Wine and Writing

Has anyone tried the lovely Yellow Tail Moscato?  It's simply divine, very refreshing and bubbly.  Sweet too, because that's how I like it.  It was on sale at the local grocery store so I just had to get some.  Now I'm sitting at my little laptop creating a writing playlist and listening to music while working on my third book!  This is very exciting because I haven't worked on it in over a year. 

I also applied at a restaurant named Cheddars today and I'm going to visit there tomorrow.  Hoping this is what I need. 

The sun shone beautifully today, even though all weather pointed to rain.  And it seems that I've brought the northwest rain with me because boy does it pour here!  But I'm trying to look ahead to summer, and today gave a small taste of that.

Speaking of summer, I'm having my first visitor in July.  My father is coming out to see me, so I'll get to show him around the joint.  That will be fun, and I'll have to look for stuff for us to do.

Doing well besides, still losing weight so that is good.  Never eaten so healthy in my life!  But if feels good. 

I did research some other blogs, but this one seems to be the most user-friendly so I'm going to stick with it for now.  It is easy to become a google+ member, though!

Peace, Love, and Moscato

SEH

Kava Kava Kava Chameleon

I'd like to premise this with Happy Earth Day/420!  Not that I partake of the latter so much, but it's the word of the day here in Asheville! 

In other news, I recently got my hair fixed from that weird tiered cut to a better one.  I actually have some bangs, albeit long ones...

In celebration of Earth Day we went to the little Kava bar downtown last night.  We being Molly, Kate and I.  Kava, for those who don't know, is a root from some islands somewhere that acts as a relaxant/mood enhancer.  It tasted like dirt and spices, very bitter, but they served it with pineapple to cut that.

 

 

 

I basically just shot each cup. 

 

 

Kate and Molly flashing the "K" for Kava!

 

The effect were pretty immediate, and the best way I can think to describe it is like being stoned and on muscle relaxers but without the fuzziness.  And it makes your tongue numb.  Fascinating stuff, fun experience!

 

Not much else going on.  Went mad grocery shopping today and my reliable little honda hit 200,000 miles.  Love me those hondas!  I promise that I'll post some more story soon, the reason for the delay is that I no longer get to just transcribe it...I have to write it!  But it will be done soon.

 

Love you all, miss you all! 

 

Shanti Elena



 

 

Chapter Two Continued

Chapter Two Continued

I was late.  The boar had been heavy and the going had been slow.  I handed the carcass off to a passing group of men and rushed inside.  I poured water over my head to wash the sweat and blood away and quickly donned my armor.  By the time I'd driven to the perimeter Samuel, the civilian I relieved, was agitated.  I told him of the boar and his uneasiness fled, replaced by a grin.  He reported that there again had been no activity and then went on his way.

I began my shifts by walking my zone.  It was a half mile of the perimeter, a five foot space between the wall and the churned soil.  No one set foot on the soil.  Anyone who did usually didn't last long enough to get back to safe ground.  If these people remembered mines, I'd tell them that was what this was.  A mine field.  But nothing of metal and explosive lay beneath the dirt.  Just as deadly, though.

When I'd first arrived in this place, the churned soil had been in patches scattered across the island.  After the initial shock had passed at what came out of the soil I'd designed a strategy to use the traps to our benefit.  We'd only lost three civilians in the attempt, and what resulted had saved countless others.  It had also given us the first advantage in the war.

We called it the Ark War.  Well, they'd called it that, the enemy.  The name had stuck.  Because the Bible was no longer around except as a book in Frank's collection, the civilians didn't get the joke. It had lasted almost two years, though perhaps war wasn't the correct term. A series of skirmishes, pitched battles. They'd attack, we'd fight back. When we got the guns working the tide had turned. We'd attacked, and they'd died. Death was something that human beings, though they tried not to think on it, knew was coming. Inevitably. But the enemy-they'd lost that acceptance. So when it had come to them in greater numbers than they could stand, they'd called for the treaty. The enemy knew me as Noah, just as most of the civilians did.  Noah and his Ark, saving mankind from extinction.

I think in some ways it amused them.  I amused them.  Not the death, but the challenge it represented.  I knew they could crush us if they really wanted to.  We'd resist, some of them would perish, but their numbers were so much larger.  So it was that as long as I entertained them they'd let us be.  Almost five years of this might be getting old for them.  And if I was gone, would they proceed with the extermination?

Frank either didn't know or wouldn't discuss it with me.  The fact the he indulged me as much as he did continued to baffle me.  It was as if was waiting for me to do something.  Or waiting for something to be done to me.

