Christmas Past Part 2

By the time the boys were tucked up, Dani was curled on the sofa watching the the nine o'clock news. Simon dropped next to her and draped his arm around her shoulders.

"Anything interesting, love?" He whispered as he nuzzled her ear.

"Yes, actually."

He raised his head and looked at her. A frown creased the smooth forehead, drawing her brows together. "Ah Darling, you'll get wrinkles like that."

She scowled up at him. "Seriously, Simon."

Ignoring the scowl, he said, "Seriously." He turned to the television. "What's happened?"

"I'm not sure. Someone..." Her voice caught in her throat. "The owner of that big apartment complex that's been in the news and several families were killed tonight. Someone burned the building down."

He sat up and reached for the remote and raised the volume. Video of a blazing three story building filled the screen. People stood milling along in a field across the road from the fire, cars idled along the verge.

"Good Lord," he muttered. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees and watched the story unfold. A reporter stepped into the frame and began to talk.

"We're at Sterling Apartments on Piedmont as fire fighters attempt to bring this blaze under control. For the last hour, the building has been burning and we've heard several explosions. We've been unable to determine the cause of those but someone indicated it might be gas mains."

Someone in the studio ask a question into the ear piece and he responded. "Yes, we've confirmed that two families did not make it out and that the owner may have been in the building as well. We don't know if he escaped but no one has been able to locate him."

"At this time, police and fire personnel are asking that you avoid the Piedmont-Garnet area until further notice."

Behind the reporter, flames blossomed to even greater height and the sound of  huge explosion interfered with his audio. Everyone jerked in response and the reporter was frantically speaking into his mike. Immediately, police and firefighters began to order people farther back from the blaze.

Simon stood up and handed her the remote. "I need to make a call, darling."

She stared at him. "Now?"

He strode from the room. "Now," he called over his shoulder.

The study was dark and he didn't turn on the lights but turned on the desk lamp. On his cellphone, he searched for the number he needed and when he found it, he dialed.

"This is Simon. Did you see the news?"

"Yes, I did."

"You want to tell me what that is all about? You know that is the individual you had me read last week."

"We're aware of that, Simon."

"So, what's going on?"

"Nothing you need be concerned about. Enjoy your holiday with your family."

"Don't you bloody hang up on me. Did you know this was going to happen?" Anger tautened his voice and he tried to damp it down.

"Of course we didn't. How would we?"

"You sent me to get information and a week later the guy is dead." He hesitated. "Along with two families. Maybe more."

"Listen, you did your job. It has nothing to do with a house fire."

"You're off your chump if you think I believe that." Simon tapped the top of his desk with his fingers, anger roiling beneath the surface. "I know what we got out of that session. Did we have him killed?"

"I have another call I need to take. You enjoy your time with your family, Simon. We'll see you after the holiday."

"There are at least two families who won't have a holiday." But he was arguing into a dead connection. He swore under his breath, put the phone down, and began to pace in front of his desk. Something was up. Unfortunately, he couldn't do a thing about it.

"Simon?" Dani stepped into the room.

He pulled his thoughts together and cleared his face. He couldn't tell her about this but she was perceptive and might guess. A deep breath and he turned to face her, a smile on his lips.

"Yes?"

"Is everything all right?"

"Of course," he said and gently grasp her shoulders. "I simply remembered a call I needed to make to remind Terry to have my travel papers in for review on Monday."

"But you're off for two weeks, Simon." Worry etched lines into her forehead.

Draping his arm around her shoulder, he turned her and lead her back to the den. "Yes, but they've got to run my itinerary through finance. That takes several days. I don't want to show up to get my documents and find it half processed." He drew her from the room. "How about I make us some hot cocoa?"

Christmas Past Part 1

After placing the last arrangement on the mantle, Dani stepped back and surveyed the room. The lights on the tree twinkled in a rainbow of colors and set the tinsel glittering as it moved in the air from the heat duct. It was beautiful. The fire in the fireplace warmed the room and the Christmas greenery and colorful lights and decorations added to the feeling of warmth.

