Friday, September 27, 2013

Better Days

The Outbreak starts here and continues in a Brave New World and a return to Better Days

Hi everybody! Guess what! I've written a couple short stories and they're now available for your Kindle! Here's a little preview of my favorite. All the books are available through the links above. Enjoy!

20 August 2010 13:21 hours Times Square Manhattan, New York City
Private First Class Francesca Rodriguez hobbled along the sidewalk leaning heavily on the cane they had given her when she checked out of Walter Reed yesterday afternoon. The older woman next to her smiled at her daughter as she watched her try to take in everything going on around her. The flashing billboards, the traffic the sounds, the smells of the iconic street brought a strange half smile to the younger Rodriguez’s face. Of course…the damage the shrapnel had done to the side of Frannie’s face made it next to impossible for her to really smile anymore. Mariana stopped smiling all of a sudden.
“Mum…” Frannie made a frustrated grimace and rolled her eyes. There were appointments at the VA in Boston next month, chief of which was a speech therapist. The tendons in her cheek had been severed and the surgeons had done the best they could but it would take a lot of work to get rid of the lisp. Frannie pointed towards the red Planet Hollywood sign across the street. She took a deep breath and said slowly and clearly “Can we go there, please?”
Mariana smiled at her daughter even though she was secretly dreading finding out how much it was going to cost. This was her day after all. They had planned the trip in between surgeries and physical therapies, Mari willing to promise her baby anything to take her mind off the agony she was in. “Sure, honey.” The elder Rodriguez took Frannie by the hand and walked with her towards the crowd amassed outside the restaurant.
A sharply dressed man with an olive complexion, frosted black hair in a business suit held the door open for them. The man noticed the black and gold Army tee shirt she was wearing and the cane in her hand before he spotted the scars on Frannie’s face. “You in the Army?” he asked the man’s voice heavy with a Brooklyn accent. The man smiled politely as he let the women into the restaurant.
“Yeth, thur.” Frannie said, raising her voice slightly to be heard of the din of the other people waiting to get a table. She groaned in frustration took a breath and repeated herself. “Yes, sir.” There was a look of understanding in the man’s eyes.
“Welcome home, Soldier.” Business Suit said as he shook Frannie’s hand and gave her a sort of half hug. Behind them the man at the podium thing called out a name that Frannie could not quite make out. “Hey, that’s me. Thanks for your service.”
Frannie limped around the waiting area absolutely tripping balls over the various movie props set up in glass cases. There was this robot hand thing from Terminator 2, a jacket worn by (of all people) Michelle Rodriguez in one of those car racing movies… “Hey mom!” she called and pointed towards the leather jacket in the display “Look!”
Mari grinned at the picture and put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Heh.” There was a framed picture of a pretty smiling Latina with some other people she vaguely recognized from the television. “We’re famous!”
Frannie chuffed a tiny laugh. Before that day in Afghanistan she had looked close enough to the woman in the picture to be related to her. Now she looked like a fucking freak. And for what? Francesca glanced at her watch. “I mithed my pills, Mom.” she mumbled and started off in search of the bathroom.
She grumbled, breathing heavily as she shoved her way into the ladies room on the other side of the waiting area. Frannie shook a couple of the Percocet out of the pill bottle and washed them down with water from the sink. Frannie pointedly avoided the mirror on the wall and splashed a little water on her face, squeezing her eyes shut as her fingers found their way down the cheese grater of scar tissue on her right cheek.
Frannie found her mother right where she left her staring at the picture in the case. “Hey, Mum…Mom.” she said as she leaned in close to her mother’s ear. “I gotta sit down. My leg’s bothering me.”
“Sure thing, sweetie.” Mariana nearly shouted over the noise. In addition to the scars and burns on her daughter’s upper body the IED had badly broken her right arm and leg. According to the doctors it was a miracle that she was not walking on a prosthetic right now. “I’ll wait here and come find you when they find us a table.” The older Rodriguez swallowed hard, wiping away a tear as she watched her baby limp over to the bar. A man with an American flag on the back of his shirt stood up and gave Frannie his seat at the bar.
“Rodriguez!” called the man behind the podium. “Mariana Rodriguez!” Mari darted over to the guy and let him know that she was indeed here. They had been waiting for over an hour and she was starving.
This place had better have the best burgers ever made! Mari thought with a hint of frustration. “My daughter’s over at the bar. Let me go get her.” She started to go back through the crowd but the waiter tapped her on the shoulder and picked up the phone.
Mari frowned slightly at her daughter when she made her way through the waiting area and to the podium. It was plain to see that Frannie had a few while she was waiting for the server to find them a table. The younger Rodriguez waved goodbye to the few friends she had apparently made as well. Mariana bit her tongue. It’s her day she reminded herself. She’s been away a long time and she’s been through a lot. If she wants a beer or two so what?
“Oh my fuckin’ God…” Frannie moaned around her first bite of the bacon cheeseburger. The woman’s cheeks turned red and she looked at the table suddenly embarrassed as all hell. “Sorry, Mom.”
Mari laughed at the mortified expression on her daughter’s face. For a brief moment Frannie was ten and Mariana had caught her standing on a chair in the kitchen so that she could get at the box of cookies on the top shelf of the cabinet next to the stove. Frannie started laughing too, giggling at first but growing in intensity. The two of them laughed and laughed until tears streamed down their faces.
“God, this is so good!” Frannie said once she could catch her breath. After years of MREs, craptacular chow hall food and even worse hospital food the burger and fries tasted like fucking ambrosia and the beer was goddamn amazing. However after all that time without any booze and the pain pills made the three beers she’d had go straight to her head.
After that the waiter took her order for dessert and came back with another beer and a gigantor slab of chocolate cake covered with chocolate chips. “Oh sweet Jesus!” Frannie gasped after trying a bite of the fudgy deliciousness. She giggled, more than a little inebriated at this point. Thankfully their hotel room was right across the street.
When the check came Mom looked like she was going to cry. “Mom, what’s wrong?” Frannie as she started trying to get out of her chair. Her stupid legs were not exactly cooperating. Mari held a hand up motioning for her daughter to stay where she was.

“Somebody paid for our food.” Mariana said at last. Frannie finally stood up and came around the table to her mother’s side. She held her tight, her mother’s tears soaking into the fabric of her shirt. 

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