After two hours or so of pacing, I leaned back against the wall and took a long pull from my canteen. The water was warm and tangy from the metal but it refreshed me nonetheless. Then I stared out over the sun-beaten earth and thought of how I'd lied to Frank.

The hurtle through time and space hadn't made me stronger, faster, or more agile. I'd always been that way. I'd learned over the years to hide it, to pretend that I was a normal guy. The only time it had come up, that anyone had asked questions, was the fire.

I heard a noise to my right. I squinted and saw through the shimmering heat the small figure of the guard speaking with someone else. He waved me toward him. I straightened, took another sweep from left to right with my eyes, and trotted over to the two figures.

"Noah, this guy wants to join us," he explained as I approached.

I perused the recruit. He was a tall, lanky civilian with matted blond hair that tangled to his shoulders. His clothes were loose on him, the white tunic and pants billowing in the breeze. He flashed me a grin of white teeth. Obviously his tribe was advanced enough to care about dental hygiene.

"You want to join, you have to train," I told the newcomer. "You speak to the leaders."

"Leaders busy," he grunted. "You who talk to, says them." He waved a hand toward HQ.

"They are wrong," I told him patiently. "You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous."

"I face danger," he said proudly, thumping his chest with a fist. "I protect."

"Yeah? How about you let us do our job and go..."

I was cut off by a low swear from the guard. I turned and saw and then I ran.


She'd somehow gotten through the gate.  No time to wonder how.  She was elderly,  carried a toddler in her arms.  The kid was pointing at the far off trees and laughing.  She'd made it to the edge of the revenant field before I could shout.  And she ignored the shout.  Kept going.  I pumped my legs faster, brought my Uzi forward.  She walked casually but ate up ground.  Five feet.  Ten feet.  The ground behind her had started to ripple, like water disturbed by stones.  I kept screaming and while she didn't seem to notice the kid did.  He noticed the ground, too.  His agitation finally got her attention.  She stopped, looked over her shoulder as the first white hands shot from the earth.  Then she panicked.

I reached them just as she took off.  Not back to safety, but farther into the churned dirt.  The first revenants had gotten halfway out of their holes, their dead eyes and white flesh streaked with dirt.  I sprayed them with bullets as I ran backward after the woman.  I didn't wait to see if they fell, but turned and ran hell-bent toward the fleeing grandmother.  I jumped and dodged the hands that pulled at the soil and finally got a hold of the woman.  I yanked her around and she fought me.  I grasped her shoulders and shook her.  Her eyes rolled and she clutched the child tighter.  He yelled and squirmed, then turned to me.

"Gram can't hear," he babbled at me.

I stared at him, into his blue eyes.  He pointed behind me.  I blinked and turned.  Shuffling toward us was a goddamned army of revenants.  I looked past the dead things and saw a group of my soldiers standing at the edge of the field.  I shouted at them to stay the fuck there.  I unstrapped my Uzi and tried to hand it to the grandmother.  She shook her head, pushing it away. 

"You have to!" I shouted at her.  The little boy was crying now, and the revenants were inching closer.  The grandmother set the child down.  She took the Uzi.  I quickly showed her how to pull the trigger and aim.  Then I turned to the revenants.

They'd formed a loose semicircle around us, blocking us from the safety of solid ground.  I advanced with my knives. 

"Tell her not to move," I barked at the child.  "And tell her not to aim that thing at me."

My first knife took an arm off, my second plunged into a throat.  The next minutes passed in a blurry of knife blades and sprays of viscous blood.  I heard the machine gun going off in random bursts and the moans of the dying revenants.  I tasted acrid, rotten blood.  The sun tried to blind me as I carried out my grim task.  Finally I spun, looking for more flesh to cut, more dead eyes to stare into.  It was quiet.  The soldiers stared at me, open-mouthed, from a great distance.  Somehow we'd moved across the field.  I swerved and looked to the grandmother.  Revenant bodies lay around her, bloated and white in the sun.  She held the gun loosely by her side, panting.  Of the little boy there was no sign.  And two feet away was the vampire side of the island.  Chills went down my spine as I watched a child vampire, appearing no older than ten, step from the foliage with a huge grin on his pale ageless face.  Clutched under one arm was the little boy.

"Do you dare to break treaty Noah?" he taunted.  "This one did."  He surveyed the path of dead revenants leading across the perimeter.  His smile faded a fraction.  Hundreds of white bodies.  Hundreds.

"He's only a child," I told him warily.  The grandmother was openly weeping, trying to shove my gun at me.  I ignored her, not daring to take my eyes off of the vampire.

"Then come and get this child," the child vampire told me evenly.  "Come and get him, Noah of the Ark."

