Seanan McGuire continues her marvellously magical exploration of the dark side of our fairy tales – Down among the sticks and bones is the accompanying novella to the first book, in the series Wayward Children. Sort of like an origin story to Jack and Jill, the twins from Every Heart a Doorway where we were first introduced to Eleanor West's School for the special kids. Kids who had tumbled down through rabbit-holes, whisked away into faraway magical worlds through doors that opened out into such. Kids who come back in our monotonous hum-drum of an everyday daily life and need to learn to adjust back. But some of them never do, because of the irresistible magical pull of the life beyond those doors, in these lush beautiful Hallways or scary dangerous Moors as it may be.
Seanan McGuire is a prolific author - and whatever genre her novels may be in, she always infuses elements of strange and the horrific in some subtle ways to make all the stories darkly hypnotic and compelling. Her books have a charm, in the sense that before you know it, you are already a quarter of a way into the story. And then before you realize it, you get sucked in deeper and then you are staying up, past bedtime to just race to the end point. Addictive, is to put it mildly.
James A Moore continues to push the boundaries of the grimdark genre - with this rousing sequel to the brutal and savage The Last Sacrifice, a spectacular start to the series, Tides of War. Fallen Gods continues the story of Brogan McIntyre and his rebellion against the blood-thirsty Gods. In a bleak, violent world where the Gods are capricious and irascible, one man defies them by denying them the blood sacrifice of his family and brings on the everlasting fury and wrath of the Gods - Pitching the whole world into an apocalyptic storm that threatens to drown the whole world, one city at a time.
So I usually never finish a graphic novel at one shot. I am extremely attention deficient, more so with graphic novels than other means. But this book, my god! I had read Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and his earlier works on the Dark Knight Universe. So when I wandered into this book-store and saw the thirty percent discount tag on Dark Knight – The Master Race I had to just sweep this gorgeous black hardcover novel right off the shelf and run straight to the billing. And then I checked right into the closest coffee bar and went right down, devouring the same. And was I hooked!
Been trying to compile this list of the biggie titles from 2017 books that I missed out reading because, hey life happened :) Of course, the vested interest is that when I next finish a book I know which is the title that I need to read next.
Elizabeth Bear is a prolific author - and has always been on my horizon – in fact, I am ashamed that despite being a long time SFF reader, I still haven't read any of her titles. She's been steadily churning out some amazing works out there – and last year, I had decided to take the plunge. With The Stone in the Skull touted to be a lush, expansive entry into the Lotus Kingdom saga, showcasing Bear at her best, I think this was one of the biggest misses of 2017 for me. This will be completed in Jan for sure. It's a promise to myself.
In the meanwhile, this is why I think you should read it.


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ESA /	Applications /	Observing the Earth /	Securing Our Environment
On the night of 16 November 2000 a vast landslide swept down from a Slovenian mountain of Mount Mangart towards the village of Log pod Mangartom. Over a million cubic metres of rock and earth slid down the mountain slope, and the settlement was buried.
Around 50 houses were destroyed along with industrial buildings, power facilities and water reservoirs, and the surrounding valley was devastated. The landslide also killed seven villagers.
While the surviving villagers were evacuated, Slovenian civil protection teams worked to monitor and stabilise the landslide as well as make a damage assessment. Amidst the devastation, the teams were fortunate the landslide had occurred when it did.
A little over two weeks earlier the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters had become operational, and all it took was a single telephone call to request the assistance of signatory Earth Observation satellites and associated resources.
Following this first ever activation of the Charter, ESA, the French space agency CNES and the Canadian Space Agency all supplied image products to the Slovenians. They included before and after optical and radar images of the site as well as digital elevation models.
Today the Charter has gained several new signatories among the world's space agencies. It is perhaps the single most dramatic example of how space technology can benefit and protect citizens of the globe.
The effects of disasters – whether they are landslides, floods, volcanic eruptions, oil spills or earthquakes – can usually be observed from space, so wide-view satellite imagery are employed directly as information sources as well as management tools for planning and co-ordinating emergency responses.
Following Charter activation, space-acquired data products and associated resources are made directly available to the civil protection agencies concerned. Services are not limited to supplying data but include processing and interpretation as well.
The Charter started life at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) in Vienna in 1999. The original members of the Charter were ESA, CNES and the CSA, since joined by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Argentine Space Agency (CONAE), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the British National Space Centre/Disaster Monitoring Constellation (BNSC/DMC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the National Institute For Space Research (INPE), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).
Envisat
Sentinels overview
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This Disney Puzzle is fgoing to be a magical new game, a puzzle challenge we have for you because you get to play with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and we are pretty sure you are going to be really excited to play with all of them because in this brand new Disney Puzzle you get o have the best time ever with Mickey Mouse, with Donald, MInnie Mouse and so one and we are sure you know these characters very well so you shouldn't miss out on the chance to play this one. So just come and check out this brand new Disney Puzzle challenge in which your mission is of course to simply do your best and to put the puzzle pieces back together, and you can choose from different ways to play this one. Good luck!


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Eliminating the pandemic - one shot at a time
Tom Danaher was one of approximately several hundred 75 years and older beneficiaries who were administered their initial dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command, Bremerton, Jan. 30, 2021. (U.S Navy photo by Douglas Stutz)
2/3/2021 By: Douglas H. Stutz, NHB/NMRTC Bremerton Public Affairs Officer
Before the onset of the current pandemic outbreak last year, retired Navy Capt. Tom Danaher visited his son stationed in the South Pacific.
The prospect of being able to even consider a return trip seemed remote.
Danaher was one of approximately several hundred 75 years and older beneficiaries who were administered their initial dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Bremerton at the end of January.
"Got to do this. First of all, a big 'thank you' to Navy Medicine for this (vaccination). Being a retiree, and receiving this support from such a team effort is a good deal. Really appreciate it," said Danaher.
Following the Department of Defense distribution plan for administering the vaccine, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, military medical treatment facilities (MTF) like NMRTC Bremerton have using a prioritized, phased approach to provide the vaccine for all active duty and reserve components, TRICARE PrimeA managed care option available in Prime Service Areas in the United States; you have an assigned primary care manager who provides most of your care.TRICARE Prime and TRICARE SelectTRICARE Select is a self-managed, preferred provider network plan. TRICARE Select is a fee-for-service option in the United States that allows you to get care from any TRICARE-authorized provider. Enrollment is required to participate.TRICARE Select beneficiaries, and select DoD civilians and contract personnel authorized to receive immunizations from DoD.
NMRTC Bremerton is currently at Phase 1B of the distribution plan, focusing on beneficiaries age 75 and older, along with front line essential workers in federal government sectors such as education, youth and child service staff, eligible defense manufacturing, DOD corrections staff, DOD postal service staff, DOD public transit workers, Navy commissary and other installation food service and/or agricultural workers.
"This entire evolution was well-organized, very professional, and quickly provided. These young corpsmen are amazing. It's just like being back in the Navy," Danaher exclaimed.
After getting an initial shipment Dec. 22, 2020, of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine that received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration, NMRTC Bremerton began administering the vaccinations the day after, Dec. 23, 2020.
There has been a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine(s) during the rollout, with initial vaccine distribution priorities focused on such personnel as emergency room, urgent care centers and first responders; health care and support personnel as well as active duty service members deploying or supporting COVID-19 response operations.
For Michael Ross DeMinter, Navy retiree, the Saturday morning appointment was just what the doctor ordered.
"We have been waiting. I've been looking and calling to see when the vaccine was available. Appreciate being able to be here. This will save lives. Glad to do our part to help," DeMinter said.
The common refrain expressed on the weekend morning was one of thankfulness. Many beneficiaries shared their appreciation to staff.
"It's a good feeling that everyone coming through here appreciates what we're doing. The retirees are so grateful. It touches my heart and makes me proud to do our part for our country," said Navy Hospitalman Jian Gonzalez.
"Everyone who showed up today has commented to our corpsmen how appreciative they are to be able to receive the vaccine. It means a lot to us to hear that we're having a positive impact," added Navy Cmdr. Robert Uniszkiewicz, NHB/NMRTC Bremerton public health director and head of the command COVID-19 working group who was on site assisting and observing the vaccination team staffed by hospital corpsmen and involvement by Navy Nurse Corps.
NHB will again be providing the COVID-19 vaccine to a limited number of over 75 year old beneficiaries and continue to announce COVID-19 vaccination opportunities as soon as doses are received. At the moment, appointments are not being accepted for any other dependents or retiree groups.
The hope is that the COVID-19 vaccine supply will steadily increase to enable more dependents and retirees to be vaccinated in the coming weeks.
"Our goal since the onset is to provide the vaccine in a timely and safe evolution to as many as we can. To that end, we continue to coordinate and work with our Carrier Strike Group Three partners, Submarine Group Nine leadership, and with assistance from Navy Region Northwest and Naval Base Kitsap to continue administering the vaccine," Uniszkiewicz stated.
Although getting the vaccine is voluntary, all DOD personnel are being encouraged to get it to protect their health, their families and their community.
