Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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Mike, Gloria, and Heater were once again on the patio. They’d just had some breakfast, and the three were watching the airplanes as they took off and landed on the lake.

Suddenly, Mike’s phone rang and he answered it.

“Hi, Mike,” came the voice of Ron Fraser.

Mike excused himself and went into his office and shut the door. Ron’s voice hadn’t been as upbeat as it usually was.

“What’s up, Ron?” Mike asked.

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

---

Marcia woke with a start. She'd heard something in her sleep which didn't come from the engines or the gentle rocking of the “Blue Canoe.”

It came from the other bed in the room. She lay quietly again for a few moments until she heard another sniff. It didn't seem like the product of a cold or allergies. This sounded like someone hurting. She debated for a few minutes, wondering if she should just let Heather cry it out. When she heard the multiple exhalations of a weep, however, her compassion took over.

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As is usual in my stories, I'd like to thank Malady for his help in editing and ideas.

I'd also like to thank Melanie in helping me get this posted!

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Verity sat on her recliner, her feet up slightly. She lived alone ever since her parents had died two years before. She had a brother. Well, a half-brother, but she had neither seen nor spoken to him since her parents died.

As was usual, she was lonely, especially on this day, as it was Christmas Eve. She got up and went to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, and instead of creamer, she poured a bit of eggnog in with the brew. She considered something stronger, but even though only she would know, she wasn’t yet of the legal drinking age, and it wasn’t like she had any alcohol on hand.

She put the nog back in her fridge, then returned to her recliner.

She lived in an apartment that wasn’t lavish by any means. She needed to save as much money as she could, so whatever was left each month after basic necessities was put into a savings account. Once it was large enough, it would fund her needed surgery.

As she sipped the coffee, she thought about the events that had brought her to the present. Her mother had played around a lot in high school and she kept it up as she went to college. She had been the stereotypical proud cheerleader, who felt no one but the football team was worth her time.

Usually.

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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I want to thank Malady, once again, for his help checking through this story for the many errors I frequently insert, as well as listening to my sometimes completely crazy ideas about the direction of the story and telling me how crazy they are!

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Stephen had stitches on his temple, and Mage had heard from Bruce that the doctor had a bit of repair work to do on the temporal muscle below. It had been cut a bit. The bone had a hairline fracture in it, but the skin and muscle had cushioned it enough that it hadn’t been any worse. A concussion had occurred, which was likely why Stephen didn’t remember too much of the incident.

“I can imagine,” Mage replied. “Can we talk a bit?”

Stephen beckoned her inside, but she said, “Maybe out in the garden?”

He followed her out to the garden bench. It was a typical iron and 1x3 board bench, but instead of being in a flower garden, it was in between giant cabbages, each with heads over a foot in diameter, and pumpkins that would end up being over 100 or more pounds because of the incredible growing conditions in the Matanuska Valley.

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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Chapter 27

6:00 PM

Mage hadn’t had time to prepare anything big with driving Stephen to the doctor’s but on the way back she stopped long enough to pick up a couple of take and bake pizzas.

At eight o’clock, the kids went upstairs when the doorbell rang. Chet answered it as Mage called out to the kids to be nice to each other. Lately, they had started bickering as siblings often did.

Thanks Malady! You're a great help!

I know it's been a while since I've updated The Letters, and I do apologize.

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the letters, themselves.

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Chapter 11

“We should go to London,” Grace said after a while.

Greg didn’t move, but said, “We’re descending right now. We’re almost there.”

Grace sighed and turned to look at him. “Look. I know it was tough seeing what happened to Gracie, but we’ve got a job to do here.”

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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I want to thank Malady, once again, for his help checking through this story for the many errors I frequently insert, as well as listening to my sometimes completely crazy ideas about the direction of the story and telling me how crazy they are!

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Chapter 25

July 28th, 2023

Lincoln City, OR

9:00 AM

Marcia slept in a bit, but woke up to the smell of coffee. Lazily, she sat up and looked around the bedroom. Obviously, Darryl had gotten up a fair bit earlier than her. She distinctly remembered not caring overly much about where her t-shirt, shorts, and undergarments landed before she lay down, but now they were not on the floor, where logic said they must have landed when she and Darryl collaborated in their removal.

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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Once Darryl and Marcia left, Mage and Chet collected the gifts that they had insisted they would put away, and took them to a shed at the corner of the property. After, since they were nearby, they walked to a building that was being erected. It was hidden behind one of the many gravel glacial moraines that abounded in the area.

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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And for the moment you've been waiting for... Well, at least they have...

