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 Phillip. Be sure to check out About Dan here.
Phillip is a computer nerd who suddenly discovers a liking for track. Everything would be fine except for his father.
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 Phillip Home) (Last) (Next)
People Arrive
Melanie looked uncomfortably around the bishop’s office; she hadn’t known what to expect and this wasn’t it. Somehow the room looked, well, rather industrial. Her own pastor’s office was lined with bookshelves and pictures from his trips around the world. This office was starkly utilitarian. To be sure, there was a picture of Christ on one wall. Three elderly men smiled down from another wall and another wall held a picture of an oddly-shaped white building. She glanced at the brass tag on the frame. "Denver Temple," it said. She picked one of the identical simple wooden chairs and sat down. The door was open to the busy hallway. The man who had introduced himself as Bishop Parker was out there talking with Dan; she couldn’t hear. She studied Bishop Parker through the doorway. He looked like a successful middle-aged businessman and wore a dark business suit and a white shirt. His tie was a dull red. In fact, his style of dress was not unlike that of the three elderly men in the pictures. Bishop Parker didn’t look at all like what she thought clergymen were supposed to look like, but she reminded herself she knew hardly anything about the Mormon Church. Nor did she have any idea what Mormon’s believed.
She had almost given up looking for the building. When she followed Phillip’s directions, she found a building on South Boulder Road that said "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." The word "Mormon" was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t any other building around that looked right, so she tentatively went inside and asked a small boy if this was the Mormon church. He nodded his head. She asked where Bishop Parker was and the boy grabbed her by the hand and brought her to the office. She was impressed.
She looked again at the picture of Christ. Well, she thought, why was Matthew forever on Phillip’s case? Was this not proof enough?
"Hi, Melanie." It was Phillip; he came into the room with Dan.
"Are you sure?" whispered Dan urgently to Phillip. "I’ve never done this before."
"Yeah, it’s fine. I mean, it’s ok isn’t…"
"Hi, Melanie, so nice to see you!" Margo floated into the room past Dan and Phillip and sat next to Melanie. Lance came into the room immediately after and shook Dan’s hand heartily. He looked quizzically at Melanie.
"Dad, this is Melanie from school," said Phillip. Lance offered his hand, she stood to accept. Lance nodded at her but said nothing.
Brother Sam rushed in, as rumpled as ever. "Hi, I’m Sam Campisi. I don’t think I’ve met you." He offered his hand. Melanie took a second to respond; she was not used to all the Mormon handshaking.
"I’m Melanie," she said tentatively. "I work with Phillip at the Boulder Valley Pet Store. I live next door to him."
"Wonderful!" Brother Sam enthused.