Escape to Adventure

   The blow lashed across her bare chest and wrenched a scream through her swollen lips. She twisted in pain but the bonds held fast.
   "Please let me go," she whispered.
   But the man didn't stop, didn't listen to her pleas. He raised his arm again, this time holding a knife.
   She closed her eyes in horror and her world tumbled as she realized she was going to die now, alone and far away from home. Her clothes were torn, her body battered and her vacation had turned into a nighmare.
                                                                    ****
    Julia Mason was forty-four years old. As a teacher, she was usually content to stay at home after busy days dealing with children and sometimes, upset parents. Years ago, she'd had a relationship with a fellow teacher, but that had ended abruptly and left her devastated with grief. Julia was a conservative person and her wardrobe consisted of no nonsense styles, all in drab colors. Her brunette short hair had strands of gray and laugh lines framed her brown eyes.
   Time flew by for her as she went about her busy life, though for a long time she'd had a fantasy. But, to act meant stepping out undaunted into the unknown.
   Could she really do it, she pondered? While not to, meant never knowing the jewels of the future. In a few years she would be fifty years old, and what had she done with her life? She made up her mind, the time had come.
   The northern winds tore at her clothes as she ran into her house. The skies were gray and leaden with freezing rain and the predicted snow. It was December and Christmas loomed ahead with time-off from school. She tossed her heavy coat on a chair and called her friend at the travel agancy.
   "Maryann, this is Julia."
   "Hi, whats up?" Maryann greeted her in her usual cheerful voice.
   "Listen girlfriend, I've decided to go on a two week trip, to Hilton Head, South Carolina."
   "Well, for God's sake, its about time you went somewhere. But what made you decide to go there?"
   Julia took a deep breath and replied excitedly, "I've always dreamed about seeing the south."
   "Well, my friend, you'll love it! The weather is tropical and the history goes back to the Civil War."
   "Wonderfull and I'd like to leave tomorrow Maryann. And can you find me somewhere to stay, right by the ocean?"
   "You know, Julia, I've just gotten some new brochures and there's a lovely complex with villas for rent right on the water."
   "Thats it!" Julia's heart beat faster as she began to dream about her adventure. She was going! The south, with its plantations, the ocean and the warm sun beckeoned.
   This called for a celebration and ice clinked in a glass, then brandy and mix splashed as she made a manhatton. The bottles were old, left over from a party she'd had years ago.  Her phone was glued to her ear as she reached into the back of a drawer and found an old pack of cigarettes she'd hidden from herself and only saved for special occasions.
   "You're lucky to be able to leave now," Maryann exclaimed, "if I ever get my bills paid up, I'm going somewhere too."
   "Marry that man or finish that book and either way you'll be rich!"  Julia reminded her friend and took the first swallow of her drink and wrinkled her nose.
   "Well maybe--" Maryann ventured. "I'll call you back with your itinuary, it probably will be a few hours"
   Julia took her first drag of her cigarette and coughed and sputtered, then sat back and relaxed. Now she'd have a chance to wear those clothes she'd bought on a whim last year. Daydreamed of using them someday. And after a few sips of her drink, thought daringly, maybe I'll even meet a man!
  
  
  

Soon!

I will be bringing you another short story to while away your time until we do get spring!
Stay tuned.

Blinded (5)

