Link to previous Chapter 8e
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Chapter 9a - 5,341words
‘Do you remember the road trip we took second year of college?’ Shonda asked.
‘I sure do,’ Allison said. She turned to look at her friend and put on a wide-open face. ‘I remember you getting us lost.’
Shonda snapped her head round. ‘ME get us lost?’ The outrage lasted until she saw Allison’s face. They both erupted in laughter. ‘Okay, I did miss the turning that meant we ended up doing that massive detour. But if you hadn’t tried to take us on a short cut we’d have stayed on the interstate, and I wouldn’t have missed the turn.’
‘Well, hopefully the satnav is working in this and we can just let that tell us where to go. How long will it take us?’
‘We can take all week if we want. I don’t need to be back in until a week on Monday, and the credit card has me covered until Saturday for the hire of this.’
‘I don’t think we need to worry about paying the rental,’ Allison said.
Shonda glanced in the mirror at the sports bags they’d transferred the money into. The stash of money was lighter by the few thousand they’d taken to cover incidentals.
They hadn’t spent any of it yet.
‘What are you going to do with it?’ Shonda asked. ‘There’s limits on deposits, and not everywhere will take hundreds.’
‘Well, half of it is spoken for, and we need to check, but I think it’s ten or twenty thousand a day you can deposit before the banks have to flag you to the government for money laundering. So putting five million into one account and staying below money laundering limits would take a-hundred-and-twenty-five days if it’s twenty grand, or two-hundred-and-fifty days if it’s ten grand.’
‘I’m pretty sure it’s ten thousand,’ Shonda said.
‘Okay. But that only matters if it’s being deposited into a single bank, or account, I’m not sure which. But whichever, if the accounts are in different banks, and if different people’s accounts are having funds deposited, I reckon it could all be in the system inside a couple of months without too much inconvenience.’
‘You suddenly sound like a criminal mastermind on money laundering. Where did this come from?’
‘You know how I work with the T.V. on in the background. I guess some of the cop shows have sunk in.’ Allison shifted her hands and winced, despite them resting on a pillow on her lap.
‘You okay?’ Shonda asked.
‘I’m better than I’ve been in years. The hands are fine, but I can’t thank you enough for coming to take me to the hospital and getting me out. I’m still processing how close Earl came to killing me, and all because I accidentally discovered he’s screwing someone up in Cleveland. If you hadn’t been here this week, I don’t know what I’d have done.’ Tears pricked Allisons eyes, and she blinked rapidly to try and quell them. She continued, ‘And that’s why you’re taking half the money.’
‘I can’t do that!’
‘Of course you can. It’s not like it was mine. We sure as hell know it wasn’t Earl’s, and we both agree it’s likely from whatever criminal things Earl’s boss does in Cleveland. So, we can go back to LA, call the cops, and say ‘hey, my boyfriend had all this money delivered from somewhere’, or we can keep it. And I mean we, you and me.’
‘I can’t take two-and-a-half million dollars.’
‘So how much can you take?’
Shonda’s phone rang. She’d synced it with the car system and clicked the answer button on the wheel. ‘Hi, it’s Shonda.’
‘Shonda, it’s Corrina.’
‘Hey girl, how are you. Look, thanks for helping load the car up.’
‘Sure, look, I don’t know why you decided to leave early, but it was the right thing to do. There’s been a couple of big serious looking guys asking for Allison.’
‘Are they detectives?’ Allison asked.
‘No,’ Corrina said. ‘They were a couple of goons in suits. I told them I didn’t know where you were, which is true. They’ve hammered on your apartment.’
‘Are they still there?’
‘No, I heard them leave in the elevator.’
‘Corrina, thanks for letting me know. We think Earl’s in some kind of trouble at work but, to be honest, I don’t care anymore. I don’t know what it is and, for all I care, they can do to him what they did to me.’ And Allison realised, as she spoke, that it was as true now as yesterday. The Earl shaped place inside her, which had been willing to stand by him, to help him, to overlook his foibles and forgive his cruelty, was gone. She wasn’t completely sure if it had been excised, or merely covered over. Maybe she’d never know unless she saw him again and that wasn’t something she intended to happen.
‘You ladies go safe,’ Corrina said. The call disconnected.
They drove on in silence for a few moments. Shonda said, ‘Do you reckon they know the money is missing?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe. What I don’t understand is why they were asking for me.’
