The Collapse A New Beginning Book 1Chapter 14
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I had collapsed into a chair in Irene's office - my thoughts in a jumble. In a clearer time my mind would have easily sorted this out but here I was now thinking the worst. Sam's reassurance that nothing was amiss was my life ring at the moment. Her parting words that — 'you have nothing to worry about, believe me, not about her anyway' — only added to my sense of confusion, especially considering the fact that Kari was here in the dispensary at this moment being examined.
I tried to calm myself — but the loss of Julie was just too recent. My mind was in a panic and my gut felt like it had a giant hand twisting my insides into a pretzel. My gut fears had usually ended up real and there was no way I could ignore them; irrational or not, they had to be dealt with.
As I fought to regain my balance my mind kept focusing on the horrific events surrounding of Julie's death. My guilt-ridden mind had often revisited that terrible incident, searching for some elusive clue, some key event, something that I should have seen, and something else I could have done, anything that could have prevented Julie's death. My rational mind realized that even with the new procedures in place I couldn't keep it from happening again if I couldn't understand exactly what I missed then.
Thinking back I remembered that the time preceding Julie's death had been euphoric, almost heady. Following months of hard work the second small class of aviators had graduated, Julie among them. She was rightly proud of her accomplishments and I was doubly proud of her. I had both the pride that a husband feels for his wife's accomplishments and the pride a teacher experiences when he has a student that he knows will surpass his own ability. I couldn't help but tell her of my feelings and we both had tears in our eyes as I pinned on her wings. Her love for flying was such that when we were flying together it was almost sexual. Our bond had strengthened in those last days of her pilot training to the point that the other wives had started teasing us about it.
It was a turbulent time of transition as our community grew beyond our small base at Whiting. The next community we added was Hurlburt Town, which was the former Hurlburt AFB. With Hurlburt Town so close to nearby Eglin AFB and with so many valuable military assets on that larger base we felt it necessary to create a small armed presence on Eglin. Thus the first security detachment was formed. Some of the original survivors found at Eglin AFB returned to Hurlburt Town and formed the nucleus of that group.
Almost as soon as Hurlburt Town had a bare minimum population we began to find large numbers of farmers and fishermen in many of the small bayous of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Large swaths of land there that had very sparse populations must have been ignored by whatever caused the disappearance of people during the collapse. It was decided that nearby Keesler AFB was a good location for the town that would become central to many of these survivors. Enough people from these areas had prior military experience to support their own self-defense force and form the second detachment which was stationed to protect the valuable military assets at the nearby Seabee base at Gulfport.
It was at this time that the renegades began to show up in the area. Air patrols of newly armed fighter aircraft fought off and mitigated the threat of the renegades so quickly and effectively that it was decided to place a single fighter aircraft on alert at each base.
Even before the settlement of Keesler was completed another area in rural eastern Alabama and southwestern Georgia was found that had a relatively large number of survivors. Those lumbermen and farmers living in this area became the nucleus of the settlement of Rucker Town on the fixed wing Cairns Army Airfield which was a part of the large Army training complex at Fort Rucker, Alabama. So many of the men in those areas were former members of the Army and National Guard who had seen recent action in Iraq and Afghanistan that the security detachments were increased and added to both Tyndall AFB south of Eglin and Kingsville NAS in Texas. These distances were so great that they put many of these soldiers in the detachments away from home for long periods at a time. It was decided at that point to rotate the detachments between the five bases with a rest period at the end of each twenty-week rotation.
All of this happened relatively quickly. Flight tempo was at an all time high as we trained flyers, searched for new survivors and provided logistic flights to the new towns and bases. It is often during such times that slip-ups occur. At the time Jacob Hill was picked up on a routine single survivor rescue nothing seemed out of the ordinary. After the fact we found that Jacob was one screwed up individual - a psychopath with a history of violent behavior.
Looking back on it after the fact I saw that conflict followed Jacob Hill wherever he went. First he was unhappy about his assignment and argued that he would be better suited working on small engines in the motor pool. Two days later the electricity for all of Rucker Town went down due to Jacob's inattention to detail on that job. An ass chewing by Lon Michaels, a retired Marine Sergeant Major who was the acting mayor of Rucker Town left Jacob red faced and spewing obscenities. He eventually apologized and was sent back to work. Nothing was thought of it as too much work and too few people meant that tempers often flared.
