Audiobooks?

Not from me. For me, lol.

I work in a lab, and these days I spend a lot of time mounting bugs and worms on slides.  Yum, I know.  Anyway, it’s not exactly mind-consuming work, and the guys insist on listening to NPR all day.  This was fine for a while, but I swear if I have to hear anymore about bailouts, health reform, Iraq, terrorism, and anything else remotely political, I might toss the radio across the room.

I was listening to music, which is fine, but I’ve been trying to keep the old (songs in alphabetical order) iPod in the car and the new one with me, and when I listen to playlists or albums, I always get to the end and go, “What now?”  And I’m finding it harder to answer that question.

Then Glee last week was awesome (the Madonna ep, yeah), and so I downloaded that episode.  I’ve listened to it twice at work.  This reminded me that it’s lots of fun to listen to tv (I mean, when you can’t actually watch tv), so I’ve been going through my Studio 60 eps.  But… I’m going to run out of them soon.  They’re only 45 minutes each, and it’s an 8-hour day (and I’ve listened to the best ones already anyway).  So that just leaves me with 45 minutes of Dr. Horrible, and I’ll be out of videos.  Those take up a lot of room on my iPod, so I wasn’t looking to download more episodes of things unless they’re really special. 

But, I thought, what about books?  I mean, I could knock out a late Harry Potter in three work days (according to the time iTunes tells me it would take).  And Harry Potter’s totally something I could listen to, and I’ve heard the narrator is good.  So I looked it up. 

Wow.

It’s like $50 on iTunes to get a late Harry Potter audiobook.

In fact, most the audiobooks appear to be at least as expensive as a hardbound book, if not more.  I’m seeing lots in the high teens and twenties.  I’m looking at the second Percy Jackson book right now, and it’s 8 hours long and $23.  That’s right.  For one work day’s worth of listening (I mean there’ll be some overflow ‘cuz of other work stuff I’ll have to do, but basically one day), I’d have to pay $23.

So now, I’m really reconsidering this audiobook thing. 

Someone recommended Audible.com, but I’m not sure if that’s a better deal.  The books look about the same price, unless you do their membership.  They have different memberships, but I’m not sure any of them will actually be worth it.  Partly this is because I don’t know how listening to an audiobook will really work out for me.

One difference between listening to Studio 60 vs. listening to NRP (other than, yanno, the fictional plots and scripted dialogue) is that the story is told with many different voices, that keep my mind active and engaged.  I’m worried that one voice talking for so many hours in a row is going to let my mind wander a little more.  I’m worried I won’t like the narrator and their voice will get on my nerves after a while.  I’m worried that because I see words better than I hear them, I’ll have a hard time following a story I don’t already know or one full of dense narrative or a complex one.  (Otherwise, I would have downloaded an Agatha Christie novel already and tested it out–but, no, there’s no way I’m going to catch all the clues this way, which is half the fun ;))

So I’m looking for audiobook recs.  Is there anything anyone’s listened to that they thought was done really well?  Any websites you really liked that had them?  Maybe some place not toooooo expensive?  Let me know.

Currently on iPod: The Devil in the Wishing Well by Five for Fighting

Lots of love,

Sage

ETA:  Oh, yeah, I forgot?  Do you like the new background.  I’m trying it out.  I didn’t like that my links were at the bottom and there was so much wasted space on the sides.

Update: I ended up getting Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green, just to try out this audiobook thing.  On iTunes, it’s about the same price as the actual book, and it’s the length of a work day, so if it doesn’t work, I’ll know tomorrow.  I listened to the preview and the guy who reads the first chapter sounds excellent.  So much voice.

Voicerific

The wonderful ladies at the GotYA blog have an awesome contest going on.  The beautiful Hannah Moskowitz is judging the contest.  Also if you go read her teaser on her blog, well, I beta’d that novel.  Aren’t you jealous?

But I digress.  She is the Queen of Voice, and therefore she is judge of the GotYA contest.  All you need to do is post 200 words, overflowing with voice, on the contest link above.  Or, yanno, this one. 

