(9:26 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Trouble ahead! Stormy waters!
My hand hurts still. I didn't sleep well. Worse really, I couldn't get to sleep forever and then when I finally did, it was then that I didn't sleep well.
Then I woke up with my head hurting from not sleeping well and my neck hurting, probably from sleeping wrong. And my hand still hurting. I may need to rest it for the day. That would be a big set back. But I can't afford to wreck my hand for this little bit of fun that is the National Novel Writing Month.
I may have to give up on my goal of sisty thousand wonderful words and settle for the more mundane fifty thousand run of the mill words. Push, push, push!
(9:34 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
(9:47 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Some breaks are necessary. Ah yes, but some necessary breaks get unnecessarily prolonged. This was one such but it is over now.
However, although it is over, it has given birth to an idea which even now tugs at me, asking me to side track myself and write a little program to write a book of progressions for me. I think I may have to give in and take a shot at it sometime today.
***
Sarah spent the night in her sleeping bag on the beach just north of the Sebastian Inlet.
She woke up to the sunrise over the ocean and got up and stretched. She went for a walk. North for a few miles and then turned around.
On the way back, she saw something glinting down at the water's edge.
(10:19 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
***
You are not going to believe this next bit gentle reader and neither did Sarah despite the evidence before her eyes and in her hands.
***
She went down and picked up a half of a gold doubloon. She was floored at the coincidence. And looking at it closely, she was even more floored at the possibility of an even greater coincindece.
***
One to put the powers of some people around here to suspend their disbelief to the ultimate test perhaps? W. W. N. N. S. N. M. S. N. M.
***
She jogged back to her stuff and packed it all up and headed back to her car.
When she got there, she took the half coin from yesterday from the spot up under the dash where she had hidden it and brought yesterday's piece and today's piece together. This was not possible! And yet the two halves fit together to form an perfect, imperfect whole.
Something was scratched into the back of the coin. An F on one half and an H on the other half and a lightening bolt underlining both letters, spanning both halfs and fitting perfectly together.
Not possible. Here in her hands. Not possible.
(10:28 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
***
Fulcrum woke up on the porch when the rooster crowed just before the sun came up. He was groggy and dirty but happy. he had dug around in the sand again for a couple of hours last night and, while he had not found his intect cache, he had found one of the silver coins from it.
So this morning he had two questions to ponder.
Would he find the rest of his cache?
What could he do to turn this silver coin into modern money? He had a feeling that it would not be a good idea to go into town and try and spend it as is.
And then a third question that could use and answer occured to him...
How had this coin been seperated from the rest of his cache?
(10:43 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
***
Over an hour of sputtering effort and just over a quarter of the day's absolute minimum or an eighth of the proper day's output. That would mean well over eight hours to get where I need to be at this pace gentle reader. No way! No how! I will either have to pick up the pace or cut back on the goal or both. I will hope for the former and, if I do that, be OK with having to accept the latter.
***
(10:53 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Fulcrum wonderd about asking the man who he had crewed for yesterday if he had any ideas but he really could not afford to talk to anyone about this and that might set off an unfortunate chain of events. And he really did not need such a chain in his life now.
He decided to bury the coin again somehwere out of the way and save it as an insurance policy. He could always melt it down and then try moving it if need be. That would make his being found out a bit less likely he thought.
In the mean time, he would try and earn a bit here and a bit there at odd jobs and keep any eye out for any safe but less honourable income opportunities. He was a pirate after all and he had not been doing too good a job of being disreputable since he had come to this time.
***
Laundry boy, laundry boy
What you gonna do
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Don't think too much of you
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Please don't hang around
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Leave without a sound
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Hot whites if you please
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Cold nights on your knees
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Why'd you go away
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Please come back and stay
Laundry boy, laundry boy
What you gonna do
Laundry boy, laundry boy
Don't care too much of you
***
(11:01 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Pick up the pace boy
Pick up the pieces
Pick up the pace boy
Pick up the pieces
Pieces of eight boy
Pick up the pieces
Pieces of eight boy
Pick up the pieces
Never too late boy
Pick up the pieces
Never too late boy
Pick up the pieces
***
(11:09 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Then again Fulcrum thought it might just be best to keep his nose clean in this new world until he knew more about how it operated. It was one thing to be a pirate in your own world and where you had your pirate mates to back you up, it might be quite another thing altogether to try and live the pirate life in a strange world where you were all alone and understood next to nothing. Then again, people were people, weren't they? Perhaps he should start looking for and hanging out in the places where people like he had been in his old life gathered for relaxation and reinforcement.
That might be an avenue he should pursue. Nah, stay out of trouble for a while.
***
(11:13 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Sarah checked back in to the surfer motel on the beach where she had stayed a few days before. She asked for and got the same room.
She put her bag in the room and hid the two pieces of the coin in seperate spots and stripped off and got in the shower intending to take a long and hot one.
(11:17 am Sat Nov 22, 2008)
(12:23 pm Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, I gave in. Here is the first stab at the program I mentioned that I think will work. It is running now and we will see how it does.
***
#! /usr/bin/perl
use strict;
#
# progressions.pl
# copyright 2008 by drew Roberts
# gpl v2 or later
#
# this program will write the word one to a file
# then it will enter this loop
# it will count the words in the file,
# convert the number to words and a append those
# words to the file
# it will contine the loop, adding to the file
# until a set number of words is in the file
use Lingua::EN::Numbers qw(num2en num2en_ordinal);
my $file = '';
$file = 'progressions.txt';
open(INFO, ">$file");
print INFO "One.\n";
print INFO "\n";
close(INFO);
my $wordno = 1;
my $totwords = 60000;
my $wordtext = '';
while ($wordno <= $totwords)
{
# $wordno = words in progrssions.txt
$wordno = (split /\s+/, `wc -w progressions.txt`)[0];
print "Words so far: $wordno\n";
# convert numerical word to words.
$wordtext = num2en($wordno);
print "Words = $wordtext\n";
open(INFO, ">>$file"); # Open for appending
print INFO "$wordtext\n\n";
close(INFO);
}
***
It is probably wildly inefficient. I think for one thing I should not be opening and closing the file so much. I think I may just open it at the start and close it at the end next time and see how that looks.
After this run, I will make the changes and see how the new one seems to work.
***
I am inching up towards one thousand and five hundred words now gentle reader and that is a good thing. I has been a lot of time spent at it though.
Granted, I am not writing the whole time exactly, but by the same token, I am not able to go off and do other things I might like to do so that while it is true I am not writing, I am still sort of devoting the time to writing.
***
(12:35 pm Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Well, I got through the run. There may be a little issue with the loop ending but I will have to sort that bit another day. Now I will test the speed up possible with the open and close issues if any.
***
#! /usr/bin/perl
use strict;
#
# progressions1.pl
# copyright 2008 by drew Roberts
# gpl v2 or later
#
# this program will write the word one to a file
# then it will enter this loop
# it will count the words in the file,
# convert the number to words and a append those
# words to the file
# it will contine the loop, adding to the file
# until a set number of words is in the file
use Lingua::EN::Numbers qw(num2en num2en_ordinal);
my $file = '';
$file = 'progressions1.txt';
open(INFO, ">$file");
print INFO "One.\n";
print INFO "\n";
my $wordno = 1;
my $totwords = 60000;
my $wordtext = '';
while ($wordno <= $totwords)
{
# $wordno = words in progrssions1.txt
$wordno = (split /\s+/, `wc -w progressions1.txt`)[0];
print "Words so far: $wordno\n";
# convert numerical word to words.
$wordtext = num2en($wordno);
print "Words = $wordtext\n";
print INFO "$wordtext\n\n";
}
close(INFO);
***
Seems faster from what I can tell. I may put some timers on the front of each to see if what seems to be is.
***
(12:44 pm Sat Nov 22, 2008)
When this run is done, I will compare the two files produced to see if they are the same. I fully expect them to be, but I want to be sure in any case.
***
Hmmmm. Perhaps I spoke too soon on it appearing faster. The shell out to wc may be an issue. I wonder if I should try and count the words in perl itself. I will look into that.
***
(12:49 pm Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Looks like thay are the same:
diff progressions.txt progressions1.txt
produces no output. Horay!
***
Now let's see a bit of what the file looks like shall we?
***
One.
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen
twenty
twenty-one
twenty-two
twenty-three
twenty-four
twenty-five
twenty-six
twenty-seven
twenty-eight
twenty-nine
thirty
thirty-one
thirty-two
thirty-three
thirty-four
thirty-five
thirty-six
thirty-seven
thirty-eight
thirty-nine
forty
forty-one
forty-two
forty-three
forty-four
forty-five
forty-six
forty-seven
forty-eight
forty-nine
fifty
fifty-one
fifty-two
fifty-three
fifty-four
fifty-five
fifty-six
fifty-seven
fifty-eight
fifty-nine
sixty
sixty-one
sixty-two
sixty-three
sixty-four
sixty-five
sixty-six
sixty-seven
sixty-eight
sixty-nine
seventy
seventy-one
seventy-two
seventy-three
seventy-four
seventy-five
seventy-six
seventy-seven
seventy-eight
seventy-nine
eighty
eighty-one
eighty-two
eighty-three
eighty-four
eighty-five
eighty-six
eighty-seven
eighty-eight
eighty-nine
ninety
ninety-one
ninety-two
ninety-three
ninety-four
ninety-five
ninety-six
ninety-seven
ninety-eight
ninety-nine
one hundred
one hundred and two
one hundred and six
one hundred and ten
one hundred and fourteen
one hundred and eighteen
one hundred and twenty-two
one hundred and twenty-six
one hundred and thirty
one hundred and thirty-four
one hundred and thirty-eight
one hundred and forty-two
one hundred and forty-six
one hundred and fifty
one hundred and fifty-four
one hundred and fifty-eight
one hundred and sixty-two
one hundred and sixty-six
one hundred and seventy
one hundred and seventy-four
one hundred and seventy-eight
one hundred and eighty-two
one hundred and eighty-six
one hundred and ninety
one hundred and ninety-four
one hundred and ninety-eight
two hundred and two
two hundred and six
two hundred and ten
two hundred and fourteen
two hundred and eighteen
two hundred and twenty-two
two hundred and twenty-six
two hundred and thirty
two hundred and thirty-four
two hundred and thirty-eight
two hundred and forty-two
two hundred and forty-six
two hundred and fifty
two hundred and fifty-four
two hundred and fifty-eight
two hundred and sixty-two
two hundred and sixty-six
two hundred and seventy
two hundred and seventy-four
two hundred and seventy-eight
two hundred and eighty-two
two hundred and eighty-six
two hundred and ninety
two hundred and ninety-four
two hundred and ninety-eight
three hundred and two
three hundred and six
three hundred and ten
three hundred and fourteen
three hundred and eighteen
three hundred and twenty-two
three hundred and twenty-six
three hundred and thirty
three hundred and thirty-four
three hundred and thirty-eight
three hundred and forty-two
three hundred and forty-six
three hundred and fifty
three hundred and fifty-four
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three hundred and sixty-six
three hundred and seventy
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five hundred and two
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one thousand four hundred and seventy
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one thousand five hundred and twenty-two
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one thousand five hundred and forty
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one thousand six hundred and sixteen
one thousand six hundred and twenty-two
one thousand six hundred and twenty-eight
one thousand six hundred and thirty-four
one thousand six hundred and forty
one thousand six hundred and forty-six
one thousand six hundred and fifty-two
one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight
one thousand six hundred and sixty-four
one thousand six hundred and seventy
one thousand six hundred and seventy-six
one thousand six hundred and eighty-two
one thousand six hundred and eighty-eight
one thousand six hundred and ninety-four
one thousand seven hundred
one thousand seven hundred and four
one thousand seven hundred and ten
one thousand seven hundred and sixteen
one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two
one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight
one thousand seven hundred and thirty-four
one thousand seven hundred and forty
one thousand seven hundred and forty-six
one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two
one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight
one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four
one thousand seven hundred and seventy
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four
one thousand eight hundred
one thousand eight hundred and four
one thousand eight hundred and ten
one thousand eight hundred and sixteen
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight
one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four
one thousand eight hundred and forty
one thousand eight hundred and forty-six
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four
one thousand eight hundred and seventy
one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six
one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two
one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight
one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four
one thousand nine hundred
one thousand nine hundred and four
one thousand nine hundred and ten
one thousand nine hundred and sixteen
one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two
one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight
one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four
one thousand nine hundred and forty
one thousand nine hundred and forty-six
one thousand nine hundred and fifty-two
one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight
one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four
one thousand nine hundred and seventy
one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six
one thousand nine hundred and eighty-two
one thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight
one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four
two thousand
***
(12:59 pm Sat Nov 22, 2008)
Now that made for some fascinating and suspenseful reading didn't it gentle reader.
And I see Green! Green! Green!
Did I just display one of the virtues of a programmer?
Monday, October 12, 2009
Bits N Pieces - A Disjointed Bahamian Novel - D21
(1:55 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Got to try and make a start but it will require a level of multi tasking that may be beyond what I can manage at the moment.
So, welcome to another day gentle reader. Come right in to our little virtual world and make yourself at home. You know where things are.
I am trying to listen to Free Music to see what I might want to include in a new show I am working on trying to put together.
Listening takes a lot of time.
(2:08 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Getting side tracked with the music listening stuff. Got. To. Con. Cen. Trate.
Must. Con. Cen. Trate.
Struggle. Must. Leave. Soon. Trouble. Write. Ers. Block. Help!
(2:14 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Hey baby wow
Come and give me your love
Baby I need it all
Don't turn me around
Take me down to the shore
Baby show me the score
No don't you hold back
Just show me some more
***
(2:18 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(2:30 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Just a word or two to whisper in your ear
Take me down to the sea shore ever clear
Show me things I'd never want to hear
Blackend sunshine dripping with bright fear
***
You see it is like this gentle reader. I have a Nassau post wedding reception reception to go to tonight. This reception will likely result in my missing band practice tonight. But before that, I have to do a school pick up run for my son. And then a choir drop off run. And then a dash home before the really bad traffic run. (If I am lucky, otherwise it will be a crawl home through said traffic run.) So, it is going to be difficult to get to the quota today. But I need to some how. Why? Well, because tomorrow needs to be a catch up day. Say four thousand words at least! And while that should normally be possible, I need to go in to work in the morning and then the band is playing in Lyford Cay tomorrow night and I need to go along to record things and so it will not be a normal weekend day tomorrow. A double day will be tough. So a double plus to make up for less of a day today will be even more difficult.
Hopefully that is clear.
(2:37 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Got. To. Leave. On. School. Run. Now... Later gentle reader.
(2:45 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(4:40 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Sitting in a yellow room
A black pen in my hand
Looking in my empty mind
For the words I cannot find
My son is sitting on my leg
I love him oh so much
I'd like to hear him sing a song
Then would my smile last oh so long
***
I used to think I had a plan
For how I'd live my life
A job, a car, a bank account
And then a lovely wife
A year or two and then some kids
I'd love with all my heart
But life it seems
Had other plans
And other paths for me
I thought I'd live it on the land
But I've spent it out at sea
***
Fulcrum let the sail down as the sloop pulled in to the dock. He had spent the day out on the water crewing for a couple down in the islands for the winter. He had heard them asking around in the morning for a local guid and he figured he needed some money as he was likely to run out soon unless he found his cache.
