Rainbows Shine Brightly in Wenatche

How did it all start?

I was born in Canada when my parents were visiting mom's sister in a small city called Lethbridge, in southern Alberta. Mom was not due for 3 weeks and they decided to visit her sister. Cindy had met and married a young Canadian businessman who had three companies, all related in agriculture production and distribution. They did largescale greenhouse production including lettuce, cucumbers, and peppers. He also had a large solar power installation the contributed to both his greenhouse operations and the power grid. The third company handled the sales and delivery. They were booming. On the second day of their visit mom went into labour. Her delivery was easy, and they welcomed me into their family. I was the first of three and the only boy. My two sisters were born 2 and 4 years later back home in Washington.

My Dad was shocked at how reasonable the delivery cost was, and his insurance paid almost all of it. He would say the care was outstanding; beyond anything he expected. Since I was born in Canada, I was automatically a Canadian citizen. When we returned to Canada my parents had to fill out a CRBA consular report of birth abroad and a bunch of other paperwork, but I was also an American after all was done. Little did I know how valuable my dual citizenship to become.

I was named Danton (or Dan by short) Snow. Must have been something in Canada because I was big. The hospital was amazed at how big I was. Almost a record for them. My dad was about 5'10" and mom about 5'4". Dad was solid and weighed about 170 and extraordinarily little fat. No one in our family was over six feet but I was big.

As part of a genetics project, in high school, with parental permission, I had a DNA test done. Much to our surprise I found that I was related to three retired NFL linemen through my mother's extended families. That seemed to explain my size. I would meet two of them at university and after I graduated.

In elementary school I was usually the tallest boy in my class. By high school I was over six feet and weighed about 200 lbs. By graduation I was 6'5 and 240 lbs.

I had top marks and loved athletics. Of course, I was pushed into football and the coaches wanted me on the defensive line. I really enjoyed it, and even though I am quite mild mannered, on the field I loved to hit. A football scholarship was offered, and I took it.

I did well in school, but I also got into computer programming and gaming. I found it fascinating and started playing with the idea of developing online games like some of the ones out there. I had a game about half done but was having some problems. I had decided to use Robin Hood, the legend, as my theme. This was more of a stress break than anything else, but it worked. It was almost like a jigsaw puzzle but the old saying that "a change is as good as a rest." Worked for me.

My major in university, believe it or not, was criminology and correction programs. I had a professor who was unique and very provocative. We did a study on using female prisoners as "volunteers" in palliative care and nursing homes. He also gave us an exercise that required us to expand this to orphanages/children's palliative care facilities.

I can remember very clearly thinking that I would love to do something like this, but it was probably wishful thinking.

Chapter 2

I really was not into girls and romance in High school. I had a lot of female friends but nothing serious. As my football prowess grew, I became much more popular.

On my way home after practice, I cut through the little park close to my house. A scream startled me, and I looked over to the little playground where two boys were assaulting a girl. I ran over there and recognized two of the school jerks who constantly irritated the girls with their sexual comments and so on. Gordie, one of them had just torn her top off. I came up behind him and with one swing he was on the ground. His buddy. Ben pulled a knife on me but as I saw it coming out, I used my foot. I kicked him so hard that if it were a football, I would have had a 50-yard field goal.

I grabbed my phone and called 911. Then I tossed it to the girl and told her to video it. The first one I hit was starting to get up, so I hit him again. He was swearing at me and threatening to kill me. He stopped when I put my size thirteen foot on his neck. The girl, one of my classmates, had the video going. About 2 minutes later the police showed up. They happened to be remarkably close to where we were.

Charity Freer, the girl, was using her torn top to cover herself. There were two officers, one female who immediately moved to Charity. I told her there was a jersey in my bag and she grabbed it and took it out. She held it up, giggled, put it on Charity and we all laughed. My jersey stopped below her knees, and you could have put 2 of her in it. She was still terrified but now feeling safe.

The male officer looked at me, and I pointed to the knife. Immediately handcuffs came out and he was cuffed. The other guy was just holding his head and crying. He was also cuffed. I told him that we had a partial video. They called for a backup and put the two guys into the car. A couple of minutes later another car showed up and transferred them to their car and left for the police station.

They then asked us if we could come with them to make a statement. We both said we needed to tell our parents. They took Charity home. She lived about four short blocks from me and the female officer took her in. I was taken home, and we went to the door to be greeted by my mom. She was really worried. The officer told her to relax. I had stopped a sexual assault on a girl. Everything was ok and the two guys were in custody, and they needed to take us down to give statements and then they would bring us back.

Mom looked at him and with a mischievous smile asked if they were going to feed me. He has been at least 5 hours without food, and his stomach is going to rebel. The officer laughed and told her that I would survive a couple of hours. Just then my stomach growled.

Mom told him to wait a moment because she had just finished making me part of my lunch for tomorrow. She turned, went in, and shortly after came out with part of my lunch. It was a full French loaf of bread loaded with meat and veggies. "He usually eats 2 of these but I can make a couple for tomorrow."

The officer looked at me, "2 of these?" "Yes, sir and some fruit as well."

"I've heard the saying about eating you out of house and home, but I know it's possible." Mom giggled and said his sisters get so mad at him because he eats more in one meal than they do in a day, and he never gains weight, just adds muscle. I was a bit embarrassed but sometimes the truth hurts. My sisters and my mom got really annoyed with me when I would respond by saying, "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips."

We went back to pick up Charity and the other officer. They came out and got into the car. Her parents came out with her and thanked me. They wanted me to come over after this was done and I agreed. She only had one brother, and he was already in university, so she was the only one at home. Her dad was about 5'10" and 165 lbs. and looked to be in good shape. Her mom was quite petite and looked very tired.

"Save your snack till we get to the station. It will take us a few minutes to get everything ready, and you can eat it then. Ladies, don't say anything."

We got there and were taken into a room and left. I took out my sandwich and Charity's expression was priceless. "That's a snack?" "Yes, it is." "It's half of my normal lunch without fruit." "Sorry, but I'm starving. Would you like some of it?" "No thank you."

I devoured my snack in just a few minutes as she watched me with an expression of disbelief. She sat there with a changed but strange expression on her face, but I didn't clue in.

The officers met with us and to our surprise the deputy chief was there as well. They took our statements and copies our partial video. The officers left and the deputy chief told us that there may be trouble. One of the boys (Ben) was the son of a very prominent lawyer who had protected his son many times already for actions like this. He wanted to put the kid away but was worried about the father's influence. The fact that he was the one who pulled a knife and threatened to kill us changed the level of the charges. He had also just turned eighteen and was now an adult.

His father tried everything he could but the D. A was relentless and successful. Both went up for sexual assault, assault with a weapon, threats to kill and several other charges.

Their school records were brought in and showed a number of complaints about the boy's behaviour and sexually loaded comments. Notes showed the father had intervened every time. The judge chastised the school, and a court order was given to further inspect the discipline treatment of the administration. The principal and vice principal were demoted and transferred to other schools.

