Kimberly Gould Week 198: Details

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Details

Melanie pulled the needle through the cloth and tucked the end of the thread beneath her stitches. WIth a flourish, she snipped the remaining thread and released the embroidery hoop. The creases did mar the effect, but holding her work next to the picture she’d take on her vacation, she was sure she’d gotten the fleabane just right.

Tamara looked over her shoulder. “That’s really good. Botanically correct. I went for aesthetic rather than accuracy.”

Her work was also washed and stretched, making it pop that much more. The ring would make a beautiful place mat.

“Those leaves are wrong.” Melanie pointed, eager to diminish Tamara’s work in retaliation.

“Yes, but they balance better than real ones.”

Melanie looked back at her work and began planning how to add the pussytoes and paintbrushes in the background. “That’s fine, but I prefer to focus on the details.”

“And that’s why yours will be stuck in a lab while mine will grace a table.”

“Mine will be appreciated.”

Tamara laughed. “You think mine won’t? We’ll see, Melanie. We’ll see who gets Philip's attention.”

Melanie frowned, unsure if the noble would prefer her botanical efforts. Then again, if he didn’t, she knew her father would. Letting Tamara have the last word, she snapped the embroidery hoop on again. She had work to do.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 196: Streets of London

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Streets of London

Jessica continued to turn in circles, finding something new to see in every spin. There was the parliament, there a cathedral, there the palace, Waterloo bridge, the Eye.

Ah, the Eye. She had spent the entire time pressed against the glass, looking at every building on the skyline in turn until the others in the carriage with her were ready to strangle her.

“Oy, watch where you’re going.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Everything is even prettier in the dark with all the lamps out.”

“American?” the young man asked, sizing her up.

“Canadian.”

“Ah, much better. You like London at night?”

“Oh, yes. It’s beautiful, magical.”

“Lookin’ for magic? I know just the pub. Come with me.”

The stranger slipped his hand through Jessica’s. She knew she should be catching up with her friends. They’d left her behind, cutting in a straight line while she took in everything. The flat they’d rented for the week wasn’t far from Waterloo station.

In her free hand, she unlocked her phone and sent them a text: Hooked up with a local. See you later!

“All set?” he asked.

She tucked the phone away again. “Yep. Now what kind of magic do you have for me?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave him a look that should encourage him down whatever path he had planned.

“Blood magic.”

Jessica shrieked, but one more cry went unnoticed amid buses, taxis and street vendors.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 195: Catch Me If You Can

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice:

Title: Catch Me If You Can

Curse the girl!

Bertram splashed through water to his knee, picking his path carefully to avoid falling in to his neck. The sound of laughter and more splashing ahead urged him on, keeping close to the mangroves and their roots.

When he caught her, he would clip her wings, leash her to his hitching post and never let her out of his sight again.

“Come, come, Bertram. I’m right here. Don’t you want your wish?”

He took four quick paces, falling into the water on the last. There was no use in trying to hurry.

“You’d best keep running, fairy.”

Her laughter echoed. “Okay. Let’s run.”

Blinded by a bright flash, Bertram raised his arm to cover his eyes. Unable to see, he could smell the difference resulting from the fairy’s magic. There was no longer the stink of water, rot and decay. No, fresh cut grass filled his nose and he heard a whinny that he thought had to come from a horse.

“Find me!” She called from within the corral.

He would hitch her indeed.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 193: Erosion

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Erosion

Gaea cried. Normally her fresh tears rinsed away the damage of her breath, sending small particles toward deltas, banks and dunes. The humans, though, made her cry harder, and they turned her tears into hot, burning droplets that took the faces off statues and broke her skin. The ground was cracked, corroded, and her tears left trails of fire. Why did they do these things? Why didn’t the notice? What would make them stop?

In the end, she reminded herself, the faces would have worn away and her skin would slough and be reformed. In her way, the process took hundreds of thousands of years. Perhaps the gift of these humans was to speed up time. However, she couldn’t accept that it came without cost. It was only a matter of time until they saw that. She hoped it wouldn’t be too late.

Author’s Note: Sorry, the environmental scientist in me kick in.

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Kimberly Gould Week 192: This Sucks

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: This Sucks

A plush carpet
Stretching over years and eons
With soft divots hugging each body
Undulates
Shaking space and time to the core.

