Taming Chaos: A Parable on Decision Making - Softcover

Miller, Gary R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1683500601 ISBN 13: 9781683500605

Publisher: Morgan James Publishing, 2017

Synopsis

How can teenagers learn to decide when taking a risk is worth it? When brother and sister Jimmy and Carly find a scared, wounded, and huge dog in the woods, they’re not sure whether to risk helping her. This question launches Carly and Jimmy on an adventure that leads them to learning a revolutionary approach to making decisions. Teenage readers will finish decision-making fable Taming Chaos equipped to tackle difficult life choices with confidence.

Taming Chaos is a fable for teenage students, teaching a step-by-step system for facing life’s big---and small---decisions with confidence and a calm mind. When life throws challenges at you, you need to know when to swing and when to duck. Join Carly and Jimmy on a journey into life’s most challenging uncertainties.

About this title

About the Author

Gary is the founder and Managing Partner of The Miller Financial Group, a 2nd generation business practice owner, of an Independent Property & Casualty Insurance, Financial Services & Risk Management Based Consulting Practice, established in the historic Ft. Washington and Spring House, PA areas, operating 68+ years, providing first class professional insurance solutions, sound financial planning & strong risk management based advice & counsel to its clientele. The Miller Financial Group continues to provide professional, courteous and personal service to its family of 1,000+ clientele, by maintaining strong independent insurance carrier relationships and strategic professional business affiliations with experts in the fields of insurance, finance and risk management.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

“Hurry up, we’re going to be late!”

“We are not!”

Jimmy stood up on his pedals to get more speed, swerving around his sister Carly and pulling ahead of her on the sidewalk. It was 8:17 a.m. on a Monday morning, and the two of them had exactly thirteen minutes left to get to school, lock up their bikes, and be in their seats before the bell rang.

“We should have left earlier!” Carly called.

Jimmy pedaled furiously, trying to put some distance between himself and his sister. She was always bossing him around. And half the time she wasn’t even right about it!

They didn’t need any extra time. After all, they’d been biking to the same K-through-eight school for years now; Jimmy had boiled the trip down to a science. Once they had their backpacks and shoes on, it was two minutes to get their bikes out of the garage and say goodbye to Mom and Dad, eight minutes to ride to school, and three minutes to lock their bikes on the rack outside school.

So today, that left them two whole minutes to get to their classrooms. Carly was being so annoying. They had more than enough time.

Jimmy thought he’d gotten far ahead of Carly---but no such luck. He was in seventh grade and she was in eighth, and they were just about the same size, but Carly could put some power behind her pedals when she wanted to. She pulled up alongside Jimmy.

“Jimmy. It’s the first day of school. I wanted to say hi to my friends and set up my new locker. Now I’ll be lucky to make the bell. If you hadn’t spent all morning on your phone playing that stupid Grumpy Crows game---”

“Ugh!” Jimmy exclaimed. “You didn’t have to wait for me. Nobody made you. You could’ve left when you were ready.”

For a moment, Carly was stunned into silence. It hadn’t even occurred to her to leave for school without her brother. Ever since their parents had given them permission to ride to school alone when she started fifth grade and he started fourth, the two of them had always gone together. The only time she’d ever biked to school without Jimmy was when he had the chickenpox---and that had been the worst. What was the point of riding to school alone?

“I wasn’t going to just leave you!” Carly started, but something on Jimmy’s face made her stop. His head was cocked to the side, and he was listening---listening to something or someone other than Carly. This was unusual. Jimmy and Carly spent most of their time bickering---bickering in a loving, sibling kind of way---and both of them cared more than they’d ever admit about being right. If Jimmy stopped paying attention in the middle of a spat with Carly, there was something seriously wrong.

All of a sudden, Jimmy squeezed the brakes on his six-speed bike. He squeezed hard. Carly didn’t have a second to react. All she saw was a flash of lime green metal and spokes beside her as Jimmy stopped short, and then her momentum carried her way ahead of him. She screeched her teal six-speed to a halt, her helmet rattling around her ears.

“Did you hear that?” Jimmy shouted to his sister. In an instant, their fight had disappeared from his mind. Jimmy was standing astride his bike, peering off into the bushes that lined the sidewalk. Behind the bushes, a slope led to a dense little forest that bordered the northern side of Carly and Jimmy’s neighborhood.

Carly felt her heart thrum inside her ribcage. She jumped off her bike and dropped it in the grass, running back to where Jimmy was standing stock-still.

“What’s wrong? Jimmy! What’s going on?”

“Shhh!” Jimmy hissed. “I’m listening. Don’t you hear that?”

The two of them stood very quietly for a moment, their chins tilted toward the forest. And then, Carly heard it---the sound that had made Jimmy stop. A rustling of leaves, a crackling of twigs, and then a low, long, mournful groan.

Edition details

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1683500601
• ISBN 13: 9781683500605
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 146