This is another bit of the adventures of;
“More of the 76th street Pedal Patrol”

The kids were all asleep, thank goodness. "It's been one of those days." I muttered out loud.
Of course there wasn't much to watch on television, so I thought, just take me a quick dip in the pool. Husband was due home soon, I did so hate this midnight shift.
The poolroom lights were dim, illumininating the water, making it look like the flowed from a deep dark lagoon. I had to remember to maybe talk him into some under water lights sometime.
It was almost eleven, maybe a few more laps, I thought to myself.. The water seemed to curve gently around me, relaxing and soothing.
Suddenly I heard the noise, glass breaking. Hurriedly I swam towards the edge , knowing my boys were alone inside the house. My heart was racing, fear for my children. Like any female animal, motherhood, instinct takes over. There is no way to avoid it. You can feel your heart race, the adrenalin is kicking in. Without the male as the protector, you can not possibly imagine what the female of the species can do. And somehow I knew, I was about to find out. Also I knew that if I barged through the kitchen door, I might just scare whoever was inside my home. But would they in turn hurt my kids. The thoughts are racing in my head, the instinct we are born with takes over. Quietly but quickly I slipped out the side pool room door, working my way towards their room from the outside. I tripped over a shovel that had been carelessly left by the back door, I thanked God it was there. Again I heard the sound of breaking glass and the banging of something. The night became deathly quiet, except for an occasional leaf beneath my foot.
The front of the house was dark except for a dim light coming from the kitchen window. It was now deathly quiet. I don't really know what happens to the human body in times like this, but I can tell you one thing. Your almost running on automatic. Its like a quest, a job you know you must do and somehow nothing else matters. I listened intently for any other movement, sound or voices from my home. Nothing.
I raised the shovel, like a baseball player waiting for that perfect pitch.
The boy's bedroom window was within view. bending down to hide my form from view I made my way closer to look inside. The room was dark, nothing.
I listened intently, waiting again for some kind of sound. My hand touched the front door knob and I slowly turned it. "Locked! I demanded an answer from myself. This time I ran, I had to get inside, I had to get to the boys. I knew I had left the pool room open, I would go in, I would find a way to save them. I tripped again, this time on a big wheeled tricycle, cursing under my breath.
Gripping the door handle I slowly turned it, The sounds from the tumblers seeming to echo in the night air. Some how I knew, I had been heard.
Without saying a word I slowly opened the door, my shovel waiting to make contact with my enemy. The enemy of my children.
The heavy door creaked as slowly it opened completely. There I stood, half naked, brandishing a shovel, prepared to do battle, with whatever threatened the lives of my children. My feet, covered in mud slowly moved up the stairs into the hallway, the kitchen lay just ahead of me and beyond it my children's room.
Now I could hear voices, faint but inside just the same. My heart was racing my breathing was irregular and deliberate. I had to be sure, no one heard me.
The shovel felt like part of my body, poised and ready for action. I used my foot to open the kitchen door slightly and maybe catch a glimpse of whoever waited inside.
I could hear a motor now, sowing down and pulling into the driveway, I knew it was Tom, it had to be him coming home from work. I was not in this alone.
I waited for a moment or tow and backed out of the door and hurriedly moved to exit. I had to let him know, to warn him.
The headlights brightly lit up the driveway and I made my way to him as quickly as I could.
“Tom!” I whispered as loudly as I thought safe..
“There’s someone in the house!”
Without a second thought or a missed motion, the shovel now lay in his hand. No words were spoked. He gently slipped his key into the lock, turning it slowly. Then without warning, he kicked! Too many years of Tae kwan doe. The door fell flat. A bang a thud and two screams in harmony.
“Mom! Dad! Hurry, someone’s gonna get us!” Tom ran to their bedroom door and with another swift movement another door gave way.
“There huddled in a corner were the boys. A broken window and a baseball bat lying there on the floor in front of them.
“Dad, I saw then, they was outside, they had a shovel! They was trying to get us dad!”
I looked at Husband and a horrible grin spread across my face.
“Okay guys, what happened with the baseball, who broke the window?”
Neither of them spoke at first then the oldest smiled.
“The bad guy with the shovel did it. We saw him! You saved us Dad! You saved us!”
I looked at my dear darling husband, left the room and the boys to him. Baseballs, broken windows and shattered nerves.
“My God!” I thought out loud, “What will happen when they both get to be ten!”
I sat at the kitchen counter, poured myself a beer and waited for Tom. Let him have these few moments with them.
I know if I go in there tonight, someone’s gonna die.”

