#or at least McMurray's line is

[rederiswrites]

It's not something I talk about much, but the preservation of rare livestock breeds is near to my heart, and our reason for choosing to keep Soay sheep in the first place was to have a preservation flock of breeding individuals. Soay are still in the at-risk category, with flocks being both few and far between.

Soay, undoubtedly like other breeds in the Priority and At Risk groups, are unusual sheep and have different behavior patterns and care requirements than more common breeds. For example, the woman who sold us our ewes did so because they fit very poorly in her more conventional shepherding system. That means that they, and others, need people like us to meet them where they are. Skittish and half-feral, unherdable, small, and primitive--but beautiful, hardy, independent, and fey. We'll be doing well if we ever manage to make our flock pay for itself--it's never made us a penny so far-- but we only ever love them more as time passes.

[anxious-lee]

A Sudden Diversion - A Lackadaisy Tickle Fic

Lee: Freckle

Lers: Ivy and Rocky

----

Evidently, plowing an automobile through several thickets and insisting it is a "short-cut" is dangerous.

This may have been a revelation to Rocky, but Freckle could have told him that from the beginning. In fact, he tried.

Yet, here they were: in the Lackadaisy's cluttered garage, mending the battering inflicted on their poor vehicle. The car was nicked and scratched from the shrubbery, not unlike its occupants. The engine compartment would have been just fine had the frenzied tom Rocky not rammed it into a tree's trunk. All in all, the damages were unnecessary and very expensive. To say that Miss Mitzi was peeved at the three stooges would be an understatement. Due to the speakeasy's lack of adequate funds, the car's repairs would need to be done by Rocky, Ivy, and Freckle, as reparations for ruining the car in the first place. Freckle supposed that being placed on mechanic duty wasn't the worst punishment Miss Mitzi could have dealt. Although, if anyone should have to be saddled with this chore, it should be Rocky. He's the one who made the mess in the first place.

But, perhaps it was for the best. It was safer in the garage than it was out there on the liquor-lined battlefield.

All three colleagues sat, working away silently. Or rather, almost silently, as Rocky could only take the deafening quiet for so long before he broke out into a hum. Some tune that neither Freckle nor Ives recognized. The musician himself was made useful by patching up the old paint job, while the two lovers dug through their toolbox, looking for the appropriate equipment to repair the engine.

Freckle had seen plenty of danger in his lifetime with his cousin. Hell, toughing through peril was practically his best trait as an officer in training. But each adventure wore down a little bit more of his psyche. And some nights, like tonight, there was nothing left to wear.

He was exhausted, both from the team's little excursion and the mental power it took not to have a panic attack.

Ivy, who sat at his right, learned over time to recognize these feelings through observation. Because odds were, Freckle wouldn't say it directly. She could pretty much discern and dissect every Freckle frown.

She was gonna make him smile.

She began with a little smirk of her own.

"Car maintenance isn't the peachiest job in the world, but at least we get some quality time together," Ivy said, batting her eyelids.

Brought out of his daze by the sudden sound of her voice, Freckle glanced up at Ivy quickly. He couldn't help but smile sheepishly at her flirtatious remarks.

But Ivy wasn't going to stop there.

"Y'know, I hardly ever get to witness you in your element. Tinkering away with your gadgets, and gizmos, and... whosiwhatsits, " she finished with a flippant backhand toward the toolbox.

Freckle seemed bashful to turn bashful at that.

"Oh. I'm no professional. My mum taught me everything I know, and when it became just me and her in that house, I had to step in and help with the maintenance. If I'm being honest, I'm more familiar with the back-end of a kitchen sink than I am with motor vehicle repair," he cringed.

"Relentlessly humble, as always," Rocky piped in suddenly, "Ol' Freckle Face never could take a compliment, however deserved or warranted."

"Yeah! C'mon McMurray, you're doing most of the heavy lifting here! Little did Miss M. know that when she hired a gunman, she also hired a handyman," said Ivy.

The extra attention was getting to Freckle, so much so that he hadn't noticed when his cheeks began to burn hot.

"It's really not a big deal-"

"I'll say it is, and no take-backsies!" Ivy declared. For emphasis, she burrowed a single claw into his armpit.

Freckle tittered softly and tilted his body away from his attacker.

"Kheehehe, quit it," he near-whispered.

"What will you do if I dont?" Ivy dared playfully.

What to answer with, Freckle hadn't the faintest. His upturned mouth opened and shut a few times, hoping that the perfect reasoning would spring from his lips at any moment. Finally, he spoke.

"We're not gohonna finish our wohork," he retorted lamely.

"Oh yeah? Is that what it is you're scared of? The job?" purred Ivy. She once again buried her pointer claw into the crook of his underarm. It took some more digging than the first time due to Freckle's attempts to keep his arm flat against his side. When she settled into her target, she scritched everywhere she could reach.

"Yehes!" Freckle said, much louder and desperate than he intended. He was squirming a little more now, bent in a seventy-degree angle, but still holding down his position. The first giggle, he couldn't control. The second, third, and fourth, however, he was determined to swallow down. His lips pressed into a wobbly smile, hoping that if he didn't laugh, she wouldn't continue.

That only made her tickle harder.

"You trying to hold it in? Good luck, 'cause my little brothers tried the same trick, and it did not last long," warned Ivy.

And it was true. Before long, his firmly shut lips did nothing to prevent his giggles from escaping. They sounded more like pleaful whimpers.

It wasn't that Freckle hated her little games, but succumbing to something so childish as tickling was easier said than done. Not to mention the fact that they were in public, where any one of the speakeasy's employees could walk in on them.

Within a matter of seconds, Ivy brought both claws into both armpits and was tickling away.

Freckle gave a laugh of surprise, a notch louder than before. He knew there was no fighting her now. The tingly electricity on both sides of his body overtook him, and he slid to the floor, with his back pressed against it. Ivy followed, now hooked by his incredible laughter.

"You crazy kids ought to keep your hands off of each other. Otherwise, people might get the idea that you two are les amoureux," Rocky called from his place at the car, voice shining with sarcasm. He was watching them now and smirking unsympathetically at his troubled cousin.

"We are les amoureux, Rocky," Ivy called back.

For some reason, Ivy holding a conversation with Rocky while Freckle was underneath her laughing pitifully was making the sensation worse. As his face burned brighter, Freckle turned his head away from her in an attempt to save himself the embarrassment of having her look upon his cheesy face.

"Awh~! Poor boy is embarrassed!" Ivy cooed, taking one hand away from his arm and cupping his cheek with it, pulling his face back to her.

"You are practically burning up!" she gasped, "Are you blushing~?"

The saints above could not help poor Freckle now.

He didn't grace that question with an answer and instead whined through his laughter. This could not get more humiliating.

"I missed that big smile! And that laugh. I love it when you laugh. It's so cute!" the feisty woman squealed.

"Nohoho, it's nohohot!" Freckle squealed louder. His paws, which had been tucked in like T-Rex arms to his chest, were now covering everywhere on his face he could reach.

"It's a shame that me admiring you flusters you so terribly, because I'm not going to stop any time soon. You're all mine to adore, Calvin McMurray~"

Holy hell.

The teasing's subject cried out in ticklish agony and released a new wave of laughter.

"This would be easier if- you know- I'll think I'll just- there we go!" Ivy maneuvered herself to sit behind Freckle's head while she pinned his hands under her knees. Now he was on full display, with no hope of saving his dignity.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle~" she teased as both hands came back down to lightly skitter over and across his belly. Freckle laughed uproariously, unable to hold anything back, his pure-hearted cackle ringing out throughout the garage.

It was almost more than he could bear.

Almost.

"DOHOHONT SAHAY THAT!"

"Why not?"

"IT MAHAKES IT WOHORSE!"

"Ah, good tip! Definitely will be making use out of this. Kitchee kitchee kitchee kitchee coo~!"

Ivy moved her paws towards his hips, squeezing them faster than was merciful.

Freckle's laugh deepened in pitch immediately, sounding more like a maniacal cackle.

"Pretty good targets, Miss Pepper, but you're neglecting some key players in this game of torture!" said Rocky.

"It's not torture! He's fine! Aren't you, sweetie?"

Freckle almost said no, but he was too busy laughing. Laughing from an attack he let happen. If he really detested it, he could have ended this from the beginning, and he knew that. But there was no real danger here. Not with Ivy. Not with Rocky, either. He knew they would never hurt him.

Nevertheless, when one is being pinned down and tickled stupid, the only thought your mind will allow is 'STOP'.

Rocky strode over to Ivy's side and looked down at his cousin.

"Me and Freckle used to get into many a battle such as these when we were little tykes. I triumphed them all, naturally, and I still remember his spots," the tomcat gave Ivy a wink and planted himself on Freckle's legs. "You go for the neck, I'll go for the knees."

"ROHOCKY!!" cried Freckle, betrayed.

"Ooo! Those are good ones!" cheered Ivy.

"ISN'T AHANYONE GOING TO WOHORK ON THE CAHAHAR?!"

"No", they both replied.

They began their double team attack on Freckle's tickle spots. Ivy went to work fluttering in every crevice of his neck, while Rocky rubbed and squeezed his kneecaps, occasionally giving a swift scribble to the undersides.

Freckle couldn't believe how absurd this scenario was. Here he was, now shrieking and giggling shrilly like a small child, while his two closest teammates were tickling him to pieces. He didn't bother to question it any more, simply surrendering to his silly fate and taking the opportunity to let everything go. He had been harboring so much guilt and anxiety over the past few days. Over the past few weeks even. What better time to abandon all sensible thought, what better time to look away from his reality of crime and war, what better time to simply be with his friends, safe and at peace, then now?

But he still needed to breathe, so Ivy let up and released his hands from her hold. Rocky dismounted from his legs and backed away cheerily to give the man some space.

Freckle immediately wrapped his arms around his waist and tucked his legs into himself, tail swishing wildly as he let out his remaining chuckles. As he caught his breath, he looked up at Ivy.

Ivy's expression was kind. "You feeling ok?"

Freckle couldn't stop grinning, and it wasn't from the tickles.

"Y-yeah," he sighed in relief.

"Yes, good man, laughing yourself up a storm, now come on, let's take a break from the car and head to the bar downstairs!" said Rocky.

"You mean after the break we just took from our work?" Ivy smirked.

"I don't know about you two, but all this horseplay has worked up my thirst. Whadd'ya say, Baby Face? Want to grab a beer?" Rocky reached a hand down to help him up.

Freckle was repulsed by the idea of drinking alcohol himself, but Rocky knew that as well, using it as a conversational turn of phrase.

The orange cat softened in agreement.

"Sure."

Rock wasted no time in trotting out the door, hungry for an ice cold scotch.

The two stragglers, now alone, slowly followed behind. As they walked, Ivy stretched an experimental pinkie out to Freckle's. He wasted no time in linking his paw with hers and pulling her to his side.

Not the worst of punishments, indeed.

-------

You know what, I eventually got hungry enough for lackadaisy fic that I wrote one myself. I haven't completed a fic in well over a year, but this franchise is beyond inspiring enough to birth this fic ❤️

@veryblushyswitch @someone1348 @kasey-writes-stuff @ticklyfluffstuff

[flimflamfandom]

The Love song of Rocky Rickaby

A Vignette, wherein Rocky meets a girl. (Specifically Ari from @ladybugkisses )

WARNING for corny poetry and slightly sad Rocky.

-

"Calvin? Caaaaaaaalviiiiiin? Freckle? Cal? Freck? Mr. McMurray? Sideburns McBigEye-" Rocky's incessant knocking on the door of the apartment was answered by a slightly annoyed looking Calvin.

"Aye?"

"Calvin!" Rocky gripped his shoudlers. "I need your help - I met a girl!"

Calvin rolled his eyes. Third one this month, he thought.

"...What do you want Me for, then?" Calvin asked.

Rocky let himself into Calvin's new apartment. "You're a fanciful writer type, right, Calvin?"

"Well, I mean, I've...written before, but-"

"Perfect!" Rocky sat down by the typewriter and looked over. "I need your help writing to her."

"...this is rich," Calvin rolled his eyes, walking over. "You're the one who makes poems, aren't you?"

"Oh, sure, sure, but those are about...places, and things! But you...I've seen your letters to Ivy!"

"You've WHA-"

"And I know you're an incredibly romantic man! Please, Calvin, this time it's different, I know I need to woo her with romance instead of my usual rogueish charms! Pleas, I BEG OF YO-"

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine." Calvin sat down at the typewriter. Rocky was a bit...fast and loose with women. Never a creep, never unclear about his intentions, but always a one night sort of man - Calvin figured this would be no different.

"Oh, thank you! How will I ever repay you?"

"Don't...don't worry about it." Calvin quickly hid some papers on his desk. "So, this girl...what's she like?"

"...uhm..." Rocky blinked. He sat down for a moment. "I...well, she...uhm..."

Calvin blinked a few times. "...go on?"

"...she's...a lady...and...has...fur?"

Calvin stared for a moment. "You're sure you met her? Because it doesn't sound that way."

"I know, I know, I just...she's hard to describe! You can't always have words for Ivy, can you?"

"I could tell you what color her fur is."

"Oh, good, Zib and I have a disagreement about this, is it gray or-"

"Rocky. The love...letter? Poem? Song?"

"Poem! That I can turn into a song~!" Rocky winked and nudged his brother, then went back to looking a bit...afraid of something. He sighed. Calvin cocked his head to one side.

"Rocky...you need to help me here if I'm going to write something." Calvin stood, and walked towards the kitchen. He started to get some tea going, and looked over. "Now, tell me the very basics."

"Red fur." Rocky said. "Sort of. And these big eyes, I...I couldn't guess the color. And she had such a cute dress, and-" He blinked. "I...well. I, uh...I'm sure you get the idea. right?"

"Tell me about how she is." Calvin came back, waiting for the kettle to whistle. He sat by the typewriter, and began to take notes.

"...how?"

"Aye, how. Who. What. She's not just fur and eyes, is she?"

"No, no, of course not!" Rocky said. "She was...kind. And nice. And she was...well when she looked at me, she smiled. I nearly ran her over coming out of the café, and we didn't see each other long, but-" Rocky cleared his throat. "...is this...enough to go off of?"

"...Rocky, I think you might be more intimidated by her than in love."

"What? You're crazy! Bonkers! Wacko! Insane! I'd never be scared of someone so....so..." Rocky fought for a word, but didn't find it. Calvin nodded.

"You're clearly at least a little nervous about this. That's normal! A lot's on the line, and all." Calvin said.

"Oh, I know, but...this is just a girl. Really, all it is! And while I'm, infatuated now, and in need of your expertise, I'm sure it'll wear off eventually, as is so oft the case in this modern age!" Rocky winked, with a sense of denial that was painfully obvious to Calvin.

Calvin merely rolled his eyes.

"Rocky, if you're just attracted to her, then go ahead and ask her yerself, you don't need a love poem for this sort of thing, let alone a song."

"You're right." Rocky said. "I mean, so what if she was pretty? There's pretty girls! All over the place! Sure, I mean, none has ever made me...want to settle in, but-"

There was a pause.

"I mena really, what was I thinking? A love letter? Why, all i need to do here is find a good night with her! I would LOATHE the idea of...of waking up to her in the morning, and-" Rocky's ears drooped, "and...nestling into her as she slept." Rocky sighed. "I've never, EVER felt any affection like that - why start now? Why now turn from my lustful ways to wanting to hold her in my arms as she looks into my eyes, and...and to see, to really see what she's thinking?" His tail drooped. "And honestly, I doubt there's any woman on the face of the EARTH who could make me want to keep her safe...to kill for her, to die for her, but also to live for her, and to see things and learn things and love things I've never...loved before...oh, god, Calvin, I-" Rocky tearfully looked over to Calvin, who was hastily scribbling things down. Rocky spoke, through a choked voice.

"I'm...I've never been in love...that must be why I couldn't think of anything to..."

Calvin looked up, and smiled. "It hits you late, aye?"

"Sure, sure...did...did you get anything from that?"

"...I caught a bit." Calvin handed him something. "You can make changes if you'd like."

"...Aces."

-

It was late at night, in an apartment building in St. Louis. And a girl heard something against her window. It sounded like a pebble...annoyed, she looked out, and saw-

"...Rocky, right?" She asked. The two had talked a while, outside the café. She remembered his name. His colossal eyes, his soft smile...

He was just standing there. He cleared his throat, and took out a piece of paper. He'd foregone the song bit...but what is a poem but a song?

"...as..." Rocky cleared his throat, "As a shearwater over the sea, I too have been to many shores...but as the noble bird does, so to have I chosen one to rest on evermore."

He was different than he normally was - shaky, and nervous. He'd never tried to be this...sincere before, about ANYthing.

"Indeed, as astronomers plot the stars, my gaze has laid on many lights, but-" He sputtered, "but...as if transfixed by a celestial glow, only one star remains in my...ehm...mind? No, that doesn't rhyme, I-"

"Sights."

"Sights?" Rocky looked up at the girl. She was smiling.

"You meant to say sights. Rhymes with lights?"

Rocky smiled, too. He looked up, and perked his ears, throwing the page away. "I cannot tell a lie to you, I've had my share of loving guests, but none so lovely as you, who makes me want to build a-"

"Nest?"

"Is it that predictable?" Rocky knew he shouldn't have asked Calvin - good a writer as he was, he was no poet - but the girl let out a chuckle.

"It's a sentiment a girl hears a lot, you know." She said, which caused Rocky's ears to droop, and his tail to flatten.

"But...I mean it, I promise I do, I-"

"I know." She said.

"...you do?" Rocky held his hat nervously in his hands. The girl nodded.

"If someone is coming by to read odes to me at night, they aren't doing it because they want a quick date...or because they're afraid to be embarrassed." Rocky did feel a few extra eyes on him...including one particularly angry eye.

How was HE supposed to know she lived right next to Viktor!?

"I...I ought to come up there, then? Just so I, ehm...don't anger the neighbors." Rocky, for the first time in a long time,w as genuinely nervous - worried about his odds, and contemplating what he might do if he lost.

The girl spoke.

"Come in...but no funny business."

"Of course!" Rocky rushed up the fire escape.

He smiled all the way up.

[unscrupulousartist]

hellerby fic, part 7/10

20 May 1929

The lull in business lasted longer than anyone would've liked, but there was little else to be expected. But, by rote or will, nearly half the usual crowd were present come Monday's celebrations. Dragged, arm-in-arm with Mitzi, Mordecai glared at the balloons and streamers that decorated the bar.

"I put your name on a necklace," said Mitzi. She tugged him toward the same cluster of chairs and tables where they had played cards and—everyone else, at least—imbibed mushroom tea, currently empty.

"l already bought a gift.”

"I know, sugar, but lvy doesn't need another gun," she sat him down in the middle of a couch, then stepped away. There was something overly familiar about the motion, and a sense of deja vu washed over him.

“I feel fine,” he whined, feet faltering.

“I know, sugar,” Mitzi soothed. She rubbed his arms as she guided him into an improvised seat at the bottom of a staircase. “But no one needs you throwing up again. Now—”

"Now, wait here and try not to scare anyone."

Blinking, he smoothed down his dress jacket and fumbled with his pocket watch. "No promises."

Scoffing, she left him alone.

The band had started an early set, some easy listening for a group of gentlemen who had sequestered a corner of the bar to themselves. There were a few dancers already, but the crowd was thin enough that Mordecai could easily spy them all. The atmosphere was somewhat dim, since the chandeliers had yet to be replaced, but Mitzi made up for it by lighting candles on every table. An idle queue lined up at the bar, the service moving somewhat slower without Viktor to assist with beer. On stage, Rocky danced while he played, extra rambunctious in his efforts to make the rest of the band laugh and mess up their parts. To their credit, they recovered each falter with a new improvisation.

Across the room, the main doors opened. Giggling with a handful of her friends, Ivy took a few steps then paused to point out the bar and the dance floor. Before the small group could disperse—she’d brought along four girls, all whom Mordecai recognized from Ivy’s school days—Mitzi rounded them up. The Matron called something to the staff at the bar then looped her arm through Ivy’s to guide her along, much as she had for Mordecai.

“Here we are,” Mitzi sat Ivy at the head of the table, alone in an armchair, and her friends started settling into the nearest seats. One of them slipped into the spot next to Mordecai, offering a small smile—and then flinched into the armrest when he narrowed his eyes at her. Mitzi continued: “We’re just waiting on a couple more people. You girls chat, I’ll be right back.”

Ivy shimmied to the front of her seat as Mitzi left. “Mordecai! Have you seen Freckle?”

Holding in a sigh as all the young ladies looked at him, Mordecai leveled a stare at Ivy. “I assumed Mr McMurray would be coming with you.”

Looking past him, she perked. “Nevermind! I see him—” and she launched out of her seat.

The group left behind shifted awkwardly, and this time Mordecai did sigh. Following suit, he stood. “I’ll get some drinks,” he managed not to grind his teeth as he stepped away from the ladies. When his back was to them, he heard them lean close and start to mutter and laugh. Ears flattening, he ignored them.

Forgoing the queue, he slipped behind the bar and found a bottle of champaign. Guessing from the number of available seats, he took his time hanging a selection of glass flutes from his fingers. While loitering, he watched as Ivy introduced a shy Freckle to her friends, then scanned the bar again. Mitzi was standing with the group of gentlemen in the corner, laughing as she angled away—no doubt trapped in the conversation. Rolling his eyes, Mordecai caught another look of Rocky and the band; the violinist was backing off stage.

Managing to draw out his return, Mordecai lost his spot on the couch to Freckle and Ivy. Freckle was shrunken into a corner as Ivy giggled with her friends.

“Are we having a usual celebration?” Mordecai asked as he carefully set the champagne and flutes on the low table between everyone.

“Yes!” Ivy vibrated.

“I suppose Mr McMurray is getting the first dance?”

“Ah?” Freckle looked up, pupils narrowing as he squirmed.

“Nuh uh,” Ivy laughed and pointed at Mordecai. “Don’t think you can get out of dancing, just because I’m going steady! Nope, you’re up first, Mordecai.”

“Joy,” he drawled.

Then he stumbled as a weight collided against his back. Fur standing on end, he ducked to slip away from the arm that slung around his shoulder. Pivoting, he moved to wrack his claws against his wouldbe-attacker’s face, only to realize who it was just in time to freeze.

“Sorry, sorry,” Rocky laughed, hands raised to placate as he shuffled back a step. “I forgot, Mr Serious likes his personal space.”

Tail twitching low, Mordecai tugged his vest straight and held back a hiss. “I suppose it’s no surprise you’ve yet to learn any lessons, Mr Rickaby.”

“Ooo—” Rocky wagged his brows. “Are we being extra formal today? What d’you think, Miss Pepper—” he turned, bracing against the couch opposite where Ivy sat. “—how should we shuck the boundaries of expectations? I think I saw—no, I KNOW I saw some buckets of paint backstage. We could paint the town blue?"

A couple of the girls snickered, and Ivy rolled her eyes, grinning. "Wrong colour, Rocky."

"Yellow then."

“Don’t be absurd,” said Mordecai. “That paint is for repairs, as you would do well to know.”

“Ah, but how does one do well?” Rocky glanced at him with the question, then turned to soliloquy at Ivy’s friends. “I’m feeling well, does that mean I’m doing well? Or should we be spreading wellness, like jam across toast. Or is well not viscous enough to spread? Should I—”

“Enough,” Mordecai rubbed at his suddenly tense brow. “You cannot spread ideological ideas like condiments.” 

“Mordecai,” Ivy laughed. “Don’t encourage him.”

“Too late—” Rocky started. Still braced against the couch, Rocky gave Mordecai a lingering look. His attention seemed to catch on the couple bits of metal that adorned Mordecai’s clothes: the blackstone cufflinks, the gold chain of the pocket watch, the arch of glasses.

Biting his lip, Rocky’s eyes hooded half-closed as he leaned a little closer. He still loomed over Mordecai, balanced on an elbow as the opposite hand traced over the pattern of Mordecai’s brows. 

Something pleasant and warm vibrated deep in Mordecai’s chest, a slow drip of dopamine that scribbled past the linework of reality to recontextualize his sensate awareness. The world behind Rocky seemed to shimmer and sparkle in Mordecai’s periphery, a distraction from the musician’s blue blue eyes. 

“—I am encouraged,” Rocky’s grin twitched. He rearranged the line of his body, a subtle shift missed by the entirety of the seated party, and lifted a hand to press to his chest. “I do entreat your grace to pardon me. I know not by what power I am made bold. Nor how it may concern my modesty, in such a presence here, to plead my thoughts.”

