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Ravenwood Chapter 4: Early Morning at the Coffee Shop

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It was still dark out when Elisa Underwood opened her coffee shop, The Rest Stop. She had work to do. The day would start soon enough and she needed to be ready so that everyone else could be ready. She opened the door and locked it behind her.

She didn’t turn on too many lights, not needing to run up her electric bills. She walked into the back where the bakery was and turned those lights on. She turned on the ovens, having gotten the dough ready yesterday and put it into their fridge. She set them to the proper temperatures and waited for them to warm. Her first batches were bagels of different types and some cinnamon rolls.

While they baked, she started grinding her coffee beans. While that worked, she went through her store making sure that everything was in order and clean. The girls had done well the night before, they almost always did. If she found things less than ideal, she usually figured that there was some problem. Some idiot was causing problems.

The place that she set up was reflective of what she thought it would be like to have a peaceful mind. There were plants hanging from hooks in the ceiling. There were several tables lining the walls for two or four people. They were made of a nice, hardwood. The counter took up most of the back and to the right was the bathroom.

She got things ready, long rows of bagels and other pastries. Everything worked the way it was supposed to. With everything where it needed to be, she checked her phone. It was time to open. She turned the sign, clicked the lock and got behind the counter. She started a slow count to twenty and got to work. She prepared an onion bagel with cream cheese and a coffee with one sugar and two creams.

Brett Tomm, real estate agent extraordinaire came through the door.

“Onion bagel with cream cheese, coffee with one sugar and two creams,” they said together as Elisa held it up to him.

“You are a goddess,” he said as he pressed his credit card against the pinpad.

He hit the 20% for the tip and was out the door. Ready to make deals and help people find their homes. After he was gone, she started getting several lattes ready. A gaggle of cheerleaders came in on their way to their early morning practice. She handed them off to each of them. They thanked her and passed cash over to her.

Georgia Hartman came in next, dressed in her park ranger gear and ready to hit the trails. Large coffee black and a cinnamon roll.

“Watch out for the bears,” Elisa said.

“Watch out for low hanging ceiling beams,” Georgia said.

Elisa laughed as her old friend took her morning meal and left.

She started cooking a pair of eggs, some cheese and ham on the griddle. There was a small pile of hash browns cooking next to it. She applied a fair amount of salt, pepper and ketchup to the bagel. She wrapped everything up in a bag and threw in some ketchup packets as the bell over the door rang.

Chuck Trainor, quarterback of the local football team walked in. He was the star of the school but he was also quite and polite. Unless you did something wrong. Some out of towners had been causing problems in her shop one night. Being rude to the girls and making a mess. Chuck had been passing by with his girlfriend. He had stopped and Elisa had seen a look of fury on his face that she had never seen before. He yanked the door near off its hinges. He shouted at them with a voice like thunder. They had stopped to look at him. He ordered them in that same voice to clean up their mess and then give Elisa money as recompense. When they had left, his girlfriend had to comfort him as he did not like being angry. Elisa had made him a cinnamon roll as a thank you.

“Thank you miss,” he said as he took his bag and gave her the payment and a tip.

“You’re very welcome, Chuck,” she replied.

He gave her a slow nod and walked out of the store. After he was gone, a young woman entered. Elisa had never seen her before. She was short but given that Elisa was six feet and four inches tall, most people were short in comparison to her. The young woman was Asian and pretty with a round face and chipmunk cheeks. Her hair was a dusty brown. She was wearing comfy clothes, a zip up jacket and sweat pants. She looked at Elisa who was a tall white woman that reminded her of a corn stalk with her yellow hair at the top of her head being held down by a handkerchief. She was also wearing a dark blue apron, overalls and a t-shirt.

This would be fun.

“Hi, how can I help you?” Elisa said.

“Yeah, can I get a cinnamon roll, coffee and an egg, sausage and cheese bagel,” the young woman said.

“Let me get that going for you.”

“Thanks.”

While Elisa worked on the bagel fixings.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” the young woman asked.

“Sure,” Elisa said.

“Are people really lame about how tall you are?”

“Hunh, no one has ever phrased it like that.”

“Sorry, I just I’m on the road all the time and I’m bad at conversation.”

“I never said it was offensive. It’s just most people just make jokes about my height.”

“I think it’s cool. Wish I was that tall. Can you dunk?”

“I did get through college on a full basketball scholarship but I can’t dunk, no.”

“Dang.”

She started putting the bagel in the bag.

“What do you do?” Elisa asked.

“I’m a courier and truck driver,” the young woman said.

“Now that is cool.”

“Really? It’s just a job to me.”

“Yeah, but it must be nice to be out on the open road.”

“It is.”

“Are you going to be local around here or just passing through?”

“I just moved here so this is going to be like my home base.”

“Well, then I’ll be sure to have your items ready when you get here.”

“I shouldn’t be eating this every day.”

Elisa smiled at her.

“My name is Elisa Underwood,” she said.

“I’m Jenny,” the young woman replied.

The two shook hands.

“Be safe out on the road,” Elisa said.

Jenny gave her a long look.

“Yeah, see you soon,” Jenny said.

Jenny left and Elisa realized that she was behind schedule. She started preparing the next round of food and coffee while trying to get the butterflies in stomach to stop.

Ravenwood Chapter 4: Four Friends

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Excuses were made. Lies were told. The group made sure that they covered their tracks and they worked together well enough that their alibi was airtight.

Instead of going to any of their houses, they got on their bikes and started riding. The children rode their bikes as the town fell away from them as they headed along the streets to the northwest. There was a forest that bordered the town on the western side. Towards the north, the land curved upwards. Eventually leading to a large overlook. They had festivals up here sometimes. A fair number of the children of the town had been conceived there as well.

