Story A Day #7 Pink Magic

Samantha sat at the kitchen table staring morosely at the book in front of her.   A colouring book.   Her therapist had recommended colouring as a way for her to deal with her stress and anxiety.  She said there is something very zen-like about colouring, it was so delightfully mindless.   Samantha disagreed.  Colouring had never been her thing, she found it boring and she could never decide what colour things should be.  But here she was with the adult colouring book and box of crayons her daughter had bought when she heard about Samantha’s new project.  Cat Farts.   That’s what her daughter thought she would like to colour.  Cats depicted in various situations with little puffs of air coming from their butts.   She had to admit she had laughed when she saw it.   But now she was staring at the picture with no idea of how to start.

Samantha picked up the green crayon and started colouring the trees.  As she coloured she thought of her life and what had brought to this place.  Here she was, 60 years old, alone and impoverished, disabled and miserable and colouring.   She hated her life, and most of all she hated herself.  Bad decisions and bad luck were what had brought her here.  She lead with her heart and not her head in every aspect of her life from how she spent her money to who she chose to love. She was diagnosed as bipolar when she went bankrupt 10 years ago.  It had been more devastating than her divorce because she had only herself to blame.  She lost her job when she became unable to work due to arthritis and fibromyalgia.  But she kept spending as if she was still working and the debt piled up till she had a nervous breakdown and had to go bankrupt.  Now she had a good friend taking care of her finances and she was on a strict budget and got an allowance every month.  She should have been grateful but she was resentful and ashamed. 

Choosing who to love was another downfall.  Samantha liked to joke that if there was a room full of great women and one crazy one, the crazy one would head straight for her and Samantha would fall head over heels in love.   She was a compulsive rescuer, wanting to be the one to finally make her partner happier than she had ever been.  These affairs always ended in disaster.  Samantha had been alone for 3 years now and she was better off for it.  At least that’s what her therapist told her. 

As she coloured the trees Samantha started to feel herself relaxing.  There was something soothing about the back and forth motion of the colouring and the green was a peaceful colour.  She found herself actually enjoying it.  On a whim, she decided to colour the cat a bright neon pink that drew her eye.  But when she started with the pink crayon she thought of all the mistakes she had made in her life and all the people who had hurt her.  In her anger, she pressed too hard on the crayon and it broke.  Samantha felt at once sad and sheepish.  It was just a crayon, how silly to be feeling anything at all about breaking it.  As she looked at the broken crayon in her hand it started to melt causing Samantha to drop it, crying out in alarm.   The wax of the crayon bled on to the table and Samantha was astonished to see that it was forming into a figure.   She blinked a few times, as wondered if she was having a stroke.  But what she was seeing was really happening. 

The figure on the table soon became a fairy.  Samantha’s heart skipped a beat as she realized the fairy looked just like she had when she was a little girl!  How could this be?  Instead of feeling afraid though, Samantha found herself intrigued by this development.  She watched as the fairy waved her wand over the table and she began to show Samantha pictures of her life.

Transfixed she watched her young self being held in her mothers arms as her father looked on.   They gazed at her with such love Samantha felt tears fill her eyes.  How she missed them!   The fairy showed her learning to walk, then ride a tricycle, then a bicycle as her father helped her.  As she watched the film of her life play out on her kitchen table she remembered how loved she had been, and how happy.   Those days had been so carefree she longed to go back.    Roger, the family dog played a huge role in her life.  He had been her best friend and constant companion.   Shy and awkward as a child, she had few friends and preferred her own company.  

The fairy continued to show her pictures of her life as she went through her teen years, and she saw that she had grown into a beautiful young woman.  Her shyness had fallen away as she matured and she became very popular.   She was the life of the parties in college and loved to perform in local theatre. 

Samantha had been so happy once upon a time.  Her memories of her childhood had become filtered through the misery of her life now.   She had forgotten what it had been like then, she had lost sight of the person she had been.   The fairy pictures stopped at the time when Samantha had gotten married.   The sadness she felt was profound.  She wanted to see more.  She wanted to be that person and go back to those days again. 

Samantha noticed the fairy looking up at her and she leaned forward to hear what she had to say.

“Samantha, that little girl is you.   She didn’t go away.  She lives inside your heart even now.   All you have to do is love her and let her love you back.  Be kind to her.  And she will heal you.  You can be happy again, Samantha, if you really want to be.  Listen to your heart.   Be grateful for your life.”   The fairy said.

Samantha didn’t know what to say and as she watched, the fairy disappeared and all that was left was a pink crayon…completely whole.  Had this all been just a dream?   She picked up the crayon and examined it.  It looked as though it had never been broken.  Taking it in her hand she began to colour again, processing everything that had just happened.  The fairy was right, she did have it in her to be happy now.   There were things she could do to improve her life.  Remembering how happy she had looked she smiled.   As she continued colouring the page, she realized how lucky she was and how blessed her life had been.  Her heart felt lighter than it had in years.  How she wanted this feeling to last!  

Samantha changed her attitude and her life from that day on.  She started to take better care of herself and forced herself to make social connections.  Although she still had her bad days, for the most part she was the happy person she had been all those years ago. 

 

All because of what fell out of a broken crayon.

