(Author’s Note: I have one or two things that need to be addressed this weekend, but I am planning to work on some new longer works coming up soon. Otherwise, here’s today’s fictioneers…if you dare read…)
(Author’s note: Currently dealing with work issues that crop up like rocks in a plowed field. Gotta pick them and toss them, and keep chugging away. I’ll have more stuff soon. In the meantime, enjoy this Fictioneers post. BTW, if you’re in Australia, Germany, Mexico, Japan, or New Zealand, you won’t be able to watch the video. Look for Bruce Hornsby and The Range – Mandolin Rain)
We walked into the house, clothes soaking wet after a downpour that we didn’t expect.
“Honey, take your clothes off before going into the living room. I don’t want the carpet to get water on it.”
“So where are you going to put them, since we don’t have our dryer yet?”
“We’ll go Korean-style.”
“Where ya going to hang them from?”
“The rafters? The chandelier?
I took a breath, and looked around.
“Well, at least it’s not going to be occupied.”
“By whom?”
“Well, I was thinking…”
Welcome back for another Friday Fictioneers set. If you haven’t already read the latest (and according to some, my best) Mayumi story so far, please go check out “We All Sleep Alone”
*Author’s Note: Some have been having trouble seeing the video. If you are having trouble, go to Youtube, and look up “So Far Away” by Dire Straits. You’ll get the feelin’.
copyright Jan Wayne Fields
So Far Away
by Miles Rost
Everything was ready on the table.
Danny got home from work, and expertly prepared a beautiful crown roast of lamb, with mint sauce, lightly fried potatoes, and thin-sliced green beans. All of her favorites.
He set the table with the good plates, the excellent glasses, and everything. His crowning achievement of making dinner, a big one, was complete.
He looked out the window towards the street, the patio bereft of life. He looked out the window for a long time.
It was after about 30 minutes of looking that he realized he was eating alone for the night.
His beautiful wife, his love, would not be making it home for dinner.
Greetings fans and friends, I should be back up to full steam for stories next week. Other things have been taking me away from the attention, but I should be back with more ideas. Here’s the Fictioneers for the week:
copyright Roger Bultot
You Need To Stay
“Honey, I told you that you need to stay home.”
“But, sweetie, if we’re going to have a comfortable life, I need to go and follow those white lines.”
“I’m sorry, but you cannot go. You cannot be out there all the time. You’re not married to the road.”
“If I’m going to make money for us, I have to be.”
“Doesn’t matter now. Look out the window.”
A few seconds later…
“AGH! My TRUCK! What did you do to it?”
“Didn’t you think it was strange you found me naked in the woods, and wanted to marry me right away?”
“What?!”
“You married a plant nymph, ya ninny. Now get in here and do the dishes!”
A white house overlooked the car-filled street near the beaches in Santa Monica. A ranch-style house, it was home to Travis and Rebecca Bentley, a husband and wife team whose lives had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Travis pulled into the driveway of the home. A record engineer in his mid-30s, he married his wife 11 years prior, after graduating from Cal State Fullerton and getting his first job at Capitol Records’ famous underground studios.
He got out of the car, pulling a briefcase and a pair of headphones out of the passenger seat. As he walked up the walkway to the front of the house, Rebecca opened the door and held the door open. He walked to the door and bent his head down to give her a kiss on the cheek. She sighed at this and walked in behind him.
“Everything okay, Rebecca? You don’t normally greet me at the door,” he asked, placing his bag and headphones on the table. He turned around to look at her and give her his full attention.
“We’ve been married for 11 years, Travis. I figured it was a time for a little spontaneity,” she said, turning her face away.
He looked at her and blinked for just a few seconds.
“You’re not usually bashful like this,” he said, trying to figure out things like she was a jigsaw puzzle, “Are you sure everything is going okay?”
She looked back at him with fake offense.
“I can’t greet my husband at the door? What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t do that once in a while?”
Travis smiled and shook his head. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass bottle of Mountain Dew. He popped the top with his thumbs, shooting the cap into the air in an arc. The cap pirouetted across the room and into a giant highball glass full of bottle caps. He smiled with pride and walked to his wife. He led her to the living room, and sat her down on the couch.
“Now, Rebecca, what’s going on? I feel like I haven’t been observant of something.”
Rebecca looked down in her lap and smiled.
“Have you ever been to Australia?”
“No, I don’t think I ever have been.”
“Would you ever think about living there, or doing your work down there?”
