It was a long night.  Armed with a bowl of Halloween candy and a Cherry Pepsi I started in on my NaNoWriMo.  I’ve decided to place the first chapter up here for you to read.  I wont do this every time for a bunch of reasons, but I’ve been wanting to write this one for 2 weeks now so I couldn’t wait to share it.  Love to hear what you think.

Chapter 1

The Plunge

Gold and red leaves gathered like sheep in lazy eddies, corralled by fallen branches in the slow moving water.  They congregated to hide green-backed trout below as they feasted on late season scuds and larva.  Tiger rolled off her socks and dipped her feet in the numbing water of the small stream.  She sat on the grassy bank, her feet submerged to her ankles and waited for him to arrive.  A thick, black braid trailed down the middle of her back, lying on her mom’s pink argyle sweater, the sleeves rolled up to her wrists.  Tiger had stolen the sweater from her mother’s dresser at least once a week for the past few months.  Ever since she’d found out.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head up to the sun, soaking in what was left of its autumn warmth, silently wishing that it would stay fall forever, because it reminded her of Roddy.  She had met him in October two years earlier, right after her family had moved from Montreal to Williamstown, Vermont.  She sat on the bank listening to the creek and the high pitched echo of a pair of Hermit Thrushes.  With her eyes closed, she could see Roddy as clearly as she had on the day she discovered that she loved him.  He wore his signature Red Sox cap, a cool shadow hiding his slate-gray eyes as he as he peeled an orange for them to share while they sat on her porch swing.  It wasn’t earth shattering, angels hadn’t sung, she had just known.  Known in the same way that she knew she liked curry even before she tried it.  She smiled as the memory played back so clear that she could smell the orange and feel the swaying of the swing.

“You thinking about me?”  he asked.  She opened her eyes and looked at him on the other side of the stream.  Roddy plunged in, shoes and all, spooking away black ghost shapes of thin trout before him.  He always plunged, it was who he was.

“Actually, I was,” Tiger said, feeling happier than she ever thought possible when she left her friends in Canada. She hadn’t told any of them about Roddy, she wasn’t sure she wanted to share him and have to listen to her friends pry about details that she wasn’t ready offer.

“Been here long?”

“Not long at all.”

Roddy’s blue jeans were black below the knees, his Converse All-Stars sloshed as he made his way to her side.  He leaned over and kissed her sun-warmed cheek below her left eye.  She smelled him then.  Soap, sweat, Juicy Fruit, a splash of Elsha the same cologne her dad wore.  She could feel his love, it was as thick as winter soup.  She leaned against him to feel his warmth and steady shoulders.  He took her fragile hand in his and wove their fingers together, his over hers.

“Thanks for coming to our spot,” he said, as if it were something he need to thank her for.  Tiger loved the creek in the woods between her home and his.

She smiled up at him in reply.  She spotted a curly lock of his blonde hair sneaking out from under his cap and reached up and rubbed it between her fingers.

“I need to get it cut.”

“I like it.  It fits you,” she took his hat and put it on.  She liked the way it pressed her braid against the back of her head.

“Tiger?”

“Yeah.”

“Marry me?”  He plunged.

She nodded her head, smiled then pushed him back in the cool grass and kissed him warmly on the mouth, the Red Sox cap falling off and nearly rolling into the stream.

Tiger was content.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 8:20 am and is filed under Imaginary Man, NaNoWriMo, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.