Gordie was given a 1-year sentence with parole possible in 6 months. Ben got 19 months with parole possible in10 months in a juvenile facility. Light sentences but at least they were removed from the school and community. Ben served his full sentence + an extra 6 months for assault in the jail.

Chapter 2

After the buzz at school died down and the new administration took over everything changed at the school

Gordie's group either shut up and became invisible or were expelled within 2 months. The school became a changed place that was great to be part of.

Charity and I became close friends but nothing romantic on my part. We often walked home together and worked on assignments together. I think her mom was hoping but I had my sights set on university football. With great marks and all-star status, I was delighted to be offered a full ride scholarship at a major university in the state.

Charity was my graduation date. There was no question in our minds whether we would go together. Grad was great. I won athletic awards, academic awards and Charity won academic and music awards. She had an amazing soprano voice, and something called perfect pitch. There were times when we were together that she would sing and she constantly amazed me.

Charity won a scholarship in voice to Cedar City university in Utah where she studied under a top soprano professor. We said our goodbyes in August. She actually surprised me when she kissed me, and I mean kissed me and broke down in tears. She told me she loved me and would wait for me. I realized that she was far more than just a friend. I told her that and promised to be there when our first year's studies were finished. Her smile was blinding, and I think mine was too.

Parting was such sweet sorrow. We promised each other to stay in touch at least once a week but between my football and her singing it was somewhat erratic.

Chapter 4

Off to university. I arrived, started to settle in, and discovered that my roommate was a player I had played against in the state playoff. J. J. Swift was a receiver, often lining up as a tight end. He was tough to play against. In the state final, with the score tied and 1 minute to go his team called an end around. I broke in on the quarterback and hit him just as he started to hand the ball to J. J on the end around. The ball popped loose, but J. J. grabbed it and took off. We finally stopped him at the 10-yard line. They ran the clock down and kicked a field goal with 3 seconds left. We lost.

After the game as we were shaking hands J. J. congratulated me on a great game and how lucky he was that the ball came to him when it did. I congratulated him on a great run, and we shook hands. Little did we know we would be teammates and roommates. We both made the team as rookies but became starter's part way into the season.

We played together and in our third year we were both all-stars. We went to a bowl game and won a squeaker for the bowl championship. My family was overwhelming in their support and happiness. My relatives who had played for the NFL all congratulated me. One of them had been at the bowl game and told me I was headed for a pro football career.

J. J was in business administration, and I was in criminology and corrections. We became remarkably close friends and often bounced ideas back and forth.

We also collaborated on the Robin Hood video game. J. J researched and came up with the main characters, Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Prince John, King Richard, Sheriff of Nottingham, Sir Hiss, Little John, Alan-a Dale, Friar Tuck, rabbit, crocodile Mouse, Lady Kluck, Little sister, and others.

I worked on the graphics first, then the individual game screens, values, sequences, etc. We decided upon 12 basic screens, 2 with split screens, 2 with 3 by 3 rows, 2 with 3 then 5 rows of five and so on. With some help from gamers and computer programmers the sequences, payout lines and so on were set up. We finally had a game that we thought we could put as an app with in game purchases.

I set up a payout chart and then offered a variety of ways to gain added credits. We deliberately made early payouts generous, since they didn't cost us anything we offered special purchase prices for extra credits, specials on other extras and so on.

Our idea was to give the game away and not charge and hope to make money on the specials.

We copyrighted it. J. J. used it in one of his business admin classes as a case study project and the team was great. They figured out advertising strategies and low-cost purchases, set up the website and all the financial stuff and we were good to go.

J. J set up the company in my name, but I insisted that he be a partner. This was our first major disagreement. He told me that he didn't need the money. It took a while, but he finally agreed to be a silent partner. I insisted on 25% and we both agreed to put it into a trust account that would take care of any taxes. The Rainbow trust was born.

The big launch came, and Robin Hood took off. Hundreds of downloads and players joined. The extra purchases started adding up. $2-10.00 here and there and soon our revenue was exploding. I wound up hiring my mom, then my little sisters to run the game site. They did a fantastic job. We then had to add programmers to continue developing new levels. We hired 3, 2 boys and 1 girl. All graduates of the local college programming diploma program. They worked together and did a wonderful job. It also looked like one of them was likely to become a brother-in-law. I had no problem with that. Maybe that would get mom off my back.

She seeemed to think that I was incomplete without a mate. She always wanted to know about Charity, and I was able to simply shrug and say she has become invisible.

One of the algorithms I developed and got a patent on, thanks to J. J. and his business admin group. They used it as a patent application assignment, and it attracted the attention of a major programming company. They wanted to purchase it outright.

J. J and I discussed it, and he suggested a modified purchase price with residual royalties built in. I had an uncle who was a lawyer and specialized in corporate law. He became our game's lawyer and did all the negotiating and legal negotiations.

I settled for 5 million up front and 1 percent of sales.

I WAS RICH!

Chapter 5

Our final football season started successfully. Both of us were all-stars and looking forward to the NFL draft. In our third game, on a broken play and just bad luck I severed my left Achilles tendon. 2 surgeries later I knew my football career was over. The specialist told me that the rest of my life was more important than trying a comeback. The season will be over in 2 months, and you are looking at close to a year of noncontact recovery.

I was retired. My future had changed unexpectedly.

J. J was beyond great. He helped me, encouraged me, pushed me and so on. He didn't allow me to wallow in self-pity. What a great friend.

We both graduated with top marks.

J. J was drafted and went on to three seasons, rookie all-star, big 5-year contract, all-star in second season and then in a playoff game he made an incredible catch on a hail Mary pass. He came down on the five-yard line and in the pile up his left hand was stepped on and mangled. His career was done. He would regain full use of his hand but not full strength.

We stayed in touch but lived too far apart for closeness. He had his life, and I had mine.

The first summer when I returned home, I found out that Charity had stayed in Cedar City. She was fast tracking her degree and had a great job singing with a band on the side.

I was disappointed but there was nothing I could do. I called her a few times, and we talked but it was clear that our relationship was probably over before it started.

She did come home for a week, and we connected. Wow! She was now close to 5'8" tall and weighed about 125 lbs. Spectacular figure and still a blinding smile. We hugged and I complimented her on how great she looked. We talked and went for dinner one night, but she made it clear that, at this point, nothing romantic was going to happen. Sadly, I agreed but asked her to sort of keep in touch since she was still a good friend to me. She agreed and we parted. The next contact I had with her was an email telling me her dad had gone fishing and a storm came up. They found his boat but no sign of him, her mom was devastated but told her to stay at school. She would do ok. It turned out that the insurance company was being impossible. Because there was no body they refused to pay, and her mom was struggling.

I had lots of money, so I contacted my lawyer and asked him to try to help her mom,

Two weeks later Charity called me to tell me that my lawyer had made one phone call, and the insurance was paid. Her mom would be able to make it but would have to be careful.

About a year later I had no contact with her and could not locate her. Her mom was not answering any emails or phone calls. Not much that I could do. I wondered what had happened and was to find out in an unexpected way in just a few months.

