As if we didn’t know how imperfect New York Democrat candidate Zohran Mamdani was, along comes his latest line to sell himself. He’ wants to tax white people at higher rates, So, we can now call him a communist, anarchist, socialist, radical Islamist – friend to terror-tied people, anti-Semite and white racist Democrat. He’s very […] The post NY’s Poster Boy Wants To Tax People with White Skin More appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

When you are sick or injured, should you go to an urgent care facility or the emergency room? The staff at Physicians Urgent Care in Brentwood, Tennessee, joined a trend to create a short video. The “guide” lists some common medical issues and indicates whether the urgent care facility can handle them. @physiciansurgentcare Not sure where to go? Let us help! #urgentcare #healthcare #fyp #ervsurgentcare ♬ original sound – Physicians Urgent Care Some examples of the urgent care vs. emergency care debate include severe abdominal pain, urinary tract infections, minor sprains, cough, chest pains, difficulty breathing, and an infant with fever. The cute video has staff entering a door into a hallway with two doors. Above one door is “Urgent Care,” and above the other is “Emergency.” As maladies are listed, the staff moves through one of the doors to signify where a patient should go with those symptoms. Understanding the difference between urgent care and emergency care can be helpful if your local facility doesn’t have a clear guide. Urgent care provides immediate outpatient care for most minor injuries and common illnesses. Some can take X-rays and perform minor outpatient surgery and wound repair. Other facilities are more limited and will refer you to the local emergency room. Urgent care is not a substitute for a primary care physician. We should note that different facilities may have different capabilities. While they can treat minor fractures at Physicians Urgent Care, not all urgent care facilities will have X-ray equipment. It is always best to check with your local urgent care facility to determine their level of emergency care. Several urgent care facilities have participated in this trend; please check your local offices for more information. If you are in Middle Tennessee, you can find more information about Physicians Urgent Care on their website, Instagram, and Facebook. Please share. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Urgent Care Office Creates Helpful Guide For When To Go To The Emergency Room appeared first on InspireMore.

What better way to kick off your marriage than to explore a country on the other side of the world? That’s exactly what Elena Joyce and her husband did by choosing to visit Japan. This beautiful country is full of gorgeous nature and delicious food. Luckily for these newlyweds, their honeymoon adventure in Japan truly did begin the very moment they stepped foot inside their hotel. Asaba might be one of the very best spots in Japan. Elena had seen photos of the hotel online, of course, but nothing could have prepared either of them for what it’s like to see it in person. Their room is at one with nature, and it’s like something out of a movie. Experience the view from the bed in the video below! View this post on Instagram A post shared by elena joyce | travel & nyc life (@elenaajoyce) “Staying in a 500-year-old ryokan,” Elena writes in the caption of her post, “and it’s one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever seen.” This Hotel in Japan is a Dream Come True for any Starry-Eyed Couple Looking for a Honeymoon Spot Notice that, in addition to calling Asaba a hotel, Elena also calls it a ryokan. This word refers to Japanese-style inns that place an emphasis on immersing their guests in the traditional Japanese lifestyle. This particular ryoken has been in the same family since 1484. How incredible is that!? View this post on Instagram A post shared by elena joyce | travel & nyc life (@elenaajoyce) “I am speechless too. I would just sit and stare for hours because omg,” someone shares in response to this breathtaking view. Others add, “This literally looks like a screensaver omg” and “I might just end up spending all my savings. So tempted, this is my life goal now.” If you ever find yourself in Japan, make sure to prepare an itinerary — there’s so much to see! There’s the mouthwatering food, of course. But you’ll also want to make time for some of the more odd spots, like this honky-tonk themed bar and grill! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Newlywed Shares View From Honeymoon Hotel In Japan & It’s Absolutely Magical appeared first on InspireMore.

A roundup of mysterious, paranormal and strange news stories from the past week.

