Wednesday 31 May 2017

Day 31 - The Day 14 Result

One of my days in the challenge this year is simply titled 'Day 14 - The Final Assignment' Here is the result of that final assignment and my last Hurrah for my story-a-day in the month of May. A certificate of completion of a creative writing course I've been doing for the last 12 months.

I've enjoyed it.  The course and the story a day challenge.

Thank you to Julie Duffy from http://storyaday.org and all the other writers and contributors for the month. Also Robert Stephenson - for being the course instructor with open colleges.

Cheers

Andrew



Tuesday 30 May 2017

Day 30 - Five Senses (Day 22 Prompt)

Eric lay facedown on the cold hard floor, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, he could feel it running out his nose and warming his cheek. Everything ached, ribs, knees, legs; his head was throbbing.

Waiting, eyes shut, listening. He could sense a presence but without moving or opening his eyes he could not locate them. Nor could he tell how many there were.

The pain he felt from the beating was fading compared to the pressure points forming due to his laying still for so long. Then he heard it, movement, someone standing from a chair, the chair scraping across the floor.

The smell of foot odor and wet leather filled his nose and mouth,  feet mere inches from his face. Opening his eyes just a slit, he could see the boots. He knew who and why he was laying on the floor.

He knew now what this was about, he was as good as dead because of what he had seen. He’d told no one, not even the police. The boots were here now. For him.

Monday 29 May 2017

Day 29 - 400 words to a Magazine

Today I am drafting 400 word article to submit the NextBigCritic a local gaming magazine here in Australia.  This has to be an unpublished piece of work, hence can not put up here on AFStoryaDay.

Day 28 - Tuggle the Trufflebear

Sometimes you write and an idea simply does not grab you - I think there may be something here for Tuggle the Trufflebear and his friend Jelex, just not today.  I'll keep plugging on a story-a-day.

Tuggle sat on the post, he’d been waiting since the day before when Jelex had farewelled him on her way home. That is he had sat still on the post all afternoon, into the evening, through the night, the cold of the morning, and now as the midday sun was warming him up. He was waiting; waiting for his new friend Jelex.

Sunday 28 May 2017

Day 27 - Dealing in time



Day 26 - Chapters

Prologue – The Contract
Chapter 1 – What to do?
Chapter 2 – Bluey, and the crew
Chapter 3 – Securing the boat
Chapter 4 – Back to School
Chapter 5 – Business Plans
Chapter 6 – the Ex
Chapter 7 – Fit-Out
Chapter 8 – Trouble and Strife
Chapter 9 – The suit
Chapter 10 – the DOME
Chapter 11 – The Proposition
Chapter 12 – New Crew
Chapter 13 – The Doctor
Chapter 14 – Sea Trials
Chapter 15 – The Plan - https://sea-distances.org
Chapter 16 – Rekindled Love
Chapter 17 – Departure
Chapter 18 – Snatch and Grab
Chapter 19 – The Package
Chapter 20 - Anti-Seasickness
Chapter 21 – Evasion
Chapter 22 – Plain Sailing
Chapter 23 – The Cape
Chapter 24 – Pirates
Chapter 25 – Fatality
Chapter 26 – Surf the Web
Chapter 27 – The drop

Chapter 28 – Now what?

