I don’t understand why he fills my thoughts With memories of barking, smiling joy, His heart about to stop, his neck outstretched, His final breath a yowl of pain, then death. So where’s he now, just ashes on a shelf? It’s hard believing prints alone are left, His energetic spirit’s gone for good. I think of him always rolling in grass, The summer sun above, forever bright, Another time and place, and still alive. Is that enough to know the…
Rosa Jardine’s brown eyes narrowed as she looked across to the barefoot old man in the brown robe, sitting across from her in the driver’s seat of the Datsun 280Z. Theo and his white Husky, Arfie, leaned forward between the front seats to follow the conversation between the two adults. Rosa said to the old man, “So you say you’re Kenji Nobu. I don’t know you from Adam. I also don’t know who ‘Princess Argentum’ is either.” She looked skeptically…
A frightened Rosa Jardine looked up at the gentle old man reaching down to her with a leather-gloved hand, his short, white hair and beard almost glowing in the desert sun. He had calm, alert brown eyes that only few moments earlier were wild and threatening, making Rosa hesitate a bit and still hold tight onto the now relaxed Arfie, the white Husky who had just helped the old man fend off her would-be captors. “Who…” she whispered warily, then…
Rosa Jardine trembled in the rising desert sun, squinting at the approaching black vehicles weaving towards her, raising clouds of dust that approached closer and closer. Artie strained and growled in anticipation, threatening to break Rosa’s grasp on his collar. “Sit!” Rosa commanded the white and grey Husky, betraying a tremor in her voice. She relaxed her free hand, which had become a clenched fist. “I need you with me,” she almost whispered to the dog, which had sat down…
Leanna O’Regan woke up on the cold, hard concrete floor of some kind of holding cell, wrapped in the white blanket she was given in the helicopter ride overnight. She was still wearing the the yellow hoodie and white t-shirt and shorts, identical to what her friend Rosa Jardine was wearing when they last parted in the desert. Her long black hair was tangled and matted from being blown around by the wind of the helicopter blades and the dust…
Rosa Jardine huddled with her sleeping son Theo, wrapped together under the brown blanket and sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the tires of the stranded silver car. Theo’s dog, Arfie, sat on the dust road next to them, guarding them in the brightening desert. Rosa squinted at the reddening horizon, the rough blanket rubbing her tear stained cheeks. Her brown eyes looked tired and defeated, and her long black hair spilled out around her head, tangled and…
Leanna O’Regan glared at the man in the all-black uniform, bristling as she bumped against the armour-suited men flanking her on the bench in the helicopter that was carrying them away from her stranded Datsun 280Z. In the dim light of the helicopter’s interior, she could see that the man in black was wearing a respirator, and she could hear him breathing behind the mask. The mask concealed his mouth and nose, but showed the upper half of his head,…
Rosa Jardine peered from behind the large boulder a few feet from the ditched Datsun 280Z, squinting at the bright light from the large black helicopter and shielding her eyes from the sand blowing from the turbulence of the whirling blades. She could make out the figures of her longtime friend, Leanna O’Regan, standing in front of a tall man in a black uniform and wearing a black helmet with tubes that appeared to come from a face mask to…
Leanna scanned the star-filled sky, looking for the source of the whump-whump sound of a fast approaching helicopter. She was finally able to identify a brightening spot of light among the tapestry of stars, and hurriedly jumped into the silver sports car, flipping the keys in the ignition. “Get in the car everyone! Let’s go!” she shouted. “No!” Rosa shouted back. “I’m stopping this right now.” She got out of the car and stood at the edge of the road,…
The silver Datsun 280Z flew down the highway, cutting through the quiet, dark town of Morongo Valley, desperately trying to leave the shadowy buildings and street lights behind it. Rosa was pushed into her seat, as was Theo, who was holding tight onto his dog, Arfie. Leanna was leaning forward in her seat, as if to push the car faster ahead and launch them out of the town. Rosa watched wide-eyed as the dry grass and signs on the side…