‘Maybe they heard what Earl did and wanted to check up on you.’
Allison turned to look at her friend.
Shonda glanced sideways. ‘What?’ she asked.
‘I don’t get the feeling it was a welfare check by Earl’s boss. He doesn’t feel like the kind of guy who goes in for that kind of thing.’
‘You’re probably right.’
‘I think I need a stop. Are we close to anywhere?’
‘We just past Banning. It looks like there’s a rest stop at Whitewater, or we can go into Palm Springs. What kind of a break do you need?’
‘More than a place that truckers break at. How far is Palm Springs?’
Shonda looked at the map on the display screen. ‘About thirty miles.’
‘Let’s have a stop there, get a bite to eat and a have a walk.’ She rubbed her head. ‘I need a break from being in the car.’
‘A walk, in Palm Springs, in this heat? I’m not looking forward to getting out the car to go into a restaurant.’
‘Well, maybe there’ll be a mall to walk round. Retired people need somewhere to buy their beige shorts, polo shirts, and sandals.’
They pulled into a parking lot surrounded on three sides by buildings which had a covered walkway out front. There were two restaurants: one was a steak joint, the other looked to be a strange fusion of Italian and Chinese. They took the second option.
Inside was quiet, but thankfully cool. The explosion of heat when they got out the car had been like walking into a blacksmiths workshop. The women stood and waited for the server who turned out to be neither Italian nor Mexican by appearance. ‘Hi ladies, I’m Renee. I’ll be looking after you. Now, is it just yourselves or are the gents following?’ She nodded as if approving when they both said, ‘just us’, and said, ‘You want something up by a window or over by a wall more private?’
‘What’d you prefer?’ Allison asked.
‘Let’s do the window, we can talk about folks going by.’ Shonda said.
‘Window it is,’ Renee said. 'I’ll go get some water, but do you want coke’s or anything else while you look at the menu?’
‘What’s the iced tea like?’ Shonda asked.
‘Better since they got me working here. I recommend the peach.’
‘Then I’ll take a large iced tea, peach.’ Shonda looked at Allison and asked, ‘You want one.’
‘Just a diet coke for me.’
Renee said, ‘I’ll go fix those for you while you check the menu. Chinese is on the left, Italian on the right. Me, I like the Szechuan spice stuff, it’s almost hot enough. But if you prefer something milder then the sweet-and-sour is popular. I’ll be back in a few minutes.’
The woman walked away and Allison said to Shonda, ‘Is that a Georgia accent?’
‘The way she said coke and not soda or pop, I figure for sure.’ She chuckled. ‘Did you see how she looked at you when suggesting milder dishes?’
‘Well, how is she to know she’s talking with the two-thousand-and-eight Champion for Most Habanero Peppers in a Minute at the Pistol Pete Mexican Bar and Grill in (location)?’
‘You only won because I was laughing so much at your face. I thought you were going to do a Mt St Helens and spray the watchers with half-chewed habanero lava.’
‘But, I won! Damn, I wonder where that t-shirt went. I had it-’ She went quiet and looked at the menu. The last time she remembered having the garment was shortly after getting together with Earl, who’d quizzed her about the event, and then tried to prove how hot he liked food the next time they were out. She’d enjoyed her dish. Earl had taken the hottest thing on the menu, piled on jalapenos and hot sauce, then choked on his first forkful. She remembered looking for the t-shirt a little while after and not finding it. She’d asked Earl if he’d seen it, and he pretended not to remember what shirt she meant.
Her head hurt, but not up top, down behind her ear, near where the neck became the skull. She rubbed it and stared at the menu, trying to figure what to eat.
Shonda said, ‘Time to start rebuilding life after Earl, Allison.’
Allison looked up. She smiled at her friend. ‘Thanks to you.’ She glanced down at the menu. ‘I think the Szechuan duck, and some wontons. Though, we may end up with some to go because while part of me is famished, part of me is wary of the idea of eating.’
Shonda frowned. She said, ‘You’re looking a bit gray. Are you feeling okay?’
‘To be honest, no. I reckon things are catching up, and I don’t mean the last couple of days. I’ve been living on a knife edge for so many years and now the pressure is off and I should be bouncing with joy but I feel more like a spoon that’s been bent back and forth and-’ Allison stopped as Renee approached with a tray.
‘Ladies, I got a diet coke, a peach iced-tea, and water. Now, how you doing with the menu?’