Day 25 - Story Synopsis - yet to be titled

‘Hey, Bluey! Maaaaate’
‘Freddy; Freddy Friar. How the hell are you?’
The two old matelots shook hands. ‘Good. Good. Do you want a beer?’
‘Sure, a pale thanks, I’ll grab us a seat’
Bluey watched as Freddy approached carrying two pints. The bugger had not changed, yeah sure, a grey goatee, fatter than he was in the past; he was also a good 24 years older.
‘How bloody long has it been Blue?’
‘Years Mate, years, you don’t look much different to what you used to, what have you been doing? Why’d ya want catch-up after all this time?’
‘I’ve been busy mate, bloody busy, I got out of the mob in ‘93, 24 years ago this year actually.  I’ve done well, but I am a bit sick of it all, sick of the corporate life, done some stupid things, marriage has broken down and I want to get back to sea, go back to being uncomplicated’
The truth of it all, Freddy has been more successful financially than he ever could have imagined, kicking around in a corporate life; climbing the ladder, playing in the c-suite He had done well.  In this time though he had dealt with all sorts of things, worked too hard, had a family; lost it due to his stupidity, he wanted to leave all of this behind him, he wanted to stick his head in the sand and disappear.
The simpler life he had in mind was the life of a submariner, a life he had lived in the past, a life that in the complexity and turmoil of his current situation he had romanticised to a be a place, that he could leave all of the conflict and pain behind him, and go back to sea.
Where had this idea come from?  He’d spotted an eBay add for a decommissioned Oberon Submarine. A submarine he had served on when he was in his late teens, early twenties.  A submarine that he had bid on and now owned. Something he had not really thought through.
It was one thing to have a submarine, sure he’d bought it for a bargain price of $4.9 million. The problem he now had was that this purchase was going to be a financial sinkhole if he did not work out something soon.
 All sorts of issues, where was he going to moor it, how was he going to maintain it? It was no ‘Hobie Cat’, there was no way he’d solo sail this thing. He needed a crew and not just any crew; again sailing one of these things wasn’t just a matter of getting any deckhand from the local yacht club.  Then he gets a crew, how was he going to pay them, and really why did he even need them, it’s not like he could enter the Tuesday night sailing races on Sydney Harbour.
It was at this time Freddy reached out to Bluey, he’d not seen him for years, none of his current circle of friends even knew of Bluey. Being a submariner was a lifetime ago. Sure he told stories to his corporate friends, to his family about his days as a submariner, but they really did not have a clue, it was an abstract idea; for anyone except submariners, it was something contained to Hollywood movies.
Bluey was to be his pathway back to others such as Dinga Bell, Cuppy Joe, Windy Gale, Merlin Prentis, and Awesome Slade. A bunch of submariners he knew in the past. All of them now in their mid-forties too early 50’s, most have been landlocked for the last 10 to 20 years.
    Freddy spends time juggling work, trying to keep the secret of the submarine purchase from his ex-wife, negotiating with the port authority in West Australia holding the boat, recruiting his crew, getting his captain's ticket.
    It’s in this time and through the conversations he has as he recruits his old mates and others such as an ex-Russian submariner and a Scotsman that he starts to formulate what he will do. Initially ideas of running day tours out of Sydney harbour or weeklong experiences for the idle rich, fanatical hobbyists or well-funded retirees.
    In the midst of all of this Freddy and his friends are approached by suit, a slick character with a proposal, a proposition that is too good to be true. He offers an opportunity for Freddy to recoup some of his cost, as well as pay his crew handsomely, letting him get back to the simple life.
    Now his plans have changed a little, Freddy commercial considerations are stretched a little into an ethically grey realm, had he just agreed he and his crew were now a gun for hire or was it really a legitimate ‘Humanitarian’ task he had just been asked to carry out.
    Who was this customer, why the need to quietly and expediently remove them from wherever they were? Of course, details were sketchy as the client did not want to disclose until they were committed, for risk of exposure and his need to find alternatives if Freddy said no.
Now he needed more specialist skills, people able to disembark from a submarine, land ashore extricate the customer and return to the submarine. He now needed some SAS operatives.  Luckily for him, he and his crew had dealt with these guys in the past, they knew where to go, who to talk to the SAS and clearance divers came from the same world as they did.
    He also needed to equip his boat differently, equip it to accommodate everyone at sea, underwater for 3 months, special considerations for the clients, he’d need a doctor, food, and more.
    As Freddy and his crew are getting set to sail his life gets just that little more complex, the relationship with his ex-wife, the love of his life is re-igniting.