Frowning, Mordecai tried to parse the change of tone alongside the rhythm of the words.

“Rocky!” Ivy hissed over the giggling chorus of her friends. Rocky winked at her.

Beside her, Freckle tilted his head. “If he’s the Duke—” Freckle gestured at Mordecai, but spoke to his cousin. “—who are you supposed to be flirting with?”

Heat burst across Mordecai’s face as all Ivy’s friends laughed, and his hands clenched. 

“Flirting?” Rocky managed to stumble as he stood upright, facing his cousin. “Who’s flirting? You mistake an availability and inclination towards prose with any sense of premeditation, dear cousin. Sometimes, one must abstract the words from their context to express something—uh—” eyes flashing, he glanced at Mordecai for a moment. “—impactful.”

Never able to contain himself from philosophical nonsense, Mordecai pushed up his glasses. “Your suppositions contradict themselves. Without premeditation it’s difficult, if not impossible, to create impact. For instance, a boxer must plant their feet and follow through to knock out their opponent.”

“You know a lot about boxing?”

“Enough not to get knocked out.”

Low where no one else could see, Rocky’s tail wavered. His brows quirked, grin growing to show off his back teeth as he exhaled with a puff of a laugh. Inhaling, his whole body rose up to join the debate.

Only to be interrupted by a returning Mitzi. "Boys!" She called as she approached, alongside Viktor. Carrying an album, she had one dainty hand tucked into his elbow as he managed an armful of presents. "I trust we have been behaving?"

Flailing, Rocky turned toward her. "Always, Ms M!"

"It would depend on your definition of behaving," said Mordecai. For a moment he kept his attention on Rocky, watching the way the musician reset his stance and leaned toward Mitzi.

"Sweetheart," Mitzi sighed. She came to a stop between Rocky and Mordecai, letting Viktor continue on to deposit the presents alongside the champagne. Propping her hands on her hips, she looked between them. "Usually I'd define it as getting along."

"Me and Mr Serious get along great!" Rocky boasted. A swaying step put him in range to swing an arm up around Mordecai's shoulders. 

Which Mordecai dodged. "The verdict is still out."

"Ahuh," Mitzi raised a brow at him, then shook her head and looked at the musician. "Rocky, sugar, I hate to ask—"

A brief frown disappeared beneath a thousand watt smile. "Ask anything, Ms May, and I'll move the moon to bring it to you."

Something sour curled Mordecai's tongue, and he grit his teeth to keep his composure. In need of distraction, he pulled out his pocket watch. Behind them, the girls had sobered as Ivy gushed at Viktor. There was a pop as someone—Freckle—opened the champagne to fill the flutes, and Horatio crept up to join the party.

None of it phased Mitzi, who pressed her freehand to Rocky’s shoulder. "Someone was asking about you."

One of Mordecai's ears twitched.

"Oh?" Rocky tilted his head, expression flickering between surprise and confusion before settling on amusement. "Not another trainhopper, I hope? Might be easier just to lie and say I'm dead."

"That is… an unexpected turn in conversation," Mitzi's lips pursed. "But no. It's one of the new gentlemen patrons—" and she angled to point at the group in the corner, several of whom were glancing at the celebrating party. Mordecai narrowed his eyes at them. "—the one with the blue handkerchief? He wanted to talk about your playing. Said something about, ah—paninis?"

"Paganini," Rocky corrected. Rocking on his heels, he followed her gesture. Then, gaze skimming past Mordecai, he looked at Ivy and her friends. "I may have played a few motifs."

"Sure thing, sugar," Mitzi nodded, pretending to understand. "It never hurts to play nice with money, but I understand if—"

"No no," pulling his jacket straight, Rocky grinned at her. "I can play nice. Give me two minutes with the guy."

Mitzi winced, and Mordecai tempered back a growl. "You may need more than two minutes," and she reached up to fluff his fringe and neaten his tie. "I got the impression he wanted to talk."

"Yes?" Rocky frowned at her ministrations, even as his tail wagged at the attention. "You said that."

"Yes, but I mean…" she raised her brows and leaned forward, tone dripping low. "...talk."

"Ah?" Rocky scratched the back of his neck, one finger probing beneath his collar. 

"Flirting, sugar."

"Ah." Rocky’s shoulders dropped as Mordecai tensed. He looked again at the group of gentlemen in the corner. "Are you sure?"

"Well, he was understandably cagey about the whole proposal," Mitzi admitted, stepping aside. "But I recognized the look in his eyes, and he was very insistent."

"This is a bad idea," said Mordecai. 

Both Rocky and Mitzi turned to him, Rocky with a small grin and Mitzi with a puzzled frown. Then Rocky laughed, pivoting as he moved so he still addressed the both of them. "The bad ideas are usually the best ones."

"No they aren't!" Mordecai called as Rocky stepped out of a comfortable conversing range.

"Where's Rocky going?" Ivy asked, drawing Mitzi and Mordecai's attention.

The matron continued on to the group, rearranging the album she carried to hold in front of her. "Just a little bit of shmoozing, dear. Are you ready to get started?"

"Yes!" Squirming, Ivy jumped up. She giggled at her friends, commanding them to stay as she kissed Freckle's cheek and rounded out of the center of the group. At speed, she grabbed Mordecai's arm to drag him toward the dance floor.

"Must we?" Mordecai sighed, the air of annoyance coming easier as he spied Rocky sitting on the arm of a gentleman's chair. "Could I bribe you to change your mind?"

"No," Ivy laughed.

Someone in the band must have noticed their arrival on the dancefloor, for the music came to an improvised end before Zib started up a quick number. There were a handful of other dancers to maneuver between, and then they were in the middle of the meager crowd. Then, just as Ivy arranged herself into a starting position—she gave Mordecai's arms a reprimanding tug, as if to remind him to take the activity seriously—he caught a glimpse of Rocky speaking into a gentleman's ear.

Whiskers tickled the side of his face as a nose nuzzled into his ear. "Heads up, buttercup—" Rocky sang. "Your friends are headed this way."

"No funny business!" Ivy warned, prompting him to blink and look at her pouting face. She took his hands in a loose hold. "I'm not one of those ladies you're trying to get rid of, so dance properly!"

"Naturally," he ground out. Then he loosened his limbs to lead, pulling a laughing Ivy into a series of quick steps and spins. Not with the same level of talent or flair of some of the other Lackadaisy residents—Zib was the self proclaimed virtuoso, but Viktor always managed a surprising amount of poise—but proficient enough to keep the birthday girl happy and occupied.

On stage, Zib and Sy steadily increased the rhythm until Mordecai felt flushed and had to fight against panting. Glaring over Ivy’s shoulder, he caught them and the rest of the band grinning and snickering around their instruments. Unfortunately, he could see no real harm in their antics; it had been years since they were last able to torture Mordecai through one of his least favourite activities. Though, truth be told, with Ivy it was bearable. 

Eventually, the music tapered to an end. 

“Thank you!” Ivy closed the space between them to wrap him up in a hug.

Expecting it, Mordecai placed one awkward hand on her shoulder blade and the other on her head. Petting her hair, he relaxed to the tune of her purring and thought, briefly, of his sisters back in New York. Then he made the mistake of looking up, his attention drifting to Rocky without his conscious permission.

Still seated on the arm of the gentleman’s chair, Rocky stared back. Mouth agape, his eyes were wide; at least, they were until the gentleman asked for his attention again. Then the musician turned back to his charge, grin in place around whatever flowery words he spouted.

Mordecai tensed. “I trust this was enough?” he asked.

Pulling back to look up at him, Ivy squinted and pursed her lips as if to contemplate.

Mordecai rolled his eyes and raised his brows at her as the next song started.

“Fiiine,” Ivy relented with a smile. “I release you.”

Scoffing, Mordecai led her back towards her party of friends. “Mitzi put my name on a necklace for you,” he told her. “But your real present is up in the office.”

Vibrating, she bounced closer. “Is it—?”

He interrupted. “The rifle you wanted? Yes.”

[starry-mist]

S4e8 thoughts:

This “story” is convoluted AF. I’ve seen this episode multiple times and still have trouble following it. It’s like they took several different half-formed plot lines, didn’t flesh out any of them, and tried to mash them all together into a 45 minute episode. Epic fail.

Also, how on earth did this show somehow manage to make hockey boring? I feel like the episode is only just barely about the hockey.

McMurray’s a piece of shit. (Just checking to see if any of my followers are also Letterkenny fans! 🤣)

Hey Charlie, I think you’re the last person who gets to lecture Jesse about professionalism after that time you KISSED A SUSPECT IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE.

Cute-ish Charah moments with the coffee exchange and the eyebrow raises when Sarah shows off her hockey knowledge.

Anyway, this is a low-ranking episode for me. On the upside, at least Elvis Stojko seems to have taken acting lessons since his appearance in s2.

Officially made it halfway through s4! I actually like most of the remaining 8 episodes so I’ll start to get excited in the next few days while I try to race through them.

[bergmannoutzen58]

Reflections associated with Hospice Staff Members About Training Surgery Loved ones Parents Through Telenovela

Oxygen-18 along with deuterium examines water trials are offered from late summertime research of fifty waters together with different property cover along with permafrost circumstances. 6 sub-groups of wetlands are manifested, including Stony Hills R17934 , Western side Fortin McMurray, North east Fortin McMurray, Birch Hills, Caribou Hills as well as Safeguard. This specific dataset contains 1582 isotopic examines manufactured on 791 h2o trials as well as 3164 isotope muscle size stability style results, in addition to 900 lake/watershed guidelines, 5600 climate variables, along with 400 modelled values pertaining to isotopic composition regarding rainfall utilized in your data. Style files are provided for you to help look at transferability in the style for some other applications, and also to perThe current papers demonstrates a knowledge set of load-displacement end result from axial tensile launching associated with CFRP-SPCC cross laminated flooring. The particular example of beauty geometries are usually reduce determined by common method from ASTM D-3039. At least Several positions in each example, we tested their thickness as well as fullness. Information with the load as well as displacement ended up repeated no less than Several biological materials in every blend of cross laminates. Tensile examination had been executed having a 1 mm/min of launching rate. The data were recorded from unloading until finally disappointment regarding specimens. The info presents information about the highest load as well as the habits associated with load-displacement inside axial tensile loading. By utilizing width along with fullness, normalized information can be had, the strain can be computed straight into stress (MPa) unit. The data are of help regarding researchers along with constitutionnel technical engineers that handle CFRP, SPCC, as well as hybrid CFRP-SPCC laminated flooring. © 2020 Your Authors.This particular info deals with your seo regarding microprojectile bombardment contaminants regarding efficient hereditary change in an indica almond involving AmSOD gene regarding growth and development of salinity tolerant transgenic lines [1]. In this research, different variables including aftereffect of genotypes, helium pressure, osmoticum, explants, flight range, particle size, compound quantity, hoover, service provider Genetic as well as preventing screen qualities are already evaluated to find out their particular position in alteration involving indica grain concerning AmSOD gene for growth and development of salinity tolerant Pusa Basmati One almond range. To perform your transformation course of action, plasmid vector pCAMBIA 1305.A couple of was utilized, which in turn harbours GUS Plus™ gene, intron from your castor bean catalase gene, pBR322 ori, kanamycin resistant gene and also Xho My partner and i site. The particular transformants have already been verified utilizing slot machine soak up, polymerase sequence of events along with The southern part of hybridization methods. © 2020 The actual Authors.Pollutants regarding volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been studied in the course of document along with card board recycling where possible from a document and also pressboard sound waste these recycling manufacturing plant (PCSWRF). Files tend to be described in this post for the levels for a PCSWRF in the wintertime within Tehran, Iran VOC levels (μg m-3), the share associated with found VOCs, publicity spiders (Ei) of person along with complete VOCs (TVOCs), inhalation lifetime cancer malignancy risk (LTCR) of VOCs, the actual hazard quotient (Home office) associated with VOCs, level of responsiveness examination (SA) with regard to VOC publicity in various age brackets (delivery to be able to less and then Seventy eight), along with Spearman's get ranking correlation coefficients (ur) involving VOC concentrations and meteorological details.

[fatehbaz]

Not exaggerating, I do feel like I’m an involuntary witness to some kind of fantastical, horrific, and yet comedic fever dream. The hubris, the catastrophic failure in Alberta’s oil fields, and the cascading effects of Alberta’s actions, significantly altering the course of fossil fuel industries, Indigenous land management, and pipeline resistance at multiple pipeline and extraction sites across all of North America, all happening within only one month of time.

Early 2020: The value of a barrel of Alberta oil is now worth less than a single bottle of maple syrup.

24 February 2020: Even before pandemic quarantines become universal, headlines around the world ask: “Is this the end of the era of Alberta’s Tar Sands?” This is in response to the “death’ of the 21-billion-dollar Frontier project.” After 9 whole years of negotiation, a potential deal between Trudeau and a major energy company collapses. The Frontier project would have increased Canada’s oil production by 5% and caused devegetation of at least 25,000 acres of boreal forest. The deal involved Canadian federal approval of a T/e/c/k Resources project which would depend on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. T/e/c/k lost hundreds of millions of dollars in paying out-of-pocket for a regulatory review. In recent months, multiple global oil giants, including R/oyal D/utch S/hell and Con/ocoPhil/lips, announced they were ending investment in Alberta’s Tar Sands.

30 March 2020: Pandemic quarantines lead to operation closures in Alberta’s Tar Sands. Now, you could probably buy 2 barrels of Alberta oil for the price of 1 bottle of maple syrup.

31 March 2020: Regardless of nearly-worthless value of Alberta oil, and while Alberta recently reports a staggering 14 billion dollar deficit as pandemic spreads, on this day Alberta premier Jason Kenney announces that Alberta will donate over 7 billion dollars in investments and loan guarantees to the Keystone XL pipeline project designed to export oil from Alberta’s Tar Sands and into the Great Plains of the US. The portion of Keystone XL that needs to be built within US borders had been legally suspended since 2012, but revived by the US government in January 2020.

2 April 2020: Less than 3 days since the Alberta provincial government granted billions to Keystone XL, on this day, Athabasca Oil Corp. is forced to end their operations at the Tar Sands, also cutting their corporate staff by 15%. Over the past week, Alberta energy titan Sun/cor was forced to close one of its two oil lines at Fort Hills, potentially diminishing processing of 50,000 barrels of oil each day. On this day, Global News Canada also reports that most Alberta energy companies have lost 20% to 50% of their staff and cut their executive member salaries by 10%. Canadian energy companies cut $6 billion in expenditures in March, about 30% of oil operations. Canadian oil companies have cut output by over 100,000 barrels each day since pandemic arrived in North America.

Bonus round, extra news from 2 April 2020: The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Bay Mills Indian Community, among other tribal communities, challenge the Michigan Public Service Commission during public comment sessions, asking Michigan to deny En/bridge Energy’s Great Lakes Tunnel Project. In the midst of pandemic, En/bridge said it would not delay submitting permits to build the tunnel. The project would service En/bridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which brings oil and natural gas from Superior (Wisconsin) to Sarnia (Ontario). It is expected that Michigan will make a decision on the permits within 1 to 4 months.

5 April 2020: On 3 March 2020, En/bridge Energy, based in Alberta, announced that the completion of their Minnesota pipeline might be delayed for a year. But then pandemic happened. On this day, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Alberta’s Tar Sands difficulties might yet be directly responsible for giving activists and Minnesota Public Utilities Commission good reason to finally end the construction of En/bridge’s $2.6-billion Line 3 fossil fuel pipeline in Minnesota. En/bridge had expected the Minnesota pipeline to be operational by the end of 2020.

6 April 2020: After waiting nearly a decade to build the infrastructure, the construction of the US portion of the Keystone XL pipeline finally begins on this day, at the border between Montana and Saskatchewan, as pipeline workers move into region despite how most people on Earth are told to stay indoors and not to travel. The Fort Belknap Indian Community, located close to this pipeline construction site, declares a state of emergency in response. Tar Sands operations in Alberta have lost billions of dollars in income in the past 3 weeks. 

16 April 2020: Less than  only 3 weeks since Premier Kenney announced Alberta’s donation of billions of dollars to Keystone XL, and only 10 days after the Keystone XL pipeline began construction, Native organizers from Rosebud Sioux reservation (South Dakota) and Fort Belknap Indian Community (Montana) convince a judge in a small Montana city to legally halt construction on important portions of the pipeline, citing the pipeline’s potential harm to the American burrowing beetle in Nebraska’s Sand Hills and riparian species like the pallid sturgeon.

20 April 2020: The value of oil drops below $0.00 for the first time in history.

Bonus round, extra news from 20 April 2020: As a result of the Montana ruling against Keystone XL, the US Army Corps of Engineers announces that dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of fossil fuel projects in the US must be immediately halted and reevaluated, since thousands of fossil fuel projects were inadequately assessed for ecological effects since 2017. The Permian Highway pipeline in Texas and the Mountain Valley pipeline in Virginia are also expected to be delayed, costing multiple oil/fossil fuel companies across the US millions/billions of dollars.

24 April 2020: Alberta’s highest court overturns prior approval from Alberta Energy Regulator and crushes a 440-million-dollar Tar Sands project in the Moose Lake region north of Fort McMurray, only weeks before the oil operation was set to begin construction, ruling in favor of the Fort McKay First Nation who successfully sought to protect a portion of their land considered sacred. Over 70% of Fort McKay First Nation’s land is already taken by mines. 

27 April 2020: 3 of the biggest Alberta energy companies report combined $4.8 billion in losses. Premier Kenney says he’s been told that Alberta will be liable for oversupply of worthless oil for at least 12-18 months.

1 May 2020: The developers of Keystone XL announce that the Montana court ruling might suspend the completion of their pipeline for over a year. US corporations and monitors of energy industries continue to say that the ruling’s effects “are hard to overstate” and are “a big deal,” which could cause legal challenges that would prevent pipeline construction for years and lead to bankruptcies.

---

Alberta ...

[drpawfect]

How to take Care of Baby Chicks

Care of Baby Chicks is a huge challenge for first-time owners in poultry farming. Baby chicks are a great addition to the family but they require proper care for healthy growth and development. If you fail to look after your baby chicks then it may result in the mortality of chicks.

In this article, we will cover every detail on How to Take Care of Baby Chicks from the day of hatching till maturity. We’ll also cover every aspect from brooding to bedding, feeding protocols, health issues with treatments, and much more. So stay tuned with us.

Before going into the detail on the care guide of chicks. I want to ask a question from you, What is your purpose for raising baby chicks?

Raising Baby Chicks: What is your purpose?

Let’s have an example if you want to buy a car, but you don’t know the features of that car, what to see before buying a car and how to drive a car, then surely your money will be going to waste, and you will suffer a loss. In the same way, if you don’t know about chicks breed, care of baby chicks, and other than before raising baby chicks, you should know all the details on how to take care of Baby Chicks from day-old after hatching to till maturity.

If you want to raise chicks for getting eggs, you should raise layer breed. Broilers are for meat purposes. Some people raise fancy birds like Bantam etc

Take your time and read from different articles, catalogs, and research papers. It will save you some headaches down the line. You can check out our detailed discussion about the chicken breeds. This article is a great place to start researching your prospective breeds. It will tell you the origin of each chicken breed, egg-laying capability, pure breed characteristics, and much more.

Baby Chicks for Sale: Where to Buy Baby Chicks?

If you selected which type of chicken breed you’re going to adopt, then the next most important thing is Where to buy baby chicks, or is there any sale for baby chicks? These are the frequently asked questions by the people. The answer is simple: There are many ways to buy baby chicks, and it depends upon your choice whether you prefer an online chicks supplier service or purchase from a local farm seller.

Infact, in my opinion, the buying of baby chicks depends on how long you’re willing to wait for eggs. For example, if you want to buy day-old chicks, then hatchery should be your priority.

Day Old Chicks:

You can buy day-old chicks from hatcheries either online or by a local farm. The main thing to consider here before buying day-old baby chicks is to ensure that either they have done proper vaccination from problems like Newcastle, Marek’s diseases or not.

Pullets:

Pullets are female chicks that yet did not give any egg. It is about 20 weeks old and is expensive than day-old chicks. You can buy it from a local farm seller or hatchery.

Mature Egg laying Hens:

If you are thinking to buy those hens that are already laying eggs then it’s easy to buy. You can get it from local sellers. There is no need for any hatchery to buy these hens. But in my opinion, it is not a suitable choice for first-time owners.

Hatch Your Own Chick at Home Using Incubator:

The other way is to get your own hatched eggs. I do not recommend this for a first-time chicken owner. Incubation is never straightforward (in my experience), and it’s an important factor in the care of baby chicks. So, you must have to know all the guidelines on how to use an incubator for proper hatching

Some Major hatcheries and Farm from where you can buy baby chicks:

Besides chickens, online hatcheries also offer turkeys, geese, guinea, ducks, and more. Make sure you read the full guidelines because some of the prices look attractive but require a minimum order of a larger quantity than some other companies. Some offer free shipping, while others only ship several times a year. Below are some of the hatcheries from where you can buy baby chicks:

Privett Hatchery

My Pet Chicken

Murray McMurray Hatchery

J.M. Hatchery

Freedom Ranger Hatchery

If you live in Uk then you can Buy from here

NEWSNOW

Indian Buyer can buy from this site

India Mart

In Pakistan Olx is the best way to locate local farms

Olx

Equipment needed for Care of Baby Chicks

Till now, we have discussed in detail ” why are you raising chicks and from where you can buy them. Now it comes to equipment that is required for proper care of baby chicks.

Brooder for Baby Chicks:

A brooder is a basic requirement for the care of baby chicks. It’s like a home with proper facilities that are required for the proper growth of chicks. It is like a container rolled into a circular shape with pine shavings or another embedding medium with a light on the top. It can be as simple as a cardboard piece, or can be made of metal depending upon the budget. Now let discuss what makes a brooder an ideal one.

Shape of the Brooder:

The brooder should be circular and should not be square or rectangular because it creates the corners in the brooders, and when baby chicks are roaming away from the center of the brooder there are greater chances that they all will gather at the corners with one jumping on another. This problem leads to suffocation in baby chicks that can cause death.

Geometry of Brooder:

The wall of the brooder should be at least 18 inches high to avoids the chicks to jump out of the brooder that may cause any injury. Because day-old baby cheeks are week and their skeleton is not strong enough to protect them that is why it’s the most important thing for the Care of Baby Chicks.

Rodent-Proof Brooder :

The brooder should be rodent-proof, which means it must be kept indoors or at such places where there is no other pet that can attack chicks.

Brooder Must be at Dry Places:

The brooder must be in dry places because if the surface is wet then it will lead to many health issues like cold, flu, and other respiratory problems. Another main thing is that salmonella also grows in wet places, so there will be chances of salmonella infection in poultry birds.

Bedding of Brooder:

The floor or bedding of the brooder should be smooth to walk. If it is slippery, it can lead to leg injuries in baby chicks like spraddle legs, etc.

Enough Space in Brooder:

There must be enough space for the chicks to walk in the brooder. According to size each bird should have 1.5 sqft space.

Dont Use Plastic Brooder:

The material used for making the brooder should not be plastic; because; in a brooder, light is present for keeping the chicks warm. Hight temperature can melt the plastic that further falls onto the bedding of the brooder and can catch fire. So beware of that.

CHow to Care of Baby Chicks in Winter and Summer

As I already mentioned, temperature regulation has an impact on the mortality of baby chicks. If you fail to regulate brooder temperature, then the consequences will be daring. So for proper Care of Baby Chicks, the temperature has to be maintained in an ideal range to protect the baby chick from any health issue.

Care of Baby Chicks in Winter:

Care of Baby Chicks in Winter is challenging. In winter, it is necessary to note the temperature of the brooder. A temperature sensor can be used for this purpose. Any deviation from the ideal temperature needs calls for action.

In Winter season keeps the day-old chicks in a warm place until they are fully feathered. For this purpose, you can use a heating fan in the brooder or a red light heating source.

How to Know If Your Baby Chicks are Cold?

If you look that the baby chicks start gathering near the heating source in the brooder, then this is the indication that your baby chicks are feeling cold. Another indication is a loud, high-pitched cheeping sound. On examination, their legs will be cold to the touch. Chicks look swollen.

