Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Dan. Be sure to check out About Phillip here.
Dan is a normal kid who loves his soccer. Except everything goes wrong. Everything.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Dan Home) (Last) (Next)
Why?
Dan challenged the teacher. His arms were folded aggressively and there was heat in his voice. He looked her straight in the eye.
He actually spat it out. "Why?"
Like several of the other boys in his Sunday School class, he leaned back in his folding chair so it tipped against the cinder block walls of the tiny, overheated classroom. And, like the other young men, he wore the usual white shirt and tie. But Dan's shirt cuffs were undone and his sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms. His shirttail hung out. His suit coat had fallen to the floor, under the chair, draped over his cane and unopened scriptures. He rocked back and forth on the chair, savoring the moment of cheeky confrontation.
She’s so glib, he thought. It’s time to talk about reality. Through the tiny window he could see the snow falling outside. It was a very cold January morning.
Five boys and three girls were stuffed in the little room. All were either sixteen or seventeen, all attended Park High School, and all knew each other well, except for Jerri, who was too new in the ward to know the others except by name. She sat next to Lisa, who sat next to Justin, the only boy in the room still wearing his suit coat. And he and Lisa were the only ones with their scriptures open.
The tiny, white-haired, 72-year-old teacher sighed. Sister Jameson would say to anyone who would listen that she loved being with young people because it made her feel young. But in the six months she'd been teaching this class, she still hadn't been able to connect. Today was no different. The lesson was from the Book of Mormon, but as usual the students would take her in far-ranging diversions.
Usually it was Paul who asked the wild questions, but Dan was the restless one today. To his satisfaction, Dan noted both that Justin was looking uncomfortable and that Jerri was smiling to see what he would do next.
She understands, he thought.
He pushed away from the wall and his chair plopped upright on the floor. He leaned forward. "No, really. Why?"
Sister Jameson frowned. "Dan, we just went over this. The Lord sends us challenges to make us stronger. It's just..."
"You mean my mother got cancer to make me stronger?"
The room was instantly quiet. Paul's chair came away from the wall and landed with a crash, nearly catapulting him to the floor.
"That doesn't make sense," Dan continued. "Why?"
"Dan, let's go back to basics," tried Sister Jameson. "Why are we here on earth?"
"But I know all that. We were taught that in Primary."
"And it's true," insisted Sister Jameson. "Let's go over the basics. It's important."
Dan rolled his eyes back and began reciting. His impatience was showing. "We're here to gain a body. Ok, check. We're here to learn the gospel. Ok, check. We're here to be tested and tried. Ok, check. We're here to get married and have children. Ok, we're all too young for that. Though I think some of us want to try," he said, looking at Lisa and Justin.
His classmates laughed. Even Sister Jameson smiled slightly. The class was getting restless again.
"Dan, you passed over one feature rather quickly. The part about being tested and tried," she said.
"Yeah, but I thought that part was just to make sure we never left the church, you know, like we always had a testimony and went to church and did our callings."
"Dan," she said, trying to look serious and not flustered. "It means much more than that. It means we will be tested to the limits of our souls, to see whether we choose good or whether we choose evil."
"But doesn't Heavenly Father already know that? You always tell us he knows our hearts. Why can't he just look in our hearts and spare us all the hard stuff?" Dan leaned back again until he bumped up against the wall.
Lisa spoke up. "Sister Jameson, didn't Heavenly Father send us here so he can find out how we'll choose?" She cast a dirty look in Dan’s direction.
"Yes, Lisa, thank you. He did. He said that there must be opposition in all things. We have a choice, good or evil."
"But it's not that simple," protested Dan, coming back down to the floor again. "I mean, we don't just have a choice between two things. And sometimes we don't even have a choice. Like my mom didn't choose to die. I didn't choose for my parents to divorce. I mean, all this Sunday School stuff about making choices just doesn't match up with real life! You can get away with it in Primary because little kids don't know any better." His tone of voice was slowly changing from a challenge to pleading. "So I come back to my question. Why?"
"Dan," said Sister Jameson. "I don't have all the answers. My husband died twenty years ago, and it took me a long time to come to terms with that."
"I'm sorry, Sister Jameson, I don't mean to pry, but like I've got the same situation and I'm coming up pretty short on answers. How did you handle it?"