Hello, hello from beautiful eastern Massachusetts! I’m here visiting my in-laws for the week. But I’m stopping by to offer an update on life in general, a ROW80 update, and my WIPpet. Onward!
Life as I know it:
Well, it’s almost back to school time. I have one public scholar entering middle school and one homescholar entering grade 4 in just two weeks. Hard to believe summer vacation’s almost over. In other news, my novel’s publication date has been moved up to November 1, I sold several copies of my short stories, and I landed my first paid editing gig. Pretty sweet!
- Write 1 hr/day in Passing on Faith: √ More or less. It’s averaged out to about that. I’m about 10k from finishing.
- Read 30 min/day: √ Yup. No problems there. I have 3 books to finish between now and September 15. Speed reading!
- Write 1 blog post/week not ROW80 or WIPpet: √ Not yet this week, but I’ll have one for Thursday or Friday.
WIPpet:
We last left Micah wondering when he would see Cat again. Who knew it would be so soon? (Yeah, yeah, I know you all did.) In today’s installment, Gene the Bug Guy has just come to kill the critters. That part wasn’t all that interesting for a WIPpet, so instead of wasting my time on it, I’ll just give you the rest. My math is 2 + 0 + 14 = 16 paragraphs.
When Gene the Exterminator was out of sight, Micah returned to his scrubbing. Before he got far into it, there was another knock. Sighing heavily, Micah went back to the front door. When he opened it, he was torn between being grateful for the company and irritated at being interrupted. This time, Cat was dressed slightly more appropriately for work—a sleeveless purple tee and light khaki cargo shorts, complete with purple Converse to match. Micah restrained himself from showing too much interest and waved him inside.
“Hey, Cat.”
“Hey yourself. Is that the exterminator?”
“Yeah. He’s in the basement, looking for God knows what kind of creepy-crawly.”
Leaning in and lowering his voice, Cat asked, “Is it Gene?”
“Uh…I think that’s what he said his name was.” Micah wondered how Cat had known.
“Ah. Yeah, he’s the owner. Owed me a favor. He’s pretty good, but don’t let him get started on talking about his other cases. There really are some things best left unsaid. Plus, I think it’s kind of worrying how much he likes destroying bugs.”
Micah snorted. “Well, he wouldn’t be a very good exterminator if he felt sorry for them.” He shrugged. “I don’t feel sorry for them either.”
“Fair enough.” Cat looked past Micah at the cleaning supplies out in the kitchen. “You want a hand?”
“Is that a real offer, or are you just being polite?” Micah prepared himself to tell Cat to go away this time. He wasn’t in the mood to be talked at while he scrubbed counters.
“Yes, it’s a real offer. I’m not that big of a dick. Here—give me that.” He snatched the scrubbing sponge out of Micah’s hand. “What first?”
“Um, how about the counters? I was trying to get the surfaces clean so I would have a place to set the dishes after I wash them.” He scrunched up his nose. “That is, if the sink actually works.” He hadn’t tried it yet.
Without another word, Cat went to work on the counter top by the stove. Micah picked up a second scrubber and set in on the one by the sink. For a few minutes, they didn’t talk at all, opting to scrub in silence.
Eventually, Cat said, “So, I know it’s none of my business, and you don’t have to tell me anything. But how did you come to own a house you haven’t seen in twenty years?”
“More than twenty,” Micah replied. He sighed. “It’s kind of a long story.”
“I have time,” Cat said.
Maybe we’ll get a little of the story next week. For now, many thanks to K. L. Schwengel for hosting this bloggy goodness. Feel free to post a bit of your own work-in-progress, connect it to the date with whatever creative math you like, and link up with us here. Don’t forget to read all the other entries and leave us some love. Happy writing!
I do NOT find it worrying how much an exterminator loves to kill bugs, for the record. I would want my exterminator to LOVE killing bugs. I agree with the guys in that I do not feel sorry for them either. For perspective, we have been battling spiders, so I’m a little bugged out. One of my sisters’ puppies died from a spider bite, my lab had to go on medication for three weeks because of a bite, and my parents’ dog had to have surgery from one, so my creepy crawly tolerance level is ZERO.
Love this scene!
Gene is based on one of our former exterminators (not in looks, just in his enthusiasm). We had this one guy who used to tell us all kinds of stories about his other jobs. I’m with them on the OMG GET RID OF THE BUGS NOW thing. Cat’s just a gentle soul, so I think it bothers him that the bug guy likes killing things–even creepy-crawlies. I have the sense he would prefer they just not talk about it.
