I’ve watched commercials on TV where they show one of those nice bathtubs you can step in, shut a door, and let it fill up, targeted towards the elderly, or perhaps individuals who have difficulty lifting their legs, or with balance issues, etc. One particular ads touts how quickly the water drains – in less than two minutes! Think about that, though. Can you imagine pulling the plug in your bathtub and then waiting at least two minutes for the water to get low enough so you can get out? It begins to seem like a long time – to me anyway. I suppose you could have a bath towel there to wrap around your shoulders if you get cold. And your cell phone, maybe play a quick game of Solitaire.
I thought about those “slow” draining tubs when I looked at the sentence for this upcoming week. I’d mentioned I’ve used some historic facts in BITTERSWEET, but what I might not have told you is I begin the story after a second hurricane (which is what actually has happened in our mountains here several times, 1916, 1940 and 2004). Anyway, the time frame in BITTERSWEET is 1940. In the beginning at some point, I allude to the fact my characters were still cleaning up from the first storm. When the second one comes, I could picture full to capacity water tables like this:
AND, a slow draining tub.
Meaning, they sure didn’t need any more rain. There’s no controlling Mother Nature though. My husband likes to fly fish and his favorite spot is the Linville River. When we’ve gone a few times they’ve had some steady precipitation, and it’s amazing how quick the river rose, and how long it took to return to a state that was good for fishing. (slower, shallower)
This is why Wallis Ann is discouraged as the rain seems to keep coming.
CHAPTER NINE
A drizzling rain fell in the early morning, and I wondered how Stampers Creek or the Tuckasegee would ever shrink to normal size.
A Publishers Lunch BUZZ BOOK Fall/Winter 2017, and a SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) Trio Pick for 2018, THE ROAD TO BITTERSWEET releases December 26th, 2017.
***I’m using #FirstSentenceFridays on Twitter and tagging @Kensington Publishing Corporation. Follow along and tweet out/share if you’d like!***
A few years back, I stayed in Yachats, Oregon, for a couple weeks, attending life-changing workshops. It was the first time I had witnessed a wild ocean in action. The ocean waves were huge, sometimes taller than the hill I stood on. The worst part was the menacing sound they made when they broke on the shore. And their constant disquieting hum, especially at night. It penetrated my motel room. It penetrated my dreams. Each night, I dreamt about a tsunami.
My heart goes to Wallis Ann and her family. I can’t even imagine what they had to endure. But you could, my brilliant writer friend… <3 <3 <3
I love the ocean, but like you, the bigger the waves the more nervous I get. I love the sound of it, but there’s a difference in waves crashing against rocky shorelines versus the gentle washing sounds made on the coastlines here. I did have to get up close and personal to get into the head of Wallis Ann, in more ways than about water…as you’ll see with next week’s sentence. How’s that for a teaser? <3 <3 <3
Ah, rain. The reason I am online on a Saturday morning. It is enough of a drag when a whole weekend looks like it will be rained out by morning storms rolling in. We had an eight month drought. When the monsoon season hit , that deficit was wiped out in three weeks. Lots of low spots have already flooded and we have only had one named storm show up and Emily just popped up overnight.
When we bought this house I looked at close to fifty others before deciding on this one. The floor sits at 34 feet above sea level. That doesn’t sound like much to most but it is a high spot here and would take Florida sinking to flood. I have seen all kinds of bottlenecks for water to back up but I think it is worse when humanity tries to fix things.
In many ways it is like dishwashers and bathtubs. You can spend thousands on each but how well they work is still dependent on the drain they are hooked to. Slow drains make all things equal.
I too like running a dry fly. I too know that place in the shadow of Grandfather Mountain known as Linville. I have climbed down Linville Gorge and explored Banner Elk and Boone. I used to go to an art camp at Camp Linville. They have a bridge across a small creek at the entrance to their property. That creek had at least a dozen 4-6 pound brown trout in it and you could not fish it because of how North Carolina keeps waterways clean. I love Carolina except for that.
It sounds like you’ve picked the perfect spot in all of Florida to weather the storm. (pun) In all seriousness, Florida certainly gets it share of catastrophic weather events. And I agree, it does seem sometimes that the human factor makes it worse. A good example is when the Corps of Engineers decides to open a dam to relieve flooding upstream somewhere while washing out the folks downstream. That I’ve never understood. There must be some logic to it…?
“Slow drains make all things equal.” Indeed.
Grandfather is about six miles from our favorite little spot where we put the camper, and usually spend a week. We were hoping to spend about three weeks in Sept – October, but a little snafu with me might impact that. IDK yet. As to the NC waterways, there are also “fishing clubs” which control portions of the Linville – which is one beautiful river. It frustrates my husband to no end to not be able to fish the other areas along it – although we understand if it were “open season,” there would be NO fish at all. The part of the Linville he fishes is with Linville Land Harbor – what used to be an RV park and now there are stick built houses – along that particular (almost Floridian) style of building around a parked RV with permanent decking and other rooms. There are a few RV spots there – and we’ve made friends with the guy who owns the spot we part ours. It’s worked out great.
Your comments don’t allow me to go back to Chapter 1, that’s how far behind I am. I searched and searched for a way because … oh, wow. What an opening hook for a novel. That was a fantastic opening sentence. No idea how many attempts you went through to get there, but however many it was, know that it was worth the effort.
I’m hooked. Is it December yet? I’m ready to read the whole thing. Bring it on. I guess I’ll have to settle for one sentence at a time for now.
Hey – THANK YOU! I can’t recall how long I worked on it…but boy, that makes my day!
I went out to the settings on WordPress and found the stickler for the earlier commenting thing. It should work now, but no need to go back and “test…” Well, maybe on one of them…just so I know I fixed it. Glad to see you back out and about once again!