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Kimberly Gould Week 190: Inpection

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Inspection

Corey used his crowbar to knock loose bricks and clear his path. The police hadn’t told him what had torn through his grandparents’ house, only that neither had been hurt (they were at his mother’s now) and that they had gathered all the evidence they needed.

Decades after his last visit, his grandmother’s hand was still evident in the doilies, the cushions, the glass ashtrays that he found around every corner. More subtle was his grandfather’s contribution to their home. He had facilitated the slow accumulation of pretty things with each paycheck, but few reflected him.

Corey stopped at a closet with the door hanging askew. He tried to remember hiding in it while his cousins seeked or curling up for somewhere quiet to sleep while the adults played bridge and drank whiskey. Neither came to mind, and as he pulled away the broken door, he knew he would remember this closet.

“Grandpa.” Canvas and tin were nestled safely inside, waiting to go on another expedition.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 189: The End of Magic

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: The End of Magic

Leslie’s mouth was frozen in an O. The lights had just come on and turned the forest into a magic place. The trees were all different colors. Some had leaves and some didn’t. Some were thick and gnarled and they were as beautiful as the ones that stood straight and tall, their limbs reaching for the sky.

She waited for someone to come and share the moment with her. After all, someone must have turned on the lights, right? Her parents would notice she was out of bed and come snatch her up. Then she could point and they would smile at her favorites in the grove.

Leslie slept in the next morning and was woken by the horrible jarring sound of a chainsaw. In nothing but her nightie, she ran out and tripped, falling to the grass in surprise and dismay. There was her father, removing the tree she had chosen as hers in the brilliant lights.

“Daddy! How could you?” She wept and hugged the stump, her arms not going more than halfway around the wide base.

“Leslie? What’s the matter? Look at it. This tree was dead, already.” He wiggled the fingers of his leather work gloves in the rotted center of the bole. There was less than an inch unaffected around it. “It would have fallen and might have hit the house or one of the other trees. Now it’s safe, and we’ll use the firewood to keep us warm in the winter.”

Leslie didn’t care, and since the work that remained was with the fallen trunk, she stayed curled around her stump.

That night, the lights didn’t come on, but the wind blew and Leslie was sure she heard the other trees crying.

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Kimberly Gould Week 188: Keeping Inside the Lines

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice:

Title: Keeping Inside the Lines

Jordan giggled as he tore away from his mother, ducking between lines of adults and toward the train platform.

“Jordan! Get back here. No! Stop!”

Fear made his mother’s voice shrill and scary. He froze on the spot and when he couldn’t see her, he started to cry.

“Jordan,” she snapped grabbing the toddler up into her arms. “You have to learn to listen to Mom. There’s a line. Didn’t you see?”

Jordan was still sobbing. He’d seen the adults but didn’t understand why there were all just standing there.



“Very nice. Jordan, will you show us your drawing?”

He squirmed in his chair. He’d loved using every color in his crayon box, mixing circles with lines and squares. The teacher, he knew, wouldn’t love it like he did.

“Jordan?” she asked again.

He stood slowly and held up his page. The original black lines were impossible to see, but he could still see the flower in the middle. His classmates giggled behind their hands. Jordan sat down without waiting for teacher’s response. Once everyone was working on another assignment, she came to his desk.

“Was there something wrong with the picture I asked you to color?”

“No.” His face grew hot and his eyes were itchy, prickling with tears.

“Then why did you completely ignore it?”

“I didn’t!” he argued. “See, here it is.” He traced the yellow and orange shape in the middle of the riot of other colors.

The teacher looked more closely at the paper. “It is beautiful, Jordan, but sometimes, you just have to follow the directions and color inside the lines.”

He huffed and pushed the page off his desk, grabbing his notebook to do the assignment. He’d follow those rules as carefully as Mrs. Nancy could want.



“Dude! What are you doing?”

Jordan didn’t hear Mickey at first. He turned off the weed cutter and pulled out an ear plug. “I’m clearing out the orchard,” he explained. “The thistles are getting insane.”

“It’s all insane!” Mickey complained. “There are no rows, no lines? How are you going to maintain and harvest this?”

