What happens when your past finally catches up with you?
…
Christmas is just around the corner, a time to be with family. For Will Mason, an orphan since he was fourteen, it is a time for reflection on what his life could have been, and what it could be.
Until a chance encounter brings back to life the reasons for his twenty years of self-imposed exile from a life only normal people could have. From that moment Will’s life slowly starts to unravel and it’s obvious to him it’s time to move on.
This time, however, there is more at stake.
Will has broken his number one rule, don’t get involved.
With his nemesis, Eddie Jamieson, suddenly within reach, and a blossoming relationship with an office colleague, Maria, about to change everything, Will has to make a choice. Quietly leave, or finally, make a stand.
But as Will soon discovers, when other people are involved there is going to be terrible consequences no matter what choice he makes.
I’m sure I’ve been down this road more than once, and with the same novel, but whereas the last edit, which was probably the second or third, finished up in the pile, then forgotten.
I’m doing an active update to all my works in progress, and sending them to the editor, after going through the manuscript once again, with a view to publishing. Hopefully, before the year is out.
…
Like yesterday, the Maple Leafs are playing again, and as much as I want to forsake it and get on with the story, The fact that we are down by a large margin at the end of the first period has given me the opportunity to turn it off, or watch the stage a comeback.
Damn.
I stick with it.
Then, we made a decision to go and see a movie, Last Christmas, because it looked interesting when we saw the preview some weeks ago.
That means missing half of the third period of the ice hockey if we’re going there. Well, there’s always the live broadcast via the phone.
It is not easy driving a car and listening to a brilliant comeback by the Leafs, and the excitement in the car is almost at the same fever pitch as the commentators.
Alas, we lose.
As for the movie, it was everything we hoped for. Two delightful leads who didn’t overact, Emma Thompson as a Yugoslav, and Michelle Yeoh in a restrained performance that I’m unused to seeing her in. Perhaps Star Trek Discovery kick-arse was not needed here.
Christmas, no swearing, no killing sprees, a few songs, and a lesson hidden between the lines. What more could one ask for?
As for the story, I’m having a coffee and then it’ll be time to get back into the groove.
There’s something to be said for a story that starts like a James Bond movie, throwing you straight in the deep end, a perfect way of getting to know the main character, David, or is that Alistair?
A retired spy, well not so much a spy as a retired errand boy, David’s rather wry description of his talents, and a woman that most men would give their left arm for, not exactly the ideal couple, but there is a spark in a meeting that may or may not have been a setup.
But as the story progressed, the question I kept asking myself was why he’d bother.
And, page after unrelenting page, you find out.
Susan is exactly the sort of woman to pique his interest. Then, inexplicably, she disappears. That might have been the end to it, but Prendergast, that shadowy enigma, David’s ex-boss who loves playing games with real people, gives him an ultimatum, find her or come back to work.
Nothing like an offer that’s a double-edged sword!
A dragon for a mother, a sister he didn’t know about, Susan’s BFF who is not what she seems or a friend indeed, and Susan’s father who, up till David meets her, couldn’t be less interested, his nemesis proves to be the impossible dream, and he’s always just that one step behind.
When the rollercoaster finally came to a halt, and I could start breathing again, it was an ending that was completely unexpected.
I’ve tried on many occasion to be quick, but it’s like my shoes have lead soles, or it’s like walking through water.
Perhaps I should just stop finding excuses and admit it’s old age and I am slowing down!
I’m guessing that in using the expressing the quick and the dead, I’ve got one foot in the grave.
But when you use the word quick it generally means moving fast or doing something at a rapid rate.
It could also refer to someone who picks up knowledge rapidly, that is to say, that boy is quick, maybe quick as a flash.
I’ve been cut to the quick. An interesting expression which basically means you’ve been hurt very badly.
It also makes reference to the more sensitive side to us, hence the above expression.
It has a more literal meaning, referring to the quick, under your fingernails, and you know how much that hurts when you cut the nail too short, or remove the nail from the quick.
And like most of us, I’ve been caught more than once in metaphorical quicksand.
