This concept was introduced to me by my 6th grade teacher. The rules are pretty simple: people in a group take turns writing a story. Limit yourself to one paragraph at a time and respond to the general flow of the story. Thank you for participating.
Here’s the start of this story:
It was a dark and stormy night. It was such a storm as people in the area had never experienced before: sleet, rain, thunder, lightening, tornado force winds, snow, and hail all at once. Most people in the area were worried about power outages from the storm. But not Edward.
He was concerned about his new neighbors who had just moved in yesterday. Jim and Marie and their three kids had barely gotten the last boxes unloaded late this evening. Edward had introduced himself and given them a hand placing the large furniture pieces in place. The storm hit just after Edward had returned home. He wasn’t sure what to do about his new friends. The storm had begun to knock down some tree limbs next to their home.
He went to bed and tried to get some sleep because he had to go to work in the morning. But he couldn’t. Instead, questions kept racing through his mind. He tossed and turned, trying to think of something relaxing so he could sleep. Eventually, he found a relaxing thought and drifted off to sleep two hours before the alarm went off.
In the morning the damage was clear. Not enough to destroy homes but enough to cause a clean up crew to start at the end of the street. He was thankful for his generator. He could keep the fridge cold and a radio blaring in the kitchen. He kept the radio going most days. The emptiness since she had died was more than he could stand some days. The radio kept him company and today it let him know which blocks were without power and which streets were impassable. He wondered if Jim and Marie had any milk for the kids. His kids used to love milk. He should have bought a cow.
He put the thought of the cow to pasture and returned to the real world. His home was undamaged but he could see some damage to Jim and Marie’s back fence. He hoped that was all that had happened. He heard a knock on the door. It startled him. A few steps to the door, he grabbed the handle and swung it open. Charlie the local patrolman stood tall in front of him. Something was wrong.
“Come in Charlie and sit down before you fall down.” He sat down, white faced at the kitchen table and I turned down the radio. “I’m assuming that whatever has drained the blood from your face has not been broadcast on the radio just yet. At least that was the policy when I was in charge.” He nodded and drank from the glass I had put in front of him. It was just water. I had gotten rid of the hard stuff a long time ago. Charlie spoke just a few words. “He’s gone. Dead, along with a few of his cronies and the mayor.” I stood at the sink, looking out the window considering if I really cared that he was dead and wondering who was going to fix the fence.
The dead guy was the Chief. I decided I’d better be concerned. The Chief of Police was my brother-in law. Charlie said the house burned to ground. The Chief, the librarian, three council members and the Mayor played poker at the Chief’s house once a month. Charlie didn’t know much yet but knew he had to tell me first. I said I would head over and check on the neighbors and I’d meet him out front. We needed to get to the Chief’s house to get the whole story. I sent him outside and grabbed the small “emergency” bottle of Jack Daniels under the sink.
I knocked on the neighbors door. Sadie answered. She was the oldest and the only girl. She looked like her mom but was tall like her dad. “Mom is coming” Sadie was cautious as she should be. I was a stranger to her, in a strange town. She didn’t know how strange this town was. Marie appeared at the door, hair up in a bun, wearing what my wife used to call cleaning clothes. “I just wanted to make sure you are ok” I said. “We are fine, the inside of the house is just as messy as the street appears to be!” Marie had a quick sense of humor. Jim appeared around the corner of the door also dressed in working clothes. Two young boys were hiding behind his legs each carrying a toy truck. “We are fine here, how about you?” Jim said as he glanced at the patrol car in front of the house. “I’m fine, just gotta take care of some business. Did you know your back fence is down? I just wanted you to know that there is a deep creek back in those woods. I don’t want the youngins to wander into trouble.”
“Charlie, don’t you know listening to books on tape in the patrol car is against policy, even if it is a Tom Clancy novel?”. I pulled the door of the patrol car closed and waited for Charlie to put the car in gear. We headed downtown. It wasn’t much of a downtown but it was all we had. A few stop lights, a shopping district, the hospital, town hall, the river, the casino. Not much damage downtown from the storm. Once we were at the main light we turned left and headed into the old town section. The houses were large, the yards were expansive and the one on the corner was a smoldering ruin.
Neighbors were gathered in knots on either side of the property, craning their necks to look over the shrubbery and emergency vehicles. “They won’t see anything,” Charlie said. “All the gruesome stuff is gone.” Two firetrucks and an ambulance stood in the street, their lights turning and bored. Fiona Burke, assistant police chief, looked up as Charlie pulled in behind the ambulance and nodded at him. But when she saw me step out of the passenger side she stiffened, frowned and stalked over to Charlie. “What’s he doing here?” she asked, tipping her chin in my direction.
