We Can't All Be Butterflies

We know what we are, but know not what we 

may be. - William Shakespeare

Generally we know who and what we are, and we may even know what we aspire to become, but that is not a certainty. Circumstances change, and events beyond our control can alter the outcome.

Unlike this pretty fellow, who will one day become a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly, we don't necessarily know what lies ahead, or just around the corner for that matter. Just because we don't know what we may be doesn't mean we can't always strive to be our best selves.


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So Now We Wait...

This is the 10th and final day of the First Annual 10 Days of Heat writing challenge hosted by 
P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is New York, New York. Please join me in checking out the other hot stories.

"Over here," called Charlie, standing in front of a rusty door. "Other than a loading dock with a garage door, this looks like the only way in...or out of the building. What does that tell you?"

Kyle looked around, stroking his chin, "No one gets in without whoever's inside knowing about it. Do we stake it out and see who shows up?"

"Or leaves," says Charlie. I'll get some agents down here to blend in and keep an eye on the place. We will meet back up with Alex and Bobby to see what they found out." He pauses, taking a bag and some tweezers from his pocket and collects a cigarette butt. "This may be nothing but you can never tell what might turn out to be a clue."

The four agents piled into a booth at a restaurant on the other side of town and began to compare notes.

"So what did you guys pull out of the woodwork today?" asked Charlie.

"We hit four auction houses, but the first three don't count. I think we hit pay dirt at the fourth" grinned Alex. "A place called Tranquility Imports." 

"Tranquility Imports" That's kind of a sissy name for the kind of scum we're looking for," smirked Charlie. 

Yeah, I thought that was an odd name for an establishment walking the fine line between legal and jail time. Turns out it's a family business going back generations. It is run by Sato Yasahiro, the third in the family to bear that name. Yasahiro means 'tranquil child'. After his father died and the current Yasahiro took over the business, changes were made."



"So these changes are perhaps what leads you to believe this may be our guy?" inquired Kyle.

"Not our guy, so much as the guy who knows the guy, and let's just say that the elder Yasahiro is probably not smiling down on the new business plan," said Bobby, reaching for the plate of fries. "What did you find?"

"We found a grungy warehouse that fits the bill for shady dealings. We put some undercover guys on stakeout," replied Charlie, glancing at his watch. "It's almost the witching hour when bad things get worse."

As if on cue, Charlie's cell rings. "Yeah, what have you got? Okay. What did they look like? I see, got it. Thanks."

All eyes were on Charlie. "Alex, can you describe Yasahiro for me?"

"Stocky, about 5' 8", black hair pulled back into a queue. Dressed in black with a red tie and gold cuff links," complied Alex. "Did they see him?"

"Maybe. There was another guy there too, bald, likely in his 50s. One of our guys posed as a drunk sitting propped up next to the building behind the dumpster. He was wired and picked up a bit of conversation about how to get a particular piece for some rich American."

"The bald guy was driving a rental with New York plates so they checked with the rental agency. It was rented to a Nikolai Petrov, who just happens to be our dead Russian. I'm going to have a piece of evidence checked for prints and DNA. Maybe we'll get a hit." said Charlie. "I'm thinking the bald guy is SAD."

"Yeah, I'd be sad, too, if I was bald," joked Alex. 

"All right, get some sleep tonight. Hopefully, tomorrow we can prove the connection between Yasahiro and the bald guy.

The next morning Alex's burner phone rings. "Hello. Yes, this is Alan. I see. Yes, a week will be fine. Thank you very much. Jasmine will be very happy."

"That was Yasahiro. He says he has met with his contact and they should be able to have it within a week, and he would be in touch to arrange payment and delivery," Alex reported to the group. "In addition to the piece being rare, expensive and difficult to obtain, it is also in Hirosaki. So now we wait."

Charlie smiled over the rim of his coffee cup, "Excellent! In the meantime, we'll quietly continue our undercover investigation. We need to know when and where the deal will go down so we can be in place ahead of time."

"At least this one is on our turf," said Alex. "That's a relief after the last case took us all over the country. Plus I got shot."

"Look at it this way, Alex, you got to meet a pretty girl," said Charlie, thumping him on the back.

To be continued.

Other Adventures of Charlie and Alex:

Risky Business

Aliens, Really?
The Colombians
The Key
Stranded
The Last Laugh
The Morning After

Bears, Beans and Beer

Kidnapped

Jenna's Misfortune

Murder in the Warehouse

A Rough Week in Philly

San Francisco Connection

No Grunt, No Glory

Crush Or Be Crushed
Going Under

Let's Make a Deal

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In the Good Old Summertime

This is Day 9 of the First Annual 10 Days of Heat writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is Best Summer Memory. Please join me in checking out the other hot stories.

I'm not sure if the prompt is meant to be just this summer's bet memory, or the best-ever summer memory. Either way, there is no one best memory so I'm going to walk down memory lane through some of my fondest summer memories, in no particular order.