Story A Day #6 Inspiration

Carly had been working hard all day.  Bruce had called at 9 a.m. saying he was outside her house dropping off the mask materials she needed to make the masks for the homeless.   She was very excited about this project.  For 8 weeks she had been obeying the ‘just stay home” order for the COVID-19 pandemic and she had started feeling she should do more.  And then she found out by chance about a group that was making masks.  Perfect.  She jumped on the bandwagon right away. 

 It had been years since she had sewn anything and she was grateful for the loan of a sewing machine.  Carrying the materials inside, she looked forward to starting her project after breakfast.

It was also her partner’s birthday and she had promised her a cake.   Because no stores were open she couldn’t buy a mix so the cake would have to be from scratch.  Carly had never made a cake from scratch before but she was up to the challenge.  Baking was something she found very relaxing and a great creative outlet. 

Making the masks had turned out to be a bit overwhelming.  Carly had always struggled with straight lines.  The saying “I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler”, was very true for her.   Trying to make an 8x8 inch square took most of the morning and left her feeling frustrated.  Eventually, Brenda took pity on her and made her a template.   Bruce had said his girlfriend could make fifty masks in an hour.  Catherine, who loaned her a sewing machine had said she could make 10.   Carly had two by the end of the day.  And they were less than perfect.   She knew she would get better with practice, but it was still a disappointing outcome.

The cake turned out perfectly moist and chocolatey, although a little dilapidated and lumpy once it was frosted.   Brenda was thrilled with the cake and very appreciative of Carly’s efforts.  Carly was happy to have made her happy and scored some valuable girlfriend points.

Now it was late in the evening and it was time to write a story for the Story A Day May marathon.  She was exhausted and because of the disruption in her routine, she had not done a brainstorming session that morning.   The daily prompt left her flat, and so far a better one had not revealed itself to her as yet.   Carly debated not writing at all.  No one would care if she missed a day.  She was not accountable to anyone but herself for this project.   However, missing a day was a slippery slope.  She knew herself well enough to know that one missed day would lead to another and so on and so on and before she knew the challenge would be over and she would have failed.  

Opening up a new document on her laptop, she sat staring at the screen.  No inspiration.   She looked up a prompt on the internet, found one she liked, and then just felt too tired to pursue it.  Maybe she could post a story she had previously written, just this once.   No, that didn’t feel right either.  A feeling of despair came over her.  How could a writer not have an inspiration?  Maybe she wasn’t really a writer, maybe she should just accept that and let herself off the hook.   Then she thought of the stories she had done already.   They were pretty good and she felt happy that she had written 6 stories in 7 days.   She was a writer.  Writer’s write and she was writing.

Finally, she came up with an idea.   She would write about not being able to write!   It was perfect.   Write what you know.   Feeling inspired at last she began:

Carly had been working hard all day….

Story A Day #5 My Beating Heart

I know not why he took my life.  I do know I am dead and hidden in the floorboards of my chamber.  I know that I am in pieces.  There is no pain for I am dead.  Only madness could be to blame for my predicament.  The madness of my dearest manservant.  Ours was a relationship of mutual admiration spanning decades.  So why did he do me so wrong? Even in my corpse state, I shudder as I recall the terrible week leading up to my death.

Percival had been growing increasingly distant as I aged.  Once affectionate and attentive, he withdrew from me in a most hurtful way.  I would stare at him across the dinner table, silently begging him to talk to me and tell me what troubled him.  My gaze caused him such distress that he would leave the table.  In the following days and months his mood darkened and he became someone I did not know.   He became derelict in his duties and left me often in states of discomfort, cold or hungry or uncomfortable.   His manner was abrupt and sometimes aggressive and I knew not why.  I would watch him for some clue, some sign of what had caused this terrible change.  This only seemed to agitate him more.  He implored me to stop watching him with that eye.  That Vulture Eye. It seemed my cataract caused him no end of misery.  I could do nought to help it.  It seemed such a strange thing to be so distressed about.   And then just as suddenly as he withdrew he suddenly became attentive again.  The old Percival was back.  I was relieved and grateful. Once again peace reigned in my household and I was content.

One night, about a week before my death, I awoke to hear the creaking of the door.   I lay still, heart pounding.  Was someone there?  I dared not speak.  I could not see who was at the door, so I feigned sleep hoping the person would retreat.   But as I lay there a strange beam of light shone upon my face.  Paralyzed by fear I could not move.   As suddenly as the light came it was gone and the door shut quietly.   It was many hours before I could fall asleep again and in the morning I told myself it was all a strange dream.  Up questioning Percival, I discovered he had heard nothing and it had not been him.   I thought I detected a gleam in his eye, but it must have been a trick of the light. 

The next six nights this same thing happened.  A sound of the door, a beam of light, and then nothing.  Each time I feigned sleep and lay there paralyzed with fear.  What could I do?  I am an old man, feeble and decrepit, certainly no match for whatever this was.  

The night of my death I was sleeping soundly and I heard a screech, like a hinge.  I sat bolt upright in my bed and called out.   There was silence but I knew someone was in the room.  I sat for a very long time.   I moaned and lay back down, hoping the spirit, for I was sure it was a spirit, would leave as they had the other nights.  I knew not why this was happening to me.  I couldn’t fathom a reason, but it was making my heart weaker.  I lay there staring at the ceiling and my heart began to beat harder and harder.  I could hear it outside my body, the noise was so clamorous.   Suddenly there came a blinding ray of light right into my diseased eye.  My heart pounded louder and louder as my fear increased. I realized the light was from a lantern and it was held by ….Percival!   I yelled at him and he screamed at me and knocked the bed over on me causing the heavy rail to strike the back of my head.   Everything went black and I was no more.