It had been an enjoyable day out on the water, sailing along with no where in particular to go and nothing particular to do. Fulcrum figured he could get used to this sort fo life if he wasn't careful.
When he had spoken up, he had counted on the waters not having changed too much in the hundreds of years since he had sailed them, or at least in the skills he had aquired in his other life still being useful in keeping out of trouble.
Things had changed enough that he was lucky that the skills were still workable.
***
(4:56 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(5:15 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
She said she loved me
You know that she lied
She wanted my money
She took my hide
She said she'd give me
All of her heart
She said to trust her
That she'd do her part
I tried to give her
All that I had
She took that and more yeah
Man that one was bad
***
Sarah woke up in a sleeping bag on the beach down in Vero. Juts south of where 60 came across the state.
***
I think I am going to need to move this above the Fulcrum opening for the day gentle reader.
***
She stretched and smiled at the rising sun and the pelicans fishing for their breakfast. How she loved those birds. She often wished more would visit Nassau.
She watched as a lone beach comber with a metal detector making his way south along the beach. He stopped and dug his scoop into the sand and carried it down to the water to rinse the sand out through the holes.
He soon let out a holler and went whooping and running around in a circle celebrating some exciting find.
Sarah stood up and decided to go down and see what it was that he had found.
(5:29 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
As she got closer she called out, "Morning, looks like you found something exciting. What is it."
He stopped his celebration and looked her in the eye, suddenly reticent, "Just a little something."
"You were mighty excited there over a little something."
Now he got a bit biligerant, "So! I am easily excited. And what business is it of yours any way?"
"It is none of my business at all. It is just that I like beach combing myself and have found a thing or two in my time. From how excited you just were, I would guess you just found an old gold coin or a piece of valuable jewelry. So, what is it, a doubloon?"
He put something into a bag on his hip and picked up his gear and walked off back the way he had come, calling over his shoulder, "Nice try, but like I said, it's none of your business."
(5:46 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well, that was that. It mush have been something mighty interesting for him to react like that. Either that or she had missed his tin foil hat. She turned to head back to her sleeping bag when she had a bit of a wild idea. What if?
She went back to where he had dug out his find and got down on her knees and started digging in the sand with her hands.
It took her a while but her wild idea panned out. She found a half of a gold doubloon. She probably had been right. She looked over her shoulder and saw the beach comber walking back her way at a brisk pace shouting at her to stop. She smiled and decided to avoid a confrontation and stood up and headed back to her stuff and grabbed ti up in her arms and trotted over the dune to her car.
She threw her stuff on the trunk and jumped in and pulled off, heading to route 60 and heading west in a hurry.
***
(5:56 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well gentle reader, I never thought I would make this much progress when I sat down to write today. Mind you, I am still way short and I am feeling a little pain in the back of my left hand, but I am doing better than I expected.
I just got a call a while ago and I am missing band practice right now though. That is a pain.
I feel like I will be able to get to two thousand at least unless we get the No Voltage Blues before midnight. Hopefully that will not be a problem. We shall see.
***
"Here Fulcram," said his new employer, handing him his pay, "it was a pleasure sailing with you today, I hope you can make it tomorrow too."
"I should be able to and will plan on it. About ten o'clock then?"
"Ten sounds good, we don't want to push ourselves. we are down here to take it easy after all."
Fulcrum took the bills and counted them as he walked away down the dock leaving the couple on board.
***
(6:05 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(6:44 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well gentle reader, I had thought to be done with this little effort until after the do tonight, but I find I have a few minutes and will try to get a leg up and perhaps find a way to do three thousand complete and countable words before the stroke of midnight. And never you mind about any oasis. Or a ship of Tom foolery. That is neither here nor there and should not concern you. And never you mind if it concerns me. That is information that I need to keep close to the chest as it were. Perhaps even in the chest?
In which chest? Never you mind about that either. Who said anything about a pirate chest anyway?
***
Sarah crossed the bridge over the river and drove west until she came to he junction where she could head north on Indian River Boulevard to pick up US 1 north of town. She did just htat and picked up US 1 heading north after the little jog on fifty third.
She kept north un US 1 until Wabasso where she headed back across the river to take A1A north to the Sebastian Inlet. May as well enjoy the scenic route right? She always loved driving the stretch where the barrier island narrowed right down to almost nothing.
(6:59 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Well gentle reader, as you can see these Fulcrum evening scenes mixing with these Sarah morning scenes are going to be a bit of a problem until I do some editing magic but since you have so kindly tied up my inner editor for me, that will have to wait until the re-write, right?
(7:11 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well gentler reader, I am really pushing the time limit now. I need to finish getting ready and head on out to the do.
I am getting up to around eighteen hundred words now and my spreadsheet is still red. It would have been nice to see it turn green before leaving but that is not going to happen. We will just have to leave that until after the do.
(7:14 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(11:19 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Man oh man! Wow!
We were supposed to leave the do at about ten in thje pm and that would have put us home by ten fifteen or ten twenty at the latest. Instead, look at the time. This may be trouble.
Plus, I have been typing so much lately that I am having a bit of trouble with a bump forming on the back of my left hand. I have to give it a rest.
I can see getting to two thousand, but I am not sure I can see getting to green.
***
Fulcrum decidedto have a nice dinner using some of the money he had earned crewing and took himself back over to the place on the beach where he and Joshua had eaten lunch on that first day.
When he got there the place was full and the owner told him that it would be a while but that if he would wait on the verandah she would bring him a drink on the house and they could sit and talk until a table freed up. She wanted to know if anyone would be joining him for dinner and he told her that he would be eating alone tonight.
She went off to get him a drink and he wondered out to the verandah and found himself a comfortable adirondak chair with a view down the beach towards his dig.
There looked to be a party going on down there again tonight. Hopefully they would not go through the night but end at a decent time so he could try a little digging again tonight.
"Here you go," said the owner passing him his cuba libre and sitting down in the chair beside him, "do you know those people down the beach there?"
(11:42 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Some where in Alabama
There's a girl who knows my name
Though she's never met me
She don't like me
And that's a doggone shame
Cause she looks so good in sunshine
And she looks so good in rain
And though we've never met
You know I bet
She'd love me if she came
To know how much I'd love her
I'd cross mountains
And the rolling endless plains
I'd cross the widest oceans
And break the strongest chains
***
(11:58 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
And that's it.
Got to try and make a start but it will require a level of multi tasking that may be beyond what I can manage at the moment.
So, welcome to another day gentle reader. Come right in to our little virtual world and make yourself at home. You know where things are.
I am trying to listen to Free Music to see what I might want to include in a new show I am working on trying to put together.
Listening takes a lot of time.
(2:08 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Getting side tracked with the music listening stuff. Got. To. Con. Cen. Trate.
Must. Con. Cen. Trate.
Struggle. Must. Leave. Soon. Trouble. Write. Ers. Block. Help!
(2:14 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Hey baby wow
Come and give me your love
Baby I need it all
Don't turn me around
Take me down to the shore
Baby show me the score
No don't you hold back
Just show me some more
***
(2:18 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(2:30 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Just a word or two to whisper in your ear
Take me down to the sea shore ever clear
Show me things I'd never want to hear
Blackend sunshine dripping with bright fear
***
You see it is like this gentle reader. I have a Nassau post wedding reception reception to go to tonight. This reception will likely result in my missing band practice tonight. But before that, I have to do a school pick up run for my son. And then a choir drop off run. And then a dash home before the really bad traffic run. (If I am lucky, otherwise it will be a crawl home through said traffic run.) So, it is going to be difficult to get to the quota today. But I need to some how. Why? Well, because tomorrow needs to be a catch up day. Say four thousand words at least! And while that should normally be possible, I need to go in to work in the morning and then the band is playing in Lyford Cay tomorrow night and I need to go along to record things and so it will not be a normal weekend day tomorrow. A double day will be tough. So a double plus to make up for less of a day today will be even more difficult.
Hopefully that is clear.
(2:37 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Got. To. Leave. On. School. Run. Now... Later gentle reader.
(2:45 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(4:40 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Sitting in a yellow room
A black pen in my hand
Looking in my empty mind
For the words I cannot find
My son is sitting on my leg
I love him oh so much
I'd like to hear him sing a song
Then would my smile last oh so long
***
I used to think I had a plan
For how I'd live my life
A job, a car, a bank account
And then a lovely wife
A year or two and then some kids
I'd love with all my heart
But life it seems
Had other plans
And other paths for me
I thought I'd live it on the land
But I've spent it out at sea
***
Fulcrum let the sail down as the sloop pulled in to the dock. He had spent the day out on the water crewing for a couple down in the islands for the winter. He had heard them asking around in the morning for a local guid and he figured he needed some money as he was likely to run out soon unless he found his cache.
It had been an enjoyable day out on the water, sailing along with no where in particular to go and nothing particular to do. Fulcrum figured he could get used to this sort fo life if he wasn't careful.
When he had spoken up, he had counted on the waters not having changed too much in the hundreds of years since he had sailed them, or at least in the skills he had aquired in his other life still being useful in keeping out of trouble.
Things had changed enough that he was lucky that the skills were still workable.
***
(4:56 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(5:15 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
She said she loved me
You know that she lied
She wanted my money
She took my hide
She said she'd give me
All of her heart
She said to trust her
That she'd do her part
I tried to give her
All that I had
She took that and more yeah
Man that one was bad
***
Sarah woke up in a sleeping bag on the beach down in Vero. Juts south of where 60 came across the state.
***
I think I am going to need to move this above the Fulcrum opening for the day gentle reader.
***
She stretched and smiled at the rising sun and the pelicans fishing for their breakfast. How she loved those birds. She often wished more would visit Nassau.
She watched as a lone beach comber with a metal detector making his way south along the beach. He stopped and dug his scoop into the sand and carried it down to the water to rinse the sand out through the holes.
He soon let out a holler and went whooping and running around in a circle celebrating some exciting find.
Sarah stood up and decided to go down and see what it was that he had found.
(5:29 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
As she got closer she called out, "Morning, looks like you found something exciting. What is it."
He stopped his celebration and looked her in the eye, suddenly reticent, "Just a little something."
"You were mighty excited there over a little something."
Now he got a bit biligerant, "So! I am easily excited. And what business is it of yours any way?"
"It is none of my business at all. It is just that I like beach combing myself and have found a thing or two in my time. From how excited you just were, I would guess you just found an old gold coin or a piece of valuable jewelry. So, what is it, a doubloon?"
He put something into a bag on his hip and picked up his gear and walked off back the way he had come, calling over his shoulder, "Nice try, but like I said, it's none of your business."
(5:46 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well, that was that. It mush have been something mighty interesting for him to react like that. Either that or she had missed his tin foil hat. She turned to head back to her sleeping bag when she had a bit of a wild idea. What if?
She went back to where he had dug out his find and got down on her knees and started digging in the sand with her hands.
It took her a while but her wild idea panned out. She found a half of a gold doubloon. She probably had been right. She looked over her shoulder and saw the beach comber walking back her way at a brisk pace shouting at her to stop. She smiled and decided to avoid a confrontation and stood up and headed back to her stuff and grabbed ti up in her arms and trotted over the dune to her car.
She threw her stuff on the trunk and jumped in and pulled off, heading to route 60 and heading west in a hurry.
***
(5:56 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well gentle reader, I never thought I would make this much progress when I sat down to write today. Mind you, I am still way short and I am feeling a little pain in the back of my left hand, but I am doing better than I expected.
I just got a call a while ago and I am missing band practice right now though. That is a pain.
I feel like I will be able to get to two thousand at least unless we get the No Voltage Blues before midnight. Hopefully that will not be a problem. We shall see.
***
"Here Fulcram," said his new employer, handing him his pay, "it was a pleasure sailing with you today, I hope you can make it tomorrow too."
"I should be able to and will plan on it. About ten o'clock then?"
"Ten sounds good, we don't want to push ourselves. we are down here to take it easy after all."
Fulcrum took the bills and counted them as he walked away down the dock leaving the couple on board.
***
(6:05 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(6:44 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well gentle reader, I had thought to be done with this little effort until after the do tonight, but I find I have a few minutes and will try to get a leg up and perhaps find a way to do three thousand complete and countable words before the stroke of midnight. And never you mind about any oasis. Or a ship of Tom foolery. That is neither here nor there and should not concern you. And never you mind if it concerns me. That is information that I need to keep close to the chest as it were. Perhaps even in the chest?
In which chest? Never you mind about that either. Who said anything about a pirate chest anyway?
***
Sarah crossed the bridge over the river and drove west until she came to he junction where she could head north on Indian River Boulevard to pick up US 1 north of town. She did just htat and picked up US 1 heading north after the little jog on fifty third.
She kept north un US 1 until Wabasso where she headed back across the river to take A1A north to the Sebastian Inlet. May as well enjoy the scenic route right? She always loved driving the stretch where the barrier island narrowed right down to almost nothing.
(6:59 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Well gentle reader, as you can see these Fulcrum evening scenes mixing with these Sarah morning scenes are going to be a bit of a problem until I do some editing magic but since you have so kindly tied up my inner editor for me, that will have to wait until the re-write, right?
(7:11 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Well gentler reader, I am really pushing the time limit now. I need to finish getting ready and head on out to the do.
I am getting up to around eighteen hundred words now and my spreadsheet is still red. It would have been nice to see it turn green before leaving but that is not going to happen. We will just have to leave that until after the do.
(7:14 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
(11:19 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
Man oh man! Wow!
We were supposed to leave the do at about ten in thje pm and that would have put us home by ten fifteen or ten twenty at the latest. Instead, look at the time. This may be trouble.
Plus, I have been typing so much lately that I am having a bit of trouble with a bump forming on the back of my left hand. I have to give it a rest.
I can see getting to two thousand, but I am not sure I can see getting to green.
***
Fulcrum decidedto have a nice dinner using some of the money he had earned crewing and took himself back over to the place on the beach where he and Joshua had eaten lunch on that first day.
When he got there the place was full and the owner told him that it would be a while but that if he would wait on the verandah she would bring him a drink on the house and they could sit and talk until a table freed up. She wanted to know if anyone would be joining him for dinner and he told her that he would be eating alone tonight.
She went off to get him a drink and he wondered out to the verandah and found himself a comfortable adirondak chair with a view down the beach towards his dig.
There looked to be a party going on down there again tonight. Hopefully they would not go through the night but end at a decent time so he could try a little digging again tonight.
"Here you go," said the owner passing him his cuba libre and sitting down in the chair beside him, "do you know those people down the beach there?"
(11:42 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
***
Some where in Alabama
There's a girl who knows my name
Though she's never met me
She don't like me
And that's a doggone shame
Cause she looks so good in sunshine
And she looks so good in rain
And though we've never met
You know I bet
She'd love me if she came
To know how much I'd love her
I'd cross mountains
And the rolling endless plains
I'd cross the widest oceans
And break the strongest chains
***
(11:58 pm Fri Nov 21, 2008)
And that's it.