What to do to keep them warm: Ideal temperature of Brooder in Winter

Continue reading

[faveficarchive]

Up in the Air: Part 5

Book Two of That Healing Touch Series

By K.Darblyne

Pairing: Xena/Gabrielle

Rating: Mature

Synopsis: Garrett is five months in to her fellowship, and she and Danni are trying to change the game even more, all the while strengthening their bond.

CW: This chapter has a courtroom scene that discusses rape. 

The ride back to the hospital was spent in quiet as each of the crewmembers thought about events of the last hour or so. It was funny how death had a way of making you think. The fact that someone could be living one minute then lifeless the next was a heavy concept for anyone to accept. The Flight Surgeon’s Team was no exception.

Danni couldn’t get the words of the dying man out of her head. The words that he had entrusted to her wove a web of confusion inside her head as it haunted her every thought. Here she was debating whether to tell someone that she thought she loved them, and there he had been, adamant about making sure his loved one knew it was the last thing on his mind. The nurse was thankful for the dark of the night, as the tears began to fall down her face. It was all that she could do to keep from letting the rest of the crew know how much this had touched her.

The surgeon had seen death come from many sources. Her experiences had taught her that life was a fleeting thing and death a matter of permanence. It wasn’t often that a death would effect her, but this one did. The fact that she could do nothing to even try to preserve that man’s life was the hardest thing for her to accept. Garrett knew that they had done all that they could in making the man comfortable and staying with him until the end. Death was something you just learned to accept in the profession she was in, but it didn’t mean that you had to like it.

***

Their arrival back on the helipad was met with no fanfare or waiting crowd of caregivers eager to lend a hand. The fluorescent lighting of the area cast a stark illumination of their shadows on the pavement, creating an eerie black and white portrait of life that welcomed them home. Each member slowly making their way into the safety of the building carried a little more insight into the frailty of the human being than when they had left.

Garrett had kept a watchful eye on Danni. She had been the one most involved with their patient from beginning to end. Her gentle and compassionate nature left her vulnerable and the surgeon knew it. The noticeable shedding of tears during the flight home worried the surgeon. She cared too much about her friend to see her consumed by guilt over something that she had absolutely no control of.

"Danni, do you want to talk about it?" The surgeon asked as they stood outside of the door to the E.R.

"Talk about what, Gar? It’s not like we were able to do anything."

The surgeon nodded her head. She knew the nurse was right.

"I don’t much feel like going back to that dinner. Do you?" The blonde looked up to her friend. "It just doesn’t seem right to be having fun now."

Garrett let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

They continued through the doorway and after a few steps, Garrett had made her mind up. "Danni, let’s go back to the dinner." ‘She needs to be with someone…someone she loves…David… after what she’s gone through. Poor kid, I can’t blame her for it. She needs to be with someone she loves tonight.’ Garrett looked down at her watch. It was 2105. "Dinner will be over by now." The surgeon knew of her friend’s insatiable hunger.

"I know, but I think our dates at least need to be the ones to take us home. Besides," she smirked, "it will make them…"

Garrett’s head sprung up. "Date? I never said that McCormick was my…"

"Gar, nobody else was picked up with a limo." Danni teased her friend. ‘Think you could pull the wool over my eyes, do you.’ "Don’t worry Gar, I’m good at keeping secrets." ‘I even have a few of my own.’

The surgeon eyed the nurse suspiciously. ‘She thinks I’m having an affair with…’ her eyebrow arched high. ‘How could she think that idiot could turn me on…Why, I don’t even know what turns me on.’

Danni saw her friend’s face and tried to comfort her. "It’s okay. What you do outside the hospital shouldn’t make a difference." ‘I just wish it were me instead of Ian.’ "We might as well get back to the guys in our Flight Suits. I know that my other clothing will be pretty wrinkled by now."

"Yeah, let’s… just get this night over with."

***

The sound of a single voice was heard as Garrett and Danni stood outside the opened door to the room. Inside they could see the rows of dinner guests all sitting in their seats, attentive to the words that they were hearing. They weren’t quite sure what the speech was about but knew that it was leading to an introduction of some type. Finally, the announcement of the person was made and the sound of applauding soon filled the area.

"Gar, come on. We can sneak in now. Now one will notice us." Danni nudged the tall woman into the doorway.

"Okay, but be quiet. I don’t want to attract any attention."

The two women stealthily moved into the room as they made their way towards the table where they had left David and Ian.

The applauding continued for a moment until the man made his way to the podium in the front of the room. There, he turned to greet the Chairman of the Board of Directors and waved pleasantly toward the attendees of the dinner. The man had the charisma of a leader and it showed. His good looks and pleasant voice held the attention of the crowd. He had chosen his career well. His witty rhetoric suited him as a politician. The speech hinted at self-sacrifice and caring for people even when it meant danger to one’s own life.

Danni and Garrett were more interested in getting to their table than listening to the usual ‘pat the caregiver on the back’ speeches by the endless line of politicians that would do anything for a vote. They didn’t really feel much like caregivers tonight, any way.

The polite clapping starting at the tables around them drew Danni’s attention to the front of the room. She watched as Dr. McMurray walked over to the man and shook his hand. "Hey, Gar," she whispered as she tugged at the surgeon’s arm. "It’s McMurray!"

The tall woman looked up to see her mentor positioning himself at the podium to speak. She watched the Ol’ Cutter as he looked over the crowd of familiar faces. "He must be getting some kind of award."

"Maybe that’s why he asked us to come." Danni kept her voice low as not to draw attention. She looked up to the podium and found the Chief of Trauma Services looking straight back at her. It was at that exact moment that she heard both her and Garrett’s name being called out over the speakers. For a moment, she knew what it felt like to be a deer caught standing in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. They were only a few feet away from their seats. Maybe if they’d just sit down nobody would notice their late arrival or their clothing.

Now, the sound of that polite clapping was starting all over again and the sound of David’s voice could be heard. "Way to go Danni!"

Garrett turned to stare at David with her eyebrow arched high on her forehead. That’s when she could see Ian motioning them to go to the front of the room. "What?" she mouthed.

"Go up and get your award." McCormick whispered as he rose, his hands spent in clapping. "That’s why you’re here."

Danni and Garrett turned to each other. The look on their faces questioning the other and answering at the same time. "No!"

"Dr. Trivoli, Nurse Bossard, please come forward." McMurray was now commanding them. Then, while they obeyed, he talked briefly into the microphone. "I’m glad we waited for last. As you’ll be able to tell, these dedicated woman just got back from a flight." He chuckled. "They wouldn’t let me ground them for the night. They thought that it would be unfair if someone really needed them."

Danni and Garrett stepped up onto the raised area around the podium. The sound of applause covered the short conversation that McMurray held with the tall surgeon before he went back to the podium.

"Thought I told you to have something else on besides that suit." Her mentor teased.

"If you’d like, I could go and change right now."

McMurray smiled at the raven-haired woman. "You’re not getting off that easy. You both deserve this." McMurray reached out and shook first his Fellow’s hand and then the nurse’s. "Great teamwork, great team."

Danni held onto his hand. "Sir, what’s this all about?"

"Just a little thank you from the Lt. Governor for that road worker you saved. You know, the one when you were supposed to be grounded."

The blonde wrinkled her nose, as she tried not to giggle nervously, "Oh, that one."

Garrett took the lead at the podium, as she did in the Trauma Room with Danni by her side. Her strong presence brought a hush over the room. It was a difficult time for her, accepting an honor for saving one man while only an hour ago losing another. Her mind raced with thoughts of deep emotions but she knew that was not what was needed here at this place and time. Instead, she just stated the facts. "We were just doing our jobs. It’s what we’ve dedicated our lives to. Thank you." Then, she stepped back from the microphone as she looked to the woman standing next to her.

Danni stepped forward and reached to adjust the microphone to her height. First looking out over the crowd, then to her team member she began to speak. "What Dr. Trivoli has stated is true." She cleared her throat as she thought. "We…ah…we learn a lot from the different patients that we treat. Tonight’s patient taught us a very important lesson. He taught us that life is not worth living unless you can put the welfare of others over that of your own. He taught us that love is something to hold dear and to let that be your last thought when you finally are called to leave this world."

The hushed silence of the audience was immeasurable. All eyes were riveted to the petite blonde at the podium as their minds let the words sink in. It took only a few seconds for the realization of her words to illicit the horrified results, mostly from those not of the medical profession, each one thankful that they did not have to deal with situations like that in their daily work. The stunned faces needed no words to explain how they felt. It only made them think how truly precarious life was.

The moisture accumulated in Danni’s eyes until a small tear rolled slowly down her cheek. Brushing it back with her hand, she continued. "He knew how precious life and love can be. It was his last wish to hold the love of his life one last time. It is now, my wish for all of you. Thank you."

Danni stepped back from the podium, politely smiled, and shook the hand of the politician. With the polite clapping of the audience in the background, she felt the gentle touch on her shoulder and saw the hand of the surgeon resting on it. The growing level of hand clapping was beginning to burst into an occasional whoop or holler from an over-zealous advocate of what she had just said. It seemed to be catching on, as each person wanted to show their acceptance of her wish for one and all alike.

"You alright?" Garrett’s blue eyes were full of concern.

"Yeah, I’ll…I’ll be okay. Just give me a minute." ‘By the gods, I need a hug so bad right now. Gar, I need you.’

The normally stoic surgeon was touched by her friend’s emotional expression in response to the award. The pain and love that had been stated in such a moving speech touched Garrett in a way that she couldn’t quite understand. Something inside of her had stirred during it, and now she was having an insatiable urge to wrap her arms around the petite woman and never let go.

Garrett looked out into the now-standing crowd as she tried to figure her emotions out. Through the rows of tables, David was making his way to come up to where they were. Before she had a chance, Danni was lost in the whirlwind that was David while resentful blue eyes took note.

***

They left the dinner shortly after the speeches were concluded. Garrett could still see the image of Danni with David wrapped around her. She had thought that the security of his arms would help to ease that pained look from her face, but it didn’t. Instead, it had almost made it worse and that bothered the Fellow.

‘He didn’t do anything wrong, but why can’t I get used to the idea of Danni being with David?’ Garrett stared up at the ceiling of her room. This friendship thing was starting to really make her wonder about where it was she exactly fit into Danni’s life. And now, with David in the picture, the surgeon felt a need to reach out to the nurse, more than ever.

The surgeon rolled over in her bed. The events of the night were doing nothing to ease her body into a restful sleep. Finally, she just wrote it all off to experience and forced her body to drift off into the realms of Morpheus.

***

Though the woman loved to sleep, Danni could not find rest easy this night. Her mind was consumed by thoughts of David and Garrett, both. One loved her and the other was the one that she loved. It made her feel like a child caught in a lie. She could be David’s friend but she needed more than friendship from Garrett. She couldn’t fool herself any more than Garrett had with that lame limo excuse. How could she tell her now, that she loved her? It was obvious to anybody that Garrett preferred men. Besides, all that it could do is drive the woman even further away then she was now.

Trying to rid her mind of the thought of Garrett in someone’s arms other than her own, Danni repositioned her body, rolling onto her side and grabbing her pillow. Nestling down into that mound of fluff, new thoughts rose into her head. She could hear the words as clear as if they were being said right now. It was the scene from earlier that night. The trapped man worried that his wife would not know of his profound love for her.

She turned over quickly as if that would rid her mind of his torture. Instead, it followed her, proclaiming even louder his wish. ‘Tell her I love her.’ She closed her eyes begging for sleep to overtake her but the words only brought about the look on his face as he uttered them knowing he was about to die.

Bolting upright, she breathed heavily trying to calm her haunted heart. She had seen the face of death before, why was this one so disturbing to her? Her job had given her plenty of exposure to tragedy. Was it because for once in her life, she finally felt close to someone? Finally realizing what it would be like to lose that connection and never letting them know what they had meant to you.

Danni threw back the covers that seemed to be suffocating her now. She couldn’t stay here alone with only her thoughts around her. They were just too agonizing. She needed room and fresh air to breathe.

***

Having felt the urging of her bladder for relief, Garrett climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Still half asleep, she thought that she heard the muffled sounds of crying as she made her way down the hall, stopping by Danni’s door to listen. There were no sounds emanating from the room and she continued on her way.

Whether it was the shock of the cold seat on her body or the sound of the running water, her senses were coming to life. There, she heard that noise again, the muffled sound of tears. Her ears strained to detect were it was coming from as she held her breath. There it was again. Garrett’s mind flashed with images of Danni, hurt or alone. With hastening footsteps, the tall woman followed the sound.

Halfway down the stairs, Garrett could see the tightly rolled ball of human that was her friend. There, on the couch, in a fetal position, was Danni. Her emotions had withstood the storm but surrendered to its aftermath like most rescuers.

The slow, rocking motion of the nurse tugged at the surgeon’s heart. It was a sign associated with wanting and needing comfort of an emotional sort. The soft whimpers coming from the woman were as heart rendering as those of a puppy being crated for the first time.

Garrett closed her eyes against the pain that was being displayed before her. Being a healer, she knew that only time, understanding and the love of family and friends would help. She resumed her path leading to the woman so desperate for understanding.

"Danni…" Garrett’s voice was barely above a whisper, but there was no response. The surgeon reached out to stroke the wildly arrayed blonde hair and spoke her name once more. "Danni."

The motion of her head was into the hand that touched her while her green eyes lifted to meet those of blue. Danni couldn’t believe that her prayers had been answered that quickly. It seemed like only a moment or two ago that she had prayed for love to come and find her. Now, suddenly, here was the woman whom she loved standing before her. She blinked back an irate tear as she willed her hands to wipe dry her swollen eyes. "Gar!" The word was more of a sigh then anything. "I didn’t wake you, did I?" The nurse sniffed as she wiped her hands against her nightgown.

"No, I needed to use the bathroom. That’s when I heard you down here."

"Oh!"

"Danni, how about I give David a call to come over. You need someone…"

Danni shook her head. "David doesn’t understand."

"Then talk to him." Garrett sat down beside the nurse. "I can see that he loves you." ‘He better love you!’ "Give him a chance to…"

"Gar, he’s just…" Danni was reduced to tears once more.

The surgeon walked over to the hall stand and took the portable phone from its cradle. "What’s David’s number? I’m calling him." ‘I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.’ She walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Please, Gar. Don’t call David, he’ll only think I’m foolish." Danni let the lie rattle over her hollowed heart while her mind screamed out her true feelings for only her to hear. ‘You! You’re the love that I’m waiting for. Can’t you see that? What do I have to do to make you realize that its you?’ Her pleading eyes darted to Garrett, their puffy redness looking more like anger than despair. "I really don’t want him to know what I’m feeling right now. I’m not sure anyone would understand what I’m feeling."

The surgeon wrapped her arm around the small frame of the woman and pulled her in close. Letting her cheek rest on top of the blonde’s head, she lightly patted Danni’s leg. "Alright then, but only if you get some rest."

‘Okay, David. You had your chance and you blew it.’ Garrett could feel her level of annoyance rise when she thought of someone not being able to understand her friend. ‘How can anyone not understand what a kind and loving person this woman is? Why, I can feel the warmth and tenderness of her even now while I’m just touching her.’

The warmth of the nurse had started to invade her heart even before she ever came in contact with her. Garrett thought back to their first meeting in the Trauma Room. Danni’s warmth had shown then, without knowing who the surgeon really was. Soon all of the times that they had encountered one another seemed to hold some kind of memory for the often thought of cold and demanding Dr. Trivoli. Garrett wondered if now it wasn’t this woman who was the one demanding more of her heart then the surgeon knew ever existed. ‘Perhaps I need to be thinking more about this than being angered with David.’

Danni thought for a moment then nodded her head, slowly allowing her body to resume a more humanly formed structure. In doing so, she felt the brush of Garrett’s face across her hair and the gentle planting of a kiss. Her body trembled with excitement as the strength of the surgeon’s arms flexed against her body making her feel the warmth of their embrace.

Danni let out a slow sigh as she tried to imagine what it would feel like to be held in a lover’s arms. What it would feel like to be loved by someone that could hold her heart captive for all of eternity. Right now it looked like she’d never be able to find out.

She remained seated like that until Garrett’s words brought her back to reality.

"Come on, let’s get you up to bed."

The low whispered words were like an elixir to her soul. Danni felt herself being helped from the couch and headed for the stairs. With each step they took together, it was as if they had been down this path before. Somewhere in time or in some other place, but she knew that it had been this way. It was like coming home after a long absence.

Garrett guided her precious cargo with the utmost of care as they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. Her soothing voice helping to steady the nurse as they approached the door to her room. Stopping only long enough to remove the obstacle from their path, Garrett sidled through the doorway and over to the empty bed, helping to keep the momentum of the young woman from slowing.

Holding on to her friend with one hand, she reached to pick up the covers and waited for Danni to lay down. As soon as she had, Garrett pulled them up and tucked them neatly back into place. The surgeon ruffled the short blonde hair and bent down to kiss the woman like one would a child.

Danni felt the touch of the moist lips on her forehead and reached like a drowning woman for the lifeline that had been thrown to her. The nurse’s small hand clung to the arm of the surgeon. "Gar, don’t go."

"Danni you need your sleep."

The petite woman was glad for the dimly lit room. The light from the hall would not give her longing eyes away as she stared up at the woman she loved. "I don’t want to be alone tonight. Stay here with me."

"I…"

"I think that if you just hold me…" Danni could feel the bed shift as the weight of the surgeon sank down into the mattress. "I’ll fall asleep."

Garrett slid under the covers. She could feel the change of the body next to hers as the petite woman snuggled in close. With her arms tightly holding Danni in place, both spirits came to rest in a night that had brought them both accolades and sorrow, but most of all had brought them where they needed to be, together.

Chapter 8

Here it was the fifth of March and already it felt like Spring was in the air. Danni looked up to the blue sky above. She couldn’t believe that the weekend had already gone by and tomorrow would be their scheduled day in court for the rape trial of one of their patients. How fast the time was passing!

The weekend events danced through her mind. What a really different and unique weekend it had been. From the lows of losing a patient, to being honored at the Dinner on Friday night and then to the feeling of despair for not being able to verbalize your love for another human being. The epitome of Friday was waking up in that person’s arms on Saturday and feeling so right about it that she wished it could be like that every morning. The nurse felt her heart racing at the thought.

The corners of her mouth turned upward as she allowed her mind to move on with the weekend. It wasn’t anything special but rather just things that would be shared by good friends. Things like the slow-paced breakfast, the sharing of chores to once again rid the house of any speck of dust, or the quiet afternoon spent watching a movie with their feet up and sharing a huge bowl of popcorn. It was almost like there was something different from the night before with the raven-haired woman. Her mood was more open then she had ever seen it. It was nice to laugh and joke with a good friend.

Then, as the day progressed into the evening hours, Danni had noticed that Garrett started to sink back into her quiet ways. It was as if she was anticipating something going to happen, showing signs of dread as the hours advanced into night. The nurse thought back to that evening. Nothing happened, they had not even been paged out for any Flights and the world had forgotten that they even existed. There they were, lost in their own little world. Well, that was until David had called. The nurse concentrated on the time shortly after when Garrett had walked back into the kitchen as Danni was hanging up the phone. The surgeon had not said a single word, but the look on her face was one of disappointment. Danni remembered the look well. She had just said good-bye to David and that she would be waiting for him to arrive.

‘Could it be…was she?’ The petite woman thought about it for another moment. What she wouldn’t give to see the look of jealousy on that well-chiseled face. "What I wouldn’t give to see that face." She sighed and shook her head knowing full well that the idea of Garrett loving her the way she did the surgeon would be a dream come true.

Danni’s mind went back to Saturday and she thought about how Garrett had reacted after that phone call. ‘Gosh, it was like she couldn’t get out of the house fast enough.’ "I wonder what’s going on with her, any way?"

Now, David’s visit shortly after Garrett had left was anything but boring. He showed up with flowers and a box of chocolates like a lovesick boy out to impress a teenage girl. How he ever remembered that her favorite kind was dark chocolate covered cherries was beyond her. He showered her with attention, watching her move from room to room as she took care of the flowers to ensure their long life. His efforts at small talk were at first labored and nervous sounding then soon gave way to a more relaxed and comfortable conversation.

Danni had been caught up in hearing about his practice in West Virginia and all the things that he had done since moving there. She had completely forgotten about being a good hostess. She’d offered to get him something to drink and when she came back in from the kitchen, she was met with dimmed lights and soft music filling the air via the CD that was now playing on her sound system.

David had been so cute when he took the glasses from her hands and set them down on the coffee table. He then took her hand and politely asked for the honor of dancing with her. Danni was in awe and nodded in acceptance. ‘What was one friendly little dance going to hurt?’ The nurse considered the events that followed to be anything but coincidence.

With the song almost over, David had gone from whispering song lyrics to nuzzling her upper neck until she could feel the kisses inching their way down her throat. That’s when she froze. The front door had opened and the bright lights of the overhead fixture illuminated the room. Garrett had returned!

Without a word, Danni’s eyes met hers. The steely blue ones reached out at first then the growing storm raged fiercely as they moved from Danni to David. It was at that instant that the petite woman knew that some deep hidden emotion had been brought to life in Garrett. The nurse’s heart fluttered as she pushed David away from her.

There had been no exchange of words, but Danni knew what had been placed in her own heart by the communication of Garrett’s eyes. If that look meant what she thought it did…there was a glimmer of hope for them yet. With renewed faith that love would conquer all, even the heart of a stoic surgeon, Danni had worked to hasten David’s farewell.

There wasn’t a word from Garrett. The tall woman crossed to the stairs and went to her room. Danni remembered the sound of the door as it came to rest in its frame. The echo of it could still be heard in her head, even now.

Perhaps it was the upcoming court appearance playing on the surgeon’s mind that kept her in a thoughtful, moody grip for the remainder of the weekend. However, Danni wondered if something else was not on Garrett’s mind. Something that could possibly be related to the incident on Saturday evening that was being mulled over, like the pieces of a puzzle.

Looking back up to the clear blue sky above her, Danni sighed, then continued on her walk into the main doors of the hospital. It had been a while since she had driven to work without the company of the surgeon. She felt a little uneasy by it and thought of what it would be like without Garrett in her life. It was a possibility that she would have to consider now that it was March and there were less then four months to go in the Fellowship year. There was one thought that kept running through her mind: A lot can happen in four months.

***

Garrett had left the house early today. Not that anything special was happening or that she needed to be at the hospital by a certain time, the surgeon just couldn’t stay in the house any longer. She needed to be out in the open or somewhere that her mind could think clearer than it had been for the last day or so. In fact, setting there at her desk, she didn’t even know what it was that she wanted to be thinking about.

She had always known her mind. Why was she having a problem now? Better yet, what was the problem, anyway? She liked the blonde nurse and if anyone were able to draw the stoic woman out of her shell Garrett was glad that it had been her. The surgeon didn’t even mind the gentle ribbing that Danni occasionally was able to do to bring her playful side out into the open.

Garrett’s mind drifted back to Saturday evening. The earlier part of the day had gone quite well, especially after the roller coaster ride of emotions that they had been met with on Friday night. First the whole dinner thing with Ian and David, then the near mishap at the Railroad yards that had sent them both crashing to the ground. The surgeon shook her head in amazement that neither one of them were hurt in any way.

Her mind replayed the scene as it unfolded before her, the noise, and the nudge then the outright shove. ‘If you hadn’t thought fast, Gar…’ She shuddered to think of the metal coupling that would have obliterated Danni’s face and head had she not been guided out of the way. What would she have done then, seeing the decapitated lifeless form dangling from the vice-like grip of the device?

The veteran Navy Flight Surgeon grew pale at the thought of losing the other half of her team. She had grown to rely on the nurse over the last several months of working hand in hand with her. Garrett laughed. ‘How can you not bond with that woman?’ And it was true. Danni was like a breath of fresh air let into the surgeon’s tightly run and well-organized life.

Garrett wondered why she could not stand to see the petite woman with David anywhere near her. David had done nothing to the surgeon but hand off his beeper to her on that first day of her Fellowship. He seemed like a nice person. Garrett smiled as she thought about that for a second. ‘Just not the right person for Danni.’ It was funny, but that was the exact thought she had had when she walked into the house Saturday night and saw the two of them together with the dimmed lighting and the soft background music.

