Writing

I’ve been working on the sequel to Silver Rose for a while now. I’m currently on my fourth draft. My writing has been going well and I’ve been making rapid progress through this edit. Once I finish this draft, I’m going to print the new version and read through it again. With any luck, I’ll be finished after the fifth draft. Then, I can publish my book and get Silver Crescent out into the world. Thank you to everyone for your patience.

In honor of Leap Day, I’d like to tell you about my mom’s friend, who was born on February 29th. Sadly, the friend died quite a few years ago, but my mom says she absolutely loved her birthday. I think she was in her eighties when she died, but she got a kick out of telling people that she was only twenty-years-old. Since February 29th only comes around once every four years, I think it would be a hard birthday to have. I love the friend’s sense of humor when it came to her unique birthday. Happy Birthday to all those born on Leap Day!

A few days after Christmas, my brother bought a cat tree for our cats, Jenny and Cannoli. He’d been talking about getting one for a while and we were all curious over how the two cats would react to it. We’ve had it for about a month and Jenny and Cannoli love it. I’ve seen Jenny spend hours on it. I’m glad she’s so happy!

There’s a little cubby and a couple of platforms. Jenny has been known to sleep for hours in either the cubby or the top platform. Cannoli loves the scratching post feature right below that platform. Cannoli sometimes disturbs Jenny by clawing at the scratching post, while Jenny is sleeping above him.

The best part of the cat tree, though, is the toy mouse. There’s a toy mouse on an elastic string attached to the cat tree. They’ve both spent hours attacking that mouse. They keep trying to pick it up in their mouths and run off with it. They get confused when they pull too hard and the elastic string pulls the mouse back.

It’s fun to watch Jenny and Cannoli’s antics with the cat tree. My brother definitely had a good idea when he bought it.

Spoiler Alert.

Like many other people, I went to see the new Wonka movie. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. When they first announced this movie, I thought this was going to be yet another cynical cash grab. It wasn’t. This musical adventure was a joy to watch.

The movie starts with a young Willy Wonka arriving in a European city. He is determined to open a candy store and make his late mother proud. Wonka, with no money in his pocket, stays at a local laundromat ran by Mrs. Scrubbitt and Mr. Bleacher. They seem friendly enough, but the young servant girl, Noodle, warns Wonka that he should read the fine print. Wonka signs it anyway, later confiding in Noodle that he can’t read. Mrs. Scrubbitt tells Wonka that he needs to pay a sovereign by the next night to pay for his room.

The next morning, Wonka tries to sell his chocolate on the street, but comes into conflict with three rival candy makers: Prodnose, Fickelgruber, and Slugworth. Slugworth is clearly the leader, but all three of them tell Wonka to leave and never sell chocolate in their town again. The crowd watching surges forward to buy candy when they realize Wonka’s chocolate can make them fly. The police get involved and confiscate Wonka’s profits, saying that he needs a store to sell chocolate.

Wonka heads back to the laundromat with the one sovereign he has left. He tries to pay for his room, but Scrubbitt and Bleacher reveal that, thanks to the fine print, Wonka owes them more money than is reasonable. They charged him for using the stairs, washing his hands, and even the gin they offered him when he first arrived. Wonka now has to work for them until he can pay off his debt, which won’t be for another twenty-seven years.

Wonka meets the other people forced to work for Scrubbitt and Bleacher: Noodle (a bookworm), Abacus Crunch (an accountant), Lottie Bell (a phone operator), Piper Benz (a plumber), and Larry Chucklesworth (a comedian). Together, they come up with a plan to distract Scrubbitt and Bleacher, so Wonka can go out and sell his chocolate. The six of them decide to split the profits. It works, with Wonka staying one step ahead of the police, until they earn enough to buy a store. Now, they can legally sell chocolate.

Unfortunately for Wonka, the chief of police is working with Slugworth, Fickelgruber, and Prodnose. They discover what Wonka is up to and have Scrubbitt spike his chocolate, so nobody will buy it. Wonka is now ruined. The infuriated customers trash his store and Wonka is at his lowest point. Slugworth offers Wonka a deal. If Wonka leaves forever, he will pay off his and his friends debts to Scrubbitt and Bleacher. Feeling like he has no choice, Wonka agrees.

Meanwhile, as all this is going on, an Oompa Loompa named Lofty is following Wonka, saying that Wonka stole some cocoa beans from him and now Wonka must pay his debt. Wonka and Lofty narrowly avoid a death trap set by Slugworth and race back to help the others. Now together again, Wonka, Noodle, Crunch, Lottie, Piper, and Larry decide to go after Slugworth’s secret account book. Crunch had seen it once before, and knew that all of Slugworth’s crimes were recorded in it. They manage to get to the book and reveal to the whole town that Slugworth and Scrubbitt spiked Wonka’s chocolate. The movie ends with Wonka and Lofty getting a location to build Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Overall, I liked the movie. Wonka himself was naive, but endearing. There was just something wonderful about seeing such a happy, trusting character. His optimism was starting to rub off on me a bit. I felt myself smiling throughout the movie. It was clear that Wonka just wanted to sell his chocolate, so he could make people happy and feel closer to his mom. The music was fun and whimsical and the lyrics were catchy.