Fiona didn’t much care for me. She and I had joined the department about the same time and I had been promoted over her a couple of times. When I retired as Assistant Police Chief my boss chose her to fill my shoes. She must have built up a whole wad of dislike for me over the years. She certainly was forgetful since my brother-in-law, the Chief, had been lost in the fire. I had a damn good reason to be there. I told her so in not so nice words before Charlie could answer her dumb question. Out of respect for her position I eased off a little. Charlie finally recovered from my shot back at Fiona and asked her what she wanted him to do. Before she answered I stepped away. She was the boss now.
He was amazed he could still walk. He was astonished he was not on the ground in a blubbering mess. Not that he had any great love for his brother-in-law or in fact for any of those that had died. He walked around the perimeters of the former grand home. He could keep his focus on this structure and this scene only with great concentration. He pushed away the memories of his own grand home smoldering. Of the ambulances gathered around, of bodies covered by sheets, of the screaming in his head. Yes he was amazed he was still standing. The docs had said he would eventually be able to function, but he would never forget. He made it back to the patrol car his own blood drained to his knees but he was still standing. He hands went to his pocket where the bottle was but he didn’t pull it out.
No, he would not imbibe. He had not had a drink in the years after rehab. Rehab. A place where all his nightmares were met from the night of the fire. His own home, not his brother in law. But now…but now all the images rushed back with a vengeance. His wife, his daughter and 2 sons, could he ever forgive himself?
Charlie’s high-pitched voice pulled him out of his reverie. He walked through the sodden yard, past the burnt timbers of the former mud room, to where Charlie stood with a woman he did not know. Her glasses and baseball cap did a bad job of hiding her good looks, and her bulky fire department issue jacket could not conceal her healthy physique. “Bestard” was the name written on the tag over her breast pocket. That couldn’t have been an easy name to carry as a kid. “Ed, this is Joyce Bestard,” said Charlie. “She’s the new Arson Investigator.”
“Where is my suit?” said Jim as he went through another wardrobe box labeled Jim’s Clothes in black marker. He couldn’t find it, he could not find anything. He was nervous. Today was the First Day of the Rest of His Life. Why was he thinking such tripe? Who invented that saying? What does it mean anyway? Where are my socks? Yep, he had the first day at the new job jitters and he was nervous. Today was the first day, not only of a new job but of a new career. He was an RN who went back to school to become a Hospital Administrator. He never thought this day would come. Working 12 hour shifts and going to school and attempting to have a family life. It was brutal. Now the goal line was here. Now he was running towards the finish line. Why was he now stuck in sport metaphors! The suit appeared out of thin air on the arm of his lovely wife. Socks were on the bed. Shoes next to them. He loved her and her organizational abilities. That was one of her characteristics which made her an exceptional head Nurse. Her first day would not come for a few weeks. She had applied for her job after he had been offered and accepted the Administrator’s position. I think she even used her maiden name when she applied. She got the job with her own skills and resume. They had walked around the small hospital campus yesterday. It was a large old home that had been added onto over the years. It was a decent hospital. It was certified. It had a helicopter landing site. Of course the grounds crew had to come out and clear the area of the ducks and make sure that no one had parked in that spot before any helicopter could land.
Jim was snapped out of his musings by the sound of his children chasing each other onto Edward’s property while yelling at the top of their lungs. Sadie and Jeffrey were trying to get Jesse, the youngest, to give them their lunches for school since he had grabbed all three lunch boxes. Marie darted off to chase after her children, telling them to stop. But they kept running and screaming at each other, ignoring her commands.
He quickly slipped on his sweats and his slippers anticipating a two pronged approach to corralling the boys but when he looked out the window she had a hand on both of them. She actually had a strong hand on each of their arms. She was not speaking to them. Not a good sign. When Mom didn’t speak or when she spoke in short sentences in a low voice you had better be listening. I realized my anxiety had risen during this event. Not about the job but more about Edward. I didn’t want to get off on a bad foot with the neighbors and I didn’t have an easy feeling about him. He looked like he had been ill, but not ill. His eyes were sad but not sad. Something was different but not. And coming to the door with the patrol car in the driveway did nothing to keep me comfortable about this new neighbor. Having my kids run all over his yard and what looked like a garden was not going to be a good start either. Marie came in the door with both boys in hand and Sadie in tow, grinned at him and said, “Nice suit, you starting casual day at work right off the bat?” He turned back to his room to change with plans for a long long talk with the kids when he got home tonight.
Meanwhile, Edward had heard the kids running across his property while he was talking to the arson investigator. He glanced out the window and smiled, remembering how when he was a boy he used to give his parents a hard time. “I’m sorry, where were we?” he said as soon as he was done remembering the good old days. Joyce explained that it was still too early to tell what had caused the fire and that they would get back to him as soon as they figured out who was responsible for the crime. He thanked them and his visitors left him wondering if he wanted to excuse himself from work today.
