First Impressions

This story just kinda came to my mind while I was painting...so I've written it down (plus some), but this is just an introduction of sorts:

A young woman wearing an elegant dress stood bare footed and wet skirted amongst the tide pools. Her long hair, having recently been disheveled, played in the breeze that swept off the ocean. After looking out toward the crashing waves for a few minutes, the young lady slowly bowed her head, as if praying or contemplating something, and immediately launched her entire body forward into the face of an oncoming wave. A man, who had been fishing nearby had sat quietly watching the whole spectacle from the time the lady ran onto the beach till she stared placidly into the darkness. An uneasiness roused him from his spectating when she bowed her head and he began running toward the foolish young woman, just as she slipped under the water, shouting, “what the bloody hell are you doing woman?!” The man charging into the water to fish out the largest catch of his day. Seizing a handful of the dress fabric and some long hair, he yanked upward, “you’ve got my hair!” she yelled as her head emerged above surface. Scrunching her face, she twisted around and fighting the other hand as it attempted to pull her toward the beach. Wrestling in the surf, she screamed, “let go of me, or I’ll have you arrested for assault!” Angered, the man shouted back, “assault?! I just saved your life, you little brat!” as he continued to drag her further up the beach. It wasn’t until the two were some distance from the water, that he loosened his grip and let her slide to the ground so she could rub her assaulted arm and head. She looked up at his bearded face and arrogantly suggested he disappear before people came looking for her, because she could and would have him arrested for any number of reasons. He replied sarcastically his apologies for not allowing her to drown in the ocean and was more than happy to turn a blind eye, in the occasion she stupidly repeated her performance. She called after him, “not that it’s any of your business, but I had no intention of dying! I was just going for a swim!” He ignored her while he packed up his fishing tackle and hurried away from the beach, annoyed that his favorite fishing spot had been marred. The young lady still sitting on the beach, held her head in her hands, letting out a long audible sigh.

Only two hours earlier the young lady and recently arrived princess AnaKatia, was entertaining suitors’ during a party held in the honor of her grandfather King Harold IV. King Harold was known as Harold the Generous, which was largely in part due to the monarch’s well-known pecuniary generosity, but Harold the Generous also generously defeated his enemies and they considered him a prophet, the king anticipating all offensive movements against the Kingdom of Dredan. Dredan, often plagued by invaders, was surrounded on three sides by the sea and abounded in precious ores such as gold and iron. Rare spices were also carried in and out of the port of Dredan, therefore making the encompassing sea rich with pirates.

Aphrodite Bites - cont

February of Last Year

A few small crowds were milling about inside the hotel’s small ballroom after the lecture let out. Mary was talking with her mother and the wife of David Vega the guest speaker of tonight’s lecture topic and the local hero of conservative talk radio in Houston Texas. “So what have you been doing since I last saw you Mary?” asked Karen Vega. “Well,” said Mary haltingly, “I got laid off in November, broke up with my boyfriend and moved back to Texas from Utah and now, I’ve taken up a cooking class in addition to working for my dad” - A nervous laugh punctuating her explanation.

It had been four months since Mary moved back in with her parents and younger siblings and it felt embarrassing to her to admit, especially to Karen Vega, that she was a life failure at 27 years old. Karen and Mary’s Mom, Cheryl, had known each other for the last 8 years, as they attended the same church congregation. “We just love having her home, I hated having my baby so far away,” said Cheryl, “besides you kept telling me how much you hated your job anyway.” Mary glanced passed her mother’s right ear and noticed an extremely attractive dark haired man speaking to David Vega twenty feet away. Mary turned her attention back to the women, “I am glad to be home, I missed my family and I’m hoping that starting over will give me the opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Mary, “like, open a small boho eatery. Houston’s downtown is being revitalized and this is the time to do it.” Again, Mary glanced down at the dark haired man talking to David Vega. Mary’s focus was interrupted by Karen’s sudden question, “are you dating anyone right now?” Mary always had a short list a men she was going on dates with, but no one she was immediately interested in. “No one I’m seriously dating,” Mary said. Which was mostly true, because the one man she did talk to on a regular basis lived in Utah and they had only met the day before Mary moved home to Texas. Karen’s expression changed and she said, “Do you see that young man speaking to David?” Mary stated that she indeed had seen him and noticed that he was indeed, very attractive. “well that's Kirk Freeman, he has a great job, he’s an engineer for one of the big oil companies around here – David’s known him for years – Kirk went to school with our boys and he's still single.”

At the exact moment Karen said, “still single,” Karen began moving in the direction of her husband and Kirk saying, “you should go talk to him.” “No,” Mary said, “I don’t know him, I don’t have anything to say.” Karen just smiled and said, “that’s ok, I’ll walk over there and you can just come with me.” Karen, Cheryl and Mary moved toward David and Kirk. When the twenty feet between them had been covered, Mary said, “hello Mr. Vega,” smiled at Kirk and just kept walking, until she reached the door to the ballroom, exited and found a small water fountain in the lobby to extinguish her burned attempt at introductions.