But tonight, a group of theater kids were gathering there. There would be four of them in total. Two girls, two boys. Ages ranging from fifteen to seventeen. The first to arrive was Robin, a tall, willowy young white woman with two toned hair, the left side pink, the right side black. She like to wear long fanciful dresses that she found while thrifting. People would ask her that night how she rode her bike with the dress on and she would simply say bicycle shorts and the conversation would end. The dress she chose for tonight was baby blue and had a great deal of lace on it.

The second was Michael, a young black man that rode with a guitar on his back. He was a bit overweight and dressed much more simply than Robin. T-shirt and jeans. When he got there, Robin was gathering up twigs and leaves for a fire. He helped dragged some larger pieces of wood for them to use throughout the night.

Two arrived at the same time, a slim young Asian man named George who dressed in hoodies and jeans as well. His hair was styled, he had eyeliner and black nail polish on. He was hauling a huge backpack of snacks. The friend he rode up with was a short, plump young white woman with jean shorts, a shock of red hair and wearing a flannel shirt. She had a large bag with all kinds of pins covering it. They brought up social issues as well as a number of indie rock bands. Robin clocked her arrival immediately immediately and went to give her a hug.

“Cheery!” Robin said in greeting. “I missed you.”

“I just saw you a few hours ago at school,” Cheery said.

“That’s long enough for me to miss you.”

Michael had gotten the fire going and they went to sit by it. He pulled out his guitar and started playing quietly. First things first, they discussed theater business. What they could improve, what they thought would be best to do in the show. Who they thought was secretly dating amongst the cast. Who had crushes on who.

Next came the songs. Michael, being a devil on the guitar could play almost anything they shouted out. There were some favorites of course from a variety of shows that they loved, Wicked, Rent and the like. Michael put the guitar away, which meant it was time for s’mores.

“God, I love nights like this,” George said.

“I like looking down at the town from up here,” Robin said. “Leaves all the boring down there.”

“It’s not that boring,” Cheery said.

“Yeah, the last place I lived only had like a movie theater with four screens. Plus the owner was obsessed with Titanic and always dedicated at least one screen to it at all times,” George said.

“How did he stay in business?” Michael asked.

“You would be surprised at how often people would just pop in and go see Titanic. It was actually comforting. Your life might change in all kinds of ways but that theater would still be showing Titanic.”

“God, Kate Winslet was so hot in that movie,” Cheery said.

“She’s still hot,” the rest of her friends chorused.

“Agreed!” Cheery said raising her soda to the sky.

“I know that there’s some things about Ravenwood that I’m going to miss but I have to get out of this town. The city holds my dreams for me,” Robin said.

The others didn’t say anything. They didn’t want to rain on her parade. But for them, they would only go as far as high school. Robin was a lifer. She was going to try and make the theater everything about her. To that end, she had started posting songs and line readings on her Youtube page. They had attracted the usual internet reaction. Some people calling her hot, some people actually talking about her talent and others saying that she was terrible.

“I don’t know if I could leave,” Michael said. “My family’s here.”

“You’re right, son,” a voice said from the woods.

Everyone’s heads turned and they saw a black police officer holding his flashlight emerging from the woods.

“Hi, dad,” Michael said nervously.

“Hi, son for whom I am well pleased and said that he was staying at George’s house,” his father replied.

“To be fair, Mr. Block, he is with me,” George said.

“Not helping, George,” father and son said together.

He sighed and pressed the buttons on his walkie talkie. He said that it was a group of campers on the ridge and it was nothing to worry about. He came and walked to the fire, he pointed at it with his flashlight.

“That should be smaller if you want to stay out of sight,” officer Block said. “You lit a signal fire for the entire town.”

“The beacons are lit,” Robin and Cheery said.

“Gondor calls for aid, yes, yes, Michael’s watched those movies a thousand times. I’m glad that you kids are having fun but you need to make sure that you put that fire out and spread the ashes. I would run you off here if you weren’t as good of kids as I know.”

“Sorry, dad,” Michael said.

“We’ll discuss this with your mother tomorrow, I’m not that angry and I’m not disappointed, just be smarter.”

“It could be in our favor that we are such good kids because we’re really bad at being bad,” George added politely.

“Still not helping,” the two Block men said in unison.

“It’s crazy the way you two do that,” Cheery said.

“Be home for breakfast tomorrow,” officer Block said to his son and started walking back to the woods.

“I love you, dad,” Michael said.

“I love you too,” his father said as he hit the tree line.

The group decided that it was time to turn in and got into their sleeping bags. Of course, that’s not where it ended as the minute there was silence someone would ask if they were sleeping and then they would start chatting again. Whispering secrets. Giggling. Laughing. Loving one another in ways that surpassed romance because they knew that those bonds would last forever.

The night didn’t though and soon the sun woke them up. They got on their bikes and Michael rode to keep his promise. Wondering what the talk would be like when he got home. But for right now, George wanted to race him and the city streets were empty. They pumped their legs, laughing for the sheer joy of it.

Ravenwood- Chapter 2: The Work Outing

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On the other side of Gregory’s while Bianca and David were getting to know one another, a group of about eight people walked in and took their seats at a large table. They ordered their first drinks and toyed with the idea of getting dinner. Gregory’s offered a great deal of meal options so there was a lot to choose from. There was one member of the team that was particular in their order so they spent a lot of time going over the menu.

They had come from a local IT company down the street. They had originally left their boss working late at his desk. He had bid them a fond farewell for the evening. It was about an hour later that he walked into the restaurant and went to the hostess’ podium.

She had seen him before as there were few food options in town. Still, every time he came into the restaurant it was shocking. He was so handsome, a tall darker skinned black man with a shaved head. His eyes were kind and he had an easy but subdued smile. He dressed professionally in buttoned down shirts with a tie when on the clock, a few buttons unbuttoned at the top when it was party time. The comfiest that anyone had ever seen him was when he was the gym in his workout clothes.

“Hello,” he said to her.

“Hi, table for one?” she asked.

“No, unfortunately I won’t be enjoying the ambience tonight, pick up, two orders for Patrick.”

She checked something on her tablet.

“They should be ready in a matter of moments,” she said.