Daryl Hall and John Oates both came out of Philadelphia’s vibrant music scene, meeting in 1967 while students at Temple University. Their initial encounter came during a band competition when gunfire broke out at the venue and the two fled the building together, sparking a conversation and musical connection that eventually led to a partnership. They initially played in separate bands before forming a duo and signing with Atlantic Records, launching their debut album Whole Oats in 1972. The early years of their recording career were marked by experimentation and inconsistent commercial results. Albums like Abandoned Luncheonette (1973) and War The post Complete List Of Hall & Oates Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

by the Author of The Widow in the Woods Here’s where the story left off last time. As the afternoon turned into evening, they decided to have a cookout around the fire pit. This worked perfectly for Kate’s plan, as it would give her a little bit of alone time in the kitchen with Logan’s beer and rum. The pills she had hidden felt like they were burning holes through her pocket. While Logan and Ariel got the bonfire going in the pit, Kate puttered around the kitchen, making one tray with hot dogs and fixings and another with the components for ‘smores. She placed both of the trays in the refrigerator. Then she popped outside with a large bowl and rapidly filled it with wild blackberries. Once inside, Kate broke out the blender. She washed the berries and made virgin daiquiris for herself and Ariel. Then she made an “extra special” drink for Logan. She added blackberries, sugar, a generous serving of rum, and lime juice to the blender pitcher. Checking out the window to see that Logan was still outside with Ariel, she pulled an alprazolam tablet from her pocket and cut it in half. It wouldn’t do for him to immediately feel like he’d been drugged so she needed to be patient. She added half the pill and a Benadryl to the blender, and some ice from the freezer. She poured Logan’s drink into a large dark green cup with a lid and a straw. She took a small sip to see if the meds were noticeable in the drink. She nodded when she discovered they were well-hidden by the alcohol and sugar. She took a tray containing Ariel’s baby blue travel cup, her pink one, and Logan’s green one down to the fire and said, “Surprise!” She pasted a big, goofy smile on her face. “I figured you two worked up a thirst down here, so I made daiquiris with our blackberries. I thought we could have a drink before we made hot dogs.” Logan smiled back, the old smile that had first won her over. It was boyish, a little embarrassed, and humble looking. Little did she know then what that charming grin hid, but now she was under no delusions. They all sat down in an Adirondack chair and watched the flames while sipping their drinks. “This is delicious, Katie,” praised Logan as he savored the drink. “I love that it has our blackberries in it.” Inwardly, Kate winced at his use of the word “our” but she covered it with a smile. “I thought that would make it a nice welcome home drink to use the fruit that grows wild here.” Logan looked emotional. He fixed his eyes on the fire and reached over to take Kate’s small hand into his big, calloused one. She willed herself not to yank her hand away, and the three sat in companionable silence, watching the flames dance as the forest around them grew darker. Kate got up and collected the cups, returning to the kitchen. She grabbed the hotdog tray from the fridge, tucked some campfire forks under her arm, and carefully took the items down to the fire. She had Ariel grab the forks from under her arm and handed the tray to Logan. “Be right back!” she chirped in a cheery voice. Ariel stared at the long-tined hot dog fork a little too adoringly, and Kate gave her a discreet nudge with her elbow, flashing a warning glance at the girl. Ariel rolled her eyes, but proceeded to space hot dogs out on the forks so that she and Logan could roast them. Satisfied, Kate returned to the kitchen for round two of daiquiris. She washed out the blender pitcher before making drinks for herself and Ariel, then added the other half of the sedative to Logan’s drink, spiking it heavily with rum.  