I realized dimly that the grandmother was shaking my arm frantically, and I turned to her.  Before I could register even surprise, the world went black. 

End of Chapter Two.  Isn't this a fun story?  :)

Chapter Two

More of the Island Story!  Oh, and I applied for coffeshop jobs today, yay!

Chapter Two

The name of the island had been lost in the past, and I wasn't even sure what landmass it had been.  I wasn't even sure where it was, geographically speaking.  I'd surmised that it was somewhere off the coast of South America by the star constellations.  But in reality it could have been anywhere.  Global warming and time made for changes even Frank hadn't been able to explain.

Frank.  His real name was Francois.  The French that had been his birth language was still evident in his accent.  I'd stumbled across him a day after my arrival on the island.  He'd been what I'd found after I'd awoken in the village with no memory of how I'd gotten there.  I'd panicked, running past the shocked inhabitants and into the jungle.  I'd wandered for hours, thirst leading me to the shallow lagoon of fresh water.  Like an animal I'd plunged my entire head into the cool water, and after I'd drank my fill I'd lifted my head and seen him.  His looks were deceiving.  I'd judged him to be a man in his late sixties.  He wore a wool suit and his hair was close-cropped and gray.  He reminded me of a history professor.  It took me a moment to realize he wore no shoes and that his eyes were not normal.  The pupils-that's what had caught my attention.  Embedded in the dark gray irises they were slitted like a cat's.  Or a snake's.  He seemed to be studying me with intense curiosity, and from five feet away I studied him with wariness.  Finally I spoke.

"Aren't you hot in that suit?  It's got to be a hundred degrees out here."

Quickly, silently, he squatted down and placed his palms on his knees.

"Limber for an old guy," I'd observed.

He'd smiled.

"Uh, I think I'm lost.  Maybe I've been kidnapped.  I sure as hell don't know where I am.  Do you...speak English?"

"Not all who wander are lost," he quoted.

I remembered the quote but not who'd first coined it.  "Yeah, well, I didn't wander.  I really am lost."

"Yes.  You are definitely not from around here," he agreed.  "What is your name?"

"Graham."

"I am Francois."

"Nice to meet you.  You wouldn't happen to have a phone or something?  Or an outlet I could borrow?  Mine's dead."  I patted my cell phone where it was clipped to my belt.

He tilted his head to the side.  "Where do you come from Graham...?"

"Tanner.  I'm from San Francisco."

"San Francisco."  He rolled the syllables on his tongue as if in reverence.  Suddenly he stood.  "Come with me, out of the sun."

I squinted up into the sky.  We were in the sun.  Good thing I never burned.


Fate.  Was that really what had brought me here?  I sat on the bench outside my hut and sipped on my one-cup-per-day of coffee as I gazed around the village.  It was one of ten on our side of the island.  Each village had around three hundred people with the numbers growing each year.  Already in this year-if one went by the seasons it was late spring-we'd received three boatloads of mainlanders.  A total of eighty-two civilians.  Mostly illiterate, dirty, and speaking the garbled English that had first greeted me six years before.  When I'd arrived there had been two-thousand or so islanders.  I sipped the coffee again.  The smell more than the caffeine worked to wake me up.  I was heartily glad that there were others that now took on the tasks of educating and civilizing the newcomers.  I didn't want the duty.  I'd never wanted to be a teacher or leader.  In the real world I'd followed orders.  Point and shoot.  I'd also had bulletproof vests and night scopes and trained backup.  Decent weapons as well.  And more than one cup of coffee.

This village was cleverly named First Village.  Second Village was a half hour walk to the north.  Third and Fourth lay to the east, the rest to the south.  HQ was the farthest point inland, a mile from the perimeter.  We were all closer to the coast, with Third and Fourth being right on the beach.  They were the ones who took in the new arrivals and so had the most supplies and provisions.  First, my village, was the oldest.  The original.  And the leader of our village, Carlson, was walking toward me as I finished the last of my coffee.

"Noah," he greeted me with a smile as he shaded his eyes with his hand.  "How are you this day?"

"Tired, Carlson."  I stood and shook his offered hand.

"Did you sleep unwell?"  He followed me into my hut and I motioned him to sit on a stool.  His big body dwarfed it, his flowing white shirt and pants making his dark skin more pronounced.  Carlson always smelled like some sort of musk.  I knew it was from the incense he burned.  Mixed with his sweat it gave off a surprisingly pleasant odor.  I just smelled like sweat.

"I slept well."  I rinsed out the cup in my water barrel and laid it on a shelf.  I turned to Carlson.  "I heard you wanted to speak to me.  The answer will probably be no, though."

