Quick Update

Up to 11,000 words on the new book (still tentatively titled “Waking Dream”, although I’m not completely in love with that title).

Here’s a little bit, complete with a flashback to ten-year-old Sara:

“Sara?”  Dad’s eyes are following me as I walk towards him.  His voice is so weak, I’ve never heard it like that.  But it’s also clearer than I expected.  I shouldn’t be surprised; they wouldn’t have him on any painkillers, there’s no reason for him to be loopy that way.

“I’m here, Dad.”  I reach down, take his hand, and suddenly…

… “Daaaaad!”  This stupid stuff isn’t helping at all and it smells bad and it’s getting all over my bed!

He’s patting my head.  He’s so gentle.  “Sara, honey, I know it’s driving you crazy, but you have to let the lotion work.”  Why did I ever listen to Katie Finnegan?  I knew there was poison oak down by the pond!  I should have made her go first and get it all over her! 

It’s so itchy, I can’t stand it!  And I’m missing school, and the science fair is today, and I know I would win, but now stupid Katie’s going to win instead.  Why did I listen to her? 

“Sara, I’ll make you a deal,” Dad says, in that firm yet kind voice he loves to use.  If you don’t scratch for the next hour, you can watch whatever you want on TV tonight.  Fair enough?”  Tonight?  Monday night?  But it’s his football night.  He must really be serious about this…

…Dad’s looking up at me.  “Where were you just then?”

“Fourth grade.  Poison oak,” I grin.

“I missed a great game that night,” he says, smiling back at me, his voice a little stronger now.  “But it was worth it, to get you to stop scratching yourself up like that.”  He was always doing things for me, taking care of me.  When I had appendicitis, he was with me the whole time.  After Dr. Walters, when I woke up in the hospital, his was the first face I saw.  When I was arrested, he was there in the courtroom for me.  No matter what or when, Dad has never, ever let me down.

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