“Thank you. Having a good night?” he asked.

“Not that bad. Kind of slow.”

“Hm.”

He looked into the restaurant and saw his employees. He let out a slow smile and turned to the hostess.

“I need to pay for those meals, don’t I?” he said.

“Yes, would you like to pay by cash or card?” the hostess asked.

“Card. That table of eight, would it be possible to keep my card on file so that I can pay for their meal as well?”

“Feeling generous?”

“They’re my employees. I think they deserve a free meal. Though don’t tell them until the end. I don’t want them taking advantage of my generosity.”

“That’s fair. Would you like to leave a tip?”

“Twenty percent of their meal. Don’t tell them that either, please. I want to see if they know enough to leave a tip as well.”

“I will make the arrangements. Thank you.”

One of the bus boys came out and handed him the meals in a to go bag. Patrick took it, thanked the staff for the food and left.

As he left into the night, Patrick left behind an existential crisis for one of his employees, Adam. He had looked over when he saw movement at the hostess stand and saw Patrick. His face went pale when he saw him.

“Shit,” Adam said dropping back into his seat.

“What?” Charlotte, one of his coworkers said.

“I saw Patrick at the the hostess stand. He knows we come here.”

“I mean, he knows we came this one time,” Trent, their other coworker said.

“And there’s no law against us getting together,” added Georgia.

“Yeah, but we like purposely excluded him,” Adam said.

“I doubt he’s going to care,” Charlotte said.

“Yeah, I’m sure he has his own life to live,” Melanie said as she stirred her drink.

“You need to calm down, dude,” Pablo said before taking a bite of his mozzarella stick.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s fine,” Adam said.

“I mean, he might fire you but that’s to be expected,” Tabitha said.

“Don’t say that,” Georgia said.

“I’m kidding.”

“Not funny,” Arjun added staring at into his drink.

“Sorry,” Tabitha said sincerely.

“Let’s just enjoy the night and we’ll deal with it tomorrow,” Georgia said.

“Yeah, he’s a good boss anyway, I doubt he’s going to care,” Trent said.

“Eh, good bosses don’t make you work on your birthday,” Tabitha said.

“Getting your birthday off is not a thing,” Pablo said.

“It should be.”

That led them to another discussion while Adam had an internal conflict. After a little bit longer, they asked for the bill.

“A gentleman paid your bill already,” Heather, their waitress, said.

“Who did?” Adam asked.

“A man named Patrick.”

“Shit.”

“I’m sorry?”

“No, it’s nothing you did.”

“Well come on, we still have to put in a tip,” Georgia said.

Everyone shelled out enough for twenty percent and got up. They went home that night and Adam spent a fair amount of the night being worried. He eventually fell asleep and woke up on time for work.

His office was in the four corners buildings in the southeast side of Ravenwood. They were so known because they were four ten story buildings that were part of a larger office park. His office was on the third floor and looked fairly normal. There were eight cubicles in two little pods with Patrick’s office down a different hallway. He was near the offices of his assistant manager, Bobby and Katherine the HR lady.

Adam sat at his desk and the others filed in looking different levels of tired and hung over. Patrick allowed them to dress casually so most of them were in jeans. They kept buttoned down shirts at their desks on days that they had to have zoom meetings with clients and they only came in khakis when they met clients in the office.

When they were all in, Patrick called them into the meeting room. Adam felt a cold hand wrap around his heart. They all filed in and sat down around the table. Bobby was standing next to Patrick with a strange look on his face. He was looking up at the ceiling like his eyes had gotten stuck mid roll. Adam wasn’t sure what that was but he thought it wasn’t good.

“Okay everyone,” Patrick said. “We have a new client that wants us to do backups for them at the end of every week. They’re a pretty big client thus it’s a pretty big job. Now, what I want to do is have us take care of it during their downtime. So, either Friday night or Saturday morning. This won’t require us all to be part of it, just one. What that means is that the person for that week can either take four hours off at some point throughout the week and make them up pulling that shift or they can have four hours of overtime. It’s your choice. Questions?”

Georgia raised her hand.

“We’ve been over this, Georgia, you don’t have to raise your hand,” Patrick said exasperatedly.

“I know, I do it because it’s funny,” Georgia said. “When does this start?”

“It would start tonight. So, we’re going to need someone to volunteer for it.”

There were groans around the table that led to a standoff between the employees. None of them wanted to do this but especially because the local food festival started that night. Main street would be lined up with food trucks as far as the eye could see. Beyond that, there would be games and rides set up in one of the parks.

“Okay, it seems like no one wants to do it, so I’m going to take tonight,” Patrick said. “I kind of figured it would happen this way and it’s only fair.”

“I’ll take next week,” Bobby said. “After that, we’ll have a signup sheet for the next ten weeks. You are required to pull one shift in that ten week period. You can put in for your preferred week or you can just leave it up to fate and we’ll assign it randomly. We will not abide one of you taking all the overtime. That wouldn’t be fair either.”

“I think that covers everything, so let’s get back to work. If you have any questions, please reach out to Bobby and me. Also, I considering I have four hours to kill tonight, if you have any movie suggestions, please reach out to me.”

“If we make a suggestion and you choose to watch the movie, do we get a PTO day?” Tabitha asked.

“What? No. Tabitha, we’re not giving out a PTO day for a movie suggestion, I’ll be grateful that should be enough,” Patrick said.

They left the meeting room and went back to their desks. Adam tried to pay attention to his work but found his mind wandering. He kept thinking about how nice Patrick was for taking the first shift for this new client so that the rest of them didn’t have to miss out on the festival. He got up and walked over to Patrick’s office. His coworkers watched him go and rolled their eyes or sighed.

Adam knocked on Patrick’s open door. Patrick was typing something as he stood in the doorway.

“Give me a minute, Adam,” Patrick said without looking towards him. “Have a seat.”