He stared at me for a moment, his dark eyes penetrating.  "Do you already know what it is I ask, then?"

"No.  But I'm assuming it's about leadership duties.  Or scouting missions.  Or taking civilians off of border patrol.  Any of those three?"

He leaned forward, the stool creaking with his shifting weight.  There was a reason that he was the leader.  He'd beaten every man but me for the title.  "You have already refused to be leader.  You have already refused to allow scouts to go to the mainland.  The third has not been discussed."

"But I knew it was coming.  Shebida, Louis, now you.  Just because we haven't had any incidences-"

"In nine months," he interrupted.

"-does not mean we should drop our guard.  They're planning something, waiting for us to make a mistake."

"How do you know this?"

"It's what I would do."

"And you think like them?"

I took a deep breath, let it out.  "I don't know how they think.  I do know they're smart.  Word of our freedom has spread.  Others may decide to fight back.  Having us free is a liability, a weakness, to them."

"You believe they will attack us?  When?"

"I don't know when.  But eventually they will wipe us out.  I honestly don't understand why they haven't yet."

"They do not like to die."

I almost laughed.  "No one likes to die, Carlson.  That's not a good enough reason.  Something is keeping them at bay."

"Well, the treaty should be the reason."

"And history has shown that treaties are broken as soon as someone gets tired of them."  I sat down on my bed.  "We need more soldiers, Carlson.  Not less."

"We also need more farmers, more hunters, more builders.  Noah, we need to, as you say, make a civilization.  We are trying, but we need more help."

"You get me more soldiers, I can shorten the shifts to free up more workers."

"We need leather."

I shook my head.  "Not if they stay behind the wall.  We make holes that guns and arrows can fit through.  I've been thinking about this for awhile.  We also build watchtowers that are tall enough to see across the perimeter.  We'll have advance warning-"

"Noah.  The people look to you as their savior, but many are beginning to doubt."

"Then have the doubters heal the newcomers.  They need fear, Carlson.  The war is over but the danger is always there."

Carlson stood.  "There is a tribal meeting in a week's time, Noah.  We will hear you then, but I warn you that you may not like what we decide.  I am sorry, but we must take care of each other.  The others, the enemy, have left us alone.  Perhaps if you argue well we can come to a..."  He faltered on the word. 

"Compromise," I said bitterly.

"Yes.  Compromise.  I will go now."

He shook my hand again and I let him walk away.


"You wanted them to think for themselves.  Why then are you angry?"

I continued pacing in front of Frank's cave, my rant fresh in the air between us.

"Because they're wrong.  Because they're playing into the enemy's hands."  I stopped and stared at my mentor.  My friend.  "Aren't they?"

Frank set aside the bow he'd been stringing and sighed.  "I have not been privy to the politics of my kind for many years, Graham Tanner."

I squatted before him.  "But you know how they think.  You can guess."

"I could, but it would only be assumption.  I chose isolation because I did not want to guess or assume."

"You don't want to get involved, you mean."

His strange gray eyes twinkled.  "No more than you do.  Yet those people are yours.  You created them, molded them into what they are today.  In doing so you feel responsible for them."

His unspoken words were evident.  "To save them I must lead them.  That's what you're saying."

"That is what you just said.  Not I."

"Frank, I get tired of your evasions."  I stood and stared out over the sun-dappled lagoon, to the waterfall that fell in a quiet rush farther up the hill.  I thought of home.  My wife and children.  Long dead in this place, this time.

"Whatever decision you make, you are not to blame for what occurs Graham."

The gentleness of his voice, the dropping of my last name, had me squeezing my eyes shut.  I didn't need gentleness.  I needed him to tell me what to do.  To take the burden off my shoulders.

"I have to go.  My shift starts soon."

"Come back tonight.  There is something I need to show you."

"Fine.  I'll see you at three."

I left the way I'd come and cut west toward the HQ building.  Halfway there I spotted a wild boar at the same time he saw me.

"Sorry buddy," I said as I aimed my gun.  "Wrong place, wrong time."

The pig and I had something in common.

Chapter One Continued

As promised, here is a continuation of the short story.

Chapter One, Continued

The moonlight played tricks on the eyes as shifting shadows jumped from the corners of my vision.  I'd shrugged out of the leather and donned my off-duty clothes.  My ancient jeans fit me like a second skin and my white t-shirt stretched across my chest.  It had fit better six years before, but I'd put on a few pounds of muscle since then.  I kept only the revolver, tucked in the back of my jeans.  I'd been walking for two hours, and knew by the smell of woodsmoke that I was close.  I broke through the shrubs and paused, hands in the air.  Before me a stream-fed lagoon glistened in the moonlight and Frank stood as if waiting for me.  Who was I kidding?  He'd heard me miles ago.