Unbeknownst to anyone Jacob started plotting his revenge after that ass chewing. I wasn't able to find the exact details of Jacob's action after that but during the next thirty days he managed to secure weapons, including several stun grenades stolen as the militia moved weapons stored at nearby Fort Rucker proper to a safer facility in Rucker Town.
I think Jacob first came across Julie during another spell of duty with the base militia. Jacob was part of a group towing army helicopters to a permanent storage area onboard Rucker Town and during one of these trips he may have crossed Julie's path as she flew a routine transport flight into the base. I wasn't able to find out why Jacob fixated on Julie but it is plain that for some reason revenge included her kidnapping.
I wasn't able to find the catalyst that caused Jacob to make his move when he did. Maybe he had been planning it all along or maybe he could see his opportunities slipping by as his time with the militia drew to a close. It is clear that he knew Julie was the standby pilot at base operations and that she was to cycle back to Whiting at the end of the week.
The timing of his actual move was excellent. Jacob approached Julie as she was driving the power cart to her aircraft for the daily pre-flight. Julie, friendly as ever, even stopped and gave him a ride out to the aircraft. I know that Jacob was seen helping her with the pre-flight which went by quickly. Julie's excitement about flying at that point was almost contagious and I'm sure she was excited to be preaching the gospel of the aviation squadron to a new acquaintance. Several people that were nearby saw an argument erupt as they finished the pre-flight. Before anyone could do anything Jacob swing the muzzle of the M-16 around and poined it at Julie.
I talked to everyone there and the next thing they saw was Jacob kicking the chocks out from under the wheels of the aircraft. I'm sure Julie must have thought of running, but where would she go? The concrete ramp was clear except for her aircraft, which was parked a hundred yards from the small operations building. I do know that she keyed the microphone of the small walkie-talkie in her hand to alert operations of the problem, and must have been unaware that her kidnapping was already being observed by the duty crew in the nearby building. Jacob, who must have been unaware that Julie had the walkie-talkie mike keyed was heard to say, "Get the fuck in the aircraft, bitch."
Those in the building heard Julie respond, "Jacob, be reasonable, where can we go? You know they're not going to let us just go flying off. As soon as we take off every pilot at Whiting is going to be in the air searching for us. They've scouted every airfield in six hundred miles and as soon as we land they'll know where we are."
At that point Jacob must have seen Julie holding the mike key because he responded, "Drop that fucking radio and get going, bitch. Get in the plane, I don't have all day. By the time they get anything in the air, we'll be back on the ground and under cover. Let's move it." After that Jacob was seen pushing the gun into Julie's ribs.
In the aftermath of what the New Times called the Battle of Tallahassee we debriefed fifteen people who had been prisoners of the renegade group. Eight of the prisoners were women who had been captured. Some of the women had been beaten and broken by their captors. They reacted automatically to directions and seemed to have no spirit left. Dr. Walling explained that although he was not a psychiatrist he had read of this happening to prisoners. He said given time they should...
Jan Branham brushed her honey-blonde hair out of her eyes. She had been dodging those others for so long that it was hard to remember that somewhere in her past she had been a student. She had worked so hard during seven of her 26 years towards her goal; a PhD in Industrial Engineering. The end had been in her sights when she finished her preliminary examination, the final step before her dissertation. That had felt so good that she had allowed her friends, Judy and Karen, to talk her into...
My day started early with a loud banging on our bedroom door. Someone must have pulled it closed again without taking the lock off. As I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2 AM I vowed that I was going to put a piece of duct tape across the latch on that damned door. Then through my mind's fog I heard Julie cry out, "Open up, and hurry!" There was a great deal of confusion as we all woke and made for the door at the same time. Julie was out of breath and almost frantic as she said,...
The bad thing about a weekday holiday is returning to work the day after. None of us had imbibed that much the day before; in fact as far as I knew none of the women had drunk at all, still it was hard getting up at 5:30. The flight over to NAS Pensacola in the Sabreliner VIP aircraft was less than 15 minutes. We were met by Chuck Swanson, commander of Det Two on the ramp. He was driving one of the Ford Explorers that we had modified to run off of the vegetable bio-diesel we were producing...