Simon would have chosen all white lights and decorations in varying shades of white and gold. Everything would have been beautiful but in her view it would have been more like a magazine spread than a place for families to gather. He'd left her with it, over protest. She did let him take care of the outside of the house and it was stunning what he'd done with it. All elegant and tasteful. She made a face in the mirror.

Truth be told, she hated the holidays. They were the most depressing time of year, made worse because one must put on a happy face for the children. Baking cookies, cakes, pies, and all the other accoutrements of the season exhausted her to the point she could barely move by the end of Christmas Day. Then there was the New Year celebrations. She rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh as she dropped the extra string of lights into the storage bin and closed the lid. She'd have Simon take this back to the garage when he finished with the boys.

From somewhere in the back of the house, she could hear the squeal of the boys as they played with Simon. It had become quite rambunctious and she wondered if she should intervene before someone got hurt, probably Simon.

She loved when he could be home for days at a time. Lately, it seemed work got more of him than she and Connor. When he'd told her that he'd be home for two weeks at Christmas, she was elated. He traveled too much and she missed him.

More squeals and she knew there was no use trying to pry him away. He never got to see Connor as much as he wanted as it was and Nicholas even less. Right after the holiday and he'd have to leave again. Europe, he said. He'd invited her to go along but she couldn't take Connor out of school and she wasn't about to leave him with anyone.

"What are you doing, Mama?"

She turned to find Connor standing in the doorway watching her, his head canted to one side and a puzzled frown on his face.

Pushing the crate into the hallway, she grinned at him. "I just finished getting all the decorations up and was about to call your father to come help me put this away. What are you doing? I thought you were with Dad."

"Nicky had to go pee." He leaned to look around her.

She laughed. "Where is Dad?"

The rich sapphire blue eyes he inherited from Simon sparkled with amusement. "He said he needed to rest a minute anyway and I should go find you."

"Ah." She took his hand. "Well, we have cookies in the kitchen. Shall we go find them?"

"Yes, Mama. I'd like that. Can we get some for Nicky, too?"

"Of course. And Daddy."

The went down the hallway, to the kitchen and adjoining family room. Connor climbed up on the stool at the bar and waited. Dani looked into the family room but Simon was nowhere to be seen. He'd probably slipped upstairs while he could make a clean getaway.

"Aunt Dani?" Nicholas came into the kitchen on sock encased feet.

"Nick, where are your shoes?"

"Uncle Simon said we don't wear shoes in the house."

She sighed and gave each of them a small plate of chocolate chip cookies and glasses of milk. "Right. When he's home, we don't."

The cookies were still slightly warm and smelled wonderful. She took one and closed her eyes as it nearly melted in her mouth. How Simon had managed to bake such amazing cookies while playing with the boys was beyond comprehension.

She felt arms slip around her waist from behind and a warm kiss pressed against her neck. "That's the same sensation I get when I . . ."

"Simon!" She snapped.

He laughed and turned her to face him. "I was going to say when I kiss you."

She slid her own arms around his neck. "Of course you were. Where were you?"

Nicholas piped in. "He had to go pee, too."

Simon grinned.

Dani laughed aloud. "Such dignity we have, boys."

"So," Simon said, nuzzling her neck. "Are you finished with the decorating?"

"Yes. There's a box in the hallway that needs to be put in the garage. Would you do that?"

"For you, my darling, I would carry it to the moon and back." His mouth trailed kisses up her neck to her cheek.

Smiling, she gently pushed him back. "The garage is perfectly fine. You can whisper sweet nothings in my ear later, when the boys have gone to bed." She reached behind her and plucked a cookie off the plate and stuck it in his mouth. "Until then, you can have this sweet nothing."


To Be Continued.....