It doesn’t pay to go near or test out what real quicksand is, but if you have to, make sure you tie yourself to an anchored rope first.
50 photographs, 50 stories, of which there is one of the 50 below.
They all start with –
A picture paints … well, as many words as you like. For instance:
And, the story:
Have you ever watched your hopes and dreams simply just fly away?
Everything I thought I wanted and needed had just left in an aeroplane, and although I said I was not going to, i came to the airport to see the plane leave. Not the person on it, that would have been far too difficult and emotional, but perhaps it was symbolic, the end of one life and the start of another.
But no matter what I thought or felt, we had both come to the right decision. She needed the opportunity to spread her wings. It was probably not the best idea for her to apply for the job without telling me, but I understood her reasons.
She was in a rut. Though her job was a very good one, it was not as demanding as she had expected, particularly after the last promotion, but with it came resentment from others on her level, that she, the youngest of the group would get the position.
It was something that had been weighing down of her for the last three months, and if noticed it, the late nights, the moodiness, sometimes a flash of temper. I knew she had one, no one could have such red hair and not, but she had always kept it in check.
And, then there was us, together, and after seven years, it felt like we were going nowhere. Perhaps that was down to my lack of ambition, and though she never said it, lack of sophistication. It hadn’t been an issue, well, not until her last promotion, and the fact she had to entertain more, and frankly I felt like an embarrassment to her.
So, there it was, three days ago, the beginning of the weekend, and we had planned to go away for a few days and take stock. We both acknowledged we needed to talk, but it never seemed the right time.
It was then she said she had quit her job and found a new one. Starting the following Monday.
Ok, that took me by surprise, not so much that it something I sort of guessed might happen, but that she would just blurt it out.
I think that right then, at that moment, I could feel her frustration with everything around her.
What surprised her was my reaction. None.
I simply asked where who, and when.
A world-class newspaper, in New York, and she had to be there in a week.
A week.
It was all the time I had left with her.
I remember I just shrugged and asked if the planned weekend away was off.
She stood on the other side of the kitchen counter, hands around a cup of coffee she had just poured, and that one thing I remembered was the lone tear that ran down her cheek.
Is that all you want to know?
I did, yes, but we had lost that intimacy we used to have when she would have told me what was happening, and we would have brainstormed solutions. I might be a cabinet maker but I still had a brain, was what I overheard her tell a friend once.
There’s not much to ask, I said. You’ve been desperately unhappy and haven’t been able to hide it all that well, you have been under a lot of pressure trying to deal with a group of troglodytes, and you’ve been leaning on Bentley’s shoulder instead of mine, and I get it, he’s got more experience in that place, and the politics that go with it, and is still an ally.
Her immediate superior and instrumental in her getting the position, but unlike some men in his position he had not taken advantage of a situation like some men would. And even if she had made a move, which I doubted, that was not the sort of woman she was, he would have politely declined.
One of the very few happily married men in that organisation, so I heard.
So, she said, you’re not just a pretty face.
Par for the course for a cabinet maker whose university degree is in psychology. It doesn’t take rocket science to see what was happening to you. I just didn’t think it was my place to jump in unless you asked me, and when you didn’t, well, that told me everything I needed to know.
Yes, our relationship had a use by date, and it was in the next few days.
I was thinking, she said, that you might come with me, you can make cabinets anywhere.
I could, but I think the real problem wasn’t just the job. It was everything around her and going with her, that would just be a constant reminder of what had been holding her back. I didn’t want that for her and said so.
Then the only question left was, what do we do now?
Go shopping for suitcases. Bags to pack, and places to go.
Getting on the roller coaster is easy. On the beginning, it’s a slow easy ride, followed by the slow climb to the top. It’s much like some relationships, they start out easy, they require a little work to get to the next level, follows by the adrenaline rush when it all comes together.
What most people forget is that what comes down must go back up, and life is pretty much a roller coaster with highs and lows.
Our roller coaster had just come or of the final turn and we were braking so that it stops at the station.
There was no question of going with her to New York. Yes, I promised I’d come over and visit her, but that was a promise with crossed fingers behind my back. After a few months in t the new job the last thing shed want was a reminder of what she left behind. New friends new life.
