This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

Helicopters and compromise

…

I have been in a helicopter once or twice and they literally take my breath away.

My wife thought it would make an amazing present, and it was coupled with a jet boat ride that was heart-pounding, and some other experience that I can’t remember at this point.

It was the helicopter ride that stuck with me, skimming the grass tops as we left the airport, heading for a mountain top known as the Remarkables.  We went up the side and then peeled away, almost sideways, and

Wow!

There was more.  It was meant to be a ten-minute ride, but it ended up being nearly half an hour when we got a call to pick up someone beside a river.

That was only a small helicopter.

The one in the story is bigger, the trip longer, over the forests to a small clearing that is only accessible by air.

Tim is basically hiding there, from everything.

Taking his very ill girlfriend there, the girl he couldn’t help because he burnt every bridge, was always going to be problematical.

Our boy didn’t ask her to go, but he was glad she did.

…

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

Shotgun Annie

…

Some characters sometimes leap off the page.  I have to say at the time I was watching a Western Movie, and it had Annie Oakley in it, and the idea came that I should have a woman handy with a shotgun.

It’s not as farfetched as it seems, since a lot of women who were brought up on farms, or ranches, were good at shooting, hunting, and horse riding, though for us city-bound types it might be something of an anomaly.

Whatever I was thinking, I decided Tim needed a different girlfriend. Or perhaps not so different.

On the other side of the coin, I have two separate instances where friends are going through maladies, one that is not treatable, and the other requiring long and expensive treatment that will only last a few years.

But a few years is better than the alternative, death.

To find out where Tim is our boy goes to meet her, fully expecting to be shot at, but devastated to discover how ill she is.

There is, of course, only one thing he can do.

…

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

Shotgun Annie

…

Some characters sometimes leap off the page.  I have to say at the time I was watching a Western Movie, and it had Annie Oakley in it, and the idea came that I should have a woman handy with a shotgun.

It’s not as farfetched as it seems, since a lot of women who were brought up on farms, or ranches, were good at shooting, hunting, and horse riding, though for us city-bound types it might be something of an anomaly.

Whatever I was thinking, I decided Tim needed a different girlfriend. Or perhaps not so different.

On the other side of the coin, I have two separate instances where friends are going through maladies, one that is not treatable, and the other requiring long and expensive treatment that will only last a few years.

But a few years is better than the alternative, death.

To find out where Tim is our boy goes to meet her, fully expecting to be shot at, but devastated to discover how ill she is.

There is, of course, only one thing he can do.

…

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

Facing the music

…

With the altercation at the bar spreading like fire through a tinder-dry forest, our boy goes home to see Darcy.

Yes, she already knew what was going on, and no she’s not happy, and yes, she is overjoyed that our boy will be marrying Emily.

Talk about mercurial relatives.

Then there’s that little gathering that Darcy has arranged where he can get roasted for his sins.

And from one person in particular, Xavier, who positively hates her and all her friends.

Like our boy, he had been treated badly by the girl and her friends, and having someone who was her friend wasn’t going to improve his lot.  But he did agree to be the best man.

It was not going to be a late night.

The next morning there’s a mission, he has to go and see shotgun Annie.

Yes, you heard it right, shotgun Annie.

Tim’s staunchest female ally, but there is a problem.  Just another of many he has to get past.

…

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

Facing the music

…

With the altercation at the bar spreading like fire through a tinder-dry forest, our boy goes home to see Darcy.

Yes, she already knew what was going on, and no she’s not happy, and yes, she is overjoyed that our boy will be marrying Emily.

Talk about mercurial relatives.

Then there’s that little gathering that Darcy has arranged where he can get roasted for his sins.

And from one person in particular, Xavier, who positively hates her and all her friends.

Like our boy, he had been treated badly by the girl and her friends, and having someone who was her friend wasn’t going to improve his lot.  But he did agree to be the best man.

It was not going to be a late night.

The next morning there’s a mission, he has to go and see shotgun Annie.

Yes, you heard it right, shotgun Annie.

Tim’s staunchest female ally, but there is a problem.  Just another of many he has to get past.

…

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

A chat with Fred

…

The search for Tim was going to be through a baptism of fire.  Our boy had to go through his friends to find him.

And Tim’s friends were as belligerent as Tim was.  And a friend of Tim was an enemy of our boys.

But, how hard can it be?

To start the quest, he gets another ride in the corporate jet and gets to work with his new PA, Guinevere.  Oh, and did she say she used to work for Tim the Ungrateful?

Water under another bridge.

We touch down in town and there’s no time like the present to visit Fred, the staunchest of Tim’s allies, and the man who would know where he is.

With a mountain to climb, our boy goes into the bar where many a fight had played out badly, the bar that is renowned for the farm hands to let off steam.

Yes, there is a fight.

But for a long time our boy has been hiding a talent his father advised him never to use.

Pity this was the time or place.

And Fred discovers, what he always suspected, they had always been allowed to win.

…

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

A chat with Fred

…

The search for Tim was going to be through a baptism of fire.  Our boy had to go through his friends to find him.

And Tim’s friends were as belligerent as Tim was.  And a friend of Tim was an enemy of our boys.

But, how hard can it be?

To start the quest, he gets another ride in the corporate jet and gets to work with his new PA, Guinevere.  Oh, and did she say she used to work for Tim the Ungrateful?

Water under another bridge.

We touch down in town and there’s no time like the present to visit Fred, the staunchest of Tim’s allies, and the man who would know where he is.

With a mountain to climb, our boy goes into the bar where many a fight had played out badly, the bar that is renowned for the farm hands to let off steam.

Yes, there is a fight.

But for a long time our boy has been hiding a talent his father advised him never to use.

Pity this was the time or place.

And Fred discovers, what he always suspected, they had always been allowed to win.

…