It was after midnight when Jan ventured out to find out what had happened. It had taken some time for her to convince Karen and Judy that it would be better if she went out alone. Over the past several weeks she had become proficient in moving about without being detected. She realized that part of the reason she had remained undetected was luck, but there was also a certain amount of skill involved in driving down darkened streets with no headlights and knowing when and where to quietly sit...
I woke up in our newly expanded quarters in what I called my cmsix bed because of its size. All of my wives except Kari had given me a puzzled look when I named the bed during the tour of our new quarters. Kari's wink let me know that I wasn't the only family member who had once read the tales of that lost Texas bard. Hell, I wouldn't even bet he was lost. If there were little green men responsible for the collapse he was probably aboard one of their ships arguing with them about the...
The remainder of the weekend seemed to zip by. Almost before I could enjoy it I found that Kari was shaking me awake at 1:30 AM. Still groggy and with my ass dragging I somehow made my way to the operations area for the brief where I downed my second cup of coffee. The flight we briefed was typical of the responsibilities we placed on our very young pilots. Norma Harrison, not quite 19 years old, had developed into a crack pilot with over 250 hours in the A-10 Warthog. Because of her...
I awoke before the alarm and lay in my bed pinned in by my bevy of beauties. As I listened to the repetitive resonance of their breathing and felt the soft curves pressed against me, I almost drifted back into a pleasant slumber. The only thing distracting me from my return to blissful slumber was the irritating pressure on my near-bursting bladder from someone's knee. I groaned as I fought unsuccessfully to find a position without this contact. As I would move from one knee it seemed almost...
Monday birthed in the midst of an old-fashioned fall thunderstorm. The scarcity of jet contrails and the lack of industrial soot and ozone from the steel plants in Birmingham made the skies appear a deeper blue at times, but the weather followed the same patterns that had existed for millennia in northwest Florida. A panhandle gully washer in early spring or late fall could be such that it caused the rivers and streams to rise and overflow their banks. Whiting was normally immune to the...
I woke up the next day with my morning wood spooned against the soft curves of one of the most beautiful women I had ever met. I knew that I had to get moving as we had much we needed to accomplish and yet I had to fight the somnolence produced by the siren's call of Irene's beautiful body. With some effort I extricated myself from this most languorous position. I went through my morning ritual in the attached bathroom. As I stared at myself in the mirror the person looking back seemed to...
Day Eleven: Wednesday A large crowd greeted us the next morning. Sheila drafted Lana, Laura and Julie to help prepare breakfast. I met early with Tom and Jim who both let me know right off the bat that several of the other men seemed curious about our future plans. Tom looked at Jim and back at me as if he was speaking for both men and said, "Both of us let them know in no uncertain terms that you're our leader. We explained what we've done so far and as best we could what we plan to do....
I awoke to the sound of a light rain on the window next to the bed on this early Sunday morning. The first thing I noticed was that Kari and Julie were already up. I grabbed a clean set of clothes and headed for the bathroom. I figured the rain would taper off in a bit and allow us to get in our flying. One of the things we did without, after the collapse, was meteorological information. I used to joke about how often the TV weatherman missed the forecast, but that forecast, poor as it...
After an uninterrupted night's sleep I awoke to the sound of rain drops hitting the pavement outside our window. It was reassuring for me to hear such an ordinary sound in a world so obviously different than it had been just a short week ago. I normally wake up and hit the deck running in the morning, but this day, for some reason, I pulled Julie close to me and just lay there thinking about the strangeness of it all. A week ago I was a nondescript player who had little to live for except...
Day Four: Wednesday I was wrestling with an octopus that was holding me under water where I couldn't breathe when I felt something pulling on my shoulder trying to help me return to the surface. I couldn't get my hands up to touch my benefactor, so I struggled even harder against the forces trying to pull me to the bottom. That's when I awoke in a sweat. Kari was shaking me, trying to wake me from my nightmare. In the dim light from the bedside digital alarm clock I could see the concern...
It seemed as if I had just closed my eyes when I awoke to the blaring buzz of the alarm at 4:30 AM. The sudden transition from sleep to wide awake was like a bucket of icy water on my psyche. For a moment I reached for the alarm clock with malice aforethought. I sure missed being woken up by the gentle music of the radio. Alas, radio stations were no more. Suddenly the reason for the early wake-up call came to me and broke through the lingering narcosis that half-shrouded my mind. As I...