"With a strong sense of mission conviction and exceptional collaboration, our team has been able to progress at a steady rate through the DOD's priority schema, delivering first doses to our personnel involved in critical national capabilities and personnel preparing to deploy to locations outside of the U.S. We are now excited to be able to expand the scope of who is eligible to get vaccinated against the virus to include our beneficiaries age 75 and older and frontline essential workers. We could not have moved out this quickly and effectively without the collaborative efforts of our frontline experts from across directorates, who have been involved in the planning, logistics, information management support, training and quality control. Equally important has been the willingness of many to get outside their comfort zones and take on new roles and responsibilities," commented Navy Capt. Shannon Johnson, NHB/NMRTC Bremerton commanding officer.
NMRTC Bremerton leadership continues to advocate for vigilance even after receiving their vaccinations Public health guidance and mitigation strategies include staying home when sick, frequent hand washing, practicing physical distancing, and wearing face coverings.


There is little question that a point-of-sale system can help a business with efficiency in terms of inventory tracking, sales reports and overall productivity of cashiers and other staff. But it also can help reduce long lines.
While there has been a belief that long waits in line can adversely affect us in business – think of the adage, "time is money" – do you really know what constitutes a "long" wait in line?
Believe it or not, it seems the magic number is 10. As in minutes.
There have been several surveys of customers of various retail stores and chains, and the general consensus among those customers is that long wait line is the No. 2 complaint of businesses behind "rude staff," and that customers are generally OK with wait times of five to 10 minutes.
Beyond that, though, your business may be in trouble. About half of customers who typically wait 10 minutes or longer say that they perceive the business to be poorly run, and at least more than half of those long-waiters have said they would take their business elsewhere if they found themselves waiting too long.
When you think about that – if you have 10 customers in line, and the five in the back take their business somewhere else because they are waiting too long, can you business afford to lose that business, possibly forever? Remember, the saying goes that a negative experience with a business will make the rounds 10 to 20 times faster than positive experience will.
And when you think about the average transaction for your business, and you potentially could lose half your customers with long waits, getting a handle on long lines could mean the survival of your business.
Time is money. If you take too much time, you will not get enough money.


Focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome, which accounts for up to 20% of cases in children and 40% of cases in adult. FSGS is characterized by proteinuria with high incidence of development to end-stage renal failure. Injury to or inherent within the kidney glomerular podocyte constitutes the critical event leading to FSGS. There is no specific treatment for FSGS due to the complexity of its etiology. Short of transplantation, preventing further injury to podocytes and preserving the slit diaphragm permeability barrier is key to decreasing the rate of disease progression. FSGS-associated proteinuria is primarily handled by controlling blood pressure and the administration of immunosuppressive agents. However, the potential cumulative toxicity of the various agents used for managing the disease can be as bad or worse than the disease, making FSGS one of the most difficult renal diseases to manage.
The mechanism leading to proteinuria and gross cellular damage in FSGS is not understood. Genetic linkage studies have identified several slit diaphragm proteins in the development of FSGS, including actin-regulators and cell-cell adhesion molecules. Transgenic knockout mouse models further support the roles of actin regulators and cell-cell adhesion proteins in the pathogenesis of proteinuria and FSGS. In addition, drugs that retard the progression or recurrence of FSGS can stabilize the actin cytoskeleton, suggesting that disrupting actin dynamics could be a convergent pathway to the development of FSGS.
The actin cytoskeleton participates in cell-cell adhesion and maintenance of the slit diaphragm filtration barrier in many fundamental ways. Actin organizes plasma membrane domains by clustering membrane adhesion molecules. In addition, it provides anchorage of cell-cell adhesion molecules to the underlying cytoplasmic actin network. Moreover, actin participates in mechanotransduction at sites of cell-cell adhesion and in the cytoplasm to allow adaptation to changes in glomerular pressure during health and disease. Ultimately, the actin cytoskeleton determines the validity of the glomerular filtration barrier provided by the slit diaphragm.
Given the complexity of the slit diaphragm, dissecting the structure-function relationships of its molecular components is essential to revealing the mechanism behind development of proteinuria and FSGS. The slit diaphragm is a modified adherens junction, which can be divided into three functional modules (Fig. 1a): a membrane adhesion complex (MAC) formed by transmembrane cell-cell adhesion molecules. MAC is attached to the actin cytoskeleton (Fig. 1b) via a cytoplasmic receptor complex (CRC) and a junction-actin regulatory complex (JARC). FSGS1/α-actinin-4 is recruited to the CRC to support actin assembly through a nucleation mechanism that requires the arp2/3 nucleation complex (Arp). The exact molecular nature of these modules is unclear and is the focus of our current research.
Figure 1. The slit diaphragm/adherens junction is divided into three functional modules: membrane adhesion complex (MAC), cytoplasmic receptor complex (CRC), and the junction-actin regulatory complex (JARC). (a) Addition of actin monomers to the membrane results in actin assembly promoted by the arp2/3 nucleation promoter complex (Arp). (b) Electron micrograph showing actin filaments (orange arrow) assembled on purified membrane extracted with CHAPS detergent.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


ATLANTA, Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Centrinet Corp. today announced that they have received the Center of Excellence (COE) designation from Liquidware Labs, the leader in desktop transformation solutions for VMware and Citrix platforms. This designation is conveyed upon Acceler8 level Channel Partners who have consistently demonstrated the highest standard of knowledge and technical delivery in virtual desktop projects. This designation is only conferred upon Acceler8 Partners who have integrated the Liquidware Labs transformation methodology and tool set into their business processes to deliver superior services to the highest standards in an industry-leading technical framework.
"Liquidware Labs is a true partner-focused vendor with a field team that is always ready to help add value for our customers. Their solution portfolio success is attributed to straight-forward infrastructure requirements, ease-of-setup, and in turn, simplification of ongoing management and support," said Derrick Faur, Technology Solutions Lead at Centrinet.
Partners are required to have in-depth knowledge of virtualization platforms and virtual desktop technologies related to those platforms as it relates to capacity planning and infrastructure design for end-user computing initiatives.
Partners are required to have held the level of Acceler8 Partner for a minimum of 12 months.
All relevant parts of the Partner organization receives focused sales and technical training on a regular basis, with multiple staff from each discipline participating in these sessions.
Partners must have a demonstrated track record of successfully delivering Assessment and Health Checks.
All Partner staff engaged with customers directly will understand Liquidware Labs solutions in depth and are able to relay relevant information across the different levels of clients organizations involved in the decision-making process.
Partners must regularly demonstrate Liquidware Labs' products in their internal demonstration facility and/or leverages the Test Drive feature on the Liquidware Labs site, by directing customers to it or leading customers through the Test Drive.
Partners are actively involved in product Beta programs.
Partner staffs' product knowledge and relevant concepts are evaluated through a rigorous technical interview conducted by a senior Liquidware Labs Regional Technical Representative.
Partners are required to have deployed all products in production customer environments. Implementations are fully documented, and all documentation is version managed and adheres to strict quality standards.
Since its founding in 2000, Centrinet Corporation is regarded today as one of the leading solution advisors of emerging technologies in the Southeast. First establishing itself as a consistent services innovator in the virtualization services sector, Centrinet matured to include business oriented services that echo the core objectives of a given organization. Several thousand projects and over a decade later, Centrinet's unique analysis and advanced methodologies elevate it above traditional service providers by allowing unparalleled alignment between your business objectives and the technology used to achieve those objectives. In short, Centrinet gets to the heart of your business needs, aligns your business IT goals, and only then prescribes and administers the right tech solution to fit your company. We make sure your company reaches its goals because our success is driven by your success. Visit info.centrinetcorp.com/center-of-excellence for more information.
Liquidware Labs™ is the leader in desktop transformation solutions for next-generation physical and virtual desktops, including VMware View®, Citrix® XenDesktop, Red Hat® and Microsoft® Windows 7. The company's innovative Stratusphere™ FIT and Stratusphere™ UX products support assessment, design, monitoring and diagnostics (Health Checks) of virtual desktop environments. Liquidware Labs award-winning ProfileUnity™ solution with FlexApp, FlexDisk and Flex-IO features supports migration to Windows 7, user and application virtualization and VDI performance acceleration. Liquidware Labs products are VMware-certified and Citrix Ready, and are available through a global network of partners. Visit www.liquidwarelabs.com for further information.


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Tag: story (Page 1 of 2)
Maria's Mom Visits – Post 23
August 27, 2017 / writerdave / 0 Comments
As soon as Maria got off of Skype with Tim, she quickly walked the living room where her mother was waiting, sat down next to her, curled into a ball, and cried.
Maria's mother, Espi (short for Esperanza), had taken the first flight out of Los Angeles to Sacramento as soon as she heard the news. Espi was the one who signed Maria out of the hospital.
"What am I going to do, Mama."
"You're going to try again,"Espi hesitated. "and you're going to be strong."
"What do you mean you can't? You have to; you're the wife."
"Yeah, the wife. I'm not the man. The man is the one who was supposed to be strong."
