Friday Fiction – “A Man and His Phone” Part 4

August 31, 2018September 22, 2018 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 8 Comments

“A Man and His Phone” – Part 4

Welcome to Friday Fiction! If you are just jumping into this dating saga, “A Man and His Phone,” here’s a rundown of what’s happening:

Jane is in a twenty-something predicament. Her sometimes boyfriend, Chris, likes his own space and is in no hurry to change his life. Tentative plans to get together have ended in a tense phone call and Chris has powered off his phone. Meanwhile, Jane is determined to make something happen. She’s recruited her friend, Adrienne, to drive with her down to Chris’s apartment and see if he’s still home. What they do then is anyone’s guess!

Now you’re set – read on!

I-295 S was jammed with cars and Jane and Adrienne were in the middle of the mess.

“Where on earth is everyone going tonight?” Adrienne asked the air. It was pushing eight o’clock and she was itching to go to Karma. She didn’t want to miss her chance to find the guy she’d met last night. Who knew how long it would be before he noticed someone else? She flipped down the visor and checked her hair in the mirror.

“Relax, Adrienne. We have plenty of time. And besides, if we get to Chris’s apartment too early, I won’t be sure if he’s in for the night.”

“Okay, that’s just stupid, Jane. In for the night? How old are you? I only saw Chris from a distance at Zadar’s, but he didn’t look like a guy who pays attention to the clock!” Adrienne flipped up the visor in frustration.

Jane’s thumb was nervously tapping the steering wheel. “Whatever, okay? Let’s just get down there and see what happens. Maybe we’ll see him leave, then we can follow him!”

“Yeah? I don’t think so, Jane. You talked me into a drive-by, not a pursuit. I have my own chase planned.”

Traffic started to move. Jane pressed the accelerator. “Finally!” she exclaimed

—

“See? There’s his car. He’s still home. I knew it!”

“Okay, so what? You know this is stupid, Jane.” Adrienne checked her phone. Felicia and her friends were out to eat and would meet her at Karma. b there by 10, she tapped in her message.

“Let’s park and go in. I know how to get buzzed into the building. We’ll wait for a group and roll in with them. Then we’ll go up to his floor and check out his apartment from the hall.”

This might have been Jane’s plan, but Adrienne knew she had to take the reins if she had any hope of Karma by 10 o’clock.

“Look, I have an idea,” she said as they walked to the high-rise. “Let’s get inside, then I’ll take the elevator up to Chris’s floor. I’ll see what’s what. You stay in the lobby and I’ll text you when I know something.”

“But I want to see for myself,” Jane complained.

“See what?” Adrienne answered. “A door?”

“Well, I was thinking I would try to look under it. Maybe I could see some feet moving around or hear some music.”

“No, I’ll go up alone. What floor?”

—

Adrienne stood alone in the elevator and pulled at the hem of her dress. It was a great dress for dancing, but maybe not for espionage. She’d already decided she would not be peering under Chris’s door. She slipped her phone into the discreet pocket sewn flat into her dress and thanked the dress designer gods for thinking of all a woman’s needs. The elevator pinged and opened on the eighth floor. Adrienne fluffed her hair and looked straight into a pair of amused dark eyes.

“Oh, well hello there,” he smiled and looked her up and down. “If you’re looking for a dance floor, you may need to get onto the Ben Franklin first.”

Adrienne was not the type to get flustered, yet she could feel a drip of sweat trickle down her back.

“Yes, well maybe I will,” she answered. Somewhat lame, but she was holding her own. The charmer smiled.

“You look a little familiar,” he said. “I’m Chris, have we met?”

Adrienne stood frozen in the elevator. Chris put out his arm to stop the doors from closing and she thought he looked quite gallant doing so. He made no move to enter and so instead, she stepped out into the hallway. She could feel her phone vibrate. Jane, most likely, anxious for a report. But the update would have to wait…

Thank you for reading – come back next week!

Click here to catch up with all the episodes of A Man and His Phone.

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Friday Fiction – “A Man and His Phone” – Part 3

August 24, 2018September 22, 2018 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 10 Comments

“A Man and His Phone” – Part 3

Welcome to Friday Fiction! If you stopped in the last two Fridays, you may have read Parts 1 and 2 of “A Man and His Phone.” If not, here’s a rundown of what’s happening:

Jane is in a twenty-something predicament. She has a sometimes boyfriend who likes his own space. But Jane wants more. Chris is in no hurry to change his life. He’s planted on his couch, drinking some beers and watching ESPN. Maybe he’ll go out, maybe he won’t. But he has no interest in making plans with Jane tonight. After a tense call with her, Chris has powered off his phone. Meanwhile, Jane is determined to make something happen. His phone may be off, but that’s not going to stop her.

