ai

Now is the winter of my disconnect!

(I haven't had internet access for a week)

I hope everyone is staying warm and drinking lots of spiced cider.  Tis' the season to mix eggnog with whatever alcohol you have available (tequila, sweet-tea vodka, raspberry schnapps, etc) right in the carton.  Shake it up and drink it that way.  Jolly folly.

Here's a short story I'm writing.  I'll be adding a new part to it every few days in this same post until it's complete.

Abi remembered being trampled after every recess.   She was the quiet kid, sitting on woodchips at the edge of the playground.  She used the chips and rocks and gravel and sand to build little towns.   The chips would be buildings and small rocks were people.   The look and feel of the rock was the character of the person.  She often had a handful of rocks - ones that were very dear in her world - kept safely in her pocket.  There was the Chief:   He was brown flint, and looked like an unfinished arrowhead.  He painted beautiful outdoor scenes of mountains and waterfalls, and he wove fabric for tapestries and  for his wife to wear.    The Chief's wife was called Sis, for she was the sister that Abbi always wanted.   Abi couldn't marry The Chief, because she was too young, but Sis could. 

                Sis was everything Abi wanted to be when she grew up.  Sis was smart, but sweet.   She never let anyone talk mean to her or tell her to do something she didn't feel right about.  Sis was strong too, and she and The Chief would ride horses and chop firewood together.  Sometimes Chief and Sis would play at archaeology.  Although neither was trained, their dig-sites in the playground sand could yield fantastic things.  Old bones and Spanish Galleons were unearthed many noontimes. 

                "I swear," The Chief would confess to Sis and Abi, "This is the finest dig yet, and we've only just begun!"  There was the whole universe to uncover and learn about, down in the sands of time, under the redwoods and California sun.

                Then the bell would ring.  Recess would rush and scream and shout in a wave of shoes on pavement right at Abi.  She would run to the safety of the school entrance, but they always caught her somehow.  They pushed her down and they  even stepped on her back and legs.  Once, she was kicked in the face, and blood poured out with tears.  She never, ever dropped The Chief or Sis.   They were held tight in her fist as she fell, and even when her hand was stepped on she wouldn't let them go.