Nancy LaRonda Johnson's Blog, page 3

X is for Xerox

Xerox
“The darned machine broke again! I may as well get the typewriter out, ‘cause I know I’m going to have to copy this report by hand.” Lexie gave the Xerox machine a small shove.
“A typewriter isn’t doing it by hand,” Felix said as he entered the room.
“Compared to a Xerox, it might as well be.” She pushed at the buttons and gave another shove.
“Here, let me see. Maybe I can fix it.”
“You can’t fix anything, Felix. Go on and go away. You might get yourself electrocuted.”
Felix ignored her and opened the side panel. He stared inside without moving for nearly a minute.
“Something you see in there?”
“Yeah…. Come over here. You’ll never believe this.”
Lexie peered over Felix’s shoulder and said, “I don’t see anything.”
“Keep looking.”
Another minute passed. Then she saw it. “Oh my…!”
Felix reached in his index finger and thumb between the ink drum and feeder wheel. “I told you to not do it! If you get fired it’ll be all your fault.”
“I know, Felix. I won’t do it again, just don’t tell,” Lexie said, looking at the band-aide on her finger. “Thanks for fixing it, Felix,” she said. “But I told you I could duplicate myself by copying my DNA on this thing.” She took her miniaturized self out of Felix’s palm and stared at it with a mischievous smile.

W is for What's After?

What’s after?
As you may know, I was on a break from blogging prior to the A to Z Challenge. I’m so glad I’m doing this challenge, but what’s to come afterward? Well, I truly do love blogging and wish I had more time to be involved with connecting with my fellow bloggers. But I’m still taking classes, working and writing, and don't have the time it takes to keep up with these connections right now.
When I was into blogging more regularly without the classes, I wasn’t writing enough. Next semester, I’ll take another other class, maybe two. So what’s after this challenge? I hate to admit it, but I’ll have to get back to my blogging break for at least one more semester. I hope you won’t forget about me!

V is for Variant Life Form

Variant Life Form
What if you could be any life form you wanted to be? Even better, what if you could change your life form at a whim, or to give it a bit more of a challenge, you could change after living at least one year in your last one? (That’s one year relative to the life expectancy of that life form). Is that something you’d consider? Would you live one year as a fly on the wall? then a year as a whale, traveling the world’s seas? then one year as a mountain goat, living in the highest peaks?
That would be one way to get off the beaten path –  as well as a way to get a grand perspective of life – to live as a different species for a time before experiencing the delights and difficulties of another. Which would you choose? And which do you think would be your favorites?
My selection of variant life forms would include: a seal, as I love the ocean, lying in the sun and seafood; an eagle to soar high in God’s country; and, if nothing else, I’d want to return as me, to finish off life with those I know and love best. 

U is for: An Uninspired Moment

An Uninspired Moment
Last year was the first time I’d joined the A to Z Challenge, a time when I was blogging at least twice a week. I wrote the posts the day before publishing them, and it was a wild, tiring and productive time – productive in the blogging friends I’d met, and also for the writing skills I develop in creating, what I thought, were interesting posts on the fly. I loved my U post last year (A Unilateral Undertaking of Undesirable and Unattainable Phenomena), so much so that I seriously considered reposting it… but I figured that’s truly cheating since it was from the A to Z Challenge.
This year is different in some ways. I’m still learning great writing skills even though I'd prewritten some of the posts, and have met (and re-met) a few wonderful blogger friends. But I’d been on a blogging hiatus for several months before this challenge started. Though I’m enjoying the posts I’ve written this year, I’m having quite an uninspired moment for U.  So, hopefully you can forgive my rambling and allow me to end this uninspired U post right here and right now.

T is for Twitter

Twitter message: Cuties aren’t necessarily hunks. Hunks aren’t necessarily cute – God, give me the two in one, and I’ll be a happy camper ‘til Kingdom come!!
(This is my second Twitter message in this A to Z Challenge. If you'd like to read the last one, click here.)

S is for: Silence! Let there be Silence!