Okay, I know you're waiting for me to tell you about how I woke up with three women in bed with me and in fact I think I had some dreams about that judging from the state of the bed covers. I was mighty disappointed when I woke up needing to pee at four in the morning and found I was alone in the bed. I went to the toilet in the adjoining bathroom and stood there thinking of how much more enjoyable it had been the morning before and how neglected I felt. Where had I gone wrong? Still, I...
The next morning for some reason I awoke unusually early, before sunrise, and decided to sit outside and wait for everyone else to arise. As I walked out the dogs barked an excited greeting. To keep them quiet I went over, knelt and petted them. They repaid my effort by giving my face a tongue bath. It had been quite a while since I had time to give the dogs more than a passing glance and as I filled their water dishes I tried to focus my mind on the day's events. The first thing I saw was...
No doubt about it, we needed a larger bed. I again awoke with the pressure of Kari's knee on my bladder. I recognized that we had the room for a king size bed, if we removed the nightstand and some other items. Yet this small need seemed so insignificant compared to everything else that I loathed bringing it up. I laughed when I thought that Jim would put it on his 'A' list if I did. He worked so well as the leader of our foraging team and had amazed me with the items he found on his first...
Although the military defeat of the renegades in Jacksonville was a three day operation it took us three weeks of careful scouting to make contact with all of the singles and small groups in that city. Many of them were hiding from that same group and were a bit skittish about meeting strangers. It took patience and some courage on the part of the militia to even initiate contact. No shots were fired but during several stand-offs the situation became quite touchy. Most of these loners were...
I slept through our normal muster time on the flight line the next morning. Tuesday had been a 24 hour workday ending at about two in the morning. I would have slept longer except for the movement of the bed as several of my wives got up to answer the call of nature. I looked at the clock and it was half past eight, which was well into my normal work day. Normally I wake up full of energy, raring to go, but today I felt lethargic, as if I had not slept at all. Responsibility is a hard habit...
For the second morning in a row I woke up early wedged between Irene and Kari. This time there was no knee on pressed against my bladder and no urgent reason to leave my comfortable confines. I guess most married men know that one of the joys of marriage is the wonderful feeling of being snuggled close to your mate. For me this pleasure was multiplied threefold and on our second night sleeping together we seemed to have each discovered our place in the nest. My hand, seemingly of its own...
The image of the naked translucent creature rapidly cleared from Shem 553's mind as the third harmonic tone sounded announcing the impending arrival of an individual of importance. Shem 553's olfactory appendage hardened as the last molecules of the psychotropic stimulant were cleared from his system. About the same time his six eyes regained their ability to individually focus, he could hear the muted shuffle of the appendages of his dedicated clone-body, Shem 554, approaching. Shem 553,...
One thing about sleeping packed tightly with five women is that I've found that at least one of them will need to get up for some reason during the night. That doesn't normally bother me as I am a fairly heavy sleeper. I did notice it when both Lana and Laura got up at the same time, since I had been sleeping between the two of them. I couldn't seem to get back to sleep and lay there wondering if this was an extension of women always going to the bathroom in pairs when you take them out to...
The next morning I awoke hot and sticky. I had slept in my shorts and the two women slept in their only items of clothing, the bikinis they were wearing the day before. Because of the lack of air conditioning and the humid climate the top sheets and other bed clothing had been tossed off the bed during the night. The sheet we slept on was soaked with sweat and each of us was covered by a fine sheen of perspiration. I woke first and immediately headed for the toilet and afterwards decided that...
I awoke early with an intense pressure on my bladder. I was wedged between Irene and Kari and at least part of the problem was Kari's knee which had worked its way up under me. As much as I loved these women and wanted every night to be with each of them, at that moment I realized that we had to find a larger bed. Kari awoke as I moved out from under her and mumbled something that sounded like, "Mom just a few more minutes, please." I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom where I...
Day Ten: Tuesday I woke up feeling like I had slept late but was surprised when I saw seven o'clock on the bedside clock. Groggy as I was I knew I needed to get started on all the work that I had planned for the day. I awoke my still slumbering brides so we could walk out to breakfast together. Hopefully Jim would be awake and I could find out if he knew the other 'Agents of the Antichrist'. Knowing Kari was a sound sleeper I awakened her first by teasing her nipples and kissing her neck....