Day 24 - Story-a-Day

31 days has the month of May.
31 days to write a story-a-day.

Tick, tick, tick go the days in the Month of May.
Especially when you are trying to write a story-a-day.

A story-a-day in the month of may makes you
Struggle and stammer to get topics away.

To write-a-story a day each of us may
Reach into our emotions on any given day.

To create characters and narratives not available yesterday
To write poems and prose even if it is just a little each day.

Thursday 25 May 2017

Day 23 - off the prompt 'The List'

o   Food/Supplies (Dinga):
o   Cater for 23
§  Crew + Doctor (16)
§  Extraction team (4)
§  Cargo (3)
o   12 – 14 Weeks
§  2 weeks back-up
o   EW/S Equipment
o   Warner Mast (MM/Holbrook)
o   Sonar – hope it still works
§  Get Bluey to test
o   Oscilloscope
o   HAM Radio Licence – Who (do you really need it)
o   HAM Radio rigging
o   Note Warner and radio together
o   Doctor
o   Body Bags x 2
o   OT Kit
o   Defibrulator ?
o   See Doctor – How to acquire
o   Drugs we need?
      • Barbiturates. Amobarbital (trade name: Amytal) Methohexital (trade name: Brevital) Thiamylal (trade name: Surital) ... 
      • Benzodiazepines. Diazepam. Lorazepam. Midazolam.
      • Etomidate.
      • Ketamine.
      • Propofol.
    • NOTE – Specialists - BYOK
o   Escape kit
o   Check if boat still has escape suits
§  Source some?? 
§  Keep it above 300ft Unaided is possible
o   EPIRB’s (Do we get one each)
o   Co2 canisters/Oxygen Candles?
o   Engines & batteries?
o   Spare-Parts for engines
§  Going to have to acquire ;-)
o   Motors?  What’s the minimum we can run With?
§  Talk to Ollie.
o   Specialists
o   BYOK – do not want to be aware of that
o   This is a ‘Pirates Rig Gig’

o   Everyone bring their own comforts

Monday 22 May 2017

Day 21 - To Ponder

Ruth my wife pointed out my poor use of the word 'Ponder' on my day 12, hence today's entry for story-a-day.

To Ponder is to puzzle over,
To reflect and contemplate,
To mull over or meditate.

To Ponder is to deliberate,
Even try to evaluate,
To cogitate or Excogitate.

To Ponder is to emotion,
As sadness is to sleep,
As pontificate is to praise.

As ponder is not emotive,
And emotive I must write,
To my Wife’s delight.

Day 20 - Kranidrik

Kranidrik looked down into the valley below him, he could see the campsites, several tents fires smouldering away, thin wisps of smoke rising from the ashes. He’d watched the campers throughout the day and into the evening, and now as the morning sun was rising above the cliffs and the shadowed was receding across the campground he sulked. He so wished he could go play with the children he saw yesterday. To run with them, play tag, hide and seek; all of those things he had heard and observed, he so wished he could, only he couldn’t he was a creature of dreams and shadows; a creature children shied away from if they ever saw him. Kranidrik sat still and watched, he loved to watch. He would stay in the shadows; he would remain a creature of dreams hoping to his core that one day he could play.

Sunday 21 May 2017

Day 19 - 'Escape' - Playing with dialogue, inner monologue and scene

‘Wait!’

‘What do you mean wait? I’ve been waiting for hours’

‘It won’t be much longer and they will be here’

‘Yeah, yeah. You’ve been saying that for hours. They’re not coming.’

‘No they are, I swear it.’ His brother would never leave her here not if he survived the ambush, and she was positive he had survived the ambush.

She looked at him, he looked keen to sell them out, to try and barter information for his freedom. She’d like to think their freedom, but undoubtedly he’d trade her away for his own good.

‘Look; if you wait for just a little longer, give him a bit of a chance I am sure we will make it worth your while.’

