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Flash: Relocate

Erin Penn

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In 2013, I started as series with Kryler and Natalie on the old blog. I’ve republished them here in 2018 during tax season. I didn’t know where it was going and decided to have my fans decide the conclusion to Kryler’s and Natalie’s relationship arc. The flash timeline for their relationship would be: (1) Presentation, (2) Ride, (3) Take-out, (4) Labor, (5) Argument, and now (6) Relocate. Read on to find out if you guys and gals decided if they get a happily ever after or decide to end it.

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Dice clattered as Natalie made her way down the steps into Kryler’s man-cave. She made no sound as she went down the steps barefoot, her shoes left at the entrance. The basement, which ran the length and width of the house, had changed somewhat over the eight years since they started dating. The biggest change happened at the beginning of the second year of their marriage shortly after the birth of their daughter Mia; the area where his extensive gaming console had been located had been converted. A toybox, child’s book case, and babydoll crib now resided in the old boy toy area. The smelly, purple couch had been thrown out, the 72-inch television donated to Goodwill, and he set up the section of the basement closest to the steps for his programming.

The central gaming table where he played D&D and other time sucks remained.

Today four folding tables crowded the room, with a half dozen different laptops, cell phones, and three-hole notebooks strewn across them. But the Lost Boys, as she thought of them, were not diligently at work like Kryler promised they would be. Instead her personal Peter Pan had the three others gathered around the central table, playing, again.

All four were in uniform, the black Rodger’s Retrieval T-shirts overtop jeans. At least they had the brains not to sell merchanting rights when they gave NotGolfHobbies distribution rights. Still, she and Kryler never saw a dime from that either. The man’s damned generosity handed over all income to Andre, Efren and Will. His 401K was filled, he owned the house outright, didn’t owe anything on his car, and was debt free. Never mind they lived in a small two-bedroom, their cars were both pushing ten years, and the last of her student loans still had three months left. His friends needed the money more.

It was always about them, not her. Why the hell hadn’t he just married them?

Eventually Andre noticed her, or at least admitted he noticed her. Efren and Will were total misogynists. They gave up even pretending to like her years ago. Once Andre drew Kryler’s attention to her, his dull face lit up.

Kryler’s face never had been anything great. Sharp cheekbones, brown eyes, and floppy hair. Best she would call it is pleasant. Once or twice, maybe more, she would admit it beautiful. Like right now, love shone from his eyes.

“Hey Firebrand, welcome home.” Kryler tossed his dice behind the screen and made his way to the staircase. “Where’s Mia?”

“She’s staying with your mom tonight.” Natalie crossed her arms, first staring at him as his smile faltered, returning his face to just pleasant. He just turned twenty-nine, soon fat would overtake that gorgeous body of his; when that happened, she had no idea how she would find him sexually attractive. Her eyes then burned into the boys behind him. Her voice dripped in sarcasm, “How’s alpha testing going?”

Kryler ran both hands through his hair. The hair immediately flopped over his eyes because he yet again forgot to get it cut professionally like she constantly asked him.

“Well … it’s going well. Better than we hoped.”

“I can see that.” She continued to stare at the Lost Boys. Really, this has gone too far for too long. “Leave. Now. Just get out of my house.”

The losers didn’t even argue, too used to answering to their mommies.

Will picked up his backpack first. Efren jumped over to the tables and snapped close his computer and shoved two phones in his pockets.

Andre touched Kryler on his shoulder, not bothering to pick up anything. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you do that Andy.” Natalie stepped aside to let the boys stream out. “You can finish the games tomorrow.”

“Can you not do that?” Kryler’s fists clenched, though his voice stayed soft. He always stayed soft; he had no fight to him.

“Do what? Tell your pals they can come back and play tomorrow? It’s not like anything I am going to do is going to stop that.” Natalie turned to storm upstairs.

Kryler’s light step followed. “We were only playing, waiting for the last of the beta testers to sign up.”