Now you’re set – I hope you enjoy!

“Let’s do a drive-by,” she said. “I’ll pick you up in a half hour and we can drive over there and see if his car is still in the parking lot.”

Adrienne was usually game for this kind of thing, but tonight she had plans to go out dancing with the girls from the apartment across the hall. Now Jane was on the phone and obsessing over this Chris guy. Maybe Adrienne could get her to go out with them and forget about Chris.

“Jane, you know I like to spy as much as you do, but I’m going dancing at Karma tonight with Felicia and her roommate. You should come with us instead.”

Jane was in no mood for dancing. She was furious with Chris and wanted to make sure he was still in his apartment. Let him sit there and drink beer all night, but he’d better not go out. If he did, she was going to find out. What she’d do then, who knew? She would figure that out if she had to.

“Look, we can drive over there first and then maybe I’ll go to Karma with you. Or, I can take you there to meet your friends.”

Adrienne stalled. She had met someone last night at the dance club and wanted to get back there tonight to see if he’d show up. She was pretty sure he would, based on the dancing they’d done the night before.

“Jane, doesn’t Chris live practically in Philly? That’s an hour from here! Just come with us and forget about him.”

“No, I can’t. I need to know if he’s still in his apartment.”

“What good is that going to do? And how are you going to find that out? Doesn’t he live in a high-rise?”

“Well yes, but I know where he parks his car. We can drive to his apartment building, see if his car is there. If it is, maybe someone can buzz us in to get up to his floor. If I hear music and see a light under the door, then I’ll know for sure if he’s home.”

“Jane, that’s madness. Even I can see how stupid your plan is. What if his car isn’t there? What are you going to do then? And what if he went out and someone else drove? And even if he is there, what are you going to do? He could be getting ready to go out. You have no control over this.”

“Adrienne, he blew me off last week and said he was tired. But you saw him at Zadar’s. He certainly didn’t look tired there. And tonight he didn’t want to make plans. I need to know what’s happening. I’ll feel better if I know he’s just stewing in his apartment, alone. Please come with me. I promise I’ll make it up to you. It’s only seven right now. We have plenty of time to get down there and back before you go out.”

Just barely, thought Adrienne. She didn’t want anyone else moving in on this guy she’d met. But she had her share of obsessions, so she couldn’t really judge. Still, this sounded like a terrible idea and she was itching to find that guy. Things had gotten pretty intense with him…

“Okay, Jane. It’s a horrible idea, but okay. Come over now, we’ll drive to Pennsauken, see if Chris is there. And Jane, wear something hot, okay? Don’t show up at my door in jeans and sneakers because I’m dragging you Karma after this.”

Thank you for reading – come back next week for Part 4!

Click here to catch up with all the episodes of A Man and His Phone.

Friday Fiction – “A Man and His Phone” – Part 2

August 17, 2018September 22, 2018 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 10 Comments

“A Man and His Phone”
Part 2

His phone vibrated and this time he heard the sound. But Chris was so comfortable on his couch. The highlights from last night’s Sixers game were just coming on… (Read all of Part 1 here.)

Chris thought about answering. He knew it would be Jane. She sure was persistent. He should have just powered off his phone, but it was too late for that now. He liked Jane…a lot, but he was nowhere near ready for more. It was true that they had something. They grinned at each other nonstop when they were together, but once or twice a month of that was enough for him. Anything more would require a label, and work. Just thinking about it made his muscles tighten. He didn’t want to be a boyfriend and he most certainly did not want to discuss it with Jane tonight. Their meeting at Zadar’s had been a bad coincidence.

How many more times would she call if he didn’t answer now?

Chris got up with a groan and picked up his phone. Jane’s number displayed on the screen. He swiped to answer. “Yo”

“Hey, Chris, it’s me.”

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Not much. What are you up to?”

“Just relaxing, thinking about dinner.”

“Oh?” Was that an invitation? Jane wondered.

“Yeah, I can’t decide whether to get pizza or a hoagie.”