At last, the end of this serial short story is here - and the last of the long posts in this challenge. I hope this final section is satisfying for you who continued to read this. (Yes, that’s you Dee D from Dressing Our Nest ! She blogs about decorating on a budget. Please check out and join her gorgeous blog by clicking here.)
For part 1 of this story, click here; part 2, here; part 3, here;  part 4, here; and part 5 here.
S is for: Silence! Let there be silence. (Serial short story, part 6 - Conclusion)
Netta pulled away from Mrs. Ramsey and squeezed her small body through to the front of the crowd. Her momma was on the ground beside Nelly. The things were going from the cave walls on to her momma’s legs and arms, their reddish-orange light slowly wavering, including on the ones still on the walls and Nelly. When every spot of skin on her momma’s extremities was covered, the lights brightened until the haunting cries emitted from them, as if bursting out from doomed births.
Mrs. Ramsey came up beside Netta, tears falling from her eyes. “Those must be our babies,” she wailed. “They’ve consumed our ability to bear children, and now they must be using our babies’ souls to do whatever they’re doing to Nelly and Peyton.”
Anguished mutterings sounded throughout the cave. “We’ve got the get those things off of them!” someone yelled.
The mournful crying ended, and the residual echo was overtaken by the sounds of the angry mob. 
“Silence! Let there be silence!” Mrs. Ramsey yelled, as she could hear running footsteps coming through the pathway from the City Hall. “I think the council members are coming.”
In the back, Davis Monroe, Peyton’s youth volunteer worker said, “We can get them back here. You guys get those things off of Mrs. Bennet and Nelly!”
“Alright Davis,” Mrs. Ramsey said, “but don’t hurt them too much. They’ve got questions to answer!”
Half of the group stared down at Nelly and Peyton, unsure whether they should just pull the things off. Netta gave it no thought and grabbed a handful in each hand. She threw them to the ground and stomped them. Sparks flew out from the smashed things as she did so. The bare section of Nelly’s skin looked deathly pale.
Mrs. Ramsey said, “She’s still breathing,” and everyone within reach yanked the things off both Nelly and Peyton, throwing them to the ground for the others to crush underfoot. For a while, the darkened cave glowed with the numerous sparks as each thing was crushed. Immediately, the things clinging on the walls moved toward the mother and daughter to take over the vacant spots.
“Look out! More are coming,” someone yelled. They all grabbed rocks and smashed the remaining things. Nelly and Peyton’s bare legs and arms had a marshy pallor. “They’re okay,” Mrs. Ramsey said without confidence.
The old town doctor pushed his way up to the front and checked their vitals. “Take them to my clinic right away!” he said. “I can barely make out a pulse and their temperature is too low.”
Several people carried them around the captured council members and up the path, with the doctor and Netta following close behind.
“You’ve ruined it! You’ve destroyed them!” Dara Winstle said, balling while being held by two men. “And now we’re all ruined.”
Mrs. Ramsey looked to each of the council members and said through clenched teeth, “What have we destroyed, and how are we ruined?”
“We were financially ruined… and we are all sick. Every last one of us. Why do you think we moved the City Hall? For a better view?”
“You told us it was to be closer to the source. You said there were jewels down here, but that it was a radioactive area, enough to cause any child born to be horribly deformed and die painfully. You showed us what happened to Candice White’s baby and said that’s why she died during childbirth.”
“You believed that story because you wanted to believe it,” Marcus exclaimed, unable to control his self-righteous anger. “Candice was a drug addict. That’s why she and her baby died. You knew that. She didn’t die in a hospital! She died trying to give birth on her own in the Baring Woods. I’m the one who happened across her and discovered them.” He tried to yank free from the burly men holding him, then gave up. “There were only a few of them then, and they were feeding on her. They communicated with me, saying if I would get more life force for them so their population could grow, we could get some of their ‘runts’ each month to sell. You see, once they die, they turn into gold – at least no one on this planet could ever tell the difference.”
Marcus looked at his cohorts, then continued, “At first I thought all I had to do was get them some animals to feed on. But no, they need human life force to grow and flourish. Embryonic life force sustains them and allows them to grow at a much slower rate, which is more beneficial to us. They promised our town would always be safe, but we didn’t want them to grow too fast and get too much for us to control. They came up with the idea of harvesting your reproductive systems so they could ‘grow their own food.’”
Before Marcus could react, Mrs. Ramsey lifted her hand and slapped him hard across the face, leaving his cheek burning red. He would have fallen to the floor if he wasn’t still being held. “You never told us you took our reproductive organs out, just that you’d fix them so we couldn't have children," Mrs. Ramsey seethed with barely controlled anger and sadness. "If I weren’t a Christian, I’d kill all of you.”
“I’m a Christian and I still may kill them!” someone in the crowd yelled. “They convinced us we were going bankrupt and would lose our way of life, and that we would all die without these things’ help. But they were just greedy!”
“We were going bankrupt!” Dara cried. “We saved this town. We were lucky to have come across this life form. They gave us a second chance. But now it’s all ruined. We are all ruined!”
“No, we won’t be ruined, Mrs. Winstle.” Mrs. Ramsey said. “We have evidence here and plenty of witnesses of your crimes. You’re all going to jail for the rest of your lives! And I’m sure, with the right media attention, someone will really come to our rescue and save the goodpeople of this town.”
Before walking out of the cave, Mrs. Ramsey called back, “Make sure they stay in jail until we can get the Attorney General out here!”
~          ~
In the town clinic, Nelly and Peyton received fluids supplied through IVs, and blood transfusions. They came out of their stupors, and their skin and vitals were nearly back to normal. The Bennet family was reunited, chattering and enjoying each other’s company. Netta went back and forth between Netta’s bed and her momma’s, giving hugs and telling jokes to get them laughing. Glad to be alive, they didn’t want to think about what they’d gone through, or why.
Moments later, the old doctor entered the room, beaming. “You know, Mrs. Bennet, the council members said we couldn’t have anymore children, but what do they know? One particular test has proven otherwise. I’m not judging you, as your husband died too many years ago in Iraq, but a test of your hormone levels shows you’re pregnant!”
“That’s impossible,” Peyton exclaimed, concern covering her face. “I haven’t been with anyone…. “
The doctor looked at her, baffled. “You’ve not been with anyone, even in say, the last four or five months?”
“More like the last four or five years,” she said. Terror filled Peyton’s eyes as she looked down at her stomach. “What if they did something to me? What if I’m not pregnant with child, but… with one of them?” 
Just then, she felt movement in her stomach. When she lifted her gown, she, Nelly, Netta and the doctor stared in silent horror as a wavering reddish-orange light glowed from within her belly.