And a Grand Sunday to you!

Been having abll over on the Zoe site, doing a bunch of quickie little stories from picture promts, I just can't be serious, all I can write is stuff that makes people grin and laugh. The comments have been great, So maybe I will just continue to have fun making folks smile. Too many writers just have to have an important must tell you..story, I just want to make ya smile. Maybe Monday, I'll post a few of them here, even if no one stops by to read them, they'll be safe here. Have a wonderful safe day world.
God Bless
Peg

Screenwriting

Well, lets make a long story short and tell you what I learned today. Screenwriting is for screenwriters! A big Duh!!
I downloaded a free sample of a marvelous software for SP and then figured it out, if you have no idea what to do first, it might as well be in a foriegn language. So I'll just stick to my books, short stories and stuff. Who knows, maybe someone will take a book of mine and make a screenplay, weirder things have happend now haven't they.
About my story on Zoe,, 6 reviews 30+ reads and still 19 days away. Still getting great comments from most whop read. They'll always be... ya know..tupid people! Yep I spelled it wrong on purpose. Well, have a great day today and thanks for stopping by.
God bless
Peg

okay, I goofed

Well I got a bit carried away. spent way too many minutes on Zoetrope and goofing off. Then some stupid bright idea that maybe aI should turn my book "The Henry" Into a screenplay. GREAT idea, I am a dummy. Downloaded a free trial software, suppose to be one of the best. Guess what, your still suppose to have some idea just what to do. Well now, maybe I should just stick to writing the books and let some wonderful person, who has some idea what they're doing do the screenplays. Lord help me, it made me so very tupid! Yes I meant to spell it that way. The Homeless on Vacation story is doing pretty good. already have my 5 reviews. I use to post stories alot on that great place until I realized I was never going to get an agent..why, guess it's because I really don't want one. I sure can't imagine going off to some book signing and leaving husband alone for the week end. no way.
So my next work should be done, if I can stay off Zoe for a few days. Then it's off to Virtual Bookworm. They did a great job with my last one. I am a bit dissapointed with Iuniverse. I haven't seen a royalty staement in a year. Yes I checked. My books have sold. My goodness I can buy one on Ebay. Goodness.
Well, live long and be Phosporus..yes I meant to say that
God Bless
Me

And a Grand Thursday it is!

Well, its been an interesting morning, folks doing reviews on the homeless on vacation think it should be much longer and drop the narrative. Not sure I want to go very far with it, It was a just a quickie piece. I enjoyed writing it for sure.
My website is doing nicely and lots of people are still buying my Rondy Voobook, bet it would do better if I had an agent.
Speaking of agents, received 2 rejection letters today, very nice form letters, at least they used my name.
Well, I am still trying to fine tune my book and just had to stop by and let the world know what was going on here in my little bit of heaven.
I've got kittens to feed and a word processor waiting for me.
Have a great afternoon. Thanks for the emails too.
Peg

Email filters gone awry

Good morning all, I just wanted to let you know that I am getting a few nice emails, many thanks. I'm getting caught in email filters, so if you don't hear from me. Check your filters, my mail is being returned. My novel is coming right along, over half way finished with editing, and then you know how it goes. More editing and then a bit of revising. Heavens, I may be at this book till Christmas. When I do start sending out Queries, you can be sure I'll keep you informed. Well, I'm off to do my ebay shipping. It's a job you know.
Have a great Wed.
God bless.
I may stop back by and let you know if anything great happens out here in these Ozark mountains I call home.
peg

It's Tuesday and I'm gone fishing.!

Not alot to talk about today, The Homeless story is still on Zoetrope, 1 review comments are great. I'm going to just fish and be thankful for this day . Well, I do have to go do a bit of ebay shipping too. I went over to the writers boards, too many complaints, they should go fishing too. Whatever your doing, enjoy yourself, I am.
peg

Getting pretty neat comments.