The winner gets a critique on the first 30 pages of their manuscript by the lovely (I know, I know, so many adjectives) Taylor Martindale of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.  She’s interviewed in that very blog post, so you can get a good idea of what she’s like and also how to query her.

I may enter.  Or maybe not.  The trick is, will you know?  😉

Currently on iPod: December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) by The Four Seasons

Lots of love,

Sage

Tueser Teaseday

Oh, you know what I mean.

So I only wrote a scene and a half of Hero/Villain this week because I spent my time editing other projects and betaing for someone else.  So instead, I’m going to post the shiny new scene I wrote in AFTRLYF, which was a good call because it made me look at it and realize I wrote it in the WRONG TENSE.  Oops.  Well, hopefully that one mistake doesn’t land me a rejection from the person who has the full novel right now….  It’s in chapter 9, so hopefully the 8 chapters before will prove that the novel’s pretty polished.

I fixed it, but if you see any problems, let me know.  I mean, it.  The ego-boosting stage with this novel happened back in 2007, lol.

Context: Tia’s an angel of death.  One touch from her kills humans.  There’s a serial killer taking out angels, including her brother Sam’s girlfriend, who they just found.  Penny’s human and doesn’t know Tia’s an angel.

No sooner was Sam out of my sight than I was off to Del Rio High School.  I could have called or texted Penny, but seeing that she was safe would make me feel better.  The killer hadn’t taken out any humans–at least as far as I knew–but I was still anxious to make sure my one friend was safe.

I walked into the high school like I belonged there, which I looked like I did.  High school was something I’d never get to experience.  The Academy was totally different.  We spent 200 years there and only matured up to middle school in that time.  From what I knew about humans, middle school wasn’t fun for anyone.  And it wasn’t really that fun for us, even when I was top of the class.

Let’s see.  I had only been here once, and I could sort of remember where Penny’s locker was.  The nice thing about San Diego high schools was that there were no halls, and the lockers were set up between the buildings.  I took a right at the gym, went past the first set of lockers, then leaned against building E, waiting for Penny to show up and trade books.  The bell rang and students trickled, then gushed into the halls.  I hoped I could see her in the crowd.  I wasn’t sure which exact locker was hers.

A guy walked by and checked me out.  I couldn’t help but smile.  Something told me I’d like high school just fine if I wouldn’t kill any boy that dared to kiss me.

But I caught a glimpse of Penny and remembered why I was here.

I ran up to her.  “Hey.”

She almost dropped her books, but shoved them into her locker instead.  “Tia, what are you doing here?”

I shrugged, nonchalantly.  “Playing hooky.”  This was poor planning on my part.  What was I supposed to do?  Say, “Hey, there’s a crazy angel killing people.  Be safe, please”?  Somehow I didn’t think that would go over well.

“Just thought I’d come visit,” I finished lamely.  “Oh, and tell you that I can’t hang out tonight.”

She frowned at me.  “But I told Ray we’d go to Maestro’s and keep him company.”

“I’m sooooo sorry.  I really thought that I’d be free, but I have to be with Sam tonight.”

“Sam’s thirteen.  He can take care of himself.”

“Not tonight, he can’t,” I whispered.  “Just… let me off the hook tonight?  Please?”

Something in my voice must have hinted at how upset I was because she nodded.  “Okay.  But you owe me, all right?  Want me to play hooky with you?”

I shook my head.  “No, I have to get back before my teachers notice I’m gone.  I just wanted to check in with you.”

She didn’t have time to question that before I was running off to find somewhere to teleport back to Celestia and wait for Sam.

Currently on iPod: Daydreamer by Adele

Lots of love,
Sage

I Just Read…

…13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  I’m not going to do a review of the book, which I enjoyed.  It definitely is a page-turner, and it helps in satisfying that mystery craving I’ve been having.  I know that some people love this book, and some people hate it.  I can see some good things and bad things about it.  But I read it overnight, so I was very into it.

Thanks to this book, I have spent the evening watching the end of first season of Veronica Mars, “A Trip to the Dentist,” which I thought about the entire second half of 13 Reasons Why, and then “Leave it to Beaver,” because that ep is creepy and awesome.  Now I’m watching “Help” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer because I completely pictured this girl as Hannah, probably because they think she’s suicidal for half of the episode. 