"Welcome Graham Tanner," he said softly in his accented English.

"Frank."  I walked slowly toward him, gauging his mood.  He seemed resigned tonight.  "How are things?"

He turned and walked toward the cave.  I followed him, knowing the small talk was done.  A large dog greeted me at the mouth of the cave, its tail thumping.  I scratched its ears as I passed.  The cave was lit by firelight and candlelight, and a more comfortable cave I'd yet to see.  Faded tapestries lined the walls, ancient rugs the floor.  In the rear a four-poster bed with all the trimmings beckoned invitingly.  There were shelves lined with books, cabinets full of treasures, and two chairs you could sink into around the fire.  Frank's home was the most sophisticated this side of the island.  He'd told me the other side liked their comforts as well.

The man sat in his favorite chair and I sat across from him.  I resisted the temptation to lean back.  I was exhausted but couldn't afford to sleep.

"You've lost something."

I took a deep breath.  "How can you tell?"

His leathery face creased in what I'd come to realize was a smile.  "I would tell you that I am clairvoyant, but you would not believe me.  Instead I will tell you this.  Every two minutes you usually touch your left pocket like a talisman.  You have been with me for six minutes now and I have not witnessed this.  Either you have learned to restrain yourself since I have last seen you or..."

I let the observation hang for a moment.  Then I closed my eyes.

"I think it's on the other side of the island."  I heard the scrape of a match and opened my eyes to see him lighting a pipe.  "I need to get it back."

"Do you?"

"Yes.  You know I do."

"No."  He puffed a few times.  "I know nothing of the sort.  Neither do you.  It has been six years Graham Tanner.  Do not you think it would have happened by now if it was to happen at all?"

I leaned forward.  "It brought me here, Frank.  It can take me back home."

"That is your belief."

"Frank, coming to this place in this time was pretty fuckin' hard to believe.  Encountering the inhabitants of the island was hard to believe.  Getting home, when compared to that, should be a cakewalk."

"Hmm.  How long did you hang for this day?"

"Four hours before I dropped my-"

"You lost it while meditating?"  His voice was sharper than it had been. 

"Yeah."

"Well.  That is most interesting.  And it fell to the other side."

"Yes."

He stood abruptly and so quickly I blinked.  I kept forgetting that this old man wasn't what old men should be.  In a moment's time he'd gone to a desk and returned with a folded paper.  He handed it to me.

I raised my eyebrows and carefully unfolded the brittle paper.  There was only one sentence written in faded ink.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  I refolded the paper and handed it back to him.

"Y'know Frank, I went to Sunday school for years.  This isn't new to me."

He sat back down.  "I too went to Sunday school Graham Tanner.  This statement is not to do with your god."

"Oh yeah?  Explain that to me, Frank.  Because 'Lord' means God here."

"Every religion, every faith has this same statement.  The fact that you lost your phone while meditating proves this.  It is a catalyst.  Change is coming."

"Fate.  More fate talk.  Frank-"

"You were brought here for a reason Graham Tanner.  You found me for a reason."

"Sure.  I saved those poor bastards down there."

He shook his head.  "More.  For those few lives you would not be here.  My people fear you.  Do you know why?"

"I know how to kill them."

"No.  You cannot be killed."

His statement, so calm and sure, froze me to my marrow.  "Everyone can be killed.  I bleed just like the next guy."

"Yet you heal faster than any human I've seen.  Your arm was broken three years ago, yes?  How long did it take to heal?"

I stared at him.  I didn't answer.

"You were shot in the thigh by a misfired gun.  You were walking hours later with no pain."

"Frank, I know that the journey here changed me.  I'm stronger, faster, I can take more damage.  I'm-"

"Like us."

"No.  I'm human."

"As I was human.  Once."

I stood and paced to the wall.  "Is this why you chose to train me, Frank?  Why you helped me save those people?"

"I chose to aid you because I've become disgusted with my own kind.  But yes, training you I would not have done had I not seen the otherness within you."  He smoothed his wool jacket sleeves.  Wool in this heat. 

I shook my head.  "I can't handle this right now."  I went to stand before him.  I folded my arms over my abdomen and bowed low.  "Master, will you please help me retrieve what is lost?"

He stared at my bowed head.  "You wish me to retrieve it for you."

"Yes."

"That I will not do.  You must retrieve it yourself."

"I'll die."

"If that is your wish, of course."

"Damnit Frank, I can't do this alone!"

"I am afraid, Graham Tanner, that you are more alone than you know.  Now kneel and recite."