And now here I am dead and dismembered and under the floorboards.  I can hear voices above me.  Percival is talking to some men. Detectives I presume.  I can feel my heart starting to beat!  Was I alive after all?  I knew how foolish I was being, with my body being so torn asunder there was no possibility of my being alive.  Still, my heart beat faintly.   Again, as on the night I died I could hear it.   I needed to get a message to the men with Percival and let them know it was he who had done this to me.  I wanted justice.  I wanted revenge.  I wanted him to pay.  

I gathered all of my strength and forced my heart to beat louder.  I could hear Percival becoming agitated.  He could hear it!  But could the detectives.   I must make it louder and louder.  Now Percival was near hysteria and the men were now mocking him and laughing derisively which only inflamed Percival more.   Still, my heart beat louder and louder.  Finally, Percival screamed  “I did it!  I killed him!  Look under the floorboards!  I did it!” 

The detectives took the screaming man away.  I was rescued from under the floor and found a new home in a soft warm coffin, my body rearranged in the correct order.  I knew it was now time for my spirit to cross over.  I was happy to do so, for justice had been served.

Story A Day #4 Eden Yarn

Eden Yarn

Of the things that could go wrong while crocheting, opening a portal had seemed like a low probability. But I have a story to tell that will make you rethink everything you ever thought about how you should live your lives.

It all started when I ran out of yarn halfway through my fifteenth afghan.  I had been crocheting up a storm since being forced to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic.  I had so much time on my hands and decided to use the time to crochet afghans for children who were going into foster care.  It was important that they have something of their very own during a traumatic time.  It was a cause close to my heart.  But there I was with no yarn and no end in sight to this forced isolation.

I went online to see if I could order some yarn that was made in Canada and that I could have delivered quickly.   It was difficult to find a place that wasn’t based in China and I knew that could take weeks to arrive.  Feeling hopeless and frustrated I almost gave up when an ad caught my eye.  A place called Eden Yarn Company based in Canada promised same-day delivery and free shipping.  It sounded to good to be true.  Everything I wanted and more?  I was skeptical, but I was desperate and desperate won out.   I ordered a whole bunch of balls of yarn from their amazing selection and waited.   My doorbell rang one hour later!  There on my front porch was a small package from the Eden Yarn company.  While I was thrilled to have received it so quickly this certainly wasn’t the dozen balls of yarn I ordered.

Opening the package revealed one solitary ball of yarn.  But what a ball it was.  A green so bright and pure it almost glowed, I couldn’t wait to start crocheting with it.  Then my eye caught sight of a slip of paper inside the packaging.  It was a note that read

             This package contains all that you need.
              Trust Us.

All that I need?  One ball of yarn?  I shrugged and made myself comfortable in my chair and began to crochet with my new ball of yarn.   A few stitches later I started to feel very strange.   The yarn was shimmering before my eyes and I felt like I was going to faint.   I stopped crocheting and decided there must be some sort of chemical on the yarn that I was having a reaction to.   Disappointed I realized I would have to send the yarn back and ask for a refund.   I picked up the package it had come in and put the yarn back in.   At least I tried to put the yarn back in but I couldn’t.   It clung to my hand as though it was glued there.  No matter how I tried I couldn’t let go of the yarn.   I know it sounds strange, but wait, it gets better.

As I tried to put the yarn back in the package I was overcome with the urge to continue crocheting.  I can’t explain it, but it was an irresistible feeling and I found myself continuing to crochet and a sense of peace came over me, the likes of which I had never felt.  And then I felt myself disappearing.  Things started to turn dark, and I felt myself fade away into oblivion.

When I came to I was in a beautiful, lush garden.  It was the most glorious place I had ever seen.  Every kind of flower, every kind of tree and plant existed in this place.  There was wildlife everywhere, squirrels and a wild array of birds, rabbits, skunks,  raccoons and deer…you name it it was there.  And they were all living harmoniously with each other.  For some reason I wasn’t afraid, I felt an overwhelming happiness come upon me.   I looked down at myself and was astonished to see that I was naked.  And not only was I naked I was perfect.   Suddenly here I was at 60 years old with the body I had been striving for all of my adult life.  No sags, or bags, or wrinkles, or cellulite.  Noticing a pond nearby I walked over and looked at my reflection in the water.  I was beautiful.  I was perfect.  I looked like I had when I was 20, only better.  What was this place?  What was I doing here?  Was I dreaming?  I had no idea what to do now.   Then I heard a voice behind me.

“Welcome, Vivian.  So nice to see you.”  The voice was soft and pleasant.

I turned around and saw a beautiful woman standing there, also naked.  I couldn’t stop staring at her she was so perfect.  How did she know my name?

“Where am I? What is this place?”  I managed to ask.

“You are in Eden. The Eden of the future. My name is Eve”  She said as if she had said Toronto.
“Eden?? Like the garden of Eden? And you’re Eve? Where are Adam and the serpent?”   This just kept getting stranger and stranger.