I felt a movement in the bed and shifted to look at the clock. As my eyes focused I realized that it was 2:15 in the morning. I turned over to see Kari just squeezing into bed. I looked at her silhouette and spoke as she snuggled up to me, "I guess either I've lost my charm, or you've found something better." Even her laugh was beautiful. Then she ran her fingers gently across my face and asked, "What makes you say that, dear?" My breathing quickened at her touch. I kissed her fingers...
Monday, Monday, Can't Trust that Day. The old song seemed to sum up my feelings as I again woke earlier than my mates. Sunday was a long day and Monday seemed fated to be even longer. I had mixed feelings about having declared myself the leader. I knew that I could easily be swamped with the day-to-day details of running the base to the point that nothing would get accomplished. My hope was that nothing would change. As it was, Sheila was in charge of the physical side of things, Tom...
Starting back to School after the holidays was ok with no issues. Classes started off with reviews from before the holiday break and the introduction of some new material. Ellie meanwhile had made my table her own, which was causing some drama and a lot of snide comments from Jenny. I just didn’t know what that girl’s problem was. Kickboxing on Tuesday was nice. I knew I was going to be sore but getting back to it felt good. Master Boripat wasn’t going to let go the notion of me fighting...
.a{fill:none;stroke:gray;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:3px;} Bottom Béla Book 5: New BeginningsChapter 1Copyright 2004 Revised 2013
.a{fill:none;stroke:gray;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:3px;} Bottom Béla Book 5: New BeginningsChapter 8Copyright 2004 Revised 2013
My leg was getting to the point that I could go all out again during my morning jog. As I came in the door, Mom shouted out to me as she was leaving. “Barnim.” “Yes, mother.” “Seeing as you are an adult now, there’s another thing that will be fully your responsibility to take care off, your laundry. So please don’t leave your laundry laying by the washing machine unless you’re in the process of doing it.” She then pointed to a laundry bag on the floor. “No problem.” I carried the...
Christmas Eve day was pretty quiet, and since Christmas fell on a Sunday, the NFL had moved their games to Saturday. Mom and Grandmother were getting dinner ready for both days. Grandfather and I were watching football while Randy was stuck in his dungeon wrapping Christmas presents. We were forced to watch the Atlanta Falcons playing due to TV blackout; they were the local team and played the same time as the Bears. I went upstairs at the end of the 1st quarter to grab my wallet. Sitting...
I woke up and decided to take a walk as being on vacation didn’t mean that I could be totally lazy. After getting back, I got cleaned up before going down into the kitchen. Grabbing a bowl of cereal, I sat while Mom was already working on Thanksgiving dinner. Rinsing my dishes off, I turned to her. “You want some help with that?” “Nope. I know you want to watch the Bears game. So, skedaddle.” “Alright.” I went to my room to watch football as I had a decent 32-inch TV. The Bears game came...
I don't believe in destiny Or the guiding hand of fate I don't believe in forever Or love as a mystical state I don't believe in the stars or the planets Or angels watching from above But I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love And make it last... Rush, from the album Roll the Bones It was June 10th, and the memories were as sharp and true today as they were five months ago. The ones who didn't understand said that time heals all wounds. Alex didn't...
Something has been taken from deep inside of me The secret I've kept locked away no one can ever see Wounds so deep they never show they never go away Like moving pictures in my head for years and years they've played Linkin Park, from the album Meteora Alex watched as Emily left; still reeling from confrontation, he smiled and really thought he had turned a corner with her. Outside of the problems he had with Sheri and Allison Williams years ago he never had problems with girls, in...
Waking up on the 5th, I could only imagine the hassle that the first leg of the trip was going to be. It would probably put me in the mindset of never having any kids. It was a major production getting the two of them ready to go, and I was actually surprised that Randy wasn’t going to see his kids off. You could see Mom was pissed off about it from the anger seething on her face. We got to the airport just before 11am for the 12:15 flight. It didn’t take long to get checked in, then we...
To Alex, the next few weeks were tough, as tough as the days just after Lisa had died. But, true to his word, his Dad did talk to the HR Representative when he went back into the office after the 4th of July holiday. Unfortunately, they did not have counseling as part of their benefits package, but the representative did provide a number for a counselor in the area. As his Dad progressed through his counseling, he slowly came out of his depression. The one sticky point for him was his...
