tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85562808548321242742024-03-13T03:48:59.736-07:00R. R. WashburnOfficial Blog Site for R. R. Washburn, current nobody working her way up in the writers realm. This blog will be the home of excerpts and other events in which I wish to share with the WWW.R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556280854832124274.post-63504841442760546932016-01-13T14:06:00.001-08:002016-01-13T14:15:54.245-08:00Excerpt from Seraphim STORM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AWGM95YqMHU/VpbKBes13hI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/9ajDAA2woZ0/s1600/0127_snow_hi11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AWGM95YqMHU/VpbKBes13hI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/9ajDAA2woZ0/s400/0127_snow_hi11.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jericho, Alaska </span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">— When he came to, Aiden Winters’ head reeled with
a ringing in his ears. The last thing he remembered was the hotel room: <i>Standing
by the window, buildings erupting, people screaming as they stampeded out into
the blistering storm. Glass in his face, his neck.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then black.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He was no longer in the hotel. Now he was on his back, over snow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Ears still ringing, Aiden rolled his neck, eyes scanning the area.
Around him was the pedestrian walkway over a bridge, one that had still been
under construction as they hadn’t yet properly paved the entire thing. Tarps
draped from the upper cables and towers, shielding the bridge from the
blizzard. The tarps were torn and stained with dried blood.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Moving to get up, Aiden hissed and fell back down. Pain shot through his
hip. He rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, finding the inside of his forearm
gashed up. Judging by the rush job of the stitches, whoever patched him up
didn’t have much time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Melissa...?” Aiden remembered her in the hotel room with him. But where
was she now?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He felt more bandages stuck to the side of his neck. Taking the railing,
he successfully pulled himself onto his feet this time, and winced. His ankle
ached, too. Pulling up his pant leg, he saw a brace keeping it steady.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Aiden looked around. The silence was only broken by the whistle of
winds, and nothing else.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Melissa!” he called again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Melissa didn’t reply. Not even any people were in sight. The tarps
draping all around him made it impossible to tell how far in the pedestrian
walkway he was.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Hugging his throbbing arm to his chest, he limped over piles of melting
snow, his head buzzing and vision blurring. He squinted ahead as he pushed
through the torn up tarps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How long had he been unconscious? Where was all of his stuff? Why did
Melissa leave? Aiden looked at some of the tarps, and the red snow all over the
bridge.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He shuddered, and pressed on.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then stumbled to a stop.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A quarter of a mile in front of him were rows of several cars, all
jam-packed in the middle of the bridge. The ground was made up of support
brackets. The suspender and main cables were the only things holding the bridge
together and the tarps overhead. Abandoned cars were halfway suspended over the
fragmentary surface.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As Aiden peered through the fog and snowfall ahead of him, he couldn’t
even see the other side of the unfinished bridge.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He whipped his head towards a scream, coming the way he limped from.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Help me! H-help! PLEASE, SOMEBODY!” a young man pleaded.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">With his bandaged forearm clutched to his chest, Aiden hobbled towards
the voice, and froze.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Weaving between the lines of cars and through the draping tarps, a man
wearing a parka was running towards him. Aiden’s eyes narrowed at the young
man.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Something was following him. Gangly and gray-skinned that looked as if
it was peeling; it stood about eight feet tall, and wore a hooded coat that
covered its head. In a quick glimpse, the hoodie figure had no face — only a
mouth far too wide and grinning the entire time as it preyed on the screaming
man.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Aiden instinctively went for his gun. Like everything else, he learned
that to be missing as well.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He cursed under his breath, ducking behind one of the crashed cars to
peek through a shattered window.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Powerless, he didn’t want to watch. He couldn’t look away, either. The
hoodie figure did not laugh, or make a sound despite its jovial appearance. It
kept smiling as it caught up to the running man, kicking him to the ground by
slamming its heel into the back of the man’s knee. He shrieked, falling
face-first into the snow. The hoodie figure stood over him, its knees bone-thin
as it crouched over the gasping man, still crying out for help.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When it held out its hand, Aiden caught a quick look of another mouth in
its palm. Razor teeth, almost mechanical, rotated rapidly as it took the man’s
wrist with its other hand.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Forcing the man’s fingers out, it stuck his thumb into the black hole of
whirling razors inside its palm. The man let out a blood-curdling cry.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Aiden threw his back against the car. He looked around. The car door
behind him had been left slightly ajar. He stuck his head in and searched for
anything he could use as a weapon.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Crowbar.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Yes, this would work. He snatched it. The stitches
all up his forearm swelled with fire-pain as he squeezed the metal in both
hands. He peered through the broken window again. The hoodie figure slid more
of the man’s fingers through its palm; already it worked on his pinky.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Crouching, Aiden snuck from one car to another, out of the figure’s
sight (assuming that it <i>could</i> see when it seemed to have no eyes). He
stayed low, snow crunching as he moved to the next car. Closer to the scene.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Behind a green, beat up novacar, Aiden inhaled and steeled himself.