“If I was offered a job down there, and the record company was willing to pay for our relocation, I think I would. Australia is a burgeoning musical market.”
Rebecca smiled at this revelation.
“Well, what if I told you that there were possible opportunities for both of us down there?”
Travis let his eyes drift into hers, and he tried to read her.
“Go on.”
“You always knew that I wanted to put my degree to good use. I applied to an opening at Monash University in Melbourne a few months ago, and had an interview with one of their folks when they were in town last month. They contacted me today, and they are interested in offering me an adjunct position that pays about the same as what you make right now.”
Travis face went from anticipation, to shock, and then spread to a grin.
“Why didn’t you tell me this last month?”
“I didn’t really think about it that much. I figured it would be a possible opportunity.”
He smiled.
“Do you want the job?”
“Honestly? Yeah. I would love to teach students the art of finances.”
“Would they pay to relocate both of us?”
“They said that they may be able to do that, but they would want you to find work down there within a year of arrival.”
“You remember that band America? Sister Golden Hair? Ventura Highway?”
Rebecca nodded, only realizing after a moment that he was talking about a world-class band. Her eyes went wide.
“Wait…YOU are the engineer for THEM?!”
Travis smiled.
“Just finished engineering the latest album. That’s why I’ve been a bit distant the last three months”
“And why you couldn’t tell me anything.”
“Yep. Their album will likely be a smash this time. But I know that I can find lots of work. Music studios need engineers, especially good ones.”
Rebecca smiled, as she lightly bounced up and down on the couch.
“That’s why I think that this move may be a good one. I just need to make a couple of calls to see if some studios down in Sydney or Melbourne would want to have me.”
Rebecca smiled, giving her husband a big hug. Travis stood up and walked back to the refrigerator.
“I think, Becks, that 1981 is going to be a great year for us. Let’s get ready for a new adventure down under, eh?”
[Author’s Note: If you’re interested in reading the first two parts of this saga, you can click the link in parentheses for part 1 (I Will Wait For You), and THIS link for Part II (Guardian Angel)
Waiting For A Girl Like You
(aka I Will Wait For You, Part 3.)
by Miles Rost
So, when we last left me, it was about three months after my first meeting with a being I called my “future wife spirit”, who slowly became my “guardian wife spirit”. By now, some people have been wondering a bit about me, like my friend Paul. He was the first person to ask me what was wrong, especially the day when I called in sick to work after my second meeting with her. I gave him a cock and bull story about how I stayed up too late and was unhappy with how things were going. I suspect he knows something. But that’s beside any point right now.
Another three months passed by, and by this time I was pretty much feeling like I was going out of my mind. I went to my pastor again, and told him what happened and that I was not in a cult, like he thought the first time. This time, he actually went out of his way to understand what exactly was going on. And he pretty much told me, in no uncertain terms, to “get in the Bible, get reading, and get prepared. If this is going to happen, you need to be as well versed in things as you can.” Hence the long sessions where I got home from work, turned on my music, and started to read voraciously. Even if I didn’t want to, I read.
I know what you’re thinking: You shouldn’t have to. If you know God’s hand is in this, you should be able to trust your gut and do it. Well, for those who say such a thing, I recite the motto of the Boy Scouts: “Always be prepared.”
So, to count, we’re at 6 months after I first met my guardian wife spirit. After a few months more of preparation and feeling pumped, that’s when things started to go downhill again. I was laid off from my job for being a millstone, and found another position working at a local library. I couldn’t understand why I had to change careers and didn’t really think about things.
One Wednesday afternoon, I was at the end of a 10 hour shift of shelving books and sorting shelves where people misfiled their books after reading them. With about 10 minutes left before I was able to go, I was barely keeping my eyes on my cart or where I was going. I kept walking until I heard an “ow!” come from in front of me. And me, paying no attention whatsoever, just kept trying to move forward.
A few seconds later, I realized that I was pushing my cart into a young lady.
“I am so sorry, ma’am. I really am so sorry,” I said, without even looking at her. I picked up a book that fell in front of her feet, and opened my eyes.
This young lady wore deep dark blue pumps on her feet, which would not be fascinating in itself until I slowly looked upwards.
Her legs were cut pretty well, feminine yet still strong. She wore a blue skirt, which hid her thighs and other things I didn’t need to see at this time, and a green silk blouse. She was curvy, yet was not overly weighty. She definitely was on the high end of the pretty scale at this point, until she peered her head down my way. She looked down at me with bright blue eyes and shoulder length blue hair.