“This is the future Eden.  We aren’t in biblical times.  This is post COVID-19 Eden.”   She moved her arm in a sweeping gesture towards all the glory around us.  “Would you like a tour?”  she asked.

“Uh…sure…but shouldn’t I be…dressed?”   I felt silly asking since she was also naked.

“Oh, we don’t wear clothes here.  Fabric causes so much pollution to our earth” she explained

“But don’t you get cold..or wet when it rains? What about winter?” I was totally confused.

“How do you like the weather today?” she asked.

The weather was perfect.  It was just the right temperature and there was just enough breeze to keep it comfortable.  It was like a June day in the world she lived in.

“It’s perfect.  But it can’t always be like this…can it?” it seemed anything was possible here.

“It is.  We chose this particular weather and it stays this way because there is no industry that affects the weather patterns.  It rains at night while we are sleeping.  Everything here is interconnected.  We do have winter, but we stay inside during that season.  Winter is necessary for our environment to rest and rejuvenate, and that’s what we do too…we…hibernate.  Come with me. “   She led me over to a strange looking vehicle, like something from the Jetsons. 

“Is this what everyone gets around in?”  I asked
.
“Oh no, just the Drivers like me and we only use it to conduct tours. Hop in and put on your seatbelt”.   I sat there stunned as we lifted off the ground and started to fly.  I hadn’t noticed any propeller or heard any engine, just a soft whoosh.

“It’s a hovercraft.” She explained.  “It is propelled by forced air.  Much easier on the infrastructure and it uses solar power so no fossil fuels.”

When she said that I realized I hadn’t seen any roads.  In fact, I hadn’t seen anything except lush green garden and wildlife.   As the craft carried us over the land I noticed there were no skyscrapers or old abandoned buildings.  No factories, no freeways. While I took in all that I saw Eve began to explain what I was seeing.

She told me that after COVID-19 which had wiped out almost the entire population of the world, the people who survived decided they never wanted to go through that again.  Severe weather had destroyed the planet forcing those remaining to rebuild.  And they did rebuild.  It took decades but they had finally created the planet God had made them.   Everything was sustainable.   There were no cars, only hover crafts and solar-powered rapid transit.   Anyone who wanted to go anywhere could use their cell phone, also solar powered to call for a hovercraft, or they could use the rail, but most people either cycled or walked to where they wanted to go.

There were no skyscrapers because there weren’t enough people to inhabit them.   All the homes were made of natural materials as was everything else in this place.

“What do you do here? For jobs and stuff like that.”  I asked, too stunned by the beauty of it all to really take it all in.

“Most of us work at home on our computers. We don’t have factories anymore.  Most of our manufacturing occurs in highly technical 3D printing facilities”

Eve told me I had seen enough for one day and we headed back to the garden I had appeared in.  We set down gently and I got out of the hovercraft.  I felt like I had been in a dream.   It was all so beautiful and I had so many questions.

“I have so many questions,” I said.  “Can I bring my family here…my friends?”

“Oh no, you can’t stay here,” Eve said laughing kindly.   “This is just a preview for you.   To show what your world can become.  And you have to go back and do all that you can to make this happen.   You will never forget your time here and it will be hard for you to get anyone to believe you saw all of this.  But you have to convince them, and you have to get them to act before it’s too late. The time is right for them to hear this, people are taking notice in ways they never have before.  The COVID-19 has been a warning call that most people are listening to.   Go home, and take advantage of this time.   There are others like you that have been here.  Find them and you can work together.”

Eve touched my hand and suddenly I was back in my living room, holding my ball of yarn.   I tried to crochet a bit and see if I could go back, but nothing happened.  It was just a ball of yarn now.  My doorbell rang and there was a big box from the Eden Yarn Company.  It was the rest of the yarn I had ordered.

I swear to you that this is all true.  I went to Eden and returned with a message for all of you.  Listen.  Believe.  And act.  Don’t ignore what I am telling you.   Eden awaits our children and grandchildren if we do what needs to be done.

Story A Day #3 The Dive

The Dive

It was the last day of summer vacation and my friends and I were at the local pool enjoying our freedom just one more time.   Except we were bored.  There was no sun to bask in, the weather being overcast and a little cooler than it had been all summer.  Lauren, my best friend, was being particularly obnoxious and getting on my last nerve.  I should say that Lauren was only my best friend by default.  We were friends because no one else wanted to be friends with us.  We were unpopular for different reasons, Lauren because she was fat and spoiled and me because I was poor and from a broken home.  They still called them that back then.   That and the fact that she lived next door to me made ours a friendship of convenience.  But we’d had a good summer hanging out at the pool and getting nice and brown.

The ray of sunshine on this particular day though was that Melissa was with us.  She was our new friend that we had met at the pool and I thought she was the coolest person I had ever known.   Lauren didn’t like her because she was a tomboy and didn’t have any patience with Lauren’s bragging and bossiness.   I suspected the real reason was because it was clear that I liked Melissa better than her.   Melissa, who liked to be called Mel was really hot.  She was boyish and athletic, with short red hair with blond in it and a toned body.    She had a killer smile and was so confident and I wanted to be like her and I wanted her to like me.  When she looked at me with her deep green eyes I got a funny feeling in my stomach which both thrilled and disturbed me.  Mel was a girl.  I was a girl.  We were supposed to be into boys at our age.  But I never had been.  I hadn’t been into girls either, I wasn’t a lezzy or anything, but Mel got to me. I couldn’t believe she wanted to hang out with the likes of Lauren and me.