Jordan shrugged. “The way I do anything, one tree at a time.”

“You are one odd ball, Jordan.”

“Thank you.”

Screw lines.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 187: Shhh

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: Shhhh

Hold your breath.
Draw back.
Exhale and…
LOOSE!

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Kimberly Gould Week 186: Left Hanging

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Left Hanging

“Come here, Mom,” Clarice took her mother’s hand and pulled her into the bathroom.

“Clarice, I have things to do. I need to send these certificates out.” Anna dragged her feet, resisting her daughter.

“You need a break. I’ve run you a bath and you’re going to soak in it for no less than twenty minutes. I highly recommend you stay in there until the water gets cold.” She let Anna go inside the sunny lavatory where steam rose from the surface of the water. Rose petals floated, and the heat of the water sent their aroma wafting. Both Clarice and Anna inhaled deeply.

Clarice wrinkled her nose. “Seriously, Mom, you need a bath.”

“I do not stink,” Anna argued crossing her arms.

“No, but you are definitely riper than usual. Now get dressed and get it. I’m wedging this chair against the door so you can’t get out.”

“That’s completely ridiculous, Clarice. You can’t lock me-” Anna’s words were cut off by the slamming of the door and a scraping noise that could only be the chair.

Sighing, Anna accepted that there was nothing to do but enjoy the warm water. Peeling off clothes, she wrinkled her own nose. Maybe Clarice was right.

No, she knew Clarice was right. She hadn’t been eating properly and had no routine since Al passed. Sinking into the water she tried not to think about death certificates and insurance. Instead, memories of her husband overwhelmed her. She sank under the surface to wash away tears that she shouldn’t have left to cry.

It seemed like only a few minutes later that a repeated scraping was followed by Clarice’s voice, muffled through the door. “You can come out now, Mom, but you don’t have to. Don’t rush.”

When Anna did emerge ten minutes later, draining the lukewarm water behind her, a warm, terrycloth robe swathed her and lilac slippers kept the chill of the floor off her feet. She stopped on her way to her bedroom to look at the painting sitting on the floor next to the settee.

She stood staring and didn’t notice the tears on her cheeks until Clarice came and wrapped an arm around her.

“What’s wrong, Mom?”

Anna pointed. “He was going to hang that this weekend.”

“It’s okay, Mom. I can do it.”

“No. No, leave it right there.” Anna stalked to her room, a new fire in her belly. “I’ll tend my responsibilities. He can leave his there.”

“Mom?” Clarice asked, her voice thick with worry.

“Yes, Clarice. I’m okay. I’ll be right back to deal with those papers.”

“Uh, okay.”

Anna looked at herself in the mirror. “How could he leave me hanging like this?” Slamming a fist into the top of her dresser drawers, she watched her jewelry tree tumble and all his gifts of gold and diamonds topple down. One less thing hanging. She’d finish them all, so help her. She’d finish.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kinberly Gould Week 185: Dreams

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice:

Title: Dreams

Saline mist filled her nose. Her breath echoed the waves, inhale, exhale.

It wasn’t the first time she’d dreamed of the sea. It wasn’t even the tenth.

Cold water tickled her toes, white foam feeling almost like fur. Everything was crisp, tangible. Something cold buzzed her ear. She swatted at the insect.

“Oh, Misty,” she murmured, when her fingers connected with real fur, with her cotton pillow case. She’d been dreaming, again.

Now Misty dreamed and she couldn’t help but wonder what the kitten dreamed about. Scooping the tiny furry body in her paired hands, she set the kitten atop the piano and made breakfast before returning to the piece she was composing. Although she only had a piano, she could hear the timpani, the horns, mimicking the waves crashing. The strings played to the foam and salt. The woodwind a cold breeze.

No one would guess she’d never actually been there.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 184: Survivor

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: Survivor

Her grandmother had walked on land. She had worked to excavate the surface and open more ocean. Lily swam easily through the light blue water near the surface with long gliding strokes. She didn’t surface for air, but breathed normally. She had chosen to follow her grandmother, Pita, into the water, as had a third of the human population on Weedo. That wasn’t really what the planet was called. It was a whistle followed by a low click, but the humans on the surface called it that.

