A Fair Day’s Work

I got to the cabin earlier than the other days this weekend. Tomorrow I have to live in the real world, but today was all about writing.

As I headed up the steps, Lisa* my assistant was struggling with a pile of cardboard boxes. Even in the shadows, her silhouette showed a striking figure. Sometimes things just strike me, an image, a short article, song lyrics. I need to pay more attention to those times.

I took some of the boxes and asked, “What’re these for?”

“I have to back myself up today. Bunny likes to play in them, and I won’t have to worry about him for a couple hours,” she said.

We took them to the lobby. It’s really a living room, but it makes me feel more professional to call it a lobby.

She made a big cardboard heap and fetched Bunny. She sat him down and he started right in burrowing and chewing up the cardboard. Lisa hard wired herself to the computer system. “I’ll be busy for a couple hours, I’m using multiple cloud systems these days. Are you going to need anything?”

“No, I’ll be fine.” I watched Bunny for a few more minutes. There’s just something about a 30 pound lop eared rabbit that draws your attention.

I went in my office, and booted up the Mac, gave Doubt*** the raven a big slice of the gross scrapple from the other night and started reviewing the last four pages of my current story.

He stayed surprisingly quiet. I think Lorelei** told him to leave me alone when I’m writing a first draft. Still, the words weren’t quite coming. The image of Lisa on the stairs stayed with me, it was kind of film noir and fell somewhere between sexy and menacing.

I turned off the Mac and grabbed my iPad along with a little Bluetooth keyboard. I sniffed the blanket on back of the couch, but it smelled like dwarf and cows. I rummaged through the closet until I found my Dr. Who blanket. I grabbed the coffee carafe on my way to the basement.

I looked around for the dankest darkest corner I could find. There was a tiny three legged milking stool that was perfect for what I had in mind, and I set up shop there, using an overturned bucket for a desk. I found the bell jar holding the Will ‘O the Wisp and set it up in front of my new workstation. It gave off an eerie green glow that was just about perfect.

The place smelled of mold and my breath left little clouds that faded away. I wrapped up in the blanket. Bats hibernated along one wall, and spiderwebs weaved through shelves of previous story elements.

“Now this is perfect. Patty’s going to hate this part of her story.”

The words flowed. The sound of a distant drip told me it was thawing outside, but it added another nice element to the mood. A troop of forgotten army ants passed through. I lifted my feet and told them to keep moving, they weren’t going to be in this story. Still the words kept coming.

I wrote until I got a low battery warning. I considered looking for an outlet when I heard Lisa’s heels on the steps.

“How’d you find me?” I asked.

“Infrared vision,” she said. “Are you alright?”

“Better than alright. Look at this word count: 15,721. That’s nearly 3000 words today.”

“But are they good words? You always said that’s important.”

“I think the bit from Saturday’s a little better, but you can’t fix words that don’t exist. Besides, the Raven of Doubt will let me know.”

“So are you about finished? Do you want me to make you a sandwich?” She asked.

“I think I am, and a sandwich sounds great. In fact, let’s surprise the beer horns with an early beer time.”

We went upstairs and I made a fire in the fireplace. I was a good weekend effort. Lisa was happy, Bunny was happy, the drinking horns, even Doubt the raven were all happy. It was a good weekend. I’d hit it hard, but it was time for the real world once again.

* Lisa is a character from a previous story. She’s a robot, and helps out around the cabin.
** Lorelei is my Muse, and tries to keep me creative.
*** I’m not really sure what Doubt is. Lorelei left him for me, but he looks like a raven.