Erased, a novel Chapter 18- Large Pieces to a Growing Puzzle Tayeton- I was finding my way around my fears.  I'd invited Kat to have lunch with me.  We had to dig deep between the pages of our schedules to meet this way, but it was worth the dig.  She was quite the explorer and always had a secret location where we could spend time together.  Today it was a small public reserve with lots of tiny lakes and cool spots where we could catch the shade.  I hadn't shared my scare with her.  I didn't see how it could help just yet.  We sat together stealing and exchanging pieces of each other's sandwiches.  Between bites we talked about the progress of "Thinking Outloud".  The ads were coming in, and we were working on my first attempt at lecturing.  I had taken Mr. Wells directive, but the college had been somewhat tight lipped about the publishing, and the name I was given had belonged to a retired employee.  Therefore, I'd put the ...

Erased, a novel Chapter 16- Subtle Securities  Mr. Wells- I made it through the chill, now I'm keeping my balance and surfing this heat wave.  I've always loved the weather in South Florida; that was before I needed to wrangle with it.  I've been dodging the sun all day, but it's dancing.  It's not a quick step, it's more like a slow romantic and sweetly fluid motion.  This is my second summer out here.  This summer is hotter, and I'm thinking of cutting the beard I've been growing.  All of this is an unlikely position for someone with security holdings.  It's easy to rush out and start trying to fix things, but sometimes fixing things is about understanding what's going on.  When my buildings caught fire, I thought I'd bounce back, but here I am watching the ducks swim in a temporary pond.  It's the left overs from last night's cool down showers.  I've been thinking a lot about temporary ponds.  I'm wondering if it'...

Erased, a novel Chapter 15- Bagels Over Laments and Prophesies  Dr. Kat Shepherd- I'm married now; to a guy I met at a funeral.  It's the pinch I give myself each day.  There aren't many things I don't see coming... speaking in monumental terms.  I usual can say I was onto it, before it can say it was onto me, but Tayeton takes my breath away each day and brings me a fresh one.  Even lately in his deepening quietness, he still does it.  I'm behind on the blog, and I've been praying he doesn't bring it up.  It's been busy.  Well, both of us are busy and in high demand.  I still don't know who passed my name off to the prison, but I'm getting steady breaks.  Today, I'm in the office.  Mr. Simpleton is coming in.  I hope he's not allergic to cats.  I decided to bring Shepherd.  I'm still amazed at how long it can take to breakthrough to him.  It's been a cross between walking a tight rope and trying to dodge y...

Erased, a novel Chapter 14- Warning Received  Derek- I could see her and her friends, but she could not see me.  She looked happy, and I was happy to see that her heart was still at home.  I couldn't argue.  I'd fumbled the ball many times.  These days it wasn't in missteps, but many missed occasions.  She was a ladder, in all regards.  Whenever I'd mastered her, she'd been low or loss.  When she was up and stretched out, reaching new heights, it was intimidating.  The day I'd received my ring back had not left me.  I'd crept up from behind in a social way, but mentally I hadn't moved much until I woke up with a strong feeling that I'd loss her.  Her delayed response hadn't done anything to soothe my heart, and so I dug it up.  It's the prettiest thing you want to see.  Not because it's bigger, but it looks like her.  Not the her I thought I knew five years ago, but her.  The innocent fire cracker whose goo...

Erased, a novel Chapter 13- The Jack in the Box Kayla- I stood at the center of a room full of bouncing lights. I'd never noticed how much of a role light had to play among club hogs until now.  Surely I'd become less of a participator and more of an observer.  Even standing in the middle of the packed lower level at The Jack in the Box, I felt chilly.  I bobbed my head and kept my two step going to the beat, but I was no fun. I wanted to be bubbling over like Jennifer and Cassandra and the rest of the rave, but I'd learned to lean into my new and still emerging self.  If there was anything for me to enjoy, it was watching Cassandra pretend not to be in her forties.  It wasn't the way she dressed or her speech; she knew all to well about all of that.  No, it was something else.  It was like walking into an empty house that had been boarded up and condemned.  You could almost instantly tell it hadn't been lived in for a while.  We...

Erased,  a novel Chapter 12- Between the Fog Reece-  Somehow I always end up in rooms filled with smoke.  Although this smoke had a sweet aroma, it was impossible to leave it behind.  The lights are dim.  Funny there are many, but it all still amounts to dim.  In between every table with a chess board is a table with a single red rose in a skinny cylinder vase and a deep red votive holder made of glass that stands about three inches high.  Those are the tables draped with brown leather. Just a few of those are occupied while most of the people crowd around the tables where the chess games are going on.  Still a few others are hanging around at the bar.  There are lots of couples, but they aren't moving in pairs.  For those of us who don't have our special liquor combination written on a napkin, servers keep our glasses filled with what's on the house.  There's a sliding door that leads out to a balcony, but everyone's inside....

Erased, a novel Chapter 11- Ventilation Kayla- I'd received several letters from my father warning me of my publisher.  The first letter was shocking, the second was aggravating, and the third though unwanted; it had penetrated my walls.  It's hard receiving fanmail from a parent, and more so when you're me.  The idea that someone had given up my book or that it was just floating around was disappointing, but the thought that it was circulating the veins of a prison was scary.  That's the way I pictured it.  It was better than imagining my father keeping it for reference.  Nothing in the letters was perverse, but everything had already been perverted.  Now it was also perverting what was aimed at progress. Things were more than good.  My first two books had exceeded the projections.  Readers couldn't get enough, and 'A Better Pair of Shoes' was garnering a different kind of attention.  I'd let my imagination roam a bit further th...