We packed her bags, three out everything she didn’t want, a free trips to the op shop with stiff she knew others would like to have, and basically, by the time she was ready to go, there was nothing left of her in the apartment, or anywhere.
Her friends would be seeing her off at the airport, and that’s when I told her I was not coming, that moment the taxi arrived to take her away forever. I remember standing there, watching the taxi go. It was going to be, and was, as hard as it was to watch the plane leave.
So, there I was, finally staring at the blank sky, around me a dozen other plane spotters, a rather motley crew of plane enthusiasts.
Already that morning there’s been 6 different types of plane depart, and I could hear another winding up its engines for take-off.
People coming, people going.
Maybe I would go to New York in a couple of months, not to see her, but just see what the attraction was. Or maybe I would drop in, just to see how she was.
As one of my friends told me when I gave him the news, the future is never written in stone, and it’s about time you broadened your horizons.
This is a rocky piece of coastline, adjacent to the city by the sea.
It’s highly urbanized, and just behind where I was standing to take this photo, there’s a large carpark, a restaurant, and several shops, as well as a long pier to walk on.
On this side, about 100 yards put is a reef, popular with divers, and the day I took this there we several divers out.
But, if you discounted all of that knowledge and just let your imagination run free, there are so many other possibilities
Like, scoping out a landing spot to bring ashore contraband on what might be a very desolate spot, access gained only by walking along and hazardous path.
Like there might be an imminent landing of foreign soldiers about to set up the start of a clandestine incursion, before a more formal invasion. Or just one person, a foreign spy.
Or a couple of friends having a picnic away from the madding crowd.
This could be taken from the beach of any tropical island retreat.
It could be taken at any mainland resort anywhere in the world, whilst lazing away the hours with a good book and a long, cool drink.
But it’s not.
It’s taken from my back yard in Brisbane where we’re in the grip of summer, and the wind is lowering the temperature from 39 degrees centigrade to a ‘feels like’ 32.
Still, in a sheltered corner, I’m having a nice cup of tea and reading a good book on what could be called a pretend holiday.
A similar-looking man to the last appeared. We were only just beginning to grapple with successful cloning, and I wondered if those who were driving the projects were visitors from this galaxy.
If they were on our world, wouldn’t they be trying to use their knowledge, if not for avarice, but to help, or worse, to eradicate us as a threat?
It was too much for me to concern myself, that was for the high council to discuss and take action.
“Captain, I represent Krulaxl, the traditional home world of Princess Adwenana, and formally request her release into our protection.”
“Captain. For what reason?”
“That is not within my preview to discuss. You can be assured that no harm will come to her.”
“Everybody keeps telling me no harm will come to her, and yet they refuse to tell me about the purpose behind their request. I have discussed the Foroi’s intentions, and I will discuss yours with or without the real reason, but I suspect her response will be the same, she’d rather be recruited as a crew member of my ship that to leave it. Care to explain why that is so?”
“I cannot. Perhaps she is still traumatised from years of incarceration at the hands of the Foroi.”
“And yet there were no signs of ill-treatment.”
“They are very skilled at hiding their methods of torture which I assure you they visit upon all their prisoners.”
“Good to know. I shall speak to you again after I put your request to her.”
The comms officer ended the transmission.
Burke, one of the science officers said, “Captain, the new vessel has been scanning our ship, and tried several times to take the Princess.”
Of course, they had. Engage in a distraction while executing their true purpose.
“All decisions on alert for intruders,” I said, adding, “let’s lift the threat level to blue.” There were only two after that, red, battle stations, an attack imminent, and black, we had been boarded and potential loss of control of the ship.
Our simulations if a black alert always seemed to end in a shambles, so I hoped it didn’t get to that.
“Number One, take charge. No more communications until I return.”
I’m sure by now the Princess was tired of seeing me. Certainly, when I arrived on her doorstep, it was surprising to see a wry smile rather than deep concern.”
“If you keep visiting me like this the crew are going to suspect we are giving a clandestine affair.”
“That would only be the case if you were spoken for.”