I know there aren't many folks who have found this so it's great I can add and subtract at will. Eventually we can get to work on revising and ideas from others. For today, spent the morning fishing, nope didn't catch a thing. Spent a bit revising the Homeless story. A Zoe member was very helpful with my work and I tried to listen and revise a bit. One thing I hate is if I get going and by the time I'm finished the story is no where as neat as it was, so I don't do a whole lot to them. In case you wondered. Now they suggest I submit it, question is where. So with that thought, hope you enjoy the story and maybe I will get a suggestion or two where to send it. Hope your having an awesome Monday. Email sometime. all comments will be appreciated.
Peg

Homeless on vacation, a work in progress

The Homeless on Vacation
Peggy L. Johnson
8/7/2005
I use to sit and watch TV with my family and see the reports about homeless people. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I hate to admit it, I thought;
“Boy are they lazy. Anyone can get a job and no one has to live like that unless they choose to.”
Boy have I learned a lesson. My husband worked very hard at his job, he had 15 years seniority, pretty good for our age. One day, it happened to us. Low and behold a merger began to be in the works for his company.
Now we all remember the 1980’s, a strange decade for sure. Every big company out there found ways to cut the bottom line and merge with another. I don’t believe they took into view the lives that they would be affecting. So, we talked it over as a family, like our kids had any idea what we were talking about, and decided to take the buyout.
Most people see the money they are offered and think it will last forever, take my word for it, don’t do it unless absolutely necessary. Then again, after the adventures we’ve had if you’re a strong person, DO IT!
We used our brains, the telephone and found a wonderful piece of property to invest in. It was far away and the boys would be moving to a whole new environment. We assumed all would be well. A few months down field and we were off. What a grand thing. Our dreams were finally coming true.
Our new home was situated below a marvelous mountain range in the Rockies. A view that made you lose your breath when you seen it each morning. Life was wonderful. It was like a fairytale.
A few weeks went by and the place was finally coming together. The property sat on a major highway that lead to many little tourist traps and we opened a little store of our own. It took weeks and a lot of the money from our savings to pull it off. It was a sight to behold, beautiful. Tour buses and cars stopped day and night. We worked hard to keep it all under control.
I remember sitting there at the counter the day the man from the county showed up.
“Mam, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’ll have to close. I checked the zoning and your store is not on the list. You’ll have to go to the county seat and file for a zoning change in order to stay in business. Oh, the other thing, you’ll need to close the restrooms, unless you retile and” I remember it sounded like
“Blah…blah…blah…”
Okay so we went to the county seat, did the paperwork paid the $500.00 bucks and within 3 months we were allowed to open again.
Do you have any idea what happens when no money comes in for 3 whole months?
Not only were we taking care of all the bills, we were still making payments on the property that we had moved from, while waiting for it to sell.
The money dwindled, the fears grew, the arguments began in earnest. How we managed to keep our marriage together, only God knows for sure.
We then decided that I would make a trip to the old house, check what was going on with the realtor and just get away for the week end. Husband was all for it. I loaded the boys in the van with me and away we went.
10 hours later, I remember this exactly, I pulled into our old driveway. The driveway that I had parked in for all those years. The home where my children had spent most of their lives at. The front door was open. I had the boys wait in the car and carefully opened the screen door and peered inside.
The light fixtures where gone from the front room. I headed towards the kitchen where countless meals had been made. Countless plates washed and stored. The room where our whole family had taken pleasure in the private moments shared over supper.
The kitchen sink, water heater, all gone. It was almost unbearable to walk through each room and see every fixture stripped.
I also remember the look on my boys face when they walked into the house. It was like they had seen a monster, a ghost.
I try to often erase that moment.
Over time I think its been replaced with better things. Thank the Lord.
I called the realtor, that was a waste of time. I called the police and the insurance company. My loss, too bad.
I was such an idiot at the time.
I drove back to our new house in the mountains. It was the quietest trip I ever remember having with both my boys in the car. Its pretty hard on teenagers to experience this sort of thing.
Well, the weeks rolled by and before long the savings account was about gone, we had spread ourselves way to thin.
The bank was closing in. We had a huge yard sale, made a little bit of money and decided to just cut our losses and leave. Quit claim deeds and all. It was a mess. All this time I forgot or was too involved with the mess to see what was happening to the kids.
You know I discovered a horrible thing about folks. Now don’t get me wrong, I know its not all people in general. But some are different, they flock around people having problems just like vultures, waiting to take, take, take. And they did.
We woke up early that Friday morning, loaded the van with kids, cats and what little would fit into his little truck and left. We left it all, to the vultures.