Parasailing in the Gulf of Mexico at Madeira Beach, FL. The experience takes you from flying across the water in a speed boat to sailing hundreds of feet above the Gulf. It was so peaceful up there, and the sounds of the city and boat seemed miles away.

Photo from Pixabay

Zam's swamp tours in Louisiana. It was a slow boat ride through the bayous and back waters of Louisiana where we saw fish, alligators, turtles, Nutria, and lots of birds. After the boat tour, we got a tour of the back yard, which was filled with alligators. There was a talk, but the guide was speaking Cajun French, and I didn't get most of it. It was there we had our first taste of alligator, and we've been eating it ever since. Here is a video from an actual tour.

Tom and Jerry's air boat tour on Lake Panasoffkee in Florida. That was an hour-long tour which took us on slow winding paths through tall grass to speeding across the wide open expanse of the lake. It was beautiful, and yes we did see alligators, turtles, and yep, more birds.

My photo from the Tom & Jerry Airboat

The fascination with water and boats continues. While vacationing in Maine one year, we took a sailboat tour out of Bar Harbor. It was a large sailboat with 3-4 masts. If you love boats and you've never done a tour like this, you should. We did a similar tour in Norfolk that went around the Harbor. That was an evening tour, and it gets chilly even in the summer.

Photo from Pixabay

Not to be forgotten was our trip to San Diego, and of course, the Pacific ocean. No trip is complete without a visit to Coronado and the famous Coronado Bridge.

Photo from Wikimedia

Are you sensing a theme here? What are some of your favorite summertime memories?


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Boom! It's Fireworks.

This is Day 8 of the First Annual 10 Days of Heat writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is Fireworks. Please join me in checking out the other hot stories.

Fireworks, that brilliant display of colorful lights illuminating the night sky, preceded by a large bang and some crackles as the pattern unfolds. I could research about what makes fireworks go boom and what makes the colors, but the answers are just a Google search away.

Typically summer is the time for fireworks. Here in the U.S. they dominate the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve, and in our area are often seen after baseball games and at the fair. There are even worldwide fireworks competitions. I didn't know that.

This year for the Forth, a neighbor put on a 30-minute display from his yard, interestingly enough, across the street from a city fire department. I'm sure they enjoyed the show as well. We had the best view from the vacant lot next door. We watched, mesmerized, as the sky exploded time and again until the smoke was drifting lazily across the street.

It was a perfect Fourth of July evening, not too hot and no mosquitoes to mar the experience. It was one of the best fireworks displays we've seen in a long time. I know the picture does not do it justice, but I was more interested in just enjoying the show than trying to get a good shot.

Where do you go to see fireworks?

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Sunset Haven

This is Day 7 of the First Annual 10 Days of Heat writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is Camp Life. Please join me in checking out the other hot stories.

Hey guys, this is a tough topic. I have never been camping. I never went to summer camp as a kid. The closest I've ever come to camping is driving through a campground and going to an RV show.

Image from Pixabay*

Having said that, back when I was a kid, my parents and I would visit relatives up North each summer. My aunt and uncle lived in New Hampshire a few miles from the coast, so occasionally we would go to the beach. Other times, we would drive to their "camp" on a lake in Maine. The camp consisted of a red wooden building complete with a picnic table, lawn chairs, and some old kitchen cabinets. That was so long ago I don't recall if there was electricity.

We used an old 55-gallon oil drum cut in half lengthwise as a grill. The menu was hot dogs and hamburgers, likely accompanied by garden-fresh veggies, and homemade cookies, cake or pie.

There was no running water so we had an outhouse. It did have a regular toilet but you had to use a hand pump to fill the tank to flush. It was a courtesy to pump after your visit so it would be ready for the next person.

While there were tent platforms out back, and perhaps a loft inside, we never stayed over night. That doesn't mean we didn't have our adventures. One day we drove all the way out there only to find that we had forgotten to take the key. Daddy and my uncle had to take the door off the hinges, which shows just how secure the place was, but it was so far off the beaten path and this was back in the 70s...things were pretty safe.

On another day, we strapped a row boat on the top of my uncle's station wagon and took it to camp. As far as I know this wasn't a large lake, but maybe a brackish water lake or pond or possibly even an inlet or cove on a larger lake.  There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then so my memory isn't exact.

Anyway, Daddy, and my uncle and I went out in the boat. I was probably about 12 and at that time I couldn't swim. Of course there were no life jackets in the old row boat. We all managed to get back safely after our excursion across the lake to look at the big rock on the other side where there was a snake happily sunning away. Fortunately my aunt did not come with us. She probably would have screamed to be heard clear down to the main road. To say that she didn't like snakes was an extreme understatement.

Other activities included fishing, exploring and picking wild blueberries, visiting with the ducks that came by sometimes, and swatting mosquitoes, because, after all, this was Maine...in the woods, on a lake, in the summer.

So while I haven't really experienced any actual camping, this was my camp life experience at Sunset Haven.

*I have actual pictures of Sunset Haven, but it would take way to long to find them for this post.



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