Wow, this one is quite the interesting person, was what went through my mind, among the obvious thoughts that she walked out of an anime or that she did knock me out and that this was merely a dream or a figment of my imagination.
It wasn’t.
“Don’t worry about it. I bump into people all the time,” she said, looking at me with a look that pretty much said, “Iiinteresting”.
“I’m close to being off of my shift, and I’ve been here a while today. So, look, I apologize for what just happened.”
“It’s okay. It’s not everyday someone attempts to run you over with a library cart,” she playfully replied, ending her sentence with a giggle.
That giggle!
For a moment, a sheer fraction of a moment, my thought drifted back to my “guardian wife spirit”, and the last time we met. I remembered how she giggled at my statement about how I thought she was just a figment of my imagination as a result of eating a pizza that I had not eaten since then.
And for that split second, I could have swore I saw her spirit make an appearance and say in a bright voice, “Hi!”
A split second after that, well…let’s just say bodies hit the floor. Namely mine.
I woke up two hours after taking a header into my library cart. I was laying on a couch in the back room, and I slowly awoke from unconsciousness. I felt a bit groggy, and looked around.
“Ugh, where am I?”
“You’re in the back room of the library,” I heard a familiar voice say.
I sat up, and saw her. The blue haired, cool-colored, remarkably beautiful woman that I nearly ran over was sitting at the end of the couch.
“I decided to sit and wait for you to wake up. I feel bad for what happened. So I waited,” she said, with a sweet yet mournful look on her face.
I looked at her, and just smiled.
“I’m sorry for causing more trouble. I…can’t explain it, I guess I may be clumsy.”
She giggled again, which basically confirmed it. This was who my guardian angel was.
“Look, uh…what’s your name?”
“Claudia. Claudia Hamilton.”
That’s quite a beautiful name, I thought to myself.
“Well, Claudia, I feel like I’ve caused you a lot of hassle and trouble. I am off my shift, and should have been home by now. But, would you mind if I bought you some dinner?”
Claudia was a slight bit flustered at this, from what I could tell. So, I decided to tell her the truth if she accepted my dinner date request.
“It would be a thank you for sticking next to me even though you didn’t have to.”
She smiled, and gave a polite bow.
“I accept. I don’t usually accept dinner dates, but I think now it may be a good idea.”
We got out of the library, and I was pretty good to drive. So we both took separate cars and met at a local diner spot near the library. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was close and the food would be good enough for both of us, especially with my head being a magnet for metal.
Both of us went in and we sat down. We made small talk, getting to know each other slowly as we waited for our pancakes and bacon. I found out that she was the traffic controller for a local radio station group who also loved watching anime. She also told me she was a believer, and that she was looking for good fiction to read when we met each other. She was also a big fan of the band Foreigner.
This sparked an idea in my head. Ohhhhhh…if this worked…
I told her to give me a moment, walked over to the jukebox in the corner, and picked what I thought would be an appropriate song for this occasion, done by her favorite band.
As I sat down, the opening strains of what I would hope to think was Claudia’s favorite song started to flow through the diner. That’s right, nothing like Thomas Dolby on keyboards to whet your appetite, or to bust open everything in the world. (For note, you can start the song here)
Now, remember, I said that if she accepted my date request, I’d tell her the truth. And with the opening drums and keys of the song, I basically laid it out for her.
“Claudia, do you believe that God has a plan for us?”
“Of course I do.”
“I am going to tell you something incredibly crazy, that you’re probably going to throw something in my face and walk out of here after I say it.”
Claudia raised one of her eyebrows, and gave a motion with her hands that said, “Proceed.”
“Claudia, I don’t think our meeting was by chance.”
She looked at me, still shocked and with her mouth agape.
“I was visited by a spirit. I didn’t know who she was, or what she was, but she said that she was waiting for me. And when you giggled, it was the same exact giggle she gave.”
Claudia shook her head and started blinking madly.
“So, let me get this straight. You’re telling me that my spirit came to you and told you to wait for me?”
“That’s about the way it is.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I made a promise that once I met you and confirmed it, I would be up front and honest about everything. And no matter how weird, I had to say it.”
Claudia’s eyes shifted to the right, and I could tell she was conflicted about things.