Shonda said, ‘We’ll take Szechuan duck, Hunan Beef, Hot and Sour Soup, House Special Chop Suey, and Spicy Ribs. Though, we may end up taking some to go.’
‘Sounds good. And no worries about taking leftovers. Let me go get that going for you.’ Renee headed off.
Allison said, ‘I’ve been thinking about what happens next. Earl’s going to come looking for the money, either because he’s got away with it or Harry’s found out what he’s doing, and either way he’ll look for me, which means I can’t stay with you, well not beyond being able to use my arms.’
‘Honey, I don’t think you need to worry overmuch. He never bothered to know anything about me, right? So, he has my name. I bet he couldn’t tell you my surname if you’d put pins under his fingernails. And bless his heart if he could even guess at where I work.’
‘I figure he’d have trouble spelling the name he knows you by. There’s no way he knows that’s not your first name, and he probably couldn’t guess either your surname or where you work. You’re right. But I don’t want to put you at risk. And I want to try something. Have you seen these folks who live in campers? Like it's all fitted out and they just drive round. I can do that! I can live off-grid, though maybe for the first few weeks I drive round (Shonda’s city) until I get used to it, and while my hands are healing.’
Shonda looked at her friend, pride and concern fought for space inside her. This was more like the woman she’d known in college. She said, ‘We’ll need to check on how much you can pay cash for a camper before the dealership has to tell the IRS. But I love the plan. All we need is a way to keep in touch.’
‘I’ve got your phone number.’ Allison winced and screwed her eyes shut. ‘Damn this headache. Can you get a couple of pills out for me?’
Shonda opened her bag and took a pill bottle out. She opened the safety top, which would have been almost impossible for Allison to do with her damaged hands. She said, ‘I still think you should have been in longer.’
‘Well, if I’d known paying the deductibles wouldn’t have been an issue, maybe I would have. Of course, the chances are Earl’d have skipped away with the money so I’d have been left with the medical debt.’
‘Yeh, you’re right. But promise me that if it hasn’t eased off by the time we get to (Shonda’s home), you’ll see my doctor.’
‘If it’s still the same, I promise.’ Allison said. She took the tablets from Shonda and washed them down with water. ‘Where are we staying tonight?’
‘Lake Havasu City.’
‘Is it far?’
Shonda pulled up maps on her phone and checked. ‘Another couple of hundred miles. Three and a half hours at current estimates. We’ll be there in time for the evening buffet opening.’
Allison laughed, winced, and laughed again. ‘Should we even bother eating now. There’ll probably be shrimp on the buffet.’
‘We’ve ordered. It’d be rude to leave now. And anyway, you wanted a walk. We have to find Palm Springs premier Beige and Baggy Boutique and have a good look round. While we’re here we could probably go casket shopping, I bet Palm Springs is right up there with The Villages for top quality casket provision.’
‘I have a sore head, I’m not dying.’
‘Look, it’s never too early to start planning. And who said anything about a casket for you? My momma will be delighted to know I have things sorted. She totally plans to outlive me and my siblings.’
‘Your mother will outlive the heat death of the universe, and be so disapproving that the whole damn thing will start up again so she can be disapproving a second time round.’
‘Oh, that is good. I should write that down.’ Shonda said.
‘Oh, please don’t tell her I said it.’
‘Please! I most certainly will tell her.’
‘I’d better bring very good chocolate next time I see her.’
‘And lots of it.’
They were still chuckling when Renee arrived with their food. ‘Szechuan duck.’ She made to place it before Shonda, Shonda shook her head and pointed at Allison. Renee said, ‘I warn you it’s spicy.’
‘I’ll not put extra siracha on then.’
Renee laughed, put their food down, and said, ‘Well, enjoy, and if you need anything, I’ll be over polishing the cutlery.’
The women ate but as expected, Allison’s appetite was limited. They waved Renee over to get the bill.
‘And how was it for you ladies?’ Renee waved a hand at the unfinished food. ‘You want me to get this boxed up to go?’
‘Please,’ Allison said. ‘And tell the chef the duck was great. Thanks for the suggestion.’
‘Oh, you are welcome. Now, are you staying here, or on your way somewhere?’
Shonda said, ‘I’m taking my friend here back to North Carolina for some recuperation, and we’re having a road-trip.’
‘How wonderful. Well, you girls drive safe, and have a lovely time. I’ll be back in a moment with your boxes.’ She gathered their plates and dishes onto a tray and headed back towards the kitchen.