“Hmmmm. Tough decision.” She was trying to act casual, but her stomach was knotting. She hated that she was so uncomfortable talking to him now. If they only spent more time together, they would be more natural during these ordinary moments. She was more than willing. More was what she wanted. She took a breath.

“Hey, do you want to get together tonight? I could help you decide on the pizza or hoagie.” She knew this was lame, but it was all she had.

Pause. Chris was stuck. He didn’t know why he felt stuck. He didn’t know why he didn’t want to make plans. He just didn’t. When he felt trapped, even in the smallest things, he could not do anything except try to escape. He reasoned that if he truly felt a certain way, he shouldn’t fake being any different. It didn’t matter that Jane was a great person.

Chris tried to think of something clever to remove the tension between them because his charm usually worked with her. But tonight he had nothing. “Well, my internal pizza/hoagie debate might take a while. I don’t know if tonight’s a good night.”

Jane should have taken this as a definite “no,” but still she pursued. She could feel a sticky sweat under her arms. She had to see him, had to make sure that things were right between them.

“How about if I bring you a pizza? Then you won’t have to worry about deciding.”

Chris thought he had gotten away. When they were both in good moods, their conversations together were playful, but tonight there was only fake lightness. This moment was a bad sign. Jane should have seen that.

She saw her mistake, but could not help herself. She had noticed a change in him at Zadar’s and she was anxious when he hadn’t called. She had to call and now she couldn’t help but push the point.

“Well, Darling, I think I’m just going to hang around here for dinner tonight. And I might go into Philly later.”

The ‘Darling’ part did not charm Jane this time. She snapped.

“Okay, Chris, but I need to know. Were you ever planning on calling me?”

“I don’t know. I might have…”

“Might have? Doesn’t that say something about us?” Jane took a second to think about what else she would say. She hadn’t planned on talking about this, but now she felt she had no choice.

“Chris, I wanted to see you tonight and you clearly have no interest. So please tell me what’s going on with you. I thought things were going well between us, but when I saw you at Zadar’s, you wanted to get away from me fast.”

Now Chris was beginning to sweat. And to think he had just been living the life, drinking beer and watching ESPN, the night wide open, just as he wanted. Now he was being summoned for the relationship talk. The rehashing of events. The analysis of feelings. He was in a corner and there was only one way out. Straight through, no matter the casualties.

“Jane, I can’t change who I am. Why can’t you understand that when I feel like getting together with you, I do? And we have a great time when we’re together. Don’t we?” The words sounded stale. They were, in fact. He’d used them before.

“That’s a little too casual for me, Chris. I need more than that. We’ve been together all this time and still you dole out your attention to me in small bits. If you don’t want more than that, then we have a problem.”

“Jane, all I want to do is get off the phone. I don’t want to talk about anything. I only want to sit on the couch and have a few beers. Then, like I told you, I will probably get some dinner maybe I’ll go into the city. But maybe I won’t. I don’t want to be pressured into seeing you or anyone for that matter. I’m always going to be this way. I will never change and you shouldn’t want to change me. I like spending time with you. You know that, but not now.”

Jane should have known it wouldn’t go well. She’d called him up, tried to force plans on him, and then picked a fight with him. She had made her point. It was out there now. She’d lost.

“Okay, Chris. Fine. I’ll see you. Bye.”

Chris ended the call, powered off his cell phone and threw it on the kitchen table with too much force for an expensive piece of technology. He watched it fly across the surface and hoped it would fall off the end. It slid and spun and instead, slammed against the biography he was going to read next, The Secret Life of Houdini.

Jane stood in her own apartment, furious at herself. She gripped her iPhone. She would keep it close, with the sound turned on. Chris could call her back. She wanted to be ready.

“What am I doing? I’m a fool,” she thought. But then she had an idea…

Click here to catch up with all the episodes of A Man and His Phone.

Thank you for reading.

Friday Fiction – “A Man and His Phone” Part 1

August 10, 2018September 22, 2018 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 28 Comments

“A Man and His Phone”
Part 1

Chris sat in his apartment reading. It was Saturday. Music was on. Playing loudly. He was reading a book about the Civil War. He liked to listen to loud music when he read. It was the perfect atmosphere for him and always had been. It did not distract him. It allowed him to escape into a different world. He was relaxed. It was getting to be time for dinner, but he was in no hurry, would figure that out later.