"Who told you that? Mira, every strong, powerful, and successful man that you know of is that way because of his wife. When the president of the United States has a long and terrible and stressful day who's shoulder, do you think he leans on? Do you think that these men don't breakdown, don't have moments of weakness. Of course they do. They are flawed and imperfect just like any other man. They just hide it from everyone. Everyone except the one person they can't, their wife. The wife keeps them strong by being strong for them and by being silent."
"What does silent have to do with it?"
"Listen, the only difference between a man in a position of power and his followers is that they don't know of his weaknesses. But his wife does. She knows them all. Think of any politician, or celebrity, or athlete that was put to shame when people realized that flawed. People lost respect for them. They have to bow out of political races or lost millions of dollars worth of endorsements all because word got out. And who told their secret? Their wives."
"But what about Bill Clinton? Hillary didn't…"
"Yeah yeah. I know," Espi interrupted. "It was that pinche gringa that ratted him out. Even the strongest woman can be outdone by a man's own stupidity. But let me ask you something. You don't think that it that was his first time do you? Or that she didn't already know? That man was embarrassed in front of the entire world, but it wasn't because of his wife. She kept silent."
"All men have flaws and weaknesses," Espi continued. "The powerful and most respected men have one person that they can trust to show these flaws and weaknesses, and that is their wife. These men would not reach the status that they had if their wives let it out that they cry at night or like to suck toes."
"Mama!"
"I just find this all hard to believe right now."
"Who is the most strongest hardest working man you know?"
"Daddy."
"Was he a good father to you and husband to me."
"When was the last time you saw your father take a drink."
"Geez, I was young. Maybe like my eighth birthday party?"
"And his drunk ass fell out of the tree trying to hang your piñata."
Maria giggled, "yeah."
"He used to go out a few times a week and get drunk with his friends after work. It used to bother me, but I let him do it. He would come home drunk belligerent loud and try to have his way with me. Sometimes I let him and sometimes I fought him off. I tolerated this for many years. Until I found out."
"Found out what?"
"I eventually cut him off completely. I couldn't stand his drunk ass on top of me. So as a result, he started to go out and get what he needed elsewhere."
"He had a girlfriend. Some skinny bitch that worked at Clark's where he would buy his beer."
"How did you find out?"
"His said her name one night drunk and on the verge of passing out. A few days later I found a note with a lipstick kiss on it on the back of a Clark's receipt. I could've cried. Probably did actually. I could've picked you up and went to my moms. I could've left him or even worse. But I didn't. I was strong. He was my husband this was my family, and I wasn't gonna let anything take that away from me. So every day before I picked you up from school, I went to Clark's. And eventually, I saw a name tag that said, 'Stephanie.' I asked her if she knew somebody named Hector Rodriguez. She was chewing gum and smiled when she heard the name. She told me, "Yeah that's my boyfriend.' That's when I grabbed her by the hair and said, "That's my fucking husband you bitch." And slammed her head into the cash register.
"Oh my god, mama."
"That's why we never went back to that store," Espi said with a smile on her face.
"That afternoon I had your Tia pick you up from school and take you home. I went to your dad's work and met him at his car when he got off work. 'It all stops now,' I said. 'The drinking and the fucking around with this bitch Stephanie stops now. If you love me, if you love your daughter, if you want to have a family, it's all done.' I was in tears. 'I'm going to pick up Maria. If I see you at the house when I get home, I'll know you made your decision.' He was home when we got there and he's been sober ever since."
"I don't know what to say," Maria said.
"Two things, Maria. If I hadn't been strong and stood up for what I believed in, for my family it all would've been gone. Everything that you know of in the past 15 years or so of your life would've been different. Also, if I hadn't kept silent everyone would've lost respect for your father including you."
"I only tell you this now because I know you're old enough not to judge your father for the mistakes he made as a young man. I was strong and silent. And, if you want to keep your husband and your eventual family, you will do the same."
December 5, 2016 / writerdave / 0 Comments
Tim was seven when his parents split up. Looking for a fresh start, Tim's mother took her two children up to St. Louis. She managed to get a job at a bank as a teller. For the next couple years, she struggled as a single parent of two in her 20s, trying to make ends meet as well as trying to have a social life. When she couldn't take it anymore, she knew something drastic had to be done she moved back to her hometown and in with her mother.
Between going back to school, her job as a waitress, and boyfriends, Tim's mom hardly made it back home to her mother's two-bedroom trailer. On the nights she was home, she shared a bed with Tim's little sister while Tim slept in a twin bed in the same bedroom.
Tim's grandmother, Lenore, was put in the position to do most of the raising of Tim and his sister. Though not well-off, evident by her living arrangements, Timothy's grandmother was not destitute. Her late husband left her the land, which was completely paid for, as well as the trailer in which they lived. Between Social Security and the houses she cleaned for cash, she made a decent living. Enough to spoil her only two grandchildren, who got practically whatever they wanted.
A little lonely Tim's grandmother welcomed the opportunity to take the role of being a mother. She did an excellent job of it too. She made sure they had breakfast and got them to school in the mornings. Then would pick them up and take them for the occasional McDonald's milkshake in the afternoon.
At night she made sure whatever homework they had got done. She let them watch a little TV and made them an enjoyable meal. Being The man of the house, Tim got to choose what he wanted for dinner. Yes, he was quite spoiled. His favorite meal were these cheeseburgers his grandmother made on sourdough bread. Later in life, he realized what she was making were Patty melts.
On Saturdays, the big deal was to make a trip to the grocery store. This is where Tim got to pick out what he wanted to eat the rest of the week. Especially his favorite cereals. Saturday nights was also movie nights which included homemade popcorn cooked in a cast-iron skillet on the stove top.
Summer vacations were not typical for Tim. As his grandmother's trailer was way outside the city limits. There weren't any neighbor boys to play with for miles. He spent most of his summer days watching daytime television or helping his grandmother tend to their garden. On the days where she left to clean houses, he was left at home alone with his sister.
Tim was a typical big brother. He both bullied his sister and took care of her. He found her as a suitable playmate though he would have preferred the company of little brother.
Though she loved both Tim and Vanessa equally, you could tell that there is a special bond between Lenore and Tim. In her eyes, Tim could do no wrong. They were so connected that she could feel Tim's pain every time he took a beating from his mother. It broke her heart. Though, she never stepped in to stop it.
It was Tim's grandmother that signed him up for his first martial arts school after he came home from school one day with a shiner. He seemed to be a natural at it and got his Tae Kwan Do black belt in just a couple years. Bored with all the kicks, he signed up at the only other martial arts school in town. A Kempo Karate dojo owned by a guy who had never left the country and who had learned Karate from another man who never left the country. The training was sufficient for most of who attended the school.
By the time Tim was fourteen he had years of training under his belt. Some of his movements had become instinctual. So, he couldn't help himself when his mother went to slap him in the face. Without even thinking about it, he blocked swing with his left arm. Tim's mom felt a significant sting when this happened, but it wasn't as much from the contact her wrist made with Tim's forearm as it was the realization that she could no longer beat her son into submission. Tim went to live with his father by the end of that very month.
One day in fifth grade, Tim got unexpectedly called principal's office. Expecting some sort of ass chewing, Tim was surprised when he walked into the principal's office and found his father sitting there. His eyes were dry, but the redness made it evident that he had been crying. The principal asked him to sit down and said that his father had something to tell him.
"Pop is gone, Timmy," Tim's dad said just before he broke down sobbing.
Pop was Tim's father's dad. The only real grandfather he had. Pop was responsible for allowing Tim to do little boy things. Fishing, riding on the tractor, hunting for crawdads in the creek and the like. Tim's relationship with Pop was not as strong as his relationship with his grandmother, but it was a close second.
Per the principal's suggestion, Tim's dad took him home early from school. Tim had shed some tears when he was told the news but really hadn't let go until he saw his grandmother.
She was sitting on the couch watching TV when he walked in. She already knew. Her arms were out as soon as he walked through the door. He ran straight to them. That's when he broke down.
As he sobbed in her big grandma arms, she comforted him and said, "It's all right." She rubbed his back and continued with, "Let it out. Let it out." She didn't say anything to try and make him feel better, to take away from the reality that was his grandpa's death. She just gave him permission to cry and let him.
"Babe, your phone's ringing," Maria yelled from the bedroom. "It's Vanessa." She noticed from the caller ID.
Tim came in from the bathroom as naked as the day he was born to get it. "I'm surprised you can even see after what I just did to you."
"Oh. My. God!" Maria scoffed and then stared at him with an open mouth.
They had just made love, and Tim was quite proud of what he had accomplished. "You love it," he said as he picked up his phone. Maria still looking at him, amazed by his arrogance.
"Sup, foo?" That's how he answered the phone when his sister called.
Even though she was a little annoyed with Tim's cockiness, Maria was immediately concerned as soon as she saw the shit eating grin on his face leave.
Before Vanessa could even say a word, he could tell she was crying.
"Grandma is sick, Timmy."
It was breast cancer. A mammography found it. It had been quite some time since her previous mammography due to crappy insurance. Surgery was scheduled right away. The issue was her health. It was poor. She was obese and diabetic. A simple walk from the car to grocery store entrance required her to sit down and catch her breath. The doctors worried that when they put her under to perform the procedure, she would never wake up.
While the conversation was going on between Vanessa and Tim, Maria held him from behind resting her head on his back.