Writing Turtles

The good news is that I've been writing this month and for the month of July & August I have written 4,168 words in probably three stories.

The bad news is that it is all over the place and so sloooow. Three stories! That's not how you're supposed to do it. Unfortunately, I'm a slave to the muse. When she says froggy, I jump.

I will say that most of that occurred in Dream Stealer so I feel a bit better about it. Honestly, I feel like I've started a new story there. I'm not writing at all on the original story, but rather, I'm writing the backstory that now feels like it is THE story. So, I have no idea what to do about that. I'm just listening to Simon and writing it all down.

The other two stories were an anthology story and a new (maybe) short story. I don't know. They just happened to present themselves so I went with it.

Does any of this ever happen to other writers? I really want to know!

I'm just so glad to be writing again, even a small amount, that I'll write whatever story my brain pulls out. I was getting seriously depressed at not being able to get the words down. Heck, I couldn't get them out of my head. They were there, sitting, gathering dust and beginning to stink. It is a relief to get rid of them.

I have some plans this week to get me moving and hopefully alleviate some of the fatigue. I don't want to go into it now. Just in case I jinks it. We'll see how that goes.

My goal this week is to see if I can get 500 words down in something that is farther along than what I've been messing with. How about Long Summer Run, whose first draft is so near completion? That's a novel idea.

Of course, I'm very aware that this sudden spate of words could evaporate if a flare hits me like a meteor shower. In a moment, I can go from feeling great to rock bottom. From 60-0. Really.

There is one other bit of good news. August isn't over for a couple of weeks. We'll see how it goes.

As I finished this post and got the title, I realized it is a play on words. Writing Turtles. Writing Hurdles. Riding Turtles. Seemed appropriate.

Don't mind me. I'm tired.

What I've Been Doing Lately

I mentioned I've been working on some things. While "real" writing hasn't been happening, something else has but I can't decide what you call it. I wrote but not on the main story. Instead, I worked on background information. I rarely do this but this story has so much going on and there is such rich history that I need some clarity and I need to hone it down into relevant bites. I don't need the whole history but I do need to understand it.

So, that's what I've been doing. I share it below just so you can understand what I'm talking about as well.

The first thing I worked on last week was the setting. The Realm of the Sacred Territories is a country ruled by a monarchy with 6 nation/states under one king. So, it's a bit complicated. There are connections, as there always are in these kinds of countries. Everyone in the ruling houses is related to everyone else. I don't need to know all of them but I do need to understand the way they're connected both politically and geographically. Things are happening here and it is all connected.

Next, I turned my attention to the religious order, The Order of the Holy One, that plays a huge role in the story. My main character is a member of this order and because of this, I have to understand the way it works and why. I began the story thinking I could gloss over it, but the farther I got into the story, the more I realized it is very much a part of my character and as such, is a character as well.

I've spent the last two weeks, when I did any writing at all, working on these two items. There are probably more changes and clarifications to come but I think now I need to stop and work on the story more. I've elected to work on two stories because this one bogs down quite often. There are two main characters - two POVs. Trying to weave them together is tedious and I haven't found a method that worked well. I'm at the point that I think I have to write two distinct stories and then arrange them in a sensible order. I don't know if that is possible either. We'll see.

You can view the two documents here. They won't tell you the story but they will give you a sense of the country and the some of the history that influences the events in the story. As always, comments are welcomed.

Looking Backward

Sometimes characters just don't make sense. I've been working, off and on, for several years on this story and suddenly, Simon is giving me backstory. I've been writing it down but I have no idea what it is for or how I'll use it. I already know this stuff, more or less. The real problem is that it feels like something. So, I have to write it down. Why? Because Simon says. (He said that. I'd never say that.)

Figured I'd just put some of it here and see what kind of responses, if any, it gets. Please, feel free to weigh in. And I apologize in advance for any errors. It is a first draft. You can view the story at this link.

Dream Stealer