Garrett thought of the slightly pudgy, dusky, brown-haired man whose medium height was just barely a few inches taller than her friend. ‘How could he watch out over her? Danger follows her like a magnet.’ Sure he was quiet compared to her vivacious character, but that was due to shyness and nothing more. There was no quiet inner strength that oozed from him. Quite frankly, there was nothing about him that screamed love but the goo-goo eyes that he wore as he followed Danni’s every motion. Garrett was sure of it now. David was all wrong for the nurse, not at all what she had pictured as Danni’s perfect partner for life.

Closing her eyes, the surgeon leaned back in the chair and tried to picture the image of the other half of Danni’s soul. She could see a tall statuesque form whose coloring was the opposite of the fair skin and hair of the nurse. The gentle mannerisms of Danni would be complimented by the power that exuded from her soulmate. A power that would be used for good and righteousness while tempered with compassion. Garrett saw Danni as a force of life, the up-lifter of souls, knowing that anyone who would be so closely connected with her would be a leader in their own right.

The surgeon was pondering the thought, her expression one of sereneness and peace. Happy in the fact that she knew what the woman needed.

Rene Chabot stood in the doorway, admiring the peaceful face of his often-troubled friend. It was rare to see her so caught up in her dreams, especially ones that brought such an enjoyable smile to her face. He dared not move for fear of breaking the spell that someone had cast upon her. Finally he could see the fluttering of her eyelashes as she began to come back to the present.

The French-Canadian took a step backwards, bringing the door with him, feigning a first step into the occupied room. His startled face at her presence aided in the deception. "Garrett, my friend, what brings you in so early?"

The raven-haired woman smirked then answered. "I wish I knew myself, Rene."

"I don’t understand. You looked so peaceful and happy when I first saw you." The tall, thin man sat on the corner of the desk. "I thought, perhaps, you finally found someone to make your dreams with. No one looks like you just did without thinking of a loved one. Eh?"

"I don’t know Rene, it’s not all that easy." Garrett shifted in her chair, the sign of a nervous mind. "I…ah…I’m finding my patience really being tried by someone. I just can’t seem to not get upset when they come around or even the sound of the name gets me going."

"Surely that person was not the one that your were thinking of when I walked in. The look on your face wasn’t one of annoyance at all."

Her eyebrow inched its way higher on her forehead. "Meaning?"

Dr. Chabot slid his body to the far corner of the desk. "That maybe your feeling of annoyance is out of love for some other person." He watched the expression on her face turn from menacing to thoughtful. "Maybe it is the possibility of love that you are annoyed at."

"Love! Chabot you think that the world is filled with nothing but love. That’s all you married people see is love." She pushed her chair back and got up to leave.

Rene reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder, stopping her as she passed by. "Love doesn’t make you weak, Garrett. Love can be a very powerful thing when the right two people are drawn together. It is something that can move mountains and bring calm to a troubled soul."

Crystal blue eyes stared into his. "I’m sure that it is, Rene. But I wouldn’t know what love was if it was standing beside me."

The thin Fellow withdrew his hand. "And that is because you are thinking with your head and not your heart." He motioned to his body parts in mention. "Remember Garrett, open your heart and love will come to you."

"Rene…"

"Think about it. That’s all I ask." He looked at his colleague with hope in his eyes.

Her eyes pleaded with his but it was a fight that she knew she could not win. Finally she nodded. "Okay, I’ll think about it. I’m thinking about everything else, why not love, too?" She watched the corners of his mouth raise up and a broad smile stretch across his face.

***

The warming trend in early March was a sure sign of things to come. The old saying is that the warmer it gets, the more traumas there are. Now, after several months of below freezing weather, having the temperature reach up into the fifty degrees Fahrenheit range would only bring out all of the people crazed with cabin fever. The E.R. was gearing up for an unusually busy day.

Not having anything special to work on, Danni volunteered to help out. If a call for the Flight Team came in, she would meet up with Garrett at the helipad. The young nurse found it different to be working with the daylight staff. Not that she didn’t have any friends among them but just that Mom and Rosie were missing from the group. Her day progressed quickly as she rolled up the sleeves of her Flight Suit and got back into the swing of E.R. nursing.

Before Danni realized it, the shift was over and she was headed for the locker room to collect her things to leave. As she pushed open the door, the nurse was meet by a rather startled Charge nurse on the other side. "Sorry, Mom!"

"You’re here late. Garrett tied up with something?" The older nurse studied Danni’s face.

Shaking her head, the blonde nurse moved into the locker room. "I wouldn’t know, Mom, we drove in separately."

Karen’s face was full of concern. "Did you say anything to her about…"

"No, I’m still not sure what her response would be." Danni shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I really need to be thinking about that."

Karen reached out and patted the petite nurse’s shoulder. "You’ll know when the time is right. Something will give you a sign. I’m sure of it."

"I hope so, Mom. This year is two-thirds over already." The young nurse walked toward her locker, opening it. "Say, Mom! You and Rosie got subpoenaed, too, didn’t you?"

"Yeah, just what I want to do instead of sleep tomorrow," Karen made a face, "go to court."

Danni looked up at the woman, her eyes sparkling as she voiced her idea. "Why don’t we pick you up? That way you wouldn’t have to drive and we could all go together, at least for tomorrow."

The Charge Nurse looked seriously at Danni. "You afraid to be with her on that long drive?"

"MOM!" The young nurse chastised her friend. "I’m not afraid of Gar." She wrinkled up her nose and squinted at her. "I just thought that maybe you could see some sign…"

Karen rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Okay! I brought some clothes to change into, pick me up at quarter to eight here in the E.R. But I’m not promising to see anything after working all night."

"Okay, Mom! I’ll come in and get you."

Danni left the locker room feeling a little more at ease than she had for a while. If she couldn’t spot some sign then maybe Karen could. The nurse made her way out of the building and to the parking garage. After a quick ride up to the third level, she was headed for her car when the sound of the familiar beeps stopped her in mid step.

"Damn! Well, at least I didn’t get all the way home first." She reached for her pager and looked at the message that was displayed. ‘The E.R., I wonder if I forgot something.’ Then she remembered that any use of the beeper had to be through the Command Desk. "Something’s up!" Danni promptly turned, hastening her steps back to the building from which she had come.

***

The tall woman felt out of place sitting on the bench of the hospital’s chapel. Garrett felt lost in the small room with its nondescript religious décor. It was a place that many people came to contemplate and make decisions in reference to a loved one or even themselves. It was a place where one was supposed to feel nearer to your maker, the higher being. The surgeon felt nothing of the like. She was still puzzled as to why she reacted so strongly towards David. Why was it not helping her? Was it because she hadn’t ventured anywhere near a house of God since she was old enough to be on her own? Maybe her name had simply been forgotten by the powers that be.

Disgusted from lack of enlightenment in her plight, Garrett sighed and resigned herself to being one of the hapless few who could neither believe nor disprove the power of God. ‘I guess you have to use it often to keep it with you.’ The only thing that Garrett Trivoli knew that she could count on was herself and the skills that she possessed. She’d done that for the better part of her life. Why would she think that it would be any different now?

Garrett’s mind drifted back to a time in her life where going to church with her family was a Sunday morning routine. Her parents proudly were displaying their faith and working to instill it into their children. The surgeon thought of the last real time she was at a church. One that she at least prayed at. It was the day of her family’s funeral. After that, she saw no reason to go, not by herself anyway. It had always been a family function and without a family, church just didn’t make much sense to her.

She got up to leave and felt the urge to genuflect. It was something that her mind had at least remembered in association with religion. Casting a watchful eye around the room and seeing no one, she bowed her head and lowered her body down on one bent knee. As she looked up to the altar the sound of beeps emanated from her pocket. Reaching for it, she viewed the message and silenced it in one well-practiced motion. The number was familiar to her. It was one that she had called often enough during her first several months as a Fellow. ‘The E.R.! If it’s that McCormick again…’ The woman’s blue eyes flashed with fire. Garrett squared her shoulders and left the small vestibule to the gods, setting her course straight for the E.R.

***

Stepping off the elevator, Garrett let her long strides propel her across the lobby of the hospital. The revolving doors of the entrance were in motion as she came by them and the petite form of her teammate stepped out into the lobby. It was the first time that either of them had been in the presence of the other all day. Each one of them anticipated a cold reception from the other only to find the soft warm glow of friendship when their eyes met. It was like they had never been out of the other’s close proximity

"Hey!" Danni smiled as she fell into step with the surgeon.

"Hey, yourself." The first signs of her lopsided grin surfaced. "You got the page, too?"

"Yeah, I wonder what’s up?" The nurse reached out for the button on the wall that controlled the automatic doors leading into the E.R.

"Not sure." Garrett slowed her stride. Waiting for the doors to open fully, together the team stepped into the E.R. that was full of activity.

The red, frizzed hair of Dr. Jamie Potter could be seen sitting at the monitor screen of patients occupying the E.R. The serious look on her face was a real sign that something major was going on. Her eyes darted back and forth across the screen as her mind started playing its game of patient chess. It was her job as E.R. Attending this evening to clear out as many patients as she possibly could and in record time.

The Flight Team crossed the hall and stood at the desk. "Jamie, do you know why we’ve been paged to your E.R.?" Garrett stood leaning on the desk with Danni right beside her.

"Never thought that I’d be calling in you guys." Dr. Potter pushed her glasses up on her nose. "There’s been a huge pile up on the Parkway East. They gave us a report of at least seventeen cars. We’re not sure how many will be injured yet. My guess is at least twenty or more."

"What do you need us to do?" Danni was eager.

"You two do what you do best; act as a team. I’m pairing up a nurse and a physician for every two rooms. I figure that we can staff at least six teams that way. That will leave the Attending Trauma Surgeon for the first O.R. case, with Dr. Chabot and then Garrett as back ups. Until then, you can help us wade through the mess down here." The freckled-faced physician looked to Garrett for her approval. "Sorry, but I’m crying wolf to cover my butt."

"You sure that they won’t need us at the scene?" The level head of the surgeon was evident.

"Not sure right now. We’ll cross that bridge if we need to."

The surgeon and nurse turned their heads to look at each other. Then nodding their heads with smiles tugging at their lips, the reply came. "Just tell us where and which patients to cover." The excitement of being back in the Trauma Rooms and the O.R. was very appealing to Garrett. She had missed it and any chance to get her hands back in some operation was strictly a godsend to her.

Jamie looked up at the two women in front of her, happy that they were so willing to lend a hand. "You’ll be in Trauma Room Three." She smiled at them and immediately resumed her activity at the computer screen.

The hastened pace of the team found them at their assigned room, donning the lead apron, trauma gowns, masks and shields as they had done many times before. They readied themselves and stood in silent anticipation of the arriving patient load. Looking down the Trauma Hall, Garrett could see the other teams of paired off medical staff all waiting for their chance to save a life.

From the other end of the hall the voice of the French Canadian could be heard. "So, Dr. Trivoli, do you remember what you have to do? I mean, with the proper equipment and a room that doesn’t lift off." Rene was teasing his friend and trying his best to relieve some of the tension of the impending trauma.

Danni nudged her friend and Garrett nodded as she chuckled at his implied joke. "We could fly circles around you, just watch us."

Danni looked up at the surgeon, not sure that she had heard the woman correctly. ‘Did she just say we?’

"You know, Rene, working with few instruments leaves a lot of room for intuition. I’ll stake my reputation on the intuition of two women," Garrett motioned with her hand to Danni and herself, "any day."

The blonde nurse let the corners of her mouth turn up into a smile while her mind became ecstatic. ‘She really does consider us a team.’ Danni reveled in the knowledge that she was being accepted as an equal member of the Flight Team and by the surgeon herself.

The reverberating sound of the overhead announcement put a quick end to the playfulness between the two Fellows as it blurted out its message. "Traumas at the back doors! Traumas at the back doors. Three ambulances and more on the way."

The laughter and smiling faces now turned to somber professionalism as all the members of the orchestrated cast assembled to their stations. For the rest of the group, it was a time of harried chaos as the roadway disaster descended down upon them while the members of the Flight Team thought of it as just another challenge to their capable talents.

Looking across the stretcher in Trauma Room # 3, Garrett felt right at home with Danni as her nurse. The surgeon’s eyes sparkled as her mouth turned up into a smile underneath the mask she wore. It pleased her to have been paired with such a nurse.

The tall woman was finding herself to be very lucky lately, and wondering what her lucky charm truly was. Standing there, waiting for her patient to arrive, Garrett began to believe that it was Danni who was making all the difference in her life. ‘I’m going to have to think about this. Could she be my pot of gold?’ The surgeon thought back to something that her mother had always told her when she was growing up. ‘When you least expect it, there your leprechaun will come. You’ll know it by the color of the gold.’ Then her mother would always wink at her then laugh as if she knew what was waiting for the daughter that she loved. Garrett smirked as she watched the fluorescent light dance over the golden blonde hair of the nurse. She stood almost mesmerized by it.

"Gar, is something wrong?" Danni grew concerned by the woman’s concentrated stare.

The chuckle sounded in her voice. "Nope, not a thing wrong at all. I was just admiring the color of you hair."

The nurse shrugged her shoulders. "Okay!" Danni giggled like a schoolgirl for a moment as she questioningly looked at the surgeon. "Hey," the nurse caught sight of the Medic wheeling in the stretcher, "trauma’s here."

The brisk steps of the Medics delivered the patient to their room with an air of efficiency. There was more work to do and little time to do it in. The blunt facts of the patient’s role in the ongoing disaster were stated and the patient transferred to the stretcher inside of the room. With their job done, the Medics retreated and readied themselves and their equipment for the next patient.

The surgeon mulled over the facts as she began her primary survey of the blood soaked patient. The darting eyes keyed the surgeon into the panic that held onto the woman while the gasps and attempts at words provided enough to say that she was exchanging air on her own. By the look of the blood that covered the patient, Garrett knew there was an arterial bleed coming from somewhere. Her eyes moved quickly over the pattern of the stained clothing, trying to discern the source. The blood splatters were all in a downward motion causing Garrett’s trained eye to move further up the patient’s body.

There, atop of the woman’s head, was a rather large bulky dressing whose telltale smatterings of coagulated blood were evidence enough of what would be found underneath it.

"Danni, set me up a tray for suturing! She’s got an active bleeder under that dressing." The surgeon positioned herself at the head of the patient as she pulled the dressing away to take a look. The spurting, bright-red stream pumped its way from under the wrap as it left marks along its path. The crimson droplets splattered as they struck the protective shield the surgeon was wearing. Blue eyes squinted in reaction to the spray. Garrett kept looking for the source and within seconds found it. "Looks like it’s the temporal artery." She grabbed the sterile gauze that Danni held out to her and pressed it on the site, trying to stop the flow of blood.

The patient was aware of her loss of blood. It wasn’t hard to see the red staining her clothing or feel the warmth of the flowing life source. "I’m gonna die." The hysteria was setting in even more now. "Do something! Chris, oh my god! Chris!"

Danni leaned in to the patient so that it was easy for her face to be seen. "You’re in good hands, ma’am. We’re not going to let you die. Just hold very still and let us do our job. Okay?"

"But Chris…I have to know how Chris is."

The patient’s eyes bore into the nurse with such intensity that it sent a chill through her body. Danni took her hand and held it. "Chris was in the car with you?"

"Yes! I need to know…it...it can’t end this way. We’ve been together too long. "

"Let me check. Maybe Chris was brought in already." Danni’s eyes conveyed her sincerity. She worked her hand loose from the patient’s grasp as she soothed her with gentle pats. Danni studied the patient’s face trying to put an age to the woman. The blood masked her features but if pressed for one, the nurse could safely say that the woman was in her fifties.

"Don’t worry, I’ll find out what happened to your husband."

The patient’s eyes widened at the statement. Her eyes then darted around the room as though she was fighting some inner battle with herself. "There were four of us in the car, Chris, Bobbie, Charlie and me."

"I’ll get the Social Worker to see if they’re here. Let’s get you taken care of first, shall we." Danni’s reassuring smile put the patient at ease.

The nurse stepped into the hallway outside of the Trauma Room. It was a frenzied scene from some hyperactive movie. The scurrying feet of Medics could be seen coming and going as they delivered their patients into the care of nurses and physicians. The hither to and fro maneuvers of the Technologists from the Radiology Department added to the chaotic scene as they moved from room to room with their cassettes waiting to be developed showing the various vital body parts of the trauma patients. The fact that there were not collisions of the parties involved was a miracle in itself.

Danni scanned the area only to find the Social Worker nowhere insight.

‘Alex, where are you?’ The petite nurse turned back into the room, grabbing a suture tray and Mayo stand, she readied the instruments for the surgeon to use.

"Ma’am, you’ve got an artery that needs to be sewn to stop the bleeding." Garrett spoke softly to the patient. "It’s going to hurt just a bit but I promise you when it’s time to suture up the cut we’ll be giving you some numbing medicine."

The scared faint voice of the patient answered her. "Okay."

"Danni, be ready with some 4x4 gauze, will you. I’m going to need you to blot the blood away after I put the first suture in."

The nurse responded and stood ready for her part in the procedure as she waited for the signal from Garrett to take the absorbent gauze pad off of the site. The delft maneuvering of the skilled hands of the surgeon went through the motions that she had practiced thousands of times in her career. With the hemostat held tightly in her right hand, she picked up the curved needle with the 2-0 Silk threaded through it. The sharp needle pierced the skin in a tethering act to tie off the pumping artery. Her right wrist rolled with a motion that worked the needle and thread upon itself in a knotting effect, the fingers of her left hand helping as they held the loose end of the silk thread. Each set of motions being paused only momentarily as the nurse blotted away any escaping material.

After a minute or two, the relaxed sigh could be heard coming from the surgeon. "There," she let Danni blot it one last time, "I think we got it stopped now." Garrett tilted her head from side to side, looking for any possible oozing of blood from the site.

Danni read off the data that was being displayed across the monitor. "BP 146 over 82, Heart Rate 102, and Oxygen Saturation at 96."

"Danni, give her a 500cc bolus of fluids. That will help to bring her heart rate down."

"Okay, Doc. We’ve got Lactated Ringers running wide open for that bolus." The nurse opened up the drip rate on the intravenous fluids, taking note as to how much was left in the bag. "You should be feeling a little better in just a little while. The fluid will help compensate for the blood that you lost."

"Thank you." The patient was feeling a little more at ease in the situation now. Her mind was still heavy with the weight of her loved one’s safety. "Could you please see if my Chris is here. I’m really scar…worried."

The surgeon looked over at Danni. "Go, see if you can find Chris for her. I’ll finish out the secondary survey and see if we can’t get her out of this room."

The nurse nodded, then looked down at the patient. "Be right back." She winked and went in search of Chris.

"I hope Chris is alright. I don’t know what I’d do without h…" the patient stopped before she could finish the word. "That nurse is so nice. You two work well together. Have you been doing that long?"

Garrett smiled underneath her mask, "It seems like forever sometimes but no, I just arrived in Pittsburgh eight months ago."

"Oh, I thought…maybe…"

"Let me finish your exam and by that time Danni should be back with word on the rest of the people in your car."

The surgeon went about doing her job as the patient wondered how she could have been so wrong about the relationship between the nurse and the woman examining her. She had seen the way they worked together, the silent communication. It was so much like her and Chris.

The expertise of the surgeon coupled by the quickly procured radiographs of the patient’s cervical spine, chest and abdomen soon brought Garrett to the conclusion that the head wound was the patient’s only real injury. Aside from a CT Scan of her head, there was nothing left but to clean her up and suture the laceration on the side of her face.

Garrett stood at the viewer outside of the Trauma Room going over the patient’s films one last time when Danni came back to the room.

"Did you find her friends and husband?"

Danni hesitated a moment. "Friends, yes…husband, no."

"Maybe the next grouping of ambulances will…"

Danni laid a hand on the surgeon’s arm. "Gar, Chris is another female."

"Why wouldn’t she just tell us? It doesn’t make a difference to me."

"Consider her age. She probably grew up hiding the relationship. She may have been a teenager in the day of free love during the sixties but there were still some very taboo things, that being one of them." Danni looked in on the patient for a moment then continued in a whisper. "Bobbie and Charlie are both males. They probably used each other as cover."

"Oh. Where is this Chris, I’ll go see how she’s doing?"

"She’s on the next ambulance in. I pulled a few favors from some of the Medics to find her."

Garrett nodded. "Let’s get this one into another room then for suturing and we’ll take her friend next in Trauma Three."

Danni smiled and considered how much she loved seeing the gentle nature of the stoic surgeon. "Okay, I’ll get her moved and hooked up with Plastic Surgery right away."

The surgeon stripped off her gloves, gown and mask. Rolling them into a ball, she stuffed them down into the trash. She stood there thinking to herself. ‘Now why did I think of Danni when she told me that the husband was a woman? What could I have been thinking of?’ The image of the golden haired nurse was plastered across her mind. Garrett looked back to the Trauma Room only to see Danni wheeling the patient out and into the room directly across the hall. The surgeon reached out and pulled another fresh gown to dress in now for Chris.

***

"Ma’am, I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name."

The patient smiled slightly and offered her hand. "Marie…Marie Remhouse, and you are?"

"Danni Bossard." The nurse smiled back. "I’ve made arrangements for someone to come and take care of the cut on your face."

"Thank you." Marie’s eyes narrowed as she formulated the question in her head. "Chris, is…is she here?" The patient closed her eyes when she realized that she had slipped, not wanting to see the disgusted look on the nurse’s face. ‘What will this nurse think of me…us…now?’

Danni reached out to comfort the woman, her hand coming to rest on top of the patient’s. "I know what it’s like to love a woman that deeply." Her words were whispered and her eyes conveyed the intent. "Gar…I mean…Dr. Trivoli and I will see that she’s well taken care of. I’ve made arrangements for us to treat her like we did you. No one else will need to know."

The tears flowed freely down Marie’s face. Their secret would be kept and no one would be any the wiser. "Thank you." The words were caught up with sobs of relief.

The surgeon had been standing in the doorway, watching the actions of her friend for few moments before she spoke out. "Danni!" Garrett stood looking into the room. "Our patient…Chris is arriving now. They’ve just pulled up outside."

The nurse wondered how long and how much of the conversation Garrett had heard. ‘Too late now, if she doesn’t know already. Guess that I just outed myself.’ Danni nodded in affirmation. "Be right there, Doc."

Marie watched the pained look on the nurse’s face. "She’s the one, isn’t she?"

"That obvious, eh?" Danni sighed. "Seems like everyone knows but her." The nurse turned to view the now empty doorway.

It was time for the patient to comfort the nurse. "Don’t give up. She’ll see it and soon enough." Marie now patted the small hand that was clamped onto the bed rail. "It makes a world of difference in life to be loved."

"I’ve got to go. I’ll tell Chris that you are…" Danni’s eyes twinkled, "THINKING…of her." With that, the nurse walked out of the room.

***

The sound of the overhead alert announced the next wave of incoming wounded to the busy E.R. personnel. "Trauma in the Department. Trauma in the Department."

Danni stood in the hallway making sure to direct the patient known only as Chris into the right room. The burly looking Medics with the balding man passed her by and turned in the direction of Trauma Room One. Next in through the doors was a face that seemed familiar to her. She studied the Medic and realized that it was the young man from her famed ambulance trip with Garrett from the annual softball game.

‘Gosh, I hope he doesn’t recognize me dressed like this.’ Her mind thought back to the upset stomach and surprised look on his face when she opened the door to the bathroom. ‘I didn’t know anyone was in there. The door wasn’t locked.’

The next stretcher in the line was upon her. "Where to?" The young Medic said, not recognizing her.

"Is this Chris?" Danni peered at the face of the patient.

"Chris…is…my name. How do you know…"

Danni pointed the way. "Trauma Room Three." She let them go first, then fell in line next to the patient’s head. "Marie told us that you’d be coming." She winked and followed along. The nurse looked at the patient’s wildly curled short locks of gray hair and smiled involuntarily. It reminded her of a pre-school stick figure drawing, especially since the patient had the body to match it.

The patient nodded as best she could being in a protective collar and strapped onto a backboard. "That’s Marie, always watching out for me," she muttered as her face showed the pain that she was in.

The group whisked into the room where they were met by the tall surgeon. Her blue eyes looked directly into the patient’s eyes as she greeted her. "Chris, I’m Dr. Trivoli. I’m here to help you. Can you tell me where you hurt?"

"My belly, Doc. It hurts like hell."

The advancement of the stretcher stopped and each member of the team grabbed on to the backboard.

"Ready, on my count. One, two, three." The strong voice of the surgeon directed the movement. "Airway clear, respiration’s good. No obvious signs of external bleeding." The surgeon cast her eyes over the woman’s clothed body. "We’re going to be cutting your clothing off and examining you more closely. Just tell us if we are hurting you at any time."