His cell phone was on the kitchen table. During the day, he would occasionally check for missed calls. He didn’t like running to a ringing phone so the sound was always off. He’d set it to vibrate. But he rarely paid attention to it and he almost never made calls. Now it vibrated as he sat across the room, at a safe distance. This time he just didn’t hear it. He continued to read and listen to music.

Jane had been trying to call him. She didn’t have a good reason, but she wanted to talk to him. She wanted to feel reassured that everything was good between them. She had not seen him or talked to him since the night at Club Zadar’s. They’d had plans that night but he’d blown her off, saying he was tired and then there he was, out with friends, flirting with women at the bar. She had given him a few days and still had not heard from him. When Jane felt uneasy, she jumped from one thing to the next. She could not focus until that one thing was settled.

Jane wanted to be settled, as in married with a couple kids. She envied that life. But she was so far from having any kind of life besides a working one. She could not imagine how she could get there. At twenty-five, with nothing going on, she was beginning to realize that she had a long way to go.

She checked her phone. Nothing, no call, no text. What was she thinking? Chris never texted. She knew he hated being tied to a device, but she could always hope. And he occasionally surprised her by doing something out of character. He had emailed her now and again and she loved reading them. She clung to that idea. Maybe Chris had sent her one. Nothing. Late Saturday afternoon, almost night. She had no plans. She thought about calling friends, decided against it. She decided to wait. “Maybe Chris is busy right now, but he’s getting ready to call me as soon as he’s finished whatever it is he’s doing,” Jane thought. She knew how ridiculous that sounded, even in her head. She didn’t care. She continued with this exercise. “It’s 5:30. He’s probably waiting until 6:00 to call me. I’ll wait until then. If he’s sent me an email, I’ll call him. Maybe he’ll call me while I’m checking my email. Then I won’t have to call him. If he hasn’t sent me an email, I’ll decide at 6:00 whether I’ll call him or not.”

Chris was oblivious to this. He had no idea that Jane even thought this way. He would probably be horrified to know it. He was sitting in his apartment, reading his book, listening to music. He was thinking about nothing else except the words he was reading. He was not thinking about what he would do after he finished reading. He didn’t even know how long he would be reading. When he finished, would probably think about dinner. Maybe after that, he would think about what he might do that night.

When Chris did stop reading, he got up and turned off the music. He looked at the clock. 6:17. Then he grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and headed back to the living room. Seeing his cell on the table, though, he stopped and picked it up. He pressed the home button and saw that he had two missed calls. Jane.

Jane. “She’s probably already made plans by now,” he thought. “If she calls again, I’ll see if she wants to do something.” He put the cell back on the table, then sat on his couch and took a drink from his beer. He would have been more comfortable had he not checked his phone and seen that Jane had called. He had not planned on calling her, but maybe he would have. Now he would not. He finished his beer and got up for another one. When he sat down this time, he turned on the television. Flipping through the stations, he settled on ESPN.

His phone vibrated and this time he heard the sound. But Chris was so comfortable on his couch. The highlights from last night’s Sixers game were just coming on…

Click here to read all the episodes of A Man and His Phone.

Thank you for reading.

Friday Fiction – Future So Bright

June 29, 2018 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 20 Comments

“Future So Bright”

“I’m twenty-seven,” she answered. Jane was at the age of confidence. Twenty-seven was a good age to be. She had already accomplished a great deal for her age. She had finished her education, was well-paid in her job.

And she felt strong and, if not beautiful, pretty good-looking, above average at least, she reasoned. She worked out. She was a runner, specifically, but also took aerobics classes at a gym. Her clothes fit her well and she felt good about the choice she had made that night: her favorite black top and tapered pants, flat shoes that came to a sharp point at the toe. Jane was not a trendy dresser, but she paid attention to the styles and allowed herself these shoes with the points. She liked having a certain surprise factor in her ensembles, something a person might not notice at first or second glance, but would be pleased to see upon further inspection.

So she didn’t mind when someone asked her how old she was because she wanted to tell people, “Yes, look at me, over here!”

And she didn’t mind revealing her age on this night because she had already figured that the man she was talking to was probably the same age. In fact, he was twenty-eight, which he told her once he knew her age. “Well, that’s good,” she thought. “I wouldn’t want to be older.”

He smiled at her as she looked at him, and she smiled too. It was natural. She liked him already. He was dark and mysterious looking. She looked across the room for her friend.

“Want to dance?” he asked her.