I remember the day I first saw her at the pool. She was at the top of the high diving board.  The high diving board that had been taunting me all summer to go try it out.  But I was too scared.   And there was this girl walking out there like it was a walk on the sidewalk.  I watched as she executed a perfect dive into the pool.  Amazing!   I decided at that moment that if she could do it, I could too.  So I walked over to the ladder just as she came out of the pool.   I looked up the ladder and froze.  Glancing over at Mel my heart skipped a beat.   She was gorgeous up close too. 

“Nice dive!” I said.

“Thanks, you going up?”  she asked, smiling at me.

“Oh…yeah…I…no…actually no…I just wanted to …I  I’ll see you later”.  

I ran back to my towel, face flaming,  and had to listen to Lauren laughing at me and taunting me for the rest of the afternoon. But I didn’t care because I was too busy watching Mel.   The next day she came over and introduced herself to us and she had been hanging out with us ever since. The best thing was she was going to be going to the same high school as us! We had spent the rest of the summer, the three of us, horsing around in the pool, talking about school, and working on our tans. Mel had a way of making everything so much fun.

So here we were on this last day of freedom and tired of swimming and none of us had any money for the concession stand.  Lauren stood up and stuck out her chest and looked down at herself.  She adjusted her bathing suit top and Mel and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.  Lauren’s new bathing suit had “cups” and she just thought she was so mature now with her “woman body” and was always posing and admiring herself.   Even though I was older than her, I was small for my age and hadn’t started to develop yet.  I didn’t really care but Lauren liked to lord it over me. 

“So guess what?”  she asked.  “My mom bought me a bra yesterday..!”

Oh brother, here we go.

“Really?” Said Mel, with only a trace of sarcasm.

“Well, I need one!” Lauren pouted and pushed her chest out more.

Mel and I couldn’t help ourselves, we dissolved into giggles.  Lauren got that look on her face and I knew she was going to hurt me because I just hurt her feelings.  I waited.

“So, Lisa…this is the last day of summer vacation…”  she said in a sing-song voice.

I looked at her, confused.  “Duh…”  I said.  

“Isn’t there something you were going to do this summer?” she said looking across the pool.

Oh no, not that.  I was so hoping she would forget about this once and for all.

“What’s that?” asked Mel looking at me.   “What are you going to do?”

“She said she was going to jump off that high diving board before the summer was over.   But I don’t think she will because she’s a big scaredy-cat!”  Lauren danced around taunting me.  “Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!”

For someone with budding breasts, Lauren was pretty immature sometimes. 

Mel looked at me. 

“You’re not afraid are you?”  she looked amused as if she didn’t expect me to be the type to be afraid of anything.   And I so wanted to live up to the look in her eyes.

“No! Of course not! I just haven’t felt like it, that’s all” I couldn’t look at her as I lied.

“She’s scared.   She goes over there all the time and chickens out.  One time she even chickened out halfway up the slide and had to come back down”  Lauren laughed uproariously and I wished I had drowned her in the pool.

“Shut up Lauren!  You and your titties..!”  I yelled.

“Have you ever gone off the high board?” Mel asked Lauren.

“NO! But I’m not the one who bragged that I was going to!”  Lauren had a point.  I had been talking about it a lot.

“Well I was going to do it today, but…I think it’s going to rain.”  In fact, the sun had just come out for the first time that day.   The traitor.

“I’ll go with you, Lisa!”  Mel said standing up and giving me a hand.  “We’ll go together!” 

I had no choice.  I couldn’t back down, not in front of Mel.  Her opinion of me mattered more than anything in my life.  If I chickened out then any cool factor I had in her eyes would be diminished.  I followed her over to the ladder.   She stood in line behind me. Standing in front of her, I was so afraid she would see my legs tremble.   Maybe she wanted to be behind me so I couldn’t back down.  I stared up the ladder slowly and people started hollering at me to hurry up already. 

“It’s okay Lisa, I’m right behind you.  I won’t let anything happen to you”.  Mel said in my ear causing goosebumps all over my body.

I climbed higher and higher, the fear building in me with each step.  I desperately wanted to turn around but I knew I couldn’t.   There were kids all down the ladder and I had done that walk of shame before.  It wasn’t pretty.   So there I was at the top.  The end of the diving board stretched ahead of me for miles and it was only an inch wide!  I would surely fall to my death before  I reached the end of it!  

“It’s okay Lisa, just look straight ahead and pretend you are walking on the sidewalk, that’s what I do”.   Mel’s voice in my ear again.   She was so close to me I could feel the warmth of her body against mine.  I wanted to stand like that forever.

“Lisa, if you do this, I promise I will give you a kiss when we get back down.”   I turned in astonishment and looked into her deep green eyes.  She was serious!   I realized how much I wanted that to happen and I started out along the board.

It was the most terrifying walk of my life!  But I made it to the end and I stood there staring way down into the pool.  I saw Lauren over by our towels walking around like a chicken.  I really needed a new best friend.  Remembering Mel’s promise, I made the jump.   Nothing fancy.  I didn’t know how to dive so I just held my nose and stepped off the board.  I heard Mel cheering as I fell through the air.   I hit the water and my hand flew off my nose and I swear half the pool went up there.   It seemed to take forever before I reached the surface gasping and spluttering and laughing because I was still alive.  I had done it!  I had faced my fear.   Mel finished her dive and swam over to me and planted the biggest kiss on my lips, right there in front of everyone!  I was embarrassed and thrilled at the same time.  My first dive.  My first kiss.  All in the same day.  This was the best day of my life.

