The Lifestyle Shoppe
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As I walked through the wilderness of this world, my soul grew weary of perpetual war and human cruelty. In my weariness, I found a cave where I lay down and slept.
While I slept I dreamed a dream. In my dream, I saw a young woman making her way up the main thoroughfare of the city of Commonplace. She was of medium height and build. Her hair was a simple brown, unimaginatively combed to the sides. Her shirt and jeans, along with the rest of her, seemed to blend with the commonplace surroundings.
With her she carried a shabby purse that contained the sum of her earthly possessions, an ID card and one hundred dollars from a foster agency. The money had been allotted to her earlier that day, her eighteenth birthday, her final day in “the system.” For the first time in her life she was alone, though in truth, she had never belonged.
She studied the faces of those who passed by—faces that ignored her, except as a collision to avoid. Women came in pairs or trios, chattering emptiness. Men did likewise, though with fewer words and less animation, unless they spoke of sports. She wondered what was truly going on in the lives of those collisions to be avoided.
Are they as lost, as am I? The earth revolves aimlessly around the sun. The sun rises. The sun sets. I was born and I will die—as will they. When I am gone, the earth will continue on its pointless path—and who will miss any of us? Why do I exist?
That simple four-word question had been haunting her thoughts for some time. As of yet, she had no answer. Yet still she clung to hope. She had been told of a place for people like her—people searching for a reason to exist.
Finally, she came to her destination, a non-descript building, on a non-descript street corner, in the non-descript city of Commonplace. Above the entrance hung a sign with three simple words: THE LIFESTYLE SHOPPE.
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About the Book
Seeker, a young woman from the city of Commonplace, wanders into the Lifestyle Shoppe, seeking a life. The shopkeeper explains to her its three rooms: Broadway, Striveway, and Narrow Way. Seeker resolves to try out each room before deciding where to buy. On her journey through each room, she encounters people engaged in various attempts to discover that elusive commodity called happiness.
Told with the feel of a modern-day Pilgrim’s Progress, Seeker and other Lifestyle Shoppe characters, by the choices they make, ride a roller coaster to pinnacles of joy, both real and temporary, or plunge to the depths of anguish and sorrow. Plot twists throughout promise to keep the reader guessing as to how the story will end. The only certainty is that “sooner or later, everyone buys from The Lifestyle Shoppe.”
About the Author
Robert Alan Ward served in the United States Air Force from 1969-1972 before earning a B.S. in Christian Education from San Diego Christian College. A twenty-seven-year career with the United Parcel Service followed. Now retired, he lives in Show Low, Arizona with his wife Gisela. He loves to spend time with his five children and twelve grandchildren.
Bob writes from a decidedly biblical Christian worldview. His passion is to communicate truth to a confused world through compelling stories. He has twelve published drama titles to his credit, which are performed all over the English-speaking world. His other published books include Delivered out of the Lion’s Mouth (assisting F.L.M. Khokhar), Through Fear and Trembling (co-authored with David Ross), Between Two Seas, and Forged from the Wilderness.