‘How, you two have nothing, nothing more than that map.’

‘Yes, but you know what that map leads to’

‘Bah! Nothing but fantasies, the folly of two lost children. My life is worth more than that and these buggers will let me go if I tell them the truth about you’

‘You can’t do that! If you do tell them, they will still kill you because you know too much’

He looked at her; she had a point, and he knew it. This girl and her bloody brother had been nothing but trouble to him ever since he agreed to show them the way up the mountain pass.

‘Bloody hell! Shut-up!’ He turned his back on her, turning towards the cavern door, towards the lone sentry standing there. ‘Go get your Boss.’

The sentry stepped away from the entrance, out of sight for just a moment to confer with one of his fellows, then he was back, he said nothing; He simply resumed his post.

Staring, not knowing if his request had been carried out or not, he could feel her approaching. He felt her place her hand in the middle of his back. ‘Please?’
‘Okay, Okay. I’ll stall them, I’ll distract them somehow. Mind though I can’t do it forever, your bloody brother better get here sooner than later’

They both looked at each other, silently weighing each other, pondering what next.

Their silence was broken, not by a noise or a calamity of sorts, just the slow and silent collapse of the man guarding them. Physically staggering into the cavern, away from some force outside, he turned to look at them, his eyes pleading, his mouth agape, and the hilt of a knife protruding from his neck. Falling to his knees grasping at the knife he collapsed forward onto his face.

She moved first, crossing the cavern in three steps, reaching down and pulling the knife from the guard's neck. ‘They’re here! Let’s go!’


Day 18 - Dalgroth

To call the place idyllic was an understatement.  There had been 300 plus years, 3 generations of dwarves had lived in peace; with the human's village in the valley below Dalgroth, and the elves across the valley in the Turon Forrest.  In all this time there had been barely a trouble.
   
Yes, there was occasional banditry, family feuds and intrigues, some long-running grudges but that was about it. There were no major race wars, the kingdoms of the humans had no quarrel with the Elven lords and the Dwarves looking down from Dalgroth had no gripe either.

Over this time the three races had thrived, recognising the strength of each culture and leveraging that. The dwarves trading precious metals and tools with the humans, the humans stock in trade was livestock, cattle, sheep, goats and all the associated accoutrements, whilst the Elves, ever the keepers of the forest provided the wood to all three, nurturing the forest to ensure it provided for all.
   
This ability to live together in harmony, to trade and develop had resulted in wondrous advances, the blending of Dwarven iron and craft with that of the wood elves and their magical trees, whilst the humans had developed wool, leather and hide for use in clothing, carrying and more.
   
It was thought that adventurers from the Dalgroth Peninsula were the best-equipped, most highly trained adventurers in the world. Equipped with the best materials from all three races, as well as having apprenticed across the three races they were often hardy geologists and geographers, skilled woodsmen, ingenious tradesman and hardy labourers.
   
So rich was the culture of the Peninsula that the trade with the wider world was flourishing, ships were continuously docking at the small wharf in sanctuary bay, this being the only true and safe way to reach the peninsula. As the Ranger Elves of Turon Forest guarded the northern reaches of the peninsula which touched upon the northern continent.
   
It was here in this idyllic place that Bobmaddock the dwarf had been born and had spent the 40 years of his youth growing up, first in the mines and tunnels of Dalgroth until he was 20 years old, then 9 years in the village below, working the land, and finally 9 years in Turon forest with the Elves learning woodcraft and spending short periods with the rangers on the northern border.
   
For the last two years, he had returned home to Dalgroth to prepare for the journey in front of him. It was a custom for Dwarves to venture beyond the mountain, beyond the peninsula, north onto the continent for the next 10 years until they were fifty until they were considered an adult.
   
It was thought that this upbringing would ensure they appreciated the skills and qualities of the three races, as well ensure they have experience of a broader wild world that would make them appreciate the peace of the peninsula and therefore make better members of society when they returned to make there families.
   