~ The End ~

R is for: Mrs. Ramsey, help!

We're getting close to the end of this serial short story. Maybe one more day. Again, I apologize for the long posts during this story - I couldn't end until I got to a hook.
For part 1 of this story, click here; part 2, here; part 3, here; and for part 4, here.

R is for: Mrs. Ramsey, help!
(Serial short story, part 5)
Netta heard her momma scream her name, which broke the grip of fear over her, and she pushed back into the darkness of the cave. “Jesus, don’t leave me,” she said, which in her mind meant, Jesus, guide my steps and let my family be safe.
She heard footsteps rushing up the pathway from the lower chamber, and she ran, trusting her footing would lead her right. 
“Not her too!” Netta heard her momma call out before she pushed aside the vines covering the cave’s mouth and ran towards town. She couldn’t understand how her momma and the council members got to the cave. As she ran, she figured there had to be a pathway from the City Hall.
It was late afternoon and some of the townsfolk were heading home, some in cars, but most walking along the street as if their whole world had not been snatched from them. Netta stood in the middle of the heaviest trafficked intersection with her hands raised high, causing heads to turn and horns to bleat.
“I need everybody’s help!” Netta yelled out in her loudest outside voice. People turned toward her and others stepped out of their cars, concern overtaking their initial anger. More people gathered around the intersection, the crowd quickly growing. “The council members lied to everybody, and they’ve got my momma and sister in a cave in the Baring Woods.” Tears streamed down her face. She feared they wouldn’t believer her, some knowing the trouble she could get herself into. “They’ll make us all slaves or kill all of us if we don’t stop them now. Nelly might be dead already. Please help me!”
Netta heard murmurs in the crowd, scared whisperings of “The Baring Woods?”, “They couldn’t have lied to us!”, and “Kill us?”
Netta saw her science teacher and said, “Mrs. Ramsey, help! Just go to the City Hall and you’ll see that nobody’s there. But there’s got to be a secret way to get to where they have my momma and Nelly.”
Netta, holding everyone’s attention, began walking toward the City Hall, while saying, “Come on everybody. I’ll show you. Come on!”
Had she given it much thought, she would have been surprised when everyone followed her, some passing her child’s legs pace. When she got there, probably the whole town was at the City Hall. Netta pushed her way through the crowd inside.
“Well, where are they, Netta?” one of her neighbors asked.
“They were all in here when my momma told me to go on to school. There’s got to be a secret way to the caves.”
“I don’t see anything,” Mrs. Ramsey said. Then she looked at the only possibility – the closet door. When she opened it, a swooshing sound and cold, musty air escaped. They all stared inside the darkness, not understanding why it wasn’t a small closet they were looking into.
“See,” Netta said. “They’ve got to be in there. You’ve got to help them!”
In a single file, the crowd entered the closet in silence, each new person going in giving a soft shriek of surprise that they could walk in and keep going. Mrs. Ramsey took Netta’s hand and went in near the end of the line. “We’ve got to hurry,” Netta told her.
“Alright, people!” Mrs. Ramsey called out. “We’ve got to pick up the pace and find out what’s going on here before it’s too late.”
The line quickened, a few people with flashlights passing them out to the front, middle and end of the line. The path soon became a wider dirt and stone walkway. The single line grew thicker and moved even faster, until someone in the front yelled out, “Oh my dear God. I see them! I see Nelly and Peyton! Dear God, please don’t let them be dead.”
~ To be continued ~

Q is for: The Quislings

