I tromped into the writing cabin and caught Lisa unprepared.
“I thought you were reading and stuff. Let me just tidy up real fast.”
The office looked emaculate and I told her so. “What kind of mess can one robot girl make while I'm out? You don't even have to cook.”
“Dust, there's still dust even if I'm completely gone.”
“Suit yourself. I finished my backlog of projects, and decided to try a bit of writing today. You know, just to see if I remember how.”
Lisa broke into action, making coffee with one hand while she took out the Swiffer and went over the floor with the other one. She took a dust cloth and ran ahead of me to my writing desk.
The raven of Doubt glared at me from his perch. He bobbed up and down a few times in excitement.
“Not yet, dude. I'm not doing any editing today. It's time to move the Yak Guy ahead.” He knows The Enhanced League is ready to start editing, but I don't feel rushed to dive in yet.
I started by rereading my last few chapters. I made a small correction or two, and Doubt gave me the stink eye. Lisa showed up with coffee about the time I started writing.
I wrote one short chapter and it was kind of draining. It came in slightly over 3000 words. I don't know if it's because I hadn't written in a while, or because of the content. This chapter involved the end of the yak. He's been such a central character to the story it was hard to see him go.
“I'm really going to miss him,” Lisa said. “He's been at the cabin for a long time.”
“He has, and the next go round maybe we'll see the end of yak guy, Ted.”
“Then what?”
“Then, you probably have to pose for more posters and plan for a worldwide blog tour – or two.”
“That's always fun, then I'm going to use some vacation time.” She opened the window and let in some fresh air. Doubt took the opportunity to stretch his wings at the same time. She sighed as the yak crossed the meadow and headed for the snowy peaks. “He played a mean game of chess, you know.”
“Really, how did he move the pieces?”
“He told me the moves, and I moved them for him.”
“Kind of like he was playing against the computer then?”
“Not kind of, he was playing against me, my processors, and memory. He won more than a few too.”
“Maybe you can get him to come back for your radio show someday. Did you put his data in your Rolodex?”
“Please, I'm completely electronic, you should know that by now, and yeah, I have his contact data.”
I checked email, and answered blog comments while she stared out the window.
“So what happens next?”
“Yak guy has to finish his journey. After that, I have a couple of novellas I want to try. That's how it will work out in a perfect world. They could be long short stories or short novels depending on the experiment.”
“What are we talking here? I might need to buy some new outfits for these stories.”
“One is a kind of paranormal superhero origin story.”
“Is that the one with all the hats?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“So you'll want the paranormal office then.”
“Absolutely. The other one is a spin on the lifeboat story. It has a science fiction background, but they're stuck in an underground bunker for a specific amount of time. The problem is they can't leave, and the antagonist is in there with them.”
“Got it, I already earmarked a bunch of hats and can get them ordered. I wonder what scream queens are wearing this season?”
“I'm sure you'll figure it out before we start. We have to give yak guy some closure first.”
The enchanted beer horns sounded off and came running. They curled around my ankles like a pair of cats.
“Hi guys, I missed you too.”
Lisa said, “I got a nice doppelbock from McCall Brewing for you to try. It's called Dunce Cap.”
“Huh! Did you pick that specifically for me?”
“Of course, I know doppelbock is your favorite.”
“Woosh!”
“Don't woosh me, I know what you meant. Do you want the beer or not?”
“Of course, besides, these guys won't stop honking unless we fill them up.”
***
For those of you so inclined, I opened a Pinterest account earlier this year. I started a couple of boards called The Hat and Estivation that relate to my upcoming projects. You can check them out here.