So there we were lying on our towels enjoying our final day of freedom.  Lauren was pouting since Mel and I had come back from the dive.  I don’t know if she saw the kiss, and I didn’t care.   Life was good.  I was no longer bored and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen between me and my new best friend. I’d kissed a girl…and I’d liked it!

Story A Day #2 Mom

Mom

It had been a brutal business trip to New York and I was tired and hungry and longing for home, grateful that the trip had been cut short due to the illness of one of the clients.  Travelling was not my favourite thing to and I hated every moment of it, from the indecision as to what to pack to the crowds at the airport, the hassle getting through security and suffocating claustrophobic plane trip.  Luckily the flight wasn’t very full so I’d had no seatmates to add to my annoyance. As I rode in the taxi I thought of Roger and how glad he would be to see me.   I smiled to myself and closed my eyes for a few welcome moments of peace.

Pulling up in front of my apartment building I breathed a sigh of relief.  Home at last.   I tipped the driver handsomely since he had not said a word to me the whole ride home.  Nodding to the doorman I walked quickly to the elevator which was there waiting for me and empty.  Yes, it was good to be home.

When the elevator arrived on my floor a man was waiting to get in.  He was dishevelled and dirty and smelled like he was in desperate need of a bath.  I thought of questioning him as to why he was in this building.  We didn’t see people like him here.  However, since he was probably on his way out I decided to let him be.  Besides, I was just steps away from my sanctuary.  Heading down the hall I listened for the excited barking of Roger.  He seemed to know when it was me getting off the elevator and got excited before I even got to the door.  As I got closer though I noticed two things; no sounds of canine excitement and a strong smell of what I thought might be cat urine or some sort of chemical.  Strange. 

When I got to my door I noticed it was slightly ajar.  This was even stranger.  I never forgot to lock the door.  Pushing the door open slowly, prepared to run if necessary I peered inside and stopped dead in my tracks at what I saw.

It wasn’t my apartment at all.   I checked the number on the door and it was the right number.  In my fatigue had I gotten out at the wrong building?  But that was impossible.   Surely I would have noticed before now.  Then what was going on here?   All of my furniture was gone and the apartment was full of tables holding various jars and bottles, some with tubing coming from them. I had seen enough crime dramas to know that I was looking at a meth lab!  In my apartment.   Then I noticed an old lady hunched over a burner in the corner of the room.   She looked strangely familiar…but it couldn’t be.  

         “What the hell is going on here??” I yelled

          “Oh!  Hello Daniel!   I thought you were going to be gone for two weeks!   What are you doing here?”   said the old lady looking up in astonishment.

             “Mom??”  I could not believe what I was seeing.  My mother, in my apartment cooking meth.  

          “I’m sorry about the mess, dear, I thought I would be gone by the time you got back.  You should have called!”  She actually managed to look indignant.

          “Why would I call my own…what the hell are you doing here?  Are you…are you actually cooking meth??  You have set up a meth lab in my apartment??”   I couldn’t keep my voice from shrieking.  “And where’s Roger?  What have you done with my dog??” 

          “Relax, dear, your dog is fine.  I took him to stay with a friend.  This is no place for a dog, you know.”

          “It’s no place for you either!! I demand to know what’s going on.”  Daniel took out his cell phone and started to call the police but then he stopped himself as he realized he would be turning in his own mother.

          “Okay, Okay, calm down and I will explain.  Just give me one minute” and his mother turned back to her work, turned off the heat and wiped her hands.   She came over to give me a hug, but I stood back from her.  I was in shock.

          “Now Daniel, please don’t judge me.  I had nowhere to work since they raided my last lab and I knew you were away so I didn’t think you would mind me setting up here. I would have been gone before you got back but you had to come home early and ruin everything.”  Was that a tear in her blue eyes?

          “You thought it would be okay to use my apartment for a meth lab? Your other lab was raided?? Who are you and what have you done with my mother?”   My knees felt weak and I looked around for a place to sit.  Then I remembered the door hadn’t been locked.   “And why is the door not locked, anyone could just walk in here…” and I remembered the man I met at the elevator.   “Was that a customer I just saw??”  This was all so surreal. 

          “Oh no, customers don’t come here!  That was one of my suppliers.”

I just stared at her, not believing my ears.   Seeing that I was not able to speak my mother told me the whole story.   She had been cooking meth for years.  It was how she had managed to give me everything I wanted all of my life.   The best schools, the best toys, the clothes, vacations…it had all come from drug money!   My mind was reeling and she continued.  She had a huge order to fill when the feds had come and raided her lab.  Luckily she wasn’t there but she lost her whole set up and in desperation, she needed a new place to work. 

          “You don’t want to miss a delivery with these people, let me tell you..”  she said.

          “Mom, do you have any idea how dangerous this is?  And how wrong??  You could get killed!  Or end up in prison!”  

          “Honey, I know what I am doing, please trust me.  Now do you want to help me with this and then I can get out of your hair?” 