The only thing I didn’t like was that Wonka was blamed for spiking the chocolate. This is a personal preference, but I don’t like it when protagonists are blamed for a crime they didn’t commit.

Besides that, Wonka is a fun movie. It’s bright, colorful, and well written. I love how its sole purpose is to entertain. I would definitely watch it again.

On November 21, my dad and I were taking a walk around our neighborhood. It was early morning, before I had to get ready for work. We were about five minutes into the walk, on a quiet street, when my dad pointed out a tiny dog a little ways ahead. There was no owner.

As we approached, a nearby car stopped and the driver got out. I thought it must be the owner, pausing to catch his dog. But as we got closer, the passenger leaned out of the car and explained that they were just passing and stopped to help. They didn’t know who owned the dog either.

The little dog was in a playful mood. My dad and I started after the dog, determined to catch her, so she wouldn’t get hit by a car. Every time we got near, though, she ran off again. Eventually, we reached a turn off. One way continued on the quiet street, while the other led to a busy one. The dog ran toward the busy one. We continued on our walk on the quiet street, worried that our presence would accidentally cause the dog to run into traffic.

I happen to live on the busy street, so I called my mom and told her about the dog. She agreed to go out into the driveway and see if she could spot the dog. Ten minutes later, we came back out onto our street. We could see the dog still running on the opposite side of the road. Several more cars stopped as the drivers tried to catch the dog, as well.

The dog ran into a nearby parking lot and three people followed: my mom and two strangers, a man and a woman. Working together, they kept the dog from running off, eventually tiring her out. The man scooped up the exhausted dog, while the woman took her picture and posted it on the neighborhood website, hoping the owner would see it.

Since our house was right across the street from where they stood, my mom said we would take the dog and drop her off at the animal shelter later. The man handed my mom the dog, who was about the same size as my cats, and wore a collar with no tags.

The dog stayed in my house for about two and a half hours. We put her in my brother’s room with food and water and closed the door. My cats were not happy with this intruder. It turned out that the animal shelter wasn’t open that day, so my mom called animal control to pick the dog up. The two animal control officers were really nice. They thanked us for saving the dog and said that they would take her to the animal shelter.

It was quite a morning. I’m just happy we were in the right place at the right time to save her. I hope she found her owners.

Happy Halloween, everyone! In honor of this spooky time of year, I’d like to share an except from Silver Rose. I’m not much into horror, but this is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever written. Enjoy!

Chapter 32

Separation in the Cave

The mouth of the cave smelled like mildew. I turned my head away in disgust and saw that Mag and Artie had wrinkled their noses as well.

“We’d better go in,” I said, straightening my shoulders. “We won’t find the ice rabbit by standing here.”

Mag and Artie agreed and together, we crept slowly to the cave’s maw.

“I’ll go first,” Mag whispered. “If there’s a yikty in here, it’ll have a hard time facing off against a dragon.”

I could think of no argument for that, so trailing behind Mag, we entered. The cave was slightly damp. I tripped over a rock and caught the wall to steady myself. My hand came away with a layer of moisture.

Artie, who was behind me, reached out a hand to steady me. “This place is freezing,” he said.

“Yikties like the dark and the cold,” Mag said, from the front. “That’s why fire is so effective. They can’t stand the heat.”

Artie and I followed Mag deeper into the cave. The sunlight outside was growing fainter behind us, until it was only a pinprick of light. I had kept the torch from Artie’s shortcut and passed it up to Mag.

We tried to be quiet, so we could sneak up on the yikty, but unfortunately, our feet slapping against the wet rocks were loud. They echoed around the passageway.

Mag paused. “There’s a chamber right in front of us,” she said. “I can hear the yikty, be careful.”

We emerged into the next chamber and saw that the cause of the noise was no more than an echo, but from which of the three archways in front of us, I had no idea.

“Endoraken,” I said, just as Mad Maude had taught me. The middle arch flared up at once with a soft blue light, but then so did the left path, and a second later the right path dazzled me with its brilliance.

“What happened?” I said. “Wasn’t the spell supposed to reveal the yikty’s presence?”

Artie was studying the ground in front of the center path. He picked up something to show it to us. “Its part of the yikty’s armor. It molted right off.”

“Then, the yikty’s that way,” Mag said.

I wandered over to the left path. “There’s some more over here,” I called, holding up a piece of shell.

“Here too,” Mag said, now kneeling before the right arch.

