Probability Angels: Part 5

Probability Angels: Part 5

Probability Angels

Part 5: Robin’s Flight

by

Joseph Devon

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(Please note: This story is the fifth part of a series of stories beginning with, “Probability Angels: Part 1,” and while it is designed to stand alone it does draw heavily on the foundation of characters and events that were created in “Probability Angels: Part 1,” and continued through Parts 2, 3, and 4. Basically, I have to highly recommend that you start at “Part 1: Second Choice” and continue on in order.

Or you can go here and buy the book or go here and view the book in its entirety.)

The graveyard was covered in snow. Hector stood and shuffled his feet, his suit jacket stretching taut across his strong back and shoulders, his mirrored sunglasses a tiny snow covered graveyard all on their own.

Next to him stood a shorter man with a bald eggshell skull and a hat in his hands. He was working the brim of his hat through his fingers, rotating it in circles over and over. Gold rimmed spectacles covered his face like the clasp on a jewelry box. He glanced at the watch on his wrist, then went back to moving his hat through his fingers.

Behind him stood a girl in her early twenties with long hair as dark as a raven and black eyebrows over a plump nose. Her eyes were heavily lidded and the hints of purple makeup surrounding them served to make her hair seem darker. Overall her face gave the impression of stupidity unless she happened to look directly at you, at which point an intense energy was conveyed. The rest of her was bouncy, as if she were six years old and impatiently waiting for something. One of her hands was bare; the other was sheathed in a delicate looking black leather glove. She was staring at the back of the bald man’s head.

“I still don’t understand why Gregor wants to meet with me here of all places,” the short man said looking around at the snow capped gravestones.

“Because he does, Jerome,” Hector said with the air of someone who doesn’t care much about the complaint he’s responding to.

Hector reached over and took Jerome’s arm, pulling it closer he looked down at his watch. Then he turned and looked back over his shoulder at the raven haired woman, holding Jerome’s arm up as if it were merely an extension of the watch, he asked, “Is this right?” Read more

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It has a title now. So there’s that much at least

Coming into a deadline, my Tuesday night/Wednesday morning posts are always a little batty.  Coming into a deadline before a Matthew and Epp story my posts should  be expected to be batty with a hint of drunken orangutan and a dash of hippopotamus with a glandular problem in heat.

These just keep getting more involved.  So far I’ve researched the history of sushi, Greek gods, Malaysian landmarks, Italian shipping, and I’ve had a world clock open during the entire writing of this story as well as a weather guide for three different continents.

It’s been odd.

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The sound you’re hearing is my head banging against my desk.

Lord, what hath I wrought?  It seemed like such a small thing to start tying together some of these stories so that they’d all combine to make one larger book.  Seemed so easy.  But I’ve never done anything remotely close to what I’m trying to do with the Matthew and Epp stories.  For starters I would have waited a little more until I had a more fleshed out idea of where it was going before I started to write this as a book.  And second, it’s not like, when I do write books, I write one chapter and then go off and write two unrelated short stories, then come back and write another chapter.  Which is what I’m doing here.  It’s awful strange.

I find myself charging ahead for a couple of stories, then stopping to catch my breath and figure out what the hell is going on for a story.  Then charging ahead again.  So I feel like I wind up with place holder/looking back stories.  Which I guess isn’t so bad but it feels strange.   And maybe none of this makes sense to you and all the stories seem to be of the same ilk.  I don’t know.  Maybe I’m just worn out.  This hasn’t been such a good month for this project.

No matter.  Back to work.

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Not much to say.

I was out of town for the last few days with a small family emergency.  Everything is fine now but of course my schedule got all kinds of messed up.  I thought I’d be so much farther along in this week’s story than I am right now.  Although, considering I’ve basically got nothing, I’m not sure how I could have envisioned being less further along.

I was looking forward to the chance to take my time with this chunk of Matthew and Epp but it’s going to be a scramble as it always seems to be.  I’m just getting back into my groove here so I don’t have much to say, just wanted to explain why I stopped posting in the middle of last week.

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For, in the end, it is the road that crosses you.

 

For some reason I find this picture inspirational. The rooster just looks so unwavering as he stands there being a rooster.

So I still haven’t figured out the middle of this week’s story. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve got the beginning and I’ve got the end but it’d probably be for the best if I figured out some words to say in between. That’s as good a description of what I do as I’ve ever heard. I figure out what words are supposed to go in between.

There’s the beginning, there’s the end, and then there’s the rooster standing stoically in the middle. Let the chickens do what they will, this guy will never cross the road…nor will he return to your side.