When I arrived back home, on crutches and tired after a long drive I was thankful that the injury was to my left Achilles tendon, since I had an automatic.

My family welcomed me home with a BBQ. Most of my family and many of my friends. A great time was had, by all. Thankfully, the evening was short as they could see how tired I was.

The next couple of days were spent with my mom and sisters, and they brought me up to speed on the Robin Hood game. We had over 80,000 players and were generating significant dollars on the optional purchasers. I suggested that we give a 50. % onetime discount to players that had spent over 100.00 in the last year. We debated a bit, but everyone agreed that we should try it. It really didn't cost us anything and should create a lot of goodwill. We did it and it was beyond successful. Even at 50% discount we made a lot of extra sales. All money in the bank.

I decided that I could afford to upgrade my vehicle and went for a big Dodge SUV, fully loaded. Being able to pay cash got me a nice discount. Plates and Insurance and so on only took a couple of hours and I phoned my older sister and asked her to get ready for me to pick her up. I had a job for her.

I picked her up and drove back to the dealership. When I got out, I handed her the keys and told her that she and her sister had to share the vehicle. She told me that they now had a vehicle each. "For the next 3 years all insurance, etc. is on me. Both of you will also get a gas credit card with 1000.00 prepaid to use."

She left and I followed her shortly after. When I got home, 2 ecstatic girls enveloped me.

"Just giving you a little something for stepping up, learning on the job, and doing a great job. What do you think mom should get?"

"Give her and dad a vacation to Hawaii, or better yet, to Australia and New Zealand."

It was a wonderful idea, and I asked mom if she had ever thought about going to Australia and New Zealand. She just smiled and told me, "In her dreams."

I just laughed and the next day I tentatively booked a 4-week tour for them. They just had to pick the dates. I also included car rentals and 5,000.00 spending money for them.

That night, at supper, I had my sisters give them the big surprise.

"I told mom that "Sometimes dreams come true."

She and dad balked a bit, but I just told them to follow their dream. They did.

They returned refreshed and very thankful for our generocity.

Mom wanted to work for nothing, but I would not accept that.

I gave her a raise and when she started to object, I fixed her. "Mom, if 5% isn't good then I will have to go to 10%. Take it or leave it.!"

Dad burst out laughing and so did my sisters. Mom gave me her patented totally exasperated glare, but we laughed even harder.

"No more brownies for you!" "15% final"

"No! I'll have to live with it, but you will get it, big time."

I finally won.

Chapter 6

I kept busy programming more screens for the game and doing other stuff. My rehabilitation of the Achilles tendon was basically successful, but I still had to be incredibly careful. I could walk but not run. No start and stop games so racquet sports were out. That left golf, frisbee golf and fishing. I took some golf lessons and played enough so that I was an extremely low handicap golfer. I even entered a couple of tournaments and finished in the top 5.

I loved the frisbee golf, but few people played it. I got my sisters, and my dad involved, and we often had a family foursome. It was great fun.

The local fishing was not particularly good for me because it was mainly fly fishing on the rivers and footing was often not good.

I was restless. The game site was raking in money. My family were handling it all effectively and I was bored.

I looked up the trust that I shared with J. J. and was shocked to see over 2.5 million resting in it.

I knew J. J. had retired and was now married.

Time to visit J. J. and off I went. I called him and asked him where a good place to stay would be and he told me to come to his place. They had lots of room. Amber, his wife and Melody, her sister would love to meet me so off I went.

He had a small acreage of about 20 acres and a beautiful home. It was spectacular.

We reconnected and his wife and her sister were wonderful hostesses. When they talked about his sister, Lorena, and her career in Edmonton and then showed me the video of "There's a rainbow in every teardrop" I was astonished, entranced and even more.

I remembered my dream of orphans, palliative care, seniors' facilities, and prison rehab.

Would it be possible?

The next day I sat down with J. J. and Amber and asked what they thought about the idea. J. J. looked at me and said, "Why don't you use the trust money to fund as much of this as possible?"

"Do you have any ideas of where this might work?"

'When we were touring, promoting our "There's a rainbow society" we travelled the state.

"We did a show/visit in Wenatchee at a seniors and palliative care facility. There was also a children's shelter and waiting for placement center that shared the same large field. One at each end of it. This was also the site of an old high school that had been built during the depression. They had just shut it down and apparently had left everything in it.

In the next block there is a prison that is an attempt to rehabilitate female prisoners. It might be worthwhile to check it out."

He looked at Amber and asked what she thought.

"When do we leave? We have nothing urgent for at least 2 weeks."

Mom is not here anymore and please don't ask about her now, and Melody can either come with us or take care of the house."

When we asked Melody if she wanted to come, she did but couldn't due to her classes.

We left driving my SUV 2 days later. That gave us some time to investigate and do some planning.

When we arrived, we got 2 hotel rooms and started to take a serious look at what was there.

One of the first things I discovered was that it would be possible to buy the old school and grounds. I prepared a brief proposal indicating that the old school would be refurbished and brought up to code and then set up to be used with the children's facility and possibly the seniors one as well.

The trust would cover the cost as long as the permits could be obtained.

The 3 of us met with the officials and when we outlined our proposal, they were immediately on board. The entire purchase price would be 200.000.00 up front and the balance of 100,000.00 would be waived when the renovation was finished. The city would retain the right to buy the property back for 5 years and then the trust would have full title. That was for the school site. The seniors' facility and children's facility were on the other half of the large block and not part of this proposal.

There was some opposition from councilors, one of whom thought that we were not a for profit company just looking for a sweet deal. We carefully reviewed our nonprofit status and once again explained that it was a win-win situation. The city would have an abandoned school that was decaying removed and the projects could be greatly beneficial to a lot of people.

We agreed, the council tentatively agreed, and the lawyers began their work.

The other part of my dream was the prison, so we arranged to get an interview with the warden. I made sure my academic degree in criminology was front and center. I even contacted my favorite professor and asked if he would give me a recommendation. I was even open to creating a special class to work on this project with us. He looked at my initial proposal and was intrigued and fully on board. He even suggested possible master's credits for me if it went through. When we finished the first part, he told me that if I could add to the project, I would get my master's degree.

My proposal was to start with a small group of women who would be interested in being front and center in the rehabilitation of the school. They would provide labour in exchange for a small stipend and also have a chance to "get out of jail" for a few hours each day and, if interested, possibly a chance to get a trade. There would be certified tradesmen involved in the rehab. I explained that I would clearly lay out the expectations and workload and that they would have the first chance but if they screwed up, they were back in the jail.

He was extremely interested but had a bunch of hoops to jump through. I suggested that this was a win-win situation. It would not cost him anything except for 1 guard on site and it should greatly improve morale.

While we were completing all the legalities and getting the lead tradespeople in place, a process that took almost 6 weeks he managed to get support, part of it coming from 2 of my professors in criminology. A trial period of 6 months would be granted. He also agreed to collaborate with the university if his superiors would allow it.