Lily’s thick throat included an installation, a small plankton engineered to separate dissolved oxygen from the water. She didn’t have to surface, ever, and had only walked on two legs a handful of times. She liked to sit near the beach, watching her remaining human relatives dig at the shore. They were earning their way off Weedo, but Lily couldn’t imagine leaving.

“Lily! Lily!”

She turned from her perch on a rope of algae to her foster-sister, Jean. It was a play on jaune, or yellow. Pita had taken to naming her piscan friends after their colour. The amorphous creature was preceded by a flood of whistles and clicks.

“Mother is looking for you. We need your hands.”

Lily looked at her digits, so less agile than Jean’s many tentacles. Their thick ones were as strong as her arms. Why would they need her hand?

“Coming,” she said, pushing off and gliding toward her sister, toward home.



Author Note: I’m working on a novel, Pita’s story, and the picture made me think of it.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 184: The Brightest Crayon in the Box

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: The Brightest Crayon in the Box

Author’s note: This is an excerpt from my NaNoWriMo piece, Brightest Crayon in the box. There aren’t any actual crayons, rather a class of students each trying to prove themselves in a science fair. I hope you enjoy! I’m looking forward to editing this piece and giving it to my daughter’s classmates to review for me.



Jade looked across her desk at Johnny, bright in his yellow shirt. He doodled on the back of his copy of the paper she had just read. It informed the students and parents about the upcoming science fair.

Jade read the announcement again. There was prize money for the winner as well as a membership to the science centre for the family. Jade had only been to science centre once, with her class. She would love to go on her own and take her time on the exhibits that interested her the most.

None of her classmates wanted to spend time on the composting and greenhouse exhibit. Jade had been fascinated by the different barrels, one with garbage, one where she could just make out a branch or vegetable peel, and the third with rich dark compost that looked like regular soil. The science fair was only a month away. There wasn’t enough time for her to make her own compost. Disappointed by that, she focused on Johnny. He had drawn a radiant sun in one corner and a box or cube in the opposite one.

Jade turned her attention to Phillipe, who had has hand in the air. “Can our parents help?” Phillipe’s palm was much lighter than the rest of his black hand.

“They can help,” Mrs. Fances told them, “but you have to explain the experiment from the question, to building the experiment, and the results. These are your projects, not your parents’.”

Jade didn’t expect she would get much help from her busy mother and father. It was more likely her grandmother with twisted and knotted fingers that would be available.

“Do any of you have ideas already?” Mrs. Frances asked. Five or six hands shot up, including Johnny’s, his straight black hair falling away from his reddish face and revealing a bright white smile. Jade wished she were so certain.

“Great!” Mrs. Frances said, clapping her hands together. “I want to hear them. I can help you narrow your experiment down to just one question. I will also make sure you aren’t doing the same experiment as someone else. That way you will each shine on your own. Let’s hear a few ideas. It might help the rest of you discover your own interest.”

Johnny’s hand went up again and Mrs. Frances called on him. He showed her his doodle. “The sun is a great source of energy. I want to find a good way to use it.”

“Excellent, Johnny. You can compare two or three designs and find out which one works best.” Mrs. Frances called on another student, Fatima.

Fatima wore a cherry red dress with white diamonds and her nails were painted red too. “We learned about the different types of rock, but I want to know how metamorphic rocks change. Are they all the same?”

“Another good question. You will have to read about it and find a way to show everyone what you have discovered.” Mrs. Frances looked around again and pointed to Mark. His pale white skin looked even lighter against his black t-shirt.

“We bought one of those packets that turn fire all different colours. I want to find out what’s in it and how it works.”

“That will make an excellent presentation, Mark. Do those ideas help the rest of you?”

There were murmurs, but none very enthusiastic. Most of the class, like Jade, just weren’t sure yet.

At recess she skipped rope with Alyssa and Natalie. Jade’s brown skirt was short enough to stay out of the way, unlike Natalie’s long purple one. She held it the whole time she was jumping. Alyssa had grass stains on her knees from wiping out on the rope, but they matched her green shirt. While Jade turned the rope she asked the other about the project.

Alyssa was jumping and didn’t answer, but Natalie could. At first she just shrugged. “I love the crystals that make rainbows, but I don’t know what question I can make out of that. You?”

