Running:
I never know what I'll see when I run, even though I regularly take the same routes. Because I have to look at the ground--you know--judge the distance between me and a pothole, not trip over orange cones, not stumble over trash cans, determine what is abandoned cables wire or just a stick and not trip, etc., I see a lot of things below knee level. Baby binkies, pencils and pens, lost keys, banana peels with tire marks, a fried egg and toast, you name it. Sometimes the litter makes me laugh. Not so much when it's McDonald drink cups and assorted trash.
Writing:
A story is a story, right? Sure, but it's more fun to create if it's littered with twists and turns and something unexpected around each corner. Writing tip: Include surprises. We may dislike drama in our best friend's life, but crave it in the protagonist's. Get her up a tree in a hail storm with wolves howling around the base and toss in some lightning. Yesssss! We love that kind of drama. And then we knock the tree over in a flash flood just at the flashing lights come around the corner and the handsome hero is nearing in his firetruck? Come on! Give her a break! Nope. Make her swim.
I love polka dots--love, love, love! So when I found them scattered on the ground during a morning walk I stooped down to pick a few up to discover their origins. Mother Nature lovingly had strewn them in my path. So many smiles on a cloudy day!
Secrets at Midnight
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 29
“You okay?” Matt
whispered. She didn't reply so he pushed inside the cabin and bolted the door
behind him before lowering his pack. “I didn't mean to be gone so long. Sorry.”
He stepped past her. “I'm starving.”
Jenn grabbed his arm,
halting his progress. “Take off your
shoes.”
He squatted and untied
his shoes and pulled them off.
“Don't take another
step if there's a speck of dirt anywhere on you.”
He began unbuckling
his belt, but Jenn stopped him. “Not in here.” She unbolted the door, opened it
and shoved him out, then pushed it shut and locked it again.
“You've seen a guy in
his shorts,” he called out.
“Yeah, but I don't
want to tonight,” came her muffled reply in the darkness.
He stared at the thick
wood and shook his head. “I'm not out to flash you.”
“And I'm not out to
mop the floor again.”
He heaved a sigh. “All
of my things are inside. Toss something out.”
A moment later the
door opened and his bag landed at his feet. Jenn shut the door again, but he
didn't hear the bolt move. He quickly changed, then pushed the door open and
stepped out of the cold. “What's for dinner?”
“Tuna sandwiches.
Yours is in the cooler. Bananas are on the table.”
Matt turned on his
flashlight and found super. He sat on the sofa to eat and looked around. He
caught the puffiness around Jenn's eyes, but said nothing. “Where are you
sleeping tonight?” he asked instead.
She shrugged. “All the
sheets and blankets are damp, the floor upstairs is filthy and the Jeep is
uncomfortable. I'll probably stay up all night.”
“Try this sofa. It's not bad.”
“Try this sofa. It's not bad.”
“I'm sure there are
mice droppings between the cushions. There's a vacuum in the closet, but no
power. Smart, huh?”
“You want to vacuum
tonight?”
“No. I want a bubble
bath and a massage and everything else I can't have, but that's nothing new.”
Matt leaned back into
the sofa and sighed. “I know. I'd like those things too.” He stood up. “I'll
check on the bubble bath problem in the morning. In the meantime, I'll sleep on
this sofa unless you claim it, in which case, I'll take that one.”
“Which is best?”
He shrugged. “We’ve
only been here one night so I’ve only checked out this one.”
Jenn ran her hand over
one cushion. “I'll take this one, but I'm sure I'll have to be deliced when I
get home.”
“Do you need your
bags?”
“No, I'm roughing it.”
He headed for the door
anyway. “Don't lock me out.”
When he got back, Jenn
took the flashlight and bags to the bathroom. She emerged a few minutes later
wearing two nightgowns over a pair of pajamas and her feet bundled in multiple
pairs of socks. She stuffed her jeans inside a t-shirt for a pillow and huddled
on her chosen sofa with Katie in her arms.
“Do you want my
sweatshirt,” he asked.
“No. I'm tough,” she
murmured.
He laid it across her
shoulders and tucked his spare t-shirts around her legs and feet.
End Chapter 29
I've got good news and bad news. First the good news: We're closing in on my novel's halfway point. Yippie! Now the bad news: busyness in my life is about to crank up ten notches. I promise I'll post as many chapters as I can in the next few days, and I'll still try to reach my finish goal date of Thanksgiving or the end of November.
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