And that’s what I’ve been doing all day.

Currently on my iPod: (Dar Williams -) When I was a Boy

Apparently most of my Dar Williams songs are in my iPod with “Dar Williams -” before the title, which explains why I haven’t heard most of them where they were supposed to be, like this one and “Alleluia” and “The Blessings,” etc.  But I know some of them are on with their titles just fine, like “The Christians and the Pagans,” so since I’m about to finish this huge batch of her songs, I can look forward to the rest of the ones without her name before them.

Lots of love,

Sage

Music High

I’m so on a music high.  This is partially thanks to last night’s excellent “The Power of Madonna” episode of Glee.  Yes, I downloaded the music last night during the episode.  Yes, I listened to it in the car and therefore used my iPod touch to download the episode itself.  Yes, there’s a good chance I listened to the music five times… and the episode once during work (I couldn’t watch the ep because I was looking into the microscope, but this was not an issue).

The iPod Touch is a tiny bit dangerous.  I can download music (and videos) right onto the iPod, which means that if I want to listen to a song right then, it wouldn’t require me to turn on my comp (if it wasn’t on), download the song, hook up the iPod, wait for it to sync, then detatch it.  And sometimes I wouldn’t hook up the iPod until I had several songs or a major playlist update.  Now, I can just wait for it to download and listen right away.  I don’t even need headphones.

I’m a little more impulsive.

The other day I woke up, checked my e-mail (on the iPod, which is faster than starting up the compy), and being bored turned on iTunes just to see if anything exciting was there.  And I saw that a group called Straight No Chaser, whose “12 Days of Christmas/Africa” mash-up I downloaded and loved on December, had a new cd.  I previewed it, and on the iPod speakers, I was only wowed by a few songs, especially the “I’m Yours/Somewhere Over the Rainbow” mash-up.  So I downloaded the four songs that most appealed to me. 

 Then I went back to the iTunes music homepage and noticed the free download of the week.  I was booooored.  So I checked it out, which is not something I normally think to do.  And loved it.  So I downloaded it, and I still love it. It’s “Something Good Could Work” by Two Door Cinema Club.  For some reason, it reminds of some song I heard somewhere else–a commercial, a tv show or movie?  I’m not sure.  But it’s peppy and makes me happy.

Then on the way to work, on my car speakers, I listened to those Straight, No Chaser songs and they sounded way better than on the iPod speakers.  Dangerous iPod Touch, remember?  I downloaded the rest of the album as soon as I was at work.  I was a little worried I wouldn’t like the others as much, but it turns out that I loved a lot of them more.  The one that most surprised me was Coldplay’s “Fix You.”  I never liked the Coldplay version.  Listening to the SNC version with headphones on was like having a religious experience, lol.

Meanwhile, I’m making up my Hero/Villain playlist.  Nothing official yet, but the songs on the temp one so far are:

• Christina Aguilera – Keeps Getting Better
• Verve Pipe – Villains
• Scissor Sisters – Almost Sorry
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog – My Eyes
• Motion City Soundtrack – Capital H
• Radiohead – Creep
• Darren Hayes – Creepin’ Up On You
• Shonen Knife – I’m a Super Girl
• Fall Out Boy – The Take Over, the Break’s Over
• Jason Mraz – Common Pleasure

And finally, I will leave you with my agent song of the week: Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet.” 

Except that I can’t forget:

Currently on iPod: Cuba Libre by Gloria Estefan

Lots of love,

Sage

Teaser Tuesday – Ace, yay :D

Did I forget to blog all week?  Yes.  Not from lack of topics, just from laziness, lol.  Actually, I was trying (and sometimes succeeding) to keep my momentum going with Hero/Villain.  So here is an excerpt from Acey’s POV. 

I can give my characters cute pet names if I want to.  Especially the villains.  Don’t look at me like that.

<snuggles Ace>

Okay, but seriously, here’s the excerpt.  Things you should know.  Um, Ace is crazy, in love with Evie (the superheroine MC from the last post), he’s a supervillain with the power of invisibility, and we know that his dad (who thinks his son is dead) is the main superscientist for the superhero League and is building a teleporter.