Squeezing the crowbar in both hands, he craned his neck over the trunk—</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The screams stopped.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Red bloomed over the snow where the man laid, face down. His hand was
completely gone, blood spurting out of the arteries in his wrist. A golf
ball-sized hole punctured his skull.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A shadow loomed over Aiden. He looked up to see the eight-foot tall
figure balancing over the side of the truck bed. Its twisted grin bore down on
him.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Aiden gave a start.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Shi—!”</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The hoodie figure dropped, its feet kicking his face. Aiden saw a flash
of white. Pain in his jaw. He went to swing the crowbar that was no longer in
his grasp. Neither was Aiden on his feet, but his ass. His legs scrambled
backwards, pushing him to the ledge of the pedestrian path. His fingers
outstretched, touching the cold metal of the crowbar next to him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The eight-foot gangly freak loomed over him, holding its teeth-palm to
Aiden’s face.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He swung the crowbar in front of him. Batting the thing’s arm away with
a crack. It snatched Aiden with its other hand. All he saw was teeth. He had
lifted the crowbar between him and the hoodie thing, an air of rotten fish
reeking from its open razor maw. The thing leaned forward, drool dribbling down
its lipless mouth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Agony from the wound in Aiden’s forearm seared his skin. He bore it with
his jaw clenched. The hoodie-thing went to take him by its teeth-palm again,
and...</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Using what little strength he had, Aiden hoisted the creature over him.
It was skinny enough, clumsy enough that he sent it through the suspender
cables. </span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Over the unfinished divider, separating the pedestrian path from a
couple hundred feet over a freeway. Its hand clutched Aiden’s shoulder,
slamming his back against the cables as the hoodie thing dangled.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Let go!” Aiden demanded, dropping the crowbar to pry the thing’s
fingers from his shoulder. Razors dug into his skin, sinking into the leather
and fabric of his jacket and shirt underneath. Blood dribbled down his shoulder,
over his chest. The teeth sunk deeper, almost widening its jaws over its prey. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Aiden heard himself yelling over the icy wind.</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Just when he thought that the thing was going to rip his arm right off,
a shot breezed by.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">More blood gushed from Aiden’s side. This time, it wasn’t his.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Find out more about <i>Seraphim STORM </i>on the new <a href="http://projectseraphim.wikia.com/">official wiki</a>! </span></b></div>
</div>
</div>
R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556280854832124274.post-20229604735605647772014-08-31T16:24:00.000-07:002014-08-31T16:24:52.982-07:00PROJECT SERAPHIM: RELEASE DATE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aL1h8F9YFcA/VAOueZDQObI/AAAAAAAAAek/q0fYSnI5dTo/s1600/release.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aL1h8F9YFcA/VAOueZDQObI/AAAAAAAAAek/q0fYSnI5dTo/s1600/release.png" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556280854832124274.post-63139836982449938852014-06-16T13:55:00.000-07:002014-08-08T14:46:10.430-07:00 Excerpt from SERAPHIM ASCENT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; page-break-before: always; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: red;"><u><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; text-shadow: auto;">Prologue</span></u></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-shadow: auto;"><br />
<br /><span style="color: red;">
</span></span><span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Fiery
the angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll’d.</span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-shadow: auto;"><br />
</span><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Around
their shores: indignant burning with the fires of Orc.”</span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-shadow: auto;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">— </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">William Blake</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">America</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">: A Prophecy</span></i></span></span><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]--></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CNzzxqADn6M/U-VEwM7-orI/AAAAAAAAAd8/_RGfBdlDgzA/s1600/sktches.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CNzzxqADn6M/U-VEwM7-orI/AAAAAAAAAd8/_RGfBdlDgzA/s1600/sktches.png" height="320" width="123" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They were born underground, in a facility called Niflheim. A boy and a girl, with golden hair and lime colored eyes. Prisoners of four white walls; a single metal door secured shut. The full spectrum light flooded from the ceiling, over the twins. Both bearing the same angular jawline, pointed noses, and narrowed faces.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">From the lookout station that surveyed the white room,
Dr. Stransky pressed her hand to the glass barrier that divided her and the twins
several feet below. Though they weren’t human, though they didn’t look a day
older than sixteen, though they had been fabricated of alloy and human flesh, she
thought of them as her own in an odd way. Her heart wrenched; she listened to
the director of the Niflheim Research Facility speak to the children.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“You are vessels. You’re born to die,” he said through
the intercom, his voice booming into the white room. “Do you understand this?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Crouching at the left of the boy, the girl replied:
“Yes.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Before her brother spoke, the boy burst into flames.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dr. Stransky tensed, unable to breathe. She turned to
her husband; his electric blue stare widened as one of their creations from his
flesh and blood, their son, screamed and burned alive. But her husband did not
move. Dr. Stransky went to elbow past him, crying out the children’s names
before he seized her by the arms, holding her back.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“Stop it! Stop the examination!” Dr. Stransky cried.
