Lorrie B

Who Has Barney? Lorrie B

Jimmy, now nine, got Barney, a German shepherd, for his fourth birthday. The Danielson family also has six-year-old twins. His father, William, who has an important position with Alcoa in Elko, Nevada, got a promotion offer he couldn't resist, though it meant moving to Topeka, Kansas, before June 1. The big day arrives. Jimmy, assured Barney is with Mom and the twins, jumps into the U-Haul with Dad. When they arrive at their first camp, Jimmy discovers that Barney isn't with Mom. Dad and Jimmy then head back to search for him. Meanwhile, Barney wakes and crawls out from under the porch. Finding nobody home, he goes in search of supper. Finding himself in unfamiliar territory, Barney begins his own tale of adventures and mishaps, trying to locate Jimmy. After the family arrives in Topeka, they get a message of a Barney sighting; so Mom and Jimmy head to Elko, leaving the twins with a lady they barely met. I, Lorraine B. H. Wentz, began writing poetry in the 1980's -- with moderate success. But it wasn't until around 2000, God started waking me at 4:00 a.m. to write stories. That is how I started writing this Barney story in 2011. I wrote the Haiti earthquake story in detail, starting January, 2010, when I was hospitalized. I kept up with the Haiti story, but never finalized it. Now I've given it to Eleanor, along with the newspaper pictures, to finish for me. For the Barney story I needed an illustrator and found Sherrie Spottswood at Life Works (a center for disabled in Hastings, Minnesota). Sherrie worked hard to get each picture exactly right. She also painted the cover picture. By now I'm in a nursing home in cardiac failure. I expect to see Jesus any day.