He didn’t know this, but Jane loved to dance. He had no idea what he was in for…

Thank you for reading!

Friday Fiction – “Fake Cry”

February 16, 2018February 17, 2018 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 15 Comments

“Fake Cry”

“You pushed me! I’m telling my Mom that you pushed me!”

She stared at this boy, this small person who was on her front step, down, legs tangled in the screen door. She had not pushed him. She knew that. But it was only the two of them and she quickly thought ahead at what her neighbor, this young boy’s mother, would say about it.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I’m telling my Mom!”

That was enough. She didn’t push him, but she wasn’t sorry to see him tangled up in the door. He hadn’t been a good playmate to Tyler that morning and he certainly deserved a scolding for flipping over the Chutes and Ladders board and for throwing that Batman at Tyler. Telling someone else’s kid a thing or two was something she knew she shouldn’t do, but Amy knew she had to do something. Especially now that he was making up a story.

“Who’s anyone going to believe?” she asked herself. “Me or a little boy?”

Of course anyone who knew Timmy also knew he was fully capable of making up a story that put him in a good light and someone else in trouble. She didn’t know what Timmy had against her, except that, before he fell out the door, she had had enough of him and his actions in her house and, as she always did when one boy or one girl or another had worn out the invitation, she announced, “Well, that’s enough for one day. Let’s pack up your things and send you home.” It usually worked well because it was swift and direct and no kid ever picked up on the fact that Amy was really at her limit, she thought. Any other mom in the room, if there was one, would surely know that this phrase was Amy’s way of saying that was the last straw.

How could a four-year-old boy manipulate her this way? Amy thought quickly. “I didn’t do a thing wrong. I know that, but I’d better do something now or Kristin’s going to be at my door with a fake-crying kid in a few minutes, asking me just what went on here.”

“Timmy,” she said as she helped him up and looked at him squarely and seriously in the eyes. “You know I didn’t push you. I wasn’t even near the door when you took a tumble. If you tell your mother you fell, you’d better think very hard about how you tell her you fell.” Amy wasn’t sure she had convinced him, so she quickly added, “Because if you tell her I pushed you, there will be no more visits over here to play with Tyler’s Batman figures.”

Timmy stood and looked at her. He shoved his hands into his bunched-up pockets and his hands looked like fists under the fabric. He looked evil to her. “Well…” he said. Amy thought she had him and she waited for him to say something more. Then as quickly as the falling had unfolded, Timmy turned and ran out the door and over to his house.

“Mommy! Mommy!” It was Tyler calling her from inside. “I can’t find my Batman Beyond! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Thank you for reading!

Friday Fiction – Launch – Chapter 5

December 8, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom

Hello and welcome to Friday Fiction! How many of you have an unpublished book tucked away in a folder and are wondering what to do with your story?

I have a few of those books, gathering computer dust. They are imperfect, full of plot holes but were very fun to write. If you’re finding Friday Fiction for the first time, I’ve recently posted small chapters of one of these books. The story is Launch and is about how people are forced to redefine themselves. After all, nothing stays the same, does it?

Today we meet Ted and Cindy Clarke’s son Brian. He’s recently graduated college and is on the brink of big changes.

I hope you will take a look and if you like the story, check out the links at the bottom of the post.

Launch – Chapter 5

Brian Clarke sat at the table next to his small galley kitchen. He took the last swig of his beer and banged the bottle down, unintentionally, he would later say, on the table. The noise echoed in the room when it’s first quiet and something loud invades the peace, and he heard a stir in the bedroom. Good, he thought. He got up, rinsed the bottle and dropped it in the recycle bin with reckless movements and grabbed another from the fridge. Not knowing what to do with himself, but certainly not returning to the bedroom, Brian walked the short distance to the living area and sat down on the couch.

He grabbed the remote, took a sip from his beer and settled into a session of mindless TV. Those were his expectations, at least. He turned up the sound, a little too loud, he was later told, but he did it with satisfaction. It was his apartment, after all. If he wanted to get out of bed at 2:30 in the morning, drink beer and watch TV, he could do that. He was paying rent to be able to do what he wanted. It was the limping end of a Friday night, he’d worked all day, and he had the right. Who cares that his girlfriend was in the bedroom, presumably asleep?

