Other Relationships

Woo hoo!  It’s Wednesday, so that means I can share the latest installment of my WIP.  If you’re writing along, come share with us and add it here.

Today is 1/15/14, so here are 14 lines from the 15th scene.  I promise, Phin is only an ass to adults.  I honestly couldn’t write a character who is nasty to small children, probably because I just don’t understand that level of heartlessness.  (I get not liking kids; I just don’t know why people have to be horrible to them.)

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Without stepping any closer, Phin crouched down to be closer to the boy’s eye level. “Do you remember me? I was in your class today.” The boy nodded, and Phin continued, “What’s your name?”

“Jake,” he whispered.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jake. Is it okay if I help you with the table?”

The boy shrugged, and Phin stood up. He took a stack of plates from the counter and carried them to the table. He looked back over his shoulder at Jake, who stood next to Dani and tugged on her arm. She leaned down toward him.

“Mama, that’s the man from school today,” he said. “He played the rubber chicken game with us.”

“Rubber chicken game?” Dani asked, peering over Jake’s head at Phin.

Phin chuckled. “Cross between tag, dodge ball, and capture the flag, only with rubber chickens.” He shook his head. There was no escape from endless activities involving farm fowl.

The boy giggled. “I got him twice,” he said. His eyes widened, and he clapped a hand over his mouth. He looked at Phin, who nodded and winked. Jake relaxed.

“Did you?” Dani asked. She glanced up at Phin again. “Hm.” She smiled.

Behind him, Phin heard someone laugh softly. He turned around and found himself face to face with Alex. “Yeah, it’s hilarious,” Phin said, making a face.

“It is,” Alex agreed. “I have to admit, I’m impressed you participated.”

“When in Rome,” Phin replied. “Just getting a sense of what it’s like from the kids’ perspective.” He called to Dani, “Anything else I can do to help?”

Without preamble, she handed him a basket of dinner rolls. While everyone was busy preparing the table, the doorbell rang. This time, Alex answered. Phin glanced over to see Alex showing Gia and Eunice in. He raised his eyebrows. Dinner had turned into quite a gathering.

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The game I referenced is real.  My son has played it at school, but I can’t remember what it’s actually called–he just refers to it as rubber chicken tag.

I almost forgot! But here I am with another WIPpet.  In case you’ve forgotten over the last 3 weeks, this is a little bit of our works-in-progress.  Add your own here, and don’t forget to read the other wonderful entries!

Today, I have 14 lines of dialogue (because this is the first WIPpet of 2014).  Just for context, my main character, Phin Patterson, is an educational consultant.  He’s observing classroom practices of a school in a small town in the Southern Tier of NY.  In this scene, he’s observing a lesson in which a kindergarten teacher has read a story about a woman who rescues chickens and has a couple as pets.*  She’s given her students a related activity, and Phin finds himself drawn in and paired with an enthusiastic student.

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“You can be my partner,” she informed him.  “Ms. Scuderi says everyone participates, even if it’s just a picture.”

Startled, Phin replied, “All right. But I’ll need a pencil. Do you have an extra?”

The girl pointed to a cup on the table. “There’s some in there.” She leaned a little closer and said in a loud whisper, “They’re for people who don’t remember to bring one.”

When they had finished, the girl examined Phin’s work and said, “You draw pretty good.”

He smiled. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“Does your chicken have a name?” the girl asked.

“Hm…I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I didn’t give him one.”

“Are you sure it’s a him? Because I think it’s maybe a girl chicken. It doesn’t look like a boy.”

Phin laughed. “You got me. Maybe it is a girl. What should we call her?”

The girl looked thoughtful. “Dandelion,” she said.

“Dandelion?”

“Yeah. Look, she has one of those fuzzy heads, like the one in the book. It looks like a dandelion.”

“Sounds good.” Phin took his pencil and wrote on the lines below the picture, “Mr. Patterson and his pet chicken, Dandelion.”

The girl giggled. “Good job,” she said.

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*The book is real.  It’s called City Chickens, by Christine Hepperman.  I’ve read it with my own daughter.

I’m a day late due to illness; winter colds just suck.  Today’s WIPpet is 18 lines (yesterday was the 18th) from the next chapter of the novel.  You can follow along with the other WIPpet-ers and add your own.  Be sure to read them–there is fantastic stuff in there!

I called this one “Cautionary Tale” as the warning not to store your entire life on your iPhone.  Let’s hope Phin learned his lesson.

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Frustrated, Phin tossed the phone onto his bed and stood there in his towel, still wondering who might have had reason to snoop in his phone. While he was puzzling over it, there was a knock on the door. He called, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Vic,” came the reply.

Phin barely restrained himself from stomping over to the door. As it was, he hauled it open forcefully. Vic looked Phin up and down and snickered. “What, no time to get dressed?” he asked.

“Oh, shut up,” Phin grouched. “It’s been a rough day. What do you want, anyway?”

“You didn’t stop by the desk on your way in, so I came to see if you got Dani’s invitation.” He crossed his arms.

“Yes, I did, and I’ll be there, fully clothed. Was there something else? Because I need to put something on.”

“Go right ahead,” Vic suggested. His lips twitched.

Phin glared at him. “In private.”

Vic laughed. “It’s not like there’s anything I haven’t seen before. How long were we friends? I was actually just going to ask how things were going, but I guess whatever I want to say to you can wait until you’re not half-naked.”