I couldn’t believe my mother was asking me to help her make meth!  This was not happening.  This must be a joke.  She was going to shout “surprise” at any moment and all my friends would jump out and it would all be a big joke. An epic prank.  I looked around to see if I could spot anyone hiding.  I ran to the bathroom and threw open the door. 

Suddenly there was a commotion and something hit me on the back of the head.   I slumped to the floor and everything went black.  The last thing I heard was my mother saying “Don’t kill him!  He’s my son!”

I woke up in a hospital bed with the worst headache of my life.   I reached up and tenderly felt my heavily bandaged head.  I was hooked up to an I.V and there was a heart monitor attached to my chest.  Struggling to keep my eyes open I looked around and saw my mother sitting on a chair in the corner. 

          “Oh you’re awake!” she said, coming quickly to my side.  “I’ve been so worried.   How are you feeling?”

          “Mom…what happened?” I croaked

          “You just surprised Leo that’s all…he’s very protective of me and didn’t know who you were so he overreacted.  You have a concussion but you are going to be just fine”.

It all came back to me in a terrifying rush, the meth lab, my mother, the whack on my head.

          “Mom you have to stop doing this.  You…you need to turn yourself in and come clean.  You can’t keep living this life of danger, you’ll get yourself killed!  Please, let’s go to the police…tell them you are being forced into this…”  I pleaded

          “Oh, Daniel…I wish you hadn’t said that.  Now you have given me no choice”, and that’s when I noticed the syringe in her hand.  She went over to my IV.

          “What …. what are you doing??”  fear had tightened my vocal cords and all that came out was a squeak.

          “I’m going to make all of this go away for you, son.  I can’t have you ruining my plans.  There are millions of dollars at stake here.  Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay….”.

          “NO, Mom, NO, don’t do this. I won’t tell, I’ll do whatever you want! Please!”

I woke up in darkness, bathed in sweat.  Looking around I realized I was in my own apartment, in my own room.   A wet nose pushed itself in my face and licked me.  Roger!   It had all been a dream!!  Everything was as it should be and my mother was not a drug lord.  I wept with relief.  I must have been so tired from my travel I didn’t remember coming home and getting into bed and had fallen asleep to this horrible dream.

          “Daniel? I heard you screaming are you okay??” it was my Mom.

          “What are you doing here?”  I asked, memories of my dream making stirring up fear.  Why was my mother here?

          “Now, now dear, don’t worry…everything is going to be okay…”.   

         

Story A Day #1 Invisible

Invisible

She found it in the garden.  It was a beautiful May afternoon and she had been working furiously on removing the bush her husband had given her three years ago for their anniversary.   She no longer wanted to look at it.  It had been a last minute gift and it meant nothing to her anymore.  All the branches were cut down and she just had to dig out the roots and she’d be done with it.   The sun was warm on her back as she bent to her work.  It was comforting and welcome after a long cold winter.  As she thought about him walking into the kitchen that day with a twig he had found along the roadside she felt her anger flare up.   It didn’t matter that it was a lilac bush, her favourite, she doubted David would have even realized that.  With one last angry thrust of her shovel, the root popped up out of the ground…and so did something else.

Jenny picked it up to examine it more closely.  It was a small brown earthenware jar with a lid.  Curious, she brushed off the dirt and pulled the lid off.  Inside was a piece of paper rolled up like a scroll and tied with a worn piece of string.   She set the jar down and unfurled the paper.  There was writing on it:

                              Name me now your superpower

                              It will be yours till the midnight hour

Jenny laughed and wiped her sweaty brow with a dirty hand.  Probably some kid she thought as she dropped the paper back into the jar and put the lid on.  Some kind of joke.  But why was she finding it now?  It wasn’t there when she planted the little tree.   Although she wouldn’t have had to dig so far down.   Maybe it belonged to a child who lived in the house before.  It was an old house, so who knew how long the jar had been there.  It looked old and the writing on the paper was very formal.  But superpower?  All the kids were into that these days.  Still…how did it get under the tree?   She shook her head and set the jar aside and finished her gardening.  By the time she went inside to clean herself up, she had forgotten all about the jar.

The phone rang as she was coming into the kitchen to start dinner.   It was David telling her he was working late and wouldn’t be home till late.  Did he really think she was stupid enough to fall for that old line?  Apparently so. She didn’t give him a hard time about it, just said fine and hung up.  There was no point, it wouldn’t change anything.   So, there she was, alone again. 

Jenny felt tears come to her eyes as she thought of the lonely evening ahead of her.   She’d had such hopes for her marriage after the kids left home.   In her mind, she pictured her and David living a life of freedom and adventure.  They would travel and go out to dinner whenever they wanted or go see a play or a movie.  David wouldn’t have to work so hard once the kids were gone and on their own.  Maybe he would even finally retire.   But that hadn’t happened.   He still worked as hard as ever and was rarely home.  Just like it had always been.  He never had time for her or the kids.  But he always had time for other women.    Jenny swallowed her tears and went to the freezer for her dinner.   That’s when she noticed the jar sitting on the counter.   

She gasped.   How did it get in here?  She didn’t remember bringing it in from the garden.   Her memory was faulty these days but surely she would remember that.   She looked at the jar more closely.  All the dirt was gone from it and it was a beautiful terra cotta colour.  Jenny was certain she had not cleaned it! She opened the lid.  The piece of paper was still there just as she had left it.  As she unfurled it again she gave a cry of surprise.  The note was now written in golden script and looked as though it had been written with an old fashioned quill. 

