Tag: About Writing

Lego: Bosley’s Builders, 14

14. The Stairs Go-to Crew

Bosley studied the staircase Tim put together to get people to their accommodation after the complaints about the ready-made he conveniently installed at the end of the block right by his and Trish’s quarters, with no access by anyone else.

He shook his head. Nice staircase but a heavy use of materials. And bulky. And not used now that that half of the crew were absent. Wendy and Jackie were at the hospital, Wendy at her midwifing. Dan was away somewhere salvaging. And Jed … Who knew if he’d even turn up again.

Think we scared him off.  Not a happy young man. Just the six of us here, counting Nin Wiz who is a silent fella, Ruff who is not a noisy type either, Trish, Tim, Drew and me.

He looked around. Drew stood on the hardware store’s front terrace, gesticulating. Hard at work discussing the hardware store’s fire-stair with Ms Bee and Ms Sander that looked like. All three engrossed in the discussion.

Bosley listened for the rest of the crew. He heard Tim and Trish discussing the next stage on their cabin with a throw-away comment every so often at Nin. Sounded like they were all quite busy too.

He chuckled at the offending staircase. So I’m safe disappearing this object of despair? Object despite that it couldn’t be shifted without breaking it down. Despair because of the heartache the building of it caused the builder. Disappear because it’s in the wrong place, takes up too much space and I need it gone. 

With each thought he jimmied off a tread. Stacked them back in Tim’s container. Then he fetched a brick separator and levered off bricks starting from the top. The clattering of the blocks on the ground brought only Ruff.

What idea haven’t I used yet to get a good stair go-to crew? Bosley ruminated. Well, I know we already have him, it’s just that he’s hiding his talents under a constant stream of denials. So. Idea?

“Before we begin on the bunkhouse,” Bosley said next morning. “I’d like for us to put together a semi-permanent stair or ladder to get to the top of the walls. Who’s going to give that a go? Drew?”

“Drew?” Drew said. “Drew gets to build the stairs?”

“What?” Boz said in an injured tone. “I thought you said that way back. That you wouldn’t mind being the stair-go-to guy?”

“I really really don’t remember that,” Drew said. “What about Tim?” he said at Tim, who just arrived at their little confab.

“What about Tim?” Tim said.

“Nope,” Bosley said. “Tim put his hand up for the freshwater supply.”

Tim spluttered. Changed tack. “This is about stairs? I saw you pointing. Shouldn’t be too hard to install a ready-made since we already have the scramble stair. But …”

“With Ruff the only user?” Bosley interrupted.

They all looked at Ruff scrambling up the uneven bricks, plates and tiles rising to roof-level.

“I don’t know how he doesn’t fall,” Drew said.

“I think Nin helps him to not fall,” Tim said.

“I want to see that, that ‘shouldn’t-be-too-hard’,” Drew said.

“Fine,” Tim said. “I’ll do the ready-made, you do a …whatever. A thing with which we can with our best foot forward rise from a floor to the floor above.”

“May the fastest man win the go-to-stairs moniker,” Bosley said. “The other one can be the freshwater supply guy.”

Drew and Tim went away together to think through their options. “Because,” Drew said, “The water supply is at least as big, if not bigger, than a handful of stairs.”

“Well, keep it under your hat,” Tim said. “But I’m better at walls and roofs than either of the other two.”

Drew laughed. “Me? I’m better at numbers and figures.”

Tim laughed too. “So let’s stay friendly. We’ll work at night. Keep the rest in the dark. I help you, you help me. Nin Wiz will help us both. Let’s do a kind of scramble-stair up to the half-floor …”

“With a brown three-rung ladder to the bunk house?” Drew said. “That way we’ll save the yellow ladder for us mortals to get up to Nin Wiz’s abode.”

“Nice,” Tim said. “Let’s now go locate the components without remarking on them and then knock off for the day.” He chortled. “Should keep everybody guessing.”

“See you at midnight?” Drew said.

“Make that 3 AM, when everybody is in their deepest sleep, and I’ll see you here.”

They separated, prowled around and fixed the different components on their internal maps. Met at 3 AM. Worked. Installed the stairs with Nin’s help.

Drew’s stair to the half floor.

Tim, caught by daylight, and needing all kinds of help.

Bosley studied the ready-made stair on its pedestal with him. “Why?” he said.

“The windows?” Tim said. “Umm.”

“Why the pedestal?” Bosley said. “And how do we get up onto the bottom step?”

“Mmm, I don’t know yet,” Tim said. “I was thinking that we’d need stairs something like this to get to our cabin, which will probably end up being on the same level as bunkhouse and so …”

“Tim, relax,” Bosley said. “I fully expect Drew to solve that problem. He’s probably already puzzling on it. I need you to start thinking about the freshwater supply.”

“We’ll need to get the power on first,” Tim said.

Cat Tales, 12

Me, lolling about in the sun

That big fluffy white rug is me of course, relaxing in the sun, while the pernickety old woman has her coffee and catches up on her social calls.

