CHALLENGE#29 for the week of 08-05-01

TRIO CHALLENGE: glass windowpane, feather, rawhide cords

or

QUOTE 1: "The present moment is a powerful goddess" Goethe - Tusso ActIV, SC4

QUOTE 2: "Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried."-- Mae West

QUOTE 3: "Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function." -- Garrison Keillor

WORDS: requite, bijou, obiter dictum

Authors: Cecilia, Jim and Jo

By Cecilia
ccadams@optonline.net

Disclaimers: They belong to Fireworks (even if they never appreciated 'em.)
Rating: G
Feedback: Please and beta, too!

TRIO CHALLENGE 29: Glass windowpane, feather, rawhide cords and Quote

~~~~~

The dark figure moved silently through the shadows, seeming to become one with them when nearby motion caused her to pause. She had the natural grace of a panther or a mountain lion. It amused her to think of herself as a fierce wild creature, the world in place solely for her amusement. She avoided the soldiers making their rounds and headed for the small house. A light shone in welcome and the window was ajar. He was waiting.

She moved to the window and pressed her face to the pane, scanning the room to ensure he was alone. She made a soft sound and he turned, smiling when he saw her there.

"There you are. I was beginning to be afraid you wouldn't come tonight." His voice was soft and warm.

She loved his voice. It always made her feel so welcome, so at home. Never had any man tempted her the way he did. Part of her longed to stay with him, although she knew she couldn't.

He was speaking again. "I picked up some things today, just in case you visited me tonight." He opened the drawer of his night table and pulled out some rawhide cords and a very large feather. She felt her heartbeat speed up as she looked over the treasures he laid on the bed. He looked at her with mischief in his eyes and asked, "Do you want to play?"

She moved quickly to the bed, stretching out her lithe form, trembling in anticipation. She watched as his beautiful hands nimbly tied two cords together and then tied the feather to them. He dangled it in front of her and she knocked it aside with glee. Then he dragged it across the bed and she pounced on it with delight. He laughed in sheer delight from watching her play.

Walking nearby, Marcus Grisham paused as he heard the doctor's unfettered laughter. He noticed the open window and smiled. "Looks like the doc has company. This may be my chance." He drew his pistol and moved toward the window.

"So, my beauty," the doctor said, "is there any chance I can get you to stay? At least for the night? It's dangerous out there. You could get hurt."

Grisham's heart leapt as he overheard the doctor. She was here! He had figured that staying close to Helm was the best way to catch the Queen. He pushed the window open with his pistol saying, "Hold it right there, I have you now."

"And just which of us were you after?" the doctor asked sardonically. He lay on his bed playing with a young black cat, barely out of kitten hood.

Grisham holstered his pistol. "Sorry, Doc, my mistake. I see your taste in female companionship is improving." He touched his hand to his hat in mock salute and moved away into the night.

Helm picked up the cat and held her to his chest, listening to her purr. In a rare moment of stillness, she snuggled against him, content in his arms. He whispered softly to her, "I've heard it said that cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose. I disagree. Cats are for good companionship, reminding us not to take ourselves too seriously, and embarrassing annoying Captains."

Having been still for her allotted time, the cat jumped down from his arms and moved toward the window. The night was getting old and she still had many things to do.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" he asked. She disappeared into the darkness of the night without looking back. The doctor sighed. "And cats remind us that you can't always have what you want."

THE END

By Jim Guy
jimguy46@hotmail.com

Glass windowpane, feather, rawhide cords.
Disclaimer: Fireworks owns Tessa and Marta. The two other characters, Marine Sergeant Rob Swain and his son Marine Corporal Jeff Swain were introduced in "Sergeant" and they are quartered on Manzana Core.
Beta'd by Jo. Thanks Amiga
Rating PG

~~~~~

It had been a long hot day in Alta California. June, July and August were like that and Maria Teresa Alvarado suffered in the heat like all the other inhabitants of Santa Helena. Even the bed covers had been pushed to the foot of the bed as Tessa tried to sleep. The windows were partially open, but still Tessa tossed and turned for several hours before sleep finally overtook her. The woman who was the Queen of Swords was dead to the world.

A man's face could be seen in the glass windowpane but Tessa didn't notice. Since sleep had claimed its victim, only an earthquake could wake her. Maybe.

