothing. “This might take longer than I thought,” she said to herself, opening another link. “This looks good.”

“There have been reports that 36-year-old Adriana Romero, her 12-year-old son Andres, her 14-year-old son Arnaldo, and her 16-year-old daughter Tierra were robbed in the middle of the night on March 31st in their house on Perry Street in Lincoln, Maine. Romero is believed to have been tied into the thieves’ vehicle, although it is still not confirmed. Tierra and Andres have been placed temporarily in an orphanage, but there was no sign of Arnaldo. Tierra was bleeding from a seven inch long cut in her left upper arm when the police came to the house after she called 911.” it said.

“Andres told a counselor at the orphanage that ‘…my brother is not afraid of anything. He could be in Virginia by now. He loves to travel. He wants to see the Statue of Liberty some day. I hope he can.’

“After some persuasion, Tierra said, ‘He would do anything for an adventure. He loves his independence.’

“There have been many people who think they have found Arnaldo by his looks, but when they ask him his name, he always says his name is Ricardo Queti. Click here to see a picture of Arnaldo. If you have seen this boy, please e-mail me.”

Jesse read the article intently. She clicked on the link to the picture. “No way!” she said to herself when she saw it. “That’s… That’s… That’s Ricardo!” She quickly put the page in her Internet favorites then ran to get Justin.

“Justin! I… found…” Jesse said breathlessly when she found him.

“You found something?” Jesse nodded.

“I’ll help you get this done so I can show you,” Jesse said, picking up a pitchfork.

“I only have this one left,” Justin said gesturing to the stall he was cleaning.

“You finished them quick,” Jesse said, sitting down on a bale of hay.

“Caitlyn did half.”

“Oh, OK. It’s still fast,” yawned Jesse. “I’m gonna go read the article I found again. I hope I didn’t just imagine it,” she said with a smile.

“So, what did you find?” Justin asked a few minutes later in Jesse’s doorway.

“Come look.”

“Wow. You’re sure that’s him?” Justin said after he read the article and saw the picture.

“Yeah. Come on, you know it’s true. You’re the one that said you didn’t think he was telling us everything.”

“Well, yeah…”

“We can’t tell him we know. Not yet.” Jesse said seriously.

“You’re right, we should wait.”
 
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Thanks, NP! Btw, all of these songs are (really good) real songs, and the Eagles really are a football team. If you wanna know who the songs are by or what they're called, just ask me. ;)
 
“Where is Ricardo, anyway? I didn’t see him or Invador since we came back,” Jesse said a little uneasily.

“It’s OK, I saw him in Invador’s, I mean Mo’s, stall when I walked by.”

“Oh, OK. Well, at least we know he wasn’t lying when he said he was just trying to find somewhere to sleep.” She looked down at the jeans and pajama top from going out to the barn. “I should probably change into a T-shirt. I kinda forgot because I had my jeans on.”

“Yeah, you should.”

Jesse rolled her eyes. “Whatever, now out!” she said, pointing to the door.

“OK! Oh, by the way, Mama said that Aunt Sandré and Uncle Freddie are coming over tomorrow,” he said, blocking the door from closing.

“Cool.”

“Kennie is coming, too.”

“Cool. Maybe he’ll be able to ride Loulou with me this time.”

“I don't know. He's still pretty little.”

“I'd hold on to him. Now go out, I'm not gonna change with you in here!”

“Hey, Ricardo, are you OK?” Jesse asked Arnaldo when she saw him sitting in a corner in Invador's stall with his knees up to his chin as she walked by to get Sapphire's tack to ride her.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” he said, staring at the wall.

“Well, OK. If you need anything, just ask,” Jesse said, not believing that he really was fine.

“Jesse?” he said as she turned to walk away.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For not telling your dad about this morning,” he said, his eyes shining.

“No problem. Just remember, I'll accept anything you tell me.” As Jesse walked away, she realized his eyes weren't shining. They had tears.
 
“Jesse, are you OK?” Justin asked, seeing his sister’s eyes with a distant look in them as she picked up Sapphire’s tack.

“I—I don’t know,” she said, bringing herself back to the here and now. “I… think we should tell Arnaldo. I really do.”

“Why? What happened?”

“He said he was fine when I asked him, but when I walked away…” she said, dropping her voice to a whisper, “He had tears in his eyes.”

“What? OW!” he said as he banged his head on a saddle rack.

“Yeah, he was,” Jesse told him. “Will you ride with me? Daddy said Sapphire’s been spooky on the trails, and she’s already spooky.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll ride Colores, she’s pretty reliable,” Justin said, picking up the mare’s tack and his helmet.

Jesse and Justin tacked up fairly quickly and started towards the path with deciduous trees on the left of the trail and evergreen trees a little way to the right.

Suddenly, a little gray rabbit ran across the trail about five feet in front of Sapphire and Colores. Colores snorted with surprise, but kept walking. On the other hand Sapphire reared and squealed, obviously afraid of the rabbit.

When Jesse managed to calm down the sweating blue roan mare, she said, “Justin, did you see how close that rabbit was before Sapphire noticed it? It was almost right in front of her before she noticed it.”

“And she never reacted to a rabbit like that before. I mean, she’s shied away and been jittery, but never reared.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said, focusing on Sapphire too much to say anything else.

A few minutes later, Justin started humming to himself. “What are you humming?” Jesse asked him.

“A song I heard on the radio last night. I think it’s called ‘What Hurts the Most’.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard that last night, too.”

“I think I should get out my guitar sometime, I haven’t played in a week or two. It’s been so busy lately, I just don’t seem to have time,” Justin said.

“Yeah, I miss hearing you play, you’re really good,” Jesse said.

“Gracias, but I don’t know if I’m quite that good.”

“Oh, did you get the bridle from K. J. Keller’s?” Jesse asked.

“No, I didn’t, but I did get the sidesaddle.”

“Yeah, I saw it. Caitlyn asked about it.”

“You didn’t tell her, did you?” he asked, knowing how hard it is for Jesse to keep a secret.

“Nope, I said it was for me, and it is. Well, for me to give to her, but I left off that part,” Jesse said with a smile.

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That's all I have for now, please comment!
 
I'm so sorry I haven't kept up with this story. I've been really busy lately. It's very good. I knew Ricardo, I mean Arnaldo, wasn't who he said he was.
 
“I should get that bridle today so I know I have it,” Justin said. “Do you want to come with me? I’ll go when we get back and make sure these girls are cooled off. And I have to get my wallet.”

“OK, I’ll come. I should probably call Matthew, there might be something wrong with Sapphire’s eyes,” Jesse said, patting the mare’s neck. The young vet was a family friend who had recently graduated from vet school. “We’ve been out for a while, let’s head back.”

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Sorry it's sooo short, but it's all I have :eek:.
 
Very good Unicorn. I am enjoing your story very much! :) Keep up the good work, and don't worry about short posts! (at least you're posting! I'm not always! that's not good grammer, but i'm too tired to care! )
 
NarnianPrincess said:
Very good Unicorn. I am enjoing your story very much! :) Keep up the good work, and don't worry about short posts! (at least you're posting! I'm not always! that's not good grammer, but i'm too tired to care! )
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Hehe, grammar is a weaker point of mine.
 
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