Bits N Pieces - A Disjointed Bahamian Novel - D20
(2:34 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
I used to think a lot of you
Before you sold your soul
Exchanging your most precious art
For that pauper's gold
***
Some where in Alabama
There's a girl who knows my name
Though she's never met me
She don't like me
And that's a doggone shame
Cause she looks so good in sunshine
And she looks so good in rain
And though we've never met
You know I bet
She'd love me if she came
To know how much I'd love her
I'd cross mountains
And the rolling endless plains
I'd cross the widest oceans
And break the strongest chains
***
Some how baby I adore you
Give the word and I'll explore you
I'll excite and never bore you
So give the word I implore you now
***
(2:43 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(4:38 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Not again. That is no way to get a head start on the writing day.
***
I've got major blockage here and a major bad attitude to writing today. I just don't want to do it. I have a great desire to go for a walk or to veg. No desire to write. An even greater desire to go and spendsome time with my son or play a little game with him. I think I will take a shor break soon and do that at least and then complain some more when I get back to writing after the little break.
So bear with me gentle reader or skip ahead and try to miss the mush, I will not even think of holding it against you or being upset in any way, shape, or form. I will totally understand.
That being said, I would prefer you hang out with me as the company would be nice. One thing you could do that might amuse you some it to try and watch for my inner editor and if you see him getting restless, just sort of wrestle him down and tie him up for me. Or at least shout out a warning so I can take some evasive action before things get totally our of hand.
***
(4:45 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(5:11 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
***
Well I tried playing a game of backgammon with my son but it got a bit out of hand and had to be abandoned. Such is life in the tropics even when we are only in the semis.
***
Fulcrum thought seriously about following the green eyes but decided not to get side tracked from his current mission. He wanted to have a go at finding some coins after dark. He just had a feeling that following green eyes could get him seriously side tracked and he could easily miss his chance to dig in peace.
***
Further up the beach, Sarah noticed a group of young women in bikinis and T-Shirts hanging around while one of their number flew a kite. She had always loved kits when she was growing up. Loved the way they rode up there in the open.
(6:06 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
***
And this is crazy. How did I get off track like that?
***
This kite was a good size box kite and they were flying it fairly high. As she walked up to introduce herself and strike up a conversation, she noticed that one of the girls was hooking up a device to the line to send a camera aloft. She had always wanted to do that!
(6:18 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(6:40 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
The device had two wheels on it something like the rollers on the bottom of the screen doors that went in sliding glass doors. The grooves in the wheels fit on the kite line. There was also a sail of sorts designed to catch the wind and propel the cart up the line.
"Hey, that looks cool! How exactly does it work?"
The girl holding the kite answered as the girl hooking up the device kept working, "Well, the cart rides the line using the sail there."
"Cool, I think that part is fairly clear, it is the rest of it that I don't remember."
"Well, that wire like part in the front will hit a cork we have on the line up near the kite. When it does a couple of things will happen. The big one is that it will let the wings fold and the cart will ride the line back down to us."
"OK, that makes sense, what else?"
"Well, you see how we have the camera hung there? Well, we also hook up a plunger to snap a picture just before the sails fold up."
"Ah, I get it," said Sarah. Do you get any good pics like that?"
"Well, this is our first time trying it with a camera. Yesterday we were using the cart to drop paper sacks of flour. That was a blast."
"Have you thought of using a remote control instead of that one time trigger so that you could take more than one photo while the camera is aloft?"
"Yeah, we figure on trying that next week."
***
(6:57 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(7:17 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Well, there you go, another temporal gap. Time passed but no words were written, the block is trying to win again today. But will I give in. I am sorely empted that is for sure.
I think I am going to be luck again today if this is a two thousand word day and I will try and push on to get as close to three thousand as possible. Once again I think we better just forget about four thousand from the break. Pretty much no way no how on that front again.
Gentle reader, I find myself hanging my head in despair, not wanting to write. Anything. Forget about anything along the lines of a story line. I don't even want to gut it out and write junk. And I am getting sick of this "novel" - Ha! What a sorry excuse for a novel!
Should I pull a "Henry The Eighth?" and do a second "verse" exactly like the first? I mean I did just pass by one thousand and doing that would put me over two thousand in a magical bit of Tom foolery. No, not Tom Doolery, Tom foolery. I will try to resist as long as possible and see if I can resist completely for the day.
(7:29 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
***
(8:37 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Now I come back to try and write some more and here I have the no net blues. My ISP is acting up again, I see lights blinking. The wrong lights blinking. And the pain is that I have something mis-configured oh this box such that when there is no net connection that everything becomes very sluggish for some reason. I really need to track this down and see if I can fix this problem. It may not be worth the effort though. I need to get a new main box anyway so I may just wait and see if the new install still has the same issue rather than taking up precious hours trying to run this down now.
***
(8:45 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
It is dark, Fulcrum is hidden in the bushes behind the dune down from the house with the deck. This is the second night he has been here trying to have a little unobserved dig.
Last night was frustrating. It would have been interesting if he hadn't had other things on his mind. There was a party going on. And on and on. And on.
Not that it wasn't an interesting party. Lots of good looking women and handsome men. They all seemed to be having a fine time. Chatter. Laughter. Dancing to a small band set up in a corner. Food being cooked on fires in barrels. And consumed. In quantity. Animated conversation. Some interesting side trips into shadowy places.
It was amazing what you could learn by sitting quietly in the shadows near a party.
Tonight was different. The people in the house had eaten dinner on the deck again and it had looked for a while that another party might be getting underway again as people began to arrive at the house just after dinner finished.
But luck was with Fulcrum tonight. Sure a few drinks were poured and passed around and taken in. Sure there was more laughter, some light dancing, some serious talk. Then, raised voices and it seemed for a while that a fight might break out but after some tense moments, when it looked like tempers were high enough that blood might soon be shed, someone snickered and laughter broke out all around. Tension eased and soon after that, the guests left.
***
(9:28 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Soon after, the people of the house went inside and closed the french doors. And soon after that the lights went out in the house.
That was two hours ago now and Fulcrum moved down out of the bushes on to the beach, doing his best to stay close to the base of the dune to lessen his chances of being seen by anyone in the house.
(9:46 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
He made it to the foot of the dune in front of the house without being seen by anyone as far as he could tell.
He searched for and found a way on to the dune under the deck through the vegetation fronting the deck.
He took the spade from his back and made his best guess as to where to start digging.
It was fairly easy going at first but as the hole got deeper it got more difficult. The hole kept collapsing in on itself and he soon broke out into a sweat in the stillness under the deck.
***
(10:07 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Sarah was driving south on A1A with her top down. It was chilly, but she was dressed for the cold and enjoyed her scarf flowing in the wind behind her like some old time movie star.
She was restless tonight. She had thought she could run away from the hole of Fuller's departure but she could not maintain her anger. Now, she just felt cold inside. What was wrong with her? Her husband had just disappeared out of her life and she should be frantic still. She should be looking for him. She should be doing everything she could to find him. But instead she had left her home, flown to another country and was now driving around alone at night with the top down going nowhere. Fast.
Too fast in fact. She took her foot off of the gas and let the car resume a more reasonable speed. It would not do to wreck or to get stopped.
She thought of going back to Nassau to resume her search for Fuller but shoved that thought aside. There was something about the last days before Fuller's departure that short circuited her natural response somehow. She could not put her finger on the particulars but she knew there was something there.
***
Fulcrum was on his third hole now with nothing found so far. The first two holes had been carefully filled back in so as not to leave any hint that digging had been going on. It would not do to be discovered if he had to come back another night to continue his search.
It was hard going digging in the darness under the deck but he could not risk using a light and being seen so he dug in darkness, feeling for anything of interest in each spadefull of sand he dug out. Hoping that it would be obvious to him if he hit his cache.
He was just about to dig out another spade full of sand when light began filtering through the cracks between the deck planking overhead and he head footsteps above him.
Someone walked to the railing at the edge of the deck and stopped. Fulcrum froze and tried to control his breathing so that he would not be heard.
What was that person doing up there?
He heard another set of foot steps come out of the door and walk to the edge of the deck.
"Honey, come back to bed, you are going to catch a cold. You shouldn't be out here in your thin night clothes in this chill damp air." A man's voice.
"I'm OK. I was having trouble sleeping and I thought I heard someone out here so I came out to look around," replied a woman.
Fulcrum heard gentle laughter from above.
"Honey, you are acting like some scary movie starlet. If someone was out here you should not have come out here in the dark all alone," said the man above.
Fulcrum almost burst out laughing.
The woman did, "You got me there sweet heart."
"Look honey, I haven't heard anything since we have been out here, let's go back to bed and get some sleep OK? We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
Fulcrum heard one set of footsteps cross the deck and enter the house. What now?
There was silence for a while, broken only by the sound of the wind in the trees and the waves breaking on the beach.
"Is there anyone body out here?" came the man's voice from above? Fulcrum was feeling a strong urge to sneeze. Some thing was tickling his nose. He had to hold it in.
After a while, the man's foot steps crossed the deck and Fulcrum heard the french doors close. He sneezed but muffled it with his coat sleeve. That was close.
Enough for one night. He carefully filled in the hole and snuck back out on to the beach in the open air. The wind off the ocean chilled him as it dried his sweat. He headed down the beach to a path he had found in the day and made his way back to the porch he had slept on the night before.
***
(10:48 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, I am no where near where I want to be word count wise today, but at least my spreadsheet has just turned from red to green for the day with the last word count update so I may end this day's writing soon ta reckly.
I would like to at least reach two thousand five hundred words though and that is not way too far out of sight so let me see what happens if we listen to one of the songs from the beginning of the day again. I think it is one that I may grow to like with some time and some polish. Which reminds me, I would like to thank you for keeping my inner editor away from me today. Even with all my struggles to write, at least I never felt the urge to edit.
***
Some where in Alabama
There's a girl who knows my name
Though she's never met me
She don't like me
And that's a doggone shame
Cause she looks so good in sunshine
And she looks so good in rain
And though we've never met
You know I bet
She'd love me if she came
To know how much I'd love her
I'd cross mountains
And the rolling endless plains
I'd cross the widest oceans
And break the strongest chains
***
Do you like that at all gentle reader?
(10:54 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Sweet! Passed two thousand five hundred and I will bid you good night now. Pleasant dreams.
***
I used to think a lot of you
Before you sold your soul
Exchanging your most precious art
For that pauper's gold
***
Some where in Alabama
There's a girl who knows my name
Though she's never met me
She don't like me
And that's a doggone shame
Cause she looks so good in sunshine
And she looks so good in rain
And though we've never met
You know I bet
She'd love me if she came
To know how much I'd love her
I'd cross mountains
And the rolling endless plains
I'd cross the widest oceans
And break the strongest chains
***
Some how baby I adore you
Give the word and I'll explore you
I'll excite and never bore you
So give the word I implore you now
***
(2:43 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(4:38 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Not again. That is no way to get a head start on the writing day.
***
I've got major blockage here and a major bad attitude to writing today. I just don't want to do it. I have a great desire to go for a walk or to veg. No desire to write. An even greater desire to go and spendsome time with my son or play a little game with him. I think I will take a shor break soon and do that at least and then complain some more when I get back to writing after the little break.
So bear with me gentle reader or skip ahead and try to miss the mush, I will not even think of holding it against you or being upset in any way, shape, or form. I will totally understand.
That being said, I would prefer you hang out with me as the company would be nice. One thing you could do that might amuse you some it to try and watch for my inner editor and if you see him getting restless, just sort of wrestle him down and tie him up for me. Or at least shout out a warning so I can take some evasive action before things get totally our of hand.
***
(4:45 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(5:11 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
***
Well I tried playing a game of backgammon with my son but it got a bit out of hand and had to be abandoned. Such is life in the tropics even when we are only in the semis.
***
Fulcrum thought seriously about following the green eyes but decided not to get side tracked from his current mission. He wanted to have a go at finding some coins after dark. He just had a feeling that following green eyes could get him seriously side tracked and he could easily miss his chance to dig in peace.
***
Further up the beach, Sarah noticed a group of young women in bikinis and T-Shirts hanging around while one of their number flew a kite. She had always loved kits when she was growing up. Loved the way they rode up there in the open.
(6:06 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
***
And this is crazy. How did I get off track like that?
***
This kite was a good size box kite and they were flying it fairly high. As she walked up to introduce herself and strike up a conversation, she noticed that one of the girls was hooking up a device to the line to send a camera aloft. She had always wanted to do that!
(6:18 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(6:40 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
The device had two wheels on it something like the rollers on the bottom of the screen doors that went in sliding glass doors. The grooves in the wheels fit on the kite line. There was also a sail of sorts designed to catch the wind and propel the cart up the line.
"Hey, that looks cool! How exactly does it work?"
The girl holding the kite answered as the girl hooking up the device kept working, "Well, the cart rides the line using the sail there."
"Cool, I think that part is fairly clear, it is the rest of it that I don't remember."
"Well, that wire like part in the front will hit a cork we have on the line up near the kite. When it does a couple of things will happen. The big one is that it will let the wings fold and the cart will ride the line back down to us."
"OK, that makes sense, what else?"
"Well, you see how we have the camera hung there? Well, we also hook up a plunger to snap a picture just before the sails fold up."
"Ah, I get it," said Sarah. Do you get any good pics like that?"
"Well, this is our first time trying it with a camera. Yesterday we were using the cart to drop paper sacks of flour. That was a blast."
"Have you thought of using a remote control instead of that one time trigger so that you could take more than one photo while the camera is aloft?"
"Yeah, we figure on trying that next week."
***
(6:57 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
(7:17 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Well, there you go, another temporal gap. Time passed but no words were written, the block is trying to win again today. But will I give in. I am sorely empted that is for sure.
I think I am going to be luck again today if this is a two thousand word day and I will try and push on to get as close to three thousand as possible. Once again I think we better just forget about four thousand from the break. Pretty much no way no how on that front again.
Gentle reader, I find myself hanging my head in despair, not wanting to write. Anything. Forget about anything along the lines of a story line. I don't even want to gut it out and write junk. And I am getting sick of this "novel" - Ha! What a sorry excuse for a novel!
Should I pull a "Henry The Eighth?" and do a second "verse" exactly like the first? I mean I did just pass by one thousand and doing that would put me over two thousand in a magical bit of Tom foolery. No, not Tom Doolery, Tom foolery. I will try to resist as long as possible and see if I can resist completely for the day.
(7:29 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
***
(8:37 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Now I come back to try and write some more and here I have the no net blues. My ISP is acting up again, I see lights blinking. The wrong lights blinking. And the pain is that I have something mis-configured oh this box such that when there is no net connection that everything becomes very sluggish for some reason. I really need to track this down and see if I can fix this problem. It may not be worth the effort though. I need to get a new main box anyway so I may just wait and see if the new install still has the same issue rather than taking up precious hours trying to run this down now.
***
(8:45 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
It is dark, Fulcrum is hidden in the bushes behind the dune down from the house with the deck. This is the second night he has been here trying to have a little unobserved dig.
Last night was frustrating. It would have been interesting if he hadn't had other things on his mind. There was a party going on. And on and on. And on.
Not that it wasn't an interesting party. Lots of good looking women and handsome men. They all seemed to be having a fine time. Chatter. Laughter. Dancing to a small band set up in a corner. Food being cooked on fires in barrels. And consumed. In quantity. Animated conversation. Some interesting side trips into shadowy places.
It was amazing what you could learn by sitting quietly in the shadows near a party.