Denise Pagano had been Brian’s girlfriend since their sophomore year at Moravian. They had met on the intramural soccer fields. Brian had been warming up with his fraternity team when he’d noticed Denise with a group of girls. They were laughing wildly at something unknown to him, a loud, exaggerated laughter and Brian had turned just in time to see Denise look away from her friends. She had a broad smile on her face, the kind a person has at the height of laughter, at the recognition of a joke. And she had locked her eyes on Brian just at that moment, before the laughter had begun to fade, so that she had shown him a secret and beautiful side of herself, without realizing it.

Brian took it in, gladly. Denise had long black hair, wavy and thick. It was pulled back in a messy ponytail, after a game of soccer, Brian presumed. The girls, in shorts and matching team shirts, were walking off the field, heading his way. He thought quickly of something to say. Brian knew that it didn’t matter what you said exactly to a girl walking by, as long as it wasn’t rude or insulting, was somewhat clever and got her attention. The trick was to get her to stop. Brian was good at these greetings. He’d developed this skill during high school, the grin and the witty comment, and he’d refined it somewhat during his first year at college.

“Who won?” he called to the group, hoping to catch Denise’s attention.

“We did, of course,” answered another girl, taking Brian in. He smiled and looked at this girl. Also nice, but he had been aiming for Denise. His mind worked quickly. He noticed an ice pack in Denise’s hand. This was his opener.

He looked at Denise. “Rough game?” he asked. “No serious injuries, I hope.”

Denise smiled, “No, just a kick to the shin.”

“Well, good. I don’t think they have trainers at these games,” he added.

“No,” she answered and then she smiled again. She had stopped and was smiling at Brian. His mind was working for something to say.

“Well, we’re up next,” he added, somewhat weakly, for although he had experience with these kinds of conversations, Denise’s smile and her dark, sparkly eyes were mixing him up.

He didn’t know this, he could only hope it, but Denise was taking Brian in just as much. She liked his sandy brown hair, cut short in a buzz, but it had some style too. She liked the way his brows framed his light brown eyes. Or were they hazel or green? She couldn’t tell exactly, in this light, for the sun seemed to be shining right on Brian’s face, like a sign from another force, locking her there in front of him. She worried that she was gawking at him, looking foolish.

“Well, I hope you have a good game. This was our last game before the playoffs. Are you guys on the same schedule?”

Brian felt relieved. She was interested. By then the other girls were beginning to disperse. But Denise stood with the first girl who had answered him. They were both smiling.

“When does your game start?” she asked.

Brian grinned. This was going well. “Should be getting started any minute. Do you girls want to stick around?”

Denise looked at her friend, sending a signal. Brian knew girls liked to stick together in situations like this. He knew Denise wasn’t going to stay unless her friend agreed.

“Sure, we can stay for a while.”

Signals sent and received.

“Great!” he answered. Brian had a bit of an ego and even though this was just an intramural game, he had been a standout player in high school. He had decided not to play in college, but he was competitive nonetheless. He knew he was probably the best player on his frat team and now was his chance to show this girl.

“Well, I’ve got to go warm up. My name’s Brian, by the way.”

“Hi, I’m Denise and this is Angie.”

They exchanged extra hellos and Brian turned to leave. “Maybe I’ll see you two after the game?”

Denise smiled again. “Maybe,” she answered. And then, in an afterthought, “But I’m sure I’ll see you around otherwise.”

Thank you for reading.

Click on the chapter links to start from the beginning:

Launch – Chapter 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 2
Launch – Chapter 3
Launch – Chapter 4

Friday Fiction – Launch – Chapter 4

December 1, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 3 Comments

Hello and welcome to Friday Fiction! How many of you have an unpublished book tucked away in a folder and are wondering what to do with your story?

Today I’m posting part of a longer chapter in which one of my characters, Ted Clarke, is facing a work crisis at Spring Technologies. His programmer is MIA and he has a huge deadline. I hope you will take a look and if you like the story, check out the links at the bottom of the post.

Launch – Chapter 4

Ted was hours away from getting home. His technical coding crisis had not gone away. Steve Colby had taken the flash drive and loaded the demo on his laptop. And not two minutes later, he had Ted back in the office.

“Dammit, Ted! I wasn’t even going to look at this until tonight, after I’d gotten home and unwound a little. But now it’s gone and ruined my whole weekend because I know you guys don’t have anywhere close to a solid demo for Haskell on Monday! What the hell is going on? We can’t give Haskell this – it’s a piece of garbage!”

