Is it hot where you are? It’s hot where I am. It’s been crazy busy (yay summer plans!) so I’m afraid I don’t have much lined up to joke about with you today. Instead, here’s the first bit of Blood and Bone to help you cool off!

 

I’m in a pickle.  See, if I just keep going up this road, I get everything I most want right now: a hot meal and a hotter shower; a soft bed, and a safe place to sleep in it.  It would be so easy, and so nice after the last month we’ve had.  I can almost smell something warm and meaty cooking on the stove. My shoulders ache to feel the water pressure of the best shower on the planet.  Compared to the damp chill radiating up my woolen-socked feet and the slush all over the place even though it’s still November, it would be paradise.

However, in order to get it, I have to convince my sister that she needs to take her foot off the brake and drive like a human.

You can see my problem.

“You almost ready to leave this stop sign?” I ask gently after I watch the clock tick from half past seven to seven thirty-three.

“No, I think I need another minute,” Ophelia says, her voice wavering a bit.

My stomach growls.

“Lia, think how nice it will be to have hot food again.  Remember what soup tastes like?”

She pauses reluctantly before responding. “I do like soup.”

“And when was the last time we showered for real?”

She licks her lips and thinks.  “A week ago, maybe? But Summer. The shower is in a house, and the house has people who want me to remember things about them.”

I scrunch my toes inside my damp socks, trying not to seem frustrated.  She’s tired, I’m tired, and it’s not her fault at all that she’s nervous.

“Yeah, but we had a refresher course all the way here, yeah?” I say soothingly.  “And I promise I’ll sit next to you at dinner, and if I have to leave, I’ll make sure RJ is with you. You won’t have to be alone, and if you stumble, I’ll be right there.”

“Pinky swear?”

I solemnly extend my pinky, though it’s bright red from the cold I can’t seem to escape, and hook it around hers.  My sister sighs deeply, ever so slowly removing her foot from the brake.

And ever so slowly tapping the accelerator.

“A little faster, maybe?” I suggest, reaching the end of my rope.  “I’m worried we’ll slide back down the mountain at this rate.”

“Gotta be careful in the ice,” she says.  

I bite back a retort that I’m pretty sure our SUV can handle a little ice, and instead focus my ire on the weather.

“I can’t fucking believe it’s snowing. It does this to me on purpose you know.”

“What does?” she asks, temporarily distracted from her own thoughts.

“This state. It’s always doing things like this to me.”

“I highly doubt Connecticut called down snow just to spite you.”

“Oh, sure. Take its side,” I mutter, glad to see a faint smile on her lips and her toes angled more steeply on the pedal.

We near the final turn, and the traitorous foot leaves the pedal entirely.  I anxiously watch the road—this is a blind turn, and in Connecticut things like “speed limits” are seen more as low scores to be beaten than rules.

 

Brr! I can almost feel how much I hate winter even as I sit here sweating! Stay cool, stay safe, and we’ll be back soon with more updates!