The soft sound of a resigned voice was heard coming from the patient. "Okay."

Danni quickly cut up the sleeve of the shirt and exposed her side of the woman’s chest. Shoving the trauma shears into her leg pocket on her Flight Suit, she grabbed the wires and connected them to the already placed electrode discs on the patient’s chest. When the last one was in place, she turned to view the monitor on the wall behind her, studying the tracing.

"Heart Rate 122 and showing a regular rhythm." Now she turned her attention back to the patient, placing a blood pressure cuff around the woman’s arm and a clip onto her finger to measure the concentration of oxygen in her blood. Once again she turned to the electronic monitor readouts and voiced their numbers for all in the room to hear. "BP 94 over 48, Respiration’s 28, Oxygen Saturation 90 per cent."

By this time, the surgeon had cut off her side of the shirt, then moved to the skirt and removed the pantyhose from the woman, leaving her body exposed for a better visual examination. The systematic laying of hands by the Fellow began with the shoulders, then the ribs and worked its way down the bony frame looking for any signs of deformity. Seeing and feeling none, Garrett now concentrated on the abdominal area, first feeling for femoral pulses. They were present but not as strong as she would have liked them to be.

The surgeon let her fingers gingerly press into Chris’s midsection. "Does this hurt at all?"

The scrunched up face was her only answer initially, and then the agony in the voice could be heard. "Yes!"

Garrett’s eyes looked up to the monitoring devices as she moved her hands around the abdominal area. ‘Pain on palpation, heart rate tachycardia, and blood pressure down. She’s got something going on in that belly.’

The sound of her voice commanded the urgency of the orders she rattled off. "Give me a Chest, Pelvis and Lateral C-Spine X-ray, now! Danni call Radiology for a CT Scan of the Abdomen, then get another I.V. started. I’ll draw the blood for gases and add a type and cross for some blood."

The room became a flurry of activity as each professional went to the business of their jobs. Each one realizing that it was going to be a fight against time with the spiraling downward spin of the patient‘s condition.

It was times like this that Garrett Trivoli had trained for. Her skills had been honed to as near perfection as humanly possible and then some, to meet her own lofty expectations for herself. The surgeon wondered how she would feel if this patient was Danni. Could she be holding up like Chris’s lover, Marie, or would she be even worse? She glanced across the hall at the form lying on the stretcher draped and being sutured. She knew then what she had to do, and that was to save another from the clutches of her elite group.

"Scans are backed up at least 45 minutes." The words tumbled out of Danni’s mouth. "Do you want to do an Ultrasound or DPL?"

Garrett fixed the last of the test tubes with the blood samplings. "Ultrasound! Call the O.R. and tell them to get a room ready for an acute traumatic abdomen."

Danni placed a warmed sheet over the lower half of the patient as the surgeon pulled the ultrasound machine out of the corner of the room. ‘I know that you’re bleeding. I just need some hint from where.’ She quickly typed in the patient’s name and squeezed out the cold gel onto Chris’s abdomen, spotting it here and there in the most strategic places. Placing the probe into the first mound of gel, Garrett rocked her hand as she scanned for any visible defect in the organs underneath it. "There’s blood in the pericolic gutter." The surgeon moved the probe to the next heaped up mound of gel, repeating the same motions. With each visual screen that showed on the unit’s monitor, it was evident that Chris was bleeding from several sources in her belly. There would be only one prudent thing to do.

"Danni, call the O.R. and tell them that we’re on our way." She wiped off the probe of gel and pushed the machine out of the way. "Chris, you got some damage to the organs in your belly. I’m going to need to get in there and fix them."

Chris blinked back a tear. "Okay, I understand." She paused then reached out to Danni getting her attention. "Marie…you’ll tell her?"

Danni nodded then moved closer to Chris. "Anything that you want." Their eyes met and the compassion was evident.

"Tell her I love her..." Chris whispered as though it were her dying wish, "Then, now and forever." She grabbed the nurse’s gloved hand and clutched it upward toward her mouth then kissed it. "Give her that from me."

Danni nodded in understanding. She kept silent fearing her voice to waver from the emotions she was feeling inside her own body. The tears were now forming in her eyes and she blinked several times to halt their motion. Finally she took in a breath and spoke. "You’ll be able to tell her all those things yourself. We’re not giving up on you yet." She looked over to Garrett and then back to the patient. "You’re in good hands with her. I’d trust her with my own life." Danni reached out and wiped the lone tear that cascaded down Chris’s cheek.

The surgeon mindlessly disrobed from the trauma room apparel as she studied the X-rays of her patient on the viewer. Satisfied that nothing else would be of any concern, she stepped back into the room. "Okay, let’s package up and get up to the O.R. now!" The words were out before she realized it. She, Garrett Trivoli was going to operate!

***

The evening hours had now slipped into the darkness of night when Danni was finally able to get a free minute to find where Marie had been given a bed on the 23 hour observation unit. The efficiency with which Dr. Jamie Potter had been clearing out the E.R. was amazing. There seemed to be none of the usual time delays in getting patients out of the E.R. and to their assigned rooms.

Now, finally after five hours of adrenaline filled activity in the E.R., Danni was standing outside of Marie’s room. She collected her thoughts before entering and wished that she had more to say. The last time she had called into the O.R., she was told that there had been some liver lacerations and that the spleen was removed. They were closing now.

The nurse could hear the sound of restless movements and guessed that sleep would be an elusive thing for Marie tonight. Danni knew that it would be the last thing on her mind if she were worried about someone she loved. ‘Garrett, when are you going to wake up and see?’

The sound of muffled crying became evident, tugging at Danni’s heart. She couldn’t leave knowing the state of Marie’s emotions. At least not until they knew for sure from Garrett what Chris’s outcome would be. The nurse had every confidence in the world in the surgeon, but there was always the possibility of something going wrong. ‘By the gods, don’t let it come to that.’

Danni silently offered up a prayer for both the women in the O.R. right now. Chris, for the obvious reasons and Garrett, so that her skills as a surgeon would keep another potential member of the lone survivors group from feeling the same way she had for most of her life, alone.

The nurse stood in the doorway, waiting for a pause in the sound of the crying. It didn’t stop, but instead only grew in its intensity. Danni raised her hand and knocked gently against the opened door.

It was a moment before Marie realized that the sound she heard was not of her making. Somewhat startled, she quickly dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and sniffed in the remainder of her tears. It would have to wait until she was by herself. Clearing her throat from its hoarseness, she croaked out the words. "Come in." Gathering up the spent tissues in her hand she hurriedly tried to hide them from sight. ‘Gosh, don’t let this be bad news.’ Marie’s brow furrowed with her growing fear of the unknown.

The figure bathed in light from the hall stood like a guardian angel at the door. The form moved into the room with such grace that, to Marie, it seemed to float. The sullen woman closed her eyes hoping desperately that this apparition was not some form of good-bye from her longtime lover. As much as she wanted to be in her presence, she didn’t want it to be like this.

A single tear broke through the dam of closed eyelids and embittered self-restraint. Marie could feel it escaping down over her cheek. Then, she felt the warm touch to her cheek and heard the soft words on her ears. ‘No! No! If I don’t listen, if I don’t hear that…then she can’t be gone.’ She tried to shut the world out of her life, out of her love, out of this time.

The words would not stop, but instead continued on. The soft soothing tone of the voice seemed mellow against the dark of the night with its growing fears lurking in every shadow. Finally Marie forced one eye to open, taking in the vision in front of her. It was not a heavenly body to the forlorn woman, anything that did not resemble her soulmate was a godsend.

"Marie?" Danni looked upon the patient lying in the bed as she tried to ascertain her emotional state. "It’s me, Danni. I’m the nurse that took care of you with Dr. Trivoli in the Trauma Room."

The tiny gasp at the recognition of the nurse coincided with her heart as it fluttered with relief. "I…I remember you."

Danni smiled and let her hand come to rest on the woman’s shoulder. "I hope you don’t mind." The nurse motioned to the drop of moisture on her finger. "I’ve always thought that a single tear shared between two isn’t as hard to bare as one shed alone."

At first, the idea didn’t make sense to Marie, but the more that she thought about it, it made the most sense that she had ever heard. It was in this light that the woman let the corners of her mouth twitch upward into a half smile, not wanting to aggravate the stitches that had been used to close the laceration on the side of her face.

"How did one so young get to be so wise?" The whispered voice challenged the nurse.

"I think that sometimes I’m older than dirt. Pretty good disguise…eh?" Danni winked and let her broad smile shine through the abyss that the woman was climbing out of.

The older woman began to smile nervously then stopped with the twinging pain that resulted from the stitches in her face. "Oww!"

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you hurt. Really, I just thought that maybe you’d like to have someone to talk to…I mean…while we wait to hear about Chris." Danni was amazed at the delicate features of the woman before her. Now that the bloodstains were all removed, it allowed the beauty of the woman to grab you at first sight. She still had the youthful skin and physical appearance of a much younger person, the tinges of gray at her temples adding a well seasoned look. Her hazel eyes sparkled with the attention she was being given.

Marie nodded her head. "Yes, I think that I might like that." She studied the nurse trying to figure her out. "You always dress like that?" She pointed to the Flight Suit.

Danni looked down at herself. "No, actually we were paged out to assist with the trauma disaster. I’m the Flight Nurse on the Flight Surgeon’s Team."

"Your doctor…she’s the Fight Surgeon?"

"Yeah," Danni nodded her head as her smile grew bigger. "She’s the one operating on Chris in the O.R." Danni face brightened as she thought about the surgeon. "Gar…er…Dr. Trivoli is a great surgeon. I’ve seen her do things that an ordinary surgeon wouldn’t even think of. Chris is in the best of hands."

"Oh, is it…I mean…was she bad," Marie bit her lip, "They won’t tell me anything about her."

"Do you two have a legal document…a written power of attorney?"

"No, Chris wouldn’t think about it. She said that we were too young to worry about things like that." Marie tried to get her mind off what her life had been. "You seem to think very highly of this surgeon. Have you known her long?"

The nurse had to think about how to answer that question. "You know there are times that I think I’ve known her for eons but in the reality of it all, I only met her on July first of last year." Danni shook her head. "I guess living with someone, you get to know them better than you know yourself."

"Then you two are…"

The smile faded from the nurse’s face. "No, we just share the house that I own. She’s a Fellow and her year will be up in a few more months."

"She’s going to stay, isn’t she?" Marie found herself wanting it to be so.

Danni shrugged her shoulders. "I…I don’t know." Now it was the nurse’s turn to look for another subject. "Chris told me to tell you something for her." She paused trying to remember the exact words. "She said to tell you: ‘Tell her I love her...Then, now and forever.’ Yeah, that’s it." Danni grabbed the older woman’s hand and clutched it upward toward her mouth then kissed it. "Give her that from me, she said." The petite woman looked, trying to gauge the effect that it was having on the woman before her.

Marie’s face paled and her eyes searched the nurse’s face. "How? Those phrases are what Chris always says to me when we are apart from one another. How did you know?"

"She told me, right before she went up to surgery."

"That’s my Chris, always worried about me." Her voice trailed off as her mind wondered down a timeless path of their souls’ journey together.

"How long…I mean if you don’t mind…How long have you been together?"

"Not long enough." The patient smiled thinking about their time together. "It’s been over 35 years since we first met."

Danni pulled a chair over closer to the bed and sat down on it. Her full attention now focused on the woman in the bed. "I’m curious, how did you know that you were…I mean…that she was…gay?"

"Hmmm…You know back then being gay wasn’t as accepted as it is today for you young folks. You really put yourself out on a limb if you just came out and said anything."

"Oh, I see. It’s not any easier today, either." Danni sighed. "I’ve always known that I didn’t fit in with the way my mother had my life planned out. I just didn’t know what it was that I wanted until now."

"I guess that would be the tall, dark-haired surgeon?" The older woman watched Danni cautiously as a blush tinged her cheeks.

"I’m friends with her but I’m not sure that she’s…"

"Gay?"

The nurse nodded her head. "I don’t even have a clue."

Marie reached out her hand and let it rest down on top of Danni’s cloth-covered knee. "How about I tell you the story of me and Chris? Maybe it will help you decide about the surgeon."

Danni’s green eyes lifted and stared directly into Marie’s hazel eyes. "You’d do that? Tell me your story?"

Marie nodded. "I’m not going to sleep and if you’re willing to listen…"

The nurse smiled. "You’d do that for me?"

"Chris trusted you with her words, why not me with our story?"

Danni leaned onto the bed. "I’m ready when you are."

Now it was Marie’s turn to blush. She paused to collect her thoughts then started telling the story of her love.

"Back in the Sixties free love was all the rage, that was if you were a heterosexual couple. I met Chris when I was out one day for a long walk down by the Point. I used to love standing there and watching the rivers come together." Marie let her mind imagine herself there. "I used to see this skinny girl always fishing off the wharf. She hardly ever caught anything, at least while I was there. But everyday she would be sitting with that pole in her hands. Each day I'd walk a little closer until one day I was right next to her. Scared the daylight out of her when I asked her what she used for bait."

Danni smiled. "Do you fish, Marie?"

"No, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. I figured that it was the only thing to talk about." She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, to make a long story short, finally one day after a month or so, she invited me to sit down and offered me one of her poles to use."

"I take it that you did?"

"You better believe it. How else could I sit by her and talk for hours on end. She wasn’t too gabby when we first met but over the years, Lordy, she can talk your arm off now." They both giggled at same time.

"So how did you finally get together?"

"I got some bad news one-day, about a friend of mine in the army. He was stationed in Vietnam. He’d been shot and I wasn’t taking it too well. Chris offered to walk me home but instead we ended up at her place ‘cause it was closer. I was a basket case by then. Charlie and me, well, we grew up together. We kind of knew early on that we were different from everybody else and kept to ourselves. Our parents thought that it was cute and that we’d grow up and marry."

"Your parents didn’t know?"

"We did what all the other kids were doing at the time. I guess you could say that we started covering for each other even back then." Marie lost herself in the reminiscing.

"Marie, how did you know about Chris…that she was gay?"

"Some you can tell by looking at, some by the way they talk or act. With Chris it was by her touch. The first time we held hands," the woman closed her eyes, "it was like electricity running through me. Don’t know why, but I just knew."

"How did your parents take it when you told them?"

"Tell them?" Marie laughed. "I haven’t told them yet and we’ve been together for almost 35 years."

"They don’t live around you then, I take it."

"On the contrary, they live about a two mile drive away." Marie motioned for Danni to come closer. "They think that I’m living with Charlie and Chris and Bobbie live in the apartment upstairs."

"You four live together? Didn’t they ever ask about a wedding for you and Charlie?"

"Well, let’s just say that we all go in the same front door but Chris and I live on the first floor and Charlie and Bobbie live above us. Wedding, oh my, no child, we are children of the Sixties. Free love and no commitments, remember?"

"Is that the Charlie that you were so upset about being shot?"

"Yeah, you might say that it was his doing that brought Chris and me together at last. When we got to her place she just held me in her arms and I knew that I never wanted to be without them in my life, without her in my life. The safety and love that I felt in them was incredible."

Danni’s mouth turned into a broad smile. "That’s really great. You have your best friend and life partner all under that same roof."

"Yeah, I’ve been blessed in that manner."

"If you don’t mind me asking, where did Charlie meet Bobbie?"

"Bobbie was the nurse that took care of him in the hospital when he was shot." The older woman shook her head. "You might say that bullet had both our names on it."

***

Garrett Trivoli was at the helm of the operating theater as she fought desperately to save the woman on her table. Once she had opened up the abdominal cavity to inspect it, the surgeon could see the severity of the injuries from the blunt trauma the older woman had endured. Her abdominal contents seemed to be swimming in a pool of blood. The surgical team would have their work laid out for quite a number of hours to come.

With a feverish pace, the nimble fingered surgeon worked to find the major antagonist to the woman’s well being. Once the excess blood was suctioned out, the nasty remnants of spleen were evident. The force of the trauma to Chris’s abdomen had sent the spleen bursting at the seams. There would be no way to save this organ. Not even the skilled hands of Garrett Trivoli would be able to put this together again.

The tied-off splenic artery did nothing to stop the plummeting nosedive that the patient’s blood pressure was taking. The woman had to have another source for her lost blood, one that was possibly worse than the spleen.

"Damn it!" Trivoli’s eyes searched the smooth glistening surface of the liver. "She’s got to have an injury where we’re not able to see it."

Without delay, the sinewy fingers gently lifted the lobes of the liver and examined every side that she could possibly see. ‘I’m not going to be the one that has to tell your lover that she’s now a member of my group.’ Garrett could just see Danni’s face when she would hear the news. ‘I won’t allow it.’ Now she worked even harder so as not to have it happen.

***

Danni had listened to Marie’s story of her life together with Chris until the woman finally drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the events of the evening. The nurse thought about her own shared experiences with one tall surgeon and found that there were some very close ties to that of Marie and Chris’s life. Danni was thankful that she had been the carrier of Chris’s message to Marie instead of someone else.

The dim light from the hall was barely enough to illuminate the watch on her wrist. Looking down at it, she could see that it was now past midnight. ‘Gar, please don’t let anything happen to keep them apart.’ Danni voiced her silent prayer as she watched the woman lying in the bed.

***

With several small lacerations repaired in the right lobe of the liver, Garrett had turned her attention to the hepatic artery that came directly from the aorta. It was the main source of blood for the liver. The surgeon’s meticulous inspection revealed a small tear in the vessel where it attached to the liver itself. The spurting stream of blood pumping with every beat of the patient’s heart was soon stopped with the delicate suturing by the skilled hands.

The surgeon let out a breath with the last knot that she tied. Looking up to the electronic monitoring devices, she held her breath, willing the numbers to change to a more stable set. The numbers began to change for the better, slowly at first.

"Give her another unit of blood." Garrett stripped off her blood stained gloves and threw them into the waste bucket on the floor. "Give me a new set of gloves, please." Her command was acted upon without delay and she put on the clean pair as she watched for the changes to occur with the addition of more blood into the woman’s system.

The anesthesiologist rattled off the numbers that were being displayed across the screen. "BP 108 over 78, Heart rate 106."

"They’re better. Now, let’s make sure that we didn’t miss anything." With that statement, the surgeon took on the task of inspecting the remainder of the abdominal cavity for any signs of injury. The battle was over, all there was left to do was to fight the small skirmishes that could erupt into major catastrophe if not handled properly at this time.

The time seemed to eke by minute by minute until finally at her satisfaction, Garrett Trivoli announced that it was time to close. The evening hours had stretched into the early morning but the grueling day was not over by a long run. The surgeon looked up to the clock on the Operating Room wall. It was 0100. If she were lucky, she’d be out of the O.R. and into recovery within thirty minutes. Then it would be up to Chris as to whether or not she was going to make it.

***

Danni woke to the sound of familiar footsteps in the hall. The nurse slowly rolled her head from side to side to ease the soreness in her muscles from sleeping in the chair when she saw the form entering the doorway.

"Is that you Gar?" Danni whispered trying hard not to wake Marie.

"Yeah, it’s me. Is she sleeping?" Garrett motioned to the woman in the bed.

"Finally, for about the last hour or so." Danni looked down at her watch, noticing the time. It was 0150. "You just finish up?"

"Yeah, I just stopped by to tell her that Chris is in recovery now." The surgeon walked into the room and stood next to Danni. "We had to remove her spleen and take care to suture some lacerations on her liver and the hepatic artery."

Danni took the hand of the surgeon in her own, feeling the small trembles it was having. It reminded her of Marie’s story about the first time she and Chris held hands. "Thanks for being there, Gar. If you want, I’ll tell her when she wakes up. I think I’m just going to stay here and keep an eye on her for a little while longer."

The tall woman nodded. "I’m going to spend the rest of the night down with Chris in recovery." She let her hand linger in Danni’s, feeling the strength that the young woman possessed.

"I hope that you don’t mind, but I asked Rosie to stop by the house and pick us up some clothes for court tomorrow."

"Hmmm…forgot about that."

"I figured that you would want to spend the night here, keeping an eye on your patient."

"You know me pretty well, Danni." Garrett drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "I…I better get back to Chris." She didn’t want to break the connection that they had but she knew that it was time to leave. Gingerly she let her hand slip from the nurse’s and walked to the doorway.

"I’ll come find you when Rosie gets here."

Garrett turned to look back at Danni and nodded her head in agreement. She lifted the hand that had been held and waved farewell until morning.

***

Sitting and watching the monitors allowed more time than necessary for one’s mind to drift to other things, as the surgeon soon found out. Her mind kept coming back to the moment that her hand was taken and held by the blonde nurse in the dimly lit room. Garrett had never remembered her hands trembling before, not even when she had made her initial cut with a scalpel the first day that she started her career as a surgeon. Her hands had always been rock solid. Why was she trembling now?

Not wanting to think about it, the surgeon closed her eyes and let sleep come to her body.

***

It had been touch and go at first with the patient, but Chris was now holding her own. The sigh of relief coming from Marie was loud enough for Danni to hear. The news had even brought a smile to the woman’s face when she learned of her lover’s condition. Her partner was going to live and they would once again be able to laugh and share their lives without the shadow of death circling them.

The nurse watched and hoped that she, too, could one day have a love that great in her life. It was her wish that it be Garrett Trivoli.

Chapter 9

Garrett sat in a daze. She’d been warned of the defense attorney’s tactics to try to get their clients off the hook, but the surgeon never thought that they would resort to something so low. She stared mindlessly out of the car window as they traveled back to Pittsburgh from their court date in Fayette County. She wasn’t even sure who it was that was driving, all she could think about was how could she have let herself fall right into their hands. ‘If it hadn’t been for the District Attorney protesting the line of questioning, I could have been the one that damn lawyer said tried to rape the waitress.’ There were so many questions and the answers that the slick lawyer demanded really had no bearing on the case except to find anything that he could about the surgeon and discredit her testimony in the eyes of the jury.

Garrett sighed as she watched the world go by around her. ‘Is that what I’ve been doing all of my adult life…watching everything go by?’ His questions and her testimony had given her a lot to think about and it wasn’t all cut and dry like she had thought her life to be. You either were or you weren’t, but what if you didn’t know? She could see now, reflecting back on it, how he had pulled the answers that he was looking for out of her. ‘How could people stoop that low?’ Her mind traveled back to the events of earlier that day.

The huge wooden doors opened up and she was beckoned to enter into the courtroom. The prosecution called her as a material witness and it was now her duty to give testimony to the collection of the samples from the body of Leza McCoy, the waitress that she had treated as a trauma patient.

Garrett was the last of the medical personnel to be called to the stand. The others had been called one by one as to their importance and involvement in the participation of the collection of evidence from the patient. Each one had remained in the gallery of the courtroom when they were dismissed from the stand. Whether it was for support of the next one to be called or just the interest in the case itself, it didn’t matter, it just let the number of witnesses in the hall dwindle down to the most significant, namely Dr. Garrett Trivoli. The lone survivor, again.

The surgeon took in a deep breath and started her walk to the front of the courtroom. Taking her place at the empty chair next to the bench, Garrett waited for the Bailiff to swear her in, then as she lowered her hand from the oath-taking position, took her designated seat. Once settled in, the smiling face of the District Attorney met the surgeon.

The polite mannerisms of the man made it obvious as to the reason for his early rise in the power structure of the county’s judicial system. The prosecutor’s first questions were ones of verification as to who she was and what her qualifications were on the night of the alleged crime. His boyish charm put Garrett at ease as he asked the pointed questions associated with the collection of the evidence from the victim’s body and the handling thereof as it was readied for the crime lab. When the events of that collection were relayed to the courtroom for the jury to hear, the young man courteously thanked her for her time and assistance in the trial. Having no more information to extract from her, the lawyer stated, "It’s your witness," nodding to the defense table. Then he turned and sat down pleased with the surgeon’s testimony.

The judge looked out over the jury and then announced, "It’s now the Defense’s turn to question the witness."

Garrett let her eyes drift over the courtroom while she waited for the defense to cross-examine her. The sight of blonde hair drew her attention to the last row where Danni was seated with Mom and Rosie. ‘Just a few more minutes and we’re on our way home. I’ve got to remember to check on Chris before I head home from the hospital. Don’t want to…’ Garrett’s thoughts were disturbed as she heard her name being called out by the Adonis of a man in the suit that was standing in front of her.