For part 1 of this story, click here; for part 2, click here, and for part 3, click here. (I apologize for these posts being so long - I have to end at a hook.)
Q is for: The Quislings(Serial short story, part 4)
Netta had every intention of doing what her momma said and head on over to school. Once her foot hit the middle of the street three blocks from the school, she knew she had to find Nelly. Everything was her fault, and now her mother might get in trouble with the City Council because of her.
“I’m going to find you Nelly.” She felt she was talking directly to Nelly, who was waiting for her to find her wherever she was. “I’m going to find you and make everything alright.”
By then, she was looking at the edge of the Baring Woods. Unlike earlier that day, the branches seemed to be spindly fingers reaching out to her, or maybe drawing her in. 
“Dear Jesus, don’t leave me.” Her whispered mantra for whenever she got in trouble naturally slipped from her mouth as she walked around the branches to the overgrown path. Netta passed the hole where they’d found it and went deeper into the thickening forestry. A couple of times, she was sure she’d seen Nelly’s footprints.
Down a ways, she reached a cave at the base of a hill. Vines fell loosely over its opening, except for a small gap near the center. She pushed the vines apart and walked through, calling softly, “Nelly? You in here? It’s Netta. Momma’s worried about you.” Silence. “It’s gonna get dark before long. Come on out so we can go home. You must be hungry. We can come back tomorrow if you want to.”
It got so dark a few steps inside the cave that Netta was almost too scared to go any farther. She slid her feet across the dirt floor, afraid of what they’d land in if she lifted them up to take a step.
Then she heard a scream and froze. It wasn’t Nelly. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it was her momma. Her pounding heart wanted to jump out of her chest and beat it right out of the cave. Every nerve in her body wanted to follow behind.
With both arms reaching out, she blindly walked toward where she heard the sound. She bumped into the wall of the cave, and felt along it, going deeper in. Just around a bend, she swore she could see light, and figured the cave went through to the other side of the hill. Her feet carried her faster, no longer caring what they stepped into. The light took on a reddish-orange hue, not like the daylight outside. Without a sound, she pressed along the cave's wall, wanting to get to the source of the light without being noticed.
When she got there, she nearly called out, “Momma!” But what she saw stifled her mute. Her momma was with the council members in a lower chamber of the cave. Wavering light came from hundreds of those things Nelly found. The reddish-orange light shifting with the dark patches on them made them really look like bruised cheeks burning with heat.
Lying on the ground, with those things covering her arms and legs, was Nelly. They moved around her, like they were polishing her skin. Her momma tried to run toward Nelly, reaching to grab two hands full of those things off of her, but the council members held her back.
Her momma turned toward them and yelled, “Let me go, you traitors, you Judases! You sold our offspring for what?”
“Look around you, Peyton,” Dara Winstle said. “Can’t you see the potential? Unlimited power and wealth! And they can heal us, every illness we could ever have. They’ve promised us that. They only needed a portion of our wilderness, such a small parcel when you think of all we’re getting.”
“Plus our offspring! You sold our future offspring for power and money!”
The light from the things stopped pulsating and got brighter, until crying voices burst from them. It was a cacophony of sound so sad it invaded Netta’s heart and caused tears to fall.
After wiping them away, she saw Nelly staring straight at her. The wailing stopped, filling the chamber with total silence. Then, one at a time, the council members looked up at Netta.
~ To be continued ~

