Through an Author's Eyes - Part 20

 Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a good week. Mine has been pretty good. We've had a lot of days with strong wind and that kicked up my allergies. I'm not usually bothered too much by spring allergies, but I think the wind was blowing everything and it didn't stop so . . . I'm just praying my voice is fine for Sunday as I'm supposed to sing in the ladies ensemble for church. And I'm supposed to play violin.

This week I really haven't done much writing. I did reread and edit the first 33k words of Don Wood and added several hundred words to it and cut out quite a bit too though. Now I'm ready to write again, so hopefully I can work on that today. I would love to reach the end of this story by my birthday, but I don't think that will happen unless things just come together really quickly, but maybe at least by the end of the month.

I'm still walking my miles for the Spring 100 challenge. So far I have walked 27 1/2 miles. Are you walking for the challenge? 

Well, here's this next part of the Author story. I hope you enjoy it.

Through an Author's Eyes

Part 20

 

    Silence filled the cabin for a few minutes except for the quick typing of Annette’s fingers.
    “Ah,” Levi spoke for the first time, “is Marie also a middle name?”
    “Yes.”
    “What’s her first name?”
    “That would give it away.”
    “Were you named for her?” Jaina asked.
    “No.”
    “So it’s not the name that was past down?”
    Annette shook her head. This was as bad a twenty-questions. How was she going to get this scene written if they kept talking to her?
    Levi spoke again. “Was Aunt Marie named for a president too?”
    “Yes.”
    “Were you named for a president as well?”
    “Yes.”
    Instantly names were flung at her until Annette wanted to hide her head. “No! My name is not Fillmore or Van Bureun! I--”
    “Is it Taylor or Madison?” Bethany questioned eagerly.
    But Annette shook her head and gave up all hope of finishing the scene. Savanna started naming the presidents starting with Washington and Annette turned off NEO. It would be a long wait as she shook her head over each name listed. Several times Savanna stumbled over the order and after she named the second Roosevelt she gave up.
    “I can’t name the rest in order. Can anyone else?”
    Jaina gave it a try until she suddenly stopped short. “Is it Reagan?” she demanded.
    “Yes.”
    “Goodness, that took a while,” And Elijah, who hadn’t said a word the entire time, looked at his watch. “Twenty-eight minutes to be exact.”
    “Well, we passed some time, but not much,” and Savanna sighed. “I’ll read it, Annette.” She held out her hand for NEO, but Annette shook her head.
    “Can’t you at least give me a little time to finish writing a scene? I was almost finished with it.”
    “Then hurry up,” Gabe said, drumming his fingers on the floor beside him.
    “And get them off the mountain if they’re still there,” Vic added.
    Ignoring both boys, Annette turned NEO back on and looked down at the screen. It was darker now and she reached back for her head light.

    “Finished?” Savanna asked, sitting up as Annette turned off her light.
    “For now.”
    “Then let me read it aloud.”
    “I don’t know--” Annette bit the side of her lip and glanced around the room. She knew her stories were enjoyed by many, but she had never been in the same room when any were being read. “I haven’t even had a chance to reread the whole thing. I’m sure there are typos and--”
    “Who cares?” Reuben said. “We won’t see them. Only Savanna will, and I doubt she’ll read them aloud. Hand it over to her before I start telling jokes.”
    “You’d better not,” growled Elijah looking at his brother.
    Without another word, Annette handed her precious NEO over to her cousin. “It starts on file one and you’ll have to push the ‘home’ button to get to the top of each one. Need a light?”
    After Savanna settled down with her back to the wall and NEO on her lap, Annette’s light turned on her head, and her ankles crossed she looked around the room. “Is everyone ready?”
    Heads nodded. Annette was thankful for the dimness of the cabin for she knew her cheeks were flushed as her cousin began reading her story. “I wonder if I changed enough things or changed them too much?” she wondered, sliding down so her head was resting on her backpack.
    It was different, she had to admit, hearing her story instead of just reading it silently. Several times she made mental notes to change the wording on something or take out or add a few words. As she lay, she watched the snow falling outside the open door. Silently it came down, covering the drab floor of the forest where the summer’s light hadn’t penetrated enough to bring much green, and piling on the branches, giving the leaves a white blanket. She wondered idly if it was snowing down below and if her uncle and aunt were worried about them.
    Suddenly she sat up. “We should have thought of that sooner,” she exclaimed, interrupting Savanna’s reading.
    “Thought about what?” Levi asked.
    “With the way the wind is blowing, we should have gathered dry wood and stuff for a fire.”
    “The chimney--” Gabe started.
    “Not the fireplace. The doorway. The smoke would get pulled out of the cabin. And the floor is dirt so we wouldn’t run the risk of setting the cabin on fire. We’d at least be able to dry our boots some and keep the place from freezing. I have matches if no one else does.” As she spoke, Annette pulled off her dry socks, stuffed them in her backpack and began pulling on her damp ones.
    “What are you doing?” Bethany asked.
    “Going to go out and get wood. There’s no telling how long we’ll be here, and if we’re here overnight, as is quite possible, I at least, would like to have a little warmth besides my sweatshirts.”
    The guys were following suit and soon, with rain jackets on, and headlights shining, they set forth leaving Savanna, Jaina and Bethany inside.
    “We should have thought of this before the snow started burying things,” Gabe called over from one side of the cabin.
    “I know. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it,” Judah replied. “Here, I found a large branch. Too bad we don’t have an ax or a saw.”
    Annette, pulling an old bandana from her jacket pocket, opened it up. Crouching down under a pine tree she began to brush away the snow.
    “What are you doing?”
    She looked up to find Vic behind her. “Gathering pine needles. They’ll burn even if they are damp. Want to help?” 

 

Does your name carry on a family naming tradition?

Have you had trouble with spring allergies lately?

Do you think you'd enjoy taking shelter in an old cabin?