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Plan C: Chapter IV

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Plan C: South Pass

            Lizzie stepped out of the car and breathed deeply.  While she loved the thrill of the fast-paced life she lived in New York she had to admit, she was a Wyoming girl at heart.  One thing she realized she had missed living back east was the mountains.  How the crisp cool air could snap your lungs to attention.  She had a small reminder when she arrived late spring in town but today, back in the Wind River Range, she realized just how much she missed the mountains.  This place where she currently stood was truly one of her favorite spots.

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Plan C: Chapter III

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Plan C: The Request

            Lizzie settled into some sort of restless routine.  At first, nothing felt mundane because she was aware of the fact she would soon miss all the small moments she was having with her dad.  Every moment felt like a gift.  But that feeling was short lived once the routine became familiar and she started taking those small moments for granted again.  Life was moving downstream and she got caught in the current of routine.  Until one morning when she saw her dad sitting in the kitchen.  He was normally up before she was and would work the crossword puzzle at the kitchen table.  This particular morning though, he just sat in the dark.

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Plan C: Chapter II

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Plan C: Purpose

            Lizzie stood and watched the train pass.  But this time, she didn’t yell.  She had no desire to yell.  Instead, she simply watched the train with her arms crossed.  A slight movement to her right made her aware she had company.

            It was Matt.  Of course it was Matt.  How did he know she was at the tracks again?  He didn’t bother to speak since she would not have been able to hear him anyway.  She looked at him and raised her eyebrows.  He tilted his head toward the train.  True, last time he found her here they ended up yelling at the top of their lungs until their voices were hoarse.  That was the day she found out about her dad’s cancer.  It was only two days ago but it felt much longer than that.  She felt like a different person.  Despite the bombshell news she actually felt calmer.

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Plan C: Chapter I

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Plan C: The Meeting

            Lizzie took a deep breath and looked at the clock.  It was almost time to meet with her agent via Zoom and yet her father, Chuck, still sat at the kitchen table. Working on a crossword puzzle.  It was as if he had no intention of moving from his spot.  Yet, she needed him to move so that she could talk to her agent without an audience.  She was nervous enough, she didn’t need an extra pair of eyes watching or ears hearing.  Guilt about shooing him out of his own house prevented her from speaking up.  Especially after the doctor’s news they received yesterday.  But she just could not do this meeting with him in earshot and he was the one that insisted that she keep the meeting.

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Story behind the post: Plan B

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Welcome to July! The mid-month of the northern hemisphere summer (based on the traditional school calendar that still has a hold on so many of our schedules). This year, July also happens to be sandwiched in between two 5-Saturday months. Which means, here at ck’s days, it is in the middle of two 5-part short stories. And if you have been a reader of this little blog for a minute or two, you know I write short stories during the 5-Saturday months and you probably also picked up on the fact that when they are so close together like this, I tend to combine the stories into a 10-part short story. Much like that last sentence, the stories tend to get stretched a little thin. But I digress, let’s talk about last month’s short story first.

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Plan B: Chapter V

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Chapter V: Plan C

            Lizzie took a deep breath when she heard the back door open.  Her talk with Matt had helped her immensely to calm down enough to think rationally.  And then screaming at a train with him had drained her reserve.  She was exhausted but restless.  All she wanted was to climb into bed and make this day end but she knew it wasn’t over quite yet.  She still needed to talk to her dad and he was just coming home.

            Chuck walked in slowly and saw her sitting at the kitchen table.  He nodded his head and sat down opposite her.  Neither of them spoke and they could not make eye contact with each other.

            “How’s Sharon?” she asked finally.

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Plan B: Chapter IV

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Chapter IV: Good News/Bad News

            Lizzie rested her forehead on her steering wheel.  She couldn’t move.  Her car was parked downtown facing the train tracks and she needed a train to come by.  A big, loud train that would drown out the scream that was inside of her needing to get out.  This is how she took care of overwhelming problems in high school.  The fact that the last time she remembered coming to this exact spot was when her mom passed away was not lost on her.

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Plan B: Chapter III

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Chapter III Movie Club

Lizzie stood outside the library door Friday night wondering how this could possibly be her life now. Instead of a hip New York club she was waiting for someone to open the library, the li-bra-ry door of all places.  On a Friday night.  “Someone sure hates me,” she said and glanced upward.  As soon as she did though, the thought occurred to her if she was still back in New York she would probably be working and still wouldn’t be at a hip New York club unless she was waitressing there. “Fine,” she mumbled to no one in particular.  “I get it, I get it.”

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Plan B: Chapter II

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Chapter II: Home

            Lizzie stepped off the bus and looked around.  How was it possible that the small chunk of town she could see looked simultaneously different and yet the same?  It was the same place she could remember growing up but with subtle changes.  A Wal-Mart inhabited the old Kmart building.  A Jimmy Johns was where the old A & W building used to be but that building was gone and a new one stood in its place.  Some kind of boutique was where Hallmark used to be.  But main street was still the same road.  Probably the same potholes, she thought to herself.  Although the traffic light itself seemed to be updated to the latest standards.  It all felt slightly unfamiliar yet familiar enough she knew where she was.  The place she never expected to come back to live.

            “Is that my Lizzie?” she heard a voice behind her ask.  Charles Carter was not a small man and his booming voice matched his physique.

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