She watched a warden in black body armor storming into the white room, and she
could do nothing. The warden swung the sharp end of a powered blade, extending
out of the armor’s hand. The cutting edge sliced through the girl’s face. The
top of her head flew off, exposing brain and blood and bone. White walls, white
floors, now splashed in red. Her body froze, kneeling for several moments, and
then collapsed next to the corpse of her burning brother.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Straight faced, the director leaned back into the
microphone. “Bring her back in, warden. We’ll salvage what we can for the next
one.” Clicking the intercom off, he looked to Dr. Stransky and her husband. “I
trust you two will find out what went wrong. Otherwise, you can kiss your
funding from the bureau goodbye. The president is about to declare war, and I
recall you promising him weapons.” He lowered his glasses, giving Dr. Stransky
a sincere look. “I understand what these children mean to you. Perhaps it would
help if you made their likeness into something a little less... obvious.”
Sliding his glasses back on, the director said, “That is all. Please have
another vessel prepped to report to </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Washington</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">DC</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> soon, or the board will have all our skins for this.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Dr. Stransky glared, but said nothing. The director
slammed the door on his way out of the lookout station, his words muffled in her
mind. She gaped at the bodies of their twins, the white room darkening when the
warden shut off the light.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“What <i>happened </i>just now, Lucas?” Dr. Stransky
whispered; her face hot. “They were our...”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">His arm covered her shoulder, this time more like a
protective shield than a restraint. “I’ll figure it out. Next time, we’ll get
it right,” said her husband with a shuddering breath. She sensed doubt in him.
But he repeated, almost to sway her misgivings: “We’ll get it right...”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">***</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Fourteen months. It took the project fourteen months
to reconstruct one vessel. The director had ordered her to remain in a
containment room known as the Glass House. For now, no one could touch her, go
near her, or speak to her directly.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The Glass House was a ten-by-ten room beyond an observation
chamber. The chamber’s wall was made of a two-way mirror, allowing onlookers to
view the Glass House, but the vessel living in the cube-shaped quarters unable
to look out. Inside was a bed, an eating tray, and a tablet where the project
had provided the vessel with a selection of books to read. Wallscreens built
into every corner of the Glass House for the surveillance team to monitor her
activity.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Until the psychiatric department could present an
official evaluation, Dr. Stransky had been prohibited from interacting with the
vessel. Even with her expertise in biology, genetics, physics, mathematics, and
even psychology, the director did not trust her judgment enough to allow her to
see her own girl. From the moment the vessel had opened her eyes, her husband
tore Dr. Stransky away so that the vessel could be contained and handled
properly this time.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">This time, </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Dr.
Stransky thought as she watched the vessel in the Glass House, flipping through
the pages of her tablet. The wallscreens of the Glass House flickered,
distorting the brief illusion that she was sitting among a peaceful forest in
summer. She had never seen the surface, that world a mile above the Niflheim
Research Facility. All the vessel ever knew as what she had been allowed to see
on the wallscreens. A fake and empty world. She has never even seen a human
being without black armor.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“She’s beautiful,” said a voice entering the
observation chamber.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Dr. Stransky glanced to one of the new researchers who
had been transferred to Niflheim six months ago, sent to partake in the girl’s
psych eval. Something about his stony stare and the way he looked at the vessel
made Dr. Stransky’s skin crawl. She had found him lingering in the chamber at
odd hours. <i>Yet each man kills the thing he loves, </i>she caught him
whispering to the Glass House once, and doubted that he knew she had heard him.
When asked what he was doing, he simply claimed his curiosity regarding the
vessel’s imminent evaluation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">His comment concerning her beauty did not help his
case. After watching the Glass House for so long, Dr. Stransky couldn’t take
her eyes off the new researcher. “I’m sorry; I don’t believe I remember your
name...?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The researcher gestured to the badge on his sterile coat.