The male figure quietly pushed back the partially opened window and climbed into the room. He carried a four-foot long bundle wrapped in a blanket and tied with rawhide cords. The intruder gazed at the sleeping figure and placed the bundle alongside the woman and then moved to the foot of the bed. He took off his hat and removed one of the three two-foot long pheasant feathers stuck in his hatband. He gently brushed the feather along the instep of Tessa's exposed foot.

Tessa did not move so he continued to tickle the foot. She is dead to the world, he thought. Frustrated he moved to the head of the bed and leaned over the headboard and began to tease her nose with the feather.

Suddenly she sneezed and woke up. It was still dark and she did not see the man trying to become part of the wall. She rolled over and went back to sleep. The man began to breathe again and slipped back to the foot of the bed. He tickled her foot again. Success.

Tessa came alive and rolled off the bed while grabbing the dagger that she kept under her pillow. The man backed away from one angry tired woman with a dagger ready to fight a man armed with a feather.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Just an old Marine bringing you a gift," he replied.

"Rob Swain?" she squealed. "It's been almost a year since you left."

"Si. I just brought you a gift as a going away present."

"Who's leaving? You or me?" she asked as she lit a candle and grabbed a robe.

"I am along with the family. We're going home."

Tessa stared at her old friend. "You brought me a present? Where is it?" she asked like a little girl at Christmas. "Why didn't you bring it during the daytime?"

"I couldn't risk being seen. Montoya is still probably pissed that his gold stash was liberated." He laughed. "Besides, waking you up was more fun." He smiled, she frowned.

She spied the bundle and leapt on the bed, using her dagger to cut the rawhide cords. Carefully she unwrapped the blanket to find an exquisitely made sword and dagger, both with gold inlaid hilts. And several very large gold nuggets.

"Their beautiful, Rob." She lifted the weapons and tested their weight. "They're perfectly balanced, but where did you get the gold?" She frowned at him. "Have you been liberating more of Montoya's gold without telling me?"

"No. We located a very large vein of gold near a river about 100 miles east of El Pueblo de San Francisco. No one goes there except the Indians and they don't pan for gold."

"So now you are a prospector. What about the sword making?"

"We've been doing both. We have sold several swords to the Russian fur traders along the coast. Now we are headed back to the states with several pounds of pure gold and over a hundred swords and sabers. We wanted to see you and Marta first."

"We? You brought the family?"

"No, they're camped about twenty miles from here. No Some young Marine Corporal wants to see you. I am going to tickle Marta," he said with a grin and held up the feather.

Tessa ran to the window as the young man appeared. She grabbed him and kissed him. Jeff leaned into the room too far and they both fell to the floor, not anxious to get up.

The next morning as dawn was breaking; Tessa and Marta sat in the kitchen drinking coffee. They looked at each other with knowing looks while Marta waved a two-foot long pheasant feather in front of Tessa, while Tessa played with two of the ten gold nuggets that had been gift from friend.