She returned to the fire and handed out drinks. Logan looked very, very relaxed. She hid a little smile and thought, just wait, this is a night you’ll never forget. Once the hot dogs were ready – Kate’s burned until they were black and crispy on the outside, Logan’s lightly browned and bubbling, and Ariel’s somewhere in between the two, everyone dressed their own buns with mustard, ketchup, and some of the dill pickle relish Kate had canned last summer. Kate and Ariel broke theirs in half to let the heat escape, but Logan dove right in,  sucking in a pained breath as he burned his tongue. That didn’t stop him, though, and he inhaled the rest of the hotdog in short order. He was already cooking his second and third hot dog by the time Kate and Ariel finished their first ones. “Save room for ‘smores!” Kate cautioned merrily. Kate began to talk, to share with Logan what he’d missed while he was in jail. She told him how Ariel had won both the English award and the Creative Writing award. She let him know that Ariel had been honored by being chosen to read her patriotic essay about the USA at a Veterans Day event. Ariel had flown by herself to Arizona, where her adoring grandparents picked her up from the Phoenix Airport and spoiled her rotten for three weeks while Kate put in extra hours at work to cover the vacations of others. Logan interrupted. “I don’t approve of her traveling like that alone. Anything could have happened to her. I’m glad she was okay and that she had fun, but that kind of thing isn’t going to happen again while I’m around.” His eyes narrowed as he sipped his drink, and Kate couldn’t tell if that was because of the sedatives kicking in or genuine anger that she had allowed her teenage daughter to undertake a plane journey alone. “In the future,” Logan informed them, his words with the slightest hint of a slur, “I’ll escort her to be sure she makes it safely.” Ariel looked rebellious, and Kate gently put her foot down on the girl’s toes to keep her quiet. “That’s really nice of you, Logan,” Kate said. “It’s so obvious that you love my daughter. Right, Ariel?” Ariel gave a pained nod, and Kate prayed that Logan didn’t notice her lack of enthusiasm. She returned to the kitchen to grab the s’mores tray and rejoined them at the fire pit. It was now time to assemble the s’mores. Using the same long forks that they’d used on the hot dogs, Ariel speared large marshmallows, leaving plenty of space between them for even browning. She handed one loaded fork to Logan with a small, pained smile. “Another drink?” Kate asked everyone. “Yes, please!” Ariel said eagerly. “I think I need to switch to beer,” Logan said somewhat regretfully. I haven’t had alcohol for a while – just over three years, in fact – and this is hitting me hard.” “Can’t I persuade you to have one more?” Kate entreated, lowering her lashes in a way she hoped he found charming. “This is a celebration, after all.” “Yeah, Logan,” Ariel joined in with the pleading. “One more with me? Pretty please with blackberries on top?” Logan chuckled. He loved being the center of attention and seeing how much his girls adored him. “Okay, one more and that’s it. Otherwise, I’m going to think you’re trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me, Katie.” He said the last with a comic waggling of his dark brows. She repressed a shudder and collected the cups. “Be right back!” she chirped cheerfully as she headed back up to the cabin. Once in the kitchen, she glanced out the window to confirm that Logan was still at the fire pit with Ariel. They were assembling the decadent campfire treat with Ariel adding her “secret ingredient,” peanut butter, to her graham cracker. This time, she added an entire alprazolam tablet and a Benadryl to the concoction before whirring the blender. Kate took a tiny, careful taste, then added more sugar and rum to camouflage the taste of the medicine. Another quick taste determined that it was imperceptible. She carried the drinks back down to the fire pit and chatted flirtatiously while watching Logan’s eyelids get heavier and heavier. After they enjoyed the gooey chocolate and marshmallow s’mores, she yawned outrageously and said, “Wow, I think I’m ready for bed. I assume you’re putting us back in the basement tonight?” “You can stay upstairs with me, Katie,” Logan offered with a sideways grin. “No, I’m not ready for that yet,” Kate stared directly into his eyes. “I need you to be patient with me. I’d like to stay with Ariel.” Logan was too buzzed to be offended. Kate added a scoop of sand from the bucket beside the fire pit to smother the flames. Once they were out, she took a small shovel she had for just this purpose to spread out the glowing embers and topped them with more sand. She took about five minutes to make certain the fire was dead, then the trio made their way back up the short hill to the cabin. She managed to whisper some instructions to Ariel while Logan was concentrating on not stumbling. Once they returned, Ariel used the bathroom first, brushed her teeth, and donned her sleeping attire. Tonight she wore a big navy blue t-shirt with a slogan from The X-Files emblazoned across the front. “The Truth Is Out There,” the shirt proclaimed over a grainy photo of a UFO. Thick socks were on her feet, and she wore her Yeti slippers again. Kate quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. She wore a pair of black sweatpants with a couple of bleach spots on the right leg, topped by a T-shirt that said “Black is the new black” in black letters on black fabric. Socks and slippers also adorned her feet, and she  and Ariel