“Fine. Then get out.” Phin ran a hand through his damp hair. He wasn’t being fair to Vic, and he knew it. He relaxed his posture. “Wait. I’m sorry. It’s just that I misplaced my phone this morning, and by the time I got it back, someone had looked through it. I have no idea how much other information they managed to get, but my contacts list was open to my father’s number. Someone knows.”

Vic’s eyes widened. “I swear, I didn’t tell a soul. You know I wouldn’t. I already told you I can’t get involved in that again.”

“I know. That’s why it’s so weird. I’ve been trying to figure out who might want to know about that.  If anyone makes the connection, I’m screwed.”

 

Happy Wednesday!  Adding another snippet of my WIP today.  Join in and add your own link, and don’t forget to read the other posts.

Today’s excerpt is 4 lines of dialogue (today is 12/4).  Enjoy!

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Phin pulled open the door to see Alex standing there. He groaned. “Can I help you?”

It was obvious from the way Alex’s lips twitched that he was trying not to laugh. He leaned closer and whispered, “What happened to you? Get in a fight with a feather duster?”

“No,” Phin said through clenched teeth. “I helped put chicks back in their pens. Why the hell are there live farm animals here in the school?”

“No idea. Must be Jean’s idea of teaching the kids about the life cycle.” Alex straightened up and raised his voice. “Would you mind getting Carlie Roberts for me? I need to see her for a moment.”

It’s been a long time since I posted anything here.  Mostly that’s because I’ve been working on a longer project.  A couple of fellow writers introduced me to WIPpet Wednesday.  I don’t normally participate, but I’m finally at the point where I’m really excited about this project and wanted to share a bit of it.

For those who don’t know what WIPpet is, it’s a post from your current work in progress (WIP).  The excerpt must have something related to the date.  Today is 11/20/13, so here are 44 (11+20+13) lines from one of my favorite scenes.

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There was already someone else in the copy room; a slender brunette with a pixie cut was punching buttons on the copier. When it started, she turned to Phin. “Are you from the copier company? This will only take about ten minutes, and then it’s all yours.”

“Uh…” Surprised, Phin was momentarily at a loss. He shook his head. “I’m not—”

“I’m just going to go grab something I left in my classroom. Since you know the machine, can you just watch it while I’m gone?” She ducked out of the copy room without waiting for an answer.

While Phin stood there waiting for the copier to finish, another woman appeared in the doorway. She was considerably older than the first, and she had only a few pages in her hand. She turned to Phin. “I heard that. Ten minutes my fanny. This thing’s been acting up since last Thursday. Watch, two minutes in, it’s going to jam.” She leaned against the wall and studied Phin. “You’re not from the copier company. Who are you subbing for?” she asked.

“Oh, um, I’m not,” Phin said, caught off-guard once more. “I’m—”

The copier chose that precise moment to jam.

“What’d I tell you?” The woman set her papers down on the table in the corner and began fiddling with the copy machine. “Damn thing does this every time the copy lady’s out. I’m pretty sure it’s possessed, and the demon inside it only likes her.” She huffed and opened the paper jam compartment. “Doesn’t help that Gia took off in the middle of her job. Some people.” The paper came free and the blinking text on the copier stopped. “There.”

The woman managed to restart the copy job. When the pages had resumed cheerfully spitting out into the tray, the woman turned to Phin again. “I’m Eunice Clark,” she said, extending her hand. “And you are…”

“Phin Patterson.” He didn’t offer more details.

The woman blinked. “Phin Patterson? Well, damn, honey. I’ll bet you don’t remember me.”

“Uh…no. Sorry.” Phin racked his brain, trying to recall if they’d ever met before.

Eunice laughed. “I used to babysit you when you were tiny.” She threw an arm around Phin’s shoulders, and he tried not to stiffen. “You inspired me to go into teaching.”

Phin twisted slightly to get a good look at her and raised his eyebrows. “I did?”

“Well, no, but it sounded good, didn’t it?” She laughed. “Now, I already guessed you’re not here to fix this piece of garbage.” She waved a hand at the copier and eyed Phin. “Or was I wrong about that? Because if so, I just did your job for you.”

“Nope. I promise I’m not here about the copier. At the moment, I’m just helping Dani—uh, Ms. Sloane—in the office.”

Eunice returned her attention to the copier, which was still churning out copies. “When Gia gets back, I’m going to let her have it. I’m tired of her leaving her job running so she can go do whatever, while I sit here for fifteen minutes just to do a thirty-second job.”

Just then, the other woman—Gia, presumably—returned to the copy room with a textbook. She frowned at the copier. “I thought it would be done by now.”

Eunice laid a hand on Gia’s shoulder. “Oh, sweetie, the copier got hung up again, right in the middle of your extremely important job.” Her voice was thick with artificial sweetness.

Gia’s face fell. “I’m sorry. You’re not mad, are you?”

“No worries,” Eunice told her. “We fixed it for you. I’m sure you didn’t really mean to leave it for us to take care of. I just hope all your copies came out right.” She peered past Gia and winked at Phin, who stored the moment in the back of his brain for later use.  He was left wondering exactly what Eunice had done to Gia’s copies that she would discover back in her classroom. Apparently, there was some Secret Copy Room Code he would have to learn before he would be able to blend in.