“Now what?” I asked miserably. “How was the yikty able to fool my spell?” “It’s an old thieves’ trick,” Artie said. “Leave a sign of your presence in multiple locations, so your pursuer won’t know which way to turn.

Mag banged her fist against the rock wall. “So what are we supposed to do? It’ll take too long to test every path and it might move at any time.”

“I think,” Artie said quietly, “that we’re going to have to split up.”

I stared at him incredulously. “What?! No, Artie, its much safer if we go together.”

“I agree,” he said, “but what would happen if the yikty discovers us and decides to escape. We’d be too busy checking every path, it would be long gone before we noticed.”

“This leaves us vulnerable,” Mag said. “When one of us finds the yikty, how will the others help?”

“If the yikty isn’t down our path, come back to this chamber and wait for the second person to appear. Then both will take the third and correct path.”

“I don’t like it,” I said.

“It’s the only plan we have,” Artie said grimly.

I gazed at the three arches. Was it my imagination or was the left arch glowing slightly brighter than the other two?

“I’ll take the left path,” I said.

“I’ll go right,” Mag said. Her eyes sparkled with fierce excitement.

“That leaves the center for me,” Artie said.

We clasped hands and I knew Mag and Artie were thinking the same thing as me. Would we ever see each other again?

***

I had a bad feeling about my chosen path when the archway sealed itself behind me. I looked back and saw nothing but a solid rock wall.

“Mag! Artie! Can you hear me?” I whispered as loud as I dared, in case the yikty was nearby. They didn’t answer me, but a roar from deeper into the passageway did.

I slowly turned around and examined my surroundings. I was in another stone chamber. The walls were completely smooth, which struck me as odd. Who would spend all this time smoothing stone in a random cave?

I started forward, my right hand clasped on the hilt of my sword, while my left trailed along the moisture-covered walls. I hadn’t gone more than ten feet when a creaking noise from above attracted my attention.

I rolled away just in time to keep myself from being squashed flat by the rock that had dropped from the ceiling. I lay shaking an inch away.

“So weak,” a soft and dangerous voice said, echoing around the room. “To think the mighty Silver Rose was almost crushed by a meaningless rock.”

I gritted my teeth and stood up, backing away from the rock until my foot hit a curious sort of puddle. I glanced down and hopped away with half my shoe burnt off. I had stepped in a puddle of water that was strangely hot. It was the only hot area in the room. Fire seemed to dance across its surface.

“And so the little heroine is defeated by the very substance her friend hates,” the voice laughed. “I set the traps for her. Boiling water from the mermaids. So hot, even dragons would feel the pain of the heat.”

“Who are you?” I demanded. “Why are you doing this?”

“Who am I?” the voice purred. “Why, Penelope, I’m hurt you don’t recognize me. After all,” a figure stepped from the shadows and I gasped, tripping away from the woman.

She was tall with long, brown hair and green eyes that gazed thoughtfully at me. Her smile was pleasant, just as I remembered it.

“I am your mother,” she finished.

“You can’t,” I said, my voice trembling. “You can’t be my mother. She died two years ago.”

“No, Penelope, I’m very much alive,” the woman who so resembled my mother, said. “Watch.” She held out her hand and a ball of flames appeared.

Unbidden, memories of my mother conjuring a ball of flames flashed through my mind. She used to do that for me when I was young and afraid of the dark.

“You’ve done wonderfully, sweetie,” she said, holding out her hand. “Come with me, we’ll find your friends and escape together.”

I longed to take her hand, to rush to her side and bury my head in her shoulder and cry, but I looked again at her smile and saw it had changed. A moment before, it had been lightness and sweetness, now, however, she was leering at me with malice. I searched her eyes and saw they had turned hungry and black.

I unsheathed my sword and slowly placed the tip against her throat. “You aren’t my mother,” I said quietly. My voice only shook slightly. “‘A rock, watery flames, and the shade.’ The Riddle Chipmunks were right. You’re one of the challenges sent to stop me.”

The woman began to dissolve into dust. Her legs disappeared, followed by her torso, until only her head remained and still I didn’t remove my sword.

“We could have been happy together, Penelope,” the head of the apparition said. “You, me, Lydia, and Malcolm. Now, watch as your mother dies before your eyes again.”

I stumbled forward as the dark version of my mother vanished. I was left with an empty room, a lingering feeling of dread, and tears in my eyes. I shivered as I continued through the chamber to the very back.

Questions rose in my mind. What if that had been my mother? Had she been trying to contact me? Did I kill her a second time? A moan escaped me as I wiped fresh tears away.

“Now, now, now,” a deeper and deadlier voice cooed. “There’s no need for tears. You’ll see your mother again soon.”

The speaker stepped forward and I forgot my misery as I looked upon the face of a giant scorpion. A yikty.

“I’m so glad you made it,” Wansetop said. “It wouldn’t have been any fun without you. Your friends aren’t here to save you now. Prepare yourself. You won’t escape me this time.”