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Trish was immaculately made up, and her hair was styled nicely. She gave a good look at what was arranged on Marcia’s vanity and moved her head in a manner that suggested the cosmetics just wouldn’t do for the day. She grabbed a case that she’d carried in with her and setting it on the vanity, she said, “Let’s get this show on the road.”

This story is part of a different short story that I've been working on. I really wasn't thinking of writing this section of the story, only to allude to it. But as I was looking at it today, I realized there was a nice place for a Take Your Daughter to Work Challenge story.

I hope you enjoy!

"Joannie!" called Caleb. "Are you getting up?"

There was a high-pitched groan from the little girl's bedroom, and Caleb limped to the door. He knocked on it and called again. "Joannie!"

“Sleep!” came the voice from inside the room.

“It’s time to go to the factory, Sweetie!”

“Wanna sleep!”

picture by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

So I was very bored today, and I was watching Prime Video, with its amazing collection of B Disaster films. Then I got to thinking about the Take Your Daughter to Work Day Challenge.

How hard would it be to use the ready-made outline of B Disaster Movies for this idea? It's a very simple outline, I know. Still, it's there, and obviously not copywritten, because EVERY B Disaster Movie uses the same outline! A ready-made outline! Yay!

This is posted as an outline because... because... because I thought it would be fun to post it like that.

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Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

---

I want to thank Malady, once again, for his help checking through this story for the many errors I frequently insert, as well as listening to my sometimes completely crazy ideas about the direction of the story and telling me how crazy they are!

---

Marcia had no sense of where she was. She knew who she was, and even where she was, but to sense it? That wasn't there.

Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

Frederick was 25 years old. He was married, and he and his wife, Wilhelmina, had a pair of twins named Bernard and Elizabeth. The reader should note that their last name was neither Flintstone nor Rubble, however. Frederick and Wilhelmina simply found it amusing that the shortened forms of their names were identical to those of a certain modern, stone age family. Thus, naming their kids after Fred and Wilma's best friends was a stroke of humor-related genius.

Picture by Micah Tindell on Unsplash.

I'd like to thank Malady and Hollis for their help going through this story.
I realize this is an overused title, but it just seemed to fit this story.

October 26th, 2012

Brandon Grey watched as the most beautiful woman in the world walked up the aisle toward him. His heart threatened to skip a beat one moment, then throw in an extra, the next.

For her part, Cammille Smith was radiant. This day was one she had been looking forward to for years. She was twenty-five years old, and she had wondered how this day would be since she started noticing boys.

As the couple said their vows, they both felt like they were dancing on air, and in fact, they appeared to be during the reception. Their first dance, while perhaps not the most skilfully executed, was beautiful due to the expression of love radiating from one to the other.

Photo by Matthew Cheng on Unsplash

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As is always the case, I'd like to thank Malady for his help editing both the text, and the crazy ideas I come up with.

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Eydie

October 27^th, 2015

It had been a hard night. Eddie had stayed up most of the night, unable to sleep. He’d tossed and turned, and when he finally did fall asleep, he had dreams where he ended up fighting with everyone.

He hurried downstairs, poured a bowl of sugar-encrusted flaked corn, filled it 3/4 full of milk, grabbed a spoon, slopped half of the milk on the floor, brushed a towel off the counter, took a bite of the cereal, pushed the towel over the spilled milk with his foot, took another bite of the cereal, kicked the towel in front of the washing machine sitting in the corner, dropped the still full bowl into the sink, and hurried out the door.

“Eddie!” his mom called as the door slammed shut. She hurried to the door and opened it, knowing the teenager wouldn't respond, but she tried anyway. True to form, he continued running toward the highway.

Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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I'd like to apologize for the long delay in posting. Hopefully, that's over now, but I'm not really sure. Anything can happen, and usually does in my life.
As is always the case, I'd like to thank Malady for his help checking through this story for the many errors I frequently insert, as well as listening to my sometimes completely crazy ideas about the direction of the story and telling me how crazy they are!

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Chapter 3.13

Wednesday, May 22^nd 2023

It had been several days since French and Brandy had told them what happened to Gerald Parks.

Marcia had hoped they would find that the saw cuts had been made after death – maybe the killer initially planned to dispose of the body in different locations? That wouldn’t be great, but at least it wouldn’t be torture. But no, there was clear evidence that the sawing was done while the poor man was alive.

She found it hard to conceive that people could do things like that to each other. She wished she'd never found out about this case, but she desperately wanted to prove that Bruce had nothing to do with it.