“I’d like to do something about compost, but I don’t have enough time to really make any.”

Alyssa fell again, but scrambled to her feet. “So figure out the fastest way to make it. I’m going to grow something. Maybe I can use your compost,” she said, taking Jade’s end.

“Yeah, sure,” Jade muttered, then she focused on the rope and not tripping in it.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 178: Frozen

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Frozen

Thea pulled the door shut behind her. She might as well have slammed it for the way it echoed through the hall. It was so quiet. Had the foster home ever been this quiet? Childish squeals and fits of laughter filled the air alongside tears of frustration, homesickness and loss. Be they happy or sad, the sounds never ceased, except they had.

Thea opened the first door she found, looking for someone, anyone. The first room was empty. So was the second, the third. She stopped opening doors, racing down the stairs instead. Here was the kitchen where Mrs. Black was almost always fixing a meal or snack. There was the library where Mr. Black would read to the children when he wasn’t away at work. Both were as empty as the upper floor.

Throwing open the door to the basement, the bang as it hit the wall echoed again, reverberating off hard concrete. Nothing down there.

The front door was closed but not bolted. She threw it open as she had the last. She froze in place, not able to take another step.

There were all the children and Mrs. Black, as frozen in place as she was. She screamed, and none of them answered.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 177: Scenic Drive

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Scenic Drive

“Next right,” Bennet said, not looking up from his map.

“Right,” Dani confirmed, signalling her lane change.

“Skip the next two and then left. There should be lights.”

“Got it.”

Bennet held a GPS in his left hand in addition to the map. Dani only glance at it, focusing on the road. This was why she had a navigator.

“Okay, we’re within 300 metres. Slow down.”

Dani did as instructed, pulling over to left. The other reason she was driving instead of Bennet was because she’d been to Europe recently and had no trouble driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.

“Stop,” Bennet said at the least opportune time. Dani saw a spot on the shoulder that she should be able to park the car for a few minutes.

“Stop!” he said with urgency.

“I am stopping! I can’t just slam on my brakes in the middle of the road.”

That made Bennet look up and assess their surroundings. “Oh, sorry.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “We can walk back,” she reminded him.

“Sure, it’s just over there.” He pointed. Removing seat belts, they both stepped out of the red sedan they had rented in Zurich.

“You know,” I think there are better way to sight-see,” Dani complained while Bennet held the GPS in front of him, following the blinking cursor.

“I thought you liked this? You’ve seen most of the big cities, the monuments. This is a way to see the little things, small unknown towns, tiny churches in the middle of the countryside. You just want a schedule,” he said.

“So what if I do?” Dani crossed her arms over her chest. “Besides, this isn’t a small town, it’s a rat warren, and that isn’t a church, it’s a manhole cover.” They had arrived.

“Huh. Weird. Where would they hide the cache?” Dani yanked Bennet out of the road. A loud honk rose and fell with Doppler.

“Honestly, look around you! You’re missing so much, including the risk to your life.” The last was bitter.

“Yeah, sorry. Wait, look. We need to look. It’s an eye.”

Dani cocked her head and the lens shape turned into an eye.

“Okay, so what do we look at?”

Bennet stood atop the eye, turning in a circle. “Come here,” he called. “Maybe you will see it.”

Dani sighed and stepped forward, rolling her eyes and looking upward.

With her head tilted up the moment she touched the eye, she saw the brilliant flash that enveloped her and Bennet.

“What was that? Lightning?” Bennet asked.

Dani rubbed her watering eyes, waiting for them to clear. When they did, she wasn’t in the middle of a street any longer. She was surrounded by grey stone carved into intricate displays of a royal procession. It was like Elgin Marbles, but whole, kept.

“WELCOME!” a voice boomed loud enough to shake both Bennet and Dani to their toes. A man, larger than life with lightning sparking around him came into view. “So long since anyone has come.”

“Bennet. I want to go home.”

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 173: Curiosity

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Curiosity

The ceiling shimmered with silver. Clarice knew that there were fish hiding there, their silvery sides blending with the sun. However, it wasn’t the fish that drew her attention, it was the shadows. The dark spots were almost as long as she was and they flapped their tails in strange ways, never sinking far below the surface.