Adam walked into the office and looked over at the books in a bookshelf along the left wall. There were several reference guides to systems. To the right were management books of all kinds. In the corner was a well taken care of leafy plant. Behind Patrick was a large window showing Ravenwood and the ocean beyond it. Patrick finished typing and hit the enter key with confidence.

“Now, what can I help you with?” Patrick asked.

“I just wanted to apologize for last night,” Adam said.

Patrick looked confused.

“What about last night?” Patrick asked.

“That you saw all of us out and we didn’t invite you,” Adam explained.

“Oh, Adam would you close the door please?”

Adam felt dread run down his back. He got up, closed the door and returned to the chair in front of Patrick’s desk.

“I just wanted to apologize for the fact that we didn’t invite you out. We do that every Thursday and I just felt bad that you were excluded. I’m sure the others wouldn’t mind if you came out next Thursday,” Adam said quickly.

Patrick stared at Adam for a long time. He had hired the young man directly out of college about two years ago. He had been taken by Adam’s enthusiasm and knowledge. He learned though that Adam was not as knowledgable about being an adult and had done his best to guide him as gently as he could. He decided that today he would have to be a little more direct.

“Adam, if you had invited me when this started, do you know what my answer would have been then?” Patrick asked.

“Yes?” Adam answered cautiously.

“It would have been the same then as it would be today. No, thank you. I think that it’s great that my employees are that cordial with one another. It helps with team building and camaraderie.”

Patrick stopped speaking for a moment and hit a few buttons on his phone.

“Yeah?” Bobby said through the speakerphone.

“Was the word, camaraderie?” Patrick asked.

“Goddammit, yes! Thank you! That was bothering me to no end.”

“Yeah, you looked weird in the meeting.”

“Ah, well. That’s what happens. Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

He hung up the phone and looked back at Adam.

“Anyway, the fact of the matter is that you all also need time to air your grievances about me when I’m not around,” Patrick said.

“We-” Adam started to say.

“That’s your time. I don’t want to know about it. Don’t betray your coworkers’ confidence.”

“Understood.”

“Besides, I hope this doesn’t come through as too offensive but if it comes down to my employees or my wife, I’m going to spend time with my wife.”

“That makes sense.”

“I’m not Michael Scott, so desperate to be everyone’s friend.”

“You watch the Office?”

“Yeah, it’s a good learning tool. Whatever Michael Scott does, I do the opposite.”

Adam smiled.

“Is that everything?” Patrick asked.

“Yeah, thank you,” Adam said.

“Adam, on a personal note. If you exclude someone from a weekly thing, maybe try and not let them know that they’ve missed multiple events.”

“Makes sense. Thanks.”

“You’re a good person, I sensed it when I hired you. Just don’t get in your head too much.”

“I will, thank you.”

“Any suggestions for me?”

“Ah, I really like the movie Stepbrothers.”

Patrick wrote down the name on his notepad.

“Sounds good,” Patrick said.

“I’m going to get back to work,” Adam said.

“Good talk. Door open please.”

Adam got up and returned to his desk.

That night the employees left giving a wave to Patrick as they left. He explained to the others what had happened and they both told him it was unnecessary and appreciated.

“I give him credit, any other place I’ve worked, they would have made one of us stay,” Trent said.

“Yeah,” Georgia agreed.

“I feel kind of bad that he has to spend his Friday night alone though,” Adam said.

“He just told you he can handle it,” Tabitha said.

“It’s just-”

It was then that he saw a beautiful black woman approaching them. One he only recognized at their yearly Christmas get together. She strode with the purpose and strength of a woman who knew who she was.

Her long hair cascaded down her back. She was dressed as she always was, stylish. She smiled at them as she passed, recognizing her husband’s employees. She held two takeout containers in her arms. She strode to the doors of the office building, pulled them open and walked through.

“Well, never mind then,” Adam said.

They headed for main street.

What the ding dang heck am I doing with Ravenwood?

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When I made the first post on my blog about it, I had no idea. I was just thinking about writing up a little story about a town from a bird’s eye view and that was going to be it. But then I started thinking about it and my thoughts turned on the idea of Springfield.

The Simpsons having been around for decades at this point, has arrived at a place where their named characters at this point could be the population of a small town. Let me just head over to the Simpsons wiki and see how many characters they have on there. Nearly six thousand! That’s more people in my old hometown currently.

But that got me thinking about how they got that accidentally. They just kept building and building their world. So, I thought what if I do that purposefully. Could it work? To build a town of people that felt real and vibrant and had lives. That they could mesh and feel alive.

The other part of my plan was to start making up a map as I introduced things to further the feeling of being alive. I would make it in pixel art because I need to practice that art and I think the firm clean lines would work for it. When I had that idea, I immediately thought about what Terry Pratchett said about fantasy maps:

“You can’t map a sense of humor. Anyway, what is a fantasy map but a space beyond which There Be Dragons? On the Discworld we know that There Be Dragons Everywhere. They might not all have scales and forked tongues, but they Be Here all right, grinning and jostling and trying to sell you souvenirs. ”

Maybe there are dragons outside Ravenwood. I don’t know yet. I don’t write many stories where there are no science fiction, fantasy or horror elements. I’m going to keep it cozy and modern for as long as possible.

My other thought was that I was worried that I could run out of ideas for other stories if I’m using them all up in Ravenwood. I dismissed that idea after some thought because unless it’s a really good idea, I shouldn’t be hoarding them. Also, let’s face facts as writers there are only so many ideas out there. We’re all just redoing Shakespeare continuously. My hope is also that as I develop and think of new characters, their personalities and interactions will help spawn new storylines. Matt Arnold from Dungeons and Daddies said that an industry professional once told them that if you have an idea where you keep coming up with new storylines based on different character combinations and it feels endless then you have a TV show. If you start sputtering out, then you sell that idea to Netflix because you’re probably only getting one season out of it.

If I had to say what this was exactly, I would consider it a literary webcomic. Instead of five comics a week, you get one sizable story each week.

