Jen-eral meeting

Chapter 0: Jen-eral meeting

The sun was shining brightly, she breathed in the fresh scent of
spring. As she stepped out onto the street, she stood a short time and
mused. The sun rose coyly above the hem of pine trees lining the
south-east end of the park. It's rays touched warmly on her face like
the hands of a timid lover.

From the emptiness and dread of winter, spring had come to seed the air
with cacophony. The sounds of birds aloft in the song and muttering
amidst the rustle of leaves. The throaty burls of toads keeping rhythm
for cricket bows. The hum and whir of gas mowers lazily chugging all
along the block. The drone of bees and flies flitting about unseen. The
streets, desolate and mute but a month ago, now brimmed with morning
strollers, the shrieks and giggles of children at play and the endless
stream of itinerant cars. She could make out the familiar traces of
grass and lilac blooms, sweet maple, the sting of pine, musky loam
beds, asphalt and tar from the construction down the street.

She crossed the street and onto the circuit of coarse gravel paths
fraying through the park. Aside from the small corner of bustle from
the children's play area, the park was a picturesque haven. It sprawled
serenely over nearly 30 acres of land donated to the town some 15 years
ago by Jim Donnelly, a wealthy land developer. She ambled down the
path, slightly overgrown with pine and ash, lined with maple whippets
and ferns, that led down to Todd street on the east side.

Walking down the little paved path, she thought about work and all the
things she had to do before going on vacation. She canted her shopping
list, last minute items she needed for the trip. Try as she might to
avoid thought of work and worry, especially today, still, flashes of
things left unfinished, the pile of reports left to sift, the
uninterrupted barrage of phone and e-mail messages that would surely
greet her come Monday morning. She needed a divorce from her job. It
was a good job. She worked as a law clerk for a small two partner firm
who handled mostly notary, contractual and property cases. It was
challenging and financially rewarding, though, after three years, she
had discovered she needed more from her life. Being married to her job
had taken it's toll on her relationship and her spirit. In the end, for
all she had invested in the firm, she felt unrequited.

She was really looking forward to spending time alone with Nate. It
would be a short trip. A four day weekend in a cabin spent fishing,
hiking, outdoor cooking, undiluted conversation and lovemaking by the
fire. Perhaps she might skip straight to the lovemaking. They'd had
four years together she and Nate, they were good years for the most
part but it seemed that Nathan was drifting away and that worried her.
Both were spending too much time at work. Neither sure why. He was
spending most of his evenings out with friends rather than with her. On
the odd occasion he did spend the night, he was listless and withdrawn.
So they curled up together, barely a word exchanged, staring into
disparate and unseen dimensions with loneliness wedged between them.
She knew something was troubling him but she couldn't put her finger on
it. She hoped it was a passing phase and that a short intimate getaway
was all they needed to get their relationship back on track.

She stepped off the path to let a woman walking her dog pass. Standing
in the ferns beneath a looming maple tree, her thoughts wandered to the
time she and Nathan first met.

He was out working at the McColloughs on Borges street. The
McCollough's were an affluent couple by Haverton standards. Their home
spoke of taste and elegance. It was a well trimmed two story Victorian
replete with wrap around veranda and sweeping staircases. It was set at
the back of the property and the well culled beds and lawn in the front
were almost too immaculate.

Nathan had been hired to install stone pathways branching from the
main drive out along both sides of the house. Alone in front of this
beautiful house...a slight breeze had picked up, though the sun was
pounding on him. It was scorching, his back was aching, his head still
ached from a sunstroke he had recovered from just a few days
prior.

There he stood, ripped jeans and bandana, no shirt, smoke in mouth,
fingers taped, sledge in hand. A sheen of sweat covered his entire
body...it must have been 30 degrees. About 30 feet away there stood
this huge maple tree all gnarled and crooked but stout and strong.
Birds were playing in the branches. The way the rock bed stretched out
along the bank side. The way the flowers looked and smelled...even from
afar. The grass looked so rich he just wanted to bury his face in it
and smell the earth.

His body was tired, he had worked it long and hard. But it was
humming...he could feel every muscle smooth and taut. The sun had
burned into his eyes and made everything look strange.

He decided to walk over to the tree and take a break, he sat down at
the base and wiped the sweat from his face. Resting his head on his
arm, he started to doze off when he felt a light touch on his arm. "Are
you okay?" asked a soft voice. He jerked his head up immediately and
hesitated to answer. Standing in front of him was the most beautiful
woman he'd ever seen. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a tight
ponytail, her bangs pulled back showing her big blue eyes and her
flawless skin. She was wearing a white tank top with tight jean shorts
and a pair of sandals. She looked like a super model. A worried look
remained on her face, she crouched down closer to him and repeated in a
louder tone, "are you okay?" while lightly shaking his arm. "Ya, I'm
okay, I was just resting" He was fully aware of her breast touching
against his bare arm and a smile crept up his face. Blushing she stood
up, "Oh, I'm sorry, I saw you sitting there and you didn't look quite
right".
He quickly rose to his feet, too quickly, and a spell of dizziness
came over him, he held on to the tree until the feeling passed. "You're
not okay, are you?" she asked. "Yes yes I'm fine, I just got up too
fast". Holding on to his hand, she demanded he give her his phone
number, "I'm going to call you later on to make sure everything is
okay". He agreed, he was delighted at the possibility of talking to her
again.

He took out a small pad of paper and the pencil that was behind his
ear and wrote down his phone number. She leaned in to look at what he
was writing, her face was very close to his, he could smell her lip
gloss, "cherry?" he asked. She took a step back, "what?" she asked with
a confused expression on her face. "Your lip gloss. Smells good!
Cherry? ". She laughed softly and looked directly in his eyes, "yes"
she answered still smiling. There was definite chemistry. He handed her
the paper.

She turned to walk away. "Hey wait! What's your name?" he shouted.
"Jen, what's yours?" "Nate". He couldn't take his eyes off of her, she
turned back and waved at him before disappearing around the
corner.

She startled as a bike zoomed by her, she hadn't seen or heard it
coming. Realizing where she was, she looked at the time, her lunch hour
was almost over and she picked up the pace to get back to work on time.
Now more alert she looked around, the trees were like giants standing
all around her, she listened as they crackled when the wind blew
through the leaves. She heard the cracking of branches, looking through
the trees, she had a strange feeling that she was being watched. She
shrugged it off, perhaps an animal was approaching, nevertheless she
picked up her pace. She turned her head again looking at the path
behind her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As she turned around, a
large piece of metal came crashing down toward her smashing against her
face. She fell to the ground. She tried to open her eyes but couldn't
see. She felt someone lean over her. A blast rang through the air and
she felt a warmth in her head. She could hear footsteps and wondered
whether she was still alive. She couldn't move but she could hear
everything around her. She knew she had been shot and wondered if maybe
she was dead. Everything went blank.