giovedì 5 ottobre 2023

Wayward Lee

Welcome to The Spot Writers. The prompt for this cycle is to write a story that involves waiting for something.

 

Along with several short story collections, books of poetry, and two novels, Cathy has published three anthologies under her imprint, MacKenzie Publishing. The latest one is titled NO ONE SHOULD KISS A FROG, available on Amazon and other retailers—300 pages of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by 75 authors around the world.  She also has a call out for submissions for another anthology to be published in 2024, to be titled SUCH A LOSS. Contact SuchALossAnthology@gmail.com for submission guidelines.

 

Cathy continues with Melvin, a character she can’t seem to get rid of...

 

***

Wayward Lee

by Cathy MacKenzie

 

Melvin woke with a start. The bedroom was awash in blackness. He rubbed his eyes, rolled over, and glanced at the illuminated clock. Five a.m.? What the hell! Within seconds, the howling wind assaulted him.

Lee wasn’t due to hit southern Nova Scotia until mid-afternoon. What was it doing here this early?

And then—

He jumped out of bed.

“Marie! Marie!”

His wife groaned and pulled the covers over her head.

“Marie! The kayaks!”

“Wh—what you talking ’bout?”

“We forgot to bring them in yesterday. They’re in the middle of the storm. Oh, Marie, we gotta go down and get them.”

Marie sat up and glanced at the clock. “Mel, it’s five in the morning. I’m not going anywhere.” She cocked her head. Her eyes widened. “Is that wind? What’s it doing here so early?”

“That’s just it. Lee is early. I gotta get my kayak.”

She yawned. “That’s on you. I’m going back to sleep.” She fell to the pillow and covered her face again.

Melvin knew his wife was scared. She’d never sleep, not with this wrathful wind raging, but he’d never sleep either, not with his Blue Origin in danger.

“Well, I’m going. You sleep all you want.”

She popped up again. “Mel, at least wait until it’s light outside. You can’t see a thing. Another couple of hours isn’t going to matter.”

“It might, Marie. It might.”

“Come back to bed. Cuddle with me a bit.”

That was an invitation he couldn’t resist.

*

Melvin woke when light skirted across his eyelids, forcing him to open his eyes. He wriggled out of Marie’s embrace. “Marie, it’s morning. Gotta go.”

She rolled over. Sighed. “Okay, I’ll go with you. But be quiet. We don’t want to disturb William.”

They hurriedly donned clothes. Rain boots. Rain jackets.

Once they were outdoors, the wind wasn’t as bad as it had sounded. They tramped down the path to the lake.

When they reached the shore, Melvin abruptly stopped. “Marie!”

“Oh, no, Mel.”

The kayak, right side up, lay several yards from the dock, the front end gouged into the sand, half in and half out of the water.

Melvin raced to his beloved Blue Origin. He was dismayed to see the hatch door open and full of sand. Seaweed lay on the kayak’s hull. When he peered under the deck, toward the bow, he discovered seaweed wedged in between the pedals.

He sighed. “It’s a mess, Marie, but at least it’s okay. It’s in one piece. Nothing broken. No cracks. Do you see any cracks?”

“Whew! Mel, that scared me for a moment. And I don’t even like kayaks! No, no cracks that I can see. Here’s the oar.”

“It’s a paddle, Marie.”

“Whatever.”

They each grasped a carry handle, Melvin at the bow and Marie at the stern, and hauled the kayak to the boathouse.

*

“Melvin, what’s that? Melvin! MELVIN!”

“What now, Marie?” Melvin jumped out of bed.

“Trees hitting the windows. Is Lee here now?

*

In the end, Hurricane Lee was a non-event in the Porters Lake area of Nova Scotia. High winds. Rain. No power outages—at least not where Melvin and his family resided. So unlike Fiona the previous year when Mel lost over a hundred trees and power was out for ten days. We won’t even mention Juan or White Juan. Or compare.

Nope...

 

***

 The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/

 

 

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