This shadow was very large, the size her mother had taught her to avoid. Nothing preyed on sharks, except those shadows.

Curiosity had always gotten the better of Clarice and she inched nearer to discover what the shadow hid.

*

Justine hauled back on the rigging, tightening it into place while her brother tied the line off. She looked over the side of their boat, looking at the flashes of silver below, fish scales. They were so close to the surface. It was no wonder fishermen had frequented here, dragging their nets and raking in spoils.

She wasn’t fishing today. This stock was still recovering from decades of exploitation. She was getting ready to plunge down with her air tank and her waterproof camera. She didn’t wait for Dylan, he’d be right behind. Sliding over the side, she sunk her height and half again before the buoyancy caught her.

She found herself nose-to-nose with a shark.

*

Clarice startled at the odd creature in front of her. She wasn’t like the other fish, her shape all wrong. Sniffing, she found it didn’t smell like a fish either. What strange creature was this?

Before she had a chance to find out, a second joined the first and both raced to the surface, clawing their way into the ceiling.

Clarice followed, curiosity unsated.

*

Justine screamed and Dylan scrambled up the side of their boat, tugging her after. The shark surged up beneath her and she wriggled, wanting out of it’s way. Instead, she slipped free of his hand and sunk back beneath the waves.

Resigned now, she tried to hold still, hoping the predator wouldn’t be attracted to her. That was foolish, of course it was interested in the large piece of meat. Was that all she was now? A meal?

The shark came closer, circling. It bumped Justine with it’s nose and tail, not biting at all. Curious, she stretched out her hand, running it over the great nose.

*

Clarice heard the splash at the same time as the strange creature from above the ceiling. She kicked up and took hold of another shadow, which pulled her away.

Swimming down in search of another meal, Clarice wished she’d found out how it tasted.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

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Kimberly Gould Week 171: The Call of the Wild

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: The Call of the Wild

Adam looked at the door for long minutes before taking hold of the handle and pushing his way in. End of the line. There was no more credit, no more loans, nothing else he could draw on and nothing to eat. He needed an advance on his paycheck, the one that didn’t pay all his bills, hadn’t for months.

The real bitch was that he’d be fine food-wise in a few more days. As soon as the moon was full, he’d have his snout full of rabbit, squirrel, deer and anything else that roamed the Edmonton river valley. He’d gorge himself so his night feed would last the day.

With five hundred dollars in his hand Adam planned to pay part of his rent and as little on his interest as he could. He was still looking at his wallet when a shoulder bumped him from behind.

“Adam?” his cousin Franklin asked. “You okay?”

“Yeah, sure, why shouldn’t I be?”

Franklin brushed a hand through Adam’s brown and slightly curly hair. A stray leaf fell from it. “Because you look like shit, bro. We’re family. You need something, just ask.”

Adam nodded but didn’t say anything. “I know. I’m okay.”

“Bullshit,” Franklin replied. “Come on over to my place tonight. Have a beer, eat whatever Celeste manages to throw together, and talk like we can’t as wolves. Something is wrong and I’ll be damned if I’m letting one of us face it alone.

Adam’s frown lightened. He couldn’t ask Frank for money, but he could live with him and his fiancee, and they’d be more than willing to share their food. He could catch his breath. “That sounds awesome, man. Thanks.”

Franklin left his arm around Adam’s shoulder. “No sweat man. We Brown’s gotta stick together. Like Grampa Ike always said-”

“You’re only alone when you’re dead.”

“Exactly. I know, let’s invite Linc over and rough him up about Zoe. It’ll be a blast.”

Adam actually laughed. His cousins had a way of managing to do that. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

“I feel it too,” Franklin said. “The moon is coming.”

It was true. Most of his irritation came from his financial turmoil, but the pull on his blood wasn’t helping. “Just another week.” Adam sighed in relief.

“Dude, you’re looking forward to it. That’s awesome. I kinda wish I could skip this one. Busy time for Celeste. She could use my help at night. Sometimes being a Brown really blows.”

“And sometimes it’s all that keeps me going.”

“Word.”