P is for: Payment Owed

For part 1 of this story, click here. For part 2, click here.
P is for: Payment Owed(Serial short story, part 3)
Mrs. Peyton Bennet stared at Netta, fear radiating from her eyes. The Baring Woods were off limits for a reason and the kids darned well knew not to go near there. It was Netta’s idea, Peyton was sure of it.
Everyone told the city council to put barriers up. They said they wouldn’t allow it. How the city council knew that, they never said.  She’d get answers from them now if it was the very last thing she did. Peyton took Netta by the hand and marched over to the makeshift city hall.
When she arrived, she thanked God that each of the four council members were there. They sat in the “lounge area,” a corner of the one-room city hall with reading chairs under the high windows, drinking tea, most likely spiked. Peyton led Netta directly in front of the four, looked her in the eyes and said, “Tell them what you told me. Leave nothing out.” She took a step back, forcing them to give Netta their full attention.
Netta told them, leaving out only how she said she wanted to sell it to pay off the house and go to Disneyland. As Netta spoke, Peyton saw the terror bloom in each of the council member’s eyes. Once she finished, they immediately clammed up, their faces stone cold.
Peyton turned to Netta and, in a delicate but stern tone, said, “You go straight to school, Netta, and stay there until I get you.” She watched Netta as she turned away from her momma and left for school. Peyton then faced the group.
“You told us that we were safe. You said that we paid full price to be left alone and that a border was not necessary. Instead, my daughter is gone!”
“It was up to you to teach your children to not enter that area, Mrs. Bennet,” said Dara, the eldest council member. Her lips pressed into a thin line of determination though her eyes held a hint of moisture.
“She is a child. We told you over and over again that children get curious and may wander over there, maybe not even realizing it. We warned you! And now look what happened. How can I get her? What am I supposed to do?”
“In all honesty,” Marcus, the longest running council member said sympathetically, “there’s nothing you can do. She’s gone. If anything could be done to get her back, believe me, we would do –.”
Peyton cut him off, rage billowing from her voice, her index finger pointing at the group, “You guys have held back information on this, and everyone knows it. You assured us the payment we made was sufficient, more than enough. But I’m telling you now, payment is owed and it is you folks who are going to pay it unless you tell me how to get my daughter back!” Tears streamed down Peyton’s cheeks. “You said if we keep our population static, we’d be safe and even prosperous. We did that, giving up our right and ability to have more children, and supposedly avoiding a cancer-like disease from them. But now the payment owed by you is the truth, or the power of hell will come down on all of your heads.”
Quiet settled over the room, until one after the other, the four council members rose and walked to the closet door. Peyton Bennet watched in shock as they each entered the seemingly tiny closet, leaving the door opened. Peyton followed with cautious steps only a few feet behind Marcus. When she entered, the door shut behind her. Ahead of her, she heard what sounded like the mournful cries of dying souls.
~ To be continued ~