“Jonathan Quayle. And you must be the renowned Undine Stransky?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“Dr.</span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">
Stransky,” she corrected him.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“My apologies. I’ve been told you earned at least five
doctorates by the time you were thirty — that’s an achievement that merits
respect.” Jonathan turned his eyes to the Glass House. The vessel was sitting
on her cot. She had since set the tablet over the food tray, and lay down over
the bed with her eyes closed. The edges of Jonathan’s lips turned upward. “Do
you wonder what her dreams must be like?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“She isn’t asleep,” Dr. Stransky said. “She never
sleeps like that.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“So I’ve noticed.” Jonathan nodded. “I heard about
what she did to her brother last year. What an unfortunate incident. I take it
you were unable to reassemble the boy?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Dr. Stransky shifted. Jonathan stood uncomfortably
close between her and the two-way mirror, separating them from the Glass House.
“No. The fire damage was too great, and the director placed more value in her because
of the Brísingamen. It’ll take years before we’re able to culture the cells and
organs the boy needs.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Jonathan nodded his head at the glass. “And you
believe that our salamander here is responsible?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“Excuse me?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“When I was a boy, I was obsessed with stories,” Jonathan
said with a sigh. “My grandma read me a book about salamanders. Not the slimy
kind, but a creature that eats fire and does not burn. It’s been said that if
you douse yourself in the blood of the salamander, you could walk through fire
yourself.” He placed his hand over the two-way mirror, gazing into the Glass
House with fascination alight in his eyes. “But she is not a work of fiction,
is she?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Afraid of his answer, Dr. Stransky didn’t say
anything.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“I watched the records,” he went on saying. “When she
burned her brother, I remembered this story. It makes me wonder... if she fails
this evaluation, what will the director do with the Brísingamen inside her?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“I haven’t thought about it,” Dr. Stransky lied. “She
won’t fail the evaluation.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">His hand over the mirror, Jonathan turned to her. He
was a tall man — almost as tall as her husband — and had to bend a little in
order to meet eye-to-eye with her. “For your girl’s sake, I hope you’re right.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">***</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Weeks turned into months. The director had given Dr.
Stransky permission to speak with the vessel, though she was under strict
orders to maintain a professional distance with the subject during her reformation.
This prohibited the doctor from addressing the vessel by her given name.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">As Dr. Stransky was allowed to see the vessel, Jonathan
Quayle’s visits to the Glass House were also more relentless. He seemed eager
for the upcoming evaluation, which would entail the vessel leaving her
confinement for the first time. The more Dr. Stransky saw the vessel, the more
she noticed Jonathan’s personal visits. The director had informed him that his
work in Niflheim was done. He was to return to the surface tomorrow, but that
didn’t stop him from seeing the vessel.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">He stopped muttering under his breath as Dr. Stransky entered
the chamber. The vessel was asleep inside the Glass House, sitting on the side
of the bed with her back pressed to the wall. She never slept lying down.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">It was then that Jonathan informed Dr. Stransky of the
final evaluation. Her stomach tightened. The vessel had failed. Her husband was
finalizing the forms that would subject the girl to termination. Of course he
would... he had since given up hope. He gave up, and the vessel would die
tomorrow.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">A heavy weight sunk Dr. Stransky to her knees. Her
head spun, her heart drummed in her ears. This wasn’t happening... <i>couldn’t </i>be
happening. Things were getting better, the girl even showing symptoms of
remorse over what happened to her brother last year.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Suppose remorse was not what the director was looking
for in a tool for war.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“Don’t cry,” Jonathan assured her, more so than her
husband ever had when it came to the vessel. “I have a plan to save your
daughter.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Daughter. </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The
word sounded so strange. Even her husband had firmly told her not to refer to
the vessels as children anymore, let alone accepting them as their own, inconceivable
as the taboo was to her.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“Why?” she asked. “Why do
you want to help her?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“I want to imagine a world
where she doesn’t have to fight to appease politicians and generals, men who
will never know her like a mother would. I want to imagine a country that isn’t
riding on the backs of children to fight for us. I want to imagine a girl who
is allowed a chance at life.” Jonathan squeezed Undine Stransky’s shoulder.