didn’t argue when Logan escorted them to the basement door. He kissed them both on the cheek and they hugged him back, pretending to go along with him. Once they were in the basement, they heard the Molly bar drop into place and a table being pushed across the floor above them in the kitchen. Kate leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and took a deep, relieved breath. It was time for Phase 2 of the escape plan. About Daisy Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging author and blogger who’s traded her air miles for a screen porch, having embraced a more homebody lifestyle after a serious injury. She’s the heart and mind behind The Organic Prepper, a top-tier website where she shares what she’s learned about preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty. With 17 books under her belt, Daisy’s insights on living frugally, surviving tough times, finding some happiness in the most difficult situations, and embracing independence have touched many lives. Her work doesn’t just stay on her site; it’s shared far and wide across alternative media, making her a familiar voice in the community. Known for her adventurous spirit, she’s lived in five different countries and raised two wonderful daughters as a single mom. Now living in the beautiful state of North Carolina, Daisy has been spreading her knowledge through blogging for 15 years now.  She is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X. The post Haven Hill: Chapter 13 appeared first on The Organic Prepper.

Israel’s recent 12-day war with Iran once again focused Americans’ attention on the Middle East. But it’s what happened Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a brutal terrorist attack on Israel, that united many Jews and Christians to confront the barbarism threatening our civilization. Melanie Phillips is the author of the recently published book “The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West and Why Only They Can Save It.” She is a legendary journalist, broadcaster, and reporter who is staunch in her defense of values that perhaps seem out of fashion today but are the foundation of our civilization. The following is an edited and abridged transcript of our recent conversation on the “Heritage Explains” podcast. Victoria Coates: Tell me about the passage from Psalms that gave the book the title “The Builder’s Stone.” Melanie Phillips: It’s from Psalm 118 and it’s the line which says, “The stone that was cast aside, ignored by the builder, has become the cornerstone.” I chose it as my epigram and then my title because what the book is about is the Jewish people and the Hebrew Bible as being the foundation of Western civilization and civilized values. Coates: You dedicated your book to your grandchildren, which I think is quite fraught because of what we’ve seen since the Oct. 7 attacks. What is happening to our youth demographic? Was that something that motivated you in writing the book? Phillips: I dedicated it to my grandchildren because it is so important for young people to understand what so many of them don’t see in front of them and hopefully to do something about it. It’s not surprising that children or young people are in this state of being so indoctrinated against Israel and the Jewish people. One of the themes of my book is that one can’t understand the onslaught on the Jews and the state of Israel, unless one understands what the West is doing to itself because the two are intimately linked. At the core of those values is the Hebrew Bible mediated through Christianity, which is the foundational creed of the West. But the values are essentially Jewish values from the Hebrew Bible. It’s not surprising, therefore, that if you have a Western intelligentsia, a Western elite that has turned on itself effectively, that in attacking the core values, which are biblical values, it is also turned on the Jews and on Israel. America, for all its troubles and all its divisions, still has a great bedrock of believing Christians. In Britain, the established church, the Anglican church, has been in the forefront of cultural collapse for various reasons. That makes Britain a very different and much more dangerous and tragic place than America. Coates: That the Bible played a core role in creating Western values almost seems quaint or naive by 2025 standards, but it’s inescapably true. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Phillips: I mean with reference particularly to Britain, which is a very particularly godless place. The Western elites have told themselves, “Get rid of biblical religion, and we can have a better world, a world of conscience and brotherhood of man and universal values.” But crucially, we’ll have a world in which we can all realize our deepest wishes and ambitions and feelings, and we’ll all be rational and happy. Neither of those things has come true. On the contrary, the opposite has happened, having got rid of God on the basis that anybody who is a religious believer is fundamentally irrational. We have record amounts of deep unhappiness, especially among the young, record amounts of psychological ailments and illnesses. The point is this: the remedy is within the West’s own purview, because the values that made the West civilized, and gave people in the West meaning and purpose, are still there and can be retrieved. That does not mean I’m saying that everybody should become a religious person. I’m saying something quite different. I’m saying that in every single category of people, cultural, religious, ethnic, the old divisions don’t apply anymore. What are the old divisions insofar as they ever had validity? Left versus right. Women versus men. Gays vs. straights. One religion vs. another. Black vs. white. Religious faith against people who are atheist or secular or agnostic of no religious faith. Those divisions no longer seem to me to be valid. The crucial division now to me is between everybody within all those groups. All those cultures and faiths and ethnicities and groups who believe in Western values and who want those values to survive are prepared to do something about it. There are people in all those groups who think that. In getting rid of the Bible, as it were, the Western elites have introduced a kind of quasi-religion, which I would call the religion of universalism, expressed in what especially in Britain and Europe are called human rights. This religion of universalism says that transnational institutions and values and laws should take precedence over national laws and institutions. Why? Because the nation state is basically illegitimate. And international or transnational institutions and laws have legitimacy because they embrace the entire world, therefore they represent the brotherhood of man. What I’m saying is that the remedy is actually in the West’s hands, and here are the Jewish people going back to the builder’s stone, the line in the psalm, reviled by the elites. The unique selling point of the Jewish people is cultural survival. They’ve taken grievous losses over the years, but they’ve survived and thrived as a people, and they have been able to rebirth their ancient homeland in the state of Israel. The Jews understand what education actually means: not just educating the young but celebrating your culture and memorializing it. That’s the point. You must have a memory of the culture that you have. And it’s only by the present connecting to the past that it can ensure it has a future. That’s what the Jews can teach the West, which the West has kind of not just forgotten. It’s actively trying to dismember itself, remove its links with the past, and therefore it won’t have a future. Both Jews and Christians, if they all step up to the plate, could and should start to agitate in public on behalf of the Christians who are being massacred across Africa and the developing world. And they should stand up against Islamism, political Islam, across the world. If Jews and Christians were to do that, and to stand up for the West, on the basis that the West’s values are unique and uniquely wonderful and have to be defended because otherwise we’re going to lose what is civilized. Coates: You close with a 10-point program for what you call a cultural resistance movement. I think we all hear resistance, and we think the worst, but I think we do need to adopt some of these tactics to save the West. Can you walk us through that? Phillips: People who think like this from all cultures and creeds will get together to, first of all, reclaim the language and the institutions from the corruption that’s overtaken them: the universities, the schools, public discourse, public meetings, putting themselves in the public domain, the levers of the state. It would help greatly if the church could kind of reconfigure itself, be much more about doing than dogma. It’s not what you believe. It’s what you do. It’s that everything you do should be infused with the principles that come from the faith, but with principles which are all designed to elevate the self, so that you become a better person and that you make a better community, you make a better society. Again, I’m not asking people to become Jews. The rules that Jews follow to do this are arcane in the extreme and particular to Judaism. But this idea that you take religion out of the church and into the home, into the school, into the relationship between parents, is very profound and very profoundly useful in binding people into something which becomes part of their everyday life. Religion has a terrible image and it should have a PR makeover. People think everyone who’s basically a religious believer is deeply stupid and anyone who’s smart must be an atheist or an agnostic. And so, what I’m saying in the book in my last chapter is that there should be a concerted effort not to convert people to religion, but just