"Keep me posted," was how he ended the call.
Tim tossed his phone on the bed and turned around to look at Maria. "My grandmother's si…" he was sobbing before he could finish the word sick.
Sitting on the bed, she held him while he cried. Rubbing his back and saying nothing to him except, "It's all right. Let it out. Let it out."
November 28, 2016 / writerdave / 0 Comments
Tim's odd nocturnal behavior resumed within two days of going off his meds. It started with the heavy breathing and sweats then on to the sitting up at the side of the bed and then moved on to him walking around the house.
Maria observed everything from a safe distance. When Tim made inquiries in the following mornings, she reported nothing. She thought it was best he didn't know. If Tim knew, he might insist that they go back to the doctor. Maria couldn't stand the thought of her husband with all those probes connected to his head sleeping in a strange bed for observation. Tim could insist he go back on the meds. For Maria, this was absolutely out of the question. So, she did what she thought was best. She kept silent.
Eventually, she became accustomed to his waking up and walking around the house and started sleeping through his nightly activities.
With Tim's discharge from the Air Force, Tim and Maria had to move off base. They bought a half-plex in the city of Roseville. In case you are wondering, a half-plex is half of a duplex. It was all they could afford. The housing bubble hadn't quite burst yet, and California property values were still bloated. They had a plan to eventually buy the other side and start their lives as real estate tycoons.
Although it wasn't the closest city to the base, they always preferred to travel to Roseville to run errands or go to a movie. It was worth the drive, "It's just nicer," Maria admitted. It also gave them an opportunity to stop in Lincoln for pancakes or tacos. So, it was obvious when it came time to finding a place to buy a house. Plus, Maria already worked in Roseville so living there shortened her commute to practically nothing.
Tim had picked up a well-paying job working second shift at the Sutter Roseville Medical Center. This is why sleeping in till noon seemed natural to him. When Tim lost that job, he never noticed that he kept sleeping in till noon, even though he was going to bed at a normal hour.
Maria continued to sleep through her husband's sleep walking. She never noticed anything wrong in the morning, so she just assumed things were fine. Until one morning while on her way to the car to go to work, she saw that the back door was open. Not wide open but just enough to not latch shut. They had a carport in the back with room enough for just one car. This is where she parked so, every morning she walked through the laundry room, out the back door to go to work.
For the next few nights, she made sure that when they went to bed, that the back door was indeed locked. And most mornings she found it either unlocked or not closed all the way. That's when she knew that Tim was leaving the house at night.
In 9th grade, Maria was finally allowed to go to a school dance. It wasn't a formal one. It was one of those that took place on a school night. Still, Maria was excited to finally go to a dance.
Even though he gave his blessing, Maria's Father, Hector, was still a little leery. He knew the day would eventually come that he was going to have to let his little girl go out at night unchaperoned, but he thought the event would be filled with clergy and maybe even God himself supervising.
Maria's longtime friend Kim invited to the dance. Kim's first name and last name were both Kim. Maria met her in elementary school. Kim Kim wasn't known as Kim Kim then. Back then, she was Mi Na Kim. Mi Na's parents had immigrated to the states before Mi Na was born. After years of complaining, the Kims decided to let their kids change their names to something "more American-sounding." Mi Na's older brother, Sun, picked the name, John. Mi Na picked, Kim. Assuming she would one day be married and that her last name would change, Kim's mom didn't see and issue with it. Of course, it never ocurred to her that Kim could marry another Korean with the last name of Kim.
Kim and Maria were schoolmates from kindergarten until the Kims decided that paying for high school was out of the out of the question. So while Maria got dropped off for her first day of high school at Junípero Serra High School, Kim walked several blocks to her first day of school at Gardena High. This is why Hector had a problem with Maria going to the dance; because it was at the public school.
Statistics aside, Hector assumed that everything about public school was sinful. Public school kids did drugs and had sex. Catholic school kids did too, but Hector was blind to this fact. Never mind that he met his wife, Espi, when she was attending a Catholic high school, and they did drugs and had sex then.
Where Hector did have cause for worry was the violence. Gardena High had its share of gang activity and, as a result, there were at least two on duty Gardena PD posted there during school hours.
The plan was for Hector to drop off Maria at the Kims's. Maria and Kim would walk the few blocks to the dance and return as soon as it ended at ten o'clock. Maria and Kim would then walk back to Kim's house where Hector would be waiting to take Maria home.
It turns out Kim was having the secret relationship with a junior named, Antony. He went by Tony. There were two reasons why this relationship was kept a secret from Kim's parents. One, he was older and two, he was black. To the Kims, open minded was allowing Kim to date other Asians, not specifically Koreans. But they were heavily partial to her dating other Koreans.
Maria spent most of the dance sitting alone, while Kim and Tony rubbed their groins together rhythmically on the dance floor. She couldn't wait for it to be over. She was grateful when the lights came on, and it was time to leave, but Kim was in no hurry to leave.
Outside of the gym Kim told Maria, "Wait here a minute, ok?" Just before she disappeared into a dark corner with Tony.
"Oh my god, Kim, hurry. My dad is gonna be waiting for me." Maria, patiently waited for her friend to finish whatever it was she was doing. She stood there in the cool night air watching the gymnasium empty until finally, the last person walked out. This person kicked up the door stop allowing the door to close, and automatically lock itself when it latched shut.
With the parking lot nearly empty and no foot traffic, the ambient noise level dropped enough that Maria could hear the faint sound of moans coming from the dark corner to where Kim. Maria was still unsure of exactly what was going on over there in the darkness, but in the back of her mind, the sounds were familiar. As if she had heard them before one night in bed when she couldn't sleep, coming down the hall from her parent's bedroom.
"Kim, let's go!" It had been 10 minutes since that the doors of the gym were closed. No response. While pacing around a bit to help the time pass by, she got a glimpse of the parking lot. There were only two cars still parked there. One of them must have been Tony's, she assumed. Maybe he could give us a ride, she thought.
Five more minutes had passed when she heard a woman's voice shout, "Antony." Right away, Maria knew it was not Kim who yelled his name. One- it was not Kim's voice. Two- Kim called him Tony. And three- It was coming from a dark figure walking up from the parking lot towards Maria. "Antony!"
She was a tall, lanky woman. She wore pajama bottoms, house slippers, an oversized t-shirt, and a scarf wrapped around her head. Her breast visibly swung underneath her t-shirt like a grandfather clock that had two pendulums, if one were to exist. She pronounced his name Ant-nee as if there was not an "o" in it at all. Despite the woman's youthful face, Maria knew the look of a mother. And this one was Tony's.
"Hello, young lady," said Tony's mother. "Have you seen a tall, skinny, light skinned black boy around here?" Before Maria could respond, Tony' walked out from the dark corner.
"Mama?"
"Boy, what the hell is wrong with you? Got me waiting in the car like a got damn chauffeur?" She didn't wait for a response. "Let's go!"
Right then, Tony's mom was startled by a little Korean girl who appeared from same dark corner Tony had just come out of, still primping herself as not to look like she had just been violated. Without a word, Tony's mom's eyes went from Kim to Tony, her jaw dropping in the process.
The change of his name to Tony, the strut in his walk, the shit talking, the bad ass attitude, everything, everything he had done to establish himself as a thug was rendered null and void as Tony got his ass beat by his mama all the way to the car.
"There goes our ride," Maria said.
"Huh?" inquired Kim.
"I thought that one of the cars down there was his and that he could give us a ride. But apparently, that was his mom's car."
"Yeah. That's kind of disappointing," Kim said. "But now it makes sense that he wanted to do it behind the gym and not in his car."
"You guys did it," Maria asked.
"Uhh yeah. We're freshmen; we're supposed to be doing it by now. It just…"
"Just what?" Maria asked hoping for to hear some form of regret from her friend for becoming sexually active so early.
"I thought I was doing it with a guy who drove."
Maria couldn't understand how her friend was so nonchalant about sex. The church had her believing that it was strictly for her future husband and that only sinners and harlots, had sex before marriage. Eventually, though, Maria would convince herself that sex with someone you love was equally as virtuous.
"We have to go," Maria said. "I am going to be in so much trouble. My dad is going to be fuming by the time we get to your house."
"There is still a car in the parking lot. Maybe it's someone I know. I have a lot of friends here," Kim said.
Guy friends? Maria thought.
The parking lot was in the direction they had to walk anyway, so Maria saw no harm in seeing if the driver was someone Kim knew. It wasn't.
Thick plumes of smoke and the music of Brenton Wood rolled out from the cracked window of the Caprice Classic. In it were two Cholos sitting in the from seat getting higher with every inhalation. Though not related, they looked like twins. Same shaved head, same khaki Dickies, same black Nikes. Their only differences were their stature and choice in t-shirts. The taller one with the muscles, who was probably called "Little" something (Joe, Shorty, Joker, whatever), wore a white wife beater. The skinny one, probably called "Flaco," wore a plain, white, crisply pressed t-shirt. Flaco was behind the wheel, and Little Joe was in the passenger seat.
