Saturday, October 10, 2009

28. Sayings Nov 28 Tue

(5:38 am Nov 28, 2006)

"Whe you is?" (CB Janet Turnquest : DT ??)

Good morning, gentle reader, are you awake yet?

I wish I wasn't. I woke up this morning before the three changed to a four on my clock. Try as I might, I have been unable to go to sleep again.

And so I write.

The dogs have been let out, the kettle has boiled, the tea is steeping, the dogs have been let back in on account of barking and kindness to the neighbours.

And os I write.

(5:54 am Nov 28, 2006)

Bookkeeping.

Tea is ready and first sips have been sipped.

(6:19 am Nov 28, 2006)

Ouch.

(3:52 pm Nov 28, 2006)

So here I am again at the bookstore, gentle reader, mid week this time, we shall see if anyone else shows up. I really should be doing a better job as a municipal liaison.

Maybe next year if I get to do NaNo again. I would like to if it works out, we shall see. Will you join me and write your novel too?

Petro was feeling antsy. He wanted to leave work early today so that he could get home and get ready and get to Loqui's place by six or six thirty at the latest.

The problem was that several things were going wrong that needed his attention. For some reason, the DNS server was acting up again. Then, there was an issue with the PBX and voice mail combined with call forwarding.

He also had taken on a little support contract for a cousin over in Key West recently and the cousin wanted help with some web site and XML issues. Rains. Pours. Pours.

Should he call Loqui now and tell her he might be late? Should he change his plans with her? Should he put off everything except the Key West work until tomorrow? Could he put it all off until tomorrow?

He decided to call Loqui now to give her a heads up and also to put off all he could. he didn't see his cousin in IRC so he sent him an email message and an instant message. He would give him until four thirty to get back to him.

(4:11 pm Nov 28, 2006)

That was cutting things close. Loqui wasn't answering her phone. Plans. best laid. Oh well. What could a body do?

Danger was up in Green Turtle Cay today. She had arrived on the ferry in the middle of the day and was an instant hit.

The school children were enchanted by her stories. Many were especially interested in her stories of Scotland as Danger had traveled that country extensively before her, what shall we call it, island adventure. It turns out that Danger had learned a little more of the history of these islands during her brief time in the islands so far. She was a consummate story teller and held the children spell bound as she entertained and educated them as well.

Tonight, Danger ws due to provide an evening of story and song and traditional dancing at a local establishment on one of the island's hills. Since you can't get there for the event in time, gentle reader, as this is once again an asynchronous writing time for me, I will not specify which establishment or even which hill. Asynchronous writing time. Long hand. Typing to come later. (Which is now... 9:32 pm same day.)

"Zotz, have you seen Nano?"

"Drake, how are you doing? You look worried! No, I haven't seen Nano. He is normally with you. What happened?"

"Zotz, we were flying in from Andros. When we took off, the sky was clear and visibility was great. Then, not long after we were airborne, well, not long after we got out over the tongue of the ocean, the sky started turning a strange green colour and reddish purple clouds closed in on us."

"Drake, this ain't going to be some long, rambling story whre you end by pulling my leg is it?"

"No zotz, this is not a tall tale, this is serious. I'm worried about Nano!"

"Drake, Nano is an old dragon. I am sure he can take care of himself. He'll be OK. Don't worry."

(4:36 pm Nov 28, 2006)

"Two wrongs don't make a right." (CB Timothy Nottage : DT ??)

"I hope so zotz. It took me six hours to fly from Andros to Nassau. I can normally make that flight in eight to ten minutes. Cruising. Something is not right. Do you ahve any of your special ways that you can use to check up on him for me?"

"Drake, I'm sure he'll be fine. Look, give it a day or two and if he doesn't show, I will pull out all the stops for you." I just need to keep going here for a bit."

(4:43 pm Nov 28, 2006)

"Whatever you say zotz, but don't let anything happen to Nano or you and I are gonna fall out. And I will hound your characters for the rest of my natural born days. Plus for the rest of my unnatural born days as well."

"Drake, why are so many of you making threats towards me this year?"

"I don't know zotz, maybe you just aren't treating us like you should this year. Some times I get the feeling that we are just after thoughts for you this year. Like we don't really matter. It's not a nice feeling at all."

"Well, you're probably half right Drake. You guys are somewhat after thoughts sometimes these days. But it's not that I Don't care about you. Not at all. It's just that I'm preoccupied and even more than that, I am rushed all the time this month. I feel like I shouldn't be, but I am."

"Yeah well, I don't know how much I am going to be able to help your right up in now myself. I feel like I am going to be too preoccupied until Nano is back safe."

"Well Drake, that's understandable. Listen, go look for him if that's what you feel you need to do. I think I can at least get through the day so long as Doc and Nipps come through with at least a little bit of help."

"Zotz, you're not gonna like this. Doc and Nipps were hitching a ride with Nano. I haven't see them since we got up in those clouds earlier."

"Drake, you should have told me. Man! What am I doing to do? Three characters missing in mysterious circumstances. Listen. I am sure they will be fine. I just don't know how I am going to manage for the next few days until they show. Let's hope it doesn't take a few days. If we're lucky, they may show up in an hour or two. Look, Drake, can you do me a favour and see if you can find Bing and Boom for me before you start your search for the missing?"

