Sean thought he understood. Maureen – proud, fearless and free – had been captive to a crazed, driven man. She’d been unharmed, but alone and afraid in the dark. Now, she was bareheaded in the sun, a pistol at her hip, fighting back. Nothing he could say would ever change her mind, but he couldn’t participate.
“You know if you do this, the army will round you up with the rest of them – if you aren’t killed first.”
“No, I’ll get out before they do.”
“Where will you go? Jenny’s won’t be safe.”
“No, but other places will be, Sean. What about you?”
She was saying goodbye.
“I’m getting out, Maureen. I can’t stay here – I doubt I’d be welcome at Jenny’s anyway. The army is going to lock this city down and I don’t want to be trapped here when they do. I’ll telegraph Gerry when I get to Kildare, see if he can put me up for a bit. I’ll wait for you there.”
Maureen didn’t say anything to that, she just nodded and slipped her arms around him for a quick hug. And then she was gone, her message – her mission – clutched in her hand.
D: What does that have to do with celebrating, or good times?
A: Nothing, I just liked it.
D: I see . . . then what are we celebrating, exactly?
A: 100 follows for the blog, 98 of which are not related to me.
D: And the tweeting twitter bird, how many on there?
A: 125, and only 2 of those know me from the outside world. Plus, we’ve been doing this pretty regularly for two months now.
D: And you haven’t stopped writing in six months. That’s a record for you, A. I might have to do an epic poem in your honor. In the original Pict, of course.
A: And I haven’t killed you yet, which is remarkable, all things considered.
D: I admire your restraint.
A: You should. I started this whole thing as a way to productively procrastinate, and begin learning and developing a platform for the book. I think that goal is doing pretty well – it’s a perpetual goal, of course, but I’m happy with the progress. It’s also Father’s Day – for a whole two hours yet here – so I wan’ted to send out Father’s Day greetings to all the Dads, Step-Dads, Grand-Dads, Moms-who-are-Dads: everyone. Even you get in on that love-fest, D.
D: How so, A? I was more the child’s sire, not the man who reared him. Circumstances.
A: Still, I think eventually you did well by him – or at least his many-times-great grandson.
D: That is a spoiler, A.
A: Indeed it is, but Happy Father’s Day, anyway, D. Now, if you–
D: Not so fast, A – speaking of goals?
A: Outline part 3. Add some pages to the blog and acknowledge some award nominations. Oh, and drag out the treadmill. We declared a truce over my birthday weekend, but it’s time to enter the fray again, I’m afraid.
D: Is there a war against the treadmill of which I am not aware?
A: No, the war is against my sagging–
D: I’m sorry I asked; I don’t want to know this. Go to bed, A – it’s well past time!
A: Cheers, D!
The Druid Tells the Tale
D: Head over to that virtual marketplace (the wonders of this modern world) and buy Charles’ book, Beginnings of a Hero, now for .99 cents. It is a suitably epic read.
A: In honor of Father’s Day, I present to you a riff on the role of women in Star Wars: The Smurfette of Star Wars.
D: You have odd ideas about tributes, A.
A: I know, but it was funny and thought-provoking. Plus, I love Star Wars.
D: Fair enough.
The D/A Dialogues 
So great to hear you’ve reached milestones, Katie! But more importantly, even more awesome is the fact that you’ve been writing for six months! Keep up the wonderful work!
LikeLike
Thank you, Jack! I’m more than a little amazed myself, but it’s been very rewarding. I’m a bit of a hermit at the moment, but a happy hermit!
LikeLike
The best of the hermits are great writers 😉
LikeLike
I shall strive to make myself one of the best (minus the shoe-box shoes… although they would be an interesting addition to the collection!) 😉
LikeLike
Congrats on the follows, darling — I do hope you have a handful of faithful readers among those! I hit my hundred mark a little while ago, and laughed out loud when my hundredth follower was one of those “How to Make Money Blogging” Affiliate Marketing trolls. I am most grateful for people like yourself who I know actually read my nonsense. I am happy to say that I have about five or six people that read regularly, and that is the number I want to see grow.Thank you as always for the tribute. I feel like one of those statues of Buddha that people throw coins to. But maybe that’s just ’cause I need to hit the gym.
LikeLike
I think I had two trolls right after I posted, which did make me laugh. Like you, I just love it that people besides my parents are reading (I’m not sure they are either – or that I want them to. How many parents really want to bear witness to their child’s true wackiness?). Thank you for reading my wacky! 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, Patty – hugz to you, too! 😀
LikeLike
Congratz on the 100 followers Katie! Great post! 🙂
Hugz to you!
LikeLike