   "Abby, Abby open your eyes!  Take a deep breath."  And Abby moaned, then opened her eyes.
   "You're okay, now just breath slow and easy," a familiar voice comforted her.
   "Olaf, what-," she tried to sit up, then saw she was lying outside on the ground in her front yard.  The scenery swirled around her and she had a spliting headache.
Holding her head as she sat up, she managed to ask, "what hapened?"
   "It's the furnace. Just stay still while I'm go back in and open doors and windows and air your place out.  I'll be right back."
   Her feather down-filled blanket was under her on the snow covered ground and Abby pulled it around herself and lay still in a daze.
   "Abby, I'm taking you home with me and Emma will make you something warm to drink," Olaf said as he helped her to his truck.  She was still too confused and weak to argue.  Getting there, both of her neighbors fussed over her and settled her on their couch for the night.
   "You sleep and I'll go over and lock up."  Olaf  reassured her.
   The next moring, Abby awoke with a start.  She draped a blanket over her shoulders and followed the mouth-watering aromas of fresh coffee and cinnamon rolls into the familiar country kitchen where Olaf and Emma sat talking in hushed tones.
   "Good morning," Abby said.  "I'm sorry I don't know what hapened last night."
     "Here sit down and eat something."  Emma smiled at her young friend and brought her a cup of coffee and a roll.
    "Abby, you were gassed!" Olaf boomed unable to contain his news any longer.
   Emma shushed him.  "Let the poor girl eat."
   "What?" Abby looked askew at her friends unable to comprehend.
   Olaf's fist hit the table. "Someone tried to kill you Abby! When I went back last night to lock up I checked the furnace.  And do you know what?  I found a loose gas pipe."  He hit the table again with his fist. "I can guarantee it wasn't like that before."  His face was beet red.
   "I know you had the gas company check the furnace this fall Olaf."  Abby said trying to console him.
   "This was done recently. On purpose!  Lord, it's a good thing I saw your car and decided to go over tonight and bring you some wood.  Jesus, I recognized that ungodly rotten egg smell as soon as I got up to the door!  You'd have been a goner if I had waited until today to come over!"
   Reaching over for their phone, Abby said, "I better give them a quick call and get them over to make repairs."
   Olaf was still shaking his head and said,"your sister and that handyman of yours, didn't have any trouble when they were here a few days ago, course they didn't stay over there too long."
   Abby's hand froze in mid air as she was dialing the telephone.  Her face paled, as she asked, "Lisa and Jonathon were here?" 
   In a curious way, this still hadn't felt real until he told her that. Until now, she hadn't connected this  to her own personal safety.
   But good Lord, had her own sister really done this?  She had to face it, that it was true!  It wasn't just a childish whim of Lisa's to take over her business, but her sister and the man who was Abby's former lover, had been deadly serious about getting rid of her too!
   Sickened by their betrayal, Abby fought back her tears while her good friends fussed over her sadness. Then she made a decision and without a doubt in her mind, declared, "they will not get away with this.  Olaf would you please call the sheriff for me?"

 

  


 

Blinded (4)

   "I'm going up north to my cabin this week-end," Abby informed Lisa and Jonathon, "but I want a meeting with you two before I leave."  She had spent quite a few nights loosing sleep over this, but she had finally made a decision. The work was winding down now with satisfied customers and the holidays loomed ahead with a welcoming relief.
   "I've sold my business," Abby said to her sister and her lover then as they sat in her office.  "Along with your paychecks, you'll find I've been more than generous with a severance pay."  They gaped at her.
   "You can't!" Lisa shrieked. "What will I do?"
   "I don't know Lisa, but you'll find a way.  The new owners will be here shortly to take over.  Goodbye Jonathon," she said finally, "it was nice."  And Abby Andrews left them standing in her old digs still with their mouths open in disbelief as she got in her Lincoln and drove out of Birch Lake.
   A wonderful exhilarating feeling engulfed her. She had retired, hung it up. No more stress to please other people. No deadlines, no alarms and no more Lisa and Jonathon to contend with.
   The drive to Birch was three hours long and the roads were plowed and dry as Abby hummed along with the radio and sipped at her coffee. But maybe, she worried several hours into the trip, had she been too hasty with her blame? Of course, Jonathon had turned out to be untrustworthy with his two-timing, and Lisa, her own sister was in bed with him. For God's sake, the two most important people in her life had betrayed her. Its over, she reminded herself!
   She was entering into the serenity of lake country. Snow covered the pines along the highway
and smoke rose in spirals from chimneys of the farmhouses. Soon her turn off came into view and then the short drive through the woods down to her chalet snuggled into a grove of birch trees. The setting never failed to take her breath away. A perfect Christmas card. This was where she planned to make her permanent home now and live the life of a gypsy, she imagined with glee. A thick layer of snow covered the sloping roof of the house and spread over the lawn. Sparkled and untouched. The weathered logs were a velvety gray, and the blue trim around the windows against the frost covered glass gleamed in the sunshine.
   Abby grabbed her bags and hurried into the house, anxious to get settled.  But she shivered from the cold stillness and turned up the thermostat on the furnace. Tomorrow she would have to call Olaf, her caretaker and ask him to bring some more wood for her fireplace. Tonight though, she just wanted to snuggle in her flannel pj's and go to bed early.
   She looked around lovingly at her place. Fur rugs covered the gleaming oak floors, Navaho pillows and afghans scattered over the sofa and easy chairs. She went into the kitchen and started a pot of water for tea, and the furnace began to hum with warmth while she undressed.  She got into the old fashioned affair of a bed with the down filled blankets, and sipped her warm brew and felt the sttress and tension leave her body. The solitude was wonderful and in ten minutes she was asleep, with gentle dreams.
    At first they were cozy and warm, and she burrowed deeply into their cocoon. Then suddenly a nightmare began, jolting her abruptly and she began falling, falling with increasing speed into an abyss, weightless toward a black hole.  A circle of darkness clutched at her, pulled at her, cutting off her breath, smothering her.  She was in a tunnel now and then there was only stillness.