‘I vote we leave a massive tip,’ Allison said.
‘Agreed.
The put five-hundreds in the wallet with the bill and left it on the table. Allison made her way out to the car, Shonda waited for their food. Back at the car Allison was grinning and looked better than when they’d stopped.
‘You should have seen Renee’s reaction when she opened the billfold,’ Allison said. ‘For a moment I thought she was going to run out after you.’
‘Maybe being a millionaire isn’t so terrible. Right, shall we get back on the road?’
‘Yes. I feel okay just now. Let’s use that to get to the hotel. And damn can we get the aircon on it’s like sitting in an oven.’
--
Allison’s prediction that she’d be good for a few hours bore out and by the time Shonda pulled into the hotel parking lot the pain levels had started to break through the waning effect of the painkillers. Her fingers ached, individually, and sitting for the journey was hurting where the bruises were developing. In the room she took more painkillers, changed, and got into bed, cocooning herself in the duvet.
‘Sorry,’ she said to Shonda. ‘I need to rest. I’m not going to be much fun for you.’
‘Ally-bee, this isn’t a wild road-trip, this is taking you to safety because you had the crap beaten out of you. So, if you need to get out of the car and into bed every day, and then sleep for a week when we get back home, then that’s what you do. Now, if you’re okay resting I’m going to go walk over London Bridge and get rid of the kinks from driving all day. If you’re asleep when I get back, I’ll be quiet.’
Alison did sleep. When she woke it was dark, and it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the streetlight which leaked round the side of the curtain. The light of her watch felt bright when she checked her wrist, noting it was after nine, she’d slept for nearly four hours. Sliding up the bed she rested against the headboard, still not quite awake, and wishing the pain was as reticent about returning. Not that she could do anything about it, Shonda had her meds.
Shonda wasn’t in her bed, but she’d been back to the room, the clothes she’d worn during the drive were over a chair. Allison wondered if she was out getting food or having a drink at the bar. The thought of either were beyond what she could cope with, but neither was she ready to settle back to sleep. The remote was on the bedside table and she clicked the television on. The station which came up was talking about a wreck on the (road) and she saw the remains of a blue Mustang crushed under the back of a trailer.
‘…driver was dead at the scene. But a more shocking surprise was made when emergency services opened the trunk of the vehicle and found a man’s body dismembered and wrapped in black plastic bags. Authorities are yet to confirm but it has the hallmarks of the (location) cannibal, and we have to wonder if his reign of terror might have been ended by reckless driving.’
Alison stared at the wreck of the Mustang and found herself amazed that there had been two people gullible enough to pay good money for what has to be the worst version of the vehicle in twenty or thirty years. Not that she cared for cars overmuch, but having a Mustang, but not getting a V8, was as bad as it could be.
On the television they had cut back to the news anchor. ‘And we have an update on that story. While the identity of both the driver and the body are still unverified, it appears the car was stolen. Police are asking that the owner, a Mr Earl (name), please contact the (relevant police station).’
The news moved on to the next item, but Allison didn’t hear any of it. That was Earl’s car. She couldn’t help but wonder where Earl was. Had he been at a bar or somewhere, and had the car stolen from outside? Maybe he’d been car-jacked and beaten up. Maybe it was him in the trunk.
She realised she didn’t care. They lack of feeling or emotion for him persisted, existed to the point that there was no horror that he may be dead, nor any glee or satisfaction, just a blank nothingness of it be something that might have happened to someone she knew - like seeing an obituary for a teacher that you vaguely remember having for a year back in high school, but whose lessons can’t be recalled.
The news was onto local, Lake Havasu City, items and news of ongoing work at a local waterfall after recent flooding. The death of an out of state visitor was recounted, with pictures from their funeral. Allison flicked through the stations until she found The Food Network, and a show with someone she didn’t recognise preparing a dish she couldn’t readily identify washed over her while the pain of the bruises and breaks steadily rose.
The door opened and Shonda slid in, saw the television was on, and said, ‘Hey, I wondered if you were out for the night.’
‘No, I woke. Have you got my meds?’
‘Oh, crap. Sorry Allison.’ Shonda reached into her bag and got the pill bottle out. She unscrewed the lid and took them to her friend, who had scooped up the bottle of water from beside the bed. Allisons hand was clammy when she took the pills. Shonda asked, ‘You feeling like you did earlier?’
