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Tremayne looked as though he were about to answer my question, then caught sight of my homemade climbing gear, and stiffened. I hastened to explain.“I’m sorry, but I needed to… urinate… and didn’t want to dirty your building.”He shook his head slightly, then lowered his chin and shoulders and noticeably relaxed.“There are those who sayContinue reading “Catharsis [26]”

I laid in the pile of straw where I’d been so unceremoniously dumped for a few minutes, slowly moving arms, legs, and back bit by bit, just checking to see if any of my elderly parts had been broken or disarranged. This bit of maintenance accomplished, I slowly got to my feet.The place I foundContinue reading “Very Very Frightening [25]”

There’s always that uneventful moment, during the course of an eventful life. Sometimes there are more than one, but there’s always at least one. That one little bubble in time where you can feel circumstances dilating away from you and a small space of still, sweet calm surrounding you. It’s almost as if the “movie”Continue reading “Stink [24]”

In relation to the village’s big central circle, if the path to the “portal stones” [their name for it] was at about 8 oclock, then Tremayne’s bird-house was at about 4 o’clock, and the pathway to the place where everybody went to get things done was at about noon on the circle’s “dial”. Their homesContinue reading “The Workshop [23]”

I woke up on my belly, arms and legs flung wide, my face slightly damp from the puddle of drool in the pillow it was buried in, my hair going wild in every direction, having escaped its ponytail.I felt like I had gone to a spa, been melted down and reconstituted. I hadn’t felt thisContinue reading “Middle of the Night [22]”

I walked over to the table and picked up the Bowie knife in its plain cowhide sheath. Pulled it out and tested the edge with my thumb- it was quite sharp. A very nice blade.The fruits on the table were shaped and colored a little bit like ripe mangoes, but they were about 12″ longContinue reading “Birdbath [21]”

I liked to pride myself on being in pretty good shape for an old lady. I mean, I wasn’t a ‘down-to-the-gym’ gal, by any means, but I wasn’t hugely chubby or incapable of lifting a reasonable amount of weight, and I wasn’t in need of a walker or a granny-go-cart just yet. I could stillContinue reading “Birdhouse [20]”

There was a whirring or buzzing kind of noise. It reminded me of the 17 year cicadas, the overwhelming 100-decibel buzzing sound that masks everything else in waves of Insect Love Calls, some summers, altering the very atmosphere and making me a bit woozy. This version of it had a similar effect.I shook my headContinue reading “Buzzing [19]”

I woke to the front door slamming and heavy thumping boots on the ceiling. A male voice I didn’t recognize hollered, “GRACE…!!” The urgency of his tone was unmistakeable.I jumped up and made my way through the map room and up the stairs, fumbling at smoothing my hair as I went.Grace was standing a littleContinue reading “Rock City [18]”

She walked over to the binder she’d been writing in earlier, and flipped it open to its first page.“You’ve already learned that we’re dealing with crossovers from a different place. Think of it like this; we live in one country, they live in another, and when they cross into our territory, we can consider itContinue reading “Book Learning [17]”