AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The drive was cloistered tightly on both sides with trees and shrubs, and I paused as I looked up at one of the power poles to see a loose wire hanging down. That must be the alarm wire, I thought. I stopped in my tracks and put in another call to the alarm company. This time, an actual human answered.
“I have an appointment to repair my alarm system on Sunday. I just wanted to let you know that I found where the cable was cut. My name’s Elphyra MacPherson.” I walked over to one of the fallen logs covered with moss near the cable. It wasn’t close enough to put me in danger should the cable still be live, but it was close enough to see it clearly. As I settled on the log, a large spider—a striped orb weaver—quickly moved away. Her web—I assumed it was a ‘her’—was stretched from a huckleberry bush to the nurse log, and my presence had disturbed her. At least she was smart enough to recognize that I was too big to be prey.
“Oh yes, here’s the appointment. Let me put you through to your agent.” Before I could say anything, she had moved me to ‘hold’ and I was listening to some gods-awful elevator music version of a Rolling Stones’s song.
I huddled for a moment, thinking I was going to have to just hang up and call again later, when another actual human came on the phone.
“Ms. MacPherson? My name is Tim Caramari. I see your alarm wires were deliberately cut?”
“Yes, and I found out where. I’m staring at the hanging wire right now. I don’t know if it’s live, so I’m not going to walk up to it, but I can see clear enough from where I’m standing that it looks like a clean break.” I sighed. “I’m worried that it might cause a fire if it’s still live.”
“We turned off the power to it on this end, so that it shouldn’t be a danger. Don’t worry about it. I’ve emailed you a copy of your ticket number, and we’ll see you on Sunday. Thank you for your patronage.”
Before I could protest, he had hung up on me. Grimacing, I stood and took off again, heading for the mailbox.
* * *
By the time I returned, the clouds had socked in again and rain was imminent. I just made it through the doors when the downpour started.
“Well, that was close,” I said. “What’s for breakfast?”
Fancypants looked none too pleased. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up, if I were you,” he said.
Curious, now, I peeked into the kitchen and froze. The breakfast on the table looked like grilled fish, a colorful protein shake, and a piece of whole wheat toast.
“Fish, for breakfast?” I wasn’t necessarily averse to the thought, but it seemed odd.
“Lots of good protein. The protein shake is filled with vitamins and nutrients, and the toast will give you energy. Sit down and eat.”
Fancypants had a similar looking plate, and he did not look happy about it. He poked at the toast with one talon, then glanced up at me. “I’m wondering where the doughnuts are?”
I stifled a grin. “Apparently, we’re on a healthier dieting plan.”
“Well…the fish is fine—I like fish, though I prefer beef—but…” Fancypants had developed a sweet tooth over the past few months and I felt bad for encouraging it.
“Hush now,” Grams said. “Eat your breakfast. I didn’t give you the protein shake because I wasn’t sure whether the ingredients in it are okay for you. Instead, I gave you a glass of milk, which I know you can drink.”
I settled down at the table, staring at the fish. It hadn’t been fried, but that was fine with me. I loved salmon, and it looked juicy, with dill and olive oil drizzled over it. “This smells great. Where did you get the whole wheat, though?” I usually bought multi-grain bread, but I didn’t care for how dry whole wheat was.
“I brought a loaf with me. We’ll eat it up. I saw that you have multi-grain bread, and that will do, but I firmly believe in plenty of protein and fiber in the morning.” I dug into my fish, surprised by how good it tasted. “What’s on the agenda today? I assume you’re starting my training?”
“Yes, we are. You belong to a gym, don’t you?”
I froze. I had signed up at Iron-Fit in June, but so far, my attempts to show up and put in the work had been haphazard at best. Jon Elstad, the owner, kept trying to encourage me to take advantage of the private hour of training my membership included, but so far, I’d been remiss.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I thought so. We’re going to the gym today and, if your trainer can’t fit you in, then we’ll just work on our own. From now on, you’re spending an hour or so there a day, and the days that you aren’t weight training or cardio training, you’ll be swimming, which is good for the joints.”
I bit into my toast, feeling a lot like a kid who had suddenly been given chores I didn’t want to do. “But…”
“But nothing. You can’t open your business this week, not until someone fixes your shop. We might as well get a jump on matters. Then, every night we’ll be taking on some magical instruction. Of course, Saturday, we’ll skip the magic. The wake will be more than enough to handle. But you aren’t going to meet your destiny by playing the couch potato.”
“Can I have my coffee?”
“Yes, as long as you don’t fill it full of sugar.” Grams began to eat her own breakfast—a bowl of oats with a little milk and some nuts and raisins in it.
I shrugged. “Okay, then I’m in. I’ll call Jon and see if he has time today, and if he does, we’ll go talk to him about what kind of training I need.” Resigned, and feeling good about it—at least this gave me a focus—I fell to my breakfast and finished off the salmon, toast, and the fruit-sweetened protein shake.