"Miss…I mean…Dr. Trivoli," the intense looking dark-haired man flashed his well rehearsed grin at her, "Isn’t it a little unusual for someone of your age and experience to be assuming such an important role in the Trauma Center?"

The question caught Garrett off guard. "Huh, what does my age have to do with it? I have plenty of experience."

He laughed and let his right hand slide smoothly into his suit jacket pocket. "I ask the questions here and you answer them, Doctor." He turned and played to the jury acting like the woman on the witness stand had no courtroom savvy. It would be his first attempt of many to discredit her testimony. "Then, can you tell us non-medical people exactly what is considered a trauma in the world of medicine?"

The surgeon didn’t need to think about this answer at all. It was her life and rolled off her tongue as though she penned its definition. "Trauma is any body wound or shock produced by physical injury, as from violence or an accident."

"Now, are you stating for the court that you have experience in handling traumas, such that are indicated in this case?" He watched her as though he was waiting for a child to answer.

"Yes," Garrett nodded slowly, "It is my testimony that I have experience in handling traumas."

"Where did you acquire your trauma experience?"

"In the United States Navy, as a Lieutenant."

The Defense Attorney strutted up to the front of the courtroom. "Dr. Trivoli, you tell us that you were a Lieutenant in the Navy. Where exactly were you stationed during your time with the Navy?"

"I was stationed onboard two or three aircraft carriers as a Flight Surgeon after my basic training."

"Can you tell me how the women onboard those vessels were treated?" He tilted his head as if really interested in her reply.

"They were treated like sailors, sir. We were all there to do our assigned jobs."

He stood before the jury, letting his right hand slowly play along the railing in a thoughtful pattern. "Were there any…oh, let’s say, fighter pilots that were female under your care?"

"No, not on my deployments to sea. Some were cooks, computer specialists, communication specialists, nurses."

"And, of course, you, the only surgeon onboard." He looked directly into her eyes and smiled. "It was your responsibility to treat the entire crew for any health concerns or accidental injures, is that correct?"

"Yes, I was the only surgeon paired with a general practice physician."

"Then tell me, Doctor, during those years in the Navy, how many rape victims did you treat?"

"None."

"How many did you see someone else treating during that time?"

"None."

The Defense Attorney turned to the jury and smiled charmingly at them one by one. "Dr. Trivoli, have you ever been raped?"

"No!"

"Have you ever witnessed a rape?"

"No!"

"Have you ever raped someone?"

The answer was prompt. "NO!"

The District Attorney stood, "I object, Your Honor."

The Council for the Defense was quick to begin a reply to the Judge, "Your Honor…"

The Judge tapped his fingers on the handle of his gavel. "The court will take a ten minute recess." Then looking from one attorney to the other, "I’ll see you both in my chambers, now!" He then got up and left the bench, retreating into his chambers with the two opposing lawyers not far behind.

Exactly ten minutes went by before the three men returned to the courtroom. The disgruntled look on the face of the Prosecutor was all anyone needed to see that, at least for the time being, this line of questioning would continue.

"Doctor, if you have never been raped, witnessed a rape or have raped another person, how would you know to identify a rape trauma, from any other trauma?"

"The introduction of bruising around the vaginal area, the teeth marks on the breasts, and the multiple contusions on the victim that would align with the placement of hands."

The Defense Attorney appeared to become very confident, his posture straightened as if he grew another six inches. He stood over Garrett in the witness stand asking, "Dr. Trivoli, have you never heard of sex partners that enjoy a variety of methods to become fulfilled? Such as sadomasochists?"

Garrett’s eyebrow quirked when the question was asked, yet she responded quickly. "Yes, I have heard of such practices, but that wasn’t the case here."

"Doctor, how can you be sure that wasn’t the case? Aren’t you the first one to mention the need of a ‘Rape Kit’?"

"Yes, I was in charge of the Trauma Room. I called for the Rape Kit."

"Did you ask all the males to leave the room?"

"Yes."

"Why was that?"

"To give the victim the privacy she deserved. She had been violated once. Having men in the room during the processing of the Rape Kit would be like having it telecast on TV, thus violating her again. I did not feel that the men needed to be in the room. She had been violated enough."

"Your Honor, would you please direct the witness to just answer the question and NOT add her own commentary."

The Judge smirked. He didn’t like the way the Defense Attorney was handling such an esteemed doctor. "Mr. Hanington, you asked a vague question, she seemed to answer it appropriately."

The Lawyer for the Defense felt that he was losing ground and attempted to discredit her answer. "Isn’t it true that you told one of the men who was in the room that you never wanted to see him step foot in your Trauma Room again?"

"Yes."

The slick attorney smiled to the jurors and asked a series of rapid-fire questions. "Isn’t it true that the real reason you asked those men to leave was because you don’t like MEN?"

"No!"

"And you feel you are superior to them in EVERY way?" Both his eyes and tone emphasizing the word.

"Why that’s absurd!"

"Doctor, that doesn’t answer the question. Don’t you really think that men are the weaker sex?"

The District Attorney stood up to object just as the final question was being asked. "Wouldn’t you just prefer to not have men around at all?"

Garrett’s response was quiet, her throat parched from all of the answers she had given. "No."

Just as the District Attorney got the words, "I object" out of his mouth, the petite blonde woman in the back of the gallery was standing up yelling. "Stop! Just stop it!"

The surgeon’s eyes adjusted to the figure in the distance off to the right of the Defense Attorney. There stood Danni, protesting the injustice that was befalling one of her menagerie, the most cherished one of all.

The Judge slammed his gavel down on the bench looking for compliance in his domain. "Order! Order in this courtroom."

"But Judge, they are lies, they are all lies." The petite nurse leaned over the chair in front of her, her arms now supporting her weight. "He doesn’t know her like I…"

"Young lady, if you don’t sit down and be quiet, I’ll throw you right out of this courtroom." The Judge banged the gavel once more for emphasis to his statement. "Not one more word, Miss." He cautioned her.

Karen and Rosie both reached up, grabbing onto Danni’s tensed arms and pulled her down into her seat. The small body plopped into the hard wooden chair in disgust.

"Hey, what are you trying to do, get us thrown out of here?" Rosie’s eyebrows were furrowed deep with concern for her friends. "She needs all of our support in here, where she can see us, not standing out in the hall behind closed doors." The blonde sighed and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive positioning.

Mom leaned into Danni’s ear and whispered softly to her. "Do you want to give them more ammunition to use to discredit her?"

The young woman froze in the realization. Her green eyes grew wider and she found herself locking gazes with the raven-haired woman on the stand. Trying to draw no more attention to her, or Garrett for that matter, Danni closed her eyes and shook her head. "No," she whispered and then closed her eyes to the pain that was gathering in her being.

Danni’s face registered disbelief that anything Garrett said could or would be taken out of context. But the lawyer was doing a fine job of twisting everything that Garrett would answer to use in his favor. Danni sat riveted to her seat watching it all unfold.

Garrett let her eyes stray from the sparse country landscape outside of the car and turned her head only enough to bring Danni into view out of the corner of her eye. The blonde woman had been sitting quietly in the rear seat with the surgeon. ‘I guess she has a lot to think about, too!’ It wasn’t like Danni to travel this long and not try to get a conversation going, especially with the likes of Rosie and Mom in the front seat. The surgeon wondered if the four of them would ever be that friendly again after what had transpired in the courtroom today. She’d surely understand why if they chose not to be with her again.

The surgeon let her head drop and rested it in her hand, wiping her forehead as she tried to ward off the ensuing headache. When did everything start to go wrong? She loved her work, she was feeling comfortable in the hospital, and she was finally making friends, even letting one small blonde nurse begin to touch her heart. She’d never felt that comfortable before, no matter whom she was with. Now, in the matter of several minutes of courtroom interrogation, she felt like she was losing it all. She closed her eyes and let her left hand slide off her lap, coming to rest on the seat. She was just so tired from the night of surgery that the tension from the courtroom only made it worse. She felt as if all of the life had drained out of her being, leaving nothing but an empty shell.

Danni hurt for her friend. She could see the torment written in the tense muscles of Garrett’s face. She wanted to do nothing more than reach over and hug the woman, soothing her pain. The nurse wondered at this point how wise that might be. She had to do something to show the surgeon that she was not alone. That’s when she saw Garrett’s hand slip onto the seat. Reaching with her right hand, she let it worm right under the large palm and slide smoothly into place, locking their fingers together. Danni held her breath waiting for Garrett to notice her touch.

The surgeon cast her eyes down to her right hand. There she could see the petite fingers and thumb clutching onto her. The warmth that it brought with it seemed to invade and pulsate outward into the drained woman. Like a tiny battery it began its charging of Garrett’s depleted soul. ‘She’s wormed her way into my grasp just like she wormed her way into my heart.’ The surgeon could feel her heart warming and the love being poured into it. ‘To be there for someone when they are down? When there is no one else to stand by you? Is this what love is really all about?’

Garrett sighed. ‘Sex, is that all everybody ever thinks about? Is that all that love is really about?’ Hell, she was not a stranger to the mechanics of making love. ‘No,’ she thought, ‘not love, but rather the act of sex, itself.’ She was a doctor, for gods’ sake. They had made her well aware of anatomy and its uses in medical school, even in her early level biology courses. Then, who could forget the health classes that were a part of her high school years? They were all meant to prepare her for life…for love, whatever that was. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, a single thought raced through her mind. ‘Am I in love?’ Terror gripped her heart causing her eyes to widen, allowing the whites to show completely around the shimmering blue. ‘I’ve just learned…I’m still learning to be a friend. How could I possibly be in love?’ She fought back her fear. The idea of being intimate, that close to someone, letting that person know you sometimes better than you know yourself scared her. They said that you lost all control when you were in love, and control was one thing that the surgeon loved to be in. ‘Besides, who would I possibly be in love with…Danni?’

The surgeon lifted her eyes to gaze at the woman next to her. The concern and thoughtfulness of Danni’s small action was feeding into Garrett’s own insecurities about what love was supposed to be. It slowly became evident to the surgeon that love was a feeling that reached deep into your soul and gave your being the strength to survive. If that was what she was truly feeling now, it could be compared to the jump starting of a dead battery with one so full of energy.

She had thought of herself as incapable of love, well, at least in that sense of the word. Sure, she had experimented in college, just about everyone did. Heck, they were all young adults still searching for the meaning of life and love. But the few attempts had all been so meaningless, devoid of emotion. Maybe that was why the experiences were only that and nothing lasting had ever become of them. Perhaps it had not been the partners that she had paired herself with, but rather that she was primarily the cause of the lackluster couplings. There never was any passion or unbridled sentiment in it, just the mechanical couplings and manipulation of highly sensual areas. Besides, it didn’t seem to matter what the anatomy was. They had done nothing for her but reaffirmed her solitary life, spurring her unquenchable thirst for the knowledge that would be necessary for a stellar career as a surgeon. That seemed to be the only place that brought meaning to her life. It was the place where she found her passion giving her a sense of fulfillment. But now, she drew in a deep breath, was she indeed in need of something more, something that had always alluded her before?

This year of Fellowship was turning out to be more than she had anticipated. She closed her eyes, wishing that her life were not as complicated as it was turning out to be. ‘Thank the gods that this year would soon be over. Maybe then I can get some semblance of normalcy back,’ she mused. ‘Damn you, McMurray! This is all your fault.’ She cursed the man who was making her stretch herself into places, feelings and things that she had never thought of before coming here to the ‘Burgh.

‘The ‘Burgh,’ she chuckled to herself and wondered when her mind had grasped onto that hometown concept. ‘I never really associated myself with any one place before. Well, except for San Francisco were I grew up as a child.’ Then visions of a sparkling, slowly growing smile crossed her mind and she knew. Garrett turned her head, stealing a look at the woman whose hand was holding onto her own. ‘Could I actually be falling in love?’

Danni caught the last few seconds of the stolen glance and met it with one of her own. ‘By the Gods, I love the sensation of just holding her hand.’ Then to prove that it was not a dream, she gently squeezed her fingers and found the touch to be returned and very real. She closed her eyes, and savored the moment.

[dustedmagazine]

NOUS, Laraaji and Arji OceAnanda — Circle of Celebration (Our Silent Canvas)

Photo by Christopher Bono

Circle of Celebration by NOUS with Laraaji and Arji OceAnanda

Laraaji lets out a huge belly laugh at several intervals during this ecstatic set of musical meditations, part of a lifelong practice of seeking physical and spiritual health through hilarity. In his laughing meditation classes, the artist teaches that the laugh strengthens breathing, the nervous and circulatory systems, and, above all, it feels good to do it. It is a way of reaching the infinite, not as Western tradition does it, through suffering and isolation, but instead through joy. Circle of Celebration is all about that joy, achieved not just through laughing, but through buoyant, rhythmically pulsing compositions, that float and bound through time and space, like a moonwalker freed from ordinary gravity.

The album is primarily a collaborative process between ambient spiritualist Laraaji, who sings, laughs and plays an ethereal electronic zither, his touring partner and kindred spirit Arji OceAnanda also singing and playing a variety of percussive and electronic sounds and Christopher Bono of Nous, a shifting collective of artists convened to explore the spiritual dimensions of music. Bono and the two others met at a yoga retreat, thrown together at an empty lunch table between sessions and bonded over a shared love of meditative practices before they knew that they were all musicians. When that common thread emerged, Bono invited the pair to his Dreamland Studios where they meditated and improvised with a like-minded group of players on the NOUS I and NOUS II albums. Circle of Celebration is the fourth NOUS undertaking, and the one that puts Laraaji and OceAnanda at the center of its mystic exploration.

The cuts are long and open-ended, blossoming out over time with layered textures of synths and electronics, pounding drums and a great variety of alternate percussion instruments, cascading, intercrossing vocals and the natural sounds of water, stones and wind. The ensemble is heavy on drummers. In addition to the core three, Greg Fox of Guardian Alien, Thor Harris of Swans and Angels of Light, Greg Mcmurray from So Percussion and Kevin McMahon all contribute forms of percussion. Shahzad Ismaily does his usual restrained magic with electrics, guitar, bass and drums. As you might expect, the improvisations have a lot of rhythmic parts, but they are subtle. Things shake and rattle and jangle and pound, but only within the context of the music, which swells in an organic way, moving forward but also remaining meditative and centered.

The thrill of these pieces comes, in large part, from the vocals, with solo lines that unfurl in silky waves, and muttering rhythmic communal choruses that support them. You can hear both the quest of the individual and the reassurance of the group in this singing, with leadership shifting from Bono to Laraaji to OceAnanda as the spirit moves them. The singing is also ecstatically non-verbal, or at least non-English, with phrases made of exuberant “heys” and “bah-bahs” and “oom-a-lay-has,” expressing joy but not narrative. Some of the phrases may be mantras (like “Hari Ram”), but others have the aura of speaking in tongues, the spirit running on ahead of the mind to find epiphany.

It is hard to express exactly how uplifting this music is, how it creates a bright, lucid, dreamlike space and maintains excitement and calm somehow simultaneously. If you find yourself needing good, positive vibes some gloomy December afternoon, when your Twitter feed is about the end of everything, and it’s cold and you’re out of energy, put on Circle of Celebration. You might even try laughing. You’ll feel better.

Jennifer Kelly

[flimflamfandom]

Four Different Kisses

I wanted to write sappy stuff. I just like writing sappy stuff. I might do another version with OCs and somesuch but this one's just Frepper.

-

1927

Ivy sighed as she laid in the truck, out of view of the windows. She slowly peeked out, sticking the rifle out of the window. She saw Calvin running with the crate, and the man behind him. She took aim, and breathed out. "hhhh..." BANG!

She got the man behind him in the chest, and he fell instantly. Calvin looked behind him, ragged and tired. He got into the truck, and tossed the crate by the backseat. "Thanks."

"Yer welcome." Ivy sat up, and got behind the driver's seat, as Calvin caught his breath. He was heaving in air, and he had undone his vest. He wiped his brow and looked over. "You really saved my life there, y'know." He said. "He was gonna get me."

"You owe me a kiss." Ivy winked. "Least y'could do." She cooed. Calvin smiled, and leaned in. He was still breathing heavily as he kissed her, and he was quick to hold her. He pulled away soon after, and looked up at the ceiling.

"...home, aye?"

"Yep." Ivy began to drive off.

1928

Ivy walked down the aisle, accompanied by a teary eyed Ruby. She was teary eyed, too, but she figured she would handle it - until she saw Calvin looking at her.

He stared, wide eyed, and slack jawed. He blinked a few times. he couldn't honestly believe how beautiful she looked, as she settled in next to him. She stood next to him, and smiled, her eyes becoming glassy and watery. Calvin's did, too. He spoke softly, so no one could hear.

"Would you want to go out sometime with me?"

"Pfft...Freckle..." Ivy covered her mouth, trying not to laugh too loudly - even at dumb jokes like that, she laughed too loud.

They went through the motions. They went through the vows. Calvin, in his usual way, was very verbose. He was flowery with his language, talking about rivers and clouds and warmth and winter days.

Ivy listened, but she didn't much absorb what was said. She was fixed on his slight smile, his watering eyes, his warm glance. She barely even registered the line "and when the stars shine at night, I curse them for not shining brighter, so I might see your smile all hours of all days..."

When it came her turn, Ivy's were shorter, and simpler - "I vow to stay with you, as long as the sun keeps rising..."

As she spoke, Calvin found himself transfixed - he was unable to stop staring at her, to stop basking in her warm beauty, as she struggled to say the things she'd written, struggled to fight back tears. Calvin, not knowing where they even were in the process, reached out, put a hand on her cheek, and wiped a tear away, smiling and whispering 'I'm happy, too, my love.'

there was a paused.

"...Mr. McMurray?"

"Hmm?"

"Staring, hmm?" The priest chided him a little, smiling. "Do you, Calvin Phineas McMurray, take Ivy Ruth Pepper, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and health, for as long as you shall live?"

"I do."

"And do you, Ivy Ruth Pepper, take Calvin Phineas McMurray, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love him, honor him, and keep him in sickness and health, for as long as you shall live?"

"I do."

The by the power went by quickly. So did the pronouncement. Neither much cared. They just wanted to hear one word -

"You may kiss the bride!"

Calvin gripped Ivy, and pulled her in, kissing her longingly and deeply, as if he'd been waiting a lifetime for it. He held the back of her head, and she held him by his shoulders. It felt too short, but as they pulled away and people cheered, Ivy didn't try for another one. She looked up at Calvin.

"...do we HAVE to go to the reception?" She asked. "Can't you just take me home?" She winked. Calvin huffed, and smirked.

"You don't want to force me to dance?"

"Hmm...well. You drive a hard bargain, Mr. McMurray." She kissed his cheek.

1930

Ivy sighed as she walked back to the house in the hills. She roleld her eyes, and stretched her back. "Hours, Freckle, HOURS! And you didn't even get an award!" She crossed her arms, the statuette in her hand gleaming as she set it down.

Calvin laughed. "Well, there's next year. I'm young." Calvin said. "Besides, the house has two of those little statuettes, it's fine." Calvin rubbed her shoulders as Ivy sat down. "You do look lovely in that dress."

"Thank you." Ivy smirked. "Only heard it from you a billion times tonight~"

"Well...it's true." Calvin seemed a little embarrassed. Ivy turned to face him.

"I like hearing it. I like hearing you." She stood on the other side of the couch, and walked over it to reach him. "In fact, ever since we came to Hollywood," She put a hand in his, "you've only made me love ya more." She put another hand on his chest. "You're the only man in this town I actually love to work with." She said.

Calvin wrapped her up in his arms, and looked down at her, with a smoulder.

"...am I getting better with the eye thing?"

"Hah!" Ivy chuckled. "Let the leading men do that, I didn't fall for you for a smoulder." She put a hand on his cheek. "I fell for you for your sweet little smile. You know that."

She kissed him, and sighed. The kiss became more and more intense...

1936

Calvin slowly walked into the house, and looked back. The procedure had gone well - he would be okay. But still, having that much of your tail removed is jarring, and tough on any cat. He heard footsteps behind him.

"I could've gotten that on a second trip." Calvin said, smiling as Ivy rushed in his typewriter.

"No, no, nonsense? You're not gonna have that much of you cut off and then just lift a bunch of things."

"Dear, it's not as if I've lost a leg, I just have half-"

"Calvin." Ivy sighed. "...I know you want to man your way through this but this is very serious." She said, firmly. She walked into the house. "Just because they cut it out doesn't mean it won't come back - the doctor said that."

"Ivy-"

"This killed my MOTHER, Calvin." Ivy said. "And you're not just gonna parade around like nothing is wrong!"

"Nothing IS wro-"

"You had CANCER." Ivy shouted. "You...you had..." She sat down. "...I'm sorry I'm shouting."

"You have every right to." Calving sat on a stool, and winced as he did so. "I know. I'm sorry I'm not...I-" He looked over. "The baby." He stood, and walked towards the crib, towards his son - Finn. He had his eyes and his mother's fur. "You need a change, don't you?"

Ivy watched as Calvin, just home from a multi day recovery, from a life changing surgery, simply changed a diaper. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to take him by his face, shake him, tell him to be as scared as she was. She looked on for a moment. She heard his voice.

"I don't want to die scared of this." Calvin said.

"You...you don't go talking about death." Ivy said. "I'm too scared of that."

"I am, too." Calvin said. "...guess we've never both been scared like this before." He finished changing Finn's diaper, and turned around, wiping his hands.

"...please just..." Ivy shook her head, "just tell me you understand how this feels for me. Even if you're lying."

Calvin nodded. He held her face in his hands.

"...I'm just as scared." He said. "But I love you. And we'll have to stay with that." He kissed her.

It was soft, and quiet. It was warm. It was comforting...it was bittersweet. Calvin pulled away, and moved his hands to Ivy's waist. "...I haven't gotten to do that in a few days."

"You haven't." She said, smiling, and purring. "...maybe a few more, to make up for lost time?"

"If you insist..." Calvin pressed his lips to hers once more...

[your-dietician]

Sebastian Cossa: 2021 NHL Draft Prospect Profile; A Large, Athletic Goaltender, With Excellent Puck Tracking

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/nhl/sebastian-cossa-2021-nhl-draft-prospect-profile-a-large-athletic-goaltender-with-excellent-puck-tracking/

Sebastian Cossa: 2021 NHL Draft Prospect Profile; A Large, Athletic Goaltender, With Excellent Puck Tracking

The 2021 NHL Draft features two goaltenders that are expected to be selected in the opening round. Jesper Wallstedt is considered by most scouts to be the best available goaltender but some view Sebastian Cossa as a similar talent to the Swedish netminder. Cossa is a large goaltender that has performed well in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Edmonton Oil Kings over the past two seasons. In today’s profile, I want to take a closer look at how Cossa has performed and what he brings to the table as a prospect.

Before we get to know more about Cossa, I should also note that when it comes to talking about goaltenders there are a few additional metrics I like to look at for more context. These are Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA), GSAA per 30 shots (GSAA/30), GSAA per 60 minutes (GSAA/60) and Goals Allowed % Minus (GA%-). I also like to take a look at Quality Starts, Really Bad Starts, and Bail Outs.

Goals Saved Above Average = Saves-(League Average SV%*Shots Against); (Developed by Hockey Reference)

Goals Allowed Percentage Minus = 100*((1-player save %)/(1-league average save %)); (Developed by Hockey Reference)

Quality Start = The starting goalie must stop at least a league average number of shots or play at least as well as a replacement-level goalie (88.5%) while allowing two goals or fewer. (Developed by Robert Vollman)

Really Bad Starts and Bail Outs = The Really Bad Start, where a goalie fails to stop even 85% of the shots, leaving his team barely a 10% chance of winning. The opposite of a Wasted Quality Start is a Bail-Out, which is defined by being awarded a win despite failing to achieve a Quality Start. (Developed by Robert Vollman)

For GSAA, you obviously want to have a positive value. For GA%- you want to be below 100 which is league average. For example a 92 GA%- would mean you were about 8% better than league average while a 108 GA%- would mean you were 8 percent below league average. Now, let’s learn more about Cossa.

Who is Sebastian Cossa?

According to his WHL player page, Cossa is a 6’6.5”, 203 lbs. left-handed catching goaltender from Fort McMurray, Alberta. However, his Elite Prospects profile list him at 6’6”, 212 lbs. and that he was born in Hamilton, Ontario before moving to Fort McMurray, Alberta. He was born on November 21, 2002. Thanks to his Elite Prospects profile, we can see that his youth team was Fort McMurray MHA. He spent his age 13 season in 2015-16 with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons U15 AA team in the Northern Alberta Hockey League U15 AA. His .926 SV% in 14 games ranked 4th in the league and 1st among U14 goaltenders.