“Will you help me help her have that?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Dr. Stransky turned her eyes to the mirror. The girl
sitting on the bed looked so peaceful; that long golden hair pouring over her
shoulders.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">She looks so much like her mother, </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Jonathan had said on more than one occasion. His words
echoed in her mind as she turned to him again, and knew that he was sincere<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556280854832124274.post-41525574867560155742014-03-27T14:20:00.003-07:002014-04-04T16:41:04.210-07:00Excerpt from Hush<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">From the short story: <i>Hush, January 1968</i></span></span> </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EMGrLV4LJVg/T3AukyK1jsI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Bh7mz9_4xxg/s1600/Chara-Hannah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EMGrLV4LJVg/T3AukyK1jsI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Bh7mz9_4xxg/s1600/Chara-Hannah.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The man in the fern green
suit and the pointed hat leaned over the body of Hannah’s mother. “What’s your
name, little one?” He smiled like that used car lot salesman when her father
had bought them the very Volkswagen she sat in.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Now the white leather upholstery was
stained with Mom’s blood as the man got into the car with Hannah. The windows
were smeared with the same stuff after the man in the green suit had attempted
to wipe it off after he’d asked Hannah his question. He then assumed the
driver’s seat, leaving Mom behind in the parking lot of the unattended gas
station, where it was dark and no one seemed to be working. Mom had stopped
because of a flat tire when the man in green, claiming to be a local on a late
night stroll, came upon them to help replace the tire. Only after doing so,
Hannah had watched as the man raised the same tire iron he’d used to help Mom
with over his head, and began beating her in so many times that her skull caved
inward.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The last Hannah saw her mother was through
the rear window, as the man in green pulled the Volkswagen back onto the
freeway. They weren’t going home like Mom had promised. The man didn’t say
where they were going. All he did was turn up the radio, from which he
commenced singing along to <i>Angel of the Morning </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">as if Hannah didn’t exist in the same car as he.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Hannah didn’t answer the man when he had
asked her name. The girl just clung to her Shrinkin’ Violet doll her mom bought
for her sixth birthday four years ago. She was too old now to be hugging dolls
when men scared her, no matter what. But she had long since discarded Shrinkin’
Violet into the Volkswagen many years ago, and Mom was no longer here. Hannah
had nothing to hold onto but an annoying talking doll. The man glanced to her
frequently with those narrow black eyes in the rearview mirror. He still sang
along with Merrilee Rush from the radio in his smooth, surprisingly melodic
voice.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">They drove until daybreak. The man only then
stopped in the parking lot of a roadside diner called Delilah’s. The man had
said he was hungry, and told Hannah that he would be willing to feed her as
well if she was a good girl. Her stomach rumbled; she hadn’t eaten since
yesterday. Mom would’ve been mad at her for accepting charity from the man who had
killed her, but what was Hannah supposed to do?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">He could leave her in the car. He could
just beat her to death, too. Hannah folded her arms, pulling Shrinkin’ Violet
to her chest as she gazed at the desert outside the backseat window. The man’s
face in the reflection showed a frown, as though disappointed. But then Hannah
shifted her eyes to the man again, her expression neutral.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“What’s your name?” she asked, her words
an echo of the man’s former query.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The man shoulders relaxed, and he smiled
again. “You can call me Iggy, Hannah.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Hannah squinted. “How d’you know my name?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Iggy tossed something over, landing on the
seat next to Hannah. It turned out to be a Polaroid from her ballet lesson two
years ago. Underneath it was her name — <i>Hannah Vallejo.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“Found that tucked away in your mama’s sun
visor,” Iggy explained. “She must’ve been real proud of you, little Hannah.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“I’m <i>not </i>little,” Hannah quipped,
her fingernails digging into Shrinkin’ Violet’s head of blonde yarn-hair. “I
turned ten four days ago.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“I really love your freckles, little one,”
Iggy told her as if he didn’t hear a word Hannah just said, his black eyes
seeing right through her. “I’m guessing you got them from your mama. She had an
Irish fire in her hair. But you...” He reached over the back seat, running a
few fingers through the strands of Hannah’s black hair. She gasped and shrunk
into the corner of the backseat, her nails digging into the doll’s blonde head.
Iggy watched with a serene look. “Vallejo, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vallejo</i>...
I wager that your daddy must be Spanish. Do you speak Spanish, Han?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Reluctantly, Hannah shook her head.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“Me neither.” Iggy withdrew his hand,
holding it to his chest for a moment, and then swung the driver’s door opened.
Then the back door next to Hannah flew out, and Iggy standing on the other
side.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Iggy wasn’t as tall as Hannah thought when
she had seen him raising a tire iron over his head, but he was still bigger
than Hannah herself. And he was skinny. Could probably outrun her if she tried.
Mom had her in a floral dress and penny loafers for an evening church meeting with
a group of women at Sally’s, the preacher’s wife who lived on the edge of town.
