Sunday, July 24, 2016

Story Fragment #5: Heather

Location: Library
Object: Fur coat
Character: Heather Robson (19 yrs old, gentle, impulsive, scared of dentists)

Heather Robson sat in the library pretending to read the book in front of her. Unfortunately, it was impossible to concentrate on the words. Nothing was able to hold her attention this morning other than the throbbing pain of her toothache.

Heather had been terrified of dentists for as long as she could remember. Now, at 19, she really needed to go see one, and just couldn't bring herself to do it. There had to be some other way to deal with this problem. Maybe she could just pull the tooth out herself and get on with her life.

Just as she was about to head home and give her solution a try, she was approached by another library patron. An elderly woman, wearing a fur coat which had seen better days, patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't fret, dearie," the old woman whispered to Heather. "I know just what you need. Take this card, and be at this address in an hour. If you are, your dental problem will be solved in no time."

"But...how...what?" Heather stammered. She got no response from the woman, who shuffled away and disappeared into the rows and rows of books.

Looking down at the card in her hand, Heather couldn't believe what she was seeing. The dark blue card, dotted with tiny yellow stars, contained the following information: Melisande Kaldar Othalon, Spiritual Healer. It also provided an address ten blocks from the library.

How had the woman known about her toothache? And how was she going to help her? Just what was a "spiritual healer," anyhow?

She knew she should probably just toss the card in the trash and head for home. But something deep inside her was intrigued by the situation and wanted to know more.




Story Fragment #4: Callista

Callista Carmichael was looking forward to her waitressing shift at Red tonight. The restaurant was undeniably unique, in that it catered strictly to vampires.

She had seen some pretty crazy things in the three years she had been working there. One evening, a group of vampires had arrived on motorcycles, their leather jackets emblazoned across the back with rainbow unicorns. Another night, she overheard a conversation about ostrich races in Africa, and one patron had even shown her a picture of himself astride his winning bird.

She hoped that tonight wouldn't involve any catastrophes, however. She shuddered as she remembered last year's  Halloween party, when a clueless human had wandered in with a pop gun, and had nearly gotten himself attacked by the group of angry vampires who surrounded him.

Walking up to a table of four patrons, Callista greeted them and took their order. As they ordered, she observed a tiny black cat under the next table, contentedly munching on a pile of cheese crackers. One she had written down the preferred blood types for the vampires at the first table, she continued on to the next, where a lovely young lady sat alone.

"Hey, Katrina--what's up with the cat?" Callista inquired.

"Funny story, Calli--that's my friend, Patrick. He was playing around with this old spell book he found in his grandmother's attic, and the next thing you know, he'd accidentally turned himself into a cat. So we have an appointment with Madame Yvette, so see if she knows how to change him back."

Callista chuckled and shook her head. "You know, I could never make up stories this good! I wouldn't trade this job for anything, not even a bag of gold."


Saturday, July 23, 2016

Story Fragment #3: Meghan

It was a quiet morning in the desert. The lonely ghost town was miles away from any real form of civilization. Fifteen year old Meghan woke slowly, confused by her unfamiliar surroundings.

As she became more aware, it all came flooding back to her in horrifying detail. She had been walking home from school yesterday while talking on the phone to her best friend Kristy. She hadn't given any thought to the black van parked several blocks from the school--at least not until two men in dark clothes, with ski masks over their faces, stepped out of the shadows, grabbed her, and tossed her into the van.

The van ride had been long and uncomfortable. Her captors forced her to remain on the floor, and they had bound her hands and feet, as well as covering her mouth with duct tape. She couldn't see where they were going, and she soon lost all sense of direction as well as time.

When they finally stopped and she was pulled to her feet, she realized any dream of escape was futile. They were miles away from her home in Phoenix, deep in the desert. Even if she found a way to break free, there was no chance she could find her way home, especially not on foot.

The three captors, who still hadn't spoken a word to her, let her into a small cabin, shoved her down onto a bed, and after removing the bonds from her hands, handcuffed her to the headboard. Then they unbound her feet and removed the duct tape from her mouth.


Reggie The Rhino

The last time I wrote a poem was in December 2014, but one of the exercises at writer's group this morning inspired me to write one, and it just came flowing out in a rush.  I had a few people say that it would make a good children's book, so that's something for me to think about.  :)

There was a young rhino named Reggie
Whose political views were quite edgy
His jungle friends knew he was a winner
When he received an invite to the White House for dinner
On the night he was scheduled to dine
He polished his horn till it shined
He was dressed to impress--
In a tuxedo no less--
And he entered the room with an elegant air,
Then looked around for a suitable chair.
After surveying the room with a critical glint
He strode right up to the President
With a haughty tone he loudly declared
"Dear sir, I believe you are quite unprepared
To accommodate someone of my girth
As I would crush any one of these chairs of great worth.

TDK  7/23/16

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Story Fragment #2: African Adventure

Sinece was excited to be on her first photo safari in Africa. Having spent most of her adult life in New York City, this was well outside her comfort zone but was something she had always wanted to do.

Today the group was headed toward the river, hoping to catch sight of animals as they came to quench their thirst. Sinece had overheard the guides discussing both a pride of lions and a herd of elephants in the area this morning, so she was dreaming of the shots she would take.

Laurence, one of the guides, suddenly shouted and pointed off in the distance. Following his gaze, Sinece saw a cloud of dust headed their direction. It was obviously a vehicle rather than wildlife, which gave Sinece a feeling of dread.

The vehicle, which turned out to be a truck full of military personnel, drew to a stop inside their camp. The guides and tourists gathered around the obvious leader of the group, who introduced himself as Major Obongo.  As he spoke, Sinece became even more distressed.

According to Major Obongo, he and his men were looking for a lost group of tourists who had been canoeing down the river. They had last been seen, with their four canoes, two days ago. Yesterday, one of the canoes had been located, devoid of tourists and equipment, at the bottom of the falls a mile away from this camp. There had been no sign of the other canoes or any members of the group.


Story Fragment #1: Possible scene for Daycare Can Be Murder

Arabella looked around the classroom at her young charges and smiled. They were all quickly settling into the routine after just two days, which was an epic accomplishment.

Just as she was ready to jump into the morning's activities, a wail sounded from the block corner. Kelsey Hanna, looking adorable in her pink sundress, had huge tears in her bright blue eyes as she spoke. "Miss Bella, Max threw a block at me."

Arabella  looked at Max Randall, who was staring at the floor as he twisted his Spiderman shirt in his hands. "Max, what's going on?"

"Sorry, Miss Bella," he muttered. "I just wanted to build by myself."

"Next time, try using your words instead of the blocks, Max," Bella suggested. "Now, how about you tell Kelsey you're sorry and give her a hug?"

Once the two children had made peace, Bella distracted Kelsey from the block corner by asking if she would like to be the one to feed Pickles, the classroom fish, this morning.