With the first chapter out, the Newcomer, I’d like to think we’re off to a good start. I have the second story already thought up. Let’s see where it goes.

Ravenwood- Chapter 1: The Newcomer

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Gregory’s walked the line steadily between dive and family restaurant. It was well kept with red wallpaper and split into a restaurant on the right hand side and the bar on the left. They were equal in size given that it was the largest bar in town as opposed to the true dive bar and the higher end bar up on the hill. The walls were a deep red and the floors were a dark brown. In the restaurant there were booths and tables and it served American bar food. That food could also be brought into the bar if you wanted to experience it standing up for the most part. Unsurprisingly the bar on the left hand side was far stickier than the right no matter how much they cleaned.

A young woman stepped into the room wearing a short dark blue dress and black heels. She had tanned skin and her hair was long, curly and blonde. She stopped at the hostess’ stand and then made a left into the bar. The reaction was one of wonder as the woman walked into the bar. She was stunning. People got a good look at her and if they were sensible went back to their drinks. Three men started talking about which one of them would approach her when she walked across the bar to man sitting in one of the booths. The man was looking at his phone.

“Hi,” she said to him and he looked up from his phone.

He was a handsome young man about her age of twenty-six with stubble dotting his face and his hair a light brown. He looked at her through a pair of thick glasses. He was dressed simply in a buttoned down shirt and jeans.

“Oh, hello,” he said.

“I was wondering if you wanted to share a drink?” she said.

The man looked at her and went to run his hand through his hair. He had been sitting with his right side facing her so when he brought up his left hand up, she saw the flash of a gold ring on his hand.

“Uh, I’m willing to have one platonically,” he said. “I’m married.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’m just new in town and I thought you looked cute. I’ll leave you be.”

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I’m more than willing to make a new friend.”

She slid into the booth opposite him. The waitress, a young white woman named Samantha walked up to her and the blonde woman ordered a Manhattan.

“So, what’s your name?” the man asked her.

“Bianca,” she replied. “Yours?”

“David,” he said and offered his hand for a friendly shake.

The two shook jovially and Bianca let out a sigh.

“Of course the first guy I hit on as a single lady would be married,” Bianca sighed.

“I want to say that I’m flattered but I’m so married and happy that nothing would ever happen,” David said.

“Is your wife at home?”

“Yeah, she’s getting off of work a bit later than me plus she’s pregnant so it takes a bit of time for her to get here.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your date night.”

“Well, it’s not interrupted yet, I wouldn’t even call it a date night. We don’t have kids yet, so it’s just us being social while we still can.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“We’re often joined by friends who happen to come to the bar. Let me just call her.”

David’s wife was getting changed when she got the call from him. She had been staring at her stomach in the mirror, running her hands over it. She smiled at the prospect of her future daughter. Her black hair was tied in a loose ponytail. She had started dressing even more so for comfort than before. She unabashedly stuck her feet into a pair dark blue crocs to finish getting ready.

She looked at her phone and saw the call coming in from her husband.

“Hey, honey, I’ll be there in a little bit, just gotta waddle my way down the street,” she said.

“Hey, Marissa,” David replied. “I made a new friend named Bianca. She just wants to make sure that she’s good to hang out with us.”

“Why would she worry about that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll be there in a bit. I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

She started her waddle and as she did, she got a text from her friend, Ajanta.

Ajanta Looks like David is stepping out on you.

She knew that Ajanta was half joking. She had always liked David but she had always been protective of Marissa. She had included a picture that it seemed like Ajanta had taken in secret. Marissa had to note that Bianca was hot as hell. She also knew her husband.

Marissa: Yeah, I know. He told me that they were having a drink together. Want to join us?

Ajanta: Sure, I’m already here and I want to see what her deal is.

Marissa shrugged and kept walking.

David saw Marissa come into the bar and him and Bianca stood up when they saw her. Ajanta joined up with her as she stepped in, giving her a quick hug and the two walked to the table. Ajanta was an Indian woman with long black hair and an athletic figure.

“Hello,” Marissa said to Bianca. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, please sit down,” Bianca said. “Wait, I’m sorry, it makes more sense for me to get in first so that you can look at your husband.”

“Oh, I’d like that to do that.”

“Let me get in the booth and you can get off your feet. Those are cute crocs.”

“Thanks,” Marissa said noting that she sounded sincere when she said it.

Bianca pushed farther into the booth and Marissa slid in next to her. Ajanta followed on the opposite side before David sat next to her. They ordered their drinks and Marissa ordered food. Some mozzarella sticks and chicken wings.

“How far along are you?” Bianca asked.

“I’m about six months,” Marissa answered.

“Entering the home stretch.”

“My stretch marks be stretching.”

“So, Bianca,” Ajanta intercut. “What brings you to town?”

“I just moved here,” Bianca responded. “I, uh, got divorced.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine. He was… he was cheating on me.”

“Sounds like a scumbag,” Marissa said.

“He was. He kept some pretty garbage opinions hidden for a long time. Along with his affairs.”

“Multiple?” Ajanta asked.

“Yeah,” Bianca sighed.

“Where did he find the time?”

“Oh, that was the other thing, he had quit his job and was pretending to work and taking money from his parents.”

“What a loser.”

“Yeah, I know how to pick ’em.”

“You can’t tell what a dude is going to be like after years,” David said. “You just try and hope for the best.”

“Thanks,” Bianca said.

“What’re you going to do while you’re here?” Ajanta asked.

“I’m a lawyer, I got a job at one of the local firms. But I’ve been talking about myself for a while. What about the rest of you?”

They started talking about their various professions for a long time and the drinks started flowing among them. Marissa kept to her water but chomped down on her food when it arrived. By the time she was done, everyone else was a little bit tipsy. David got up and left for the bathroom. The women watched him leave.

“I have to admit something to you,” Bianca slurred.

“What’s up?” Marissa asked.

“I have to admit that I talked to your husband because I wanted to hit on him.”

