Rising_3

It still smelled like rain. The flowers in Mrs. Thelma's yard looked strong and were bursting with color. Even grouchy ol' Mr. Thatchet's lawn was super green. I rounded the corner just short of Ben's place and saw him leaving and going the other direction. "Ben!" He didn't hear me. I geared up on my board and sped towards him.
"Hey Ben. Wait up!"
"Aidan, what are you doing here?"
"Coming to see you, of course! The sun is shining and you know the guys have got to be heading towards the field by now. Where are you going?"
"Ah Aidan, I start working for Ms. Shelley today. You knew that."
"Ah, shoot. I forgot. I just saw the sun and was so excited..."
"Don't worry about it. I'm only working for 4 hours and I can catch up with you after that."
"Alright, you know where I'll be at"
"You know it!"
Ben took off towards Maverick's. Ms. Shelley was the owner of the place and it was pretty much the only ma and pop place left to eat in town. You could get a killer plate of french toast and they always had late night steak and eggs for next to nothing (a favorite with the local college kids). Ben had gone about finding himself a job because he knew he wasn't going to see any money from his parents. They weren't doing to hot. His Mom was in and out of rehab and his Dad was cool but he had a dead end job at the mine. I asked Ben what he was wanting to do with the money but it was always something different. When it came down to it, he was just trying not to end up like his parents. I felt for the guy. I was really blessed with a good family and the more I looked around the more I realized how rare it is to be in my situation. I don't know why God allowed for such things but I was thankful. It's a bummer when it takes seeing someone else in a worse situation to make you thankful...I hope I'm learning something here...Lost in my thoughts I found my way to The Spot. Sure enough, the gang was already at it. I went into the clubhouse and grabbed my glove and ran out to the field.
"Aidan! Want left-center?" Gavin shouted
I pounded my fist in my glove. "You know it!"
I ran out and found my position, crouched down with my toes dug into the grass. I found myself rocking back and forth with excitement. "Eh batter, eh batter!" we chanted.
Ah. Summer is here.    

over-editing

Every day I look at my short little attempts to write a story (my previous posts) and I edit them. It seems I just cant stop modifying and embellishing and....I think the more I edit the more I don't like it but every time I look at it I see something I want to change...Aghhh! I'm also noticing my tendency to write as if I'm speaking out loud. I find I narrate the story as I go. the problem with that is when I narrate I can put vocal emphasis on a word but not textualize it. In other words the reader may read the sentence entirely differently. Also, when I reread what I wrote on previous days it seems fast and choppy. I think by narrating it I'm screwing up my pace...not sure how to change this. Try to stop I guess. Well, I'm going to keep going and eventually my wife will get a chance to edit this story and she'll red mark it to death...which is great and what I want. Ciao!

Rising_2

The next morning I woke up with a start. I put on my boots and grabbed my coat. I had determined that I was going to tell Ben and together we would unveil the mystery. He was my comrade in arms, my best bud in the whole world. I could not start this investigation without him. as I walked down the hall I could hear my sister complaining in the kitchen that she wanted the Nemo cup. Apparently it was dirty and she was just going to have to make do with the plain old red plastic cup. Mom and Dad have always had the rule: "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" Ashley's only 4 and is still relatively new to the concept. Hopefully she'll come around because her piercing wale brings me to my knees. I ran down the hall and saw that Mom had put cereal and some muffins (I love it when she makes muffins) on the table. I was just about to sit down and pour myself some when something caught my attention at the window. Sunlight! Glorious sunlight. I laughed as I looked down at my clothes. I scarfed down my breakfast, ran back to my room and changed my clothes. I put on my baseball cap, grabbed my folder which had all my best cards in it, and went looking for Mom. I found her in the art studio getting ready for her day. She used to just paint for herself but then she discovered the art of teaching it to others. She loves it and she's really quite good. We always have people coming by to interview her or look at her paintings and stuff.
"Mom, is it okay if I go hang out with Ben today?"
"Did you feed Samson?"
"Shoot, no, I'll go do that. After that?"
"Yeah. Just be sure to call me if you guys decide to scale a mountain or some such thing."
Samson was the family dog, but technically he was mine. Apparently when I was too young to remember, our aunt's dog had a litter and I carried around Samson as a puppy for an entire day. To this day I hear about how terribly cute we were together and how Dad just couldn't say no. I hooked him up with some grub, grabbed my board off the back porch, and rolled my way down Billhurst Street towards Ben's.

Rising_1

It had been raining all spring. It seemed everyday I found myself at one point at the window looking outside and with a sigh I'd go off and try to find something to occupy my time. I enjoyed reading but it was the sitting still for long periods of time that got to me. It was during one of these moments that a moving truck pulled up and a couple of a guys got out wearing their parkas and began to unload. I thought wow, what a bummer to have to move all that stuff in the rain. They had to cover almost everything with big sheets of plastic and it was very muddy and therefore very slippery. Another vehicle followed. It was an older red Jeep Cherokee with rust stains on the side. A man and a girl quickly got out and sprinted inside. I didn't get a good look at the man but the girl...Well, she briefly looked my way as she ran in. I don't think she saw me but I saw her alright..and those big blue eyes. I stood there for another moment watching the movers and then the rain and then back again to the men in parkas. I walked away looking for something to do but my thoughts kept wandering back to my new neighbor. What was it that struck me about her? I've known pretty girls before and I've felt twitterpated a time or two. No, this was different. I think it was something I saw in her eyes, something deeper. I think I saw fear. Now I was curious and I was just going to have to find out more. Besides, what else was there to do until this rain stops?

Rising

Summary:

Sometimes life is so complicated. All Aidan wanted to do this summer was play some ball, add to his ever-impressive baseball card collection, and meet the new girl who just moved in across he street. Her name was Josephine, Jo for short. And all Aidan knew was the she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen. But this is not a story about a girl. This story is about that girl's family and what Aidan discovered in their basement one hot summer afternoon.

let's be real

It seems i am not a blogger. This is probably the third blog I have started and the gaps between the entries continues to grow. I think I need something to write about. A Topic. Or a story to write...