Blinded (3)

   Pissed, Abby grabbed her briefcase.  "I'll be out," she said to Lisa, "
   My God, she thought, as soon as I finish these projects, I've got to get rid of both on them. She had promised completion of the three sites for the Thanksgiving holiday which was just two weeks away and she needed them to help do just that. 
   It was a Friday and she needed to finish shopping for the up-scale interior of a townhouse this evening and she hurried to her Mercedes in the parking ramp, closed the door and sighed with relief. She started driving down the ramp and as she applied the brakes to slow and stop before entering the fast moving rush hour traffic, she couldn't stop.  And to her horror, the heavy car gained speed going down the deep incline. Abby jammed her foot hard on the brake pedal and her breath stuck in her throat as again there was nothing. She gripped the steering wheel and her eyes flew to the stream of fast moving cars on the street just in front of her. My God, her car was speeding out of control, head-on into unsuspecting commuters. Instinctively, she turned the wheel and hit the wall to stop, and amid the ear-shattering crash of metal and concrete, an air-bag engulfed her. The car had abruptly stopped and she sat stunned. After all the commotion and a ride to an emergency hospital for a check-up, she was released after a battery of tests and ordered to rest at home.  She called a taxi.
   "It looks like the brake lining was cut," the mechanic told her the next day. "If I were you Miss Andrews, I'd hire a bodyguard!"
   The week-end loomed ahead and she pulled an afghan close around herself and huddled on the couch. All her doubts came crashing back into focus; Lisa'a threats and Jonathon's betrayal. She shuttered.
   Could the sweet little girl she'd raised have turned into this montrous person? What about Jonathon?
   She throw the afghan off and began pacing around the living room. What did she really know about him?  He had worked for her for three years as a carpenter. He'd said he was a building contracter.  And they'd dated for the last year, and she had even dreamt of a future with him. A partner in her business even.
   "You're late," Lisa said already at her desk when Abby got in to the office on Monday morning. Today Lisa was wearing a bright red suit and had a new hairdo.
   "I had to take a taxi." Abby said hanging up her coat.
   "Why," Lisa asked looking at her with a surprised look on her face.
   "Because my car is in the garage," Abby answered, irritated at the long wait she'd had trying to get a taxi. Then too from loss of sleep all week-end.
   "Well, why didn't you call me, I'd have come out and picked you up Abby."
   "No bother, it'll be fixed this afternoon."  Abby sat down at her desk and checked her calender.  "Now will you call Jonathon and have him meet us at the Milbank house at one o'clock please?"
   "Sure Abby," Lisa said, "Right away."
   The three met with the owner of the house to complete final arrangements. Last minute changes were decided on, and the next few days flew by with long days and late nights.
    Abby felt a new tension unfold as an early snow had come covering the city in deep blanket of white making travel almost impossible until the roads were cleared, but Abby just had to get away. She needed the peace that she only found now at her cabin by the lake, and it was time she needed to make some decisions!
  



  

  

Blinded (part 2)

Blinded (2)

   "That's nonsense Abby.  What's gotten into that girl's head now?"
   The two women sat in Rose's kitchen as the afternoon sun sloped behind  golden maple trees casting shadows in the house.  Late summer cicadas thumped their raucous tunes and the aroma of a tomato casserole bubbled from the oven.
   "What about Jonathon?"  Rose asked cautiously.
   Abby took a shaking breath.  Humiliation and anger lined her face as she recalled the intimate embrace she had witnessed.
   "I always thought he was too young for you," Rose said then as she reached a comforting hand across the table to her.
   "I know, you warned me!" Abby exclaimed as she wiped her eyes.
   "My dear, I just can't believe Lisa would say and do such things, my God, you've been like a mother to her all these years."
   Abby sat hunched over, as if protecting her heart.  "Rose, what did I do wrong?  I tried my best after our parents were killed in the accident."
   Rose got up and came around the table and putting a arm across her shoulders said, "Now Abby, you did a wonderful job raising that girl."  And sitting down again she poured another cup of coffee for each, but went on hesitatingly, "My dear maybe you did too much!"
   Abby looked at her friend in surprise as Rose continued, "she was only two years old when you had to move back home and take care of her.  You were in college.  My God, I remember how you struggled,  how you saved money later to send her to college.   How you still have to bail her out of debt when she goes hog-wild with her charge cards.  Good lord, she has more designer clothes in her closet than I've had my whole life!"
   "I know Rose, but I've always taught her to buy quality."
   "But Abby, you know she's impractical.  Wake up for heaven's sake!"
   Abby sat looking sad now.
   "What are you going to do?" Rose asked anxiously.
   "I don't know if I hurt more from Lisa's threat or Jonathon's two timing.  He must have been sleeping with both of us," she continued horrified.  Then standing up quickly, she said, "I need to go home Rose, I need to think!"
   "Abby, put some cold cloths on you face and be careful," her friend said hugging her at the door.
   Abby got in her car again and drove home.  She wondered through her house which was a luxury condo in Wayzata.  Tonight, however the comforts did little to soothe her aching heart and she slept badly as Lisa's face haunted her in her dreams.
   Could Lisa really kill her to take her business and Jonathon?
    She awoke with a feeling of inadequacy, the same thing she had felt years ago at trying to be both a father and mother to her sister.  She went into her office early, as this felt more like her real home.  It was carpeted and furnished in creams and beige and felt like a soft mellow cocoon of warmth and elegance.  Samples of materials, portfolios, pictures, antiques and modern art warmed the rooms in an orderly fashion.  Numerous times over the years, she had spent an exhaused night on the couch, then rushed home in the morning to change and hurried back to start another day.
   Abby Andrews Interiors was well known in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area and her exceptional work was known for miles around as well.  Right now, she had three contracts to fill, well into thousands of revenue dollars for her company.  Two multi-million dollar homes in North Oaks and a penthouse atop the new Meridan Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  And, she needed all her energy to concentrate on them.
   Lisa came in then going to her desk.  "Good morning," she sang, every blonde hair in place and today her slim body encased in another new suit.  Armoni, Abby surmised.  "How was your week-end Ab?" She asked then.
   "Fine," Abby answered curtly, studying some swatches of material so she wouldn't have to look  at her sister, then asked, "Did you check on those shipments Lisa?'
    "I did yesterday, and I called Jonathon to come in to help me unpack.  Everything is ready in the warehouse."
    "Call him again Lisa," Abby said slowly keeping the irritation out of her voice, "and have him meet us at the penthouse, will you please? I need you both to help me today."
   "Abby, he called me at home and said he wouldn't be in today."
   "He called you? Why you?"  Now Abby was pissed.
   "Yes Abby, he didn't want to bother you." And putting a hand up to her head, Lisa complained, "And I'm afraid I won't be of much help today either, I've got a bitch of a headache."
   "Are you coming down with something?" Abby asked forever the worrier.
   "I doubt it," Lisa smiled, "After we got done unpacking yesterday, Jonathon and I opened that bottle of Dom Perignom you got from the Pillsbury's after we finished their penthouse and it was pretty late when we left here."
   Abby could only stare at her sister in unbelief.
   But, did she want to want to go to jail for what her thoughts were prompting her to do?





 







 


 
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