Tonight was different. The people in the house had eaten dinner on the deck again and it had looked for a while that another party might be getting underway again as people began to arrive at the house just after dinner finished.
But luck was with Fulcrum tonight. Sure a few drinks were poured and passed around and taken in. Sure there was more laughter, some light dancing, some serious talk. Then, raised voices and it seemed for a while that a fight might break out but after some tense moments, when it looked like tempers were high enough that blood might soon be shed, someone snickered and laughter broke out all around. Tension eased and soon after that, the guests left.
***
(9:28 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Soon after, the people of the house went inside and closed the french doors. And soon after that the lights went out in the house.
That was two hours ago now and Fulcrum moved down out of the bushes on to the beach, doing his best to stay close to the base of the dune to lessen his chances of being seen by anyone in the house.
(9:46 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
He made it to the foot of the dune in front of the house without being seen by anyone as far as he could tell.
He searched for and found a way on to the dune under the deck through the vegetation fronting the deck.
He took the spade from his back and made his best guess as to where to start digging.
It was fairly easy going at first but as the hole got deeper it got more difficult. The hole kept collapsing in on itself and he soon broke out into a sweat in the stillness under the deck.
***
(10:07 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Sarah was driving south on A1A with her top down. It was chilly, but she was dressed for the cold and enjoyed her scarf flowing in the wind behind her like some old time movie star.
She was restless tonight. She had thought she could run away from the hole of Fuller's departure but she could not maintain her anger. Now, she just felt cold inside. What was wrong with her? Her husband had just disappeared out of her life and she should be frantic still. She should be looking for him. She should be doing everything she could to find him. But instead she had left her home, flown to another country and was now driving around alone at night with the top down going nowhere. Fast.
Too fast in fact. She took her foot off of the gas and let the car resume a more reasonable speed. It would not do to wreck or to get stopped.
She thought of going back to Nassau to resume her search for Fuller but shoved that thought aside. There was something about the last days before Fuller's departure that short circuited her natural response somehow. She could not put her finger on the particulars but she knew there was something there.
***
Fulcrum was on his third hole now with nothing found so far. The first two holes had been carefully filled back in so as not to leave any hint that digging had been going on. It would not do to be discovered if he had to come back another night to continue his search.
It was hard going digging in the darness under the deck but he could not risk using a light and being seen so he dug in darkness, feeling for anything of interest in each spadefull of sand he dug out. Hoping that it would be obvious to him if he hit his cache.
He was just about to dig out another spade full of sand when light began filtering through the cracks between the deck planking overhead and he head footsteps above him.
Someone walked to the railing at the edge of the deck and stopped. Fulcrum froze and tried to control his breathing so that he would not be heard.
What was that person doing up there?
He heard another set of foot steps come out of the door and walk to the edge of the deck.
"Honey, come back to bed, you are going to catch a cold. You shouldn't be out here in your thin night clothes in this chill damp air." A man's voice.
"I'm OK. I was having trouble sleeping and I thought I heard someone out here so I came out to look around," replied a woman.
Fulcrum heard gentle laughter from above.
"Honey, you are acting like some scary movie starlet. If someone was out here you should not have come out here in the dark all alone," said the man above.
Fulcrum almost burst out laughing.
The woman did, "You got me there sweet heart."
"Look honey, I haven't heard anything since we have been out here, let's go back to bed and get some sleep OK? We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
Fulcrum heard one set of footsteps cross the deck and enter the house. What now?
There was silence for a while, broken only by the sound of the wind in the trees and the waves breaking on the beach.
"Is there anyone body out here?" came the man's voice from above? Fulcrum was feeling a strong urge to sneeze. Some thing was tickling his nose. He had to hold it in.
After a while, the man's foot steps crossed the deck and Fulcrum heard the french doors close. He sneezed but muffled it with his coat sleeve. That was close.
Enough for one night. He carefully filled in the hole and snuck back out on to the beach in the open air. The wind off the ocean chilled him as it dried his sweat. He headed down the beach to a path he had found in the day and made his way back to the porch he had slept on the night before.
***
(10:48 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, I am no where near where I want to be word count wise today, but at least my spreadsheet has just turned from red to green for the day with the last word count update so I may end this day's writing soon ta reckly.
I would like to at least reach two thousand five hundred words though and that is not way too far out of sight so let me see what happens if we listen to one of the songs from the beginning of the day again. I think it is one that I may grow to like with some time and some polish. Which reminds me, I would like to thank you for keeping my inner editor away from me today. Even with all my struggles to write, at least I never felt the urge to edit.
***
Some where in Alabama
There's a girl who knows my name
Though she's never met me
She don't like me
And that's a doggone shame
Cause she looks so good in sunshine
And she looks so good in rain
And though we've never met
You know I bet
She'd love me if she came
To know how much I'd love her
I'd cross mountains
And the rolling endless plains
I'd cross the widest oceans
And break the strongest chains
***
Do you like that at all gentle reader?
(10:54 pm Thu Nov 20, 2008)
Sweet! Passed two thousand five hundred and I will bid you good night now. Pleasant dreams.
***
Bits N Pieces - A Disjointed Bahamian Novel - D19
(3:02 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
After lunch, Joshua said he had to get back to Spanish Wells so Fulcrum thanked him again and he headed off to his boat. Fulcrum headed down on to the beach with the intention of checking out his old cache.
It had only been a few days really in Fulcrum's time frame since he had made his little stash but the beach seemed strange and changed. Dunes had changed, trees were not where he had left them, paths gone, buildings everywhere. His head started to swim and he felt a little panic coming on.
He walked the beach from one end to the other hoping to get his bearings and then did it again. A couple of more times.
(3:18 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
After that he had wondered back in to town to the street by where the green-eyed lady's house had been. He noticed from time to time that someone would go in to the yard and stop and read something before heading on down the street. Curiosity finally got the better of him and he ventured in to see what the plaque said.
June Roberts lived on this land
She gave so much and died too young
A broken heart at so much loss
She could not carry on
But faded right away
As her green eyes
Faded to grey
What did this mean? Was this about his green-eyed lady? If so, what had happened to her? How had she died? When? What had caused it? How could he find out?
He left the yard and set off aimlessly, wandering about the streets of the town where people he passed tried to say hello.
(3:28 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
Fulcrum woke up the next morning cold, stiff, and still confused. He had spent the night on the back porch of a house that had seemed unoccupied to him. He had considerd breaking in and spending the night indoors but had decided not to risk it so early on his return to the island.
He did not know what he was doing here or how long he might stay here but he didn't want to cause any trouble before he knew how things might work out.
***
Well gentle reader, welcome to another day of words. How will things play out today? What will these characters get up to? What word count will be reached for the day? Who cuts your hair?
(3:37 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
(4:42 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Obviously no way to get to four thousand today but I was only going to shoot for three thousand today tops as I haven't got the gumption to go for more today. Lethargy and what not eh?
And to tell the truth, with a start like this, I may shut down at two thousand and try to take a better run at things tomorrow.
***
I'm, exactly like you
Girl I need a lover
Who hasn't a clue
Why don't we hook up
And do what we do
True love can strike us
Clean out of the blue
***
(5:05 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
And it doesn't look like it is getting any better right up in now does it gentle reader.
***
Fulcrum went in to town and got a bite to eat from store by the bay before heading back over to the ocean beach to see if he could get a better feel for things with a frest start to a new day.
***
Sarah woke up in a funk. She had to get some energy together and try to figure out some plan for finding Fuller. She called around to everyone she could think of. To his old friends he hadn't seen in years even. And then she thought she had nothing to lose and called his old enemies as well. Nothing.
Then she started to get mad at Fuller. Really mad! Who did he think he was doing this to her? Didn't he know what grief he was causing her? Did he care what his leaving with no word was doing to her inside? He was supposed to love her! What kind of twisted mind thought this was love!
Then she decided that if he could leave with no notice she could do the same and she went online and booked herself a trip to Abaco.
An hour later she went back online and cancelled her trip to Abaco.
Half an hour after that she went back online and booked herself a trip to Orlando. She went into her room and pulled down a small rolling suitcase and threw some clothes and toiletries into it and drove out to the airport and parked in the long term parking lot in front of the international departures building.
She was running late and ran into the building to meet a long line at the bahamascare check in. She was about to panic when she decided to go for it. She turned on her charm and her sob story and worked her way ahead in the line, calling on the sympathy of those who were ahead of her and saved herself about a half hour of line time.
"Passport please! Where are you going today?"
Sarah passed over her passport, "Hi, I am trying to make the flight to Orlando and am running a little late."
"You should be able to make it if you are lucky."
(5:30 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
(5:50 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
No Voltage Blues Just rained down! Later and who knows for how long!
(7:59 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
The No Voltage Blues
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My U.P.S. is beepin
It wakes me from my dream
And man she was a sweet ting
Ate least thats how it seemed
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My A.C.'s sittin quiet
My room is gettin warm
I lie right here and sigh it
Aint no sign of a storm
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
I'm tryin to write my novel
In thirty short, short days
And now just like the last year
Gots to pray they change their ways
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
***
Well gentle reader, The power came on around seven or just after but I have been wasting time since then fighting this writers block. These restraining chains as I sometimes call them.
***
(8:16 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Yup, the no voltage blues. Painful slow downs.
***
Sarah got through US immigration and customs and took the escalator upstairs just as the flight was called.
She queued up and made it through the door and headed for her gate. And she got picked out for a frisking. She always just loved that.
***
When Fulcrum got to the beach, the wind had picked up and the breakers were rolling in from the ocean. He went back down on the sand and walked with the ocean on his right until he came to the honeycomb rocks and turned around. He walked back slowly trying to estimate where he may have hid his stash of booty.
He walked slowly until a feeling came on him that his was in the right area. He laughed to himself. He tried lining up a breaking wave with the ends of two clouds, a grey one and a white one. That should pinpoint his spot.
He looked around carefully. What was it that made this spot seem like the right spot. Was it that tree there back behind the dune? That might just be it. was his memory being affected? How? Even though to him it had been less than a month, could the fact that all these years seperated the hiding and the searching be playing tricks with his memory?
(8:46 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Well, if this was the place, there could be problems, there was a house on the dune with a deck overlooking the beach, and already there were people up there sitting and enjoying the day. How was he to dig up under there without being seen?
***
(9:53 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Wow! Where did that time go? Up in smoke like a baby grand? No bang bang huh?
Who knows but it is time to get a move on and get the word production level kicked up a notch. I mean, dunp whatever little story line there may have been today right out the window and just spew out words until we get to at least two thousand nitty gritty words.
Well, except for this little detour for a quick IM question.
(10:03 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Well, IM ping done... awaiting IM pong. I may run out on pong arrival.
Now this doesn't seem quite right. Five hundred words of sprinting to a two thousand word finish line just seems wrong. You know it does and I know it does gentle reader, but times and measure and so fourth.
And let's just not mention the three word tonight shall we. Anf the four word? What a joke right?
***
Fulcrum tried getting in to position for a little exploratory digging several times during the day but soon realised that there was no way he was going to get away with it as long as anyone was on that deck. He decided to wait until after dark and try again so he walked back in to town for a late lunch from a vendor down by the public dock.
(10:17 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
After lunch he found himself drifting back to the green-eyed lady yard and sort of hanging about in the vicinity. Just as had happened yesterday, from time to time, people would enter the yard and read the plaque before moving on.
He noticed on particular middle aged woman took longer than usual standing before the plaque before bowing her head for a while and then laying a single red hibiscus on the ground at the base of the plaque. When she turned and looked his way before heading out of the yard, Fulcrum noticed her sea green eyes.
He sucked in his breath.
He almost fell into her eyes.
She smiled at him and passed out of the yard and on to the road.
He shook himself and began walking in her direction.
She did not look back towards him but set a brisk pace in the opposite direction.
***
The Bahamascare plane landed in Orlando and Sarah got off and took the monorail to the main terminal to the baggage claim and then went outside and caught a shuttle bus over to the rental car lot and arranged for a red convertible sports car for a week.
She drove out of the lot with no clear idea of what she wanted to do next but she somehow ended up on the Bee Line headed east. She didn't get off until she ran in to I 95 where she picked it up heading south.
(10:36 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
She got off I 95 at 192 and headed east towards the beaches. She passed a military academy and took the old route through the old down town, stopping for a bite to eat at a mom and pop place she that caught her eye.
***
(10:42 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
And now for the final push. One last blast. One last blast of wordly production. One last blast and the tape may be broken.
This is not good gentle reader. I have passed the two thousand word barrier, but my spreadsheet is telling me that I will not reach my goal at this rate. I need to find a way to squeeze out a little more production even though my inner writer screams abuse and my inner editor just laughs at me with some poorly hiden glee. Like some founding member if The Inner Editors Glee Club no doubt.
***
(10:48 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
After her late lunch, Sarah hopped back in her car and headed out to the beach over the causeway. She noticed dolphins in the river and smiled at the pelicans flying in formation skimming the wave tops.
She hit A1A and headed north, stopping when she saw an old style beach side surf motel. She pulled in and checked in, asking for and getting a room overlooking the ocean.
She drove her car around to her room and took her bacg in and threw it on the bed. She opened it and looked ofr her bathing suit. She must be crazy she thought, it was too cold for a swim but the sun had broken throught and she felt a need to be outside and near the sea.
But... no suit, she must have left it on the bed in her rush.
She thought about heading back to a surf shop she had seen on the way but pulled on a pair of old cut oof jeans and a Hope Town T-Shirt and headed out to the beach instead.
(11:05 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
She walked down to the shore line and let the water wet her long brown legs but the cold shocked her and she ran back up the beach started walking along with the ocean on her right.
There were a few die hards out on the water in wet suits surfing and she watched as she walked along.
***
(11:11 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, I wanted to see that number turn from red to green but unless that happens on this last count, it is not going to happen tonight. I will let you know tomorrow how that turns out.
If only those No Voltage Blues had not hit me tonight.
One more time then for good luck!
***
The No Voltage Blues
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My U.P.S. is beepin
It wakes me from my dream
And man she was a sweet ting
Ate least thats how it seemed
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My A.C.'s sittin quiet
My room is gettin warm
I lie right here and sigh it
Aint no sign of a storm
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
I'm tryin to write my novel
In thirty short, short days
And now just like the last year
Gots to pray they change their ways
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
***
(11:13 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
After lunch, Joshua said he had to get back to Spanish Wells so Fulcrum thanked him again and he headed off to his boat. Fulcrum headed down on to the beach with the intention of checking out his old cache.
It had only been a few days really in Fulcrum's time frame since he had made his little stash but the beach seemed strange and changed. Dunes had changed, trees were not where he had left them, paths gone, buildings everywhere. His head started to swim and he felt a little panic coming on.
He walked the beach from one end to the other hoping to get his bearings and then did it again. A couple of more times.
(3:18 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
After that he had wondered back in to town to the street by where the green-eyed lady's house had been. He noticed from time to time that someone would go in to the yard and stop and read something before heading on down the street. Curiosity finally got the better of him and he ventured in to see what the plaque said.
June Roberts lived on this land
She gave so much and died too young
A broken heart at so much loss
She could not carry on
But faded right away
As her green eyes
Faded to grey
What did this mean? Was this about his green-eyed lady? If so, what had happened to her? How had she died? When? What had caused it? How could he find out?