                             
                               Name me now your super power

                              It will be yours till the midnight hour

There was something very strange going on.   Jenny thought of the people she knew who might be playing a joke on her, but she could think of no one who would go to the trouble of burying something under the tree…no it just didn’t make sense.   Had someone been in her house while she was showering?  She was very careful about locking her doors and when she checked they were still locked.   Jenny read the note again.  It started to glow.   She rubbed her eyes and looked at it again.  It glowed again.  Okay, this was freaking her out.   She decided she was having some kind of psychotic break.  Some kind of mid-life breakdown brought on by an empty nest and a loveless marriage to a compulsive philanderer. 

Jenny decided to play along since she was going crazy anyway.   She looked at the note in her hand, with its glowing font and thought about a superpower.    When she was a child she had always wished she was invisible.  It seemed like the coolest thing ever to be able to go wherever she wanted sight unseen.  She had so many big plans if only she could be invisible.   So she held the note up in front of her and said 

          “Invisibility!”.   And waited.   Nothing happened. 

She felt the same as always and she still appeared to be visible.  Laughing sheepishly she tossed the paper in the trash and went upstairs to dry her hair.   When she walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, she fainted dead away.   Coming to a few minutes later, she slowly stood up and looked in the mirror again.  All she could see were her clothes!! Just hanging there in mid-air!   She was invisible!  But when she looked at herself without the mirror she could still see herself.  Jenny went into her bedroom and sat on the bed, thinking about what to do next.   The phone rang and she answered it.

          “Boss wants me to go to New York overnight”  David said.  “I will see you tomorrow”.   No hello, no how are you, no apology.   Jenny felt anger stir deep inside her.  

Jenny knew exactly where David was going and who he was going there with.  Suddenly she had an idea of how she was going to use her superpower.  This was going to be the last time that man ever cheated on her.  She began to formulate a plan.

Several hours later, Jenny arrived at the restaurant David loved to take his mistresses.   She saw them at a small table in the corner, looking very cozy.  She walked over and sat down with them.  Sitting next to David, Jenny settled in for a bit of fun.

                    “You said you were going to tell her about us” the woman said petulantly.

                    “I told you it’s not the right time….” David sounded weary.

“We have tonight to be together. Can't you at least be happy about that?”

                    “No, I can’t and you know it.  You are always saying it’s not the right time!”  the woman shook her blonde mane of hair in frustration, her ample cleavage heaving. 

“I have to get her to sign the life insurance papers first.  I can’t just do that and then walk away.  It won’t look right.”  David reached across the table and took her hand. 

Life insurance papers!  What was going on here? He wasn’t just planning on leaving her, he wanted her dead!?   Oh this was not going to happen.

“Becky I love you more than I can say, please trust me, this will all work out for us I promise you.   We need that money.  I can’t do this any other way.” David’s voice was loving and soothing, just like when he first seduced Jenny all those years ago. 

Becky reached for her wine and Jenny reached across and moved the glass just enough for Becky to miss it and knock it over, red wine splashing all over the red linen tablecloth and Becky’s tight white dress.  Chaos ensued as David tried frantically to clean up a sobbing Becky and waiters came to their rescue.  It was all Jenny could do to not laugh out loud.  This was fun.

With Becky suitably calmed down, they continued their dinner in silence.  Jenny wanted to do something else, but she needed to bide her time.  She could wait for the finale.

David and Becky left the restaurant and Jenny got in the cab with them.  When they arrived at the hotel, Jenny followed them up to their room and went inside with them.   Becky ran into the shower to change and rinse her dress.   While she was in there Jenny reached in and turned off the hot water causing Becky to shriek.   David came running in and got things under control and Jenny went to over to the bed and climbed in. 

Jenny heard laughter coming from the bathroom as the two lovebirds talked about the fiasco of the evening.   Then there was silence followed by soft moaning.   Jenny felt her blood boil.  That rat!  That piece of scum!  She always knew he cheated on her but hearing it first hand was infuriating.  But she needed to be calm.   She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight!   What if they didn’t come to bed in time?  She heard David murmur something and Becky giggled and then they came into the room.    There was much kissing and grabbing and carrying on as they made their way over to the bed.  Jenny felt like Cinderella as she waited for the clock to hit 12.  It infuriated her to see David’s response to that little slut.   He hadn’t been able to get it up for her in weeks, but he was clearly quite excited now.   They landed in an erotic heap beside Jenny and ramped up the passion.   11:57, 11:58, 11:59….

         “Hello, David!  Nice to see you.”  Jenny said.

         “What the hell??!!!??” David yelled as he saw his wife appear in the bed with him and his lover.   Becky shrieked and ran to the bathroom.

           “H-How did you get in here…where did you ….”  And suddenly he grabbed his chest and collapsed on the floor.

***

Jenny hid it in the garden.   By the light of the moon, she dug for hours until she had a hole big enough.   She dragged her cheating husband into the hole, covered him with the lime she had bought earlier that day, and tossed shovels of dirt on top of him.   When she was done, she planted another lilac tree right on top of him.   Being invisible had been everything she’d hoped it would be.