Saturday Morning Breakfast Serial & Stuff

Okay, going to start with the "stuff" portion of the broadcast.

I need an assistant. I just do. I am SOOOOOO far behind on mailing out stuff. I have lackeys and minions without packets (and I am still in the market for more lackeys and minions if anyone is feeling in the mood.) I have prizes that people won AGES ago sitting ready to mail but not out. I have stuff around the house that is really disgustingly overdue, and STILL I have no time because I've got the day job, the writing, the promo, and oh yeah, LIFE and the animals to take care of. I'm not whining. I love my life. I love writing (and even folks who love their jobs will tell you they don't love EVERYTHING about their job every DAY). I need to really hit the job hunting HARD and I haven't even had time to do that.

Where is the time going? I'm not even sure. But I know that I'm going to try to focus and do better, because until I move to Denver I can't FIND an assistant (no point in getting one here and going there---besides which, I want to use that money to move). So I suspect things will still be behind for a while. But be kind (rewind---and how out of date is that saying already. Little kids don't even know about VHS any more. Sad.) be patient, and don't hurt me for being so late getting things to you. PLEASE?


And now to your serial.
******************************
Jen checked her watch, did the math, and decided that it was probably a decent hour to call her sister. There really wasn't ever a "good" time. Wendy kept very irregular hours. She did shift work, and it changed a lot. But she also partied---hard. It was how she'd met Kevin. Jen had always hoped her sister would "grow up," but thus far there'd been no sign of it. Of course, she thought Jen was a horrible "stick-in-the-mud" because she didn't party any more. Hell, she hadn't done it much even back in the day. It just seemed such a waste to get wasted. Why work that hard for a paycheck and then blow it on one night so that you had to struggle and scrape just to get by?

Jen shook her head. She was doing it again, being judgmental. Her sister was doing her a favor. She needed to focus on being grateful. Because she was. Wendy's helping out made it possible for her to be here with Jake having the time of her life. And she was: romantic walks on the beach, playing in the surf, playing in the hotel room. Oh it was wonderful. The wedding yesterday had been gorgeous, and so romantic. Every one of Jake's family seemed to like her too. They were being so much nicer than her family had been to him. Of course they might just be on their best behavior because of the wedding, but she really didn't think so.

She dialed the number to Wendy's cell phone from memory. It rang four times before a very sleepy-sounding voice came on the line.

"'Lo?"

"Wendy, it's Jen."

"Right, Jen. Hang on a sec', 'kay?" Jen heard Kevin grumbling, then her sister fumbling around in the background, finally there was the sound of a door closing, and Wendy's voice came back on the line."

"I'm back." Wendy announced, following it up with a huge yawn. "So, how's Hawaii with hunkalicious?"

"It's wonderful. I'm having the time of my life! Thanks so much for agreeing to watch Obsidian. How's he doing anyway."

"Um, Jen . . . about that . . . "

Jen's stomach clenched at the words, and she closed her eyes, praying silently that her cat was all right. Wendy would never deliberately hurt him. But oh Lord, if anything bad had happened . . .

Wendy started in on one of her long, rambling explanations. "See, I would'a sworn I hung the key on the hook. But when I went to get it, it wasn't there. But I mean, I knew I had to take care of the cat. I mean, you're counting on me. So, I figured I'd just go in through the window. No harm, no foul. But it broke. And while I was waiting for the guy to come replace the glass . . . he said he'd bill you for the work . . . I'm really sorry Jen. But, um, the cat . . . well, he got out. I've seen him. He's still hanging around the house. But he won't let me get near him. So I moved the pan with his food outside. And I'm still going by in case I can get him to come inside."

Jen didn't pound her head against the wall, but she wanted to. Dammit, dammit, damn it! Obsidian was up to date on his shots, and he was smart and tough. But there were raccoons in the neighborhood, and she'd heard an owl hunting just a couple of nights before she left. DAMN it.

"Jen? Say something. Please? I'm really, really sorry. I know you were counting on me. But I'm sure he's all right. And you're coming home tomorrow. He'll come in for you."

"It's all right." Jen lied. It was not all right. She was furious and hurt, and worried. But there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it and there probably wasn't anything Wendy could do. Because Obsidian wasn't going to come to her. No chance of that at all.

"You're mad."

Hell yes she was mad? Why wouldn't she be? Wendy'd lost the key to her house, broken a window, and let the cat get out. The only thing that she could've done to screw up worse was burn the place down or leave it unlocked so that burglars . . . oh shit.

"Wendy, sweetie" Jen took a deep breath, fighting to make sure her voice was calm, pleasant even. "Did you lock the house back up when you left? Maybe get mom's key to let yourself back in?"

"Mom's got a key? Why didn't I think of that?" Jen actually heard her sister smack her palm against her forehead. "I'll go get it from her. Then I can lock the place up."

She hadn't locked up. Jen counted backwards from twenty-five. It was supposed to calm her down. It wasn't working. She felt more like she was counting down to lift-off.

"You're pissed. I can tell." Wendy's voice was accusatory. "You're breathing funny. You practically sound like an obscene caller."

Of course Jen was pissed. Why wouldn't she be? It's not like she'd asked her sister to do anything hard.

"Look, it's not like you live in a bad neighborhood or anything. The place is nice. Your neighbors are sweet little old ladies. Nothing's going to happen."