Yes, it was true, not all returned, some gave over to the thrill and wilds of the north, others died on their journey, yet more though did return to establish families back on the peninsular.
   
Today was the day, Bobmaddock and his family would descend from the mountain and go to meeting grounds below, there they would meet with contingents from both the human village and elven forest. At this meeting, they two would present the youth who were to join him to adventure north.

Saturday 20 May 2017

Day 17 - DeadHeads

Catherine stood at the doors, waiting, watching the lock indicator waiting for it to switch from red to green.  The last two hours of her trip had been tortuous. Even more so after the train guard asked her to sit down and stop hassling interrupting other commuters.
    Catherine then had to endure two hours of silence, looking around her at everyone reminded her of her son. They all sat there faces basking in the glow of their little screens.  There were even a few who sat dead still looking straight ahead not moving, catatonic. Some would say they were staring except, how could you possibly stare when wearing oculus goggles.
    It was these people who hurt the most, they reminded her so much of Gary. She wondered if they recognised the danger they were in, wondered if they were lost already. Catherine regretted the day she’d bought Gary the Oculus Roam. At least before the Oculus Roam, they knew where he was, yes he was tethered to the console in the house.
    There though they could try to regulate his time on the device, the rules of the house, homework, reading, sports, all of those things meant there was some balance. He enjoyed those things, he thrived on the soccer field, School was something he was good at.
    They did know he had an addiction to the games, in truth they did not really know what was in the games, neither of them knew. Catherine and Doug did not ever look inside of the oculus goggles to see what he was doing, never thought of what was occurring in front of his eyes, or the affect this was having on his mind.
    Being made to stop and sit on the train Catherine was shocked at how prevalent the technology had become. Looking around her know one was speaking, yes some where communicating by typing messages on there devices, else there was no human interaction, not even brief moments of eye contact.
    These people were zombies, all of them and Gary was somewhere amongst them.  The Oculus Roam fed his addiction. Yes, it was impressive technology, it was always impressive technology ever since Steve Jobs invented the phone everyone was wrapped up in the technology.
    Now it was almost as if the technology was marching forward to the detriment of society, most definitely to the detriment of her family.
    Finally, ‘Clunk’ she heard the lock open and the LED turned green. Catherine pulled the handle down and stepped out onto the train platform. It was fresh, bracing even after the suffocating warmth of the train. Turning Catherine walked towards the turnstiles, blending in with the growing herd as others alighted from the train, adeptly stepping around, dodging, moving in front of those people in the crowd who had not managed to break the glowing tether of their screens.
    Where could he be? Michael said Gary did not get of the train at Gosford to make the short work to school, that he was wearing his Oculus goggles and would not respond to his brother no matter what, even when Michael pressed the external pause button and yelled at his brother to get off the train.
    That was four hours ago, even though Michael had called her as soon as he was off the train to tell her that Gary had done it again, it had taken her some time to organize for someone to look after Maggy, and then the tortuous train trip.
    If she was right Gary would have sat there on the train, like those other goggle zombies she saw, he would have sat their until the train terminated at central station, no doubt he would have still been sitting there if the transit police had not moved him on.
    This was not uncommon, talking to one transit cop on the train he said it was incredible how many people he had to remove from the trains when they terminated, the problem was so bad now special stops were even scheduled at St Leonard’s near the hospital to try and help those who were truly lost in the devices.
    Catherine called to one of the platform staff as she went through the turnstile. ‘Can you tell me where the nearest induction charger is?’ He simply pointed, nothing more. Catherine was glad she did not work in the city anymore, the impersonal frozen faces of everyone always frustrated her.
    Belmore Park that is where the man had pointed. This place had seen every phase of addiction ever, everything from cocaine, meth, crack. Now incredulously the council had approved the installation of an induction energy dome, a charging base for the Oculus Roam’s.
    As she walked into the park she was amazed at how unchanged it was the tents up the hills against the fences, people moving around amongst them, some sitting and talking, others going about there business, this lot were the homeless, disadvantaged, meth heads and others, this was not where the deadheads hung out.
    Deadheads were the oculus addicts, they would not be up there, oddly the two groups looked down upon each other, the deadheads thinking they were better than the addicts, the addicts thinking the deadheads were fools, they tolerated them as they were such an easy mark. If they ever needed cash they’d just go pick the pocket of a deadhead.
    Catherine was scared of the addicts, keeping to the paths with other commuters who for whatever reason, expediency or need were passing through the park. She knew the energy dome was in the middle of the park; this was deliberate as it was the way they kept the deadheads out of the traffic.
    Walking towards the dome was amazing, she had never seen so many of them. So many young lost people, predominantly men and boys there were two or three girls amongst the crowd of 20 odd people standing, not necessarily facing towards the energy dome, just in its proximity, facing all directions.
    She could not see Gary, she started walking amongst them, they were harmless, oblivious. You did have to be worried if one of them flayed about as they fought some beast, or something else in the game they were playing. Watching were you walked was critical, rubbish lay everywhere, discarded backpacks; all unzipped their content spread everywhere. The work of the predatory addicts.

