The Giant Forest - COMPLETED - True to life adventures of preteens.

Lots of Questions for God

Roci wanted to go to camp. Unlike her good friend, Aimi, she didn't ask her mom or dad for reassurances about Mt Hermon camp. Roci was happy to just get away from home and her loud, whiny, demanding little brother.

"Of course, my mom and dad love me," Roci confided to her friend, Aimi. Even so, she dreamed of the possibilities and desperately wanted to spend some time away from home - do a sleep over maybe. A week of camp seemed like it would be a glorious enough adventure all its own - just being away from home, on her own, hanging out with friends, talking about boys, singing, studying, crafts, sports, rope courses, hiking ... and new friends! All this sounded like a great way to spend a week of her summer school vacation.

Roci was so good at her school work that all of her classmates gave up trying to catch up with her. Her parents, especially her mom, made sure of that she always scored number one on her tests - math, spelling, science. Roci was a whiz when it came to courses that required using her memory. She pretended to be very creative, but it wasn't her strength. Her classmates competed for 2nd spot on the grade charts. Top spot belonged to Roci. She could also run faster than nearly all the boys in her class. Sometimes when Aimi tried hard she could beat Roci. Aimi knew how important it was to Roci for her to be number one, so Aimi didn't mind not trying hard. She didn't let Roci win. Winning wasn't as important to Aimi as it was to Roci, or in this case Roci's mom.

Roci loved horses. Sadly horses didn't love her back. 'Allergic reaction' were two difficult words that Roci had to learn early on in her young life of just 10 years. She couldn't spend time with her beloved steeds. Her time was spent fantasizing to be with them through the beautiful pictures of horses that she drew. Even she couldn't ride them, she could imagine that she was high on the back of one of these giants of pure muscle ... and speed. She could imagine her horse, Iron Will, and she fleeing over a mountain pass from an army of trolls who try as they might couldn't quite catch her and her beloved four-legged friend. The reader will remember that trolls can run faster than rabbit chasing dogs. Trolls can also run from breakfast till lunch without stopping if they pace themselves well. But Roci's Iron Will would not succumb to a pack of trolls or a pack of wolves, or a pack of anything . Iron Will simply would never give up as he carried the one he cared for more than any other, Roci. She named her horse well. Her horse loved her in return for trusting him so deeply.

Roci liked to wear her blonde hair in a ponytail. Of course she'd like ponytails! Sometimes she would braid her own hair in rows, imagining that she was giving intricate care to the mane of her beloved. Her mom never had time for such things because her little brother demanded so much of her parents' time. Her mom did, however, have time to remind Roci to do her math drills, to practice the violin, to clean up the house. In height, Roci came up to Aimi's ears. Roci didn't mind coming in secod in size to Aimi. Roci couldn't actually make herself taller ... though she tried. Roci would never confess to it, even to her close friend. But each night she would stretch for the ceiling hoping it would help her grow taller. The exercise was futile. At any rate, Aimi was taller than all of her classmates, not just Roci. Aimi was taller than all of the old maid teachers in her school, too!

When Roci was in the early grades of her elementary school, she barely spoke a word, even when spoken to. She was quiet and introspective, contemplative perhaps. During this past school year, however, her personality changed for some reason. Now she has a ready smile and a hearty laugh that comes from her belly but sounds like she is trying to supress her laugh by swallowing it at the same time. Her friends love to make her laugh just so they can see her jolly side and hear her silly laugh. Roci, for her part, just enjoys being happy, wants to be a pleasant person to be near. Though, to be sure, like many girls her age, she has some unpredictable mood swings. When those swings come, Aimi ducks ... physically even though it wouldn't help.

Aimi's daddy says, "All women are like that. Mood swings. I am going to ask God why he made them that way when I die. Or maybe ask God why he didn't make it possible for men to understand women." Then her daddy laughed and said he has a lot of questions for God.

Roci was going to face a new adventure this week at camp resulting in a need for her to ask God some questions, too - hard questions that no 10-year old should have to ask.