The 2016-17 season, his age 14 year, would prove to be his breakout season. He spent the season with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers U15 AAA team in the Alberta Elite Hockey League U15 AAA (AMBHL). He went 15-4-0 with a 1.80 GAA and .934 SV% in 19 regular season games. That 1.80 GAA and .934 SV% led all goaltenders in the AMBHL. In the playoffs he went 8-4 with a 2.36 GAA and .924 SV% in 12 games as he led the team to the AMBHL Championship. As Elite Prospects notes, Cossa was named the Top Goaltender and Most Valuable Player in the league. This impressive season led to the Edmonton Oil Kings selecting Cossa 36th overall in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.

In 2017-18, his age 15 season, he moved up to player for the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers U18 AAA team in the Alberta Elite Hockey League U18 AAA (AMHL). As the team’s main starter, he went 6-10-3 with a 3.37 GAA and .915 SV% in 19 regular season games. That .915 SV% ranked 8th in the league and 1st among U16 goaltenders. In the playoffs he went 4-3 with a 2.28 GAA and .943 SV%. He was a part of Team Alberta that captured a Silver Medal at the WHL Cup that season with a 3.15 GAA and .882 SV% in 3 games as he split time with Garin Bjorklund.

Cossa would spend his age 16 season, in 2018-19, with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers U18 AAA team again. In just 13 regular season games he went 6-5-2 with a 3.01 GAA and .919 SV%. His .919 SV% ranked 6th in the league and 3rd among U17 goaltenders. He once again stepped up in the playoffs by going 5-3 with a 2.03 GAA and .938 SV%. Cossa also represented Canada White U17 at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge where he went 1-1 with a 3.03 GAA and .895 SV%.

The 2019-20 season, his pre-draft year, would see Cossa really make his mark as one of the top goaltenders for the 2021 Draft. As a rookie for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League (WHL), he played in 33 games (31 starts) with a 21-6-2-1 record, a 2.23 GAA and .921 SV% along with 4 shutouts. His .921 SV% ranked tied-5th in the league and was tied-1st with Dylan Garand for the lead among U18 goaltenders. His 4 shutouts ranked tied-4th in the league.

That season Cossa had a 80 GA%-, 17.97 GSAA, 0.61 GSAA per 30 shots, and 0.57 GSAA per 60 minutes. He had 23 Quality Starts (74.19%), just 5 Really Bad Starts (16.13%), and just 2 Bailouts (6.45%). Among the 36 goaltenders to play in at least 20 games, Cossa was ranked tied-3rd in GA%-, 10th in GSAA, tied-3rd in GSAA per 30 shots, and 4th in GSAA per 60 minutes. It is worth noting that he had the 12th lowest Workload (shots faced per game) out of this group at just 26.88.

Back in July of 2020, the Oil Kings website featured this article about Cossa and the adversity his hometown of Fort McMurray faced in his life, including fires in May of 2016, floods in April of 2020, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic. In the article, Cossa talks about having to evacuate due to the fires and being displaced for almost three months. He also talks about the time he was able to spend with his family due to the pandemic.

The shortened season in 2020-21 for the WHL would see Cossa limited to just 19 games (all starts) for the Oil Kings in his draft year. He went 17-1-0-1 with a 1.57 GAA and .941 SV% along with 4 shutouts. He led the league in GAA, SV%, and was tied for the lead in shutouts.

He further improved upon his numbers with a 57 GA%-, 22.21 GSAA, 1.32 GSAA per 30 shots, and 1.16 GSAA per 60 minutes. He had 15 Quality Starts (78.95%), no Really Bad Starts (0.00%), and just 2 Bail Outs (10.53%). Among the 24 goaltenders to play in at least 10 games, Cossa was ranked 1st in GA%-, 2nd in GSAA, 1st in GSAA per 30 shots, and 2nd in GSAA per 60 minutes. Once again, I should note that Cossa didn’t have a high Workload as he faced the 5th lowest shots per game amongst this group at 26.58. Mitch Brown notes in the Elite Prospects Draft Guide (which you can get here with a subscription) that Cossa’s numbers are a bit inflated by playing in a weak division, though he certainly has a lot of positive attributes to his game. Just something to keep in mind that these numbers, while very promising, need to be kept in some context. Now let’s see where Cossa is ranked and what scouts had to say about his playing style.

Where is Sebastian Cossa Ranked?

Below are the rankings for Cossa from a number of different public outlets. For the most part, Cossa is ranked as a mid to late 1st round prospect though Hockey Prospect seems really high on him while Dobber Prospects and The Draft Analyst are not compared to the others.

When Scouching ranked Cossa 25th, he had this to say:

Sebastian Cossa? I dunno, he’s huge, has stopped pucks for years, outperformed his xGA according to InStat, and seems to be excellent tracking pucks with lateral mobility staying square to pucks and locked into his technique. My gut tells me he’s legit, but I’d let my goalie people help me take the chance on him.

I thought it was interesting to read that Cossa’s InStat data shows he has outperformed his Expected Goals Against. That seems right in line with the GSAA data I was able to gather above. A large goaltender that makes more stops than the average goaltender certainly seems worthy of a 1st round ranking. It will be interesting to see where he is selected as I wouldn’t be surprised to see a team in the top 15 take a chance on him. On the other hand, if a team has a chance to get him if he slips into the latter part of the 1st round then that could be a worthwhile gamble to take.

What Others Say About Sebastian Cossa

Ben Kerr of Last Word on Sports has this scouting report on Cossa. He breaks down Cossa’s game by skating and talent, mental make-up, and projection and comparison. I’ll pick out a few highlights below.

Regarding his skating and talent:

He gets out to the top of the crease and cuts down angles well…His puck tracking is very good and he gets side-to-side quickly, always being in the right position to challenge the shooter…Cossa’s legs are strong and he gets up and down in the butterfly quickly.

Cossa is so tall that when he does go down in the butterfly, his shoulders still reach the crossbar and his frame takes up much of the net. His glove as well as his blocker are solid.

Cossa is also a good puck handler. He gets out of his crease quickly and retrieves dump-ins. He can act as a third defenceman for his teams, starting the breakout and moving the puck up the ice.

There is a lot more in the report but these are a few aspects of his game that stood out to me. I get the idea that Cossa knows how to use his large frame effectively to cut angles and I am encouraged to see that he his agile enough to use his legs to move side-to-side as well as up and down. I always find it interesting to read that a goaltender can act like a “third defenseman” due to their puck handling ability. Perhaps it was years of watching Martin Brodeur handle the puck, but I always enjoy watching goaltenders that can move it effectively.

Regarding his mental make-up:

Playing on a team where you don’t see a lot of shots can test a goalie’s focus but Cossa has come through this with flying colours…Even when he gives up a goal, he doesn’t let it get to him. Cossa is ready to make the next save and does not linger on mistakes.

As I noted earlier, Cossa typically doesn’t see a lot of action when playing for the Oil Kings as they are effective at keeping the puck out of their zone. Still, it’s encouraging to read that he does well to keep his focus. It’s also good to see that a young goaltender like Cossa doesn’t dwell on mistakes and is able to keep a positive mentality no matter what happens on the ice.

Regarding his projection and comparison:

Expect Cossa to need at least a couple of years of AHL action after his junior career is done. Cossa’s game is reminiscent of Ben Bishop, but this is a stylistic comparison only and not one based on skill and ability.

Considering Cossa only has played 52 WHL games over the past two seasons due to the pandemic, it’s not surprising to read that he’ll need more seasoning in both the WHL and AHL. I’m also not surprised to see him compared to Bishop as they are both very large goaltenders.

Next, we have this scouting report from Josh Tessler of Smaht Scouting. He breaks down Cossa’s style of play by stance, athleticism and speed, post security, vision, saves, rebounds, decision making, and stick handling/passing. Here is some of what he had to say about Cossa:

Sebastian Cossa is a hybrid goaltender. With his size, he is able to stand tall and make saves with ease. But, on the grand scheme of things, Cossa makes more butterfly saves than saves when standing tall.

But, the speed and quickness that Cossa embodies is what truly wows me about his athleticism…Cossa deploys quality edge work to help push him from side to side. In addition, his reaction time is quite fast when closing up the five hole and when jumping back up to standing stance from the butterfly.

The only issues that Cossa seems to have with his blocker is that he will get beat on occasion on the top blocker side…he tends to give up the most goals top blocker and mid-to-low glove side.

While Cossa is solid at controlling rebounds, his rebound rate to low danger is less than the average of the goaltenders that I’ve tracked.

Something that Cossa generally struggles with is puck manipulation. On breakaway goals at net front, he can be manipulated and drawn to one side…Cossa will also sometimes struggle with depth perception and go a bit too far out of the crease when facing a shooter dead on.

As we just mentioned in the decision making section, Cossa is a quality passer. In fact, this season, Cossa was 89% accurate with his passing per InStat. That passing rate is 15% higher than his rookie season in the WHL.

There is a lot of information and a nice graphic courtesy of InStat in that scouting report so I recommend checking out the full thing. Out of the excerpts I posted above, I find it interesting that Cossa is a hybrid goaltender. It’s also worth noting that he seems quite athletic despite being a very large goaltender. One of the knocks against Jesper Wallstedt is he isn’t above average athletically so this seems one area that Cossa has Wallstedt beat. Cossa seems to need to work on his rebound control but that’s something true about a lot of young goaltenders. Same with his depth perception and decision making. Finally, the InStat data seems to back up the idea that Cossa excels at playing the puck and is a solid passer.

Next, we have this profile of Cossa by Steve Kournianos of The Draft Analyst. When talking about Cossa’s style of play, Kournianos seems to have a different observation than the one from Tessler when it comes to the goaltender’s positioning:

He’s not much of a risk taker and if Cossa gets beat, it’s rarely from his own egregious mistake or over-committal to one side. Cossa also doesn’t venture too far from the crease when facing a breakaway.

It is possible that they viewed him in different games but these reports do clash when it comes to whether or not Cossa is prone to being moved to one side when facing a breakaway.

Regarding his post integration:

Cossa exclusively uses the RVH for post integration once the puck is moved closer to the goal line, although he seems to switch rapidly between remaining upright when his team controls the puck to dropping down when it’s lost. He grasps the importance of a tight post seal, and being 6-foot-7 allows him the option of using his shoulder rather than his mask to cover the top corner

It’s encouraging to read that Cossa has a good grasp of the reverse vertical horizontal (RVH) technique that goaltenders in the NHL use to great success. It’s also noteworthy that his height allows him to utilize his shoulder to seal the post and keep his head free to utilize his vision more.

Regarding his glove and blocker:

Of course, neither his glove nor blocker should be considered a soft spot or weakness, as Cossa simply plays deep in the crease and covers the lower half so well that the upper half is all that’s available to shooters.

Regarding his quickness and footwork:

Cossa is impressively quick for a goalie of any size, let alone one who stands around 6-foot-7. His post-to-post movements are both explosive and clean, and it isn’t often that Cossa pushes himself well out of position.

It’s interesting to see another report have a glowing review of Cossa’s quickness and explosiveness. It certainly seems like a real plus attribute to his game.

Next, here is some of what Nick Richard of Dobber Prospects had to say about Cossa back in February:

Standing at 6-6 and weighing 212 pounds, the Alberta native possesses the combination of size and athletic ability that NHL teams covet in the goaltending position. He has good fundamentals and uses his big body to square up to shooters, cutting down angles while being agile enough to get across his crease quickly. His height is an advantage when it comes to tracking pucks through traffic and his rebound control is quite good for a young goaltender as well.

Finally, the Hockey Prospecting Model gives Cossa a 50% chance of making the NHL which is actually higher than the chance it gives Jesper Wallstedt (46%) and quite high for the model to give to any goaltender.

A Little Video

The first video we have is from Devils in the Details Podcast channel on YouTube. The video features his action from a 3-1 victory over Red Deer on March 20, 2021:

The next video is a TSN video shared on YouTube by Hockey is life. In this video, Craig Button gives his opinion on Cossa and explains why the tall, athletic, and talented goaltender is a high quality prospect:

An Opinion of Sorts

Overall, I have a fairly high opinion of Cossa as a prospect. He has the size that teams covet in goal but most importantly is able to utilize it effectively. He cuts down angles well, uses his RVH technique to close either post, and is athletic enough to use explosive motions to get across his crease to make saves. His glove and blocker seem solid enough and while his rebound control could be better, that is an area of his game that he can iron out with more time in the WHL and then the AHL. It’s important to remember that due to the pandemic he hasn’t played as much over the past two seasons as you would typically expect from a goaltender in normal times.

His numbers may be a bit inflated from playing on a stacked Oil Kings team in a weak division but there’s no denying that he’s been a huge part of their success. He’s succeeded everywhere he’s been throughout his career which has included playing up from his age group on numerous teams. Goaltenders are difficult to project and develop but I think a team in the mid to late 1st round would do well to take a chance on Cossa. He has the talent, mentality, and size that makes him a very promising prospect.

From a Devils point of a view, I would have interest in Cossa. I should note that I don’t expect him to drop to the 29th pick (28th really after Arizona’s forfeited pick at 11). I think he’ll be drafted somewhere shortly after Wallstedt and I think it’ll be somewhere around the middle of the 1st round. However, if he does fall then I think the Devils have to at least consider selecting him at 29th overall. Personally, I would still lean towards drafting a forward or defenseman at that spot but I think it would be defensible to take a chance on Cossa if he fell that far. The Devils have Mackenzie Blackwood in the NHL, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid about to compete for playing time in the AHL, and Cole Brady in the NCAA. Gilles Senn remains in the system but now that he’s back in Europe, I think it’s safe to not expect him to make an impact in New Jersey. The Devils could really use another quality goaltending prospect in their system.

Your Take

What are your thoughts on Sebastian Cossa? Where would you rank him? Do you think he gets drafted in the first half of the first round or do you see him sliding past that? Would you want the Devils to take him if he’s available with their second first round pick? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!

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[yourtokentony]

The TokenTony Letterkenny Character Ranking

The Ranker ranking was ungodly. How dare they. They were wrong in so many ways that can’t even be counted. So it’s my turn. Time to fix it.

The first step is to recognize the difference between “recurring characters” and “oneoffs”. Some oneoffs may appear in future or more than one gags (Garrett/Jarrett wasn’t even mentioned) but they were listed, so I have to relist.

One Offish Characters

9. The TSN Sports Anchors - Not bad people, I’m sure, but these situations they appeared in were literally based on Tanis’s speeches (the females) and the joke set up by Jean Jacques Francois Jacque Jean. So they are the bottom spot.

8. Native Hockey Coach - Again, not a bad dude, but only a yang to Tanis’s Yan.

7. The Matchmaker - Why was she listed? The only reason she even got a nod higher here is that she gave me (and viewers I’m sure) a chance to really see some fun in characters (I’ll never look at baseball the same again)

6 Sled Ted/Jivin’ Pete I get it. They helped establish the show. But not great characters at all. 

5. Big City Slams: They were good people too (sorry, I’m a boy) and helped Stuart become more than just a nobody, and that good lovin’ became a part of my daily speech for a while. But they are just a gag on “we’re hot.”

4. Dyck Sisters: God in Heaven, they ranked too many characters. But dick jokes are funny and their parents appeared more than once.

3. Wally: Started the Native trend. Gets points for that.

2. Hard Right Jay: This was a fun episode, and I really like this guy (the actor). He was a sad representation of what the US really is, and a good character in the show.

1. RatAss: The king of the one off characters. “Let’s get to it, Knock off Wolverine” makes me laugh every time and I think it’s a real life point.

Actual Characters

46. The Models - I love a pun gag more than most (I’m a dad), but I didn’t like the idea that “Katie Fucks” was being thrown in Wayne’s face. The idea was always a “yeah, it’s happening, but we won’t talk about it”.

45. Tania’s Crew - Again, like some of the one offs, Tanis’s opposites weren’t the greatest depth, but good still...but not alone.

44. Brodude Twins - Not a fan. But hey, I’m a guy.

43. Angie - Here’s why Angie is so low...she was unused. I feel she could have been central as a “not Wayne” character, but she pops in and out randomly. And she messed up the senior whaleshit hockey team.

42. The Newfoundland Hockey Players: I laughed. You laughed. It was a blast to see the chirping go the other way. But not the deepest gag of the show and definitely not worth Ranker’s situation.

41. The Brodude leader: Honestly, isn’t she quite the chauvinistic human? Other than that, you can almost predict her lines. And I don’t like that.

40. Quebeck Hicks: I loved the idea. I smiled. I said “Look at French Squirrely Dan!” But otherwise, not much contribution.

39. Jean Jacque Francois Jacque Jean: He only got his own separate because I see him in the finale of season 9. And I hate his name is so stereotypical, but I dig.

38. Alexander: The TERLETS! Hahah But yeah, just a start.

37. Devon: The leader of the Skids when Stuart was “away”...still didn’t do much for me. But I don’t think the Skids are great characters anyway.

36. Bradley: OK, probably should have been in the oneoff category, but man...that was a great episode. I’ll race Squirrely right now! Tito get me a tissue!

35. Gae: Man, a whole season to try to grow the skids and still didn’t do it for me. But the “why do you rebel” was a part of my life for a few drunken nights.

34. Ellen: Dude, I wish she was on screen more. A lot of Squirrely Dan’s growth was wrapped in her and yet, she was in like 2 episodes. Sigh.

33. Anik: The reason Scottie got such a high vote, but she dropped because well, chauvanism.

32. Cousin Jake: It was nice to have an American in the show. For real. And he made an impact. But so many other characters!

31. Dax: I had to separate them only because of Katie’s reaction during the matchmaking episode. But yeah, they are both down here.

30. Ron: See above, only without that reaction.

29. Girl Hockey players: I loved it. It’s fun to make fun of girls for being promiscuous. But we’re getting into really influential territory and they don’t have the “we were there to start” points.

28. Senior Whaleshit Hockey Players: See above. I love my Senior Whaleshit Hockey Players like I love my ex-wife: 28th on the list.

27. Scottie Wallis: I still say YEW when I see cute girls. If he had been in more than 2 episodes.

26. The Ginger: I mean, the first accused of ostrich-fucking became Squirrely Dan’s catch phrase. I have a shirt that says “allegedly” and I say it also frequently.

25. Boots: I mean, you’d need at least 2 people to smash an ostrich.

24. Noah Dyck: I had to separate them. He was good, but wasn’t as good as his other half.

23. Dierks: Man. Have I ever wanted to fight someone more. Katie believed in him and he was the American infiltration to this smalltown. Sigh. We all learn...

22. Anita Dyck: She gets a higher ranking because she was “human”. She had no time for Daryl’s crap and was still doing her best to stay trure.

21. Rosie: Look, she’s doing good for Wayne. And I like some color in my white TV. But they are forcing good lines to her, and she doesn’t really deserve them.

20. Roald: I don’t like how much we make fun of him as a sub. But he’s there. And has been. He’s winning only on longevity.

19. Gayle: Lots of fighting on this one. I love Gayle’s character. Horny. Small Business owner. Basically me in all my dreams. Again, we’re getting tough here.

18. Mrs. McMurray: I think of her more when I think of “ugh...the lifestyle” than I do her husband. But she seems to be phasing out of the show, and that’s sad. Cause she could get it.

17. McMurray: Dude, his speech on what average penis length is should have absolutely given him top billing, but they have again started phasing him out. Sigh.

16. Stewart: The leader of the skids does deserve top billing. They aren’t my favorite characters though, and I’m not the biggest fan.

15. Marie Fred: I was more sad for this betrayal than a lot of TV betrayals I’m used to. And that’s new for me. But they gave her Rosie type lines while she was dating him and gave her an out. That’s good stuff.

14. Tyson: Tyson is good people. But his intro to the show is what separates and lowers him from his compadre.

13. Glen: My favorite uncomfirmed gay in the show. Longevity (cause well, he’s a writer) and always present in good story connecting arcs (again, the dating episode for Wayne really put him on for me)

12. Jimmie Dickens: My second round of watching all the seasons made me love Jimmie Dickens more than others. I said “400% bullshit round here” at work once, and everyone agreed.

11. Joint Boy: Joint Boy’s initial monologue before fighting Wayne separates him from Tyson, also the way he kicked a guy in the nuts before steaks.

10. Tanis: We are getting in the weeds now. I love Tanis. 10/10 would recommend. The crap she gives Wayne for simply crossing his legs is both legendary and amazing. BUTTTT...she’s also quite...unrefined. Both as a character and as a person. She shouldn’t be so...lost, right?

9. Coach: I freaking love Coach. “F***ing embarrassing” has become a part of my normal life. The barb episode and the beer league hockey were great additions to the show. I want my oreos.

8. BONNIE MCMURRAY. If you didn’t say it like that, you don’t understand.

7. Jonesy: Dude, he’s a real one. Created so many new terms in my vocab for no reason. The only reason he’s lower:

6.: Reilly: Doesn’t have a treasure trail. But a great spot.

5. Darry: I wish, for real, they didn’t beat him up so much. But Banana Boat is not a cologne, Dary!

4. Katy: I hope she’s not upset about literally being the “hot girl with problems”, but they do it good on this show.

3. Squirrley Dan: My dog. My truth. My spirit animal. He’s only not #1 because he has to correct and adjust the rest of the cast. DON’T MAKE ME SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO GET ROWDY! (Dan voice)

2. Wayne: Yeah, he’s great. No qualms here.

1. Shores. My Australian friends call me “Rossy”, in case you were wondering where the “y” comes from. But man Shoresy is hands down the best character in the show. I hope, and pray, they don’t ever make him “vulnerable”. Just let him be!

Thanks for reading!

[coreycorner]

Best of 2020

I am pretty confident that there won’t be anymore movies or music coming out this year that has a chance of breaking into my top ten for anything at this point so I thought that I may as well do my best of blog post now. Was reminded of last year when I said the last best of post was my last post. I guess I lied, I thought discogs would suffice as a place to keep track of my opinions on music in a more public way but it wasn’t. With that said I only reviewed two albums anyway so this blog may as well still be dead but oh well my best of blog posts were always my most popular of my posts every year why not keep it going?

2020 sucked, there is no way around that at least in terms of life, everyone is suffering from this. Normally I am in Newfoundland sending Christmas with 95% of my family whom lives in Newfoundland. However at the end of the day I have no right to complain about anything while so many are suffering from losing jobs on top of not being able to see family, friends and be able go wherever you want. Not counting a virus killing thousands of people worldwide above all else.

For some reason before I started gathering the list for movies that this year was so much better for movies than last year but looking at it compared to last it is not even close, 2020 sucked when it comes to movies. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I watched much more indie movies this year than last and had to fill last year’s with Hollywood movies to make up for it but to tell you the truth there wasn’t very many Hollywood movies to fill this list with to begin with.....for the obvious reasons. Most of the movies on this list were from when I watched VIFF 2020 when I watched 27 movies in two weeks. As I have stated my gradings may not be consistent with how I have ranked them, this is because time may have changed my mind with these films but I don’t think that will be the case, the race for the best was a 2 movie race and everyone else wasn’t even close this time.

Top 10 Best Movies of 2020

10) Lapsis (https://boxd.it/oMAo) - One of the last movies I watched at VIFF. It was a good movie, it felt like a longer Black Mirror episode. Not without it’s issues with me but at this point it doesn’t matter I had to find a movie to put at #10 and of the movies I didn’t put as my top 10 this one felt like the best.

9) Bill & Ted Face The Music (https://boxd.it/i7BI) - Part of me would say any other year and this would not even be in the top 10 but I am starting to get used to the fact that either I just don’t like movies the way I used to or movies just aren’t as good anymore to me. With that said in terms of craft this movie is rather tame but in terms of fun factor mixed with nostalgia this movie was fun and deserves to be somewhere on this list since not very many movies this year brought me the brainless joy this movie did. This movie is all about fun not about art and it served it’s purpose.

8) Borat Subsequent Moviefilem (https://boxd.it/rNS0) - Nowhere close to as funny as the first but that would be hard given everyone knows who Borat is and they address it but with that said I feel like this movie had a whole lot more to say that was worthwhile than the other did. I am not going to lie I think I like this one more than the other and I think that this one will probably be more remembered in a positive fashion than the other will be.

