A to Z Challenge: E is for EAGER
For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). This is part 3 in the beginnings of a story about the character Codie Snow. I hope you enjoy it, and please be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next part! Remember, this is completely unrevised and (mostly) unedited and will likely change quite a bit before publication…but I thought you might enjoy a glimpse into my writing process.
You might want to read these posts first:
A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
B is for BLURB
C is for CODIE
D is for DANGER
NOTE: Okay, as usual, I’m doing something to myself I sometimes do when I’ve started warming up to the story. I’m starting to question all my decisions. Okay, not all. But I’m wondering if the guy I imagined Codie ending up with is the right guy. I’m wondering if I have enough story for a full-sized novel; I wonder if I’ll lose reader interest, etc., etc., etc.
But I can’t let doubts or questions slow me down. I know if I press through that the story will reveal itself, so I need to jump in with both feet. Here goes!
Codie could hear Pete’s voice carry through the screen door out into the yard where she stood, her stride having changed to a slow crawl as her ears assessed the situation. She could see a little inside but not much, because the people weren’t standing right in front of the door. “Ma’am,” he said, “I’m going to need you to back away some.” Another couple of seconds and Pete added, his voice firmer, “A few feet.” Codie could imagine the look on his face as he tried to communicate to the woman that he meant business. “Now, I need you to tell me what happened.”
Codie could hear a man’s voice then, but it wasn’t loud enough for her to make out any actual words. The woman then started screeching again. “That’s bullshit, Vern. Bullshit! And you know it.”
“Ma’am, I’m not going to ask you again. I need you to keep some distance between you and your husband while he tells his side of the story.” It was relatively quiet for a few seconds, save the TV droning in the background, and Codie inched closer to the house before Pete said, “Sir?”
“Like I said, I just sat down with a beer when the old lady started throwin’ shit at me.”
“I wasn’t just throwin’ shit at you, Vern! It was the goddamned cable bill that we can’t afford!”
Over her voice, Codie could hear Pete telling her once again to back off, but soon those sounds were drowned out by the short blast of the siren from another cop car. Codie turned around and saw the red and blue lights whirring on top of the car, but the driver hadn’t had the siren on long and didn’t leave it on. It almost sounded like the cop had turned it on for just a second so the people inside the house knew he was there.
Oh. Not he. She. The cop was a woman. It wasn’t hard to tell once she was out of the cop car, because the uniform hugged her like a glove, and there was no mistaking her feminine figure. The look on her face, however, was determination and attitude. Codie knew she wouldn’t want to mess with this cop.
Unfortunately, she was on the cop’s radar and before she could even turn back to the action to hear what was going on inside, the cop said, “Hands up!” Codie couldn’t see the cop’s face, even though the red and blue behind her highlighted her body, but there wasn’t enough light from the porch and the front of the house to illuminate her face, so Codie couldn’t get a read on her.
“I’m not—”
But the cop wasn’t listening and she rushed at Codie before she could finish her sentence. She was shoved up against the side of the house next to the screen door, her face mashed into the siding and her arms twisted behind her back, cold metal digging into her wrists. She tried muttering once more that she was with Pete and not a criminal, but she knew it wouldn’t be worth the effort. The cop would find out soon enough.
It wasn’t until the cop led her by the wrists behind her back into the house that it got all straightened out. “Breske! She’s on a ride-along. Uncuff her!” In the meantime, he was cuffing the woman who’d been yelling. The man who’d been talking just stood to the side, and Codie tried not to laugh. The guy had to be pushing seventy—same with the woman—and here they were, yelling at each other like passionate youth.
Well, not so much. They were probably just set in their ways.
By the time the cuffs were off Codie’s wrists, she rubbed them because they already hurt. She could see the red marks they’d dug into her flesh. The tight-faced cop said, “My apologies, ma’am.”
Pete looked half-amused, half-pissed when he said, “Breske’s just an eager beaver. You’ll have to forgive her.”
Codie tried not to give away that she was upset, but she didn’t know that her face could quite hide how she felt at the moment. She was glad when the action drew their attention away from her and she tried to lose that strange feeling of embarrassment and anger.
NOTE: I’m having to stop today simply because of time. It is often my biggest enemy when it comes to writing! But no fear–there WILL be more tomorrow. Even when I don’t hit my word goal, I will (and do) write. Be sure to tune in tomorrow. And I might as well tell you now–like a lot of things that happen in my stories, Breske wasn’t a planned character. She just made herself known and I spent the better portion of my writing time this morning trying to figure out her name! 