THE END

By JoLayne
EnyaJo@aol.com

Week 29
Trio: glass windowpane, feather, rawhide cords + two of the quotes + bijou
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Fireworks and FOX and brig and Julie <g>
Feedback/Beta: Absolutely
Continuation of Luis' trip to 2001 started in a previous challenge response.

~~~~~

Luis was completely befuddled, a foreign sensation for him, as he was in a completely foreign environment. He was sitting on a wobbly stool made out of a strange, yet sturdy, shiny substance. It wasn't at all comfortable. Give him his chair in his office, his rocking chair in his bedroom, better yet, his feather bed. He had been completely thrown for a loop ever since suddenly appearing in a dank, dark, strange room filled with odd machinery. The men who made his transportation possible were an odd trio, and they had excitedly described everything that was on the shelving, on makeshift tables, on the floor. Computers, monitors, television screens, stereos, printers... the items were totally off the wall and Luis wondered when he would wake up from this astounding dream. One minute he was riding with his entourage, the next, he was in the year 2001.

The three of them were once again furiously working on their machinery to get him back to where he had come from, for the third day in a row. They had tried their best to make their visitor comfortable. Luis understood some English, but most of the time, the three of them were talking gibberish. The cot they had provided for him was so uncomfortable that Luis was sure that he had been sleeping on rawhide cords strung between two pieces of wood. When he finally couldn't take it anymore, and in the middle of the night had yanked the mattress off the bed, he saw that his presumption wasn't too far from the truth.

But an interesting thing happened the evening before. The gunmen had taken Luis to The Bijou to see what was called a `movie'. Amazing! The `theater' was where people congregated for an entertainment event, like a play, but there were no actors. There was only a big white wall and after the lights went down, the wall showed pictures. Luis, dressed in Frohike's clothes as they were roughly the same size, looked behind him at the flickering stream of light that filtered from a small glass windowpane high up on the wall. When he wanted to go and find the origin of that light, Byers just passed him a delicacy called `popcorn' and told him that it was magic. "Just watch and enjoy," Byers had said.

Watch it he did. The words that came up at the beginning of the `movie' and the English spoken pretty much went over his head, but Luis was enthralled by the pictures that flashed before him. The pictures weren't still, the people moved. Most of all, he was shocked when the black and white pictures became tinted by every color of the rainbow. Luis sat with his mouth agape as he watched the moving play, that took place called Kansas, and then in Oz. A talking scarecrow, lion, tin man, trees. On the surface it seemed silly, but he couldn't help but be delighted by the songs and the plight of the young girl. Luis couldn't help but see the parallel between her life and his own when she clicked her shoes together and said, "There's no place like home."

An instrument that the Lone Gunmen were huddled around suddenly made a lightening noise and sparks flew out from it, making them all jump back, and snap Luis out of his reverie. Darkness covered the room. Luis stood, a little scared, and asked, "What happened?!"

A small red light in the upper corner of the room came on casting an eerie glow to the weird room. Langly looked at him and said, "Well, amigo, seems we have a short." The computer console he was sitting in front of started to smoke, then flames flickered inside it. "Byers, grab the fire extinguisher. Frohike, change the fuses." Then Langly slammed his hands on the computer keyboard. "Damn! We were almost there." He hurriedly went to another computer down the table from where he had sat.

Frohike walked toward Luis and bopped him on the arm. "Come on, bub. You can hold the flashlight."

Luis stared at the long, black, somewhat heavy, metal thing that had been placed in his hand, then looked up at Frohike questioningly. Frohike sighed and said, "This is a flashlight." He grabbed the instrument back and clicked a button. Luis jumped back when light came out of it, shining right in his eyes. "Oh, sorry," Frohike mumbled. "Here." He gave the flashlight back to Luis and motioned for him to follow him down the stairs. Frohike turned on another flashlight that he still held as Luis was still enraptured by his own, shining it on all the reflective material in the room, making a circle pattern on the ceiling.

"Luis!" Frohike yelled from the basement. "Help me here!"

Luis shone the light on the doorway to the basement and down the rickety wood stairs. He saw a beam of light downstairs and walked toward it. Frohike, hunched over, kneeling on the floor, had opened a small box that Luis now knew was 'cardboard', and had taken out strange looking short things. "Hold the flashlight so I can see what I'm doing."

"What are you doing?" Luis asked.

"We need new fuses." Frohike shook his head. "I keep telling them that we're overloading the circuits and should get a new electrical system, but no one listens to me."

Luis held the light beam so that it shone on the metallic face plate as Frohike pulled out a fuse. Frohike asked, "So, Louie. Do you miss home?"

"Yes. I do. While I'm gone there is only one person who has taken over my command and I will have some messes to clean up, I am sure. I miss my bed. My own clothes. My aunt. I need to see Lucy. My cat."