He left the yard and set off aimlessly, wandering about the streets of the town where people he passed tried to say hello.
(3:28 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
Fulcrum woke up the next morning cold, stiff, and still confused. He had spent the night on the back porch of a house that had seemed unoccupied to him. He had considerd breaking in and spending the night indoors but had decided not to risk it so early on his return to the island.
He did not know what he was doing here or how long he might stay here but he didn't want to cause any trouble before he knew how things might work out.
***
Well gentle reader, welcome to another day of words. How will things play out today? What will these characters get up to? What word count will be reached for the day? Who cuts your hair?
(3:37 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
(4:42 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Obviously no way to get to four thousand today but I was only going to shoot for three thousand today tops as I haven't got the gumption to go for more today. Lethargy and what not eh?
And to tell the truth, with a start like this, I may shut down at two thousand and try to take a better run at things tomorrow.
***
I'm, exactly like you
Girl I need a lover
Who hasn't a clue
Why don't we hook up
And do what we do
True love can strike us
Clean out of the blue
***
(5:05 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
And it doesn't look like it is getting any better right up in now does it gentle reader.
***
Fulcrum went in to town and got a bite to eat from store by the bay before heading back over to the ocean beach to see if he could get a better feel for things with a frest start to a new day.
***
Sarah woke up in a funk. She had to get some energy together and try to figure out some plan for finding Fuller. She called around to everyone she could think of. To his old friends he hadn't seen in years even. And then she thought she had nothing to lose and called his old enemies as well. Nothing.
Then she started to get mad at Fuller. Really mad! Who did he think he was doing this to her? Didn't he know what grief he was causing her? Did he care what his leaving with no word was doing to her inside? He was supposed to love her! What kind of twisted mind thought this was love!
Then she decided that if he could leave with no notice she could do the same and she went online and booked herself a trip to Abaco.
An hour later she went back online and cancelled her trip to Abaco.
Half an hour after that she went back online and booked herself a trip to Orlando. She went into her room and pulled down a small rolling suitcase and threw some clothes and toiletries into it and drove out to the airport and parked in the long term parking lot in front of the international departures building.
She was running late and ran into the building to meet a long line at the bahamascare check in. She was about to panic when she decided to go for it. She turned on her charm and her sob story and worked her way ahead in the line, calling on the sympathy of those who were ahead of her and saved herself about a half hour of line time.
"Passport please! Where are you going today?"
Sarah passed over her passport, "Hi, I am trying to make the flight to Orlando and am running a little late."
"You should be able to make it if you are lucky."
(5:30 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
(5:50 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
No Voltage Blues Just rained down! Later and who knows for how long!
(7:59 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
The No Voltage Blues
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My U.P.S. is beepin
It wakes me from my dream
And man she was a sweet ting
Ate least thats how it seemed
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My A.C.'s sittin quiet
My room is gettin warm
I lie right here and sigh it
Aint no sign of a storm
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
I'm tryin to write my novel
In thirty short, short days
And now just like the last year
Gots to pray they change their ways
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
***
Well gentle reader, The power came on around seven or just after but I have been wasting time since then fighting this writers block. These restraining chains as I sometimes call them.
***
(8:16 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Yup, the no voltage blues. Painful slow downs.
***
Sarah got through US immigration and customs and took the escalator upstairs just as the flight was called.
She queued up and made it through the door and headed for her gate. And she got picked out for a frisking. She always just loved that.
***
When Fulcrum got to the beach, the wind had picked up and the breakers were rolling in from the ocean. He went back down on the sand and walked with the ocean on his right until he came to the honeycomb rocks and turned around. He walked back slowly trying to estimate where he may have hid his stash of booty.
He walked slowly until a feeling came on him that his was in the right area. He laughed to himself. He tried lining up a breaking wave with the ends of two clouds, a grey one and a white one. That should pinpoint his spot.
He looked around carefully. What was it that made this spot seem like the right spot. Was it that tree there back behind the dune? That might just be it. was his memory being affected? How? Even though to him it had been less than a month, could the fact that all these years seperated the hiding and the searching be playing tricks with his memory?
(8:46 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Well, if this was the place, there could be problems, there was a house on the dune with a deck overlooking the beach, and already there were people up there sitting and enjoying the day. How was he to dig up under there without being seen?
***
(9:53 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Wow! Where did that time go? Up in smoke like a baby grand? No bang bang huh?
Who knows but it is time to get a move on and get the word production level kicked up a notch. I mean, dunp whatever little story line there may have been today right out the window and just spew out words until we get to at least two thousand nitty gritty words.
Well, except for this little detour for a quick IM question.
(10:03 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Well, IM ping done... awaiting IM pong. I may run out on pong arrival.
Now this doesn't seem quite right. Five hundred words of sprinting to a two thousand word finish line just seems wrong. You know it does and I know it does gentle reader, but times and measure and so fourth.
And let's just not mention the three word tonight shall we. Anf the four word? What a joke right?
***
Fulcrum tried getting in to position for a little exploratory digging several times during the day but soon realised that there was no way he was going to get away with it as long as anyone was on that deck. He decided to wait until after dark and try again so he walked back in to town for a late lunch from a vendor down by the public dock.
(10:17 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
***
After lunch he found himself drifting back to the green-eyed lady yard and sort of hanging about in the vicinity. Just as had happened yesterday, from time to time, people would enter the yard and read the plaque before moving on.
He noticed on particular middle aged woman took longer than usual standing before the plaque before bowing her head for a while and then laying a single red hibiscus on the ground at the base of the plaque. When she turned and looked his way before heading out of the yard, Fulcrum noticed her sea green eyes.
He sucked in his breath.
He almost fell into her eyes.
She smiled at him and passed out of the yard and on to the road.
He shook himself and began walking in her direction.
She did not look back towards him but set a brisk pace in the opposite direction.
***
The Bahamascare plane landed in Orlando and Sarah got off and took the monorail to the main terminal to the baggage claim and then went outside and caught a shuttle bus over to the rental car lot and arranged for a red convertible sports car for a week.
She drove out of the lot with no clear idea of what she wanted to do next but she somehow ended up on the Bee Line headed east. She didn't get off until she ran in to I 95 where she picked it up heading south.
(10:36 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
She got off I 95 at 192 and headed east towards the beaches. She passed a military academy and took the old route through the old down town, stopping for a bite to eat at a mom and pop place she that caught her eye.
***
(10:42 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
And now for the final push. One last blast. One last blast of wordly production. One last blast and the tape may be broken.
This is not good gentle reader. I have passed the two thousand word barrier, but my spreadsheet is telling me that I will not reach my goal at this rate. I need to find a way to squeeze out a little more production even though my inner writer screams abuse and my inner editor just laughs at me with some poorly hiden glee. Like some founding member if The Inner Editors Glee Club no doubt.
***
(10:48 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
After her late lunch, Sarah hopped back in her car and headed out to the beach over the causeway. She noticed dolphins in the river and smiled at the pelicans flying in formation skimming the wave tops.
She hit A1A and headed north, stopping when she saw an old style beach side surf motel. She pulled in and checked in, asking for and getting a room overlooking the ocean.
She drove her car around to her room and took her bacg in and threw it on the bed. She opened it and looked ofr her bathing suit. She must be crazy she thought, it was too cold for a swim but the sun had broken throught and she felt a need to be outside and near the sea.
But... no suit, she must have left it on the bed in her rush.
She thought about heading back to a surf shop she had seen on the way but pulled on a pair of old cut oof jeans and a Hope Town T-Shirt and headed out to the beach instead.
(11:05 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
She walked down to the shore line and let the water wet her long brown legs but the cold shocked her and she ran back up the beach started walking along with the ocean on her right.
There were a few die hards out on the water in wet suits surfing and she watched as she walked along.
***
(11:11 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, I wanted to see that number turn from red to green but unless that happens on this last count, it is not going to happen tonight. I will let you know tomorrow how that turns out.
If only those No Voltage Blues had not hit me tonight.
One more time then for good luck!
***
The No Voltage Blues
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My U.P.S. is beepin
It wakes me from my dream
And man she was a sweet ting
Ate least thats how it seemed
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
My A.C.'s sittin quiet
My room is gettin warm
I lie right here and sigh it
Aint no sign of a storm
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
I'm tryin to write my novel
In thirty short, short days
And now just like the last year
Gots to pray they change their ways
I got the no voltage blues
I got the no voltage blues
Yeah, B.E.C. is messin with me
I got the no voltage blues
***
(11:13 pm Wed Nov 19, 2008)
Bits N Pieces - A Disjointed Bahamian Novel - D18
(2:42 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, another day, another dollar as they say. Now who exactly they are is another matter entirely.
Why use one word when three will do.
And when it comes to National Novel Writing Month, why use one word NaNoWriMo when four will do. Well, NaNoWriMo is not exactly a word now is it. National Novel Writing Month is four words though. Truth, not truthiness.
(2:49 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
A slow and inauspicious beginning to the writing day today but perhaps with dogged determination and a bit of good luck, things may just improve.
Once again we shall try for at least three thousand words and really more like four thousand words if we can. This should prove a bit more difficult today as a result of the later start and my general feelings of lethargy and lugginess.
Still, with that oft repeated strategy of putting down first one word and then another, we can slowly amass a quantity of words which can be counted. And no hanging chads in sight.
How thankful I was that we had no hanging chads this year, that may have proved too distracting by for for my NaNo efforts. Wait! For my National Novel Writing Month efforts. There! Much better!
***
Fulcrum woke up late and with a pounding headache. He woke up in the bright sun on the dock with no "Lady Love" beside it. He sat up and blinked in the sun and ran his fingers through his tangled hair.
Someone laughed from the stern of another smack boat tied up further out on the dock, "Your head looks like chicken boongy!"
Fulcrum squinted and looked to see Joshua sitting on a deck chair and smoking a pipe and reading the paper.
"What are you laughing at my friend?"
"You and your late ways. Didn't you want to get to 'Briland this morning? Well, you already missed the morning ferry! I don't know how you managed to not wake up when they tried to rouse you. Or when they put you off the "Lady Love" and pulled out. That was a racket. And sleeping for hours in this sun... I tell you what, you must be a sleeping champion somewhere for sure."
Fulcrum groaned, "Ow my head."
Joshua laughed and got up. He went into the boat for s short time and emerged with a glass of something in his hand. He hopped on to the dock and made his way over to Fulcrum. He squatted next to Fulcrum and held out his hand palm up showing two small red pills, "Here, thake these and drink them down with the whole glass of water. They should make your head feel better."
Fulcrum was hurting enough that he did not question what he was about to ingest as he normally would. He just took the proffered pills and water and did as instructed.
"That's good. Man you are in some sorry state."
"So, I missed the ferry? I need to find a way to get to Harbour Islands today. Can you help me?"
"Tell you what. I will run you around if you will buy us lunch once we get there."
Fulcrum felt in his pockets and was happy to find that he still had some wadded up bills in his left pocket that he had taken from Sarah's purse before leaving Nassau, "I should be able to manage that, you have a deal my friend."
(3:18 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
***
You don't know where you are going
You don't know what you are doing
You don't know but I am leaving you
I need things that you aint giving
I need things for better living
I need freedom so I'm leaving you
***
She's wearing a low cut dress and high top sneakers
***
That girl is alright
She's the best I've ever seen
That girl is alright
Low cut dress and green
She come from the bayou
Now she's living in the islands
She come from the bayou
Now everyday she spends just styling
***
She took me somewhere
Showed me something special
Whispered in the night time
Left me stuck all alone
She said she loved me
Showed me secret things
Whispered like a small wave
Breaking on the shore
I need a woman
Who will love me for myself
Never leave me lonely
Always give me more
***
(3:43 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Well gentle reader, I am down, way down, tired beyond what I have the energy to describe right now. How am I to do this today? Can you think of any way to help me? If so, send me an email or IM me please. I need ideas to help me succeed!
***
Dear June,
it has been a while since I last wrote. I have been thinking of you at least a little each day despite that. I have been caught up mostly with other thoughts though.
Fuller is gone. How can I go on? There is an emptiness in my heart now and I am cold all the time. Cold inside.
When I woke up this morning, my pillow was stiff with salt residue. What shall I do?
I have always felt a kinship with you as I have said before but it seems that lately, events in my life are conspiring to give me a first hand understanding of your life so long ago. And I must be honest and tell you that, no matter how much I care for you, I do not wish to know your life so well in this way. I am sorry if that sounds selfish. But that is the truth.
He left no note. I woke up to a silent and empty house and my heart knew right away that my deepest fears were stalking me.
I hope that by writing you I may get some fresh ideas on how to find Fuller and bring him back safe to me arms.
Your friend,
Sarah
***
(3:56 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Well gentle reader, that is the first thousand down but it has taken over an hour and I feel the next thousand will be much harder and I feel a bout of procrastination coming on.
***
(4:10 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
How can I fight that procrastination today? How can I find some energy? How can I get out of this funk? Escape these writing doldrums and get into the literary trade winds that can waft me quickly to me desired destination? Well, any destination sufficiently far from here word count wise would do just fine.
I can't deal with one of those can't get there from here situations at this time though. Now in the least. I need help gentle reader, help I tell you!
***
Sarah finished her letter to June and then put it on a ceramic plate and lit it on fire. When it had burned completely, she took it outside and blew it off the plate into the air, setting the ashes free on the wind. This was how she mailed all of her letter to June.
(4:32 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
***
Annnnnnd.... It's not working. My anti procrastination efforts are falling woefully short.
***
Sarah went back inside and sat down in the home studio that she and Fuller had put in two years ago.
She had to do something to try and get into a positive frame of mind. Perhaps working on a little music might help.
She turned everything on, and logged in. She brought up qjackctl and then ardour and loaded up a project she was working on and then went blank. Completely blank. totally and utterly blank. Pitch black, dead of night blank. Nada. Nothing. Wiped clean blank.
She got up and went to the kitchen and opened the freezer. She reached way in the back to where she kept some of her special chocolate frozen for emergency occasions.
She walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch, reaching over to pick up the remote before leaning back and turning one the television. She switched over to the guide channel and switched into veg mode as she popped a piece of frozen chocolate into her mouth.
***
(4:42 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Hey, I know gentle reader, I need a bailout. Yeah, that's it. A temporal bailout! Nothing so mundane as a monetary bailout, what I need is to be given some extra time to make up for all the time I wasted! Wow! Now that is an exciting concept! Where can I go for such a bailout? Washington? They seem to be trying very hard to become the bailout masters right about now. I wonder if they migh be interested in expanding into temporal bailouts?
(4:50 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
OK, so I just fed the dogs and took a short walk out in the back yard to look at my jujube tree. It is loaded but none are ready to eat yet. Way too small and green. Bummer!
And now I am back inside, sitting at my desk, desperately trying to write. Anything. Anything at all.
***
Sarah spent an hour or more in front of the television. Watching nothing that she could later remember. She wished she and Fuller would just get rid of the thing. There was so seldom anything worth watching on and yet it seemed to suck them both into its time pit. Productive hours pouring, spinning down a virtual kitchen sink drain of time.
When she finally came up from her deep daze, all of her chocolate was gone and her stomach hurt.
"Sarah, get a hold of yourself!" she said out loud, "You have to get your act together and make some forward progress. Do something positive."