Allison swallowed the tablets down, almost choking a little, but getting them down. She said, ‘It’s just the pain. I had the news on. The police are asking Earl to get in contact. His car’s been in a wreck.’
‘Wasn’t he in it?’
‘They think not. But there was a body in the trunk.’
‘So, someone stole his car, killed someone else, stuffed the body in the trunk, and then crashed the car?’
‘That’s what it sounds like from the news.’
Shonda sat on the side of Allison’s bed and asked, ‘how are you?’
‘I’ve been sitting here trying to process it and I don’t care what has happened to him and I’m having a harder time trying to work through if that makes me bad or not, but then there was a news story about a woman who died in an accident at some local beauty spot and I felt sorry for her and that made me feel better about not caring about Earl and now I think I want to watch some dumb telly and go back to sleep.’
‘What about something to eat? I already ate, but I can go fetch you something, or there’s a microwave downstairs and I can heat up some leftovers.’
‘I’m fine. I don’t think I could face anything.’ She said, ‘Of course, I could wake up at two and feel different.’
‘Well, if you do, wake me. I’ll deal with it for you.’
‘No, I’ll be fine. Are you going back out?’
Shonda shook her head. ‘No. I’m going to shower and bed. But a bit of telly will be great. Hey, in the morning, is it okay if we take a slow start? I want to put some money in the bank and on my credit card. If we’re going to have to put it in gradually, then I’d like to make sure all my bills are covered for the week.’
‘Sure. What do you want to watch?’
‘You choose, I’m going to shower.’
The next day they stopped at the bank on the way up to the I-40. There was no queue and Shonda deposited nine-thousand dollars in a few moments.
‘Did they ask anything?’ Allison asked as they worked their way out the city.
‘Nope. And may all deposits be that easy.’
‘Where are we headed to today?’
‘If you can make it, and we get decent traffic, Albuquerque. It’s five-hundred miles, so we really do need clear traffic, and no sneaky traffic cops parked behind roadway signs.’
‘Well, I’ll probably sleep for a chunk of the drive, so please don’t crash out of boredom.’
‘Oh, I’ll put on a Maas audiobook and I’m up to the one where things get spicy according to the reviews.’
‘What, like the Shades of Grey things? I never understood the appeal.’
‘Oh, Ally-bee, this is not that lip biting stuff. And the lady writes more than young billionaires with developmental issues.’
‘Oh, well, put it on. I wanna share in the depravity!’
Shonda used the screen prompts to select her audiobook, and pressed play. She concentrated on the road ahead, apart from a brief glance over at her friend, who had settled back on the headrest closed her eyes and settled her hands on the cushion on her lap.
Sunday traffic along the I-40 was light, but steady and the audiobook provided a colorful aural backdrop to the pale landscape which the incessant sun seemed to bleach incrementally as the day proceeded.
Shonda had intended to make a stop at Flagstaff. As they neared the city, she looked across at Allison who appeared to be sleeping, but not restfully. Her friend was pale and drawn, where the bruising to her face wasn’t turning deep ugly colors. ‘Allison, do you want to stop for a bit?’ she asked, but softly, so that if she were awake, it would carry over the audiobook, but if not, it’d be unlikely to disturb her. Allison slept on. Shonda gave her attention back to the road, and eased the gas pedal down, her speed increased above the seventy-five allowed in the state. She hit ninety and would have been quite content continuing at that until she saw a state trooper on the other side of the Interstate and realised that if they were stopped and searched, having millions of dollars they couldn’t give a reason for having was a good way to end up in difficulties and lose the money.
The speed drifted back down to the limit and Shonda thought about how two days ago they never knew about the money, it was less than twenty-four hours since Allison had said she intended them to split it. Even after seeing the bundles of cash, after depositing a chunk into her bank account, it didn’t feel real. And that was something else that was weird. She’d never held as much as nine thousand in cash before, sure, the deposit on her apartment had been nearly four times that, but that was just numbers on the screen, she never got to actually see or hold it. There was something primal about having the physical cash, something totemic which burrowed into the psyche and lodged there.
Twenty-four hours ago, she couldn’t imagine having the better part of two and a half million dollars, well, not outside the imaginary figures of pension projections. But now it was hers, well, unless Allison needed it, and the thought of some random state trooper taking it because she was driving too fast made her ease back further, dropping to seventy and clicking the cruise control on.