to say: “Open your minds, people.” The ultimate lesson that the Jewish people have as the secret source of survival, cultural survival. The rescue remedy for the West is, as I’ve said in my book, two words: “Choose life.” And it’s not clear that the West is currently doing that, because the West is facing a death cult in Islamism, which seeks to destroy it. [The West] can’t fight off the Islamist death cult, unless it understands the great lesson from the Jewish people, which is, “To love yourselves, you have to choose life.” That’s ultimately what my book is about. The post How a Jewish-Christian Alliance Can Rescue the West appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Brazil’s highest court has handed down a ruling that significantly expands the legal liability of social media companies for content shared by their users, marking a sharp shift toward tighter controls on digital speech in the country. The decision compels platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X to swiftly remove posts that contain “hate speech,” incite violence, or promote so-called “anti-democratic acts” as soon as they are flagged, sidestepping the need for a court order. We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here, (English here). This controversial judgment, passed by eight of the 11 Supreme Court justices, abandons Brazil’s prior approach, which held platforms accountable only when they ignored judicial orders to take down illegal content. The court argued that this old standard “is no longer sufficient to protect fundamental rights and democracy,” claiming that more aggressive intervention is necessary. The move is part of a growing trend in Brazil to clamp down on digital speech under the banner of protecting society, especially youth. However, many voices warn that this ruling opens the door to dangerous pre-emptive censorship, forcing tech companies to police speech more aggressively than ever. Conservative lawmakers have already raised alarm bells about the implications. Tech firms have also expressed deep reservations about the ruling’s fallout. The Trump administration has signaled it may impose visa restrictions on foreign nationals involved in suppressing speech by US firms and citizens. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently indicated that sanctions could be considered against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who previously blocked access to X after Elon Musk defied court orders to shut down certain accounts. At the GlobalFact 12 summit, three top Brazilian officials sought to defend the government’s aggressive regulatory push. Addressing a gathering of international fact-checkers, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, Attorney General Jorge Messias, and Superior Electoral Court President Cármen Lúcia insisted that regulating online content is a necessary safeguard rather than censorship. De Moraes declared, “We must always repeat that what is not allowed in the real world is not allowed in the digital world,” Poynter reported. Lúcia drew an analogy between speech regulation and traffic laws, asserting, “Your freedom does not mean to be free to go the wrong way and crash into another car and kill another driver.” Messias likened technology to a tool that can either build or destroy, depending on who wields it. Yet despite these statements, none of the officials outlined clear mechanisms for how such regulation would work without trampling on basic freedoms. De Moraes, who has played a prominent role in efforts to silence certain political voices and platforms, dismissed self-regulation as a failed experiment. Messias echoed this view, arguing that platforms are incapable of enforcing their own rules effectively. Their remarks come as Meta, under mounting scrutiny, recently ended its controversial “fact-checking” partnership in the US, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledging concerns that the initiative had crossed into censorship. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Brazil’s Supreme Court Just Declared War on Free Speech Online appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

by the Author of The Widow in the Woods Here’s where the story left off last time. As the afternoon turned into evening, they decided to have a cookout around the fire pit. This worked perfectly for Kate’s plan, as it would give her a little bit of alone time in the kitchen with Logan’s beer and rum. The pills she had hidden felt like they were burning holes through her pocket. While Logan and Ariel got the bonfire going in the pit, Kate puttered around the kitchen, making one tray with hot dogs and fixings and another with the components for ‘smores. She placed both of the trays in the refrigerator. Then she popped outside with a large bowl and rapidly filled it with wild blackberries. Once inside, Kate broke out the blender. She washed the berries and made virgin daiquiris