If Mom hadn’t decided to stay so late, Hannah wouldn’t have fallen asleep. They
wouldn’t have gotten a flat tire. Hannah wouldn’t have been taken by a stranger
who had driven Dad’s car throughout the night to Delilah’s, where she’d never
been before.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Still in her green floral dress and penny
loafers, Hannah stumbled out of the car, dropping Violet in the seat next to
her when Iggy grabbed her forearm and dragged her out. The serenity waned from
his expression; all that remained was a strained stretch of his mouth.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">His hand tightened around hers. “Now,
little one, the rules are simple. We’re going to go in, have a nice meal. I’ll
pay. You eat. It’s a win-win situation, don’t you think? If you raise any
unwanted attention, I’ll hurt everyone like I hurt your mama. It’ll be your
fault. Think you can live with that?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Hannah
didn’t tell him no, but she didn’t have to.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]--></div>
</div>
</div>
R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556280854832124274.post-55660667384685057162013-12-29T22:51:00.001-08:002016-03-17T20:46:45.618-07:00Excerpt from What The Thunder Said<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">From Part One: <i>In The Mountains, There You Feel Free</i>...</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/UkgWQID.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/UkgWQID.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wermut was nowhere to be found.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rather, it was almost as though Wermut never existed. When Sergeant
Stone spoke with the people at the Shiner Casino, they all swore up and down
that they never saw an amber-eyed woman sharing Wermut’s description.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since tracking down the dealer turned out to be a lost
cause, Stone sought out her fellow players at the poker table. She saw the boy
leave an hour ago, and the married couple left during a heated argument shortly
after.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eventually, she bumped into the old man in the bowler hat, using
his winnings from their card game at the slots.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’m telling you, our dealer was a Brazilian dwarf, not some
amber-eyed woman. And it was definitely a man... Are you sure you’re not on
some fuses? You smell a little funny to me.” Not once did he avert his
attention from the slots, pulling the lever repeatedly.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Fairly certain that is alcohol you smell, and it’s not from
me,” Stone said, referring to the liquor that the old man reeked of.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another cocktail waitress came by, offering Stone a glass.
Once again, she declined, but the old man in the bowler hat was swift to accept
a drink.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Much like all addictions, Stone hated gambling. Besides the
fact that she was rarely any good at it, she had seen people just like this old
man lose himself in these machines. From dusk until dawn, they would sit. Their
bodies and minds too engrossed in their own worlds of green and gold to pay mind
to the passing of time around them. It was why she abhorred casinos... and drinking,
other than the foul taste of the latter, as all things tasted to her.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She sighed, taking out a carton of cigarettes from her coat.
Smokes were her only vice she ever indulged in.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“You at least have a light?” Stone popped a cigarette in her
mouth.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With one hand on the lever still, the old man reached into
his breast pocket and extracted a flip-top butane lighter. Holding the flame
out, he ignited the end of Stone’s cigarette before flicking it back into his
fancy vest.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stone muttered a “Thank
you,” stuffing her hands in her back pockets as she watched the old man
play. “How long have you been in this casino, anyway?”<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Few days. Weeks, maybe.”<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: 9pt;">“Where do you sleep?”</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: 9pt;">“Shiner’s got an inn upstairs. Sometimes they lend out rooms
to regulars.”</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: 9pt;">Of course they would. For people who fed their slot machines
on a regular basis, people like this guy must have already paid a year’s worth
of rent.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Know of any motels in the city that don’t have
surveillance?” Stone asked.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to her nexus, the hotel she was supposed to be staying
at was compromised. She had to find somewhere else to regroup and contact
Tremond.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just then, some cherries lined up on the slot machine. The
old man’s eyes lit up as gold coins poured out onto the tray, flooding onto the
floor. He wailed gleefully, clapping his hands. He took both of Stone’s hands
into his own, forcing her into drunken movements that he probably took for a
dance.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once he was done, he wiped the tears of mirth from his cheeks
and grinned. “Hell, lady... if it’s a room you need, you can have mine.”<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: 9pt;">Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t think that’s—”</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Christ, no, that’s hardly what I meant.” He snapped his
wrist, quick to dismiss Stone’s impression. He bent over to collect his gold
coins from the floor. “I mean, I’m getting myself the executive suite tonight!
Ain’t going to need this cheap shit room. And no worries ‘bout surveillance,
none. The casino owners like to keep their customers bug free.”<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 9.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then he
tossed a card to her. Stone caught it, and saw that it was for room 256 of the
Shiner Casino’s inn.</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]--></div>
R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556280854832124274.post-86713239968760926902013-12-28T16:42:00.001-08:002014-09-02T01:13:13.595-07:00Excerpt from SERAPHIM ASCENT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">From Chapter Twenty-three: <i>Good Morning, Nevada!</i></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.11in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq ">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 8.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<div class="Section1">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder Wakeman had given up on the prospect of being a morning person, when his prime hours reeled through the night. Aiden must have known this as well...</span></span> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq ">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: 8.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<div class="Section1">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Which was why Tejinder
had found it weird to wake up that evening to a knock at the door downstairs.