7) Beauty Water (https://boxd.it/qqRw) - I try to avoid 3D animated anime like the plague but this one was my girlfriend’s choice to watch when we did since I owed her at least one of two that would be her choice from VIFF since I was going to monopolize our TV for 2 weeks. This one wound up surprising me in being how good it was. I still don’t like 3D animated anime, I think it looks creepy and un natural but all of that worked in this movie’s favour. I would say this was the best horror movie I watched this year, easy.

6) No Visible Trauma (https://boxd.it/rRqE) - Police brutality is nothing new we all know it happens but as naive as I am about it I was shocked to know where it is the worst. I would have expected it to be bad in Winnipeg, Toronto or even Fort McMurray but in Calgary not so much. Not going to lie over the past few years I have had a harder time defending my home province and the bullshit it gets up with but this sort of thing just adds more fuel to the fire. Very well done documentary. Best documentary of the year.

5) Superman: Red Son (https://boxd.it/mSas) - Of the movies I was most surprised to have here on this list this one is the one but this movie impressed me. When I went to watch it I was just looking for something like and brainless and the premise interested me. I wasn’t prepared for how good it was going to be. Best animated film of the year easily and makes me want to read the graphic novel someday.

4) Beans (https://boxd.it/rdZO) - No film pissed me off like this film did but did in an emotional way not in how it was made. When you are able to manipulate me into feeling something in a movie you are doing something right. Another example much like with No Visible Trauma that Canada is just as racist as any other country if not more so. Worst part about it is this sort of thing is still happening, you can take this out of it’s place in history and put it into at least 3-4 other places in Canada right now and it is still going on.

3) A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic (https://boxd.it/m2uK) - In terms of grades this movie should be number one but it takes the 3rd spot because for some reason it hasn’t lingered in my mind the way the other two have. This one quite honestly is the best movie in terms of craft and story telling but it is not my favourite of the top three. Maybe that makes me calling this list a best of list misleading but I don’t care I am not changing it at this point. With that said this movie is still worth checking it. It walks a hard time between funny, sad and scary which is not easy to do. I think of any movie I have ever seen that discussed the real effects of living with an alcoholic this is one that is one of the most honest at least from the family member’s point of view. I mean there are still parts of this movie that is very unrealistic and a bit ridiculous but this movie also lines it up with some very real bits as well. it humanizes, dehumanizes and parodies the alcoholic in rotating succession. I definitely recommend this movie.

2) Another Round/Druk (https://boxd.it/lkba) - This was the first movie I watched on VIFF simply because I was interested in the premise but also because Mads Mikkelsen is one of my favourite actors. This movie wound up starting my VIFF marathon well and is still a movie I think about a lot. There is a lot going for it that it makes you think about and in many ways compliments or runs counter depending how you view it to “A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic”. It talks about alcoholism but from a different perspective, the drunk’s but not just that but when we talk about how alcoholics and how one becomes one we usually think in terms of movies it is because of an abusive or a traumatic past or lie is just so hard but maybe it is that someone just doesn’t want to be themselves unless it is under the influence of a chemical. I didn’t like the ending and what I felt it was saying but I think I need to see it again to make sure it is what i think it was saying. Though I get it I still don’t agree with it.

1) Nadia, Butterfly (https://boxd.it/qhbw) - I knew by the time I finished this movie that this was probably going to be getting the number one spot. Why? Well firstly with the other two movies had some flaws, mind you nitpicking kind of but nitpicking none the less. #3 was a bit too long, #2 had a questionable ending where this movie didn’t really have any flaws. The pacing was perfect, the story and ending made sense, the movie didn’t really do anything drew me out of the movie. I also identified myself with the main character for the most part. While I am not a beautiful olympic athlete I can identify with losing my love for something I committed so much of life and energy but being scared to really leave it behind not knowing what they were going to do next. This movie is essentially one of my kind of movies, the kind of movies that if I was a film maker I would see myself making. On top of all of that we all know that I give a significant handicap to movies that are Canadian and/or independent movies with no much money to work with because if no one else is going to champion them why not I? I doubt very many people are going to list this movie in the top 5 much less #1 but I am going to champion this movie this year.

One thing is for sure the music for 2020 was easily better than 2019, I hd a hard time making a top ten for songs much less a top 10 for albums. That wasn’t the case, while this was still a two horse race drop off is not that significant. It was a good year for music. Finding a top ten for music was pretty easy to build but hard to figure out which one was better than the other. Honestly this is one of those years where any of the top 5 could have been #1 last year.

Top 10 Best Songs of 2020

10) Omens by Elder - A lot of bands I really like put out an album this year and all of them came out with either passable to good albums. Elder had been getting better and better I feel like this wasn’t so much a step back but a stall but this song was the best song on the album. Very Elder and still sounded great.

9) Tequila Shots by Kid Cudi - This song and the album it was on was a late edition to this year, I feel like Omens was a better song but this one is higher simply because it is catchier as well as more relatable to me. Its great to have Kid Cudi back on these lists with me again.

8) Witch’s Spell by AC/DC - Speaking of another group that don’t come around on these lists anymore is my all time favourite bad AC/DC but that is because they just don’t make many albums anymore those at least I didn’t have to wait as long this time as I did for the very disappointing Rock or Bust. Witch’s Spell was the second best song on the album easily for me and one I enjoy listening to still. Whether I will be listening to this song for years to come who knows but it is still a great song I listened to a lot this year.

7) The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim by Kid Cudi & EMINEM - This one came as a surprise to me, I wasn’t expecting it but it suddenly came out and it wound up being awesome, even more so with EMINEM on it. While doing my musical biography I came to realize I was secretly a EMINEM fan though I didn’t like him all that much when he came out but I think was more his initial fans I didn’t like than him. It was still great seeing these two rap however I am not going to lie Slim Shady’s rap on this was the most solid I ever heard from him.

6) Shameika by Fiona Apple - I expected more from Fiona than what I got from his album but this song was definitely the best song on that album, catchy but still very odd and very much a Fiona Apple song.

5) Wolves of Winter by Demons & Wizards - Speaking of another musician/group that I waited a long time to hear from and being somewhat disappointed with it was with D&W, their newest album sucked in my eyes but this song didn’t it’s a great song that shows me they still got it when they want to do it. I don’t understand why so many like the album though.

4) Abyss by Unleash The Archers - Unleash the Archers really took this year by storm for me, I don’t know if I was more excited for any album in awhile than I was for this one. I didn’t doubt they would make something good but when I heard this song I knew they were going to make something great.

3) Midnight Phantom by Lucifer - This song is just so good, I don’t know how to describe why I like it so much. The guitar tone, the catchiness, the solid construction of the song. This song just fucking rocks and you should listen to it.

2) A Shot In The Dark by AC/DC - Speaking of a solid rock song look no further an AC/DC to deliver it. AC/DC releasing an album this year was a big surprise from me but it wasn’t a surprise for me that it was going to be good and this song from the first 30 seconds confirmed it. I was having a shitty day the night I heard it; long day at work, Eddie Van Halen died and I was pretty depressed but when I heard this song it lifted me out of my funk. AC/DC does that for me. Enough said.

1) Soulbound by Unleash The Archers - There is no song I listened to more, no music video I watched more no song I loved more than this one. Like the last time their song took the #1 spot (The Coward’s Way) it checks all of the boxes for me. This song epitomizes everything I love in power metal and everything I love period these days; power metal, synth, science fiction and colour. Just listen to the song and you will get it.

Top 10 Best Albums of 2020

While there were any great songs from this year the choice of albumsChoosing this ten was much more easier and more definite, this was a 2 horse race but at the end of the day if you looked at the above list it wouldn’t be hard to figure out who won first place.

10) Man on The Moon 3 by Kid Cudi - The last album I listed to this album will probably be the last new album I listen to....well probably not because Spotify for as bad as it could be for musicians does allow me to taste new music before I decided to spend money on it so in many ways Spofiy is good at least for those still willing to spend money on the musicians you want to see stay around. Lets face it though of the musicians out there Kid Cudi is one of those who probably doesn’t have to worry that much but the same can be said for 3 other bands while 6 of the bands here need all the money they can get. I feel I need to give this album another full listen but of the trilogy this one was the weakest but it wasn't bad. It was good enough to make the top ten. 

9) Time II: Party by Rumahoy - This like the next 5 other albums here only have really good songs and for that brings it on this list sadly. Only Cowboys Of The Sea is good while the rest is forgettable. Maybe that is unfair and I need to re listen but it is what it is. That song deserves a honourable mention however at least the album makes my top ten on that song alone. I guess that just shows that while the amount of good songs in 2020 was deep the amount of good albums this year was still a bit shallow.

8) Curse of The Crystal Coconut by Alestorm - Tortuga was the best song on this album but the rest of the album wasn’t bad. Alestorm always tries to make fun music above all else and this album is still fun but good and fun can sometimes but not all of the time or often.

7) Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple - I waited a long time for this album, for Fiona to make an album. Maybe my expectations were too high but her previously was that good. With all that sad this album wasn’t really bad, I feel like this is an album that all grow on me. I bought it on vinyl, I feel as though I need to hear it on vinyl to give a final verdict but I think even if I just want to hear dogs barking in on vinyl I don’t think this album would beat the next albums.

6) Dead Star by King Buffalo - The one good song was about 30 minutes long, another song was good but I feel like that song is more of a prelude than a song. Either way this album is a solid album, one you could listen to front to back and not mind but nothing really stands out, even the 30 minute song which only really works in context with the rest of the album. There are times where I really dig it and there are times where listening to it feels like a marathon.

5) Perdida by Stone Temple Pilots - I love the song Three Wishes but I also like the rest of the album for the most part. Maybe it just fit my mood of the day but it was still a good album though I could have done with at least one hard song on there. It was just an album of all acoustic charm.

4) Omens by Elder - Outside of the first album and the demo I have not heard a Elder album I did not like. Each album has been a progression in a positive direction that made me love them more than the last. I knew there had to be a stall or a drop at some point and I sort of expected it to be this one and in a way it was. Well you know what that is a lie The Gold & Silver Sessions were a bit disappointing but still not bad and I sort of feel the same about this one. This one was not bad but it wasn’t as good. So why is it this high? I guess because I  think this is a more solid album that Perdida. Perdida is at #5 because not only does it have one good song but the album itself is sold. This album has one good song but the album is solid enough that I could listen to it anytime and not have a problem. Maybe that is reaching but those are my reasons, if I had a choice between listening to Omens or Perdida on a given day the odds of me listening to Omens are much higher thus why it is higher on this list.

3) III by Lucifer - Now much like the differences between Omens and Perdida are the same as the differences between III and Omens however Midnight Phantom is a song I like more than all of the other one songs below. With that said the album itself is also very solid and the chances of me wanting to hear III is higher than listening to Omens. Its really that simple this is a killer album from front to back but Midnight Phantom is just a great song in of itself.

2) Power Up by AC/DC - If there was a band that could possibly have toppled who I chose as #1 it would have been AC/DC. I was expecting this album last year. By the time 2020 came and the pandemic hit I all but forgot about AC/DC because I figured they would at some point but why 2020 when there was no chance of their being a tour. AC/DC only really releases an album when they plan on doing a full blown tour but I think they did it because the world needed a new AC/DC album and they were right. This album may very well be considered the best album of 2020 to most people and I won’t argue with them because they are my favourite band. This was the album I was expecting from them in 2014. Rock or Bust’s only 2 good songs were better than the three good songs on this album but this album was superior front to back all while still having three good songs. If Power Up is AC/DC’s final album I would say they went out swinging the way I knew they could. If this album came out last year it would have won easily in fact I would have said it was the only good album from last year but it came out this year when they only had one other album to compete with. #1 must be pretty good if it was able to not only beat an album from my favourite band but a good album at that.

1) Abyss by Unleash The Archers - It has been a long time since I looked forward to listening to an album like I did with this album, not since 2015′s Crooked Doors by Royal Thunder actually. My love for this band any my excitement for this album i think started when I just stumbled upon the band for Apex in 2017. It had been so long since I heard really good power metal, the kind of power metal just lifts you off your seat and pumps you up and just goes for it. I mean lots of bands do that or try to do that but I feel like very few or not very many really make good power metal songs anymore just clique power metal just sounds so cookie cutter. However when I listen to UTA it’s like this is what it should be sounding like. I loved Apex and knowing there was going to be a sequel to it planted the seeds of expectations but I knew it was going to take some time. Last year I won’t say I forgotten about them but I wasn’t thinking of them when they suddenly put out Northern Passage the day I started my European trip as they were christening it and it became the anthem of my trip. 

I loved the song so much it reminded me that they had album they were going to make soon or I am assuming should have been done already. It was a good primer of excitement for me to get ready for Abyss. It wouldn’t be till the summer till I hear the title track and that was more than enough for me to be sold on buying the album. So much that I bought 4 different formats of it (vinyl, ear book, digital and CD). While I sort of like Apex more I do love Abyss nearly as much but also in a different way because it is a different kind of beast. I knew after the initial listen that it was probably going to be the best album I would hear this year. So like with Crooked Doors it took won best album clearly. I am not going to say easily because Power Up is still a good album. I did have to really think about which one was better. Both have stand out songs that are awesome and both can be played front to back with a high level of enjoyment and both I did purchase 4 different formats of but I think at the end of the day it was the higher quality of Abyss’s three songs and album as a whole that won out over AC/DC.

These are interesting time for me when it comes to music taste. Over the past 5 years there has been a new guard of bands that have taken the mantel as bands I consider my favourites versus the bands I loved from 2002-2014 period. AC/DC is a constant and unless they come out and turn out to be  monsters they will always be my favourite band but those I love below them have always changed.

From 2002 or 3 It was Iced Earth, Kamelot and Blind Guardian however outside of Kamelot who still tries to be good both Iced Earth and Blind Guardian have really started to suck. Especially in the last 10 years with Iced Earth, with Blind Guardian the quality was already starting to drop by the time I started listening to them but at least there was always one song to hold my head one but their orchestral album on top of III by Demons & Wizards (essentially Iced Earth and Blind Guardian fusion) being weak ass my faith in them has been dying if not close to death. in 201 or 2014 I discovered Royal Thunder & Elder whom turned me to stoner metal more than power metal and Royal Thunder has been a band I have seen as much as AC/DC which says a lot. Followed by Holy Grove and Unleash The Archers I see all of them being bands I love for at least the next 5 more years but the real fight if one calls it that is who is number 2 now; Unleash The Archers or Royal Thunder. There really shouldn’t be a number two but in my mind there has to be. If Royal Thunder is still alive and puts out an album next year that will have to be when I make that decision if they can keep the spot.

So that is 2020 in a nut shell, musically better than 2019 without even trying but in terms of cinema not even close.

So many bands I liked put out an album this year 2021 is looking to be a much more dry year but who knows I do have some hope of it not being so. Why? Well if a band is not touring they are writing and producing new material, no one was touring this year so with that I fully expect a lot of new music next year.

I know there will be a Evergrey album next year. Do not hold me to this but I am expecting a new material from Royal Thunder, Holy Grove, Rosealie Cunningham, Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Dream Theatre, Ghost, Judas Priest, Kamelot, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth so I expect 2021 to be a very interesting year for metal. Metallica for a time was my favourite band, Iced Earth was my #2 band for a very long time and Royal Thunder took their crown only to be challenged by UTA. If Royal Thunder can come out with an album that can beat everyone else in 2021 it would be very hard not to let them keep the number 2 spot but don’t sleep on Holy Grove. They also made an album was the best I have heard in one year. 2021 is looking to be a great year if we can get everyone vaccinated and healthy sooner rather than later. A guy can hope can he? Here is hoping 2021 is as good of a year as I feel it can be!

[diaspora9ja]

30 businesses in 30 days: Fort McMurray real estate agent pushes shop local campaign for Christmas

A Fort McMurray actual property agent is encouraging folks store native by making a video collection referred to as 30 companies in 30 days. 

This month, Melanie Galea began posting movies showcasing small companies in Fort McMurray. From pet shops, to espresso roasters and spas, Galea has been attempting to remind locals about what companies they may very well be purchasing from. 

“It simply appeared prefer it was wanted greater than ever,” stated Galea. 

“These enterprise house owners are prepared for Christmas.” 

She stated there are issues that companies are going to be shut down and a number of companies have already closed throughout the pandemic and flood. 

“Persons are staying residence, they’re possibly not spending fairly as a lot cash. Some companies are doing nicely, however I’ve seen companies shut down due to what’s taking place proper now.” 

Galea did an identical promotion in 2015, making movies to showcase 30 companies. 13 of these shops have since closed. 

Galea put a name out for companies to contact her about making a video, and he or she was even stunned to search out out about corporations she had by no means heard of earlier than. 

“It is nice to see there are new companies,” stated Galea. 

“The response has been improbable.”

Galea stated her movies have even impressed former McMurrayites. She stated a former Fort McMurray resident, now dwelling in Edmonton, reached out to Galea to ask about shopping for reward playing cards from Fort McMurray outlets. 

Carley Johnson offered her first bag of espresso in February. She’s seen an uptick in prospects since Melanie Galea posted a video concerning the espresso firm. (Submitted by Carley Johnson)

Your entire collection took about 100 hours to create. She charged $50 per enterprise to do the video, however it’s costing her greater than $250 per episode. 

“That is my give to the group,” stated Galea. She began filming the collection to start with of October. 

Carley Johnson, proprietor of Firebag Espresso Firm, began promoting espresso and low equipment in February. She roasts espresso at her residence in Fort McMurray and sells it on-line and at native markets. 

Since her video went dwell, she’s had folks attain out to her saying they did not know her enterprise existed and says her gross sales have elevated. 

From left to proper, Catharine Vangen, Michael Langille, Kimberly-Ann McGregor and Brandon Kelloway. Langille stands with the workers of his pet retailer; he says some folks do not even know his store continues to be open after the April flood. (Submitted by Michael Langille)

The corporate does free supply on the town, and he or she says they do about 25-30 orders a day. 

“For the reason that video’s run I’ve in all probability had at the least 5 to 10 new folks contact me day by day.”

“It is fantastic,” stated Johnson. 

Michael Langille’s video hasn’t gone public but — it is slated for Dec. 9. He is the proprietor of The Little Pet Firm, which is within the midst of increasing.

“Some folks assume that we’re nonetheless shut down because the flood,” stated Langille. “It is about broadcasting that we’re right here.” 

He stated many individuals thought the flood destroyed the store, which it did not. 

The shop was “busier than ever” for the primary few months of the pandemic, however just lately seen a “sgnificant change” within the variety of prospects coming in.

Langille stated he doubled his retailer’s stock with the growth, however “we’re not seeing double the gross sales by any means.”

“We would’ve seen a ten per cent enhance, which isn’t what you wish to see while you’re increasing your corporation.” 

He is hoping the video will get folks coming into the shop, and spending their {dollars} on the town, moderately than on-line. 

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from Diaspora9ja https://diaspora9ja.com/30-businesses-in-30-days-fort-mcmurray-real-estate-agent-pushes-shop-local-campaign-for-christmas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=30-businesses-in-30-days-fort-mcmurray-real-estate-agent-pushes-shop-local-campaign-for-christmas

[flimflamfandom]

Hope

Why do we go places? Why do we leave home and go through hardships? 

Hope.

Words: 1033 Summary: Stories from Nina and Dom Warnings: None I can really think of

“You don’t sound local.” The tabby coated girl looked up at her new boss, a hard looking private investigator. “Where’re you from?”

“Austin, Texas.” 

“Texas?” She asked. It would explain the revolvers, the hat, and the duster that he wore into the office that day. 

“Yes. Left to come here.” 

“Why’d you leave, Mr. Drago?”

-

Dominic stood under an awning and looked out. He could see it coming down in sheets now. He wrapped himself up and walked inside of the small saloon, just trying to get out of the rain. “Well, Mister Dominic Drago!” A cheerful voice came from behind the counter. “You’re kinda wet, is it still raining out there?”

“No rain at all, Marv,” He said, “I just swam in from Bermuda, thought I’d stop by for a moment.” 

“Ha! Still good ol’ you, even after your mother…” The bartender, Marv, didn’t press further. “I, uhm...I’m sorry that came up, I-”

“It’s alright.” Dominic sat down and put a few coins on the table. “Still looking for work.” he said. 

“Still? I figured a PI’d be big business in Austin.”

“Well, market’s a little crowded right now, if I’m honest. There’s already 5.” 

“Hmm...gotta go somewhere’s always growin’, I reckon.” 

“Dallas is gettin’ pretty big, but I dunno.”

“What don’t you know about?” Marv asked, pouring him some sort of old whiskey that he himself could barely stomach. 

“I don’t wanna be bustin’ up unions for some loaded rancher with more cows than most people got hairs on their heads.”

“Why not be a Marshall? Or a Ranger?” 

“They’re full up, too, I tried.” He took the drink back in one go and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just want a job I can be proud of, somewhere I can be proud to be.”

“...y’know, my cousin runs a PI firm out of St.Louis. He could gitye an office and everything.” 

“Could he now?” Dominic had a big choice to make. He loved Texas; the deserts, the winters, the culture, the food...it was his home. It was hard to leave home. But he had to. He just had to…

-

“...I left because I hoped it’d be better for me here than there.” He said. 

“Was it hard to leave?” The young secretary asked, getting the last of her pens all into place. 

“...people’ve had it worse, I s’pose.” He hoped he’d get along well here. He knew it was a long shot, but...he had to hope. Hope was why he was here, after all.

--

The ship was cold. It was damp, and it rocked harshly from side to side as they waited out the storm pulling into the island. The crew rushed about on deck to try and make things as ready as they could be made. The captain had made it this far. No matter how harsh the storm would be, they had to keep going. It was the fall of 1892, and after years of marriage, Nina McMurray and her husband were ready to come to America.

Nina held onto Carroll, gripping his shirt to try and stay up right. “You’re sure this brother of yours is a good man?”

“Why d’you ask?”

“What is he’s a crook? They might not let us in if he’s a crook!”

“Relax, dear. We’ll be fine. Just some questions and they’ll let us in.”

Very slowly, it seemed, the ship moored and laid up, and a few inspectors came aboard the ship, mostly to make sure that everything was at least a little up to code and that the manifest was accurate. Smuggling was, apparently, a big issue. 

The ship inspections went on for what felt like an eternity. Finally, after standing in sheets of rain followed by torrents of harsh seaside wind, they made it inside. 

“I was beginning to like the fresh sea air.” Carroll joked. 

“Carroll, dear,” Nina huffed, “This is no time fer jokes.” 

“Oh, please, we-”

“HOLD IT, MICK!” A man came over and stared down Carroll. He grabbed his face and pulled down his eyelids. He did the same for Nina. 

“Christ, th’hell is wrong wit’ye!?” Carroll asked. The man wrote something down. “You skipped the Trachoma line. You know how contagious that is?”

“I don’t even know what it is!” Nina said. “Y’don’t have to be so forceful!” The man didn’t stay to listen. He just waved them off, said they were good to go, and left back to his post. This was going to be a long process. 

Eventually, they ended up having to stay the night, in a room with 40 cots and no sheets. It was cold at night, to the point where even Carroll shivered, big as he was. He held Nina tightly. “Just a while longer...I’m sure they’ll let us in tomorrow.” 

They didn’t. It took 2 more days of sitting and waiting. Finally, a room of inspectors. The hard questions began. 

“Name, please?”

“Nina McMurray.”

“Do you have any relatives here?”

“A brother in law, yes, in St. Louis.” 

“Is he a criminal?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” She said. 

“Ever been in an almshouse, asylum, prison, workhouse?”

“Never in my life.” 

“Are you an anarchist?”

“No.”

“Polygamist?” 

“Heavens, no!” 

Nina was questioned for a while more, and eventually...made it in. She changed her money and waited for her husband, who made it out an hour later. They were both hungry, broke, and needed to survive to St. Louis...the next two weeks were grueling, trying to get money for train fare, eventually giving up and trying to walk some of the way, being robbed, hitching a ride, and eventually making it. 

“You went through all that?” Sophie asked. Sophie had made a smart decision, marrying an American. “Why’d you even keep going?” Nina patted her child’s back, burping him and setting him back down on her lap. She looked at a picture on the wall. 

“...Carroll and I hoped it’d be better for a child. More food here.” 

Nina thought a lot about Carroll...she hoped her boy would grow up well without him. She hoped a lot of things. 

Hope is why she was here, after all.