That turned out to be a non-issue since two of the top end were graduates of the same program I had taken. We had their support and that removed a lot of red tape and silenced the "dinosaurs" in the department. I had used the argument that this project would provide some jobs and a lot of business because I intended to buy local as much as possible.

Chapter 7

J. J. and Amber had returned home, and I was left on my own, but we spoke almost daily.

Now it was time to speak with the inmates. The warden arranged for a group of about 50 inmates that he thought might be interested in being involved. They were excited.

I did my sales pitch to them and indicated that I wanted to individually interview them. They all agreed, and the process began.

I discovered very quickly that I had a gift. I was able to detect the manipulators and challenge them quickly. There were only 10 in the first group of 25 that I initially rejected. I told them they had to really think about making a commitment like that and they could ask for another interview the week after the work was started. I interviewed another group of 25 and had 30 candidates to start.

I explained to all of them that the first job was going to be cleaning out the old and broken stuff and doing a basic cleaning before the real renovation would start and they all had no problem with the plan.

I had an opening group of 30 excited inmates. All shapes, all sizes, all colours, but all wanting a chance.

Then the warden called me in. He had an inmate that was serving time for manslaughter. He felt she had been mistreated but could do nothing about it. She had been playing tennis and after the game on her way home she had been sexually assaulted by 2 men and in defending herself she swung her racquet at one of them. She caught him in the throat and ruptured his larynx. He choked to death before the medics got there. She kicked the other one in the crotch and he folded. She called the cops, but the other man accused her of attacking them and there were no witnesses. He was the son of a bigshot and she was nothing. They charged her with 2nd degree homicide.

She also came from my hometown.

He felt she was railroaded because the accuser was related to the same big shot lawyer that I had tangled with before when Charity was attacked and he backed his nephew up totally. She was sentenced to five years and had been a difficult prisoner. She took nothing from anyone and attacked instantly anyone who displeased her. She spent a lot of time in isolation. He asked if I would talk to her. He felt she had a lot of potential but... I agreed to interview her. Total shock! Who came through the door but Charity. She was as shocked as I was. She burst into tears and attacked me. She grabbed ahold of me and hugged me while tears flowed freely. The warden had been ready to get a guard but realized that this was different. From her babble he understood that she knew me.

I got her settled down and asked if I could share our story.

With a look of interest, he agreed. As I told him our story Charity opened up and spoke to him as well. It turned out the man she killed was the brother of Gordie from our first encounter and the other guy was his cousin, Gaston. He had lied and the judge, a good friend of the family, bought it and gave her no mercy. Her court appointed lawyer was new and overwhelmed. She had no chance.

Her mom was not well, and Charity's trial finished her.

I was to find out that the lawyer she was given was related to the family and had not even put her on the stand. Then, as we investigated, we found that the judge was connected closely with the father of the deceased and was obviously biased. This was a kangaroo court and Charity was the kangaroo.

I asked if I could hire a lawyer to appeal her sentence and he agreed. She asked if she could join the work crew. I looked at the warden and told her I would have talk to him first.

She smiled and hung her head down. I told her I would come back the next day and got a bigger smile.

When I sat down with the warden, he told me that this was one of the most pleasant shocks he had ever experienced. I understood.

"I have another project in mind" I know that there must be some inmates who would both like to and be good people to work with the seniors and especially the children. Charity is an operatic soprano and a great voice teacher. I would like to create a small trial group to start with the children's home and extend it to the seniors. We would do this when the school project was done.

His approval was quick, and he promised to work with me to get permission to do a trial. I would like to ask Charity to be involved and a leader. She had to prove herself in the work party first.

She agreed instantly.

He worked wonders and in 4 days had approval.

I had told the women that we would be videoing daily. I had found 8 other women who were both interested in doing the video and editing and had some knowledge. They seamlessly created our video production section. They would win awards for our video history.

Chapter 7

In the meantime, work had begun at the old school. There were 3 large disposal bins on site, and I had one of them placed below a double window on the third floor. That made garbage removal much easier. I divided the women into 3 teams, one for each floor and had them establish one section for useable things and antiques. I wanted those stored separately and carefully for resale and or donation to the museum. This project was to be flying on the seat of our pants, constant changes in plans and projects. Hidden problems and discoveries abounded. This was a perfect chance to demonstrate how to deal with problems in appositive way. If something is not working, try something else. Never blame another person for the problem. Treat it as a challenge and solve it. It didn't take long for that dynamic to be challenged, and it won.

They began working and the dynamic for each group changed almost immediately. They paired off and organized who would start and where. The identified a strong woman pair to do all the heavy lifting and quickly added a second pair. They worked. They laughed, they marveled at some of the old desks and so on. They were careful of anything they thought might be savable.

Charity threw herself into the job and the others, shocked at first, accepted her totally.

On the third day she asked to see me. She wanted to create, on each floor, as special room or location where all the "finds" could be stored. The original design had art, music, drama, industrial ed and sewing and food prep on the first floor. The reason was that it made handling heavy stuff easy.

The second floor was math and science and the third-floor English and Social studies.

Charity and her group had been working on the first floor, and she wanted me to see something. I followed her and was met by the entire group. They led me to a back section that was a larger room and had 3 closed double doors. They were worried about damaging the doors as one of them said they were antique and could be worth a lot.

I went over to the first one and looked at it carefully. I turned the big handle, and it moved easily. I pulled on the door, but it didn't move. I pushed the door. Nothing. I tried lifting the door and it moved. I lifted and pulled, and the door slowly opened. Dragging on the floor it had to be lifted but it moved. We opened it up and were astounded. Inside this big storage room were 3 covered pianos, and box after box of music.

Charity took the lead at this point. They uncovered one of the pianos and carefully moved it out. It took 6 of them to get it out. Charity also brought out a piano bench. She touched a key, pressed it and a note played. She then started to play something but soon stopped. The entire crew was watching.

"I need to tune this. There must be what I need in one of the boxes."

"What about the bench?" someone asked. Charity jumped up, opened the bench, found a tuning lever, opened it up and started. The rest of her crew were watching intently. I decided to use this "teachable moment" and let them watch. Charity was done in about 15 minutes. She told them it was amazing that it was still sort of in tune. This is a Steinway Baby Grande and probably needs a professional to evaluate it. It could be worth thousands of dollars.

"Can you play something?"

I said, "Charity, do you know "There's a rainbow in every teardrop you're crying?" "Yes, I do! What a wonderful choice for us"

I looked at the crew and briefly told them the story from my partner about his sister and the cancer ward at a children's hospital up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I asked 2 of them to go and get the other crews and bring them down immediately. No one is in trouble.

5 minutes later everyone was with us. Every one of them was engaged.

"With your permission I would like to call J. J. and Amber and ask them to watch this.

General asset was given and I phoned J. J. and asked him if he and Amber and Melody if she was available and would like to join us. Instant agreement and in 2 minutes the 3 of them were online with us. J. J played the video of the hospital and the inmate's reaction was wonderful.

I briefly repeated the story and then looked at Charity.

She smiled and began to play. I think every mouth in the 3 crews dropped open as she played the introduction, the sound was incredible.

