Last month’s Saturday’s short story was a continuation of June’s short story. Every year there seems to be those two months with 5 Saturdays separated by only a month. Every year I say I will not do a 10-part short story again. Every year I end up doing a 10-part short story and regret it. So, yes I did another 10-part short story and no, I don’t regret it. But I still struggled with it.
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Plan C: Chapter V
Plan C: The Joy of Daily To-Dos
Lizzie watched the passing train and took a bite of her sandwich. A year ago today she had sat in a bus as it brought her home. She remembered that day well. Mainly the overwhelming feeling of failure. But that was a year ago. That girl, thankfully, no longer existed. The year had morphed her into someone else. Someone who no longer felt the bitter pangs of failure but felt more…what word could describe it? Successful wasn’t the exact word because she was still a work in progress. No, what she felt now was confidence. And she felt pity for that unsure girl from a year ago and wished she could give her some encouragement. It was a process, emphasis on process, but she felt like for the first time in probably her entire adult life her feet were firmly planted on the ground. It was ironic that the ground her feet were firmly planted on was in her hometown. The town she was so eager to leave at one time.
Continue readingPlan C: Chapter IV
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.
Continue readingPlan C: Chapter III
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.
Continue readingPlan C: Chapter II
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.
Continue readingPlan C: Chapter I
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.
Continue readingAll it Took
One single time is all it took
someone said my writing was good stuff
that compliment was more than enough
I painstakingly undertook
to compile it all in a book.
Continue readingStory behind the post: Plan B
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.
Continue readingPlan B: Chapter V
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.
Continue readingPlan B: Chapter IV
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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