I walk over to the fridge, and pull out a vial of a dark red liquid.  I click my fingernail against it and watch it slosh against the sides.  “Shall we see if I got the mixture right this time?”

On my dining room table, I’ve set up a mini-workshop.  I’m careful to lock everything here away on Fridays, when I allow housekeeping to clean the penthouse, but the other days I have it all out for experimentation.  Dad’s not the only scientist in the family.

Using the plans for the teleporter, I have built a miniature version.  Obviously I can’t teleport a human the way Dad plans to, but I can experiment with other animals.  I take a ladybug from a jar, its wings still thanks to the drugged aphids I fed it this morning, and lay it on the floor of the teleporter.

With a syringe, I pull out some liquid from the vial and inject it into the fuel line of the teleporter.  Dad’s using pure gasoline.  Fool.

The wires on the machine light up when I turn it on.  I put in coordinates–back into the jar–using my keyboard, then press enter.

The ladybug disappears.

“Yes.” I punch the air.

Of course, it doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t reappear in the jar.  I check the jar, but nothing.

And then, no, wait, there it is.  It appears about like I do when I’m standing in front of a mirror making myself visible.  The process is fast, but noticeable, you can see through my features, and then I’m less see-through-able, and then I’m totally solid.  The Ace everyone knows and loves.  Ta-dah.

I quite enjoy becoming visible again, actually.  I don’t think there are many supervillains who love watching themselves stop using their powers as much as I do.

But that’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is that beautiful ladybug that rematerialized in its jar.

“I did it.  You didn’t think I could.  But you were wrong.”

I turn to the open closet, where a kid with spikey blond hair sits, tied up and gagged.  He’s a little younger than me, but that doesn’t gain him any sympathy.  His face is about as gaunt as Morgan’s, though he lacks her lips.  Must remember to feed him sometimes.

The kid glares at me.  His name is Jonah, but he’s more famous as the Firefly.  He tried to tell me over and over that I had the wrong guy, but, duh, not that hard to figure out.  What did he think, glasses instead of a mask and spiked hair instead of smooth, then we’d never see the similarities in his body and face?  Ridiculous.  My computer matched up about 100 points of similarities from pictures taken from my camera phone.  I’m not talking superscience to figure it out here.

There’s my first Ace excerpt.  Can you believe it’s almost 20K words away from that Evie excerpt?  Haha, makes me sound productive this week, but really most of it was written in the weekend before that first excerpt.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.  I actually like one other Ace scene better than this one, but I was being true to the spirit of Teaser Tuesday and excerpted what I worked on this week.

Currently on iPod: CrushCrushCrush by Paramore

Speaking of music, I had a very Hero/Villain-y mix yesterday on my iPod, now that I’m in the “Cr”s.  I started my drive to work with Radiohead’s “Creep.”  Soooo Ace/Apollo.  Then the next song (naturally) was Darren Hayes’ “Creepin’ Up on You.”  Now I have to tell you, this song beats out “Every Breath You Take” as the #1 creepy romantic song.  It is freaky.  Of course the scary stalker song is going to Ace.  The very next song was Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.”  I’m not sure if this song is going to completely apply to the book.  I have considered Evie toying with her best friend’s emotions while she loves Ace/Apollo, and I’ve also considered Ace pretending to date another model to make Evie jealous, but I don’t know if “Criminal” quite works for it.  On the new iPod, I had Scissor Sisters playing at  work, which is always a delight.  “I Can’t Decide” (whether you should live or die) might work well for H/V, but I’m already using it happily on DownLoad’s soundtrack.  However, “Almost Sorry” is so Evie to Ace, it’s ridiculous.

Okay, I’m done talking about music, really. 

Lots of love,
Sage

My First Hero/Villain Teaser Tuesday :)

I have to admit.  I’m a little excited about this book.  Granted, that’s easy when you write 16K of it in 3 days, but I know well that that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll love the novel.  I’m totally into the characters, especially Ace, and I have lots of plot already figured out for this.

So here I go into the 16K I wrote this week to find a tease.  Wish me luck, lol.