"We are going to do this 4 times. Charity and I will sing it first and then all of us will sing it the remaining 3 times. "I think it could be our theme song, and I will record us on my video camera. This is the one I have been using to record our great progress, and I think we can make a "memory" that we can use to support us." Our video team will also record this with their superior equipment."

Charity started again and we did it as a duet. She took the lead and sang the first lines, and I followed, singing the next lines and so on. The original song had featured some yodeling but it was not for me. Charity, however, performed it flawlessly. The reaction of my crew was beyond belief. Some were smiling, some were crying tears of???.

We finished and there was silence for a few seconds and then came the applause and the incredibly positive comments.

We sang it a second time and about half joined in. I told them afterwards that this was not an option. Even if they did not have a singing voice, they were to join in. No one would notice. The fourth try had everyone singing. Better yet, at the end of the song it also had everyone smiling and talking excitedly. This was to become our theme song, not just for this group but for the entire prison. The message of hope, working through sorrow and bad times and the hopeful future hit the hearts of most of the inmates.

J. J., Amber and Melody were in tears and praised all of them. He asked permission to send it to his sister, and everyone agreed.

I sent a copy to the warden and set up a meeting later in the day.

If I thought the crew had bonded well at first, I was amazed at how the group dynamics changed even more. This was like a team sport, where every member worked for the ultimate goal of victory. Some of them didn't want to leave the prison when their time was up so that created another problem for us.

While this was unfolding, another group of 9 women came to me at the jail and asked if they could create a landscape for the school. They wanted to do shrubs, flowers, walkways and so on. They would do as much labor as they could. 2 of them were from farming backgrounds and they told me that if I could get them a small bobcat they could do most of the work. They would have to hire concrete companies to do the pouring.

I thought it was a great idea, but I needed to check the trust fund.

We were still in great shape, so I called them in and gave them the go ahead.

The excitement and joy they showed was wonderful to see.

"I see many rainbows. So many tears of joy, excitement, hope, and love will produce hundreds of rainbows."

Chapter 8

The warden and I met with the city council to request permission to set up a halfway house to see if we could integrate the ones due for release into the community. Some of them were close to release in less than a year and I liked to plan ahead. It was a long debate, but the positive side finally overcame the naysayers' objections. More information to come.

The trust found an older apartment that was up for sale at a low price because it needed upgrading. I bought it and the released inmates had a place to live and a budget to renovate.

Back at the school we had to replace and upgrade to code, electricity, plumbing, and windows. We also had to upgrade the insulation in the walls and ceiling. The roof and insulation were to be done by professionals so that was not my worry. I pulled the second story crew and put them on the third floor. The cleanup was done and we had decided to do one floor at a time. Double crew meant much faster completion.

I was worried about insulating the walls, but the expert made a sono sound and camera inspection. We were shocked to find out that there was virtually no insulation in the walls, but he was happy. We could spray in the insulation and not have to disturb the beautiful Woodwork and moldings. That simplified the job greatly and I was able to pull the second-floor crew back after 3 days.

Two of the women wanted to help with the electrical and the contractor was willing to have them help, especially when his costs would be minimal. I negotiated with him and in exchange for the labour he would provide clothing and tools that they would be allowed to keep if they did well. I actually had three who wanted to work with the plumbing and two others who wanted to work with the painters and decorators. Two of the others wanted to work on restoring the woodwork and the last ones were happy to do the cleanup. Unbelievable that would agree to this, and they continued to work together. Their pride when their floor was done was beautiful and I think they all had to replace the buttons on their work clothing since they had popped off from serious expansion of pride. It didn't hurt that all of them were in much better physical shape and incredibly better self-esteem. Far more rainbows than tears.

We shifted them to help the second floor. That job was tougher due to lab cabinets, and all the stuff connected to the sciences.

The lead carpenter was an older man, but he was a gifted teacher. He even set up a tent outside for them to practice on before tacking the repair job. Four of the women turned out to be talented when working with wood. The third-floor crew melded with the second floor and the work progressed rapidly. They passed every inspection with flying colours, and the tradesmen were delighted with them. They even teamed up with the apprentice board and got permission to start them as apprentices with the school being on site, but the exams administered by the board. It worked like a dream.

The video team I had created at the beginning of this did an incredible job of recording the project. The challenges, the work, the major issues and the solving of them but the most valuable thing was they succeeded in showing how these "criminals" had changed. The number of times they recorded our theme song or parts of it and then wove them into a multi part video was outstanding.

In the back of my mind, I had had the vision of a multi part video series that might be marketable. The computer skills that they started with had created a multitalented team that produced a heart rendering good news story. I will talk to J. J about this idea.

Charity and her group had spent hours sorting and categorizing the sheet music, band music and so on. They discovered in the second room over 50 wind instruments and cleaned them all up. Some of them had played in high school, and they tried them all out I bought reeds and other basic supplies for them and gave them the go ahead to start a band. This brought another group of inmates onto the scene. They wanted to be part of the band, and all played something.

Charity and her crew found in the third rooms all the percussion instruments, drums, cymbals, xylophones, marimbas, Glockenspiel, tambourines, triangle castanets and more.

They cleaned categorized and inventoried and played with everything.

Charity took the lead but only after work time was done.

Finally, the job was done. Well done. Tears of pride and joy, tears of sorrow, what will become of them?

When we met prior to our grand opening I reminded them about our them song and we all sang it for the umpteenth time.

Chapter 9

I invited J. J. and his family to join us for planning the great reveal. He and Amber were able to come for 2 weeks to help plan and they would be back for the opening.

They arrived and the planning started.

We had started to arrange a silent auction of many of the things we found. I had a small team identifying family identified works. We had many pictures and so on found in boxes of "stuff.' Our goal was to offer them to families who had grandparents of parents attend that school. We also had several hundred non identified items that we would allow to be claimed, free of charge.

We had five arranged tours, starting at 1.5 hr. intervals. Pictures and videos welcomed.

The refurbished sewing and kitchens featured products from the renovation plus samples of work completed by a few of our inmates.

In our non-crew inmates, we had sewers, quilters, cooks, and decoration makers. With the support of the warden, we were able to bring them on site, and many completed projects were shown. He was amazed and incredibly happy that guard issues almost disappeared.

The cooking group produced huge numbers of cookies, pies, cakes and so on. We had a bake sale, quilt sale, crafts sale and so with all proceeds to the inmates.

The school project had grown into the jail project and almost everyone was involved. The warden and I had agreed that the one condition was behaviour. Any violation meant being removed from the project from 3 days to 4 weeks. The shift in attitude and cooperation continued to be "beyond Belief" We now had over 80% of the inmates involved in some way.

The warden had a long, blunt talk with the guards and demanded that they support what was happening completely. Any guard guilty of mistreatment of a prisoner, verbal, physical, or psychological, or just general treatment would be written up and on the second offence suspended or transferred. Most of them bought in since they had already seen positive changes. A small number of them asked for transferred and, for some strange reason, they were the meanest of the guards and no one missed them. The job had gone from a job to something much more important, a role in rehabilitation.

