Friday, March 18, 2011
Mysteries of Life
Sitting at my worktable, my large windows looking out onto a rainy, grey and deeply atmospheric Friday morning Lombard Street, and I feel like I should start a mystery novel today, but first I need to acquire a slouchy felt hat, well worn and stained with coffee and nicotine, an elegantly shabby trench coat, also well worn and stained with coffee and nicotine (mystery writers drink coffee and smoke a lot don't they?), and be appropriately starved for both real food and romantic adventure.
There are no fog horns this morning - or at least I don't hear them because my windows are closed against the rain - but in my mind the Fine Ladies of the Bay are mournfully tooting their dire warnings, and mischief is afoot in the harbors...how could it not be on a day like this? Longshoremen (whatever they are - I never have known...) lurking against damp , lichen-covered walls, their knitted hats pulled down to cover their eyebrows, and cigarettes , somehow miraculously alight in this rainy weather, supply the only touch of bright orange color midst all the grey of the day....they mumble something about "waiting for Lefty" and there is a sense of menace in the air.
Or maybe, they're just hungry and want an early lunch.
I took the pups out to do their morning toilette and they looked up at me like I was truly insane to expect anything out of them but the most token of pee's, and who could blame them. It's raining so hard. In one minute of exposure, their little soft coats were drenched and sopping, and yet they bravely lifted their legs and squatted their delicate little squats and let their bladders add to the already too-wet morning. I loved them for their expedition. And hurried them back inside to do their other stuff....I can always whisk that away before it sits for too long....it's the pee inside that is the real villain, so we avoid that at all costs.
Now, here we are, safely ensconced once more inside, but I have to brave the rainy storm to get to my trainer appointment soon: my date with Brice! He nearly kills me each session....but why do I love it so much? Because I feel so damned good when it's done! I now understand sado-masochism a bit better...but all kidding aside, the workouts he gives me are just right and attuned to my old-lady heart rate just so i don't get discouraged, and I always look forward to more. It's a gift Brice has: he gages me well. And i feel so much better now that my body is back in a gym routine once again. It's been a while since I've even had the or energies to devote to such important activity, and I am grateful for it.
But back to the mystery I should be writing today.
Murder, mayhem and mellifluous music of the foghorns , the backdrop for an international scheme: the rare and vital elements that could cure Japan's nuclear reactor problems are on their way to that troubled country - necessities to save the population and the world from nuclear holocaust - but the secret couriers are brutally murdered at the Port of San Francisco and their bodies scarred with a bloody message asking for ransom of the stolen vital goods!
How were they detected , first of all? Who knew the couriers to be what they were and what they carried with them? Obviously an inside job, who are the villainous , hard-hearted terrorists behind this inhumane plot ?
And where did the vital life-saving equipment/elements go? Who has them? THey have a short shelf-life, so time is important: they MUST be found. THe Japan situation grows worse daily, and people - millions of people will soon die if the kidnapped items are not found and utilized correctly.
I see the movie of course starring Harrison Ford and Clyde Kusatsu as the Japanese Prime Minister...and the first day of shooting takes place on a day just like today, when all the important Port shots are accomplished...then the unit moves to Seattle, where it's like this more of the time!
Hmmmmm......what shall we call it? Murder on the Richter Scale ?..... or Glowing into the Abyss ?.....or Murder a' Tremble ? .......or maybe The Hot Potato Murders.....?
Oh well - gotta go to the gym now...being a writer is fun! I can think up entire worlds and what happens in them...then I get to get up from the desk and go to the gym! Feels sort of god-like....
Hmmm... i wonder if there's a murder mystery plot in that idea?
love,
ev
There are no fog horns this morning - or at least I don't hear them because my windows are closed against the rain - but in my mind the Fine Ladies of the Bay are mournfully tooting their dire warnings, and mischief is afoot in the harbors...how could it not be on a day like this? Longshoremen (whatever they are - I never have known...) lurking against damp , lichen-covered walls, their knitted hats pulled down to cover their eyebrows, and cigarettes , somehow miraculously alight in this rainy weather, supply the only touch of bright orange color midst all the grey of the day....they mumble something about "waiting for Lefty" and there is a sense of menace in the air.
Or maybe, they're just hungry and want an early lunch.
I took the pups out to do their morning toilette and they looked up at me like I was truly insane to expect anything out of them but the most token of pee's, and who could blame them. It's raining so hard. In one minute of exposure, their little soft coats were drenched and sopping, and yet they bravely lifted their legs and squatted their delicate little squats and let their bladders add to the already too-wet morning. I loved them for their expedition. And hurried them back inside to do their other stuff....I can always whisk that away before it sits for too long....it's the pee inside that is the real villain, so we avoid that at all costs.
Now, here we are, safely ensconced once more inside, but I have to brave the rainy storm to get to my trainer appointment soon: my date with Brice! He nearly kills me each session....but why do I love it so much? Because I feel so damned good when it's done! I now understand sado-masochism a bit better...but all kidding aside, the workouts he gives me are just right and attuned to my old-lady heart rate just so i don't get discouraged, and I always look forward to more. It's a gift Brice has: he gages me well. And i feel so much better now that my body is back in a gym routine once again. It's been a while since I've even had the or energies to devote to such important activity, and I am grateful for it.
But back to the mystery I should be writing today.
Murder, mayhem and mellifluous music of the foghorns , the backdrop for an international scheme: the rare and vital elements that could cure Japan's nuclear reactor problems are on their way to that troubled country - necessities to save the population and the world from nuclear holocaust - but the secret couriers are brutally murdered at the Port of San Francisco and their bodies scarred with a bloody message asking for ransom of the stolen vital goods!
How were they detected , first of all? Who knew the couriers to be what they were and what they carried with them? Obviously an inside job, who are the villainous , hard-hearted terrorists behind this inhumane plot ?
And where did the vital life-saving equipment/elements go? Who has them? THey have a short shelf-life, so time is important: they MUST be found. THe Japan situation grows worse daily, and people - millions of people will soon die if the kidnapped items are not found and utilized correctly.
I see the movie of course starring Harrison Ford and Clyde Kusatsu as the Japanese Prime Minister...and the first day of shooting takes place on a day just like today, when all the important Port shots are accomplished...then the unit moves to Seattle, where it's like this more of the time!
Hmmmmm......what shall we call it? Murder on the Richter Scale ?..... or Glowing into the Abyss ?.....or Murder a' Tremble ? .......or maybe The Hot Potato Murders.....?
Oh well - gotta go to the gym now...being a writer is fun! I can think up entire worlds and what happens in them...then I get to get up from the desk and go to the gym! Feels sort of god-like....
Hmmm... i wonder if there's a murder mystery plot in that idea?
love,
ev
Labels: SF Writing
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