She went to the bedroom and changed in to her running clothes and grabbed up her running shoes. She went to the front door and sat down with her back against the door frame and pulled on her shoes and then tied the laces. She stood up, closed and locked the door and then walked out ot the street to try and run off some of the funk she was in.
***
(5:12 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
(5:22 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Now, now, gentle reader, I can't have any of that from myself, can you help me with this little problem?
***
Sarah was three miles in to her run when sh finally started to feel a tiny bit better.
***
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
I keep checking out my display
But it's always line in use
But I got to make this phone call
is there nothing I can do
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
***
Joshua and Fulcrum got into the open cockpit fisherman and headed out from the dock. After getting out in to the open, Joshua opened her up and she jumped up onto a plane. Fulcrum was amazed by the speed! Imagine what could be done with speed like this on a pirate voyage!
His spirits soared in the wind and he started to sing... Joshua joined in...
It's a pirate that I be
And I sail upon the sea
And the fathers and the mothers
And the brothers of the damsels
They are all afeared of me
Cause when the damsels I do see
And when the damsels they see me
There is no hope left
Their hearts are for my chest
A treasure fair reserved for me
"Man, I knew I knew you from somewhere! You are that guy in that band down in Nassau! I saw you last year!"
"That's not me. I must look like that guy though, other people mistake me for him too."
"You sure that's not you?"
"Definately not me. I am sure."
***
(5:59 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
As she ran, Sarah sang a song that kept running through her head...
Well I got me some new, time to kill
Got it from a man just over the hill
I'll take it and grind it
Down at the mill
Yes I got me some new, time to kill
Well I got me some fresh, time to waste
I'll waste it on you baby out on a date
Yeah I'll pick you up at seven
Or maybe at eight
Yes I got me some fresh, time to waste
I got me some extra, hours to burn
Light em up bright baby, never learn
Sparkling stride baby
Smooth groove turns
Yes I got me some extra, hours to burn
Well I sold him some new, time to kill
Don't need it no more, just went over the hill
Let him take it and grind it
Down at the mill
Yes, he's got him some new, time to kill.
She started to cry, tears running down her cheeks as she ran.
What would she do without Fuller? She decided to head back home and see if she could make any headway into finding out where he had gone. Her friend on the police force had told her that he would ask around as best he could but that there had been no reports of anyone turning up dead or injured. That at least was something.
***
(6:08 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
(6:37 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
And so we see more time slip away. And so gentle reader, we must add word to word and march on.
***
When Fulcrum and Joshua pulled in to the government dock on Harbour Island, Fulcrum jumped on to the concrete pier and whooped, his face cracking in to a wide smile.
"You seem mighty happy to be here Fulcrum. This your long lost childhood home?"
"I guess you could say something like that," grinned Fulcrum. "Let's go eat."
"Since you're buying, I know this place over by the norht beach that has some nice food and is not shy with their prices."
"Not a problem my good man and thank you for the ride."
They walked in off the dock and Fulcrum took a left. "Hey, that is not the way to the restaurant," said Joshua. "Come with me, I will show you where it is."
"I would like to wander around some before we head there if you don't mind too much. No more than a few minutes I figure. Is that OK with you?"
"Well, that is OK I guess, I though you were the one who wanted to go eat right away. Are you sure the trip over didn't rattle your brain?"
"Shake up me mind
Rattle me brain"
"I remember that song. You sure you are not that singer dude? You look just like him. And you sound like him too, especially when you sing that pirate song."
"Not me."
They walked along and Fulcrum took in the town. Things were strange, sure, but some of the streets where where he remembered if not as he remembered. They passed his captain's lady's house and his heart skipped a beat. There was the oven in the yard. What would he find at the green-eyed lady's place?
Well, the street still passed by the lot where her house used to be but the house was not there any longer. Oh, there was a house there, but it was not the same house at all, and it was not even on the same part of the lot as her house had been.
Fulcrum slowed down to a crawl as he passed by the place. A choked sob tried to escape his throat but he forced it back down deep inside.
(7:20 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
"Are you OK Fulcrum?"
"Yes, just some old memories coming back to me. It was so long ago though. Almost like another life."
***
I'm going to a place
Where the past is free to roam
Where no one knows my face
And I can find a home
I want wide open spaces
Cause I'm weary to the bone
So I'm seeking out a place
Where the past is free to roam
***
i really think it's raining sunshine baby
somewhere deep inside my heart
i really think that i could love you baby
if you would just make the start
i really really think i want you baby
somewhere by the ocean tonight
and you would really really love it baby
and you could be my true delight
i'd take you to see ah places baby
places that we'd never been
and if you'd walk right here beside me baby
i'd show you through a young man's dream
***
Songs for life. Fulcrum followed Joshua to the restaurant and they made their way through to the verandah overlooking the wide expanse of beach and the blue ocean. When they sat down the owner brought them menus and asked for theri drink orders.
(7:34 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Their drinks came and they placed their lunch orders, Joshua did not hold back. Fulcrum decided to follow his example and ordered up a storm.
When the food came, Joshue tucked in. By that time though, Fulcrum was lost in thought. He ate, but just pick pick. His mind was elsewhere. Truth be told, his mind was really eslewhen.
***
(7:42 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
And so gentle reader, we are getting fairly close to the three thousand word mark and I need to kick it up a notch in speed even if I let what little quality there may be slip lower. And I really doubt I will go much beyond the mark tonight. My eyes just hurt too much.
***
Fulcrum's mind flashed a memory that surprised him. As he looked down the beach, he remembered where he had hidden a small stash of private loot for safe keeping. Could it possibly still be there after all these years? The thought caused his blood to race. His breathing quickened.
***
And that's it gentle reader. I am going to quit now but leave my machine running in case I decide to try and write a bit more later tonight.
***
(7:48 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Well, gentle reader, another day, another dollar as they say. Now who exactly they are is another matter entirely.
Why use one word when three will do.
And when it comes to National Novel Writing Month, why use one word NaNoWriMo when four will do. Well, NaNoWriMo is not exactly a word now is it. National Novel Writing Month is four words though. Truth, not truthiness.
(2:49 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
A slow and inauspicious beginning to the writing day today but perhaps with dogged determination and a bit of good luck, things may just improve.
Once again we shall try for at least three thousand words and really more like four thousand words if we can. This should prove a bit more difficult today as a result of the later start and my general feelings of lethargy and lugginess.
Still, with that oft repeated strategy of putting down first one word and then another, we can slowly amass a quantity of words which can be counted. And no hanging chads in sight.
How thankful I was that we had no hanging chads this year, that may have proved too distracting by for for my NaNo efforts. Wait! For my National Novel Writing Month efforts. There! Much better!
***
Fulcrum woke up late and with a pounding headache. He woke up in the bright sun on the dock with no "Lady Love" beside it. He sat up and blinked in the sun and ran his fingers through his tangled hair.
Someone laughed from the stern of another smack boat tied up further out on the dock, "Your head looks like chicken boongy!"
Fulcrum squinted and looked to see Joshua sitting on a deck chair and smoking a pipe and reading the paper.
"What are you laughing at my friend?"
"You and your late ways. Didn't you want to get to 'Briland this morning? Well, you already missed the morning ferry! I don't know how you managed to not wake up when they tried to rouse you. Or when they put you off the "Lady Love" and pulled out. That was a racket. And sleeping for hours in this sun... I tell you what, you must be a sleeping champion somewhere for sure."
Fulcrum groaned, "Ow my head."
Joshua laughed and got up. He went into the boat for s short time and emerged with a glass of something in his hand. He hopped on to the dock and made his way over to Fulcrum. He squatted next to Fulcrum and held out his hand palm up showing two small red pills, "Here, thake these and drink them down with the whole glass of water. They should make your head feel better."
Fulcrum was hurting enough that he did not question what he was about to ingest as he normally would. He just took the proffered pills and water and did as instructed.
"That's good. Man you are in some sorry state."
"So, I missed the ferry? I need to find a way to get to Harbour Islands today. Can you help me?"
"Tell you what. I will run you around if you will buy us lunch once we get there."
Fulcrum felt in his pockets and was happy to find that he still had some wadded up bills in his left pocket that he had taken from Sarah's purse before leaving Nassau, "I should be able to manage that, you have a deal my friend."
(3:18 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
***
You don't know where you are going
You don't know what you are doing
You don't know but I am leaving you
I need things that you aint giving
I need things for better living
I need freedom so I'm leaving you
***
She's wearing a low cut dress and high top sneakers
***
That girl is alright
She's the best I've ever seen
That girl is alright
Low cut dress and green
She come from the bayou
Now she's living in the islands
She come from the bayou
Now everyday she spends just styling
***
She took me somewhere
Showed me something special
Whispered in the night time
Left me stuck all alone
She said she loved me
Showed me secret things
Whispered like a small wave
Breaking on the shore
I need a woman
Who will love me for myself
Never leave me lonely
Always give me more
***
(3:43 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Well gentle reader, I am down, way down, tired beyond what I have the energy to describe right now. How am I to do this today? Can you think of any way to help me? If so, send me an email or IM me please. I need ideas to help me succeed!
***
Dear June,
it has been a while since I last wrote. I have been thinking of you at least a little each day despite that. I have been caught up mostly with other thoughts though.
Fuller is gone. How can I go on? There is an emptiness in my heart now and I am cold all the time. Cold inside.
When I woke up this morning, my pillow was stiff with salt residue. What shall I do?
I have always felt a kinship with you as I have said before but it seems that lately, events in my life are conspiring to give me a first hand understanding of your life so long ago. And I must be honest and tell you that, no matter how much I care for you, I do not wish to know your life so well in this way. I am sorry if that sounds selfish. But that is the truth.
He left no note. I woke up to a silent and empty house and my heart knew right away that my deepest fears were stalking me.
I hope that by writing you I may get some fresh ideas on how to find Fuller and bring him back safe to me arms.
Your friend,
Sarah
***
(3:56 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Well gentle reader, that is the first thousand down but it has taken over an hour and I feel the next thousand will be much harder and I feel a bout of procrastination coming on.
***
(4:10 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
How can I fight that procrastination today? How can I find some energy? How can I get out of this funk? Escape these writing doldrums and get into the literary trade winds that can waft me quickly to me desired destination? Well, any destination sufficiently far from here word count wise would do just fine.
I can't deal with one of those can't get there from here situations at this time though. Now in the least. I need help gentle reader, help I tell you!
***
Sarah finished her letter to June and then put it on a ceramic plate and lit it on fire. When it had burned completely, she took it outside and blew it off the plate into the air, setting the ashes free on the wind. This was how she mailed all of her letter to June.
(4:32 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
***
Annnnnnd.... It's not working. My anti procrastination efforts are falling woefully short.
***
Sarah went back inside and sat down in the home studio that she and Fuller had put in two years ago.
She had to do something to try and get into a positive frame of mind. Perhaps working on a little music might help.
She turned everything on, and logged in. She brought up qjackctl and then ardour and loaded up a project she was working on and then went blank. Completely blank. totally and utterly blank. Pitch black, dead of night blank. Nada. Nothing. Wiped clean blank.
She got up and went to the kitchen and opened the freezer. She reached way in the back to where she kept some of her special chocolate frozen for emergency occasions.
She walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch, reaching over to pick up the remote before leaning back and turning one the television. She switched over to the guide channel and switched into veg mode as she popped a piece of frozen chocolate into her mouth.
***
(4:42 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Hey, I know gentle reader, I need a bailout. Yeah, that's it. A temporal bailout! Nothing so mundane as a monetary bailout, what I need is to be given some extra time to make up for all the time I wasted! Wow! Now that is an exciting concept! Where can I go for such a bailout? Washington? They seem to be trying very hard to become the bailout masters right about now. I wonder if they migh be interested in expanding into temporal bailouts?
(4:50 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
OK, so I just fed the dogs and took a short walk out in the back yard to look at my jujube tree. It is loaded but none are ready to eat yet. Way too small and green. Bummer!
And now I am back inside, sitting at my desk, desperately trying to write. Anything. Anything at all.
***
Sarah spent an hour or more in front of the television. Watching nothing that she could later remember. She wished she and Fuller would just get rid of the thing. There was so seldom anything worth watching on and yet it seemed to suck them both into its time pit. Productive hours pouring, spinning down a virtual kitchen sink drain of time.
When she finally came up from her deep daze, all of her chocolate was gone and her stomach hurt.
"Sarah, get a hold of yourself!" she said out loud, "You have to get your act together and make some forward progress. Do something positive."
She went to the bedroom and changed in to her running clothes and grabbed up her running shoes. She went to the front door and sat down with her back against the door frame and pulled on her shoes and then tied the laces. She stood up, closed and locked the door and then walked out ot the street to try and run off some of the funk she was in.
***
(5:12 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
(5:22 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Now, now, gentle reader, I can't have any of that from myself, can you help me with this little problem?
***
Sarah was three miles in to her run when sh finally started to feel a tiny bit better.
***
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
I keep checking out my display
But it's always line in use
But I got to make this phone call
is there nothing I can do
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
I got the waiting on the telephone blues
***
Joshua and Fulcrum got into the open cockpit fisherman and headed out from the dock. After getting out in to the open, Joshua opened her up and she jumped up onto a plane. Fulcrum was amazed by the speed! Imagine what could be done with speed like this on a pirate voyage!
His spirits soared in the wind and he started to sing... Joshua joined in...
It's a pirate that I be
And I sail upon the sea
And the fathers and the mothers
And the brothers of the damsels
They are all afeared of me
Cause when the damsels I do see
And when the damsels they see me
There is no hope left
Their hearts are for my chest
A treasure fair reserved for me
"Man, I knew I knew you from somewhere! You are that guy in that band down in Nassau! I saw you last year!"
"That's not me. I must look like that guy though, other people mistake me for him too."
"You sure that's not you?"
"Definately not me. I am sure."
***
(5:59 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
As she ran, Sarah sang a song that kept running through her head...
Well I got me some new, time to kill
Got it from a man just over the hill
I'll take it and grind it
Down at the mill
Yes I got me some new, time to kill
Well I got me some fresh, time to waste
I'll waste it on you baby out on a date
Yeah I'll pick you up at seven
Or maybe at eight
Yes I got me some fresh, time to waste
I got me some extra, hours to burn
Light em up bright baby, never learn
Sparkling stride baby
Smooth groove turns
Yes I got me some extra, hours to burn
Well I sold him some new, time to kill
Don't need it no more, just went over the hill
Let him take it and grind it
Down at the mill
Yes, he's got him some new, time to kill.
She started to cry, tears running down her cheeks as she ran.
What would she do without Fuller? She decided to head back home and see if she could make any headway into finding out where he had gone. Her friend on the police force had told her that he would ask around as best he could but that there had been no reports of anyone turning up dead or injured. That at least was something.
***
(6:08 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
(6:37 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
And so we see more time slip away. And so gentle reader, we must add word to word and march on.
***
When Fulcrum and Joshua pulled in to the government dock on Harbour Island, Fulcrum jumped on to the concrete pier and whooped, his face cracking in to a wide smile.
"You seem mighty happy to be here Fulcrum. This your long lost childhood home?"
"I guess you could say something like that," grinned Fulcrum. "Let's go eat."
"Since you're buying, I know this place over by the norht beach that has some nice food and is not shy with their prices."
