Running:
When I leave home to walk I usually have a course in mind, but often changes courses along the way. More often I have a final destination--coming home--and a time frame--within 30 or 60 minutes.
Writing:
I've never written a novel without characters--protagonists and antagonists. I invent them--kind of like birthing and giving them life. They're my children. And exactly like my children, I soon discover they have "minds" of their own and I have to scramble to figure them out. Sometimes it's a lot of work defining exactly who they are (something I could never possibly do with another human being, no matter how close I might be to them or think I know them). Writing tip: Know exactly who your characters are--what's in their mind, what's in their pocketbook, what's in their heart, what they look like, act like, and how they'll respond in every circumstance. Know them right down to the tattoo you never expose to the reader, the car model they drive that you'll never share, the jewelry they wear that you never describe, the color of their fingernail and style of shoes. 
Quirks, surprises and unique characteristics...
Secrets at Midnight
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 31
“Do you want to talk?”
Matt called up to the loft.
Jenn's voice called
back, “Not really, but I'll come down after Katie's settled in if it's
important enough.”
Matt waited in
darkness, wondering if Jenn would appear. He finally gave up and made a bed on
the best sofa—the one he'd slept on the first night. He had just tucked himself
in when the shadows on the ceiling changed. A moment later the lantern shown
above, with Jenn holding it high. She descended looking like an angel wrapped
in a blanket. She placed the lantern on the stone hearth, then plopped down on
the other sofa and pulled her feet underneath her. “Talk,” she said.
He cleared his throat.
“There's another cabin about two miles up the hill. It's in worse condition
than this one.”
“And that’s supposed
to make me feel more comfortable here at the Ritz?”
He chuckled. “Yes, but
only because it's abandoned and no one will inhabit it again. There's nothing
close by for at least five miles in every direction.”
“Too bad. I might need
to run to the neighbor's for a cup of sugar.”
“There's an old
hunter's blind up the hill. From it you can see in every direction for miles.
Someone probably used it for deer hunting, or maybe bear hunting. It's a great
watchtower.”
Jenn rubbed her arms
beneath the blanket. “We need a watchtower?”
“Probably not. There
aren't any other roads leading in here but the one we followed. At the bottom
of the ravine there's an old mining road, but it's too overgrown to use, and
there isn't a path that comes up—only rough game trails criss-crossing the
mountains.”
“What does all that
mean?”
“This is remote. No
one should be able to find us here. No one can sneak up on us. We're safe.”
“From what? Bears can
still camp on the porch. Are we safe it Katie breaks her arm? What if one of us
gets appendicitis? We are so dog-gone safe it might kill us!”
“None of that’s going
to happen—but it might be adventurous. How many people do you know who have a
pet bear on the veranda?”
Jenn rolled her eyes.
“Broken arms and appendicitis are not adventurous.”
“Those won't happen.
We’re safe from whoever might come looking for you.”
“Me? Wow, I’m so
important but they—whoever they
are—haven’t figured out I’m a nobody. Why would anyone care about me?”
“If. I should have said if.”
Jenn picked at lint on
the blanket and cleared her throat. “Maybe I should be found. Montana is a bad
idea. I keep thinking this whole run and hide thing is crazy. It's wrong. You
talked about gut feelings—now I've told you mine.”
Slouching into the
sofa, Matt sighed. He studied the girl who had always been a thinker, and who
clearly had been doing some. “This is the only thing we can do for now. It's
the best thing—the best solution I’ve come up with—and close to perfect.”
She tugged the blanket
tighter around her shoulders. “Have you ever noticed that when you drop toast,
it always lands jelly side down? That’s the law of life, and no one can escape
it. In other words, if you don't want something to happen, it will, and it
won't happen the best way—it will happen the worst way. My gut feelings tell me
this place isn't perfect, no matter how much I scrub or vacuum or you swear it
is. It's telling me we're not safe here—screaming at me, in fact, that
something's wrong. I don't know what, but I know it in my gut.”