At five feet and three inches, silky long brown hair and fair skin peppered with light freckles and large blue eyes, Mary could just about smile at any man and he would stop the world to start a conversation – about anything – and Mary was quite familiar with the routine, it got her free meals in restaurants, front row space at concerts and discounts in stores. Mary was typically a picture of cool when it came to men, never one to feel intimidated by the opposite sex – it was the opposite – Mary felt like she had some special gift of charm when it came to enchanting conversation. There is one time in the history of Mary’s world when she felt a complete loss for words around a male. It was high school and she had a crush on Brit Daley. Brit was tall, blonde, tan, a soccer guru and her dentist’s oldest son. Oh how she loved pretending she hated his guts, but she didn’t, however she sure made Brit feel like she did. Mary eventually grew up and forgot about Brit Daley, until she drank the cold water coming from the fountain.

Mary stood at the water fountain for another three or four seconds, when Kirk came out of the ballroom door, Mary stooped to take another drink as Kirk walked passed with quick steps toward the main entrance of the hotel. Mary waited until Kirk had left the immediate area before moving inside the ballroom to collect her mother and to say goodnight to Mr. and Mrs. Vegas. Why she had felt incompetent, was beyond her understanding, but unconcerned by this queer encounter Mary moved her thoughts onto her life goals. Step one: find investors for her business plans.

Aphrodite Bites -

And the story begins:

Hit and Run

Mary fumbled with the knobs on her car stereo as she drove down the deserted neighborhood street. It was only eight o’clock, but the sun had already been down an hour when Mary left the restaurant. She had felt exhausted as she climbed into the car, but now felt more alive as the refreshing October air flew in her open window. Houston summers were long and hot, but the fall was perfect – tonight’s temperature was a crisp 62 degrees –which was slightly cooler than the last week had been. The restaurant was the brainchild of Mary and Claire. Mary had gathered the capital from investors and ran the daily operations, but her younger sister Claire was the genius behind a majority of the items on the tasty menu. Since Mary could remember Claire was always in the kitchen making food. Even now, with four children running about the house, Claire made time to whip up a fresh batch of pesto – made straight from the garden that flourished in her back yard.

Mary, taking her eyes off the vacant street for about three seconds, peered up at the stars and thought to herself how peaceful the Universe felt tonight, “I love October” she sighed. Mary brought her focus back to the road, just in time to see a stop sign on the looming street corner and just in front of the car a human body. Forcing her right foot down on the break as hard and fast as her mind could reach her lower extremity was not quick enough to prevent what happened next. The human on the road realizing too late that the driver of the car had not seen him, had fortunately moved the majority of his body from a full impact of the vehicle, but was still thrown aggressively to the asphalt as the car came to a halt. Mary screamed and hurled herself out of the car.

“My arm, oh my arm” a man’s voice moaned has he lay uncomfortably on the ground clutching his shoulder. As Mary approached the man, her hands fell away from her face and she disbelievingly stuttered, “Ki - Kirk? I was, oh my gosh, are you ok?” Kirk pushed himself into a sitting position on the pavement, road debris was smeared onto his white t-shirt, blue jogging shorts and worn in Brooks, still clutching his shoulder, he took a deep breathe and replied in a relaxed voice, “I think it’s dislocated, I’m going to need to go to an urgent care, would you mind giving me a ride to my house Mary?” Mary held her hand out to steady Kirk while he stood up. Humiliated, Mary spoke, “I’m so sorry, I should have paid closer attention to the road, Kirk, I’m terribly embarrassed – let me drive you to the urgent care?” Kirk was suddenly annoyed at the inconvenience of being thrown off his jog and now having to deal with a dislocated shoulder, not knowing how long he’ll have to rest, “I appreciate it Mary, I’ll be fine, just a ride to my house please?” he replied calmly.

After apologizing again, several more times, and offering any help she could, Mary dropped Kirk off on his driveway and watched him disappear through the front door. It wasn’t until she backed down the driveway, and turned out of his cul-de-sac into the direction of Claire’s home again, that she burst out laughing at the irony of the situation. Kirk and Mary had an awkward history together, which began in February of last year, a month before going on their first date.

A River Runs Through It?

My Parents bought a farm:

Missouri, USA

some 40+ acres and house under contruction

So, I've been out in the country - sans internet and cell phone coverage really

and since it takes forever to upload photos

I'll add more photos when I return to civilization.....

Until then, I'll continue to enjoy the great outdoors!!

Not a river, but a sizable creek runs through it

Return of the Posts

I've spent the last month or so pounding

the pavement for a new job.

Applying to one or two jobs a day -

wake-up

eat rice crunchies

apply for job opening

It is very exhausting,

but fun

to live a life of constant faith.

As of this week: school has started back again,

all the college kids have gone back to school,

leaving more job openings.