A Children's Book. Know any good illustrators? When Jacob Saw His Future

When Jacob Saw His Future

When Jacob saw his future, he'd been sledding up Grant's Hill.
His brothers sat up the night before in their room, calculating the speed, weight, and friction necessary to get down their hill and up to their neighbor's.  They waited until their parents left for work and headed outside with their caps and mittens, and a trashcan lid. They found the spot that had the fewest trees to get in the way. They heaved and hoed and sent Jacob careening down hill and back up again.

When Jacob saw his future, it happened so fast, he almost missed it.  First he saw the scarf, red, rich, wool.  Then he saw the hand, rough, strong, soft. Then he saw the smile.  In an instant Jacob knew he didn't want to slide back down the hill, go inside and drink hot chocolate and watch Wheel of Fortune.  So he reached out.  Mesmerized by time and fate, both Jacobs grabbed the other's hand.  The scarf fell onto Jacob's face, fuzzy and scratchy as his future helped him up.  When he was standing (and could see), he realized he wasn't on Grant's hill, or anywhere near his neighborhood.  For a second, he wondered if he was in heaven.  The sun was so shiny, bouncing off of every surface, and the streets and buildings were lined with palm trees.

When Jacob saw his future, he thought he must be dreaming. He woke up in a red sports car that matched the red scarf. He looked around at the car full of people that looked like his family and wondered if these were the California cousins, as his dad liked to call his mom's sister's family.  He was sitting between two kids in the back, listening to music with their earphones, and playing with gray square toys Jacob had never seen before.

When Jacob saw his future, he was disappointed.  The day was gorgeous, but he could barely pay attention with all the bickering in the back seat.  The lunch they ate at a restaurant was delicious, but everyone complained anyway.  The clothes the man and woman bought their children were fancy and expensive, but the girl complained that she wanted something else, and the boy barely grumbled when his mom held up a shirt for him to look at.

When Jacob saw his future, he started to rethink his present.  How many times did he or his brothers fight about what show to watch on television or what kind of ice cream to buy?  How many times did they grumble about their chores or fail to say thank you when their mom made dinner?

When Jacob saw his future, he made a decision.  He felt bad for the man and woman.  By the end of the day, their kind smiles looked tired, their fine clothes seemed worn, and their fancy car that purred that morning started groaning for more gas.

When Jacob saw his future, he made a promise.  He vowed to look for the beautiful in every day.  He promised to let his brothers take a turn more often.  He made a commitment to whine less and help more.

When Jacob saw his future, he hoped it would make a difference.  He started to see that the boy he was would make the man he would become.  He wanted to make those kids in the backseat know how to be nice.  He knew it was up to him to show them how.

When Jacob saw his future, he changed his present.  When he got back to the bottom of the hill, he was wearing that red scarf.  He confidently stomped through the crunchy snow, dragging that rusty, bent, waste of a tin trash lid solidly in his grip.  He breathed in the hard sunshine, relished in the icy pain in his fingers, and couldn't wait for his future to begin.