Technically Flaco was a student at Gardena High though he never went. His truancy was why he was on his second attempt at the 12th grade. Little Shorty had dropped out the year before to work and party. He was Flaco's guest to the dance. They had hopped on picking up some girls but weren't having any luck. They left the dance for the parking lot to get high and never went back.
For over 90 minutes Flaco had been rambling on about girls, drugs, cars, and money. Not once did he notice that Little Joker hadn't said a word. As Maria and Kim approached the car Little Whatever finally spoke, "Oye, güey. Mira la Chinita!"
Kim was, of course, Korean, but to cholos, it was just easier to classify all Asians as Chinese.
When Maria got close enough to the Caprice Classic, she knew that they weren't getting a ride. She didn't recognize the car in particular but she recognized the type. Thanks to her older brother, she was well educated in the ways of the cholo. "We're walking home," She told Kim. "Trust me. You do not want to get in that car."
"Let's go, Homes," Flaco said to Little Joe as he patted him on the side of his leg with the back of his hand while he opened the driver's side door. "You can have the Chinita. I'll take the shorty."
Although she didn't want to, it was easy to get Kim into the backseat of the Cholo's car. Maria was resisting but not too much. Flaco had already grabbed her by the wrist when she stared backing away as he approached her and it hurt. She knew not to get in the car but she also knew she didn't want to resist to harshly. She was afraid of provoking a violent response from the cholo.
Maria realized that she was in a predicament, unaware of how she was going to get out of it. At least she wasn't in the situation her long time friend was in. For the second time that night Kim found her skirt raised up over her ass. Little Shorty was working on getting an erection. Though Kim had said no repeatedly, he was not convinced. He mistook Tony's secretions for Kim's and thought for sure she wanted him. If he had only known what it was that was on his fingers, his attempt to rape Kim Kim would have ended right then and there.
Flaco was now kissing Maria on her neck. He had gone for her mouth but she turned her head in disgust. Tears silently rolled down Maria's face. She thought herself helpless as she felt Flaco's hand begin it's decent into her panties. She tried to push him away but he had her firmly pinned between the car and himself. His fingers were past her waistband and now working their way through her pubic hair. Maria started pounding on him with the side of her fist on her one free hand but it was useless. Flaco's fingers were now past her clitoris and poised to enter her forcefully. Maria braced herself and closed her eyes. She prepared to feel something, for the first time in her life, enter her vagina. That's when she heard the thunk of something metal and hollow. When she opened her eyes, Flaco was out cold on the ground, his hand no longer down her panties, and standing there with an aluminum baseball bat in his hand, was Hector.
I am excited to post this. I worked for over a month on this chapter and its continuation. I can usually write a chapter in one sitting but that was not the case for this one. I hope the reason for telling this story of Maria in high school will be understood later in the book.
November 7, 2016 / writerdave / 0 Comments
Because of Tim's rank, he eventually got a room to himself. That's when Maria started spending the night on a regular basis. Every morning she would get up a little earlier than usual and head back to her dorm room to get ready for work. It was just easier to do this since, even though Tim had his own room, he still had to share a bathroom with someone.
Within the next few months, Tim's housing status changed again. He was allowed to move off-base and started receiving BAH. BAH stands for basic allowance for housing. Tim got a shitty little apartment outside of base in the town of Marysville. It was your typical crappy apartment complex. The units still smelt of the previous occupants, the walls were paper thin, and the assigned covered parking spaces were too small for anything other than a compact car. The steps to the upper floors were so worn that the once square corners of the wooden planks were now round and splintered.
Tim was hoping that these substandard conditions would warrant a lower rent than what the Air Force was paying him, but this was not the case. The property manager of this shithole dealt with the military so much that they knew what the BAH was and charged exactly that amount for rent.
Once he signed the lease, Tim headed off to the closest Goodwill to furnish his apartment. He picked up a bundle of utensils that were taped together with clear plastic packing tape marked $5.99, one pot, two drinking glasses, and two coffee mugs (Though he hadn't figured how he was going to make coffee). He found a semi used mattress and flat screen TV on Craig's List and put them both on the floor of the bedroom. Back on base, he loaded his pickup with his dorm room contents, made a stop at the Base Exchange for some bedding, and stopped the chow how for one last free meal.
Tim's first night in his apartment was also Maria's first night in his apartment. She became what was known as a ghost. A ghost was someone who kept their dorm room because they were not authorized to move off base yet but lived off base anyway. When it came to dorm room inspections, their bed always looked perfect, as if no one had slept in it, because no one had.
It was on that first night Maria realized that Timothy's apartment was going to need a "woman's touch." Most of the people they associated with called him Rogers. Nobody she knew called him by his first name. To Maria, calling him Rogers just didn't seem right but neither did Tim. For some reason, she started calling him Timothy when she learned of his full name, Timothy Adam Rogers but mostly she just called him babe.
Unlike Tim, Maria knew that one day she would live on her own and started preparing for it as a teenager. She knew that someday she would have her own kitchen. So, every time her mother upgraded any type of appliance or utensil, Maria saved the old version in boxes she kept in the garage of her childhood home. Her mother upgraded so often that it got to the point the Maria was replacing items she hadn't even used. By the time Maria joined the Air Force she was already on her second coffee maker, toaster, wooden spoon set, and blender.
"I'm going to have to go home and get some stuff before too long. We can't live like this," Maria told Tim.
"Oh my God Timothy. I just had to heat up tomato soup then dump it into bowls so that I can use the same pot to make grilled cheese sandwiches. That's like what. I can't have my kitchen like this."
"Oh, it's your kitchen, huh?"
"Am I your girl?"
"Hell yeah, you are?"
"Do I cook for you?"
"Hell yeah, you do."
"Then yeah, it's my kitchen," she affirmed. "I'm gonna put in for a couple of days leave. That way I can go during the middle of the week while you're at work and we don't miss out on time any time together."
"I'm not coming with you?"
"Hell no, you're not coming with me. You think my parents know that I'm shacking up with some dude that I hooked up with at a party?"
"Listen, it's not that I don't want to tell them, but they are very Catholic and very Mexican, you know? They probably still think I'm a virgin. Telling them that I have a boyfriend and that I'm living with him would just cause a bunch of drama I do not want to deal with right now. Not yet."
"It's because I'm white. Isn't it." Tim understood but couldn't let her off the hook that easy.
"Ay Dios mío!" Maria said this more to mock her mother that to really say it, holding her hands up looking up at the ceiling. She then brought her hands to the sides of Tim's head and gave him a kiss. She then picked up his bowl and plate, which were paper, and took them to the trash.
There may have been a little of gender roles because of Maria's upbringing, but she honestly did love to do things for Tim. He never expected it of her but let her serve him as much as she wanted. He loved it and loved her for it. Being taken care of by woman was something he truly missed. Both because he did not get it from his mother and because he got it so much from grandma. Maria could see the appreciation on his face when she put a plate of food down in front of him. It made her warm inside.
Maria put in to take a Wednesday Thursday and Friday off but could not get it approved unless it was two weeks in advance so for now, they did what day could with what they had.
It was during these two weeks that Tim got the call.
I actually spent most of my morning getting another chapter ready but chose to publish this one instead. I felt like the other needed more work. It turned out this one needed a lot too. Still feels like it does but I hit the road so here it is.
October 30, 2016 / writerdave / 0 Comments
Maria's first night with Tim was a night of firsts. It was her first time at a Civil Engineers dorm party. The first time going home with a guy she just met. The first time she ever had sex on a top bunk while someone was asleep on the bottom. And the first time a man has ever given her an orgasm.
Tim was her third lover. Her Catholic upbringing had her put off sex as long as she could with her longtime high school boyfriend. By the time the senior prom came around, she felt obligated to give it up in the back of a rented limousine. Her boyfriend, however, had been having sex the whole time with a neighbor girl who went to the public school. Maria eventually found out through a friend who went to that same public school and broke if off with him. The experience crushed her.
She met her second lover in college. Well, a failed attempt at college. She dropped out of the nursing program when she realized that bodily fluids made her vomit. The good news was she didn't want to be a nurse. The plan to go to nursing school was that of her mother. The bad news was her little bit of college qualified her for a job the Air Force was in dire need of, a Medical Technician. The irony is that she worked in the lab and was surrounded by bodily fluids. Luckily, seeing them in plastic cups and glass tubes was a little more tolerable than seeing them actually coming out of a human.
Her second lover was a nice. That's all. Just nice. They in her Human Anatomy class and paired up as study partners. She liked him but was not enough to date him. She decided to sleep with him out of curiosity's sake more than anything else. It was bland and uneventful.
Although limited, her experience with sex was discouraging. She decided she was done with it for a while. Maybe even until marriage.
That idea went straight out the window after a few beers and a couple of slow dances with Tim. She felt something just being next to him she hadn't ever felt before, not just a physical attraction but a connection.
Tim was a passionate and affectionate lover. He cared when it came to pleasing a woman. His knowledge of a woman's body came from reading his mother's women's magazines after school as a curious teenager. Being emotionally abused by his mother until she finally stopped talking to him altogether at the age of 17 gave him a subconscious desire seek the approval of the women in his life. All this put him at a significant advantage over other boys his age when it came to making love. As drunk as he was that night he carried Maria to his dorm room, he was still able to make her feel like she had never felt before.