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Okay, I went for an early scene that nobody’s seen.  Much as I wanted to use an Ace excerpt (that I’ve excerpted in Friday Night Writes on AW), I’m going with Evie.  Here’s the sitch: Evie is in a cemetery tracking some graverobbers.  She’s a shapeshifting superhero and is currently a cat.

Rule number five?  Don’t let the minions get what they’re looking for.  Yes, it’s tempting to find out why they want what they’re looking for or even to find out what it is they’re looking for when you don’t know, but more often than not, they’re not going to drop a hint no matter how long you wait.  And then you risk the Big Bad ending up with the thing because you want to play detective.  It’s much too easy to fall for this trap.  So when Digger breaks open the coffin with the edge of his shovel, I jump onto his face, claws extended.

He screams.  “Shit.  Get this cat off me.”  I claw at his eyes, but Loungey has gotten off his butt and grabs me by the nape of my neck off his co-lackey’s face.  My claws reach for his hands, but he tosses me off into the tombstone.  I manage to roll myself in a ball before I hit, so my back hits, not my head.

Still.  Owwwwww.

“Quick.  Get it.”

I’m still reeling too much to get up, my vision spinning as I see Digger throw his hand into the coffin and grab something.  Never let them get it, but I did.  That’s okay, I can still stop them.  I get up and steady myself, then transform into a hawk.  That’s right.  A hawk.  The wind is sufficient, and after a brief run, stretching out my wings, I take to the air.  I want to reach them before they get in their car.  I fly over them, then dive towards Digger, who’s holding something small in his right hand.  I screech and grab for his hand with my talons. 

“Holy shit, there’s a hawk attacking me.  What is this? Pet Sematary?”

He drops it, and I reach for the object, but he swings the shovel at me, and I have to swerve to avoid it.  Loungey picks the object off the ground and runs into his car before I can reach him.  Digger’s in right after him.  Shit.

I follow the car close, soaring on the wind.  Despite my failure so far, the feeling is so freeing.  I love flying.

They stop at a stoplight, and here’s my chance.  I get right above them then…

BAM.  I crash onto the hood of their car, my weight significantly heightened now that I’ve turned myself into our bulky quarterback… if he had put on another twenty pounds.  Ugh.  Hurts my ego to be this big and ugly, but it succeeds in scaring the baddies.  The car lurches forward, and then Digger stops the car short to avoid ramming us into the semi that was heading down the cross-street.  Thank you very much.  I wasn’t looking forward to ramming into that thing.

I show my thanks by smashing the window.  I transform back into the spry girl I had started as, long hair and all, and peek over the edge of the hood into the car.  Loungey and Digger are staring at me with wide eyes and gaping mouths.  “Hey, guys,” I say.  “Sorry for screwing up your car.  I’ll take that.”

Hope you enjoyed.

Currently on my iPod: Closing Time by Semisonic

Lots of love,

Sage

Writing Vacation Stats

Well, it’s time to bite the bullet and resign myself to the fact that the writing vacation is more or less over.  Sure, I haven’t quite gotten home yet, but I’m in the city limits, and I can only stay at this Cosi’ so long avoiding going home.  I probably would have stayed in my little vacation town longer except that everything is closed on Sunday.

So here are my stats as of right now (obviously I might go home and write some more, making Sunday stats different).

• Thursday evening: 2120
• Friday: 6000
• Saturday: 6396
• Sunday: 3615
• Total: 18,131

So, wow, 18,131 words in four days. Considering that my last writing vacation had 18K words, and that was a whole week, I really rocked this vacation.

Want to know a secret?  I gave up on Taylor-Made.  I’ll probably go back someday, but I wrote those words on Thursday, and it was like pulling teeth.  Sure, I probably wrote them about as fast as the words I wrote on Friday, Saturday, or today, but they felt like they weren’t flowing.  And I had no idea what was going to happen next.

I sort of feel like I don’t know what’s happening next with Hero/Villain, which is what I started writing Friday morning, but when all else fails, I send my superhero after a villain (and just today sent my supervillain after one too).  And plot-wise, H/V is way more developed than TM, simply because I’ve been sitting on it since October. 