It was seven in the morning by the time I fell into my grass-filled bed.  Even the noise of the village coming to life couldn't have kept me awake.  I tumbled down into dreams that I'd hoped my exhaustion would keep at bay.

There was fire.  There was always fire.  It licked the walls, the floor.  I blinked my eyes and through the haze of smoke I saw her sitting in her favorite chair.  She stared into the mirror of her vanity set and seemed completely oblivious to the fact the house was burning down around her.

"I have to go, Graham," she told me in her lovely voice.  Her long black hair was up in a knot at the nape of her neck and she wore an elegant red gown.  Her deep brown eyes, slanted at the corners, met mine in the mirror.

"I know you do, honey.  But the boys-"

"Why can't you pick them up again?"  She affixed diamonds in her ears.

"I've got a job tonight."

She turned her head left and right, checking the dangle of the earrings.  I strode forward and placed my hands-black from the soot- on her thin shoulders.

"You look so beautiful," I said warmly. 

She smiled.  "And you look like you need to sleep.  Tell you what.  I'll have Mama pick them up."  She turned and raised her face to me.  I kissed her gently.  "Take a night off, Graham.  Come with me."

"You know I can't.  Next week I'll request a vacation.  We'll go somewhere fantastic."

"Next week is the launch," she said with a frown.

"The following week then."

Her eyes reflected the fire all around us.  I couldn't read them.  I dimly heard a crash behind me as part of the wall collapsed.

"I'm going to be late," she said as she stood.  I followed her to the bedroom doorway.  I heard the creak of the floorboards beneath us. 

"I love you," I told her as fire began to lick at the hem of her gown.

"You too, baby," she said before going up in flames.


Love to leave it on a cliffhanger!  Hope you're all still enjoying this.  Chapter Two starts soon!

Shanti

Almost a Month Gone!

On the morning of March 18th I pulled out of my mother's driveway and headed East.  Six days later I drove up the winding gravel drive of my new home.  It's amazing that I'm here, even now that it's been a few weeks.  I've been asked to post some pics on here, and so I shall proceed. 

 This is today, isn't it lovely?  Jacob and Molly are soaking up the rays in our newly raked backyard. 

 

 The front of the house, which we have not yet cleaned up.  Note the small tree platform in the foreground.  This is the one I put my leg through on Monday.  My leg is healing, though it does look like I was attacked by a rabid cat.

 My first picture of Jacob, the traveling minstrel hippie who has become our friend.

Jacob and Molly's very cute ol' hound dog Rufus

My masks!  Yay!  I have since repaired the poor broken one on the bottom left

Our devine and very comfy livingroom

Drinks and Mexican food!

The firepit which we have not gotten a chance to use yet.  When we do I'll let y'all know!

Downtown Asheville, which boasts many neat kitschy stores and interesting restaurants.  I ate at Mela, the Indian food place that Molly works at for lunch today.  Spicy but so delicious!

 

Spring has come!  The trees are budding and the sun is shining!  This is the view from our front porch.

As you can see, it is beautiful here.  I'm throwing my first party on May 4th, we're having a jam session with all the local talent in our huge garage/basement.  And my new friend Kate has a house with an inground pool and lovely cherry trees where we'll probably be spending most of the summer.  It's quite a surreal experience, this adventure of mine.  I do miss my loved ones dearly, and I want any and all to know that our door is always open for visitors! 

Tomorrow I'll try to post some more of the short story I began previously.  Nothing much else to report, though I did get a haircut today. 

See?

Haha, just kidding, it's still long.  I'm so funny!

 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful time, I miss you all!

 

Shanti Elena

A Writing Sample

Hello all!  I figured that since I can do anything I want on this blog, I should probably get some of my actual work out into the world.  This is very exciting actually! 

This is a short story that I wrote after one of my strange adventure dreams.  The main character is played by Jason Statham, at least that's who I was in the dream.  There isn't a title yet, maybe y'all can help me come up with one.  This is just the first installment...it's a little bizarre, but I hope you enjoy it.


Chapter One

"I will get home," I said aloud as I dangled hundreds of feet above the roaring waves.  I stared down at the surf as it broke against the rocks at a distance that seemed like miles.  I tried again to clear my mind and focus on my need, but my hands were losing their grip on the rock I hung from and I knew that any moment I'd have to let go.  To buy myself more time I swung my legs forward against the cliff wall to give my hands some relief.  In doing so, however, I realized that I hadn't shoved my phone deep enough into my pocket.  Panic began to settle in as I quickly tried to shift my hips to anchor the phone.  This proved the exact wrong thing to do as I watched the phone tip over the pocket and begin its somersaulted decent.  In agony I watched it hit the cliff wall, catch a fissure, and ride that fissure like a kid on a slide around the cliff face and out of sight.  Every curse word I remembered spewed from my mouth before I took a breath and let go of the rock.