Ted had almost escaped this explosion. He was seconds away from leaving the office, but had stopped to talk to Wayne, who was still busy trying to write code, to make up for Anders being gone. “I’ll be here at 8:00 tomorrow morning, Wayne. Make sure the whole team is here. We have to get this done.”

Wayne had been hunched over his computer, typing an unrecognizable sequence of keys. His face was a blotchy mess and strings of black hair hung over his face. An open bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos sat on his desk, with crumbs making a track to his keyboard. Wayne looked up at Ted, took a swig of Mountain Dew and slammed it down on his desk. He was past his limit, but didn’t know how to react. Wayne had his own problems, his own obligations and staying late on Friday and being back at 8:00 am Saturday tipped that balance. It wasn’t his fault that Anders had walked out and Wayne didn’t think he could fill the gap.

What Wayne didn’t see that night was his own chance to launch his mid-level career into something more. All he saw was an infuriating trap of work. “Okay, Ted,” he’d answered. After all, Ted was in this mess too.

Thank you for reading.

Click on the chapter links to start from the beginning:

Launch – Chapter 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 2
Launch – Chapter 3

Friday Fiction – Launch – Chapter 3

November 24, 2017November 25, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 2 Comments

Today I’m sharing Chapter 3 of Launch, an unpublished book I wrote a few years ago. A few weeks ago, we met Cindy Clarke and got a look at her life. She’s in the middle of a launch from stay-at-home mother to the working world. After meeting her husband Ted, we return to Cindy’s effort to redefine herself.

I hope you will take a look to see what happens and if you want to start at the beginning, click on the links at the bottom of this post

Thanks!

Launch – Chapter 3

It was four-thirty when Cindy walked into her house. She felt an annoying flutter in her stomach. Kevin and Katie were already home from school. For years, she had planned her days around being home in time for the kids. They needed her. She’d cheer for them as they walked in the door. “Hello! How was school?” Her afternoons had been chaos during those early years. Kids blasting in, being loud, talking to her. “Mommy, look what I did in school!” She’d look at elementary school papers, crafts, smile, and congratulate their small selves.

And when only the older ones were in school, Katie and Kevin would be napping and the noise would wake them. For years, endless years, frozen time, during the after school hour, the Clarke house had been a loud, exploding jumble of backpacks, lunch bags, homework folders, kids, shoes and crumpled art work.

Cindy loved seeing her kids come in that door. It defined her, being home to greet them. But she also knew what was on the other side of that momentary lift of seeing her children, home from their days out in the world, ready for nurturing, demanding attention. Nurturing at that age was not all cuddles and sweet talk. She could still do that with Katie and Kevin back then. But for Teddy, Brian and Jessie, nurturing had become something else. It was answering an explosion of questions. “Mom, can I go over to Jack’s house to play basketball?” “Mom, Teddy ate four cookies already. That’s not fair!” “Mommy, you said we were going to go out to Toys R Us after school today. I want that new Barbie car. Remember Mom? Remember?” By then, Katie and Kevin would be awake from their naps, hanging on her, needing new diapers, asking for juice.

What followed was the marathon of getting dinner on the table. Every action was interrupted. So much physical work, movement, running up and down stairs, sending the older kids outside, but checking on them constantly (she couldn’t help herself), keeping Katie and Kevin occupied, usually with the TV, while she cooked. All the while, watching the clock, waiting for Ted to come in so he could take over this insanity while she performed the miracle ritual of making dinner. Cindy’s stomach would wind into tighter and tighter knots if Ted didn’t get home by a certain time. She needed him.

And then, by the smallest measure of change, this period of time became something different. Her kids grew. They needed her less. They talked less. They became involved in their own lives. She had still been there when they came in, greeted them in a cheerful “Hello!” but it was different.

Everything always changes. Just when you master a certain phase in your life, the drivers shift. What was once important disappears and it’s up to your confused self to figure out where you fit. No one else seems to notice. No one is there to tell you how things have changed. It comes in pieces. When your kids come in and say hi, then go up to their rooms, or engage themselves in PlayStation or their phones, then it’s up to you to redefine yourself. No one is going to do it for you, but everyone expects you to handle the change, to make your new self happen.

Thank you for reading.