Being in such a hurry and a little ashamed, Maria didn't leave her number the morning she left his room. Tim took it as a hint that she didn't want to see him again. He, of course, thought that she wasn't pleased with his performance.
Tim tried his best to avoid Maria. This would have been a lot easier if they didn't work in the same building. When Tim swung by the chow hall early on Mondy to pick up some breakfast, he was sure to grab a couple extra boiled eggs for lunch. He stayed in the basement of the hospital all day that day but knew there was a chance he would see her at dinner. Every meal provided at the dining facility was free and most times, not bad. All the Airmen that lived in the dorms ate at the dining facility. So, on Monday night, Tim and Maria ate their meal avoiding eye contact with each other.
They each pretended to be involved in the conversations happening at each of their individual tables, but this was all an act. The truth was, they were more interested in the person eating on the other side of the room. The act continued on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. On Friday, Tim didn't eat at the dining facility. He and a few of his other Civil Engineers decided to hit the lake for the weekend.
Friday night on the lake was deemed by the boys as a "sausage party." It was just them, not a female in sight. They cooked hot dogs over the campfire and got shit-faced drunk off cheap beer. The next morning they decided they "needed some chicks." Since Stewart had a phobia of taking a shit in public places, the boys tasked him with getting more beer and inviting some girls to come out when he went back to the base to take his morning dump.
"Don't bring back any of that cheap shit either," someone shouted as he got into his $300 car. It had a huge hole in the radiator and would over heat if he drove it too long. Usually, it would last long enough for him to get to one location. He could then only drive it again after it had sat long enough to cool off.
Stewart was notoriously cheap and would often only buy the beer that offered a mail in rebate. Though he stole the envelopes from the government, he still lost a good portion of his rebate to the cost of the stamp. The only time Stewart didn't pinch pennies was when he was gambling. "Bet you twenty bucks I bring some chicks back," he said to no one in particular as he headed off to the base.
After a few hours, someone finally spoke up, "Where the fuck is Stewart? We're almost out of beer."
"Who's knows," Tim responded. Just then, an SUV and a pickup pulling a boat pulled into their camp sight.
Stewart was the first to get out. "Miss me, fuckers?" He proudly held up two 24 packs of Old Milwaukee's Best. "Someone owes me twenty bucks!"
Stewart's first stop was the liquor store on base. That's where he ran into Jay. One of the only Engineers who went by his first name even though he was a Staff Sergeant. And the only one of all of them that had a boat. He was on his way to the lake and was swinging through the base to pick up his girlfriend who lived in the hospital dorm.
"Dude get her to bring her friends. The guys are already out there. I just came back to take a shit," Stewart told Jay.
"I'll do my best," Jay said in his natural voice that everyone insisted sounded just like Matthew McConaughey.
Stewart made the mistake of making two stops, the liquor store and then the dorms. By the time he was done using the toilet, his car was still too hot to drive. He could see Jay's truck at the hospital dorm. He grabbed his two suitcases of beer and walked over to catch a ride.
Stewart was lucky. Jay should have been long gone by now, but he had successfully gotten his girl to get a group of friends together to join them at the lake. He was waiting on them all the get ready and pack an overnight bag. There were so many of them they had to take two cars.
"Holy shit, Rogers. Is that your girl?"
As the girls piled out of the SUV, Tim looked up to see that one of them was Maria.
She was wearing Vans with no socks, jeans, a t-shirt that terminated right above the waistband of her jeans, and an old faded LA Dodgers baseball hat that held her hair up in the back. If it weren't for the fluorescent pink strings of her bikini tied in a bow popping up from the top of her t-shirt, you would have never known she dressed for a day at the lake.
"Do you have one of those for me?" she asked referring to the beer in Tim's hand.
"You can have this one. I just opened it." He handed her the beer and just like that, the awkwardness and tension that had been there for a week was gone.
At the sight of Jay's boat on the water approaching the campsite, someone said, "Who's going boating?"
"You wanna go?" Tim asked Maria.
"Totally," She said and scurried off to get her backpack.
The first thing she did was kick off her Vans. Tim tried not to stare, but there was no way he wasn't going to watch. He took in every detail of her body as stripped down to her bikini. Maria pretended not to notice him watching her. Her feet were small and cute with toes painted blue, of all colors. Next, were her jeans. The act of her taking them off was a turn on for Tim but what it revealed was even better. Her hips were wide. Her jeans had seemed to accentuate them. Tight little asses were nice, but there was something about a woman with "child bearing hips" that Tim found more appealing. Next was the baseball cap. As soon as it came off, her hair fell all the way down to the small of her back. He had never seen her hair down, not even the one time he saw her out of uniform. The t-shirt was next. Even though Tim was a fan of obnoxiously large breasts, he found her small perky boobs to be perfect.
Obviously, Tim had been naked with her exactly one week prior, but he was drunk, and it was in the dark. He didn't really get to lay his eyes on her. He loved everything he saw.
Maria put her cap back on and pulled her hair once again through the hole in the back and slipped her Vans back on. She pulled an insulated cool cup for her beer out of her backpack and then stuffed it with her clothes. Instead of slinging the pack over her shoulder, she held it by the strap in one hand, palm up, looking for a place to put it. She was about to head back to the SUV when Tim spoke up. "Here! You can put it in here. This is my tent."
The rest of the afternoon the two of them never separated from each other's side. After a while, nothing was holding back their physical attraction to each other. Hands rested on thighs, quick smooches were given, footsie was played, and sunblock was applied. From the looks of it, most people would have guessed they had been a couple for a while, not someone who just screwed last week and hadn't spoken to each other since.
Maria finished a beer she took it out of the cool cup and threw the floor of the boat with the rest of the dead soldiers. She refused an offer for another.
"You don't want another beer," Tim asked.
"No, I want to be sober," she paused, "for tonight."
Tim already knew that she was going to sleep with him that night, but he didn't want her to know that he already knew, so he played it off a little bit. With a nonchalant "suit yourself," Tim fished out a beer for himself from the cooler.
"Uhh, you're going to want to be sober too. In fact, if it's going to happen at all, you will be" The drunk sex they had a week prior was the best sex she had ever had but Maria was ready to see what they could do sober.
Without looking up at her, Tim closed the lid to the cooler and sat back down next to her empty-handed.
Being the only two out of the group who weren't completely drunk the night before, Maria and Tim were the first to wake up that Sunday morning. There had been lots of lovemaking the night before. Some of it even ended with a round of applause. As the walls of Tim's tent did not do much to block any sounds coming from it.
"Are you hungry?" Tim asked.
"Fucking starving!" Maria said. The boys had not really prepared to feed themselves much less and the entire group of girls that showed up later. Luckily, Jay had brought some extra food, but it still wasn't enough. Most of the group went to bed drunk and hungry.
"Pancakes?" he asked.
"Pancakes!" she approved.
Tim broke down his tent, packed it up with the rest of his gear, and threw it in the bed of his pickup truck. He peeked his head into the large tent that belonged to one of the other guys, bodies where scatters all over the floor like a scene from a zombie movie. "Hey, one of you ride home with the girls in SUV." The only response he got was a thumbs up. They'll figure it out themselves, he thought.
Tim got to an intersection where he was going to make a right towards the base when got an idea. "I know this place in Lincoln that has some sick pancakes. Do you want to go? It's a lot better than the chow hall, promise."
"Yeah," Maria said. "Let's do it."
For the first time since they officially met, it was just them. No booze, no dancing, no friends, no sex, just them. For the entire time, the drive to Lincoln, waiting to order, waiting for their food, during their meal and the drive back to base there was not one uncomfortable silence. They talked and laughed and started catching each other up on all the years of their lives each other had missed.
This is the longest chapter I have written so far, 2300 words. I love how I can take details from my life and then mix them with pure imagination to come up with the story I am telling you. I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it.
After leaving the hospital that first day with 60 days worth of Desyrel, Tim and Maria stopped to pick up some groceries before heading home. When they got home, Tim dropped the groceries on the kitchen counter, took a seat on the couch and turned on the TV. It's not that he didn't want to help, but Maria had made it well known that she was in charge of the kitchen. He didn't want to get in trouble for putting an onion in the refrigerator when it was supposed to go in the wicker basket that was on top of the microwave.
From the living room, he could hear the rustling of the plastic bags and clanging of the pots. He knew his wife was going to be busy in the kitchen for a while and in the end, Maria would serve him one of the best meals he ever had.
"Babe," Maria yelled from the kitchen.
"Yeah?" Tim yelled back.
"I'm gonna put your pills right here on the kitchen counter next to the paper towel thing." The paper towel thing was a vertical brushed nickel paper towel holder. It could be put anywhere, but it had it's proper place, to the right of the kitchen sink. Now it seemed that Tim's medication also had it's proper place too, to the right of the paper towel thing. "I'll set out your dosage for you every day. They'll be on the counter but today…"
"… today I'll bring them to you." As she said this, Maria stepped out of the kitchen and immediately caught the attention of Tim. She had a glass of water in one hand, two pills in the other, and was wearing nothing but a matching bra and panties. While everyone else liked G-strings or thong panties, Tim liked the bikini cut. He remembered picking these particular ones out as a Valentine's gift last year. They were all black but see-thru enough that Tim could see both her manicured pubic hair and the crack of her ass. Maria didn't care for them because of the visible panty line, but she knew when and where to wear them. Like under a pair of jeans, which were now on the kitchen floor along with the shoes and sweatshirt, she wore to the hospital.