When the knocking stopped, he flopped over the sheets and attempted to fall
back asleep.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7kXdMKRb8lk/Uz820zxpj5I/AAAAAAAAAX0/8L-04PSWxEE/s1600/Latency.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7kXdMKRb8lk/Uz820zxpj5I/AAAAAAAAAX0/8L-04PSWxEE/s1600/Latency.png" height="288" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Then the knocking
started again. Louder. Tejinder groaned, tired and hungover, and threw a pillow
over his head. This did not stop the knocking, which turned into a relentless
pounding at his door. The hostile presence in itself left Tejinder wishing he
could call the cops.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">He realized that the
only guy he could call now <i>was </i>the cops... kind of. But he also didn’t
feel like dialing Aiden. If this just happened to be one of the food services
he might have ordered in his sleep (in which case this wouldn’t be the first
time), it would have been embarrassing.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“All right...”
Tejinder yawned. He grabbed for his sunglasses by the nightstand and rolled out
of bed. His bare feet weaved around the broken glass at the bottom of the
stairs; remnants of a drunken tantrum earlier that morning. At this point he
couldn’t differentiate the hammering pain from the door to the hangover, or
both. “All right, cut it out! I’m unlocking the damn door. Just so you know, I
have a shotgun.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Someone stood at the
door Tejinder just swung open.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“So do I.”</span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Rey’s voice.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Rational instincts
told Tejinder that he should be more surprised. He only regarded Rey like she
was a dull inconvenience.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Fingers combing
through his bangs, Tejinder pressed his shoulder against the doorway. He didn’t
open it all the way, as it was secured by a chain lock.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Last I heard you got
broke. Did somebody fix you?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Yes.” After an
awkward silence, Rey added: “You realize you’re still in your underwear, yes?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder opened his
mouth, then snapped it back shut. That would definitely explain the chill he
had in uncomfortable places. Particularly when wearing nothing but boxers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Brows raised, Tejinder
bobbed his head. “Must’ve slipped my mind. It was a little past my bedtime.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Tejinder,” Rey said
flatly. “It’s eight at night.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“And it’s a proven
fact that my brain functions at its highest capacity at about... fifteen hours
ago.” He slipped his head through the door enough to listen for his outer
surroundings. “You came alone, right? Nobody else is supposed to know I’m here
except—”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“David. I called him.
He told me where you were, in his own way. He did this tapping over the nexus
and it sounded like Morse...?” She trailed off. “You’re wondering why I came
here.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“It crossed my mind.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“May I come in?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">At first, Tejinder
considered slamming the door in her face. Then he did slam it shut.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">The chain slid off, he
reopened the door for Rey. He double-checked for any other unwanted guests
before locking the door again. Better safe than sorry.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Rey took a gander
around the bungalow. The living area wasn’t much, but provided the essentials
for a cozy lifestyle. With his technical equipment crowding the entire dining
area and a liquor cabinet nearby, Tejinder had all he could’ve asked for these
last three months. Rey drew towards the other attractions. Like the chin-up
bar, which she grabbed and began lifting her own weight, up and down. Tejinder
listened to her doing this (causing more strain to the walls than he ever did)
while she talked.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“I need to recruit
some help,” she said.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder counted in
his head how many pull-ups she could manage. So far she was making an
impressive effort. “Guess you’re gonna have to get in line. What kind of help
are you looking for?” Tejinder asked, deciding that now would be a decent time
to start tracking down his clothes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“My head’s been in a
loop since we left Angeles. I don’t know why.” Amazing how she wasn’t out of
breath, not even a little.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Loop</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">, right. That’s
normal.” Tejinder snorted, snagging a pair of pants from the loveseat and clumsily
pulled them on. “So you weren’t really stuck in La La Land but having a
spiritual astral journey, is that it?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Perhaps. Though not
as vague.” She dropped from the poll and landed on her feet. Her hands clapped
together. “I still try to pick up the pieces, but the whole picture is clear.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Meaning...?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“It’s strange. In the
dream, I hear a rhyme though I never remember the words. I find myself in
several places. One of them sticks out to me.” She paced: “I know where I’m at.
I’m wading through the ash and rubble in what’s left of a city. There’s so much
debris. A crash site. Helicopters that had been shot down during the withdrawal
when the Battle-Brave was released. I’m about to keep walking when I see a
bloody hand trying to climb out of one of them. It hurts <i>so much.</i> I’m in
so much pain, I feel like my own body is about to fall apart. I go to the hand,
take it. It’s a boy, trapped underneath. He’s about to burn alive. I go to take
apart the helicopter. I rip the metal until I get to that boy, and I carry him
in my arms. He’s crying for his father. He clings to me, screaming, <i>‘Where’s
dad? Where is my dad? Where is he? I can’t see anything!’</i> The boy’s face is
all bloody. Glass in his eyes. Though he’s weak and hurting, he starts hitting
me. The fire from the helicopter almost takes us both. The sky looks red and
poisoned. For a moment, I think to myself, <i>‘I am wicked. I deserve to die.