She looked puzzled
“You already had a partner. We also call it cheating because we like the idea of monogamy.”
“We’re not that old-fashioned, but some still insist on the old ways. But no, I am not spoken for as you suggest.”
“And I have no other intentions or motives other than to protect you.”
It was odd to be giving this type of discussion while five enemy ships with guessable intentions were nearby. I was sure the General and his team were in their element formulating attack plans, the first military operation in outer space.
It was the stuff of legends and names on high schools.
“The new arrivals have made their intentions clear. They want you to take you to their version of safety. They claim you are a Princess from Krulaxl.”
“They would be correct. But that planet and people have been crushed and annexed by the Foroi, do they are pretending to be something they are not “
“Not a chance they are the resistance if the original citizens of Krulaxl could fight back?”
“It would be highly unlikely. At the time of the invasion, we were much like the equivalent to the stone age man on your planet versus your people in the 20th century.”
I had a hard time visualising her in a stone age dress. Or perhaps that was unwise. Like others from this galaxy, she had a very persuasive manner and was someone who was used to getting what she wanted.
“Have you considered my suggestion?”
“To join the crew?”
“Or I could be so much more for you.”
It took a moment to read between the lines, and it was disconcerting. Was this also a trait of these people?
“If I have given you any reason to think that my intentions were anything other than honourable, I apologise. It simply isn’t the case.”
“You don’t like me?”
“It not a matter of whether I like you or not, it is a matter of propriety, and as Captain, I have to set an example. That might not happen on your planet, but it does on mine.”
“Then I am sorry. I meant no disrespect. It’s just a more preferable option than leaving this ship.”
“Staying here might cause a great many deaths to my people and I have to weigh that up against what may or may not be best for you.”
“If I go with either of them, more of my people will die, one way or another.”
The very definition of being between a rock and a hard place.
“Then how do we resolve this problem? If I agree to let you stay on this ship you have to prove to me you have a purpose.”
“Perhaps I could mediate a truce between the peoples of our worlds. It’s clear to me that if the Krulaxl need me, if that’s why they’re here, then their uprising needs a figurehead, a reason to continue. And if the Foroi is here, they know the battle is slipping. It may present an opportunity to increase your profile and your planet.”
“You do realise the moment you leave this room they will take you off the ship.”
I’m sure I’ve been down this road more than once, and with the same novel, but whereas the last edit, which was probably the second or third, finished up in the pile, then forgotten.
I’m doing an active update to all my works in progress, and sending them to the editor, after going through the manuscript once again, with a view to publishing. Hopefully, before the year is out.
…
It was a day like no other.
Oops been watching Romancing the Stone again, and that catchy line caught my attention. Perhaps I can use it somewhere, one day.
But…
The project is proceeding on course, adhering more to the outline than less, and it’s looking good.
I know just in saying that the ship is about to founder on a reef, so I’ll brace myself.
Today’s quota of words is done early so I can sit down soon and door the crossword over a cup of coffee while waiting for dinner to cook in the oven.
Perhaps we might have a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with dinner. What I’ve noticed with these is they are not all the same, some actually taste terrible, and some are quite exquisite. I suspect it might be where they grow the grapes, even if it is in the same region.
And, later, I’ll take another look at the sidebar I decided to add and flesh it out a little more. In view of what is happening, it is rather fortuitous that it came out of left field because it will serve as a reminder that being home doesn’t mean they’re safe.
O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyards located on Lamington National Park Road, Canungra, Queensland, is a 15-acre vineyard with the 163-year-old historic homestead ‘Killowen’ set up with dining rooms and long verandahs, and extensive grounds that are next to the Canungra creek where it is possible to find Platypus and turtles while partaking in a picnic.
There are about 6,000 vines of the (white) Semillon, Verdelho and (red) Chambourcin, Shiraz and Petit Vedot varieties.
We visited there in December when the vines were just starting to produce fruit.
That fruit is usually harvested in February and then turned into wine. The setting for picnics is, on a warm Summer’s day is idyllic, where you can wade in the creek, or go looking for a platypus. We did not see one there the day we visited but did spend some time sitting beside the creek.