"Not a problem my good man and thank you for the ride."
They walked in off the dock and Fulcrum took a left. "Hey, that is not the way to the restaurant," said Joshua. "Come with me, I will show you where it is."
"I would like to wander around some before we head there if you don't mind too much. No more than a few minutes I figure. Is that OK with you?"
"Well, that is OK I guess, I though you were the one who wanted to go eat right away. Are you sure the trip over didn't rattle your brain?"
"Shake up me mind
Rattle me brain"
"I remember that song. You sure you are not that singer dude? You look just like him. And you sound like him too, especially when you sing that pirate song."
"Not me."
They walked along and Fulcrum took in the town. Things were strange, sure, but some of the streets where where he remembered if not as he remembered. They passed his captain's lady's house and his heart skipped a beat. There was the oven in the yard. What would he find at the green-eyed lady's place?
Well, the street still passed by the lot where her house used to be but the house was not there any longer. Oh, there was a house there, but it was not the same house at all, and it was not even on the same part of the lot as her house had been.
Fulcrum slowed down to a crawl as he passed by the place. A choked sob tried to escape his throat but he forced it back down deep inside.
(7:20 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
"Are you OK Fulcrum?"
"Yes, just some old memories coming back to me. It was so long ago though. Almost like another life."
***
I'm going to a place
Where the past is free to roam
Where no one knows my face
And I can find a home
I want wide open spaces
Cause I'm weary to the bone
So I'm seeking out a place
Where the past is free to roam
***
i really think it's raining sunshine baby
somewhere deep inside my heart
i really think that i could love you baby
if you would just make the start
i really really think i want you baby
somewhere by the ocean tonight
and you would really really love it baby
and you could be my true delight
i'd take you to see ah places baby
places that we'd never been
and if you'd walk right here beside me baby
i'd show you through a young man's dream
***
Songs for life. Fulcrum followed Joshua to the restaurant and they made their way through to the verandah overlooking the wide expanse of beach and the blue ocean. When they sat down the owner brought them menus and asked for theri drink orders.
(7:34 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Their drinks came and they placed their lunch orders, Joshua did not hold back. Fulcrum decided to follow his example and ordered up a storm.
When the food came, Joshue tucked in. By that time though, Fulcrum was lost in thought. He ate, but just pick pick. His mind was elsewhere. Truth be told, his mind was really eslewhen.
***
(7:42 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
And so gentle reader, we are getting fairly close to the three thousand word mark and I need to kick it up a notch in speed even if I let what little quality there may be slip lower. And I really doubt I will go much beyond the mark tonight. My eyes just hurt too much.
***
Fulcrum's mind flashed a memory that surprised him. As he looked down the beach, he remembered where he had hidden a small stash of private loot for safe keeping. Could it possibly still be there after all these years? The thought caused his blood to race. His breathing quickened.
***
And that's it gentle reader. I am going to quit now but leave my machine running in case I decide to try and write a bit more later tonight.
***
(7:48 pm Tue Nov 18, 2008)
Bits N Pieces - A Disjointed Bahamian Novel - D17
(6:26 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Hey there gentle reader. I'm back. Not sure I am ready to go but I am back.
Just in case it is a little confusing, I only just write up those little blurbs for the Abaco days. I truly didn't write a thing on those days in relation to this novel effort.
I was hanging low in Abaco for sure. Luckily, throught the magic of literary time travel, I was able to go back to those dates on the page and fill in those little nuggets for your benefit.
Good to see you again by the way. Sorry you had nothing to read for a few days. ~;-)
(6:56 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Another fantastic start to a day huh? And to think, with the four days of zero words, I have to cram eight thousand more words into the days ahead to catch up. Wow!
***
(7:02 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Fulcrum woke up and realised that he could not go on this wa any longer. He could not stay here in this house with this green eyed lady trying to live someone else's life. It just was not working for him. With all his faults, he still wanted to be himself and not someone else. Sure, he would like to become a better person. Ahhhh!! He started to shake. What kind of a thing was that for a pirate to want? Was that from inhabiting this other person's life?
He thought about it for a good while.
No. That was his own thought.
Over the past few days, he had noticed that he was starting to become this other person whose life he seemed to be living. Finding he had skills he never learned in his own life. That was disconcerting.
(7:41 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
And time is once again slipping away. What amazing stealth!
***
I was standing in the parking lot
Feeling like the boy that time forgot
Trying to be a man that I am not
Just standing in the parking lot
***
Fulcrum slipped out of the bed quietly without waking Sarah. He
grabbed his clothes off of the daybed and padded into the living room. He dressed in silence and then left by the front door saying a silent goodbye to Sarah.
He set off on the ankle express heading down to the docks at Potter's Cay.
(8:08 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
When he got to the docks, he began asking around trying to find a boat leaving for Harbour Island that would be willing to take him along.
It took him a while. Someone told him that he had missed the fast ferry. Finally he found a smack boat that was heading to Spanish Wells that was willing to take him on board and was leaving in a few hours. He thanked the captain and said that he would ask around some more to see if anyone was going all the way to Harbour Island but that he would be bake in time if not. The captain warned him not to be late as they would not wait for him.
"Sure thing captain. If I am not back, just leave without me. And thanks."
Fulcrum continued searching for a Briland bound boat but found none. He stopped at a stall and got himself an early conch salad as he was getting very hungry by now.
He continued asking around as he spooned the firey mixture of mollusk, bird and goat into his mouth, sweating and glowing all the while.
***
Fulcrum cut through from the western side of the causway to the eastern side under the old bridge and saw that the mate on the "Lady Love" was casting off the stern lines and the smack boat was slowly easing away from the causway. he broke into a run, calling out to the boat.
The mate noticed him and waved to him, "Hurry up man! We aren't waiting! This captain doesn't play."
Fulcrum increased his speed, getting close as the gap between the stern ond the concrete widened.
"Jump man! you can make it!"
Fulcrum jumped... He landed on the stern deck and rolled, ending up on his back, a net saving his skull from the hard planks.
***
(8:26 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
"Man, you cut it close. The captain warned you," laughed the mate, reaching down to help him up.
"Yeah, I know, I got caught short and had to make a stop. I think that conch salad may have been a bit too hot to put on an empty stomach."
"Man you like to live dangerous hey? You wouldn't catch me eating conch from this dock even if I was already dead. Things around this island are too polluted man."
"It really is dirty isn't it. Mind you, the town used to be way dirtier in the past but the harbour was not like this." said Fulcrum.
(8:33 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(3:34 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
It took a while but "Lady Love" finally made it to Spanish Wells after a rough time with Six Shilling Channel.
She tied up and the crew made her neat before the captain invited Fulcrum and the crew to lunch at one of the local snacking places.
They all got a table off to the right side and the captain ordered a round of conch salad for everyone. Fulcrum declined. Adamantly. Seems the morning excitement had scarred him.
"But Fulcrum, this salad we make up here is not like what they make down in Nassau. Our salad will not treat you like that."
"Captain, I just can't take that chance anymore today. Maybe another day."
"I thought you said you wanted to leave for Briland later today."
"I did. I do. Well, I may not find a ride, or I may come back sometime soon."
"Why don't you take a taxi and a taxi and a taxi?"
"Nah, I think I will just aks around down at the docks and see if I can find someone heading over that way."
"Well, if you don't find a ride, you can sleep on the "Lady Love" tonight if you like."
"Sounds like a plan, thanks Captain," said Fulcrum.
(3:57 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
The waitress finally brought everone their conch salads and aksed if they were ready to order yet.
Captain Jack ordered a conch burger. The first mate, Abel, asked for a fried egg sandwich without bread. Nora hit him on the shoulder with her pad and wrote down his order.
There was a lot of cutting up and fake orders made and taken before everything was finally sorted and Nora went back into the kitchen to put in their order.
"I'm fixing to marry Nora one day soon," said Abel.
"Yeah? You asked her yet?" winked the captain, digging his elbow into Abel's side.
"Not exactly, but I will soon," muttered Abel.
"Sure you will Abel," grinned Jack, "so tell me, have you even asked her out on a date yet?"
"Yes I have! Do you think I am a total loser?"
"You have? I see. So tell me, did she say yes and have you two actually been on a date yet?"
"Of course!"
"Really, when was this Abel?"
"A long time ago now."
The captain burst out laughing."
"What are you laughing at?"
"Fulcrum! How much you want to bet that he is talking about the time when he was five and he went to the beach with her one day when their familiess were still friendly with each other? That's it, isn't it Abel?"
"Shut up!"
(4:29 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Abel's fried egg sandwich came without bread, just as ordered. That started a new round of laughing.
***
Sarah woke up to an empty bed and a still house. Things were too quiet. She got an odd feeling that something was wrong. Amiss as it were.
"Fuller. Fuller! Where are you?"
She waited. Listned. Carefully. But now answer came. No response broke the morning silence.
She got up and walked around the place, looking in the bathroom, the kitchen, the spare bedroom. No Fuller anywhere. She looked and saw that the clothes he had taken off last night were gone.
"Fuller!" Nothing. She grabbed the phone and dialed Jaro's number, "Jaro? Have you seen Fuller? Did he tell you anything about going somewhere?"
"No Sarah, I haven't seen him for a few days now. He may have just gone out for a walk to made a run to the shop for something."
(5:43 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
Ouch! Well gentle reader, look at that. I need to do three thousand words today and really wanted to do four thousand to try and make a good beginning at catching back up due to the missed days in Abaco. But just look at the non-spurt in the last hour or so. I got totally side tracked into nothing. The temporal black hole.
But I must write on! Right on! Keep that virtual ink flowing onto that virtual paper. It's only words after all. Words that I have to put right down today.
***
Sarah went outside and looked around. No Fuller. She began to get worried as her bad feeling deepened. He had not seemed like himself lately. He had seemed confused. She kicked hereself for not calling a doctor to check him over. So what if he was being a big baby, she should have insisted.
He may have hit his head that day riding the waves. What if he were still suffering the effects of hitting his head on a rock or who knows what?
She asked around the neighbourhood but no one had seen him. She went back inside and called Jaro again, "Jaro, can you come over, I think something has happened to Fuller."
(5:56 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
"Sure thing Sarah, I just need to get ready and I will be right over. Should be within the hour."
***
Fulcrum went down to the docks after the late lunch and asked around about a boat going through to Briland. No one knew of any going on and one or two suggested that he may wnato to just try and catch a ride on the fast ferry on the morrow. Now that he was so close he was beginning to get really impatient though and he kept aksing around.
He ended up back by the "Lady Love" and asked Captain jack if perhaps one of the crew could run him around in one of the smaller boats which she carried behind.
"No, Fulcrum, we have work to do to get ready for our next trip and we need to get all we can done before we run out of daylight and darkness makes things more difficult or impossible."
(6:08 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(6:44 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
I need something
Yes I need something
Say I need something
To do in my life
I keep running
Yes I keep running
Say I keep running
From you in the night
I see something
Yes I see something
Say I see something
For you in the light
***
I had a girl
I thought my own
I held her close
We were alone
But then somehow
She slipped away
To me it seemed
Night ate the day
The sky went black
My heart did too
My tears poured out
And washed my shoes
The salty mud
Spread through the world
All on account
Of that one sweet girl
Oh yes somehow
She slipped away
To me it seemed
Night ate the day
***
I wish I had a plan
To win you for myself
But my mind empties out
Like a jar up on your shelf
I keep things to myself
Whenever you're around
But love just never grows
And I never make a sound
***
There was a young pirate
Who went out sailing
Who went out sailing
With a pirate crew
With a pirate crew
This bold young pirate
He went out raiding
He went out raiding
Upon the blue
Upon the blue
***
Well gentle reader, that was supposed to be the start of some many versed pirate song but it didn't get far. Perhaps later, or perhaps a new start.
So, I am struggling along here, adding one word to another when the ability to multiply words would come in really handy right about now.
I am going to try really hard to get to three thousand words before I shut down for the day. The problem is, for some reason, I am so tired that I want to shut down now, not an hour or three from now and I certainly don't want to get near midnight. We shall see. You are most welcome to come along for the ride.
***
(7:42 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(7:56 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Wow! I am trying so hard I am off in some no zone writing nothing. Fast. I tried writing nothing slow but it was not working out.
Fulcrum never found his boat to Briland and so when the sun went down he went on back to the "Lady Love" and aksed if he could bunk there for the night. The captain laughed and told him yes and had the first mate show him where he could bunk down. He helped out a bit with finishing up the loading of the dry provisions and then he was invited to the club in the bush.
***
Fulcrum followed the crew down the bush path and was reminded of his night time troubles on Briland so many years ago now and yet so recently past.
He started to shake a bit and had to breath deeply to try and calm himself down. Although it was a cool night, he began to sweat.
The men passed out of the narrow confines of the path into a wide clearing under the stars.
There was a fire burning in the middle of the clearing and some chichens and meat roasting on spits. Men were sitting around on chairs and couches and benches and tree limbs. There was laughter and singing and general good cheer all around.
Fulcrum sat down next to a sun burned, wiry young man with curly blond hair and blue eyes. The man looked at him briefly, turned away and then looked back, "Don't I know you from somwehere? You look familiar. Whose your people?"
"Ah, my name is Fulcrum, I sort of grew up on a private cay that my father took care of and never knew my family."
"You been here before?"
"Not for many years now. I doubt you remember me from around here."
"So, what's your full name?"
"Ah, Fulcrum Albury. What's yours? Were you born here?"
"I'm Joshua Higgs. I was born right here. Born and bred like they say."
(8:26 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
"It's good to meet you Joshua."
"Good to meet you too Fulcrum. I know I have seen you some where. When did you get here?"
"I just came in today. I caught a ride on the "Lady Love" with Captain Jack. We just left Nassau this morning.
"Ah, so you are a Nassau boy then? I may have seen you down there then. What do you do down there."
"A bit of this and a bit of that. I think I see someone over there that I want to speak to, excuse me for a while please," said Fulcrum getting up to avoid the questions.
(8:32 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
That was close. He really had to watch out for getting in to conversations with poeple who might want to know about him. He would really need to figure out some plausible story to tell if he could not figure out a way to get back to his own life. He looked down to the ground as he walked and sighed. Shook his head.
***
(8:52 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(9:37 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Sarah was beside herself by sundown and as the evening faded into night she couldn't shake the feelings of unease and fear that continued to creep into the dark corners of her mind. She and jaro had spent the day looking for some sign of Fuller without success.
Neither of them thought to ask down at Potter's Cay. It was not a place that Fuller frequented.
Jaro finally left after Sarah assured him that she would be OK for the night alone.
Sarah undressed and took a hot shower. She let the water pulse down on her trembling body and set up a calming rhythm in her troubled mind, the heat bringing the first small bit of relief to her for the day.
(10:21 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
Well, gentle reader, I have crossed over three thousand words but I don't see staying up to try for four thousand of them. So, that being said, I will plod on but am liable to end abruptly.
***
Sarah let the water soak her for about fifteen minutes, allowing the shower stall to steam up before shampooing her hair and then soaping up and rinsing off. She finished up with another five minutes of water massage before shutting off the water and reaching out of the stall to grab a giant, soft towel and dry herself off.
She went to the bedroom and put on her pyjamas and then went back to the bathroom and hung up the wet towel before getting a smaller dry towel and wrapping it around her wet hair.