The fall lasted longer than one might think, but the drop was farther than most humans could survive.  When finally I entered the waves feet first I had come to a decision regarding my phone.  I had to find it.  There was no way around that fact, and until I did find it I couldn't take a single anxiety free breath.  The phone was my most precious possession in this place.  And I had a sinking feeling as I rose to the surface that it had somehow ended up on the vampire side of the island.


A roaring hovercraft banked low as it passed the verdant treetops.  I shielded my eyes from the glare of the early afternoon sun as I watched it glide to the HQ roof and slowly descend.  My boots on gravel could be heard again as its engine switched off.  Damn those things were loud.  I crossed from gravel path to grass the color of emeralds and lifted a hand in greeting to the woman who waved at me from the pilot's seat.  I passed into the shade and entered the side door of the building that represented all things law and order on the island.  The hall I strode down was dark and smelled like the earth that constituted as the floor.  Thousands of feet had compressed it down so that it was as hard as the tile I remembered from what seemed a lifetime ago.  "Ten lifetimes," I muttered grimly to myself as I pushed open the door to the equipment room.

"Sir."

I looked over to my left as I pulled my shirt over my head.  A kid no more than eighteen stood at fierce attention, his boot clutched in his right hand.  I sighed.

"Don't call me that."  It was an old routine, a song and dance I was emphatically sick of.

"Sorry.  Noah.  Sir."

"At ease, soldier.  Christ, pull your damn pants up."

He blushed and bent to yank up his white, flowing pants.  I went to my cubby and yanked out the brown uniform.  I zipped into the tight stiff leather pants and matching jerkin.  The stuff was heavy, thick, and hot as hell in this heat.  But it was standard issue.  Tough, really tough to bite through.  Over this lovely ensemble went my gun holster, my knife belt, my wrist sheaths with six inch blades on each forearm, and my Uzi on its leather strap.  The Uzi, when in place, settled down my spine.  I pulled on my Guinness baseball cap, frayed and faded as it was.  Had to have something from home.  The pocket on my belt where the phone should've been felt like a gaping wound.  When I glanced over to where the kid had been I saw he'd fled.

"Good man," I said.  It came out as a growl.  I glanced into the cracked mirror and paused.  I needed to shave again.  I ran a hand over the stubble and realized I'd forgotten the gloves.  I hated the gloves.  I hated the whole world at the moment.


There were forty civilians on duty at all times, day and night.  We worked in shifts--twelve on, twelve off.  There should've been more, but until we'd gathered more leather to make our armor we had to make due.  Enemy activity had fallen off by a great degree, but the reprieve wouldn't last.  I felt that in my gut.  The kid I'd exchanged the brief greeting with in the equipment room was the youngest soldier.  Lazar was his name, I remembered.  I'd trained him a few times in hand to hand.  He had promise, but he'd never been truly tested.  Of the eighty soldiers in our sector, twenty-five were women.  The tribal leaders had balked at that, but in my experience women could be as tough as men.  And what they lacked in strength they made up for in tenacity.  I ran into Shebida, one of the veterans of the Ark War as I made my way to the front doors.

"Hey G," she said with a tired grin.

I gave her a warning glare and she held up her gloved hands.  "Noah.  Whatever."

"Find anything?" I demanded.

She ran her eyes up and down my leather clad form.  "No activity.  They're keeping to the treaty.  Noah, they've kept to the treaty for nine months now.  Maybe it's time we--"

"No."

She shook her head, her short red curls unmoving from the sweat that glued them to her temples and nape.  Her brown eyes rolled.  "Fine.  You're the boss."

"Shebida, can you come here a minute?"  One of the nurses beckoned from the hospice wing doors.

Shebida gave me a small frown before turning on her booted heel and following the woman.  I continued out the front doors and fitted my wraparound sunglasses over my eyes.  The dimness of the lenses didn't detract from the bright humidity that greeted me.  Birds of every species called to each other, the drone of insects a muted undercurrent.  The jungle rose on every side of the large clearing.  I went up to a decrepit jeep and pushed the ignition switch as I yanked the door shut after me.  It protested on rusty hinges.  I grabbed a water canteen and took a long drink.  Then I drove toward the perimeter with a long-suffering sigh.


"Boatload of civilians just arrived from the mainland."