“I thought you were on alpha testing.”

“Efren already ran the full battery of the tests, plus had two alpha testers run through everything.” Kryler’s soothing tenor, perfect for calming frantic toddlers but not as good on full-grown women, followed her from his base of operations to the living room. A room set aside for the few times she needed to bring guests home. No movie posters adorned walls, no bookcases tilted from book overloads, no stupid electronic games tucked into corners. The carpet had no wear to it, no child spit up, no stains. “We learned a lot from Rodger’s Retrieval. The alpha tests he ran only needed two patches. Ebony’s Rainbow will be in beta tomorrow as soon as Andre approves the last of the fifty testers and releases it.”

“That is wonderful, baby.” Natalie’s voice could cut glass, and stopped Kryler’s needy explanations short. Listening to his constant apologies churned her stomach. She didn’t like excuses at work, she didn’t like them at home.

He shifted his feet. “So how did the presentation go?”

“Perfect.” Her voice dripped with artificial honey. “Perez liked it so much he is taking over the project.”

“Oh, beautiful. I am so sorry.” Kryler moved to hold her.

“It gets better.” Natalie stepped away from his comfort. Part of her wanted to seek it out. Just to be held and cry, but there was no point in that. “Since Perez is coming back to the US, someone will need to cover the Mexico headquarters. They chose me.”

Kryler frowned. “So, we are relocating to Mexico?”

“No, stupid boy, I’m relocating to Mexico. You stay here with Mia. No way am I going to have her start kindergarten in Mexico.” Natalie smiled, and Kryler’s heart shriveled as hope left it. “In a year, we can get a divorce without a problem. With the promotion to Vice President, and the out-of-country bonus, I should be able to easily pay child support. Don’t expect any alimony though.”

“You’ve thought this out.”

“I’ve been thinking of asking about the Mexico position for a while now. Perez has been unhappy.” She shrugged in her teal silk shirt and gray wool business jacket. “I would prefer to keep my project after working on it so long, but a promotion is a promotion.”

“Yeah, that is great.” Kryler’s face twisted. She could see he was truly happy she had gotten the promotion. The boy was such a dud.

“I’ll go pack.”

Kryler grabbed her arm. “Wait, what?”

“Perez wants to get me up to speed before he comes here. I am flying out tomorrow morning and staying the week. After that, I will make final arrangements with my project and take over by November. They want everything in place before the beginning of the year.” She shrugged off his loose hold and went to the stairs going to the bedrooms.

“What about Mia?”

“I already visited her on the way home, telling her I’ll be on another one of my trips and asking your mom to keep her another day.” Natalie projected down the step when Kryler didn’t follow her up. “You can explain the other stuff tomorrow or whenever.”

Kryler looked at his left hand and started twisting the silver band off. “Yeah, simple as pie to tell a five year old her mother is abandoning her and her daddy.” His voice was soft as it always was.

He threw the ring across the room violently. It bounced out. He heard it roll down the tiled hall, then little pips as it bounced down the wooden steps into the basement.

(words 1,303 – first published 10/16/2013; republished in new blog format 3/11/2018)

Book Review: A Sword Into Darkness

Erin Penn 1 Comment

Book Cover from Amazon

A Sword Into Darkness by Thomas A. Mays

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

HUMANITY IS NO LONGER ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE. AN UNKNOWABLE THREAT APPROACHES EARTH . . . AND WE ARE COMPLETELY UNPREPARED TO FACE WHAT’S COMING.

Aerospace tycoon Gordon Elliot Lee cannot stand idly by while a mysterious alien presence from Delta Pavonis bears down upon mankind’s only home. Shut out from NASA and military support, Gordon is forced to go it alone, to sow the seeds for an entirely new sort of planetary defense: a space-based naval force.