I have less than nothing to write about today if you haven’t noticed.  I’m going to go do some journal writing and hope the in between parts start to come together.

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The “Dollar Menu Team” is always so injury plagued.

The MLB All-Star game is being played at Yankee Stadium this year. My family has held season tickets since before I existed and I asked my mom if there was any chance that this would translate into me maybe possibly going to the All-Star game possibly maybe. She forwarded on the official Yankee blurb concerning All-Star Game tickets:

“The Yankees are pleased to host the 2008 All-Star Summer including the 79th Major League Baseball (“MLB”) All-Star Game. For five action packed days, baseball’s biggest stars will descend on New York City for what will truly be a magical experience for the players and all Yankees fans. The All-Star events, which will be held at the Stadium, begin on Friday, July 11, 2008 with the opening of the DHL All-Star FanFest (which will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Center), followed by Taco Bell All-Star Sunday (featuring the XM All-Star Futures Game and the Taco Bell Legends & Celebrity Softball Game,) on Sunday July 13, 2008, Gatorade Workout Day (featuring the State Farm Home Run Derby), on Monday, July 14, 2008, and conclude with the 79th MLB All-Star Game, on Tuesday, July 15, 2008.

Given the importance of these events to our loyal Ticket Licensees, MLB and the Yankees will use commercially reasonable business efforts to offer all Ticket Licensees an opportunity to purchase, subject to availability, (as determined by MLB and the Yankees, from time to time) a Ticket license for the events during the MLB All-Star Summer ’08. For Ticket information about the 79th MLB All-Star Game, please reference the enclosed literature or simply visit www.yankees.com.”

Excellent.

I don’t even know where to start. The Gatorade Workout Day? The fact that the second paragraph made my head explode? Or maybe the “Taco Bell Legends and Celebrity Softball Game,” which, I’m sure, is a game where baseball legends and celebrities play softball and it’s sponsored by Taco Bell, only here it sounds like the Legends of Taco Bell will play softball against celebrities (…and it’s a hard line drive hit by Tony Danza that just barely sails over the glove of Chalupa. Scott Baio is rounding third while Nachos Bellgrande scrambles for the ball in the corner…).

Point being, I wouldn’t count on me blogging about a trip to the All-Star Game this summer.

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Tell me what to write.

I spent a lot of my Saturday night playing the Nintendo Wii.  Bowling, golf, tennis, some weird carnival game simulator.  And I have to tell you.  My arms are sore.  Very very sore.  That is one strange video game.

I also watched a lot of football.  And played World of Warcraft.  I’m single if you haven’t guessed.

I don’t have much to say about the current story yet as I don’t have a real clear grasp of it.  The Matthew and Epp stories are all sort of worked out to some degree in my head, but not very extensively.  I’ve got the opening scene for the current one figured out, and the ending scene, but the middle parts not so much.  So I think I’m going to just write that opening scene and see what clues it provides me for what comes next.

Oh, also, there are some blank spots in my mind for where all of this goes.  Much like the individual stories, the larger over-arcing story is only currently worked out to a certain degree.

What I’m saying is, if there’s anything or anyone in particular you’re just dying to learn more about, let me know and I might decide to write about them/it.  Maybe.  If it fits, of course.

There are some gaps and I’m open for suggestions as to what they should be filled in with.

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I told you things were going to get weird.

I have no idea how that last thing went. I’m actually looking at some of the drawings as they sit printed out on my desk right now. Not one of my more down to earth moments.

What I’ve learned, though, is that ten or eleven illustrations don’t get you very far when you’re trying to make a picture book. I was rather shocked to see how much space there was between some of those illustrations. I was going to make up more but it was late and I sat down after rewriting the story eighty times (writing in verse is so very very hard) and laying out the post and I tried to visualize what a classroom of stick people looked like and my brain shut down. But I plan on making up a few more pictures and throwing them into the story. Maybe doing one every now and then. I won’t be changing the words (although I’d like to) so I think that’s perfectly legit and within the rules that I’ve imposed on myself for this project, which is that a deadline is a deadline and there’s no going back. Otherwise I start posting half-baked stuff just because I know I can get away with it and then things start to slip.

Right, so we’ve got another Matthew and Epp story next. I’m excited to have my normal two weeks back and I’m excited to be back with Epp. Always fun, that one is. If you’re new here, start with Part 1: Second Choice and work your way through the parts so you’ll have some idea what’s going on.

Enjoy. And tell your friends and neighbors. This is only going to get weirder.

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