But I want to do something good just this once.’”</i> Rey stopped pacing. She
faced him again, her voice hollow and distant the more she had circled around
the room. “This is strange. But does any of it ring a bell to you, Tejinder?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">His mouth hung open,
but could force no words out. He could only make out the hazy contours of Rey’s
shape. He moved closer; she stepped back.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Yeah,” Tejinder said.
“To a T, as a matter of fact. But how...?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Of course. Rey’s
memory, the one that she had shared with him. It made sense now that she could
remember the </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Washington</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Monument</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"> when it was still
standing. If a man could live three hundred years, why not a woman?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“I know none of this
makes sense. So I’m asking for your help.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder seized up.
“What makes you think that I can do anything?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Because, Tejinder.
You’re like me — you have nothing else to lose.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“That’s presumptuous
of you. I have a lot of things I want to live for!” Tejinder shuffled, his head
rolling around the bungalow, for instance. It wasn’t much, but he was alive.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“You mean your fancy
birdcage? When was the last time you’ve left it?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder snorted. “Don’t
get me wrong, I can a real party animal! The thought that I’ve been deprived of
the company of drug addicts and boozers breaks my <i>heart!”</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“You’re also still
drunk,” Rey retorted. The smell and Tejinder’s mannerisms must have tipped her
off.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Three cheers for our
detective here! Watch out, Concomly, we’ve got a challenger here!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Aiden isn’t here.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder grunted,
walked over to the liquor cabinet, and then stumbled over the coffee table. He
yelped, then flipped the coffee table and its contents over the hardwood floor.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Rey stood there in
perfect calm. He couldn’t see it; all he could do was imagine that smug look
she must have scrubbed all over... whatever her face looked like. With every
inch of him he wanted to turn to her, grab the freak by the hair and throw her
out the door she came in from.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">A tiny voice of
intuition pleaded against it. As it turned out, he would be dead if it hadn’t
been for her. In some sick way, it was like he <i>owed</i> it to her.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“You know,” Tejinder
said, “there’s an idiom that saving a life is better than building a
seven-story establishment. That’s also a load of crap. So is everything else
that’s ever come out of your mouth, which I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">think</i>
is my point.” Tejinder shuffled from the couch. He reached up for the liquor
cabinet, selected the round bottle of gin and tonic, and poured himself two
glasses.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">When he offered the
other one to Rey, she asked: “What does this idiom have to do with anything?”
She pushed the glass away. “And I don’t drink.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">More for him! Tejinder
tipped back, drinking out of a glass in one hand while holding the second in
his other. “Anyway, it’s some kind of pep talk that my father used to tell me
when I was little. Did you know I was supposed to take his place as Chancellor
of the New Order? Then... well, you know what happened to Ashwater. And the
questions regarding my mental and physical health. I tried to keep myself in
shape for my image — no drugs or alcohol for Wakeman, no siree! Wakemans don’t
drink or commit scandals under the influence of any kind. We’re <i>model </i>overseers!
Now here I am, talking with a crazy person while double-fisting two gin and
tonics... and I’m not even sorry! Because why the hell <i>wouldn’t </i>I drink
with people like you in my life, dicking me around for favors?” Tejinder downed
the liquor in one, and bit back the pain with an obnoxious laugh. “I have no
friends, my family thinks I’m a terrorist, and I’ve been forced to play Tremond’s
proverbial bitch. So yeah, I’m living it up here in my <i>e-lec-tric
bung-a-low.</i> Leave me be to my luxurious new life! Move along! Don’t let the
door hit you on the way out.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Rey was sitting next
to him by the time he had finished the second gin and tonic. He dropped both
glasses out of surprise. His senses spun so far out that he couldn’t recall how
long she had been sitting beside him.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">It was like she just <i>teleported</i>
there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">This is why I don’t
drink, </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder
thought.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Rey set the coffee
table upright, retrieved the fallen glasses, and placed them on top. She turned
back to Tejinder, and it was funny. How she kept her distance, while at the
same time it was like she sat closer than anyone had ever been to him.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“Who knows if that
person who dragged you out of that helicopter was me? Perhaps all these things
I remember aren’t mine. But I have nightmares, and you’re in them. I want to
know what you make of this.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">Tejinder didn’t know
why he was taken aback when she asked for his opinion, and he was almost too
hungover to give an answer. He almost wanted to stop the presses, if only his prudence
hadn’t taken a last-minute tropical vacation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">It decided to come
back: “I think you know a lot more than you’re letting on.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">“I think so as well, Tejinder.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">”</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]--></div>
</div>
R. Washburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17302590821155802551noreply@blogger.com0