“Frog eggs?!” she said excitedly. “I have some too.” She laughed. “They’re no problem in my frog pond. I have an old cast iron bath now, that someone was tossing out in the white-goods recycling event.”

I pricked up my ears. Rolled over and sat up. Stared at the frog pond in the back of the yard. Reeds and a yellow flowering plant showed above the rim. On the white ledge nearest lay a bent piece of wood.

My human went on with her conversation. “There’s not a canetoad on Earth that can jump backward and over the lip. And they are not that good at climbing. Yes, I’ll teach my cat not to hunt them.”

Huh, I thought. We’ll see about that. I’ll hunt whatever catches my eye. And something did catch my eye just then. I stared.

The piece of wood on the lip of the pond moved! All by itself! Not a breath of wind!

This I needed to investigate. I hopped down from the deck and stalked silently toward the frog pond using all the cover at my disposal.

“Won’t do you any good,” the pernickety old woman called from the deck. “It’s the Frog Pond Guardian at her post.”

Her words made no sense. Belly to the ground, I leopard-crawled nearer, the nasturtium patch grew densely to well above my head.

I peered around the corner …

A large water dragon stared implacably back at me. I’d heard rumours about this lizard. In the backyard nextdoor it was supposed to have bitten off the head of a hen sitting on a nest of eggs.

The lizard moved! I backed up in a hurry! Waited there in the protection of the nasturtiums. Peered round the corner.

No. It just changed position. Lay there, immoveable.

“She’s just sunning herself,” the pernickety old woman said from behind me. What is it about her? She is always, always, giving away my hunting position.

Lodestar, 39.5 … A Crossroad

That is, the writer has arrived at a crossroad in the saga. A place where the forward movement of several characters intersect with consequences good and bad, depending on who they are.

Kes is on his way to rescue Ahni. Srese, the female avatar, is familiarising herself with the world just beyond the door. Her brother Sard, the remaindered avatar, has a hide-out nearby.

Also in the scene are Youk, still trying to best the twins, and half a dozen more people. Though none are expendable extras, they’re not viewpoint-characters in the present.

If you’ve read both The Remaindered Avatar and Lodestar Part 2 up to this point, you may know the problem that needs solving. In the former, it was Sard who rescued Ahni, with all his observations and feelings of what happened in CAVE. (Which is known as Rockeater’s Ridge by the herders.) In the latter, more recently posted story, Srese organises Ahni’s rescue. Same event. Different rescuers.

Which version is the most dramatic? Which version should I disappear?

Both have their merits. But I have to admit, that even as I’m writing this I’m deciding that the version that has Srese setting Ahni’s rescue into motion is the more informative, if not the more dramatic one.

Sard’s version can be shortened toward its end because somewhere along both these time lines, Srese and Sard almost meet.

Meaning that a couple of chapters of Sard’s story need to be rejigged, later, when I resume work on that again. In Srese’s version, Ahni can be left where she’ll be found by Sard after he catches up on what’s happening in CAVE, because Ahni will still need to be in Sard’s hands when she is rescued.

Links to the relevant chapters for your interest:
The Remaindered Avatar 16: Rescuing Ahni
Lodestar 34: What the Implant Did

Cat Tales, 4

All that the pernickety old woman expected me to live on until morning …

First thing this morning the pernickety old woman called me ‘Maggy’. Huh? Well I know she meant me, no one else present. I ignored her. I am Hand-of-God.

What the pernickety old woman and I are engaging in now, I’ll call the struggle for dominance, because that’s what I am about. You thought that was a dog thing? Ever seen a cat and dog stand off?

I overheard her say to a friend that she’s getting me accustomed to being awake in the daytime, and if that wasn’t enough, she’s getting me used to spending the majority of my waking hours indoors?

Well! We’ll see about that! I lay down on the mat in front of the backdoor—where sunlight beat through the glass and warmed me wonderfully. How could I not sleep for hours?

I did. I woke in the late afternoon. We could’ve had another stand-off about me going outside except that the woman distracted me with that red feather on stick.

She twirled the stick and I jumped and leapt and rolled at the twirling feather. We had a great time but that can’t happen again. I can’t let her win me over like this.

Then she showed me where she will feed me, in the kitchen. A white ceramic bowl filled with my favourite kibbles. Water right there beside them. I felt mollified and ate far too much.

I had another sleep and when I woke, I vomited up my kibbles. What a waste! Despite that I’m feeling wobbly in the middle, the old woman scooped me up, and ran me to the laundry.

She set me on the litter tray and waited expectantly. “Go on,” she said. “Sick up the rest.”

How embarrassing. I walked back to the drinking bowl in the kitchen. I drank. Waited by the food bowl for her to refresh the kibble supply.

Grumbling at herself, she cleaned up the vomit. “No more kibbles today,” she said.

What??!!! I’m telling you I created havoc that night!