"Zotz, I would like to do that for you, but the sun will be setting soon and I really want to do a little searching while I still have some daylight left. Would it be OK if I didn't?"

"Sure Drake, you go ahead. If I can round them up, I will see if they will join you in the search as well. I need you guys to help me finish up this book this month. Good luck. Where should I send da bruddahs to search?"

"I am going to try and re-trace my route and then fly a grid coming back. Why don't you send them in a big wide circle leaving in a south west direction?"

"Will do Drake, take care and good luck!"

(5:13 pm Nov 28, 2006)

"If you have one good friend in your lifetime, you are blessed." (CB Camille Roberts : DT Jack Graham)

(5:19 pm Nov 28, 2006)

Ah gentle reader, what can I do? Three characters missing. And this part of the world is not one of the better parts of the world to go missing while flying or at sea. I have a feeling that Drake might be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat though. The two soldiers might have some success on their new carpet as well.

Petro is still stuck at work. He got caught up in that Key West job and couldn't get away. To make matters worse, he still couldn't get Loqui on the phone. It seemed like chances were good that this night would be bad. That it would not work out anything like he had planned. Mice and men again. Mice and men.

Loqui and Big Byte were getting more than worried. They were adrift in a go fast boat that Bit Byte had borrowed from a friend for a day trip up to Pimlico. On the way back, they had run into a strange storm which had shut down their engines and messed up their radio and other electrical and electronic systems.

They had drifted for several hours in water that looked deep enough that they did not want to throw out the anchour. Finally, they had passed over a reef that rose out of the depths. Big Byte threw out a grapple and let out enough rope to give a decent ratio. Then they waited, scanning the horizon for passing vessels. So far, they hadn't seen any. Darkness was deepening.

(5:43 pm Nov 28, 2006)

(5:50 pm Nov 28, 2006)

Mini block and time warp there, gentle reader.

Bing and Boom are cruising at eight thousand feet. they are making about two hundred and twenty knots and scanning the waters below and the sky around them with powerful search lights that they have loaded aboard their cool new rug. They have nicknamed it the 'Two Pay'.

They have been flying around the islands for the last couple of days looking for evidence of sunken wrecks. They had remembered some old maps that they had come across in the cellars when they were playing hide and seek as children. When they had found them years ago, they had played with them for days, playing pirates some days and on other days, dreaming themselves to be great adventurers on the trail of pirate gold. One day, one of the adults had almost discovered them with their find though.

They had hidden the maps away again in what they were sure was an even better hiding place, but they must have gotten involved in other childhood pursuits as they had forgotten the maps until a few days ago when Boom had remarked that you could see a sunken pirate ship from the vantage point of the carpet. When Boom said that, something fired in Bing's memory...

They had been flying search patterns ever since. Mostly just on a lark and to enjoy the flying. They knew that they didn't have much chance of finding anything until their new equipment arrived.

(6:04 pm Nov 28, 2006)

"Come clean even if you come rough dried." (CB Steven Nottage : DT ??)

(7:25 pm Nov 28, 2006)

Well, gentle reader, I am back in my cave at my computer. I am not in IRC mode though because I am once again typing this into AbiWord. Once again, I don't want to put off writing new words while I type previously written words from my paper to my computer. I never thought that choosing the IRC experiment this year would complicate the process so much. I expected some difficulties with lack of full screen editing abilities, but not all of these other complications. Oh well, live and learn.

(8:00 pm Nov 28, 2006)

Time is getting slippery again. Creative Commons mailing list emails instead of fiction, oh my!

Mmmmm. Guava duff.

"Hey Boom, do you see any thing over there on the horizon? I think I saw a flash."

"Where Bing?"

"Look, at ten o 'clock, see? There."

"Where... Yes. I think I see a glow."

"Let's go see what that is."

They change their direction and headed towards the light.

"Boom, I think that is a flare."

"Take us down and closer man, there must be a boat in trouble down there."

Loqui and Big Byte had seen the lights in the sky and fired off a flare. They cheered when the plane changes direction.

Neither of them know what to think when a carpet swooped down out of the sky and circled around thirty feet over their heads.

They were even more dumbfounded when the carpet dropped lower and they saw two soldier crabs hanging on to the fringes at the front. Hanging on for dear life amidst all the lights and gear piled on the top side of the carpet to overflowing. There was even gear hung from the underside of the carpet.

The carpet came to rest in midair tend feet off the surface of the sea and ten feet from the boat on the port side. An LED sign of the sort used to advertise in store windows lit up and words began to scroll by...

"Do you want us to throw you a line and try and tow you in, or do you want us to notify BASRA and let them send a boat?"

Big Byte and Loqui took a while to get over their astonishment and then talked it over for a while. They were hard pressed to reach a decision. It felt somehow wrong to get towed by a flying carpet, besides that, would it even be able to tow them. On the other hand, they had been out here way too long already and the seas were far from calm. Rolling at anchour was not the best thing when it came to sea sickness. In the end, they decide to chance a tow and Big Byte yelled their decision across to the soldiers.

"OK, throw us a line and get ready to pull up your anchour aw we pull you up to it."

"Can you believe this Loqui, rescued by two soldiers on a flying carpet, lit up like some UFO and talking to use with an advertising sign. We are gonna have some serious stories to tell that no one will believe after this."

(9:03 pm Nov 28, 2006)

And good night.

(11:00 pm Nov 28, 2006)

No, really. Good night!

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