“I knew it!” Ajanta said pointing.

“I’m sorry. But he was like I’m so in love with my wife. I just wanted to be honest because you’ve been so nice to me. And now that I know he’s married, it’s hands off.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marissa said. “I know he’s hot to trot.”

“Yeah,” Ajanta said. “I thought you were scummy too. I sent Marissa a text, being all like, look at this Jezabel with your husband. But you’re so sweet.”

“My name’s not Jezabel, it’s Bianca,” Bianca said.

“Sorry.”

“But you don’t have to worry about that. I get it. A lot of people think that I’m making moves on their men.”

“It’s probably because of how hot you are.”

“You are very beautiful,” Marissa said. “You’ve raised the average hotness of this town by several points.”

“You two are so pretty too,” Bianca said. “Like your tummy is the only fat part of you.”

“Thanks, I do yoga and go for runs. Well, I used to do those things but the little one gets in the way. When I’m healed up do you want to join me?”

“I can?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“We can be friends? Even though I hit on your husband?”

“Sure, you haven’t been weird and I feel like the fact your inhibitions are down and your main focus is telling me that you’re not going to hit on my man means a lot.”

“Yeah, let’s be friends,” Ajanta said.

“I’m so happy. Thank you,” Bianca said.

The three women tried to hug each other but the table got in the way. When David got back, he saw the strange tableau before him. He offered to take a picture of the girls and picked up his phone off the table. The girls smiled as he snapped several pics of them.

At that point, they decided to call it a night as it was getting late. Marissa and David walked their friends back to the house and then Marissa drove them home. She sang along to “Shiny, Happy People” on her way home.

Ravenwood Prologue: Welcome to Ravenwood

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The history of Ravenwood was long, it had been founded by Charles Smythe back when him and a group of colonizers had arrived in some territory and had decided that this was as good a place as any to try and figure out living in early America. They had started with the usual colonizer bullshit and didn’t often talk about their travesties. It had been out of the way to the point that they completely missed the early witch hunts. They sent boys to fight in the various wars and remembered what few they could.

The town was located on the ocean but had never quite made it to the point of massive tourist spot. They still got some visitors but they were less than what the shops wanted. The town was large about eight square miles and was about three miles from any other town in the north, south and western directions. There was a great deal of forest and national parks around the town.

It had its usual share of rumors and ghost stories but they never attracted any ghost hunting shows or even a bored Youtuber who might want to make a name for themselves. There was little crime and the police were mostly bored and didn’t do much else besides write speeding tickets and hassle skateboarders.

The kids went to the elementary school until sixth grade and then moved up to the high that was seventh through twelfth grade. There was a main street that had several shops on it. What few speciality restaurants that could keep up with the local fast food joints. There was a eight screen movie theater, an arcade and a few other shops that provided entertainment. There was a smoke shop and diner that shared the same characteristic of continually changing ownership but never changed anything else really. Except for the one set of smoke shop owners that sold overly powerful weed and they eventually left town to find their success in a larger location. The local stoners held a candlelight vigil when that dank kush left.

They were close enough to a train station that people could go to larger cities when they wanted.

The seasons came through in their endless cycles. There was almost always snow at Christmas and the leaves satisfyingly crunched underfoot during autumn. The kids spent their summers at the beach and everyone sneezed their way through spring.

It was a good town. Things worked there. There were people with stories there.

Here they are.

(This is a project I’m going to have going on for when I can’t think of anything to write for fiction Fridays or just in general if the muse takes me.)

No More Long Days

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We held to something that we shouldn’t have but we kept it going for as long as we could. You told me, once, that you were so tired of the way your heart made you speak without thinking. I told you that that was the way we fell in love. But letting ourselves be free and being open. You said that maybe it wasn’t worth it.

You reminded me how long the days started feeling. Not just because it was summer but because you were getting tired of me, tired of your job, tired of everything! You decided to put it all behind you. To gas up that old car of yours and make for the west.

You sent me a letter the other day. You told me that you had gotten rid of your smart phone. Bought a burner and were living your life the way you wanted. There was a photograph and you were smiling in front of a little shop. No more long days was the message on the back.

Long Way Out

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It’s a long way back to land

I’ve been swimming for so long

Waiting for the waves to take me away

I’m not coming back

I don’t plan to die in the water

But I plan to let it take me away

I’ll be living note in a bottle

I’ll wash ashore and tell you a story

But I won’t have any treasure

Connections

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Charlie had a window in his office.  He noticed the snow falling and thought that he would give it an hour and see if it stopped.  By the three hour mark, it still hadn’t.  He was a small man, bald and potbellied.  He rose out of his chair and into the small hallway of his office into the main area of his store.  

His store was fragrant and beautiful.  It sold scented candles of all kind.  The walls were a light pink and the carpet was a deep blue.  Gentle music was playing over the speakers.  There was artwork made by his wife and children on the wall, framed of course.  His two employees, Riley and Caroline, didn’t stop working.    

“Riley, Caroline,” he said and they turned their heads to look at him.  “I don’t want to drive home in this shit and if I don’t want to do it, I don’t feel like you should have to do it either.  Go home for the day.  You’ll get paid for the rest of the day.”

“Thanks, boss,” Riley said.

“I don’t drive in,” Caroline said. 

“Well, you deserve a day off either way.  Get out of here,” Charlie said.  “I’ll close up.  Riley, I’m sorry that I didn’t do this earlier.  You have much farther than I have to go.”

“Don’t worry about it, boss.”

“Get going and I would appreciate a text that you got home safe.”

“Will do, boss.”

“You can call me, Charlie.”

“You got it, boss.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and went to the cash register to start cashing it out.  Riley and Caroline went into the employee area and gathered their things.  They walked out into the parking lot of the strip mall.  Caroline helped him clean off his car and then Charlie’s.  

“Do you need a ride home?” Riley asked Caroline.

“I’m good,” Caroline said.  “Safe travels.”