“I know it's not
completely perfect, but it's better than Dallas. Maybe you’d be safe back home,
but maybe not. Here it’s a given, but as a precaution, we should limit fires
because they're smoky. We'll keep the curtains drawn when the lantern is lit at
night and we'll run the generator only during emergencies, not to vacuum.”
“Vacuuming was an
emergency.”
“I know.”
Jenn's eyes roved the
shadowy room. He wondered where her mind wandered. He pushed it into a place he
was sure she didn't want to visit. “Always keep your gun handy and loaded. Put
it under your pillow when you sleep and in your pocket during the day.”
“I can't. Katie sleeps
with me.”
Matt leaned forward
and studied the girl who obviously was trying to not freak out. “Jenn, you're
right—this place isn't perfect. Satellite connections are rare. I don't know
what's going on in the outside world. I've sent messages through an associate,
but I'm not getting back many responses. I'm not one-hundred percent sure we
haven't been or can't be tracked.”
“Do we have to play
spy tonight?” she whispered.
“I don't play—I work.”
She rolled her eyes.
He silently watched
her for several minutes before saying, “I'll do everything in my power to keep
you and Katie safe—it's a promise. Stay packed in case we have to leave without
warning. Keep supplies for Katie in the Jeep.”
She made no comment,
only rubbed her chin against the blanket. Her mind probably shouted at him to
grow up and get a life.
“Hey, kid, don't
worry. This is only temporary. I'll try to return you to Nick soon.”
Her bottom lip
trembled. “Do you know what I've been going through? First someone dies at my
back door, then my best friend—you—fall off the deep end, and now I'm hiding
hundreds of miles from home. What's going to happen next?”
“What do you want?” he
softly asked.
She shook her head and
blinked several times, then finally smiled. “I just figured it out. Your friend
bribed you to bring me here. He promised to pay you a million bucks to clean up
this dump. You knew I was the only person on earth who could accomplish it, so
you kidnapped me and left me alone for a day to get it done properly. The only
thing left to clean are the windows. Where's the hidden camera and what's my
cut?”
Laughing, and relieved
that storm-cloud-Jenn wasn't going to burst, Matt leaned back on his sofa and
called, “Come on out boys—you’re busted, but keep that hidden camera rolling so
you catch her expression when I inform her she gets five-hundred grand and a
trip to Hawaii!”
Stillness dominated
the night.
Jenn finally laughed.
“Matt, I'm trying like crazy to understand you and everything else, but I'm
confused. Actually, I’m scared.”
“You're brave.” He
slowly stood up, muscles aching after hiking. He crossed the room and sat
beside his best friend's kid sister—his partner's wife—the girl he’d raised—and
placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “You and Katie will be
fine. Trust me.”
“The things you say
scare me—about you, about everything.”
“I’m a good guy—always
have been. You don't need to be afraid of me.” He pulled out his cell phone.
“Let's try something.” He turned it on and brought up text messaging. He
attempted to contact the office, but the link failed. He snapped his phone
shut. “I'll try to get a satellite signal later.”
Jenn slid out from
under his arm and stood up, clutching her blanket like a shield against dangers
worse than cold. “If you do, talk to Nick first. Ask if he's okay.”
“He's okay, Jenn.
He’s….”
One hand fluttered out
from under the blanket, stopping him. “Just do it.” She turned and disappeared
into the darkness above, taking her halo with her. A faint glow illuminated the
ceiling until she shut off the lantern.
Matt stared at the
blackness for a moment. The mountain's cold crept around him with icy fingers,
seeping deep into his heart. He finally pulled his covers around his shoulders
and hunkered down for another long night with a phone in one hand, his gun at
his side and little hope in his heart.
End Chapter 31
I'm having tons of fun catching up with Jenn and Matt on their adventure. I'm starting to wonder when some of the other characters I've mentioned will surface. Stay tuned (since I already know!). Oh, and comment if you'd like...
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