Author’s note: I’ve borrowed characters from my alter-ego’s box set story, Not Your Bitch. If you’re interested, it’s only $0.99 for 11 new stories. Amazon - All Romance Ebooks- Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Apple- Smashwords

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

#DailyPicspiration

Kimberly Gould Week 167: Turning Leaf

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both

Title: Turning Leaf

Verte felt her power waning. She was still able to roam the earth in her human disguise, but her fae qualities would be harder and harder to hide as the summer turned to autumn. This was the no-man’s land between the summer and winter realm. The leaves had just begun to turn and crops were being brought in from the fields.

The road was familiar but also strange. Straight lines were a thing of men. Her heart meandered like the brook, and following her instincts, she turned away from the human dwellings and into the world she belonged.

The water moved where it had before and would again, the result of beaver handiwork, not men’s fences and dams. The brown creatures froliced not far away, though their play had the underpinnings of industry, mending and gathering. Even they were turning to face the coming winter.

Verte let her facade go, her hair green and skin barklike. She would stay until her green was odd among the red and gold. Then she would sleep like the muskrats, squirrels and weasels, waiting for spring to come again.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

#DailyPicspiration

Kimberly Gould Week 163: Emergence

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Emergence

Title: Both

Theresa ran through the garden as she did every morning. The blooms were bright and vibrant, just like her. Their aroma was stirred by the air as she ran past, her long blond hair trailing behind her. She didn’t stop to smell the roses, rather continued to her waiting place. She had sat under this branch every morning until her mother came to call her inside. The green chrysalis was her passion, waiting to see what the caterpillar inside would become.

Both hands covered the round o of her mouth when she say the broken leaf shape, nothing inside any longer. Curious, Theresa ran through the garden again, looking for the precious winged insect that had emerged.

Her mother often chided her for behaving childishly, especially as she was nearly a woman at sixteen. Theresa didn’t care, didn’t listen. She loved the enjoyment little wonders gave her and pitied the adult that had lost that perspective. Her mother would never look into a pond and marvel at the tiny fish, tadpoles and surface water bugs, never wonder how they stayed on the surface or how the two similar shapes turned into such completely different creatures.

Creatures like her butterfly, transformed completely. She saw it now, orange and black. The wings opened and closed once before it launched itself off and up over the old wooden gate that kept Theresa locked safely inside the garden.

She could open that latch at any time, though she had been warned not to do it. Outside were all kinds of dangers, hazards, and that was why her parents kept her occupied inside the garden, the library, the sewing room. There was so much she could do that she hadn’t even considered venturing outside. A child doesn’t leave her mother, after all.

Perhaps it was time for her to be the woman her mother wanted. Perhaps it was time to grow up. Without another thought, she put her hand on the iron latch and emerged into a new world, in which she would be a new creature.

“Bye, bye, butterfly,” she told herself.

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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

#DailyPicspiration

Kimberly Gould Week 159: Beachcomber

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Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice:

Title: Beachcomber

In one smooth motion, the metal arm swung down, arced through the air, and droppped the thick tree trunk neatly atop the others. Nathan followed the load, cringing as the pile shifted. He always expected it to topple, and it never did. The truck rumbled away, tracked cat folowing, off to meet the next faller in line. Nathan took his break and stepped carefully over the branches littering the ground. It was the best and the worst job. He stood in achunk of forests nearly untouched by man, but he was here to pick out which of the ancient stems to remove. Thanksuly, it was thinning they sought, not a clearcut. Nathan had worked enough of those to hate them.

Without realizing, he broke through the tree line and looked out over ocean. He knew they weren't far from the shore, but he hadn't guessed it was so close. Setting his chainsaw atop the shell strewn beach, Nathan pulled a kerchief and wiped the sweat from his face and neck. Then he dipped the cloth in the cold ocean and mopped himself again. The sea breeze cooling him. Looking up and down the beach, Nathan saw the evidence of nature doing what he foolishly tried to emulate.

The driftwood was bleached from salt and sun, but by their size, these trunks were hardly younger than those he and his crew were pruning. Sitting atop one, he kicked through the shells to find one that stood out from the others. It took a few minutes, but eventually he held it and stod, slipping the momento into his pocket.

"A good day's work."

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Like what you just read? Have a question or concern? Leave a note for the author! We appreciate your feedback!

Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com

#DailyPicspiration