Upon seeing his wife, blood started flowing to the appropriate body parts, and Tim turned off the TV. While he took his pills and drank his water, Maria undid her bra and slipped her panties down to the floor. She took the glass from Tim and went set it down on the end table but not before giving Tim a get those pants off look. Tim got his pants down to his ankles before he realized that he still had his boots on. But it didn't matter. Maria had assessed that this was good enough and straddled her still dressed husband.
Maria was enjoying this impromptu lovemaking session as much as she could but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but replay the Doctor's words over and over again. "To eliminate the threat."
After climaxing together, Maria stayed on top of her husband to recover leaving him inside of her. The firmness of Tim's penis diminished to nothing and slowly left the warmth of his wife. After this, Maria got up, picked up her bra and panties and walked back to the kitchen. Tim watched her bare ass swaying from left to right with just a little jiggle with every step as she walked away.
Tim went pee and then returned to the living room and turned the TV back on. After about a half hour of flipping through the channels, the aroma of pan roasted tomatoes, chili, and garlic from the kitchen had made it's way to the where he sat. More interested in what was going on in the kitchen than what was on tv, Tim went to check it out. "Smells good in here." He found his wife breading thin slices of chicken breast. Flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. Her hair was in a messy bun and she has a smudge of flour on her cheek. She had put her sweatshirt back on but instead of her jeans, she had put on shorts. Shorts so short that Tim could see just a slight hint of each ass cheek peeking out the bottom.
Tim looked around and spotted the step stool Maria often needed to reach the higher cabinets in the kitchen. He got and it and brought it to Maria. "Here, you look like you need this." She didn't but she knew it was for him, not her and played along.
"Yeah? You think so?" she said. She stepped back and let him place the stool in front of the counter and then stepped up onto it with her bare feet. "Oh, that is better." She continued with her process.Flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. From behind Tim reached his hands up her sweatshirt and cupped a bare breast in each hand and kissed her on her neck. This immediately made Maria wet, ready to receive him again but she did not let her desires be known. Instead, she continued. Flour, egg, then breadcrumbs.
Tim took a step back and pulled Maria's shorts and panties down to her feet. "No, Timothy. What are you doing? I'm making dinner." Maria protested standing there naked from the waist down, hands covered in clumps of egg and breading. Tim unzipped his pants and easily entered Maria from behind. Tim pumped away as if it had been months since the last time he had his wife, not minutes. Maria had continued to protest even though she had bent over slightly and was pushing backward towards Tim, ensuring she felt him as deep in her as possible. She managed all of this while without ever stopping what she was doing. Flour, egg, then breadcrumbs.
The eroticism of the whole scenario brought Tim's climax quickly. After zipping up, he pulled Maria's panties and shorts back up, put the step stool back, and went to the living room to collapse on the couch.
Maria brought her feet together and clenched her cheeks hoping to keep what Tim had left inside of her for as long as possible. She tolerated the quickies because she viewed them as foreplay. She knew her husband would more that make up for it later that night. Besides, Tim's leave was almost up. He would be back at work soon and the anytime — anywhere sex would soon come to and end.
"You're welcome!" She shouted into the living room. Flour, egg, then breadcrumbs.
"You have to go off them," Maria told Tim.
"Timothy, please. We haven't…" Maria stopped with wipe the tears from her eyes.
"But what if I hurt you again? That's not an option."
"The reason you hurt me was because I tried to wake you up. I should have just left you alone. All you were doing was sitting on the bed. It just freaked me out. If I hadn't of done anything, you probably would have just laid back down and none of this would have happened. If it happens again, I'll just leave you be. IF it even happens. They might not even come back."
"Yes, please," she said. "We can't continue like this."
The nightmares and the sleepwalking stopped the night Tim took the medication for the first time. After their excellent meal and the kitchen was clean, Tim and Maria retired to the bedroom and made love again before eventually falling asleep. That was the last time they had sex. It had been nearly a month.
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea were all common side effects, and Tim had been experiencing them all but what impacted him most was one of the not so common side effects: Change in sexual interest/ability.
Once the Desyrel got in his bloodstream, Tim was sleeping peacefully through the night. But he also lost all interest in his wife, sexually. None of the naughty tricks Maria knew Tim liked worked. Even without the interests, Tim would try to have sex for the sake of his wife, but nothing he or Maria could do could get the blood flowing to his flaccid organ.
Maria was happy and grateful that Tim's nightmares had gone away, but she was devastated that they couldn't make love. Yes, she loved sex with her husband. Yes, she loved how much he desired her. But more important than either of those, than whether Tim did a little sleepwalking or not, was her getting pregnant again.
Tim went off the meds but kept this bit of information between himself and Maria. He continued to see the doctor and refilling his perception to maintain the ruse but never took another pill.
When he went back to work, it was evident to his superiors that his performance was not the same as it was before his deployment. Eventually, the doctor recommended a medical discharge, and at the age of 26, Tim was a retired Staff Sergeant from the United States Air Force.
I hope you can see why I had to write in a lot of sex. I got to tell you it was quite the erotic journey I went on writing these scences. I tripled this week's word count which practically means I wrote this chapter this morning. I hope you enjoy this weeks post.
The one thing you have to deal with on a deployment, no matter what branch of service you are in, is boredom. For soldiers, it's the time in-between missions outside the wire. For HVAC technicians, it's the time in between service calls.
When you are good at your job, do all your routine maintenance, and only have a total of 106 air conditioners on base, you don't get many service calls. And when you do, with four very qualified technicians ready to pounce on it like over compensating bouncers in a bar fight, no air conditioner stays broken very long.
The members of the 447th Civil Engineering Squadron HVAC shop spent most of their day playing dominoes. The thing is they couldn't do it in the shop unless they were on an official break, like lunch. For them to be able to play all day, they had to get creative.
The center of the front seat of their six pack pick up folded down when there was no need for the middle seat. After a trading frozen bottles of water (Ice was a hot commodity in the desert) for some wood and time in the Carpentry Shop, Tim and his Airmen fabricated a table top to fit perfectly over the folded down seat. A little bit of trim around the perimeter of the table top made it possible to mix the dominoes up and not lose any between and under the seats of the truck. After the completion of their table top, when it came for the crew to go "get lost," they could park anywhere, set up their table, and bust out the "bones."
The four of them spent many an hour out behind the fuel bladders of the Power Plant. The power plant was noisy and smelled of diesel fuel, so people tended to avoid it. Except for the Power Production Engineers, of course. There was always at least one person there to monitor everything.
On the day of the incident, there was no work to be done. But the boys needed to get out of the shop. Being seen in the shop meant you weren't out working in the field. It didn't matter that there wasn't any actual work to do in the field. It just mattered that you weren't in the shop.
The morning of the attack, Tim was about to head out to the power plant with his troops when he got a phone call from his boss, Master Sergeant Mattingly. The Master Sergeant wanted to go over the evaluations Tim wrote on Jones and Ski. The Master Sergeant was a stickler for well-written paperwork.
"Do you want us to wait for you, Sergeant?" Ricketts asked.
"Nah. You guys go ahead and play cutthroat," Tim said. "The Master Sergeant is pretty anal when it comes to these things. This will take all morning. Just come get me for chow."
"Roger that, Sergeant," Ricketts said as he and the rest of the troops headed out to the power plant.
Dominoes just works better with four people. There are two teams of two and everyone gets seven dominoes. This leaves no dominoes left over, and with that, it's easier to count the dominoes, a strategy used by advanced players. Cutthroat is an everyman for himself version and not as fun. That's why when Airmen Jones, Ricketts, and Ski got to the power plant, Ricketts went looking for a fourth.
The 12-foot tall jersey barriers that protected the fuel bladders were also what concealed the crew when they were out playing dominoes. The 8-foot long concrete monstrosities surrounded the bladders, but they did not butt up against each other. There had to be enough room for an Airman to be able to connected hoses to the bladders from the refueling trucks.
After parking in their regular spot, Senior Airman Ricketts went out to see who was manning the controls in the power plant, their possible fourth. Taking a short cut, he slid sideways between two jersey barriers. Then, even though it was forbidden, he walked over the fuel bladders, like a little kid in a rented bouncy castle. Once he got across, he squeezed in between two more of the portable concrete walls and walked over to the power plant. He knocked on the door but walked in without waiting for a response.
Inside the plant Ricketts found Martinez sitting in a chair with his head nodding, fighting to stay awake. Martinez was a grey-haired, overweight Technical Sergeant from the Arizona Air National Guard. He was way older than most Tech Sergeants, something common among the Guard guys. He was in the army when he was younger and missed being in uniform. He joined the Air Guard after a couple of co-workers convinced him.