for herself and Ariel. Then she made an “extra special” drink for Logan. She added blackberries, sugar, a generous serving of rum, and lime juice to the blender pitcher. Checking out the window to see that Logan was still outside with Ariel, she pulled an alprazolam tablet from her pocket and cut it in half. It wouldn’t do for him to immediately feel like he’d been drugged so she needed to be patient. She added half the pill and a Benadryl to the blender, and some ice from the freezer. She poured Logan’s drink into a large dark green cup with a lid and a straw. She took a small sip to see if the meds were noticeable in the drink. She nodded when she discovered they were well-hidden by the alcohol and sugar. She took a tray containing Ariel’s baby blue travel cup, her pink one, and Logan’s green one down to the fire and said, “Surprise!” She pasted a big, goofy smile on her face. “I figured you two worked up a thirst down here, so I made daiquiris with our blackberries. I thought we could have a drink before we made hot dogs.” Logan smiled back, the old smile that had first won her over. It was boyish, a little embarrassed, and humble looking. Little did she know then what that charming grin hid, but now she was under no delusions. They all sat down in an Adirondack chair and watched the flames while sipping their drinks. “This is delicious, Katie,” praised Logan as he savored the drink. “I love that it has our blackberries in it.” Inwardly, Kate winced at his use of the word “our” but she covered it with a smile. “I thought that would make it a nice welcome home drink to use the fruit that grows wild here.” Logan looked emotional. He fixed his eyes on the fire and reached over to take Kate’s small hand into his big, calloused one. She willed herself not to yank her hand away, and the three sat in companionable silence, watching the flames dance as the forest around them grew darker. Kate got up and collected the cups, returning to the kitchen. She grabbed the hotdog tray from the fridge, tucked some campfire forks under her arm, and carefully took the items down to the fire. She had Ariel grab the forks from under her arm and handed the tray to Logan. “Be right back!” she chirped in a cheery voice. Ariel stared at the long-tined hot dog fork a little too adoringly, and Kate gave her a discreet nudge with her elbow, flashing a warning glance at the girl. Ariel rolled her eyes, but proceeded to space hot dogs out on the forks so that she and Logan could roast them. Satisfied, Kate returned to the kitchen for round two of daiquiris. She washed out the blender pitcher before making drinks for herself and Ariel, then added the other half of the sedative to Logan’s drink, spiking it heavily with rum.  She returned to the fire and handed out drinks. Logan looked very, very relaxed. She hid a little smile and thought, just wait, this is a night you’ll never forget. Once the hot dogs were ready – Kate’s burned until they were black and crispy on the outside, Logan’s lightly browned and bubbling, and Ariel’s somewhere in between the two, everyone dressed their own buns with mustard, ketchup, and some of the dill pickle relish Kate had canned last summer. Kate and Ariel broke theirs in half to let the heat escape, but Logan dove right in,  sucking in a pained breath as he burned his tongue. That didn’t stop him, though, and he inhaled the rest of the hotdog in short order. He was already cooking his second and third hot dog by the time Kate and Ariel finished their first ones. “Save room for ‘smores!” Kate cautioned merrily. Kate began to talk, to share with Logan what he’d missed while he was in jail. She told him how Ariel had won both the English award and the Creative Writing award. She let him know that Ariel had been honored by being chosen to read her patriotic essay about the USA at a Veterans Day event. Ariel had flown by herself to Arizona, where her adoring grandparents picked her up from the Phoenix Airport and spoiled her rotten for three weeks while Kate put in extra hours at work to cover the vacations of others. Logan interrupted. “I don’t approve of her traveling like that alone. Anything could have happened to her. I’m glad she was okay and that she had fun, but that kind of thing isn’t going to happen again while I’m around.” His eyes narrowed as he sipped his drink, and Kate couldn’t tell if that was because of the sedatives kicking in or genuine anger that she had allowed her teenage daughter to undertake a plane journey alone. “In the future,” Logan informed them, his words with the slightest hint of a slur, “I’ll escort her to be sure she makes it safely.” Ariel looked rebellious, and Kate gently put her foot down on the girl’s toes to keep her quiet. “That’s really nice of you, Logan,” Kate said. “It’s so obvious that you love my daughter. Right, Ariel?” Ariel gave a pained nod, and Kate prayed that Logan didn’t notice her lack of enthusiasm. She