About a hundred miles from Albuquerque Allison awoke with start, stared at Shonda, and said, ‘I never checked the news. Did you hear if they found Earl?’
‘Hey, how you doing? No, I haven’t checked the news all day.’
‘I think I need a pee.’
‘There’s a small town just ahead. I’ll pull off and we’ll find somewhere. I’ll be honest, I could probably do with a break myself.’
‘Where are we?’
‘A couple of hours from Albuquerque. You’ve slept the whole time, so I just kept driving. You’ve missed a lot of desert colors but little else. How are you feeling?’
‘Like someone beat me and I’m full of bruises.’ Allison twisted her neck left and right, rolled her shoulders and lifted her arms from the cushion they rested on. ‘And I feel like I’ve slept all day in a car.’ She rested her arms back down, did a final roll of her neck, and winced. ‘Oh, there’s something just there that hurts.’
‘Maybe leave off doing an isometric workout just now? And when we get to mine I don’t care if you think you feel better, I want you to go see a doctor to get checked over, make sure the hospital didn’t miss something in the rush to get you out before the Friday night press.’
‘I’ll be fine. It’s only been a couple of days. In normal circumstances I’d be resting in bed.’
‘In normal circumstances you wouldn’t have been beaten.’
‘You’re probably right. But I was. And it hurts. I figure by the time we get to yours things will have settled down but, if they haven’t, I promise I’ll be good and get checked by your doctor.’ She winced and squeezed her thighs together. ‘How far until we can stop? This could get urgent pretty quickly.’
‘Another five or ten minutes. I’ll stop the first place we see.’
A few moments later a sign showed the next exit had a gas station and facilities and they swung of into a village called Milan.
‘Do you think,’ Shonda asked, that the founders looked at the arid land we’re in and thought, ‘this reminds me of Northern Italy, let’s call it Milan’?’
‘Maybe the village was founded by some wannabee fashionistas, and they thought this would become a temple of high style for the nation.’ Allison said. She unclipped her belt as Shonda was still pulling into the parking lot. The car had barely stopped before she was opening the door and making an awkward speed walk in the direction of the restroom sign.
With emergency averted they decided to press on to Albuquerque instead of stopping to eat now, so picked up some chips, chocolate, and sodas. They sat in the car and tucked in. Shonda put the key in the ignition but stopped and said, ‘Why don’t we check if there’s any news on Earl?’ She reached back and grabbed her tablet from her bag. She typed ‘Earl (name), Los Angeles crash’ into her browser and hit search.
There were several news items, she clicked open the first one and scanned the article. It recounted how a blue Mustang had collided with a trailer, the driver was dead at the scene, and another body was found in the trunk. Police were looking to contact the owner of the vehicle.
‘It doesn’t look like there’s been any update since last night,’ Shonda said. She slid the tablet back into her bag and got them underway. ‘You don’t want to call the police, do you?’
‘Maybe I should.’
‘And tell them what? Hi, I’m Allison, I’m running away from Earl because he beat the hell out of me, and I didn’t want to press charges because the cop who came to see me at the hospital is a buddy of his boss who I think is a criminal. Oh, and I’ve got five-million dollars which I think he stole from the same boss.’ Shonda indicated and swung out to pass a big rig hauling lumber.
‘Well, when you put it like that.’ Allison broke a square of chocolate from a block that was produced by a small company in Albuquerque. ‘Oh my goodness! This is amazing. Here, you need to try some!’ She broke of another square and held it over for Shonda to bite. Allison said, ‘I just think I’m going to have to speak with the police sooner or later. They’ll have gone to the apartment; they’ve probably spoken to Corrina. They’ll want to know why I’ve disappeared.’
Shonda sucked the square of chocolate, letting it melt on her tongue, and the flavor to wash through her mouth. Eventually she said, ‘What about you wait until they ask for you to contact them? We’ll check the news. And if they don’t ask but, by the time we get to mine, you still feel the need to contact them, you can do it while you have somewhere to live and not while we’re road-tripping? And give me some more of that chocolate!’
Chapter Break
I wrote this post about a story where I had a first chapter written. I'm trying to push on and finish a first draft in 2024.
If you'd like to be tagged in for future chapters, let me know.
Thanks
Stuart
Link to collated chapters HERE
Link to the short story which is the seed for this is HERE
Any folks who want to pitch in on local things I get wrong, please do. I've never been and there's only so much I can learn on the internet.
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