            To be continued
   
   

Thursday 18 May 2017

Day 16 - GrinkleGuts


This one was a simply play on Jess who couldn't sleep, and I told her to hand her hands in the head. said I'd write a story tomorrow for her, today she had a tummy ache again, so we bought prune juice on the way home and so on.  She liked the story, she liked the story about her as the inspiration for the whole thing as well.

===================================================================

Samuel the sandman was a very important man.  So important he was the person who made the world go round.

Not really, he knew it was the moon; the stars, gravity and all that other guff that really made the world go round.

What he did really was worked as hard as hard could be to make sure every person on earth got a good night sleep.  Every person that is on his sleep beat.

Samuel had a problem though. As recently as last night he felt the international sign of dream distress from a little girl called jess.

Not many people know what this is, but lucky for jess her dad did. 'Lay on your back with your arms up and tickle the air' he said.

Now, this in truth wasn't Samuels problem as jess was not on his beat, the thing though is her house was just across the road.

Across the road on Gareth Grinkleguts run.

Gareth Grinklegut was also a sandman. A sandman all out of luck as he had a sore gut and it was his tummies ache that was the real problem.

'Hey, Gareth. Gareth!'

'Hey, Sam.'

'What's going on, why's the air getting tickled there' said Sam pointing at Jess's house.

'I've got a tummy ache and it's making me make Yucky dreams'

'Oh. That's happened to me before'

'What has?’

'A tummy ache Gareth; a tummy ache. Here have this' and Samuel gave Gareth a little glass bottle with black liquid in it.

'Yuk, what's THAT!'

'Drink it, I've got to go' Sam promptly turned and went back to work making sure people had good dreams.

Gareth Grinkleguts, stood still looking at the bottle. He shook it and looked at it again. He cracked the lid and double-checked, yes, still black and disgusting looking.

He lifted the lid and sniffed. 'Mmmmmmm' it smelt good. 'Well here goes' he said to no one in particular.

'Glug, glug, glug.' It was gone.

Gareth stood still for a moment. He waited, nothing, the street was silent, not a noise. Not a noise that was until his tummy grumbled'

Then he farted 'pfffffppppt' Now he had a problem and only a bush loo would do.

The business done, Gareth climbed from behind the bush he'd had to use. He stood straight and still to recover.

He was a little angry at Sam for what he had done, the drink and his need to run. But then just as he thought he was going to base after Samuel he realised his stomachache had gone.

He felt better, he felt great. No more tummy ache. Instead of chasing Samuel he turned to Jess's house. He knew what to do.

Jess's arms were lowered, still a little restless and awake, Gareth had just the dream to solve this.

Fairies prune party.