Joined by Nathan Kelley — a bloodied naval warrior, scarred by his own actions in the waters off North Korea — and Kris Munoz — an avant garde scientific genius with more ideas than sense — these three will scour the very edges of fringe science and engineering to attempt development of Earth’s first space navy in time to oppose the Deltan invasion.

Beset by ridicule, government obstruction, industrial espionage, and their own personal demons, it will take a miracle just to get off the ground. But the challenges on Earth are nothing compared to what awaits them in space. Against an unknown alien enemy with vastly superior technology, a handful of human scientists and warriors must become the sword that holds the darkness at bay.

MISSILES WILL FLASH, RAILGUNS WILL RUMBLE, LASERS WILL BURN, AND DEFENDERS WILL DIE.

 

MY REVIEW

Excellent Military Sci-Fi trip to the near future. This stuff feels like we may actually be able to do it, and the reason for the need of creating the first interplanetary warship is equally urgent as we realize just how many worlds upon worlds there are in the heavens.

Not everyone out there is going to be friendly, not everyone who drops by will want a cup-of-tea and biscuit, not everyone in the big black is on the side of life. The question raise by this story is what do we do when we see someone coming to visit? Do we roll out the red carpet or bar the door? Do we assume the best or plan for the worst?

And what do you do if you are the first one to see it and no one believes you? How do you make them believe before it is too late? Should you even try? Can loners save humanity or will you need a planetary navy? (The answer to the final question is yes.)

A mixture of tech, politics, and humans being human drive this story, in the tradition of David Weber.

Flash: Argument

Erin Penn

“So the boys are coming over tonight.” Reported Kryler as he rinsed the breakfast dishes.

Natalie rolled her eyes. “For video games or playing D&D?”

Kryler shoulders tensed as he put his hands either side of the sink. Blood vessels popped on his arms, despite his wiry frame. His preferred form of exercise was running after their daughter. He inhaled, picturing Mia’s laughter. She had been at his mom’s this week so Natalie could concentrate on today’s presentation, which would either make or break all the efforts she had put in for four years. With the five-year old out of the picture, the fractures in his marriage had gone from simple cracks to huge gaping holes.

“For setting up the alpha testing of our next video game product.” He was surprised the words were recognizable since his teeth remained gritted the entire time.

Behind him the chair scraped as Natalie stood. “Planning on actually selling this one or giving it away like the last time?” The sneer dropped his wife’s voice an octave.

“For the last time, NotGolfHobbies was a legitimate games distributor by every resource we had available.” He turned around, crossing his arms protectively in front of his chest. “Only after they got Rodger’s Retrieval did they stop paying anyone.”

“Which you didn’t figure out for nineteen months!”

“It takes time for video games to find legs and royalties to come back.”

“When you first decided on playing games as a career, you said feedback was nearly instant.” Natalie walked towards the front door where everything she needed was precisely laid out.

Following her, Kryler dug his hands into his elbows. “Yes, feedback is instant. But, as I have since learned and I keep telling you, royalties are not.”

Natalie snapped open her briefcase for one last check. “Well, I can’t keep being the only one bringing in money. Would it kill you to find a real job?” She snapped the briefcase shut.

“We agreed I would do programming until Mia is in school.” Kryler eyes stared off to the side; he blinked back tears of pain. “That way one of us would be home.”

Shifting the briefcase to her left hand, Natalie turned the doorknob with her right. “Well, it’s July and she starts school in two months. Why don’t you start working on that resume?”

The door slammed between them.

(words 393 – originally appearing at Breathless Press 9/8/2013 for the 2/12/12 Sunday Fun (original photo of unknown copyright so not posted here; republished in new blog format 3/4/2018)

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words July 8, 2013

Erin Penn 1 Comment

Image courtesy of nunawwoofy at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Dark Night of the Soul

Today is March 1st and my first day off (other than a snow day) since tax season started. Tax season started on January 2nd and goes until April 17th due to the 15th being on the weekend. One hundred and six days. Today is day 59, a bit past the half-way point. Things are calmer. The introduction long past where we remind people of our locations, followed by the initial rush the weeks immediately before and after January 31st when the W-2s go out. 