Molly watched her new friends drive away. When they were out of sight, she turned back to her mother. She stepped back in to her mother's arms and gave her a hug. Stopping the hug, she looked her mom in the face. "Mom, how about pizza tonight?" Kathleen looked at her baby, and she felt complete again as she realized the hole in her heart was once again filled. "What ever you want sweetie, the number for Pizza Hut is on the fridge like always." Shaking her head, she replied, "No mom,...
I was woken up to a lot of weight on my leg; it hurt like hell. “Wake up Barnim.” “My fucking leg! Get the fuck off of me!” I heard feet hit the floor and someone run off amid a torrent of crying and sobbing. I rolled over and popped some aspirin from a bottle on the nightstand. Sitting up, Grandmother came stomping heavily into the room. “What the hell did you do to that little girl?” “She jumped on my leg and I responded appropriately by cussing a lot.” “You go right in there and...
Get up, get back on your feet You're the one they can't beat and you know it Come on, let's see what you've got Just take your best shot and don't blow it Styx, from the album Grand Illusion Sunday morning was a dark day, as the sun could not break through the clouds that hung low over Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Alex rolled over onto his back and smiled broadly to himself thinking of yesterday's events. He shook his head in disbelief that yesterday morning he was able to...
Well, I know a lot you guys don?t find Janeway hot and sexy but I happen to do ?Well, I know a lot you guys don?t find Janeway hot and sexy but I happen to do. Well when I was a younger man and she was younger. But I still find her kind of sexy for a mature woman. So sue me for using my talent to have a little fun with what I consider a hot older babe. I enjoyed writing it. How you enjoy reading it.???????????????????????????????? ??? ??????????????? CAPTAIN JANEWAY CAPTAIN?S...
If you need assistance or if all you need is love There's no point in hiding, tell me what you're frightened of You've got a friend, just look at yourself Don't be afraid, just look at yourself Uriah Heep, from the album Look at Yourself At first Alex had been proud of himself for discovering the truth that his Dad tried to hide, but as the days went by, and his Dad had slipped into a depression for letting his family down, his pride subsided, and he felt bad at what he had done. He...
I got woken up by a bag of damn frozen peas being placed onto my face. “Get up, it’s time for breakfast. You have to take us to the airport later.” “Yes, Grandmother. Are you guys all packed and ready to go?” “Almost. We’ll be ready.” I got out of bed as she left, holding the bag of peas to my face but had to set it down as I got dressed and ready. Getting to the kitchen, it was a good breakfast of eggs and bacon. I had taken the day off work, so I just relaxed on the recliner afterwards...
Waking up, I felt something that told me my body was halting its growth. I don’t quite know what it was, but I knew that I was at the point where there was no more coming. It was 9 Aug, whatever the Agen did took less than two months to complete. I was now 6’5, 255lbs and built really well. I was benching about 300 lbs easily, though on the rubber band machine. Doing 10 pull ups wasn’t really much of a problem. My run time had plateaued at about 21 minutes, but that was without really...
Arriving to school the next day, I wondered what the fallout would be. As I walked to the cafeteria to wait for the homeroom bell, I was stopped by the assistant principal, Mr. Martin. Seemed he had a few choice words for me. “Badzinski, what are you doing here?” “Well sir. I didn’t want to be late for school.” “You got into a fight, you should be suspended. So again, what are you doing here?” “I defended myself from a student who just a moment earlier was bullying another student. I...
The next 3 days were a blur of boredom, chores, and school. The only bright spot was a surprise call from Ellie on Sunday. I didn’t recall giving her the house number, though I could have. “Barnim, it’s so nice to hear your voice.” “It’s nice to hear your voice as well. So, how’s your day going.” Ellie must have heard the questioning in my voice. “I’m sorry if I overstepped Barnim. I actually had to make a couple of calls to get your phone number.” “It’s ok. Thing is I’m very particular...
Going through my morning routine, I wasn’t looking forward to work. There were two trucks to unload and it was supposed to be 92F with 100% percent humidity. When the first truck showed up at 8am, it was already 80F, but with the heat index it was 88F. The load of fertilizer and grass seed was going to be a pain in the ass as a few of the pallets had shifted and they would need to be re-stacked. Getting the first 3 pallets off was easy, I then started fixing the screwed-up pallets. The back...