returned to the kitchen to grab the s’mores tray and rejoined them at the fire pit. It was now time to assemble the s’mores. Using the same long forks that they’d used on the hot dogs, Ariel speared large marshmallows, leaving plenty of space between them for even browning. She handed one loaded fork to Logan with a small, pained smile. “Another drink?” Kate asked everyone. “Yes, please!” Ariel said eagerly. “I think I need to switch to beer,” Logan said somewhat regretfully. I haven’t had alcohol for a while – just over three years, in fact – and this is hitting me hard.” “Can’t I persuade you to have one more?” Kate entreated, lowering her lashes in a way she hoped he found charming. “This is a celebration, after all.” “Yeah, Logan,” Ariel joined in with the pleading. “One more with me? Pretty please with blackberries on top?” Logan chuckled. He loved being the center of attention and seeing how much his girls adored him. “Okay, one more and that’s it. Otherwise, I’m going to think you’re trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me, Katie.” He said the last with a comic waggling of his dark brows. She repressed a shudder and collected the cups. “Be right back!” she chirped cheerfully as she headed back up to the cabin. Once in the kitchen, she glanced out the window to confirm that Logan was still at the fire pit with Ariel. They were assembling the decadent campfire treat with Ariel adding her “secret ingredient,” peanut butter, to her graham cracker. This time, she added an entire alprazolam tablet and a Benadryl to the concoction before whirring the blender. Kate took a tiny, careful taste, then added more sugar and rum to camouflage the taste of the medicine. Another quick taste determined that it was imperceptible. She carried the drinks back down to the fire pit and chatted flirtatiously while watching Logan’s eyelids get heavier and heavier. After they enjoyed the gooey chocolate and marshmallow s’mores, she yawned outrageously and said, “Wow, I think I’m ready for bed. I assume you’re putting us back in the basement tonight?” “You can stay upstairs with me, Katie,” Logan offered with a sideways grin. “No, I’m not ready for that yet,” Kate stared directly into his eyes. “I need you to be patient with me. I’d like to stay with Ariel.” Logan was too buzzed to be offended. Kate added a scoop of sand from the bucket beside the fire pit to smother the flames. Once they were out, she took a small shovel she had for just this purpose to spread out the glowing embers and topped them with more sand. She took about five minutes to make certain the fire was dead, then the trio made their way back up the short hill to the cabin. She managed to whisper some instructions to Ariel while Logan was concentrating on not stumbling. Once they returned, Ariel used the bathroom first, brushed her teeth, and donned her sleeping attire. Tonight she wore a big navy blue t-shirt with a slogan from The X-Files emblazoned across the front. “The Truth Is Out There,” the shirt proclaimed over a grainy photo of a UFO. Thick socks were on her feet, and she wore her Yeti slippers again. Kate quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. She wore a pair of black sweatpants with a couple of bleach spots on the right leg, topped by a T-shirt that said “Black is the new black” in black letters on black fabric. Socks and slippers also adorned her feet, and she  and Ariel didn’t argue when Logan escorted them to the basement door. He kissed them both on the cheek and they hugged him back, pretending to go along with him. Once they were in the basement, they heard the Molly bar drop into place and a table being pushed across the floor above them in the kitchen. Kate leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and took a deep, relieved breath. It was time for Phase 2 of the escape plan. About Daisy Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging author and blogger who’s traded her air miles for a screen porch, having embraced a more homebody lifestyle after a serious injury. She’s the heart and mind behind The Organic Prepper, a top-tier website where she shares what she’s learned about preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty. With 17 books under her belt, Daisy’s insights on living frugally, surviving tough times, finding some happiness in the most difficult situations, and embracing independence have touched many lives. Her work doesn’t just stay on her site; it’s shared far and wide across alternative media, making her a familiar voice in the community. Known for her adventurous spirit, she’s lived in five different countries and raised two wonderful daughters as a single mom. Now living in the beautiful state of North Carolina, Daisy has been spreading her knowledge through blogging for 15 years now.  She is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X. The post Haven Hill: Chapter 13 appeared first on The Organic Prepper.