And to help the world, of course.
As a reader of the Daily Republic, you benefit by seeing my first draft. It follows.
• • •
CHAPTER ONE
Amanda knew it was dangerous, but she wanted to be with Jedediah.
"Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!" she shouted as he put the horses in the harnesses. Jedediah nodded back, stroking his long beard.
This wasn't how Amanda planned it. When she told her parents she was going to the homecoming football game for Central High, she meant it.
Of course, the fact that a massive war a few years ago killed much of the world's population and wiped out most technology meant that she couldn't call home. Mobile phones still existed, but there weren't any affordable plans.
Amanda fully intended to go to the football game until she saw Jedediah, silently walking down Main Street with two horses following.
"Are these your horses?" she asked Jedediah.
He nodded.
"They're so cute. They remind me of my stuffed ponies at home."
Jedediah nodded again, then started harnessing the horses. His spirit double was next to him, although Amanda couldn't see it because she was unable to see spirits. Yet. (Spoiler alert!)
Jedediah didn't say anything about her stuffed ponies or the spirit double. Maybe because he didn't know what she meant about the stuffed ponies or maybe because he was busy harnessing the horses. Or because he was Amish.
Anyway, it suddenly, shockingly became dark. Darker than the darkest night. Darker than really dark pants or a dark shirt. Darker than an olive – the black kind, not the green kind with that red pimento in it. And despite the fact that it was still in the middle of the afternoon.
Jedediah was still harnessing the horses – which seemed weird because it was dark and because he was an Amish guy who probably harnessed horses often and should be pretty good at it.
Amanda heard sounds: Rustling leaves. Footsteps. The squeak of a basketball shoe on a gym floor. Someone doing a Jackie Mason impersonation. Yodeling. An AM radio station playing "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves." A Styrofoam ice chest squeaking in the back of your grandma's station wagon.
"Jeremiah? Do you hear that?" Amanda said.
He didn't answer, because his name was Jedediah, not Jeremiah. But he knew she was talking to him, so he nodded.
Jedediah particularly heard the Jackie Mason impersonation, which reminded him of "Chicken Soup," Mason's 1989 TV series that lasted only 12 episodes. Jedediah and his family had watched it on their wood-powered TV.
The sounds got louder and Amanda moved closer to Jedediah.
She was so close that she could smell his Amish cologne: Eau de Rural Pennsylvania.
Suddenly Amanda realized he was holding her. Or someone was. She presumed it was Jedediah, but it was so dark she couldn't tell.
For the second time in 20 paragraphs, Amanda knew it was dangerous, but she wanted to be with Jedediah. Then . . .
Someone bit her neck and Amanda began to lose her sense of place. And her sense of time. She also lost her mobile phone, but that didn't matter much since as we established earlier that there were few affordable plans.
As the post-apocalyptic world spun, Amanda saw her mistakes. Her past. She saw Jedediah's spirit double, which was trying to act casual although it clearly knew she was watching. She also saw Bigfoot.
Amanda realized Jedediah wasn't just Amish. He was a vampire! A post-apocalyptic, Amish vampire character in a best-selling novel!
She had no idea that her adventure was just beginning . . .
• • •
There you have it. The start of a groundbreaking novel that combines all the hottest genres. I just need to add a little romance-novel spice, I think. Maybe Jedediah should be shirtless.
Brad Stanhope is a former Daily Republic editor. Reach him at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment