Tempests Follow

In 1972 Mr. Moreno hired another attorney to his one man show. A Denice Patrick showed up on the scene and took over the client. The records were immaculate and he could see that she was even more fastidious than he was in her almost OCD organization. For the next few years there was little if anything going on until 1975 when fourteen applications for Non-profit 501-C3's were sent in located in various states. They dealt with everything from Breast Cancer research to funding of South American Tribes as far as their Purpose Statements. Also curious was in their By-Laws the money could never funnel up, simply over and diversify. That was something a bit unusual, most of the time these kind of folks want their seed money back at least. Playing a good hostess and enjoying the company for once she poured the brandy into the aperitif glasses once more. The two found out that just beneath their outward masks was a sarcastic run that both appreciated, the laughs started to roll out a l...

Between the wake up call from Stephen King and the aspirin, the sleep and the brandy, Lori was soon feeling pretty good. Lori had asked her about the property and Berta's face just lit up, finally something that I can talk with her about, she thought. The property had been lived on for over a century and a half, it was the home of a mine owner in the area. There used to be a small town of smaller shack houses that had come down years after the mine washed up. It was bought by a local real estate broker and his wife and they kept in in the family until the 30's. She was in love with the English look to it and she created a vast and impressive garden. One that was the talk of the social circles when that was the fashionable thing to do with your money, plant it. It was sold to the family of an attorney friend of hers in the 50' and she had been there since, gosh, the late 80's? Lori found herself almost instinctively looking for some paper and something to write with as ...

As he cut away at the shrink wrap on the pallet his eyes did a quick scan of the labels. From what he could see in the few seconds of scanning is that they at least have them in reverse order. Meaning which most of the boxes that were the oldest were on the top and the newer stuff at the bottom. That is something that he would have done, sent the information starting at the beginning. He noticed that there was one box that didn't match, it was an apple box instead of a document one and had some newspapers taped over the top. He set that one aside for it had no date and whipping the pallet jack around he wheeled them into the corner. He began from there  as he went to work organizing the boxes by dates he could see. A real excitement went through him, this was like a treasure map and he realized he hadn't felt like this for a long time. The guys had known each other since they served together. They were not some kind of tough guy mercenaries or anything, but they had not had t...

Berta had gotten George's radio call about the bear while Lori was sleeping. Her little place was too small and not set up for guests. She had a little apartment above the small building that Berta just called the barn. It was a barn, but it was also built in the manner in which her house was, all except the thatch roof. She had gone up there to open up the windows and doors, it was dusty as heck but it was still there. As she came down the ladder stairs she was thinking that she must have lost track of time, that poor girl doesn't know where I am. Lori just sat there and wondered which way to the bathroom? She didn't wan't to be seen checking out the place like some petty thief or something. She waited and called Berta a few times but the little woman was nowhere to be heard. She grabbed the cane George had given her and got to her feet. Her stumbling gait and hop technique took her to her first guess and she was right, what a relief. The case was not easy, there was...

The door of the storage unit creaked up after being locked for that long. A changed person looked on into the possessions of another lifetime from not too many years ago. Backing up the U-haul to the doors Tom was thinking that he should just go to the dump. But it would look funny driving an empty truck halfway across the country. He was out, it was 2007 and he was on to his next chapter in life, and another government gig, The Treasury Department, and a choice job running some of the best minds in analytics and research. Great, now he was a money cop, not something that inspired him but it was a job. The smell of the coffee smelled like ambrosia, and the warmth of the little cottage had settled Lori's nerves and pain a bit, that plus the Canadian Aspirin George had given her. Berta was getting a gel pack from the freezer and rotating them out while the Victorian couch doubled as a hospital bed for the time being. From 2005 through 2007 there was an unexpected uptick in moveme...

The yard was not manicured by any means, but there was a certain care being applied to it. There were a few Gnomes here and there and a couple of pieces of curious yard art. The front door was small she thought as Berta opened the rounded top, and apparently heavy wood door. It opened into a beautiful living room, not cleaned for company, yet not dirty at all. George helped Lori over to the Victorian couch with the Paisley mole hair pattern while Berta went to grab the moccasins and put an extra gel pack into the freezer. George said his goodbyes to Lori, he had driven her car and was going to check on Snaggles on his way back to his place. The surprised look on Lori's face made George reassure her that he would be just fine. As he piped up a bit to say "See Ya! Berta!" he was out the door and Lori just sat there trying to get her foot into a comfortable position. She had hit a main vein in her foot with the little rock and it is bruising up good, the pain may be going ...

George had been up for hours already, he thought he may see something from that end of the road after hearing a few shots. Had to be Berta he thought too, she was just about the only one armed on this side of things. The little Hyundai pulled up to an abrupt stop about a hundred yards away from his place. Lori just looked over to Berta at this point and was in terrible pain from her foot. She looped her foot up to look at it and it was absolutely huge. A blood blister was growing and her heel was about as round as a baseball. George just looked out of his window, a bit curious, a bit confused... Did Berta shoot Miss Lori? Looks like she is hurting from here. His Bulldog, Sprocket barely raised his ears and head, but at least he moved, George was getting worried. In 1997 as well, one of the first Tech Billionaires gets a call from someone he has not heard of or thought about in years. Time was made for the call and good times shared. In the midst of all of this reunion, a curious and ...

The whole cabin shook with a thunderous thud, and again a thud. Lori wasn't waiting any longer, grabbing her keys and her bag along with it she paused for just a second. She glanced at the old wall hanger and remembered what George had said and the next thing she saw was a fifteen inch cast iron skillet. With a deftness and wrist strength she didn't know she had she was at the door in two wild steps. To Lori whatever it was was coming through the bathroom wall by the sounds of it and with a quick deep breath she opened the door and bolted for her car. The first thing to happen was she ran out of her slippers in the first few steps and that caused her to hit a pebble on the next one. It sent shock waves up her leg and she was down, about halfway to safety. She grabbed her now numb and deadened leg and rolled over to see something running up the pasture at her. She rolled over again in pain and thought is this how it all ends? She jumped at the sounds coming from the cabin stil...