The next step was the seniors and children's facilities but first of all the opening.

J. J. had claimed the job of media coverage. He dealt with the local t v station, local radio stations. He also contacted one of his football friends who worked for a major movie producer. When he shared just a few minutes of the work our crew had done, his company was there with a production crew. Then we had a major t v network come on board as well

J. J and his team took care of all the revenue sharing aspects and negotiated some great potential contracts. Most of these were accepted and signed.

Chapter 10

The Big Weekend

Mother Nature cooperated and I think the powers above were watching with great interest.

We opened at 10:00 am but the crowd was lining up at 7:00.

I briefly explained that the warden and the guards were present as the entire prison population was participating, and each one had personally guaranteed their cooperation. I asked the audience to show support for their efforts. I was greeted by silence but said a private prayer.

We had arranged for coffee and drinks and snacks to be available in a large tent that I had booked in case of bad weather.

We opened with a short speech by the mayor and state representative. I asked them to keep it short, and they did.

I took the microphone and introduced myself, J. J. and Amber and Melody and finally, Charity.

I gave a bit of background to the project and briefly outlined what was going to be on display and that inmates would be on site at various spots to answer any questions.

J. J then came forward and briefly recounted his experiences in Edmonton and turned the mic back to me.

The short video will show the Wenatchee experience. We had set up a huge screen inside an open show tent where everyone could see and hear. I told them that this was original and unedited.

I signaled for the start and the show opened. There was dead silence in the audience of around 600 people as the video opened. When the singing started it was amazing. I saw nods and smiles, a few grimaces, and some surprised reactions. On the second try I could see empathy. On the third try I could see incredibly positive reactions and on the fourth, I broke in and invited the audience to join.

I'm sure they could hear the singing downtown. I had the inmates handing out boxes of tissues and they were needed.

We had printed brochures, and I invited everyone to enjoy the time they were with us. There will be special music performance at 1:00 and 4:00 featuring the new inmate's orchestra.

J. J and Amber, Melody and Charity and I would combine to present some songs that fit the occasion. For those who did not know, the first 3 were renowned performers. J. J., Amber and Melody had performed many times in support of their Rainbow Society projects.

The video cameras are for posterity, and we may have national and international audiences watching this, both live and recorded. So, let's make Wenatchee proud.

Chapter 11.

The day unfolded and the comments and positive reactions of the crowd were beyond belief. The camera crews caught hundreds of interactions, almost all of them positive.

Crys of happiness at finding family treasures, astonishment at what had been abandoned in the closed building, amazement at the antiques and so on.

This was even better than we had hoped for.

1:00 rolled around and the new orchestra took their places, and we began the program.

In the Mood was first and then Sing, Sing, Sing

The group was spectacular.

Then Amber and Charity combined on Over the Rainbow and then Hold me

J. J and I then joined them with Cheek to Cheek and As Time Goes By

Then we shifted.

In recognition of the Oilers experience "Play La Bamba baby" and played part of the video.

Finally, in the first set Cadillac Ranch instrumental and Dance Jeanie dance vocal, then "We will rock you" and Everyone's a Winner.

The set ended and the place exploded with cheering and applause. We thanked them and told them that the encore would be after the last show.

I announced that the silent auction would close at 7:00 and the event would close at 9:00.

It was to raise over 40,000.00 for the project.

The rest of the day was a resounding success. By the end of the day, we must have had 1200-1500 people there and the mood was one of incredible happiness and support for the entire program.

Our last set must have had close to 1500 people.

Our encore songs were "When I grow to Old to Dream' The Old Spinning Wheel and It's a Wonderful World.

Before we started, I asked the crowd to send any responses they might have to a special website listed on the brochure.

We finished to dead silence and then the applause started. We had the entire prison orchestra join us and we bowed to the people and quietly exited the stage.

We had already arranged for the inmates to return to jail. Most of them were exhausted and we promised a special assembly the next day starting at noon.

The crown slowly dispersed, and we received so many accolades that it was overwhelming. 2 days later we had over 40,000 responses. Some were international and hundreds from Edmonton. J. J.'s sister had let one of the t. v. stations know what was happening and they featured clips from it.

The governor sent a message of congratulations, and many other politicians added their support.

Our assembly the next day was beyond belief. The warden had arranged for it to be recorded. The entire prison was pumped up with success and above all, the reception of the people. No longer were they pariahs, nasty criminals, perverts and more. They were people and had value. Many of them had been given offers of support and possible jobs at release.

J. J refereed the fight over rights to the entire performance, movie rights, and everything else.

We had quietly agreed to share any monies with the inmates and wound up giving each member of the group $15,00.00 upon release and strong references.

Chapter 11

No rest for the wicked and no rest for me.

The next project was the senior's facility. I visited it again and, quite bluntly, was appalled at the conditions the elderly had to live in.

It was not fair to blame the staff, they were working hard but the budget was so limited, and the facility needed so much that it was a tough place to work.

In conference with J. J and Amber we decided to use more of our trust money to finance a major addition. I spoke with the city council and got complete support. They agreed to cover all the utilities and half of the renovation electrical and plumbing costs for the original building. There was some opposition, but when I talked about the number of jobs it would create and that the prisoners who were interested and willing would become volunteers. Once this was done, we would start on the children's facility, but budget concerns had to be met.

One of the members offered to initiate demands for state support and another offered her husband's legal services (pro bono) to deal with the federal government. When she was asked if he was onboard with this, she smiled and told them "Yes, totally" What we saw was so powerful that we felt we had to support any future efforts and we will help in any way we can."

When I brought this proposal to the inmates, support was total. A bunch wanted to work with the seniors. On woman told us that she had no grandparents and this would be a perfect opportunity to adopt one or two. Many of them agreed completely.

Others were more interested in the children's facility. Many had left children behind and didn't think that they would relate to them positively when they were released. I thought briefly and then offered to have the video team do a short compilation of them working at the school, seniors or children's facilities and send it to their families. A few didn't like it but most of them clamored for this.

A pivotal moment occurred. I had a thought about a hidden object, match 3 game I had played as a youth. Could my team, which included young programmers who worked at adding screen to my Robin Hood game?

I took a quick trip back and held a meeting with the entire team. I explained my idea and asked if they would like to try to develop something like it but one that used clips from our Wenatchee events. The enthusiasm they showed was gratifying. I promised a 20% share in the proceeds to the development team and included everyone on the team. A year later, Wenatchee Wonder debuted, free but with in-site purchases. A short video of the school event was included. We had a great response and promised to add the seniors project and the children's project as quickly as possible.

Chapter 12

The seniors project morphed into a major addition and then renovation. The lady who volunteered to lobby with the state was incredible. She found places where she could get grants for us. Many of them were relatively small but they added up and, in the end, she gained the project close to half a million dollars.

Our pro bono player and his team were even more successful. He found federal program after program that we could access for funding. Some were for computers, some were for equipment, some were for asbestos remediation, plumbing upgrading and so on. We gained almost another million.