Somewhere in the midst of all this confusion we met a few God sends, A old man at a lake lot, sold us an old Winnebago for pennies on the dollar, another one who offered encouragement. God sure has some wonderful, strange angels out there. Sometime that winter my oldest turned 18 and decided he had to go. That was tough for sure, he reassured me his old best friend had a place for him to come to. What did we have to offer, I let him go. Within a week he was in trouble with the law, somehow I felt it was all my fault. He survived, so did I.. He is now a medical research designer and writer, imagine that.
We drove a thousand miles that week end, bank account empty, no job one kid 6 cats to New Mexico. We camped high on a mountain and for the first time, we were completely alone. Okay, I left out a bunch of other weird things, just as well.
I found a job at a jewelry supply house and husband became a substitute teacher on the reservation, now here’s a picture for you. Three white folk, living under the water tower on the Navajo reservation, fresh from the city. When the UPS man delivered to us, that was our actual address “Winnebago under water tower.
Our neighbor was a medicine man on the Jesus Road, I swear I have never met anyone nor do I think I ever will meet a man as strong and as wonderful as he was. His lady, (It’s impolite to use their names I was informed by her) told us that we need to concentrate on what the creator has in mind for us and quit trying so hard.
Within a year or two I finally understood what she meant, we found that by saving everything we made that winter we could go to living history re enactments and people would pay us good money for the things we brought with us. The technical term was, traders. Just like Lewis and Clark, Jim Bridger and more. Names I grew to know and their personals too.
So here we were, living in an old motor home, traveling and sometimes just hoping we made enough to get to the next show. If we needed a place to park we could look for the National Forests and usually they had a campground for free.
At one of these events we ran into another Trader who told us about a show all the way down in Florida, with a few bucks and a prayer we went. It was wonderful. Scary but wonderful just the same. At least it felt wonderful at the time.
We found that at the National forest there were lots of other people in the same situation as we were. We ate a lot of those noodle dishes and to this day I still can’t bring myself to eat Tuna.
So all this time I was beginning to get it, to understand a bit more of the big picture. You are only as happy as you choose to be. Money didn’t buy happiness, but it sure bought gasoline to get you to the next one.
One Christmas Eve in this same little camping area, we found a couple, she was black and he was white. To us it made no difference at all. They were there in a small tent, she was eight months pregnant and they were very happy. We watched him everyday set out with an old 22 rifle and what he shot, they ate. Usually we saw him carrying a small squirrel or two, that was about it. When they would visit our camp site I never once heard them complain. Imagine that, happy with a dead squirrel or two. All this time I thought we were destitute homeless broke.
The two young people had both left high paying jobs in the automobile industry to be together and by the grace of God were here at the campground. By now the joke around these little campgrounds were, “We’re not homeless, we’re on vacation.”
Now this type of campground is not the type with electric, water, sewers, no this was primitive camping. Roughing it, make a fire, cook the food, haul your water for quarter mile. Camping.
Christmas eve will be one I will remember forever, we packed paper bags with all the extra food we could, others donated too. Our son, thinking he was still a ninja at times, crept though the palmettos that night and placed the bags carefully near their tent.
If they knew it was us that did it, they never mentioned. A gift is a gift.
We never saw them again and somehow I know they are fine. I know in my heart than when they finally did call their parents they were welcomed with open arms. Grandparents do that.
So now, where am I, oh yeah.
We wintered there that year and that year only. That was ninety-three, Storm of the Century, hurricanes, snow, just plan yucky! Our boy bought his first car and left. I was devastated.
We must’ve done good parenting, he beat us to the next event a thousand miles away. Thank you God for being the passenger in that van of his. He now is a satellite tech, three wonderful kids and a wife that loves camping. They met at one of the events we did so long ago, or was it yesterday.
I still say that prayer.
We finally made enough money to buy a little place in Texas, I hated it. Spent ten years there, grew a business from nothing and I do mean nothing to one I sold and headed back to the woods again. I know we can‘t go back, who would want to. But if I ever hear anyone make horrid remarks about a homeless person, you can be sure I will speak up. I will tell them to remember.
Walk a mile in their shoes, then judge.
Just a thought, a blast from my past.
so what do you think, shorter or longer or let it go.
.

A great Sunday morning to you

A fine Sunday this is for sure. Spent a lot of time last evening discussing how to turn my book into a screenplay. Might be fun, I decided to let one of the people from the Zoe board do it. See how it looks and maybe Query it some. Having never done a script, It should be a whole new experince. Will the story still be true, will it be just as good. I can hardly wait to see the results. So far a couple people have inquired but they want 50% of whatever I sell it for, if it sells. Hmmm, wonder what they are worth anyway.
I'm in the process of revising again.. my 3rd book, just when I think I'm finished, a whole new twist and a few pages later I'm still revising. I love it so far. Its one of the stories I put away after writing a few years back and it's been on my mind so much lately that I just had to get it back out. I am so glad I did. I look at the original manuscript and boy am I glad I didn't query it out there. Well, enough for today. I hope all your writing today is wonderful. May the Good Lord keep you safe.
Let's see what tomorrow brings.
peggie