Frohike looked at him. "You have a cat?"

"Yes. Her name is Cleopatra."

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function," Frohike said.

"I beg your pardon?!"

"I'm allergic to them. And really, what do they do all day? Unless she clears out the rats for ya."

Suddenly, the lights came back on and the whirr of machinery upstairs hummed once again. "Frohike! Get him up here, quick."

Frohike nudged Luis to the stairs and up them. Luis said, "You do not have to push."

As soon as they got up the stairs, Byers manhandled Luis and placed him on a small circle marked out on the floor with chalk. "Don't move, Luis."

"What is going on?" Luis asked, straightening the leather jacket that he had borrowed from Frohike.

"I think you're going home, Luis," Langly said. "How many years back does he have to travel?"

"184," Byers said, "And make sure the coordinates are correct."

Langly looked at him, stung. "Please!"

Byers shrugged. "Well, it was you that got him here."

Langly swivelled his stool and said, "I got us back to our time. Give me some credit."

Frohike interrupted them. "Fellas, there's more important fish to fry here."

Luis stepped forward. "What is going on?"

All three gunmen reacted, motioning with their hands for him to stand in the circle. Byers even moved him back on it. "You're going home, Luis." Then whispered, "If Langly really knows what he's doing."

Byers slipped a metal and black object made from a substance called `plastic' into Luis' pocket and said, "That will tell us where you end up. Hopefully it will work. Nice meeting you, Luis."

Langly and Frohike smiled to him and waved. "Yeah, it was fun hanging out with ya," Frohike said. Langly turned back to the computer keyboard and dramatically pushed the enter key. A swirl of red and yellow lights surrounded Luis and he thought he heard Langly yell, "ALL RIGHT!"

Suddenly, Luis was standing on the edge of a great chasm. His balance was off and he rolled over the edge. His hands groped for anything to hold on to, and was scraped and cut by the impact of sliding down the steep side. He finally got hold of something and held on for dear life. After he shook off his confusion and breathed heavily, Luis realized that he was hanging onto a mesquite tree branch that had grown out from the side of the chasm wall. He adjusted his grip on the branch and got up the courage to look down. Under his feet was air, and the ground looked fuzzy, from how high he was. He couldn't possibly just jump. He could break every single bone in his body. Luis heard a slight, but continuous beep, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Then he looked up to see that he was dangling about ten feet from the lip and there weren't any handholds. Suddenly, frustration took over and he yelled, "Muchas gracias, senors!"

He started to get worried, and then got even more so, when he heard footsteps above him and looked up. What he saw a woman's head, a black lace mask, and her long hair flowing to the side in the breeze as she looked down upon him. "Having a little problem?" she sarcastically asked.

Luis groaned and hung onto the branch. Great! Suddenly a rope appeared at his side. He looked up to see that the other end of it was in the Queen's hand. "Take hold of the rope and I'll tie this end to my horse!" she called down.

His hands were sweaty and he felt he was starting to lose his hold on the branch. He laid one arm over it and pulled himself up so it was his arm holding his weight. He couldn't stay there forever; that rope looked inviting, but that would mean that the Queen had saved his life. What a quandary. He didn't want to have to owe that woman!

"Any day, Montoya," the Queen called down. "I might change my mind."

Luis muttered, "Whenever one is caught between two evils, take the one you have never tried," and grabbed the rope, wrapping it around his hand. Suddenly, the rope grew taunt and he was being lifted up. "This had better not be a trick to get me off the branch!" He held onto the rope as he was pulled up to the edge, and then over it. As he collected his breath and looked up, he saw the Queen, still on her horse, pulling at the rope that he had let go, looping it into a small circle and then hooking it back on her saddle.

He stood up and brushed himself off. The Queen giggled. "What an interesting outfit for you, Colonel."

He looked down at the leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans and had thought he looked good. Dirty, but good. He straightened the jacket and stared at her, wondering what would happen next.

What happened was, the Queen said, "No need to say `thank you'," and turned her horse and rode off.

Luis looked around at the familiar landscape, the great plain in front of him, and at the deep chasm behind him. He walked forward to not fall in again and said, "Thanks amigos," with a smile. As he headed toward Santa Helena on foot, he was somewhat bittersweet about not having been able to say goodbye to them.

He heard the beeping again, that was now fading in volume. He pulled out the metal and plastic gizmo Byers had slipped into his pocket and saw the red letters flash, 1817, just before the contraption went dead. Off in the distance, he saw four men on horseback, the flag of his garrison proudly flowing in the wind as they headed out of the pueblo, toward the sea. He yelled and flung his arms to get their attention. The gang slowed, and then veered to his direction. He wouldn't have to walk all the way into Santa Helena after all.

Luis wasn't wearing red shoes, but he smiled as he clicked the heels of his borrowed boots and said, "There's no place like home."

END