Riley gave her a two finger salute and got into his car.  He pulled out slowly as Charlie came through the door.  Charlie waved at him and got into his car.  Riley started home going slowly.  It normally took him about thirty minutes on the back roads but this would be probably around forty to fifty.  But as his father always said, go slow in snow, get home in one go.  He thought that his dad was really trying to push for that rhyme.  

Thinking about his dad’s words made him think about Charlie.  His dad liked Charlie and told him to respect the man.  Riley did respect him and it was the reason that he called him boss.  He was the boss.  He was a man of honor and dignity.  He stood up for his employees when the shittier customers gave them the stick.  

His wife was beautiful, tall and willowy.  She had modeled in her youth and had only stopped when she found something else that interested in her.  One of Riley’s coworkers had decided to make a pass at her because he thought that he was God’s gift to women.  Charlie’s wife laughed in his face.  She called her husband and told him what had happened.  Charlie had laughed as well.  They kept laughing until the coworker quit in tears.  

The store was a pet project of Charlie who three loves in his lives.  His wife and children and in a far second, candles.  He made most of them himself.  It’s what kept bringing people back.  He paid Riley enough that he didn’t need a second job.  He gave them health insurance.  At times he felt like he was wasting his life but why break up a good thing?  

The areas outside of the strip mall was mostly farmland.  He kept driving, watching horses wander back into their stable.  There was no one on the road.  It was only eleven a.m.  He thought about the people in their office buildings that stupidly didn’t work for Charlie.  The roads were already starting to get bad.  It would be miserable later that night.   

He got to an intersection with a four way stop.  A man was walking down the street and came to the stop sign.  Riley figured that he could let the man go.  It was worse walking through this than driving.  He thought that up until the man slip and fell.  It was a particularly nasty fall, the man was on his legs and then they went to their left and he hit the ground.  

The man got up but then fell once more.  He then just kind of laid down.  Riley thought driving away but then he wondered when someone would come along.  He thought about it for a few seconds and then put his car in park.

He went to the man.  

“Hello there,” he said.  “Do you need some help?”

“I’m fine, my arm just hurts a little bit,” the man said.

“Can I help you up?”

“I’m fine.”

“Please, sir.”

The man relented and Riley helped him to his feet.  The two of them walked over to Riley’s car.  The man pulled back his hood.  He was old with a well kept beard and whitening hair.  He was wearing a large windbreaker coat.  

“Thank you,” the man said.

“No problem,” Riley said.  “The name’s Riley.  What’s yours?”

“Morgan.”

“Good to meet you, Morgan.  Can I take you somewhere to get checked out?”

“I’m fine.”

“You said your arm hurt and not to be a little ageist, you’re older.  I’m worrying you…”
“I’m not having a heart attack.  I had one of those and I know it’s not that.”

“Sir, please.  The urgent care is just up the road and I’ll take you home.”

“Fine.”

The two of them drove into the snow.  They got to the other strip mall and Riley helped Morgan out of the car.  He shook him off but was still holding his arm.  The urgent care was thankfully open.  A young Indian woman in scrubs was sitting at the front desk.

“Wow, I was just about to leave.  That is providence,” she said.  “How can I help you?”

“This man is having arm pains and he fell out in the snow,” Riley said.

“Are you…” 

“I’m not having a heart attack!” Morgan growled.  

“Fine, fine.  Come in the back, let me check you out.  Would you like your son to come with you?” the doctor asked. 

“He’s not my son,” Morgan said.

“Just a good Samaritan,” Riley added.

“Let’s get you checked out, I’m doctor Indara Patel.”

“You can go, Riley,” Morgan said.  

“I’ll wait.  Gotta make sure you get home or I’ll worry,” Riley said flopping into a chair.  

Riley pulled out his phone and texted his boyfriend.  It was starting to get serious but he still hadn’t met his family.  His name was Keith and he was really getting into with him.  

Riley: Hey, I think that we should cancel tonight.  The snow is really bad.  

Keith: Yeah, I think that’s best.

Riley walked back out to his car and got a book from his bag.  He started reading and made it through a fair amount of his book before Morgan came out wearing a sling.  He seemed unhappy.  

“His arm is broken, I’ve given him some pain medication and an order to take it easy,” Dr. Patel said to Riley.  

“Got it,” Riley said as if that meant anything to him.

“Thank you, miss,” Morgan said sincerely.

“No problem.  I can close up shop with a sound heart,” she said.  “You boys get home safe.”

Riley lead Morgan out to the car and opened the door for him.  He asked Morgan his address and Morgan told him.  He noticed that Morgan stopped and looked at the pride bumper sticker on the back of his car and hesitated for a moment.  He climbed in and Riley started putting the address into his GPS.  

“Do you have a charging cable?  My phone’s dead.  I have to let my son know what’s going on,” Morgan said. 

“Yeah, here,” Riley said and handed it to him.

“Thanks.”

They drove in silence for about three blocks. 

“I know what that sticker on the back of your car means,” Morgan said.

“Oh, do you want me to let you out?” Riley asked.

“No, it’s fine.  My son’s gay.”

“And you’re cool with it?”

“I don’t fully get it but I don’t have to.  He’s happy and I love him.  I call that a win.”

“That’s pretty good.”

“How did your parents take it?”

“My dad gave my mom a twenty when I came out.  They were accepting after that.”

“Ha, he sounds fun.”

“Hm.”

They lapsed into silence.  

“My son brought me to one of those parades one year.  Told me to wear a ‘Free Dad Hugs’ shirts.  So many of them came up to me.  They wept.  They cried in my arms.  I’ve never been more furious in my life.  What poor excuse for a parent lets their child think they don’t care about them?  For that?  Idiots,” Morgan said.  

“Testify,” Riley added.

“My son’s mother didn’t accept him.  It was the one thing bad about her.  I still miss her.  I wish she could have gotten around it.  She missed a lot of good times with him.”

“Hm.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m dating a great guy.”