Click on the chapter links to start from the beginning:

Launch – Chapter 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 2

Friday Fiction – Launch – Chapter 2 Part 2

November 17, 2017 ~ Book Club Mom ~ 3 Comments

Today I’m sharing the second half of Chapter 2 of Launch, an unpublished book I wrote a few years ago. Two weeks ago, we met Cindy Clarke and got a look at her life. She’s in the middle of a launch from stay-at-home mother to the working world. Last week, we met her husband Ted and got to see how things look from his point of view. He has a big work crisis at Spring Technologies and it looks as though his top programmer, Anders, has skipped town before an important deadline.

I hope you will take a look to see what happens and if you want to start at the beginning, click on the links at the bottom of this post. We begin as Ted’s boss, Steve, catches Ted in the office before he has a chance to sneak out.

Thanks!

Launch – Chapter 2 – Part 2

“Hey Steve!” Ted smiled the broad smile that went with his greatest asset. No need to show the boss that your department is crumbling. “Just working hard, that’s all. What’s up?”

“Well I just wanted to check in with you and make sure your team is all set for Monday. How’s the demo going? We want to make sure it’s all up and running for our meeting.” Steven was an intense boss. The kind of boss he’d had for his entire career. Always asking how it was going, but never in a social way. Always wanting to know just how long it would be before the next project would be finished. It was part of the job, being accountable to your boss. Ted accepted that and he usually met those deadlines on time. It would be a small miracle if his team would be meeting Monday’s deadline.

“It’s all good, Steve. The team’s working out a few glitches but we should be ready to go for the meeting.” What a ridiculous lie! Ted looked straight into Steve’s eyes when he said this, hoping to work some magic with his boss, hoping Steve wouldn’t detect the nervous twitch pulsing out of control under Ted’s eye.

Steve’s eyes drew into Ted’s face, in that way he had in looking for the true story underneath the spin. His brows tightened in an intense focus. “Well, can I see what you’ve got so far? It would change the mood of my weekend if I could go home knowing what I’ll be showing Haskell and his group on Monday.”

Shit. Stay calm. Think about how to answer. “Let me talk to Wayne, see what he’s got for you to look at today.”

Steve’s focus didn’t let up. “Where’s Anders?”

“I sent him out on an errand, to pick up the new Ethernet cables for next week. He should be back late this afternoon.” Ted hoped this quick lie would buy him time, but he worried.

“Hmm, well okay. I’ll be here until 5:30, so send it up to me when you get it, okay Ted?” Steve detected a problem. He was certain something was up, but he wanted no part of it. He wanted the demo and the less he knew about the problem the better. It wasn’t up to him to solve the problems of the IT Department. He’d joyfully shed himself of those worries when he’d been promoted to VP. Let Ted sweat it out, whatever it was. But Ted better damn well have a demo up in his office at 5:30, he was sure he made himself clear.

Ted and the IT team had an emergency meeting. The department patched together a demo, but Ted knew it wasn’t what Steve wanted. But maybe it was enough to buy him some time over the weekend. They needed Anders. Part of their program was missing and he was the key. Ted couldn’t imagine why Anders had left, but he felt sure they were on their own.

“Here you go, Steve.” Ted handed him a flash drive. “It’s still a little rough, but it will give you an idea of what Haskell will see on Monday.” Ted had groaned at the thought of working all weekend, but he knew he’d have his entire team, minus Anders, in the office for as long as it took, piecing together the parts that were hanging.

“Well, okay, thanks Ted. I’ll look at it in a few minutes.” Ted looked at the clock, hoping he could get out of there before Steve saw just how rough the demo was. It wasn’t a tactic he liked, but he knew he was going to have to buy some time and he wasn’t going to get anywhere having to explain the situation to Steven Colby. He had a feeling Steve didn’t want to know anyway.

Ted took a breath. “Great!” He didn’t know why he was saying great. It was his instinct. A small celebration for producing something for his boss, something he’d done countless times. “I’ll have my team in here tomorrow, working out the kinks, Steve.”

“Okay, make sure you get Anders to run it a few times after everyone’s finished. I want him to check it out thoroughly. You know what they’re like over at Haskell. We need to be sure it’s seamless. They’re doing us a favor by coming here on Monday, so we’d better make sure everything works.”

“No problem, Steve. I understand. I’ll make sure it works.”

“I know where to find you if it doesn’t!” Ted knew that Steve was only partly joking. It was part of the corporate culture at Spring Technologies. Even if it was outdated and cliché, the threat still held strong.

Thank you for reading.

Click on the chapter links to start from the beginning:

Launch – Chapter 1
Launch – Chapter 2 Part 1

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