Construction and renovations began. Many of our inmates wanted to be involved. Our apprentices and original contractors miraculously won contracts, and their training continued. Four of them came up for early release and entered the community as residents and workers.

New inmates were given the option of joining the program and almost all of them were on board immediately.

8 months latere the renovations to the senior's facility were done and the addition close to ready. We planned on having a celebration of rainbows 4 months later.

For this one, the community liasons and our community volunteers claimed the right to planning and presenting. They wanted to honour Wenatchee as the second rainbow community in our state. The opening was to be a feature of the "APPLE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL"

I was not sure about this but their involvement in our projects and diligent support efforts made me agree. We had planted the "apple" seed and the tree was flourishing. Apple blooms came in varied colours and that fit perfectly.

Chapter 13

In the meantime, flying underneath the radar the investigation into Charity's conviction and sentence was bearing fruit. A school mate of ours came forward with a taped piece of evidence. He was sitting in a bar when he heard Gaston, a loudmouth that he disliked greatly boasting about being able to get the "bitch" that put his cousin in jail. He explained how they had planned to take her and use her for the weekend. Ecstasy and cocaine would soften her up; they would use her in all ways and video the sex. Then they would blackmail her and set her up as their private prostitute and make lots of money.

When he heard him start, he put his phone on record and recorded it. The other 2 men with him also heard and they signed an affidavit to verify the recording.

This tape was instrumental getting the case opened.

The D. A was up for election, and he had been frustrated with the corrupt police and judges and their decisions. He talked to the feds and found one who felt that there were federal charges possible. Especially since the judge was a federal appointment.

They built a solid case, and everyone was surprised when Charity was escorted out of the jail. She was taken back home, and the next day appeared in court. This time she was allowed to give her testimony. It was a different judge, and she was noted for fairness and honesty. Gaston was charged, the former D. A, the lawyer, and the judge was charged, and the trial began.

They tried to paint Charity as a violent, promiscuous woman. The D. A in questioning this, brought forward her high school awards, her university awards. They showed an incredible young woman with no violent tendencies at all. He then went ahead and introduced recommendations from the prison warden, community members, fellow inmates, and my Rainbow Society.

The judge asked her what prison was like.

Charity asked if she could do this in chambers and the judge agreed. Both lawyers were invited to join them but no reporters or public. Charity began her story.

When she first went in, she was horrible. No one bothered her because she would hurt them. She was taking her anger out on everyone. Then, one day, the prison buzz was that something great might be coming down. Some kind of proposal was being brought in that dealt with some rich foundation wanting to renovate the old school and maybe more. They might have a chance to be involved. There was a meeting called but I was not invited. When it was over, the women were excited. They might have a chance to change their lives from inside the jail. Then, I was called and taken to the warden. We knew each other and not in a good way. I had not been a model prisoner. Once I was in the room, I looked at the man standing there. It was Dan. My rescuer and best friend from school. My first love and still my first love. I launched myself towards him and grabbed a hold of him with a very tight embrace. I was crying. Tears of joy, tears of shame, tears of hope. I don't know.

Once we were separated and the warden explained what was happeneing I knew that I was going to be part of it and give it everything I had. Dan accepted me and we started. I realized just how focused he was on the project and I was captivated by the idea. My total support was guaranteed.

The judge, even though she tried to keep a straight face on had a hint of a smile when I stopped.

She said that is enough. It explains why your behavior turnaround happened.

Back in the courtroom.

The rest of the trial proceeded, and she constantly refused to allow any character assassinations from the lawyers.

The D. A. hammered Gaston on his testimony and then after he had finished requested permission to play a recording. The defense attorney attempted to argue that it was not allowable because it had been obtained illegally. The judge asked if the recording was pertinent to the witness and when told it was critical she allowed it.

The recording was started and Gastons uncle went ballistic in the courtroom. He yelled that Gaston was told to be quiet and never discuss what had happened. The judge listened to the recording, looked at Gaston's uncle, and ordered him to be taken into custody. Charges would be forthcoming when the trial was finished.

Gaston was also to be held in custody while new charges were prepared.

Gaston got 5 years for perjury and a consecutive sentence of 3 years for attempted rape.

His uncle got a suspended sentence for his role in the coverup and would lose his certification. The judge was suspended and eventually forced to resign.

The D. A. would go on to win the election with a great majority. It turned out many residents had suffered at the hands of these men.

She removed my conviction and ended my sentence. Do you have any idea how shocked she was when I asked to be allowed to stay in jail until just before the big Apple Blossom fair in Wenatchee. I had been totally involved in the planning, and we had set it up that, even though Dan didn't know yet, we were getting married as part of the celebration.

"He doesn't know?'

"I know he plans something but not until my sentence is done. It is done now."

"One of my friends in the jail is related to jeweler and he has designed an engagement ring that is unique. It is not a diamond but rather a grouping of tiny gems designed to replicate a rainbow. The warden and his wife are involved in this, and everything will be ready to go. J. J. and his wife, Amber, told me not to worry. It will be their wedding gift as they are giving me the money.

Another inmate is working on my wedding dress, and it will be wonderful.

We will have it set up so that he is given the ring a week after I get back and the warden's wife will be given the task of presenting the ring to him and ensuring that he will ask me at our weekly jail planning group. We have over 300 inmates directly involved in the projects and the support of virtually everyone else. I can't wait to say YES!"

She smiled at me, winked, and then asked me if we needed a judge to do the marriage ceremony.

I asked her if that would endanger her as a judge. She laughed and told me that as long as I didn't come before her again, absolutely not. I think your community will be totally supportive. They all know that you have no family left but are still respected in the community. Her dad had disappeared and appeared to have drowned. Her mother had collapsed and died shortly after she was jailed. Her brother had joined the marines and was lost in action in the middle east.

Chapter 15

What Dan didn't know was I had claimed him again, and this time would not let him go. When this was done and I finished my time he was mine.

We started work and I threw myself into everything. I told the other inmates that he was off bounds. He had been my best friend in high school and my first love, and he was MINE. Don't even try or you will regret it. Shocked silence but most of them came around, especially since I had a prior relationship with him. One of them asked me, "Does he know?"

"NO. He is clueless about women so don't let anything out about what I said."

A conspiracy that they joined in, with many smiles and giggles as I campaigned. I was asked if I knew how he could be so hot and sexy and so clueless. I told them he had been like that right from the start. A big heart, a big gorilla, my big love.

I was returned to Wenatchee and gave Dan the wonderful news. I told him that I was staying, with the permission of the judge, until the Apple Blossom Festival was done. I got a big smile. "Charity, I don't how to tell you how much I missed you. We have become so close and my love for you has grown so strong that I have to ask you to be my wife."

We will have to find time to get a ring but at that point I stopped him "YES. YES. YES!"

I don't need a ring. The warden stopped us, called his wife, and asked her to come down immediately with the "you know what." She was there in 10 minutes. Dan was confused but the warden distracted him with a couple of questions and then his wife arrived.

"Dan, come with me for a moment please" He looked at her and her huge smile and slowly left with her.

"You did what?"

