Running the baby shower
October 19, 2008
July 14, 2008
Needing Noel | Chapter Eight
It was hot for October; ninety seven degrees. But after three months above a hundred and five he, like pretty much everyone else in the valley, had had the discomfort cooked right out of him. Hell, ninety seven felt almost pleasant.
Phoenix felt like too open a city, too flat. There was too much room, too much visibility. The roads were wide in the heart of downtown, an area that, in most cities, would be filled with a million suited businesspeople, packed together as tightly as the premium real estate would bear and spinning the wheel of industry together. And because of the unrestricted terrain of the open Arizona desert allowed Phoenix to the luxury to grow as far to the horizon as the free enterprise system would take it, Reid felt exposed and conspicuous.
He almost lost Noel’s car three times, only to find her for the last time parked in front of the Dial building on Central Avenue.
July 06, 2008
Needing Noel | Chapter Seven
Reid adjusted the thermostat down five degrees and waited as a fresh rush of conditioned air dried the sweat on his skin. He then pulled a chair up to his computer desk.
He’d been working on a new program. A role-playing game this time. He called it ‘Natural Elements.’ A player was presented with fictional scenarios involving some form of drastic, natural disaster. In one, the player started in a small mountainside village above which a volcano has erupted. The player then has thirty minutes before a wave of pyroclastic flow envelops the ground they stand on. The player has tools at his disposal and must create shelter or a means to escape in enough time to avoid death. The object of the game was to survive. And think survival through. If, for example, a player chose to create a shelter but neglected to store food and water, they would die of dehydration and starvation even if their shelter withstood the volcano’s flow.
June 29, 2008
Needing Noel | Chapter Six
Noel pulled the car into the driveway of their rented house, put the transmission into park, but made no move to open the garage door. The dawning sun teased the horizon. "So you're not going to talk to me now?"
Reid stared through the windshield as detail began to take shape in the world outside the car.
"Fine. You can sit there like a child. It won't change anything.”
He spoke softly, not looking at her. "You almost fucked us back there."
“I just wanted to make sure the housekeeper was under control,” she said. “Whether you pout or not, no harm was done."
June 28, 2008
Needing Noel | Chapter Five
Reid gripped the pen light between his teeth and pointed it at the wrought iron gate. He slipped off one glove. The gate was cool to the touch and coarse, layers of paint over rust. He slipped in the key and turned. The locked clicked gently and the gate fell slightly open.
The light breeze felt good against his face.
“Okay. You’re up,” he said.
Noel swung the gate open and stopped at the other side; alert, watching, listening. Reid crouched behind her, his hand on her back.