The low voice drew me from my reverie and I looked over at the short man who'd spoken.  It was midnight.  I had an hour left of my shift.  I stretched my neck and looked back across the perimeter.
"How many?"

"Thirty-three.  Mostly families."

"Their condition?"

"Fair.  A few wounded but they'll survive."

"Any dead with them?"

He spat on the soft soil.  "Two."

"Burned?"

"Already taken care of.  Carlson arranged for more huts, should go up tomorrow.  He, ah, wants to see you."

I bared my teeth.  "Doesn't he always?"

The short man, Louis, laughed.  "Yes."

A noise had us both shifting, weapons in hand.  My night vision caught the shadow of a doe as it sniffed the soil at the edge of the perimeter.  Louis aimed but I lay a hand on his arm.

"It's a female," I said under my breath.  He nodded and lowered the barrel.  The doe, wisely, turned and leapt back into the greenery it had come from.

Louis sighed.  "First deer spotted in a month and it's a damn girl.  We need more skins."

"I know."

We went back to staring across the half mile of churned soil.  I leaned back onto the wooded fence that was the barricade.  It was twelve feet high with one inch spaces between the slats.  At three-hundred foot intervals metal gates allowed us to cross to this side.  The metal, precious commodity that it was, was the best idea I'd had in awhile.  The enemy couldn't break through it.  I'd wanted the entire barricade to be metal but there just wasn't enough.  A thought occurred to me.

"Did they bring anything of use with them?" I asked.

"Tribute?"  Louis furrowed his brow.  "Some weaponry.  A few chickens."  He grinned.  "Some comely females."

"Nothing else?"

He slanted me a look.  "Better than females, you mean?"

"We don't need more females.  There's too much breeding as it is.  Another few years and we'll run out of resources."

He scratched his head.  "What about those scouting missions?"

"To the mainland?"

He nodded.

"Too risky yet.  They..."  I pointed to the east "know the treaty doesn't extend that far.  We'd be slaughtered."

He was quiet for a time.  When he spoke, it was in a hushed baritone.  "You could help them.  Like you helped us."

"Louis, the mainlanders are--"

"Like we were before you came," he interrupted.  "Stupid, illiterate.  Bands of primitive idiots who shit where they eat.  Right?"

I grimaced at the words.  I'd spoken pretty much the same thing to these people--my people--six years before.  Six god-forsaken years.

"I can't," I finally said.  "There's too many."

"But with all of us united--"

"They'd still have the advantage.  Look Louis, drop it.  We focus on the island.  Got it?"

"Yes sir," he muttered.

The last thing I needed was more people to educate.  More inflated bastards to take down.  The island community worked.  It had its problems, its more troublesome factions, but for the most part the laws were followed.  I no longer had to police the civilians.

"You going to bed soon?" Louis asked me as I checked my watch.  It was time to go.

"Yeah.  Sure."  I patted him once on the shoulder and he watched me walk away.

"Gotta sleep sometime, Noah," he called quietly.


Hey, Shanti here.  That's it for now, I don't want to make this too long and daunting.  Stay tuned for more to come!  And let me know what you think in the comments :)

North Carolina and Me

My first entry from my new world, Asheville North Carolina.  Technically I live in Candler, which is about ten minutes out into the country.  And country it is!  Wildlife galore, fields and trees and this incredible new plant that I think is chokevine but is everywhere and it's a blast to pull as it goes on forever.  Very satisifying.  I've done a whole weekend of yardwork the last two days with the help of the ever lovely Molly and our new vagabond friend Jacob.  He's a traveling minstrel hippie who we invited to stay the weekend in exchange for manual labor.  And that boy can rake!  He did about 11 hours of it.  And it was very fun to have company and get to know a traveling minstrel hippie. 

My life here is very good so far.  The house is great, Molly is teaching me to eat healthy, and my cats have settled right in.  I've gotten a chance to unbox my treasures, my swords and knives and masks and crazy art that all scream me.  That's something I've really missed the last few years, the stuff that makes me feel like myself.  It's finally on display, as I am in writing this to the world. 

It's been quite a journey, getting here.  I've gained and lost friends, I've learned what I can and cannot do.  What I can and cannot take.  I've learned that people can be fickle creatures, but that they can also be wonderful and just what you need at the right moment.  I thank the maker for my friends and family, those who have supported me in this, the biggest most difficult change I've made in my life.  And it's feeling like one of the most positive too.  I'm living the dream, having that adventure that I've talked about for so many years.  And this blog will hopefully make you laugh, make you feel, make you learn who Shanti really is.  And also get my name out into the world of the interweb, where my books will hopefully be in the next couple months.

So greetings and salutations from Candler to you, and let the journey begin!