Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Mason walked in to the bar just as George Jones was winding down " He stopped loving her today" on the juke box.  "Hey Mason," The cute blonde bartender drawled as he walked by. "Hey Jenny," he  replied with a playful grin. Jenny and he went way back. They graduated high school together and there were a few stolen kisses and high school dances in their past. She had started tending bar when she was 17 and had been serving beer to the locals and patrons from there ever since. The only thing that had changed over the years was a string of dead beat boyfriends and a now 2 year old son named Max.  

The boys were all crowded around the pool table, beers in hand, already starting the evening off.  "Want a beer Mason?" Jenny asked as he headed towards the back. "Sure thanks Jenny, your the best." he replied with a wink. She smiled coyly and handed him his beverage. 

"Mason! Get over here! Johnny's trying to cheat again!"

 "Johnny, you ought to know better by now, you're to big a guy to hide what your doin with those iron skillets you call hands." Mason chuckled joining the ring around the pool table.

Johnny started to laugh and completely scratched on the shot he was trying to make.  "Why do yawl always assume I'm cheating? Just because I mop the floor with yawls sorry tails, doesn't mean I'm cheating!" 

Johnny was 6'' 7in tall. When in uniform he was pretty intimidating, that is until he opened his mouth. He had a hard time hiding his "teddy bear" nature once he started talking.  He and Mason had worked together for a few years, on and off in the same rotation. "Well I'm here now, so I guess we'll just see about that." 

This was the start of a long evening filled with male ego at its height. At the end of the night it was hard to tell who had came off ahead in the game. Slowly, one by one the guys headed home to there families until it was just Johnny and Mason left, sitting at the bar talking about the job and a few interesting cases that had come their way recently. Jenny was washing the last of the glasses about to close down for the night when the bell over the door gave a slight stir. They all three turned to see who was coming in at this late hour, and were surprised at what they saw. She was about 5'7 with long copper hair that seemed to shimmer in the soft lighting from the bar.  "Excuse me." Her voice was  syrupy smooth and she smiled as she talked. "Im sorry, I'm sure yawl are closing up for the evening but I'm not from around here and I was wondering if I could get some directions."  Mason and Johnny stared at her for a minuet, no words coming to mind. Jenny glanced at them snidly and just rolled her eyes. "Sure, where is it you're trying to go?"

She walked a little farther into the dimly lit room. " Well, that's just the problem. I haven't been here since I was a little girl. My Grandparents live here and I used to spend my summers with them. Its been a long time, and I really have no idea where to find them." 

Mason finally seemed to get his wits about him. " Well, we know just about everyone in this town, what are your grandparents names? Maybe we can point you in the right direction." 

"Well, their names are Anne and Joe Walker. My grandfather's really sick. Cancer. That's why Im here."

At this, the three at the bar all seemed to have the same startled thought at once. This was her. 

Chapter 1

Untitled Story Chapter 1- (Part1)

He sat straight up in his bed. He reached across the bedside table to turn of his alarm for the third time. He had procrastinated long enough, it was time to face the fact that a new day had started, and if he didn't get moving he was sure to be late for work.  He crossed the room in the dark, headed for the bathroom, tripping over his boots he had discarded the night before. He cursed under his breath, wonderful, just a great way to start the day.  Five o'clock seemed to come earlier and earlier. 

This was the way that Mason started every day he was on duty. He jokingly said to friends that he didn't really join the human race until around 8am, after his morning coffee. Before then, he wasn't fit to be around.  He showered and shaved moving slowly at first, but gradually waking up. He had left his vest at the station the night before, so he threw on his pants, boots and a white t-shirt and headed out the door, just as the summer sun was beginning to rise. 

Mason had been a police officer for 3 years. Most days he loved his job, but like any profession, there were definantly days he would rather crawl underneath a rock and stay there. Today wasn't much different from the day before, same drive to work, same faces greeting him in the station. A tall, lanky red head with a goofy grin on his face met him at the door, 

"You here early." he said. 

" I know, I left my vest and shirt here last night so I have to finish getting ready. How was night shift?"

"Aww shucks," Jerry replied with that same goofy grin, "Nothin much more than a dog fight over on Church Street, and Mrs. Nancy's front window got a rock thrown through it by some no 'count kids, but othern that, not much."

Mason laughed as he tried to follow  Jerry's drawling account of the evening. Jerry always seemed to give him something to laugh at, though half the time it was unintentional.  " Well Jerry, you'll have that." Mason replied with a chuckle. Mason continued on into the locker room to finish dressing for the day. Bright blue lockers lined the walls of the little room, each with a different name on the door.  Mason's father had been an officer in this same town when he was not much older than Mason was now. As long ago as that had been, Mason was convinced not that much had been updated, and they certainly had not gotten new lockers. 

"814 to Central." Mason called over the radio. "Go ahead 814."  Emma, the dispatcher that was probably older than dirt replied with her raspy, chain smokers voice. "Central I'll be 10-41" Mason said, logging down his beginning time. "10-4" Emma drawled in her unenthusiastic way.

Mason put his gear in the trunk of one of the patrol cars dreading the heat of the day to come. So far this had been one of the hottest summers on record in Blair County. Some of the officers referred to it as being cooked from the inside out. Once the heat seeped past the polyester suit and the bullet proof vest, the heat seemed to be contained and there was no cooling back down till the end of the shift when it all came off. Well, he thought to himself, at least it looks like its going to be overcast.

Mason wasn't the easiest of people to get to know,  partly because he was pretty quiet in nature, and partly because he didn't like to make his personal business known. He kept to himself for the most part, living alone in a small white farm house on the outskirts of town. He was an only child and both of his parents had died not long after he graduated high school. They were killed one night by a drunk driver coming home from church. Mason was out of state in college at the time, but when he came home to handle his parents estate, he never went back.

"Central to 814" Emma came out over the radio. It was just about 8:15 as Mason was finishing up the elementary school crossing  on Elm Street.  " Go a head" Mason replied. The sun was just beginning to seep through the clouds. It was getting warmer by the minute. "814 respond to a signal 4 on Norwood drive, with possible injuries." 

"10-4 central, I'm in route."  Mason pulled into the road and turned on his lights. A wreck this early, wasn't a sign of a good day to come. 

The day continued on in pretty much the same manner. The only thing that seemed to change was the temperature, which steadily increased throughout the day landing at a scorching 102 by 2pm and staying there until the sun began the set.  By the time Jerry came in to relieve him at 7, Mason would have sworn he had sweated off about 10 lb. 

Normally he would have waited to shower when he got back to the house, but tonight was Tuesday, which meant that some of the guys would be spending the evening dissecting the worlds problems over beers at Ricky's bar and grille on the one way street just off the square. They were mostly guys he had gone to high school with, the ones who had never left this one horse town, or if they did, they, like Mason, had somehow found their way back.  A few of them were married, a couple even had kids, but somethings never changed, so Tuesday nights were their time to be the guys they had always been to each other. Before kids, wives and general responsibility of life happened. 

  

  

Breath

Because I can't breathe, I can't move or sing

I can't find the breath that sustains me

Each step takes me closer to the farthest point

Each word sends me deeper into where I hate to be

Two steps behind walking slower still

Longest of journeys, seemingly all up hill

No time to stop and cry

No tears left to shed

A soul slowly to die

Though never quite dead

I've danced among the stars

I've slept over the moon

Seen the joy in the rain

As it seems to numb the pain

Filter through the streaked glass

Shine through the window broken

Find me among the thorns and ash

Offer me loves token

As though your my first and last

My beginning and end

Be you enemy or be you friend

Bring me to breath, make me feel again.