She pulled back the covers, lay down on her side of the king size bed, looked over at the empty spot beside her and cried herself to sleep. To sleep yes and to dream. And her dreams were not the nice ones that you woke from and remembered fondly.
(10:31 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
Fulcrum sat down next to Abel on a large, worn out leather couch on the other side of the clearing, "Hey Abel, how are things going with you tonight? You hungry?"
"So, so I guess, and I am very hungry, I hope something is ready soon or I am going back down by the restaurant to grab a little something to tide me over until this is done."
"You sure you just don't want to catch another glimpse of Nora?" from an easy chair in the shadows nearby.
"Give it a rest will you captain?"
"Sure thing Able. You want me to talk to her for you though?"
"Captain, you are working on my last nerve here now."
"Any more lip out of you Mr. Pinder and I will have you keel hauled the next time we put out to sea."
"Right oh Captain! No more lip from me!"
Fulcrum leaned over and whispered in Abel's ear, "They still keel hauling people up this way?"
Abel burst out laughing, spewing his lime aid all down his shirt and over his jeans.
"What is so funny Mr. Pinder? Care to share it with everyone?"
"Captain! Fulcrum here wants to know if we still keel haul up this way," sputtered Abel.
Captain Jack laughed, "Sure we do my good man, only we are much more humane about it these days than they used to be long ago. We keep our hulls scraped much smoother than they used to just so as not to tear people up so much. Barnacles can really tear a person up.
***
(11:09 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
And so I bid you good night gentle reader.
Hey there gentle reader. I'm back. Not sure I am ready to go but I am back.
Just in case it is a little confusing, I only just write up those little blurbs for the Abaco days. I truly didn't write a thing on those days in relation to this novel effort.
I was hanging low in Abaco for sure. Luckily, throught the magic of literary time travel, I was able to go back to those dates on the page and fill in those little nuggets for your benefit.
Good to see you again by the way. Sorry you had nothing to read for a few days. ~;-)
(6:56 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Another fantastic start to a day huh? And to think, with the four days of zero words, I have to cram eight thousand more words into the days ahead to catch up. Wow!
***
(7:02 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Fulcrum woke up and realised that he could not go on this wa any longer. He could not stay here in this house with this green eyed lady trying to live someone else's life. It just was not working for him. With all his faults, he still wanted to be himself and not someone else. Sure, he would like to become a better person. Ahhhh!! He started to shake. What kind of a thing was that for a pirate to want? Was that from inhabiting this other person's life?
He thought about it for a good while.
No. That was his own thought.
Over the past few days, he had noticed that he was starting to become this other person whose life he seemed to be living. Finding he had skills he never learned in his own life. That was disconcerting.
(7:41 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
And time is once again slipping away. What amazing stealth!
***
I was standing in the parking lot
Feeling like the boy that time forgot
Trying to be a man that I am not
Just standing in the parking lot
***
Fulcrum slipped out of the bed quietly without waking Sarah. He
grabbed his clothes off of the daybed and padded into the living room. He dressed in silence and then left by the front door saying a silent goodbye to Sarah.
He set off on the ankle express heading down to the docks at Potter's Cay.
(8:08 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
When he got to the docks, he began asking around trying to find a boat leaving for Harbour Island that would be willing to take him along.
It took him a while. Someone told him that he had missed the fast ferry. Finally he found a smack boat that was heading to Spanish Wells that was willing to take him on board and was leaving in a few hours. He thanked the captain and said that he would ask around some more to see if anyone was going all the way to Harbour Island but that he would be bake in time if not. The captain warned him not to be late as they would not wait for him.
"Sure thing captain. If I am not back, just leave without me. And thanks."
Fulcrum continued searching for a Briland bound boat but found none. He stopped at a stall and got himself an early conch salad as he was getting very hungry by now.
He continued asking around as he spooned the firey mixture of mollusk, bird and goat into his mouth, sweating and glowing all the while.
***
Fulcrum cut through from the western side of the causway to the eastern side under the old bridge and saw that the mate on the "Lady Love" was casting off the stern lines and the smack boat was slowly easing away from the causway. he broke into a run, calling out to the boat.
The mate noticed him and waved to him, "Hurry up man! We aren't waiting! This captain doesn't play."
Fulcrum increased his speed, getting close as the gap between the stern ond the concrete widened.
"Jump man! you can make it!"
Fulcrum jumped... He landed on the stern deck and rolled, ending up on his back, a net saving his skull from the hard planks.
***
(8:26 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
"Man, you cut it close. The captain warned you," laughed the mate, reaching down to help him up.
"Yeah, I know, I got caught short and had to make a stop. I think that conch salad may have been a bit too hot to put on an empty stomach."
"Man you like to live dangerous hey? You wouldn't catch me eating conch from this dock even if I was already dead. Things around this island are too polluted man."
"It really is dirty isn't it. Mind you, the town used to be way dirtier in the past but the harbour was not like this." said Fulcrum.
(8:33 am Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(3:34 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
It took a while but "Lady Love" finally made it to Spanish Wells after a rough time with Six Shilling Channel.
She tied up and the crew made her neat before the captain invited Fulcrum and the crew to lunch at one of the local snacking places.
They all got a table off to the right side and the captain ordered a round of conch salad for everyone. Fulcrum declined. Adamantly. Seems the morning excitement had scarred him.
"But Fulcrum, this salad we make up here is not like what they make down in Nassau. Our salad will not treat you like that."
"Captain, I just can't take that chance anymore today. Maybe another day."
"I thought you said you wanted to leave for Briland later today."
"I did. I do. Well, I may not find a ride, or I may come back sometime soon."
"Why don't you take a taxi and a taxi and a taxi?"
"Nah, I think I will just aks around down at the docks and see if I can find someone heading over that way."
"Well, if you don't find a ride, you can sleep on the "Lady Love" tonight if you like."
"Sounds like a plan, thanks Captain," said Fulcrum.
(3:57 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
The waitress finally brought everone their conch salads and aksed if they were ready to order yet.
Captain Jack ordered a conch burger. The first mate, Abel, asked for a fried egg sandwich without bread. Nora hit him on the shoulder with her pad and wrote down his order.
There was a lot of cutting up and fake orders made and taken before everything was finally sorted and Nora went back into the kitchen to put in their order.
"I'm fixing to marry Nora one day soon," said Abel.
"Yeah? You asked her yet?" winked the captain, digging his elbow into Abel's side.
"Not exactly, but I will soon," muttered Abel.
"Sure you will Abel," grinned Jack, "so tell me, have you even asked her out on a date yet?"
"Yes I have! Do you think I am a total loser?"
"You have? I see. So tell me, did she say yes and have you two actually been on a date yet?"
"Of course!"
"Really, when was this Abel?"
"A long time ago now."
The captain burst out laughing."
"What are you laughing at?"
"Fulcrum! How much you want to bet that he is talking about the time when he was five and he went to the beach with her one day when their familiess were still friendly with each other? That's it, isn't it Abel?"
"Shut up!"
(4:29 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Abel's fried egg sandwich came without bread, just as ordered. That started a new round of laughing.
***
Sarah woke up to an empty bed and a still house. Things were too quiet. She got an odd feeling that something was wrong. Amiss as it were.
"Fuller. Fuller! Where are you?"
She waited. Listned. Carefully. But now answer came. No response broke the morning silence.
She got up and walked around the place, looking in the bathroom, the kitchen, the spare bedroom. No Fuller anywhere. She looked and saw that the clothes he had taken off last night were gone.
"Fuller!" Nothing. She grabbed the phone and dialed Jaro's number, "Jaro? Have you seen Fuller? Did he tell you anything about going somewhere?"
"No Sarah, I haven't seen him for a few days now. He may have just gone out for a walk to made a run to the shop for something."
(5:43 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
Ouch! Well gentle reader, look at that. I need to do three thousand words today and really wanted to do four thousand to try and make a good beginning at catching back up due to the missed days in Abaco. But just look at the non-spurt in the last hour or so. I got totally side tracked into nothing. The temporal black hole.
But I must write on! Right on! Keep that virtual ink flowing onto that virtual paper. It's only words after all. Words that I have to put right down today.
***
Sarah went outside and looked around. No Fuller. She began to get worried as her bad feeling deepened. He had not seemed like himself lately. He had seemed confused. She kicked hereself for not calling a doctor to check him over. So what if he was being a big baby, she should have insisted.
He may have hit his head that day riding the waves. What if he were still suffering the effects of hitting his head on a rock or who knows what?
She asked around the neighbourhood but no one had seen him. She went back inside and called Jaro again, "Jaro, can you come over, I think something has happened to Fuller."
(5:56 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
"Sure thing Sarah, I just need to get ready and I will be right over. Should be within the hour."
***
Fulcrum went down to the docks after the late lunch and asked around about a boat going through to Briland. No one knew of any going on and one or two suggested that he may wnato to just try and catch a ride on the fast ferry on the morrow. Now that he was so close he was beginning to get really impatient though and he kept aksing around.
He ended up back by the "Lady Love" and asked Captain jack if perhaps one of the crew could run him around in one of the smaller boats which she carried behind.
"No, Fulcrum, we have work to do to get ready for our next trip and we need to get all we can done before we run out of daylight and darkness makes things more difficult or impossible."
(6:08 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(6:44 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
I need something
Yes I need something
Say I need something
To do in my life
I keep running
Yes I keep running
Say I keep running
From you in the night
I see something
Yes I see something
Say I see something
For you in the light
***
I had a girl
I thought my own
I held her close
We were alone
But then somehow
She slipped away
To me it seemed
Night ate the day
The sky went black
My heart did too
My tears poured out
And washed my shoes
The salty mud
Spread through the world
All on account
Of that one sweet girl
Oh yes somehow
She slipped away
To me it seemed
Night ate the day
***
I wish I had a plan
To win you for myself
But my mind empties out
Like a jar up on your shelf
I keep things to myself
Whenever you're around
But love just never grows
And I never make a sound
***
There was a young pirate
Who went out sailing
Who went out sailing
With a pirate crew
With a pirate crew
This bold young pirate
He went out raiding
He went out raiding
Upon the blue
Upon the blue
***
Well gentle reader, that was supposed to be the start of some many versed pirate song but it didn't get far. Perhaps later, or perhaps a new start.
So, I am struggling along here, adding one word to another when the ability to multiply words would come in really handy right about now.
I am going to try really hard to get to three thousand words before I shut down for the day. The problem is, for some reason, I am so tired that I want to shut down now, not an hour or three from now and I certainly don't want to get near midnight. We shall see. You are most welcome to come along for the ride.
***
(7:42 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(7:56 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Wow! I am trying so hard I am off in some no zone writing nothing. Fast. I tried writing nothing slow but it was not working out.
Fulcrum never found his boat to Briland and so when the sun went down he went on back to the "Lady Love" and aksed if he could bunk there for the night. The captain laughed and told him yes and had the first mate show him where he could bunk down. He helped out a bit with finishing up the loading of the dry provisions and then he was invited to the club in the bush.
***
Fulcrum followed the crew down the bush path and was reminded of his night time troubles on Briland so many years ago now and yet so recently past.
He started to shake a bit and had to breath deeply to try and calm himself down. Although it was a cool night, he began to sweat.
The men passed out of the narrow confines of the path into a wide clearing under the stars.
There was a fire burning in the middle of the clearing and some chichens and meat roasting on spits. Men were sitting around on chairs and couches and benches and tree limbs. There was laughter and singing and general good cheer all around.
Fulcrum sat down next to a sun burned, wiry young man with curly blond hair and blue eyes. The man looked at him briefly, turned away and then looked back, "Don't I know you from somwehere? You look familiar. Whose your people?"
"Ah, my name is Fulcrum, I sort of grew up on a private cay that my father took care of and never knew my family."
"You been here before?"
"Not for many years now. I doubt you remember me from around here."
"So, what's your full name?"
"Ah, Fulcrum Albury. What's yours? Were you born here?"
"I'm Joshua Higgs. I was born right here. Born and bred like they say."
(8:26 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
"It's good to meet you Joshua."
"Good to meet you too Fulcrum. I know I have seen you some where. When did you get here?"
"I just came in today. I caught a ride on the "Lady Love" with Captain Jack. We just left Nassau this morning.
"Ah, so you are a Nassau boy then? I may have seen you down there then. What do you do down there."
"A bit of this and a bit of that. I think I see someone over there that I want to speak to, excuse me for a while please," said Fulcrum getting up to avoid the questions.
(8:32 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
That was close. He really had to watch out for getting in to conversations with poeple who might want to know about him. He would really need to figure out some plausible story to tell if he could not figure out a way to get back to his own life. He looked down to the ground as he walked and sighed. Shook his head.
***
(8:52 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
(9:37 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
Sarah was beside herself by sundown and as the evening faded into night she couldn't shake the feelings of unease and fear that continued to creep into the dark corners of her mind. She and jaro had spent the day looking for some sign of Fuller without success.
Neither of them thought to ask down at Potter's Cay. It was not a place that Fuller frequented.
Jaro finally left after Sarah assured him that she would be OK for the night alone.
Sarah undressed and took a hot shower. She let the water pulse down on her trembling body and set up a calming rhythm in her troubled mind, the heat bringing the first small bit of relief to her for the day.
(10:21 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
Well, gentle reader, I have crossed over three thousand words but I don't see staying up to try for four thousand of them. So, that being said, I will plod on but am liable to end abruptly.
***
Sarah let the water soak her for about fifteen minutes, allowing the shower stall to steam up before shampooing her hair and then soaping up and rinsing off. She finished up with another five minutes of water massage before shutting off the water and reaching out of the stall to grab a giant, soft towel and dry herself off.
She went to the bedroom and put on her pyjamas and then went back to the bathroom and hung up the wet towel before getting a smaller dry towel and wrapping it around her wet hair.
She pulled back the covers, lay down on her side of the king size bed, looked over at the empty spot beside her and cried herself to sleep. To sleep yes and to dream. And her dreams were not the nice ones that you woke from and remembered fondly.
(10:31 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
***
Fulcrum sat down next to Abel on a large, worn out leather couch on the other side of the clearing, "Hey Abel, how are things going with you tonight? You hungry?"
"So, so I guess, and I am very hungry, I hope something is ready soon or I am going back down by the restaurant to grab a little something to tide me over until this is done."
"You sure you just don't want to catch another glimpse of Nora?" from an easy chair in the shadows nearby.
"Give it a rest will you captain?"
"Sure thing Able. You want me to talk to her for you though?"
"Captain, you are working on my last nerve here now."
"Any more lip out of you Mr. Pinder and I will have you keel hauled the next time we put out to sea."
"Right oh Captain! No more lip from me!"
Fulcrum leaned over and whispered in Abel's ear, "They still keel hauling people up this way?"
Abel burst out laughing, spewing his lime aid all down his shirt and over his jeans.
"What is so funny Mr. Pinder? Care to share it with everyone?"
"Captain! Fulcrum here wants to know if we still keel haul up this way," sputtered Abel.
Captain Jack laughed, "Sure we do my good man, only we are much more humane about it these days than they used to be long ago. We keep our hulls scraped much smoother than they used to just so as not to tear people up so much. Barnacles can really tear a person up.
***
(11:09 pm Mon Nov 17, 2008)
And so I bid you good night gentle reader.
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