“The only reason I am even believing this right now is because of the dreams I’ve had. 7 months ago and four months ago, to be exact. I was told that I would find my future husband soon, but not in the way that I supposedly came to you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she believed me this far.
“So, what should we do about this?” I asked her.
Claudia snerked, and looked at me.
“I think we should eat, get to know each other, trade cell numbers and Facebook names, then part for the night.”
“That sounds good. So, let me start by asking: Why Foreigner? And what is with the blue hair?”
It was just another night like any other. My 33 year old self went home after a hard day of work, picking up a half a pizza to gnaw on as my dinner and breakfast for the next day. I didn’t even get through one of the 4 slices before I just passed out. At that time, the sun was just going down on the horizon.
“…hey….you….”
For some reason, I kept hearing this voice while I slept.
“…hey…wake up…”
I really did think I was dreaming. Until I felt something like icy hot running up my foot from ankle to middle toe. That was when I sat up straight and looked around. My eyes adjusted to the dark a little bit, and I didn’t see anything. I looked down at my clock, that cried at me 2AM. I thought that it was annoying that I was woken up at 2AM for no reason. After putting down the clock, I looked back in front of me.
“Hi! You’re awake!”
I saw this ghostly apparition in front of my face. The first thing that went through my mind, in a split second, was that I was dreaming again. After blinking once, I realize that, in fact, I wasn’t.
The apparition backed up a little bit and twisted it’s face into a bit of an annoyed look.
“Oh come on, it’s not like I was intentionally trying to scare you!”
I looked at this ghostly figure and realized that it’s voice was that of a young woman’s. I sat for almost a minute looking at it, and just tried to make sure that I wasn’t in fact dreaming. Firmly satisfied in the fact that I wasn’t dreaming, and that I was being visited by something of a spirit, I looked at it and had a queried look on my face.
“Are you here to kill me?”
The spirit giggled a slight bit, then sighed.
“No, I am not going to kill you. The reason I’m here is of a totally different matter.”
“What might that be?” I asked her, as I determined that the spirit was definitely female.
“Quite simply, you’ve been asking God for a wife for a long time. I’m here to tell you that God is listening to you.”
I pikued at this. Now, the question in my head was how the hell did she know THAT?. So I decided to probe a bit more.
“Okay, you say that you’re from God. Were you sent by Christ to visit?”
“You mean Jesus the Christ? Died on the cross? Yes, I was sent by Christ. However, I will say that I’m not an angel or anything like that.”
“Then…what are you?”
“I am actually the spirit of your future wife!”
I heard this, and my mind just went blank. I couldn’t think of anything to say. So I did the only thing natural. I laughed, and I laughed in a way that made it seem like I was going insane. After about a minute, and a bit of a sulking from my future wife ghost, I finally was able to get my laughter down.
“Okay, so let me get this straight: You are my future wife, but you’re in spirit form. You were sent by Christ to visit me and tell me that God is listening to me? About what?”
She just smiled at me in the way a female ghost, who really didn’t have much of a form besides that of a general feminine outline, could only do so.
“Your love life, lack therein, and your future with me!”
My eyes just glazed over again, before I cleared them up.
“I am going to humor this. So, you are my wife in the future. Does the person you’re inhabiting know this?”
“Innately, yes. But I don’t know who you are yet. I know you’re out there somewhere, on the western skyline. However, I don’t know your identity and won’t know.”
I looked at her and sighed.
“This just keeps getting stranger and stranger,” I told myself, before looking at her again.
“Alright, future wife spirit, I guess I have to ask this again so I can get a bit of understanding. Why are you here, in my room?”
She looked at me with what seemed to be a little bit of a baffled look, then smiled.
“I was sent to you by Christ to let you know that I will find you eventually, that you should be patient, and that you should wait on Christ’s timing. It will happen, you just need to be open to waiting.”
“Even if the world is going to hell in a handbasket?”
“Yep! I’ll find you somehow! But you won’t know who I am until such time as Christ gives you the signal.”
I just sat there for a few moments and shook my head.
She moved to the foot of my bed, and smiled at me. I realized that it was actually comforting to have her here, and that indeed that it could be an actual message.
“Gotta run. I’m gonna be waking up soon. But, remember, I’m out there. I will wait for you.”
I was about to say something, but I heard only her voice as she disappeared saying over and over, “I will wait for you.”
I sat up for a while and just realized that the impossible became possible. And while it was only yesterday, I feel as though I will be with her soon. Call it a gut feeling.
Music and Fiction 