I woke up in bed with a groggy recollection of how I got there. Turning over the clock read 10am. Getting out of bed and dressing, I was still a bit drowsy even with getting up so late. Walking in the kitchen, mom and Erin were sitting at the table. “Barnim, I thought you were going to get me a present?” “Well, seeing as you have no patience whatsoever, let me go get it for you.” Mom took a long hard look at me, then said “I’m going to make you some pancakes, then we’re going to have a...
So, it was pointed out to me in the editing process that if I was going to put untranslated Polish into the story, then I needed to do something. What was suggested was to add it at the end of the chapter. So going forward, anything with an asterisk will have the word or phrase with the translation at the end of the chapter. The week started pretty good. At school, I was talking to my teachers trying to figure out what my grades were looking like. It seemed that I was going to have about a...
I don't wanna change the world I don't want the world to change me Ozzy Osbourne, from the album No More Tears The day after the get together with the Millers, Alex gathered a light breakfast of toast, a glass of orange juice, and a banana, and walked outside to eat on the deck. His parents had left earlier for a meeting with the lawyer, something about the house, he thought. Left on his own he decided to eat breakfast outside; they didn't have a deck at the last house, so he decided...
"I called you all here to announce the opening of our new venture," Macario called out over the little group of Earthers. "Paleo-Hunt, Incorporated!" A smattering of applause greeted his announcement. Amongst the group attending his grand opening, though, there was more confusion than approval in their faces. Frank decided to help his friend out by asking what was on everyone's mind; "What's a Pay Leo hunt, Mac?" "Anything it wants!" Macario laughed. "No. Actually, folks, the...
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”Anthea looked up at her mum as she sat down at the dining table. “Nothing is wrong,” Anthea responded watching as her mum hurriedly dried her hands with a tea towel.“Is the baby okay? Are you okay? Is Jack okay?” she asked as her husband came into the room and pulled up a seat at the table.“We’re all fine Mum,” she responded exasperated with her mum’s anxiety. “I have something to tell you.”“Sit down Helen,” her dad snapped. “Give the lass a chance to speak.”Anthea...
My morning workouts were getting better as it seemed to be getting easier as time went on. My stamina was increasing as it was getting less taxing as things went along. The drive to school was a long blow by blow of Ellie’s dress shopping. I was just glad that I was saved from that hell. The day went by as usual. Some days just kind of flow by with no rhyme or reason. I used the bathroom excuse to get to JROTC early. I knocked on 1stSgt Gibbs door and got the usual “In”. He looked up from...
Waking up Sunday, I went on a morning run, to spend time contemplating everything that was going on. The ordeal with Dick and the bogus assault charges was going to be troublesome for a while. What had me just as worried was Ellie suddenly not accosting me or calling the house; at least from what I knew. The issue with mom was what it was. Mom hadn’t been bugging me in a while, and that was somewhat disconcerting. I had made my stance known and it was her move now. The rest of my life was...
The weekend was rather quiet, other than a slight discussion with Randy. We’d moved the old desk out of my room and into the rec room upstairs before the delivery guys showed up and dropped off my new desk and chair. The new desk was awesome. It was made out of real maple and oak, none of that particle board crap. It had four pieces, the top which was like 60lbs, and a kind of lattice design of oak and maple. Then there were two kind of drawer towers that were the supports. There was also a...
From 'The Autobiography of Miss Louisa Harper' ~ "The summer of 1890 was to be the start of my new life. At fifteen years of age, I was to be presented to society and I had expected that I would then be considered an adult. That, at long last, I would have a say in my own life, my own destiny. That was not to be, though. I was still just a doll to be dressed and used as decoration in the home of my powerful parents. I was made up and dressed and used to impress the visitors who came...
Uther By Ellie Dauber (c) 2006 Introduction According to the legends of King Arthur, Merlin changed Uther Pendragon into a double for Duke Gorlois, so he could spend the night with Ygraine, the Duke's wife. Ygraine and Gorlois had three daughters: Elaine, Morgause, and Morgan le Faye. During their time together, Ygraine became pregnant with the child who was to become King Arthur. Uther's men killed Gorlois that same night. This is my TG (of course) version of what...