“Good.  You’re a good person, helping someone you don’t know.”

“I couldn’t leave you.  It’d be horrible.  I’d be like one of those parents.”

“Exactly.”

Riley drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and then told Siri to play some Johnny Cash.  Morgan nodded approvingly.  

“My phone has a bit of a charge, I’m going to call my son,” Morgan said.

“Go ahead,” Riley said.

Morgan put the phone to his ear.  The son on the other end picked up immediately.  Riley only heard one side of the conversation and it went like this: 

“Hello?  Yeah, I’m fine.  I just had a bit of a slip.  My arm is busted.  I’ll be fine.  I was out walking.  A nice young man picked me up.  Took me to the urgent care.  Nice doctor.  Said she ask for his number but turns out he’s gay.  Yeah, yeah.  He’s going to take me home.  Should be about thirty minutes.  You don’t have to do that.  I can manage.  Fine.  I’ll see you in a bit.  I love you.  See you soon.”

He hung up the phone. 

“My son is going to meet us at my house,” Morgan said.  

“Good, I’ll know when he gets near.  Using my gaydar.  We don’t tell you that’s what it’s actually for.  Identifying when we’re near to each other.  Straight people don’t actually have it,” Riley said.

Morgan let out a coughing laugh.  Riley noticed his phone was buzzing.  He saw it was Keith.  He answered it on speaker phone.  

“Hello?” Riley asked.  

“Hey!” Keith said. 
    Morgan looked down at the phone. 

“My dad fell when he was out walking, I’m heading over to his house.  He broke his arm,” Keith gasped.

“That sucks,” Riley said.

“Yeah, some guy is driving him home.  I’d kiss him, if I wasn’t already dating you,” Keith said.  

Riley glanced at Morgan, a smile spreading across his face.  

“I mean, you can kiss him if you want.  He’s doing something really nice,” Riley said chuckling a little bit.  

“He is,” Keith said.  “Why did he need to go for a walk!  I would have brought him anything he needed.  Ugh, I love him but he’s so stubborn sometimes.”

Morgan looked at the phone and raised an eyebrow.  Riley realized that he was walking a tightrope walk.  

“Let’s not be too harsh on him.  Everything you told me about him shows that he’s a good guy,” Riley said quickly.  

“He is, he’s the best man I know.  He’s my hero.  He just needs to know that sometimes he shouldn’t go out in a blizzard,” Keith said.

Morgan nodded his head back and forth seemingly agreeing.  

“You know you never told me your dad’s name.  What is it?” Riley said.

“Morgan,” Keith said.

“Cool name.”

“It is.  Alright, I have to pay attention to the road.  I’ll see you later. I might have to stay over his house a few times to make sure that he’s okay.”

“Hey, do what you have to do.  No worries on my end.”

“Okay great.  I’ll see you when I can.”

“See you.”

Keith hung up and Morgan and Riley started laughing.  

“I thought I wasn’t going to make it through that,” Morgan said wiping at his eyes.  

“That was so funny,” Riley said.  

They came to a stop at a stoplight.  Morgan turned in his seat.  

“Nice to meet you,” he said and offered his hand.

“An absolute pleasure to meet you, sir,” Riley said.

“Call me Morgan.”

“Now that you’ve asked, I will.”

“Do you want to stay at my house when Keith gets there?”

“That would be great.  How funny would it be if when he comes through the door, I just come out of the kitchen or something.”

“That’d be great.”

They got to Morgan’s house and Riley helped him into the house.  The two of them sat playing chess and drinking cocoa while they waited.  Morgan was much friendlier now and was sharing stories about Keith.  It was timing perfection where Riley was getting them more cocoa and he heard the door open.  

The look on Keith’s face when he walked into the living room with three cups of cocoa was one that Riley would hold onto for the rest of his life.  During their wedding years later, Morgan would tell this story again with tears in his eyes.  He would toast the man that was a stranger and now he called son.  

A Moment in the Life of Fred Durst

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(I wrote this because I was listening to the Mom Can’t Cook episode about Lemonade Mouth where the bad guy is a rap rocker. I listened to Break Stuff and it is a really good song for what it is. This idea just popped into my head. I actually have a great deal of respect for the man. Him showing up in I Saw the TV Glow, a deeply trans film and Y2K where he good-naturedly made fun of himself. I think that he might be an alright dude.)

He didn’t have to look around to find his trusted red baseball cap. It was always within arms’ reach and of course, he could easily summon it to his hand through the deep magic of nu metal. He could not show people that though, lest he be stripped of his powers by the nu metal mages that taught him his dark craft. But now was the time to write. Now was the time to express himself.

He sat down at his desk. He tapped his pencil against the desk, it’s point ready to be dulled through his art. He looked at his notebook. What would he bring into the being? What would he draw from the fabric of creation?

He decided that he had to speak to the people. To the everyman. What was one of the most universal things to say to somebody else? He thought for a few moments and nodded to himself.

“Did you ever have one of those days?”

There it was. A cordial phrase. One that you would say to a friend. Someone you loved. They would know that you’re going to talk about a shared experience. What else did people not want? Sometimes you…

“Did you ever have one of those days? Where you didn’t want to wake up.”

Yes, yes, YES. He was describing a bad day. Everyone had had bad days. Of course, he was far richer so his bad days were much better than others. Much easier. But he could still relate to the people. He needed to describe the people that you encountered.

“Everything is fucked. Everybody sucks.”

Beautiful. He was a wordsmith. He had to keep going.

“You don’t really know why.”

Excellent. Time to express the anger. Truly express it.

“But you really want to justify ripping someone’s off.”

What if he was an assassin? One that you didn’t want to make angry?

“No human contact. And if you interact, your life is on contract.”

His pencil was nearly on fire. He kept writing. When he was done, the eraser remained untouched because why would you need to erase any of it? He had had his pencil wore near down to the nub. But he looked upon his song, “Break Stuff”. This certainly wouldn’t come back to bite him in the year 1999.