I’m in a lull. In a book, everything that went wrong in the first half has been sorted out. The character thinks they can accomplish everything. They got the tools, the relationships, and the skills. Things are beginning to look up.

Thing is, I know March 25th is coming fast. Why March 25? People start feeling the pressure of April – how did a quarter of the year go by already? – they ask. The final rush hits. More accurately builds. Every day more people show. Every single day. More and more and more.

My Dark Night of Soul for tax season begins on March 25, though despair doesn’t start taking huge bites until April 6. Bites from my sanity to which I will apply stitches the week following the end of tax season locked in my house with my to-be-read pile, my comfy chair, some blankets, and chocolate.

My tools? By April 8th overloaded, broken down. Printers and scanners giving their all for the final seven days with no hope of repair. My relationships? The procrastinators. People who owe heart-rending amounts; decisions on eating and heat have to be made. People who hate taxes. People who are looking over their tax documents for the first time. In all cases we will find essential stuff missing and have no time to get it. My skills? Overwhelmed, exhausted, I struggle – the final two days I start counting hours, eyeing the line which is only growing. No way am I going to satisfy everyone. No way am I going to be able to do what I consider the level of care required, a service level I offered with a smile just a few short weeks ago around March 1st. (Hint: If you get taxes done by professionals, or do them yourself but may need to call technical support, the next two weeks are the best time to complete the task.)

In Dark Night of Soul for writing, you take everything you had built up for your character and destroy it bit by bit, leap by leap. Flood them emotionally, physically; make the task – internal and external – impossible.

The consummate Carrie Ryan explained the situation far better than me in “The Dark Night of the Soul” back in 2013. Crushing your character’s hopes and dreams are explained in intense detail.

WRITING EXERCISE: Think about your life and a Dark Night of Soul point. The level should be the first book of a series, so leave room for things to be worse in future books. You don’t have to visit your darkest emotional moments; an external (outside focus) can work just as well. Stuff like raining on prom night in a rented outfit, a white shirt becoming see-through in the rain right before a job interview, or annual tax season exhaustion. List every step of the loss – friends, tools, skills.

If you were writing this scene for a comedy, what else would you take away? Spend no more than an hour on this, preferably during daylight, and then put away the paperwork, save the file, and go outside and enjoy the sun.

READING EXERCISE: For your present read-in-progress, record what the character has at the midpoint. What skills and relationships have they developed? What are they confident about. During the Dark Night of Soul times, how had each of the midpoint positives been undercut?

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An example of a second book level, keeping up with the tax season theme, is when congress passes their tax bills right before going on Christmas break so corporate is still reprogramming things when the first people show up to get their taxes done, and then when Congress returns in the new year they pass a retro-active bill related to charity donations. Once congress completes their thing, the States finally pass their tax season bills in the middle of February so the tax professionals need to call people back into the office who thought their taxes were done to correct state issues. Those are bad years.

Book three level, the final book of the series, would be like the first three days of the year I opened an office I never been in. I didn’t know where anything was stored, the woman who I was told to contact with questions was in the hospital for the first two days of the season (hence me opening her office), overnight Microsoft had released a 90-part (I kid you not) update which took over 2 hours to load (and I couldn’t run our security procedures without it), and fifteen people waiting for the system to reboot including people with young children. I ate my packed LUNCH at 9 pm that night. I cried some when I got home – from relief, exhaustion, stress, need to sleep, need to get up early, I don’t know. And was back in the office at 6 am to take care of one couple who had to leave with their baby, but needed to go to work early the following day – now that day. The tools I had were broken, the relationships unavailable, and the knowledge not pertinent to the office I was in. Yes, I was successful enough I am still in the business. Yes, the next year the only office I opened was one I was intimately familiar with.

Give me the book one Dark Night of Soul level over the book three level any day.