So I’ve been writing H/V and it’s been lots of fun.  I adore my supervillain (who is the other MC) and my superheroine is pretty cool too.  I will share on Tuesday, I promise.

Of Hero/Villain, I’ve written 16,011 words this weekend, which isn’t too shabby either.  If I’d had a full week, it would have been nice, and I’d probably have gotten through the swampy middle, but as it is, I have a nice headstart, and don’t see me running out of plot anytime soon (but then again, I haven’t really had time to think about that, lol).

Currently on iPod: Clarity by John Mayer.

Lots of  love,

Sage

Writing Vacations

Yay, after work, I’m heading to my favorite small town (where I went to college) and taking a mini-writing vacations.

Writing vacations are so nice.  They let you relax and not feel like you have to run around doing things on your vacation (like you do if you’re going somewhere to sightsee).  They take you away from home where you might have to deal with cats or children or roommates or spouses and work and cooking and cleaning.  For me, they keep me from watching tv while I work too. They just give you days to focus on writing away from your normal life.

I’ve taken two writing vacations before.  The first was to a cabin in Tennessee.  Other people were supposed to join me, so I got a nice big one, but at the last minute, they backed out, so I ended up with the place to myself.  My favorite part was the wall that was all windows, going up to vaulted roof (the 2nd floor bedrooms were lofts), overlooking the mountains.  I got 8K written on a new project and edited Love Sucks twice. 

My second writing trip was to Martha’s Vineyard.  You all know some of that trip, because that’s when I got my offer.  It was March, so it was still cold.  The house was awesome, right on the beach (but it was a bay beach, not the ocean).  Seriously you walked right out the doors and were practically at the water.  Lots of windows and light there.  It was too early in the season for most shops to be open, though.  This was good because it kept me at the house and writing, but bad because it’s a cute town and it’s sad that nothing was open.  My friend Grace joined me for the first weekend, and that’s when we discovered the ghost.  He wanted to write too.  There was a computer in the corner (giving us wifi), and we could hear him typing.  Later on, after Grace was gone, he knocked my purse off the table… right after I said, “Good morning, Mr. Ghost.”  During this trip I wrote 13K ,sent off like 30 query letters, and got an offer of representation.

This one will be different because I won’t be sticking to where I’m staying most of the time.  I’m sure the inn will be nice enough, but I got it for the convenience of walking out of it and being on Main Street, not for the atmosphere.  From there I can visit any number of cute shops or head straight into the coffee shop there.  I can run up to campus and work there.  Or I can head down to my favorite coffee shop (for atmosphere, not food) and write there.  I think that last one might need a car most of the time.

How much will I write?  I don’t know.  But if it gets me past the road block I’m having for ANY of my WIPs, I’ll be satisfied.

Just a note, though.  I wrote intensely during those past vacations… and neither of those novels was finished (yet).

Next question: which novel to tackle?  (If Taylor-Made fails me, I’m going to Hero/Villain, I think)

Currently on iPod: Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

Lots of love,

Sage

Teaser Tuesday – AFTRLYF 2

Sorry for not posting for a week.  I promise to post again much sooner this time.

Well, I finished revising AFTRLYF for YA, at least until betas get back to me.  Here’s a scene I worked on a lot this weekend.  Context: Tia and Sam are Angels of Death and touching a human would kill the human.  Tia met Sean at a bank robbery where she was collecting a soul for Heaven.  And Tia and Sam just found Sam’s girlfriend dead in her apartment (even though Angels supposedly can’t die)

I nearly jumped out of my skin when something rubbed against my legs before I reached the door.  “Ghost!  You scared me to death.”

The white cat looked up at me with eyes full of incredulity, as if to say it wasn’t her fault the mere touch of a creature sent a jolt of fear through my body.  But despite the phantom cat’s feigned innocence, her ears were back and her tail fluffed up.  I couldn’t help but groan.  “What are you complaining about?  You live a charmed unlife, psycho.  Sleep, play, and cuddle, that’s all you do.  It’s not like you’re starving to death because I forgot to feed you.”

I put my key in the lock, when I noticed a light was on inside the front windows.  I knew I hadn’t turned one on before I’d left, so who had?  “Ghosty kitty,” I whispered.  “You’d tell me if someone was inside, right?”

