*If you follow the blog, you know that I tried my hand at writing over the summer.
*As I stated then, I'm not sure where this writing project will go or end up, but I'm proud of myself for carving out time to write each day, create a story, and follow through on my summer writing plan.
*By the end of the summer, I had a thirty-five chapter adult novel with almost 90,000 words. Each day during the week, I would write a chapter. I haven't gone back and reread anything. I've made no changes, adaptations, or rewrites.
*Being a complete novice, I'm not sure what the next steps would be in moving forward with the story. I came up with the idea of posting a chapter here on the blog each Friday. By doing so, I'm hoping to gain some insight from readers.
*If you should choose to, please take a gander at the submitted chapter and leave any of the following comments for me in the comment section of the blog. I welcome any and all feedback...
-What did you enjoy about the chapter?
-What didn't you enjoy about the chapter?
-What was a strong point in the chapter?
-What was a weak point in the chapter?
-What was confusing, misleading, or unclear?
-What worked, or didn't work, within the chapter?
-Is there anything you would like to see added, or deleted, within the chapter.
-Any other comments, questions, or concerns would be greatly appreciated.
Silent Chaos
Prologue (Thursday, July 14, 2011)
I’m not sure why I’m still sitting in the BMW. I know what I’m going to do. Why not open the car door and get on with it? I’ve been stalling for several minutes but know the outcome. The outcome is always the same. After dropping off John and Joseph, I should have gone home. The day was going perfectly. Fresh off an amazing vacation to Europe with the family. My beloved fourteen-year-old twin boys, John and Joseph, are heading north to spend the weekend with their godparents up at their lake cottage. They have a golf tournament on Friday. The golf course is our best friends, so they decided to make a weekend of it.
The boys and I enjoyed our thirty-minute drive to meet up with their godmother. She drove south and we drove north. Perfect situation. Of course, isn’t it always a perfect situation. After saying goodbye and telling them I love them, I began to head south for home. As it usually happens, the force of the bubble is pulling me off course and toward the detour. Why go now, I ask myself. Perfect vacation, perfect memories, and actually a perfect day. Midsummer July in Wisconsin can’t get much better than this. Completely clear blue skies and a high of eighty degrees. I could accomplish so much back home. Just go home. Why didn't I go home?
The area is pretty busy for a Thursday afternoon. As I get out of the car, I make sure the doors are locked. I’ve heard there have been robberies, and I don’t want to deal with that. Definitely not worth the hassle. I take a moment to bask in the sunshine. Looking to my left and right, I notice there are options in both directions. Then a young guy catches my eye. I'm always reaching for the impossible and unreachable. If nothing else, I will enjoy a walk to the river, relax, and head back to the car. The young guy glances back and we make eye-contact. He heads down the same trail I was going to take to the river. Not surprising myself at all, I follow.
The bubble I create is enveloping me heavier than I can remember. The trip, the family, and the perfection are all fading away. There is no turning back at this point. As the young guy heads toward the river, I notice him turn his head on more than one occasion. Seeing the familiar action, creates a swelling of the mind and heart. I’ve never been able to fully understand the feeling, but it feels like nothing else. About halfway down the dirt trail toward the river, he stops and bends over to tie his shoe. Is he truly tying his shoes, or is it something else? I know I have two choices; continue my walk alone or stop and strike up a conversation. Again, no surprises here.
“How are you?” I say in my most masculine, casual voice I can muster.
“Great man," he replies with a smile.
“What brings you out on a beautiful day like this," I ask.
“Day off man, and wanting to enjoy the day," he says with a wink.
A wink? Why the wink? So, today might turn out completely different than I imagined. He sits down on a large log and I join him making sure to keep some distance between us. The nerves, the pit in the stomach, and the bubble are all in place. My world outside of here has completely disappeared and I’m immersed in my own world where nothing can hurt me. The conversation is easy and flows without any thought. I ask questions. He answers. He asks questions and I answer. The last satisfying conversation similar to today's, has been quite some time. Way before the family vacation. That thought quickly is dismissed and I’m brought back to the moment.
He is a bar tender. The mystery man tells me he works downtown at one of the hot spots but won’t share the name of the bar. I’m not sure if this is a red flag, but I decide not to give it much thought. Time, space, and all reality are vanishing as quickly as our conversation began. After bantering back and forth, I notice we have somehow ended up siting closer than when we first sat down. Not only he is a young good-looking guy, but he is pretty damn funny. He starts joking around and giving me a hard time. The laughs are coming from both of us. At some point during the exchange, another man walks by. He appears to be heading from the parking lot toward the river. If I didn’t know better, the two gentlemen seem to make eye contact, but the stranger keeps on walking. Looking back, that should have been a sign. All the signs that I choose to ignore.
After the man gets further away, the conversation turns a bit more personal. I ask what really brought him here today.
“You know dude," he replies.
“Yep, I sure do," I say.
After a few more jokes and him jabbing at my personality and humor, I give him the old guy to guy fist bump to the back. He doesn’t seem to mind. We are both being cautious and reserved, which is always the smart thing. Normally, I think I would have been more forth coming. Where is my hesitation coming from? Another sign perhaps? All the signs are here, and I'm realazing I'm doing a stellar job of ignoring them. After what could have been almost thirty minutes or more, I can sense him getting impatient. I try to bring the conversation back to the light-hearted banter and another light punch to his back.
At this point, he stands up and looks down at me sitting on the log that beckoned the two of us into conversation. Here is the moment I have been anticipating since dropping off the twins. The next part of my day could add to the perfection I experienced in Europe with the family along with the perfection of a July summer afternoon. The bubble is at its height and I don’t want it to burst.
“Hey man, I hate to do this, but you are under arrest” he states in a much more official tone than he has used during the entire conversation. It is at this moment that the bubble pops louder than ever in my forty-four years of life. The sound is deafening and the impact knocks me back into reality faster than the modern jumbo jet that transported me back to the states from Europe just a few short days ago.
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