"Not me, the girls in custody and J. J. combined for this in gratitude for both of your efforts. You know what to do with it right now and the rest we can deal with afterwards.

Dan came back in, looking angry but happy. He started to get down on one knee, but I stopped him. Wait for our big meeting on Sunday and do it there, in front of everyone.

He stopped, looked at me, smiled, even as a tear formed and started to leak out of his eyes.

I saw that and started singing.

There's a rainbow in every teardrop you're crying

There's a love song in every treetop above

There's a star's face in every snowflake that's falling

There's hope when our hearts dream of love.

There's a diamond in every dewdrop that glistens

There's a gold mine in every sunset you see

There's a rainbow in every teardrop you're crying

So dry up your tears and kiss me.

He did and did he ever kiss me. I responded and just held on letting my love for him flow.

The warden and his wife asked if we could repeat this at the meeting. We would need to sing it 4 times just like the first one.

We agreed.

Chapter 18

Sunday came; the entire assembly area was overflowing. After the final details for our involvement in the Apple Blossom Festival were reviewed and everyone involved was told that final details would be coming soon but FIRST

The warden brought me to the front of the assembly and Dan followed. I turned to him, and he dropped down on one knee. Absolute silence. Then he asked me if I would be his wife and I said, loudly and clearly, YES! But first

We both held hands and began to sing. "There's a rainbow"

We sang it once, then Dan said again and join in, if you can. Many voices joined. A third time for those of you who remember our first time and many more joined. Everyone and the whole jail resounded with the singing.

The assembly ended and Dan wisely withdrew. I was the center of attention, and everyone admired my ring. I took the microphone and told them who had managed to arrange for the design, who had done it, who was making her wedding dress, and that the warden's wife was going to be my "stand in" mother in memory of my mom and the warden would give me away in place of my dad. J. J. Swift would be the groomsman and his wife my bridesmaid.

The ceremony would be held on the Saturday afternoon in the football stadium, and everyone would have a day pass under the special conditions to be there. We were completing arrangement for full video recording and hope to have live national coverage by one of the major networks and You Tube. This is not about us; it is about all of you and the miraculous story you have helped create.

Chapter 19

THE BIG DAY ARRIVED

Prior to the formal opening there was a huge gala dinner planned. We sat over 400 guests, ranging from the Governor of the State, one of our senators, congressmen, to town officials and media executives.

The Governor opened with a total accolade for Wenatchee and the Rainbow Trust. "We have so much negative stuff happening in our state today that this is a breath of fresh air. The Rainbow Trust presented an ambitious plan; the city council bought into the plan and slowly the entire community engaged and supported the plan." I listened to one older lady yesterday who told me that this had changed the perspective of many of the residents. They saw women who were in jail turn things around. They saw seniors and then children who had been living in marginal facilities react in awe to the changes in their lives. They had people who cared for them and who cared for each other. Town residents, who had been very skeptical or outright against this slowly changed.

The joy of the prisoners in their new opportunities, the hidden skills that came forward, the hardness replaced by love and support of each other and their dedication to making things better was heartwarming. The leadership of Dan Snow and J. J. Swift, his wife Amber and Warden Bill, and last but not least, Charity Freer, an inmate, was incredible. No obstacle was too large to conquer, and it was done with smiles and encouragement. They were open to suggestions from everyone but especially the inmates. These women came from varied backgrounds, abject poverty, broken homes to middle class and even affluent families. They brought different perspectives to everything, and all suggestions were examined. I remember Dan saying, "there are 2 questions we must answer, 1. Is it desirable and 2, Is it feasible? If it is desirable but not feasible, can we look at it again to see if things have changed in the future?"

We are here today to celebrate and honour everyone involved in this project. Wenatchee has become an old-fashioned town where everyone looks out for everyone, and minor disputes are settled quicky and peacefully. Civic pride has exploded here, and I think it can be used as a good news story. To everyone involved.

"GREAT JOB"

I was up next after him and talked about my professor who had planted the seed for this development, about J. J. and I and our stress relief video game and its success. I talked about the trust fund monies and then the pivotal moment and my call to J. J. and how everything just developed from there. I spoke briefly about the support from Warden Bill and the town council which started the project. Everything flowed from there. A lot of successes and some challenges but everyone, especially the inmates just dug in and worked harder. They saw a light at the end of their tunnel and were guided to it by a beautiful rainbow.

We got a standing ovation.

Then, a surprise, at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon at the football stadium there will be an incredibly special event that everyone is invited to.

Dan and Charity are to be united in holy matrimony and after the honeymoon they will become residents of Wenatchee. Dan has several other projects in mind that will be discussed after.

The buzz during the meal was ebullient. When it ended, Charity and I were whisked out to get ready for the next day.

Chapter 20

The day was beautiful. The festival was buzzing and happy.

By 1;00 the stadium was close to full.

The ceremony took place at center field. The judge and the prison chaplain were co- presiding over the ceremony. They both had just a few words to say about the journey of the about to be married couple and then the ceremony took place.

Everything went well but the stadium exploded in cheers when it was announced that the honeymoon would start Monday and the newly married couple would be in attendance for the rest of the festival.

We both took a lot of teasing, but anticipation often makes the events even better.

Our honeymoon started in Edmonton, Alberta for the first 3 days to visit J. J.'s sister and the children's hospital. What an experience for both of us. What a beautiful city. A long wide river valley full of parks, lots of shopping and friendly people and, due to exchange, very inexpensive.

We rented a car and took off to Jasper National Park. What an incredible place to visit. Maligne Lake was incredible. We took a boat tour, and it was breathtaking. We were told that the lake started the Maligne River which flowed into Medicine Lake which then went underground for 9 miles and surfaced at the head of the Maligne Canyon. The canyon has a depth up to 180 ft.

We walked the Maligne Canyon. 7 bridges are used to allow hikers to walk to the end of the canyon. Words cannot describe it.

We then drove the Icefield parkway from Jasper to the Columbia Icefield, where we took the snowcat tour. Wow! We then stopped at Lake Louise and stayed overnight in Banff. It was also beautiful but overcrowded when we were there.

The next day we drove to Lethbridge to visit the greenhouses. The seed was planted.

We dropped the car in Calgary and flew back to our original town. The final week of our honeymoon was spent there with family and friends.

Believe it or not, we were both still virgins. We consummated our wedding in many ways. Various positions were tried and we both agreed that as wonderful as they were, we needed more practice and practice, and we did. In fact, we practiced so much that 6 weeks later Charity held up a strip from a pregnancy test that was positive. Our celebration was great. Neither of us had thought about pregnancy but we hadn't taken any precautions to avoid it.

The prison went wild in happiness when Charity announced it. I just smiled and stayed back.

Just as the meeting finished, the skies opened in a downpour that lasted about 5 minutes. When we walked out, we were greeted by a double rainbow that stretched across the sky.

We started singing and everyone joined in, 4 times for old times' sake.

Can you imagine the comment we got when at 6 months We were told that we were expecting twins, one with spout and one without I guess the rainbow knew something we didn't.

Another story to come.