I had a feeling that Ghost was doing that very thing.  You would think an invisible, incorporeal ghost cat would have no fear of strangers, but what worried me was that the stranger was the one being who could hurt Ghost… and me.

I would do better to return to the Waiting Room and get some backup.  And I was taking Ghost with me.  I bent down to scoop her up when the door opened, and I was faced with a pair of blue sneakers.

“Hello there, Tia Smith.”

I stood up quickly, shocked to see Sean Kincaid in my doorway, dressed in jeans and long-sleeved Padres shirt, a big change from his uniform earlier.

“Officer.  What are you doing here?”

“Sean, please.  And I brought back something I think you lost.”

I tried to remember if I had left something at the bank, but couldn’t come up with anything.  “Huh?”

He opened the door wider, revealing an unconscious Sam drooling over my couch.  “Sam!”

Sean put a finger to his lips.  “Shh, you’ll wake him.”

“The Hell I will!  What did you do to him?”  Okay, so the defensive “put up your dukes” stance I was taking probably wasn’t too threatening, and the smartest thing to do would be to retreat to the Waiting Room and bring back reinforcements like I had planned, but I wasn’t about to leave Sam in the hands of this monster.

It was all becoming clear.  Well, not clear in the strictest sense of the word, but some things that had seemed wrong before seemed critically wrong at the moment.  Like his eyes, which could hold mine without flinching; how he had happened to bump into me at the Chargers game, not to mention the robbery.  How could I have believed it was coincidence?

“Whoa, whoa.”  He put his hands up.  “I didn’t do anything to him but bring him home.  He got drunk all on his own power.”

I tentatively lowered my fists.  “Drunk?”

“Yes, he was drowning whatever sorrows he has pretty well at Maestro’s Bar and Grill.  He was making a scene, and I offered to take him home.”

Without letting my guard down with them, I lowered my hands.  I didn’t correct him about whose home this was.  Learning Sam lived alone would lead to more questions.  “That’s all you’re here for?  To bring Sam home?”

A momentary smile played upon his lips, and I blushed to realize it sounded as if I hoped he was here for me.  “That’s it,” he said.  He stepped out of the doorway so I could enter and tossed me Sam’s keychain.  “You should keep a better eye on him.  He’s not near old enough to drink.”  He raised a disapproving eyebrow.

“He’s older than he looks.”

“Maestro’s is lucky he was off the grounds.  A child shouldn’t be drinking, and certainly not that hard.”

I glance over at his sleeping figure and said quietly, “He doesn’t drink usually. He lost someone important to him today. ”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”  He glanced out at the ocean for a moment, then turned to walk out. “I should be going.”

As he headed out the door, I put Sam’s keys down on the table beside him and pulled the blanket hanging over the end of the couch up around his bare shoulders.  Even in San Diego, a tank top in the October night air could be chilly.  A sudden surge of fear coursed through me.  I ran to the door.  “Hey, how’d you get him here?”

“I drove him.  Had to use my car, though.  His is still at the bar. Hope you don’t mind.”

Of course, I could see the monster of a vehicle parked on the end of the street.  Who could miss it when it blocked half the road?  My concerns lay elsewhere.  “No, I mean… you didn’t touch him, did you?”

He stopped and turned, sizing me up with an inquisitive eye.  “Tia, is someone hurting your brother?”

“No.  I don’t mean touch him.  I mean physically….  You know, never mind.”  Gods, I could be such an idiot sometimes.  Of course he hadn’t touched Sam.  He was still alive, right?  I hesitated, then added, “Thank you.  For bringing him home.”

He watched me for a moment.  “If you get in trouble give me a call, okay?  I mean it.”  With my nod of reassurance, he headed for his car.

I returned to Sam’s side and ruffled his hair.  “You twerp!  Anything could have happened while you were drunk.  You could have at least invited me to come with and be your designated driver.  For someone so smart, you sure are a dumb kid sometimes.”

“Not… a kid…,” he moaned in his sleep.

“Well, you could have fooled me.” 

Currently on iPod: Candyman by Christina Aguilera

Lots of love,

Sage