Dabbling with Fiction

Here's another thing I ran into. Marianne challenged me to try my hand at a story. I don't know - I don't think it's my thing. I love reading it but writing it is work. Here's what I came up with. May be my only foray into fiction writing.

Kara threw her keys down on the counter but not fast enough to keep the slew of mail from fluttering to the floor. She growled with frustration as she crouched down to gather it up. "

"Figures. Just the kind of day its been," as she pushed a clump of her stringy, wind oiled hair behind her ear.

She reached up and pressed play on her answering machine as she picked up the last piece of junk mail.

"Hi Auntie K! Its Maya - just wanted to see if you could help me pick out a subject for a bio paper. Due Friday. Call me. Love you! Buh-Bye!"

That kid. Kara smiled and shook her head. Just hearing her voice turned a a bad day good. She reached for the phone and hit the speed dial.

"Hey Chrissie - yeah, I know, she called and asked already."

"Geez, eleven? I hadn't realized it was so late - well, tell M to give me a call at the center tomorrow and I'll throw a few ideas at her."

"Um - no - I haven't had a chance to look for any cheap flights. But I will - I'll check this weekend maybe. See what's out there for late this month." She crunched the phone between her ear and neck juggling a stack of journals, maps and notebooks making her way to the coffee table.

"I will - I promise."

" I know just how long its been - I've just been so crazy with this new study getting started and now there's - "

"I know how much it would mean to her." She made an exaggerated nod and rolled her eyes as she made her way to the kitchen to check the bleak stock.

"I know but - " as she tore the top off a yogurt she began to scowl. A few bites and a few futile mumbled protests managed but to little avail.

"Okay then, like I said, I'll check and see, but I've gotta go. Give Cal a hug and tell M to call me tomorrow. Okay - love you too."

WOOF! Lately, all conversations with the north seemed to end like that. A mad scramble to avoid further lecturing. God bless family but the strings that yanked from over 600 miles away in western Pennsylvania seemed to be pulling harder - and with a little more viger.

Kara had been in Marathon, heart of the Florida Keys for over ten years and the going had been getting tougher in the family department. When she first made the move here, she had taken the trip north four or five times a year as if they'd been short jaunts to Miami. But these days, she saw her parents once a year at their time share here and that was it. Coordinating research projects at the Marine Mammal Preservation and Research Center was a three person job that knew no holidays and it was being done by one Kara Lynn Knapp. And as for Chrissie, Cal, and Maya - their lives had been busy and vacations closer to home. She thought hard - do I really know just how long its been? Nearly 2 years she'd seen them. She hated that but - it wouldn't be long. She needed to look up that flight for the end of May and book two returning flights to Key West for her and Maya, killing two birds with one stone. Spend time with the clan and then she and Maya would spend the summer together. Maya would get the experience as a research assistant at the center. Kara would get some company, the much-needed help at the center, and they would be able to spend the time together that they had emailed about so often.

She collapsed onto the couch with a beer and her notebook, beer spraying the crispy sun bleached pages as she cracked open the can. Today's issue - oh it was a doosie. Plans set already to count, catalog, and otherwise document the continued viability of over 100 marine mammal habitats stretching from Big Pine Key into the Tortugas. And then the call from a friend on the zoning board. Developers planning to level Buccanneer Cay - home to more than a third of those - and build more than a dozen multi-story condos. She ran her hand through her dirty blond hari and sighed. She'd been there before but this time was going to be different. Harder and more challenging - "native" son Thurman Trent was promsing that he'd follow both the written and unwritten laws of the keys. Sure, and monkeys were gonna fly right outta my…….

She snapped the notebook shut. "My brain hurts - and my hands and feet and toes and….Time for bed."

She headed for the shower with happier thoughts on Maya's project.

Kara grunted loudly as she strained to drag the last bin of soaked and baled sea grass into the shed. As she gave the tub a last heave she heard the screen door of the lab slam shut.

"Need some help there Kara?" she heard as she caught a tall figure jog to her side.

"Yeah, about 40 minutes ago would've been nice, Rick! But as usual you are just in time for -"

"Aw ,come on boss! I told you I was gonna be late this morning and you should have waited. Did you do the whole load?"

Her hand still planted firmly on her hip, she smiled and shook her head in mock resignation. "Yep, and if you didn't have so much research instinct I'd fire your butt! But, since I'm old enough to be your mother I should just kick it!"

He leaned down and grabbed her cast off work gloves and chuckled. "Well, I'm sure my mom's given you permission and the good reasons to do it before. Hey, what's this I hear from Captian Les about going to down to secure sites from developing? He muttered something about it when I stopped over at the dock last night to take a water sample."

Kara gathered up the rest of her things and they headed over o the back stoop of the long narrow bungalow building. Weather beaten, untreated and graying, the siding hung on the frame in places by what only appeared a few splinters. But oddly, it didn't look decrepit - it looked just fine for a research lab in the tropical Keys. The trees hung just over the _________ roof, providing the entire back of the building with just the right amount of shade from the hot morning sun.

"Well, Rick, why don't you run in and grab me a giant glass of water and I'll tell ya while I cool off?"