"We don't do shit but play cards and drink coffee," they said. That sounded good to Martinez. He enlisted at the age of 38 he and was probably one of the oldest Senior Airmen in the country. For the next several years he drank coffee and played cards one weekend a month, two weeks a year, then 9-11 happened. He was now on his second deployment. He would have gotten out after his first, spending time away from his beloved wife and three daughters was hard on him, but two words caused him to reenlist once again, "Retirement Check."
"Hey, Sergeant! Just checking on you AC," Ricketts lied. "How is it working?"
Ricketts knew as soon as he saw Martinez that they were going to have to play cutthroat. The crew had nothing in common with a middle-aged Guard guy from Tucson, AZ. Inviting him in the confines of their six pack to play dominoes was like inviting a priest to a party. Yeah, he'll go and even drink, but you'd have to be on your best behavior while he's there.
Mattingly ended up postponing the meeting with Tim by notifying him that he had, "more pressing shit to handle." Having sent the boys off to get lost, Tim had some free time and decided to head to the morale tent. It was early back home, but there was still a chance Maria would be up. She had been waking up at odd times since she got pregnant.
During the day the morale tent was nearly empty. He didn't even have to wait for a computer. He logged in right away and checked if she was online. She wasn't on Facebook as far as he could tell, so he sent her a message.
"Babe, I got some free time. Are you up? I would love to see your face."
Tim clicked away at random shit while he waited for a response.
"I'm up. Let me pee and then I'll Skype you."
"Yesss," Tim said as he gave a fist pump. He clicked over to and updated his status to "about to get online with my baby!"
While Tim was Skyping with Maria and Ricketts was feeding a line of bullshit to Martinez, a piece of ice at the bottom of a mortar tube reached its breaking point. It had melted from a small block to a thin sheet, and the weight of the mortar round caused it to crack allowing the mortar to drop onto the firing pin, sending it off towards the direction of the base.
Mortars fired towards the base rarely did severe damage. Iraqi civilians, who were paid by insurgents, randomly set the stovepipes in place. They were aimed with no accuracy or care and set with the makeshift time day, ice. They sometimes flew over the base and sometimes hit just short of it. When they did make it into the base, they usually hit something noncritical like and empty hanger or a dirt field. One time some shrapnel ripped through a Cadillac shitter severing a water line, rendering the bathroom unusable for a few hours. That was the worst of it, though.
So when this mortar hit dead center of the jersey barriers that surrounded the fuel bladders, it was a one in a million shot. It was also a one in a million shot that Ricketts was on his way back to tell the boys that they had to play cutthroat. And, even though it was forbidden, Ricketts was happily bouncing on the fuel bladders like a little kid in a rented bouncy castle when the mortar hit.
We are now to the stuff I started working on when I decided to create this website. This material is now a couple months old instead of six months or more. I had a hell of a time getting this one ready. Let me know what you think or if my dimensions of those jersey barriers are off.
The next morning Maria told Tim what happened as she dabbed the corners of her eyes with the cuffs of her oversized sweatshirt preventing Tim from actually seeing any tears.
"Take me to the hospital!" Tim insisted, even though he had no recollection of what happened. "Right now!" Tim was very protective of his petite wife. He proved that in that night in Sacramento. He wouldn't let anyone do physical harm to her, including himself. If this meant the lock him up in s straight jacket then so be it.
"Okay," Maria said, no longer able to prevent the tears from rolling down her face.
They spent the entire day at the base hospital waiting room hoping for an opportunity to see a doctor. It was quite the sight there among the rows of interconnecting black vinyl and chrome metal chairs, similar to what you would find at an airport. There were two kinds of people one would typically find in a base hospital waiting room. There are the retirees who did their 20 years. Some more that 40 years ago. And there are the homely dependent wives who won the medical coverage lottery by landing themselves a just as homely Airman. They greedily wait with their sick, snotty nosed kids for medical attention as if it was actual food or money.
Tim and Maria both were relieved when they heard the name "SSgt Rogers" announced, anxious to get the hell out of that waiting room. They were both escorted to the Psychiatrist office by a female Airman who's hair color made them question if it was "natural in appearance" as the regulation required.
The doctor asked a series of questions as he typed on the computer. The screen of the computer was positioned as such that they couldn't tell if the doctor was taking notes or chatting with his mistress. When the doctor finished asking what seemed like a standard set of questions, he diagnosed Tim with a mild case of somnambulism also known as sleepwalking and wrote a prescription for Desyrel. The doctor eluded to a possibility of PTSD and suggested he see a psychologist and get involved in counseling, right away.
As they both walked out of the doctor's office, the doctor waited a few seconds and then peeked his head out the door and shouted, "Mrs. Rogers, Did you fill out this form?"
"Yes," Maria responded. "I did."
"Could you come here for a second and help me with your handwriting please," the doctor asked.
"Go ahead to the pharmacy, babe. I'll be right there," Maria told Tim.
When she got back to the doctor's office, she found him sitting at his desk with her husband's file closed. She was aware of his ruse. "Mrs. Rogers, I wanted to let you know two things without your husband around." He was no longer the droid of a person who asked the questions without any emotion earlier. He showed genuine concern as he continued, "One, please let us know if these dreams continue or get worse. We will have to have him come in for sleep observation if it does. And two, this one is important. If there is any sign of violence, ANY sign, please report it to Security Forces." Maria and Tim had agreed ahead of time to leave out the part about the wrist lock he had put her on her. They both knew it would lead to all kinds of trouble if they did.
"Base cops, why them?" she asked.
"To eliminate the threat," He answered.
Maria knew what that meant and knew there was no way in hell she was going to call Security Forces on her husband. The thought of him sleeping in a tiny room with cameras on him and wires attached to his body came to mind. No way, she thought.
"Yes, sir!" she responded to the Lieutenant Colonel doctor, having forgotten that she was no longer obligated to address him as sir, and went off to meet here husband.
While last week's post was practically a complete rewrite, this week's required that I fill in the blanks. I ended up doubling the word count again. I don't know if this will stand on its own as a chapter or be added to the end of the previous one.
October 3, 2016 / writerdave / 0 Comments
On their second night together after Tim's homecoming from Iraq, Maria was awoken again by Tim's frantic breathing. Not as scared as she was the previous night, she turned on her side to face him, propped herself up on her right elbow and placed her left hand on his chest, giving him a quick shake with hopes of waking him. Remembering how this had no impact the night before, she didn't even bother to call his name. She realized that she couldn't wake him and that she was just going to have to ride it out.
She watched her husband inhale and exhale short quick breaths like a woman in labor. The little bit of nighttime light that made its way into the bedroom through the window reflected off the beads of sweat forming on Tim's forehead. When she looked closer, she could see a tear roll out of Tim's eye and down his cheek. Crying herself, she wiped his tear away and reached over to the side of his face she couldn't see and wipe just in case there was one there too. She laid there next to her husband with her hand on his chest, feeling it rise up and then down rapidly until Tim gave out one final big exaltation and his breathing returned to normal.
The next day Maria, very casually, brought the dream up to Tim, again he had no recollection.
The dreams continued every night. They progressively got a little worse or lasted a little longer. Maria rode out each event from beginning to end. Wiping both her husband's and her own tears until Tim's big exhalation, which seemed to be the signal that the event was over and he would return to regular sleep.
One night, Maria didn't awake to Tim's heavy breathing but to find him sitting up on the edge of the bed with his feet on the floor as if he was about to get up to do something. "Timothy, what's wrong?" No answer. "Timothy?" Again, no answer. "Timothy, what are you doing?" Frustrated that her husband was ignoring her, she got out of bed and stood naked in front of him. Their heights were on such different ends of the spectrum that with Tim in the sitting position, she was looking at him eye to eye. She waved her hand in front of his open blue eyes. He did not acknowledge the moment. Could he be…? She put her right hand on his left shoulder and started to shake. Without hesitation, Tim reached across the front of his body with his right hand and grabbed Maria's palm between his thumb and fingers. He applied force to the back of her hand with his thumb, causing it to bend at the wrist and then rotated her hand clockwise 180 degrees.
Maria immediately screamed in pain. The pressure on her wrist forced her to bend over at the waist to prevent her arm from breaking. "Timothy, you're hurting me." Tim didn't respond. "Timothy, wake up!" As soon as she said this, she realized two things. One, he was asleep and two, she wasn't going to be able to wake him.
Helpless, Maria wondered if she was gong to be able to ride this one out. Her very large and very strong husband was hurting her. She was, for the first time since they met, afraid of him. Regardless of all this, she blamed herself. She should have known he was sleeping. She shouldn't have tried to wake him. Still bent over, crying in pain, not knowing what to do, she heard Tim give a big exhale and let her go. He laid back down in bed and didn't move until the morning.
As soon as Tim let go of her hand, Maria fell to the ground holding her arm and sobbing. She was in the wrist lock for only a few seconds, but it felt like hours. She was amazed at how many things went through her mind in that short about of time. She spent the rest of that night on the couch, but she didn't sleep.
Wow! I pretty much completely rewrote this chapter. I must have written it in March of this year when I was thinking this was going to be a short story. Also, I am a better writer now than I was a week ago let alone six months ago.
Please leave comments and feedback below. Thanks!


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