O is for: Only God Knows

For the first part of this story, click here.
O is for Only God Knows(Serial short story, part 2)
Netta stood still, her hands to her cheeks, her mouth held agape. She had no idea where Nelly had run off to. It wasn’t toward home or their momma’s work. 
Her mouth felt numb after she closed it. In the gait of the walking dead, Netta made her way toward home. After a while, she changed directions, deciding she’d better talk with her momma right away, although she was terrified of what she would say, not just about Nelly, but about why they weren't in school. She could blame Nelly, but her momma knew that trick. She would never believe Nelly decided to go walk in the Baring Woods unless Netta had pushed her to.
“Shoot, it's your own fault, Nelly, for stopping at that thing and for digging it up too!” Netta said, resentment scrunching up her young face. “And then you go and run off! Just how stupid you have to be to run off on your own in these parts?”
The anger left her when she remembered what she saw moving up Nelly’s arm and onto her shoulder and back, and fear crept in the cold space left in her chest. She began to pant heavily, and took a deep breath. “Poor Nelly. My poor Nelly, what happened to you?” After a moment with her head low, she answered, “Only God knows. I surely don’t.”
Her momma saw her before Netta realized she’d made it that far. She hadn’t even heard the barking and scratching of the pups at the storefront window. Before she could think of what to say, her momma came out of the store and asked, “Where’s Nelly, Netta?” Immediately after that, with a tone of chastisement, she said, “Why aren’t you in school?” When she saw the weird expression on Netta’s face, she took a slow, nervous breath and asked, “Is that where Nelly is? Is she in school?”
Davis Monroe, the youth volunteer worker, came out and asked, “Are you okay, Mrs. Bennet?”
“Everything’s fine, Davis. Go on back in. I’ll be there in a little while.”
Once Davis went back inside the store, Netta blurted out, hardly taking a breath, “Nelly’s the one who decided to get it! I told her not to touch it. I even pushed her hand away, but she ignored me. Then she dug it up and held it. She wouldn’t even let me touch it before running away. And that’s when I saw something crawling all over her arm and back. I called after her, but she kept running. Since we aren’t allowed in the Baring Woods, I knew I couldn’t follow her, so I came straight to you, Momma. I would have gone to school had Nelly listened to me and not picked up that thing!”
Netta wanted to continue on with her explanation, but her mother stooped down in front of her, held her by the shoulders, and asked, “What was it she picked up, Netta?”
“It was something beautiful, and I’m sure it’s worth a lot of money, but Nelly wouldn’t hear of selling it. I figured we could pay off the house and then go on that vacation to Disneyland. Only she got greedy and ran off.”
“What did she pick up, Netta?” She asked again, holding Netta a little tighter by the arms.
“I don’t know,” Netta said, getting more scared at the concern in her mother’s voice.
“Tell me what it looked like,” Netta’s momma asked, sounding like the detective on that old TV show. Netta wanted to say it looked like Harpo Jones’ cheek when he got beat up, but thought better of it. She considered hard, and finally said, “It was round and smooth on one side, flat on the other, and looked like fake, dark red blood, but dry… I think… and swollen. I didn’t touch it. It had dark patches on it. Nelly said it wasn’t alive because it wasn’t warm like something alive. She said it wasn’t cold either, but like butter left out. You know, not hot or cold?”
“Room temperature.” Her momma said. “What happened after that? Where did she run off to?”
Nelly remembered about room temperature from her science teacher. She wondered why she hadn’t thought about that when Nelly was describing it.
“Tell me now, Netta! What was it that Nelly had and what did it do to her?” She no longer sounded like that detective. She sounded close to manic.
“Only God knows, Momma. But one thing’s for sure, it was alive!”
~ To Be Continued ~