Great excerpt Amy! I like how relaxed Cat is compared with Micah who seems a bit uptight. Then again, I’d probably be uptight too in his position! I do like the contrast between their characters though. And I love the nickname: Gene the Exterminator! That’s great – that’s the sort of thing I do, give people names like that. Mostly without their knowledge!! 😉
Ha! Me too on the nicknames. Micah has quite a bit of me in him, though I wouldn’t call him an author insertion really. Sadly, he has my tendency to be uptight about things. He needs someone like Cat to help him dial it back a bit.
Great difference in attitude between the main characters. Sets them off from each other nicely.
So interesting to me that people have picked up on their differences so easily. I’m glad that came through the way I intended it. 🙂
I’m really digging Cat. He definitely seems like a bit of a bad boy – just the way I like them. In fiction, that is. In real life, not so much! Micah seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He could use a little nookie to lighten up. 🙂
Cat’s more of a “recovered” bad boy. But he still has plenty of spirit! Micah has a lot to deal with but he’s more into running from it than facing it. No worries…they’ll eventually find their way. 🙂
The conversation made me laugh. I always thought exterminator must be an epic job. We all want to kill the bugs, but they’re paid to do it. It must be epic and therapeutic. 😛
LOL! I wonder about that too. All of our exterminators have been really nice people who don’t seem like the sort to ever hurt anyone…and yet there they are, killing things for a living. Maybe that’s how they stay so nice the rest of the time!
Heh. Beloved and I spent a good fifteen minutes yesterday trying to convince Artist that she didn’t need to cry about the wasps we were killing, that keeping children safe from insects with a tendency to become aggressive was more important than letting said insects live in peace. It took quite a bit of convincing. For about ten minutes, I think she considered vegetarianism. Then we told her Beloved was picking up a chicken for dinner and she got over it. 😛
Ha! My daughter loves living things, even bugs. She is wary of bees, but she just stays clear of them. I think she doesn’t want them dead, just preferably somewhere else.
I guess I’m in the “opposition party” for this one. I’m forever cupping wasps and spiders and bees and moths that find their way into our home and releasing them outside. Wasps are actually incredibly easy to lure and catch on a teaspoon of sugar water. And they’re quite docile too (yellow jackets not-so much).
My grandmother likes to tell the story of how she kept a wasp for a whole winter (this was on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls at the time) alive by feeding it sugar water by an eye dropper. I guess I got some of my attitude from her.
That said… I completely understand not wanting the multi-legged friends hanging out everywhere in the basement.
I refuse to kill spiders. I like them. But otherwise? Bugs need to go live in nature where they belong. I do feel kind of bad killing them, but I don’t really think most of them would spontaneously choose to live somewhere else when our house is so convenient.
I’m a softy. with all living things – I used to pull worms out of the road after the rain. True story.
Cat’s line, “I’m not the big a dick,” had m chuckling, given the simmering attraction. I was a little surprised that Micah didn’t respond to that, because it seemed to go along with that hip-twitching…
I like that Cat just gets to work, and invites Micah to vent his story. Well played, Cat, and – MWAH!
He does respond to it, sort of, in the next section after this one. They have a conversation about the hip-twitch thing. Micah is still guarded, so Cat doesn’t get the whole story yet. But he will.
First off, let me say your blog looks great.
So many people are participating in WIPpet, one of these days, I’m going to jump aboard.
All the best for the coming week . . . and the coming school year. (“Homescholar,” I love that.)
TTFN
Thanks! 🙂 Yes, you should definitely come play with us! We don’t bite. Some of our characters do, but only upon request. 🙂
That line about being worried about how much Gene enjoys killing bugs also Made me laugh. I continue to really enjoy these characters.
Yeah, Cat’s definitely tender-hearted, even towards 6-legged critters. I’m glad you’re enjoying them!
I really enjoyed the edgy tension between Cat and Micah, leaving me wonder what will happen next — and that’s in addition to all the bug killing going on down in the basement (a symbol for ????). Kudos on your tightly focused ROW80 goals. Good progress all around!
Ha! There certainly is a lot of bug-killing going on. 🙂 And yes, there’s a lot of tension between them.
I’m trying to keep up with my goals, but I may have to change them once school starts. We’ll see.
“Plus, I think it’s kind of worrying how much he likes destroying bugs.” *snort* I don’t think it’s all too worrying, but then I’m not a fan of most bugs. Cat seems to have toned things down a bit, but he still can’t keep from prying and asking questions, can he? I think I would through my scrubber at him. Or gag him with it. I’m surprised Micah appears as though he’s just going to roll with it this time. Is he going soft? 😉
Cat is *so* one of those obnoxiously nosy neighbor types. This is only the beginning of their conversation. No worries, several more prying questions to follow. 😀 Much as he hates it, Micah needs it—he tends to close himself off. ‘Bout time someone got to him.