Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Weds Brief

It's that time of the week again.  Here are the latest happenings with Tom and Ben.

This week's prompts are: "my kingdom for a horse" or "open wide for chunky" or "Singing in the rain" or "Damn me, but that's awfully large!" or use something stolen or  have a miracle in your story or have a character who feels like he/she's getting ill or use: a condom, a wing, and a prayer.


The police had been called and statements given by Tom and his co-workers, but Ben’s whereabouts still remained unknown.

“Ben, where are you?” Tom sat on the foot of their bed, looking out at the woods behind their home.  A mountain could be seen in the distance. One of the reasons they’d bought this home was because it backed onto a nature preserve; both he and Ben loved nature.  Bird feeders of all kinds hung in their backyard.   They kept binoculars and a camera ready, along with a telescope to view the night sky.

Tom felt so alone.  “Please, Lord, held me find Ben. He’s a good man, he’s my heart. I can’t go on without him.”  A sob tore from Tom’s throat. “Please don’t let him be taken away from me forever.” Tom’s head fell into his hands.  He couldn’t believe this was happening.  Who the hell had taken his man?

Ben’s car had been found, abandoned about a block from the house on Elm Street.  Ben’s work bag was found inside, along with his cell phone.  The police took the car, and all of Ben’s belongings, as evidence.  Now it was a waiting game to see if the police could find anything in Ben’s car that might lead them to whoever took—no stole—Ben from him.

He went to the police station. Freddy Micha, a friend of theirs, was the lead detective in the investigation. Freddy met him at the station door.   “I wanted to bring you down here to show you some things we found in Ben’s car.” Ben had his work bag, where he kept all the real estate listings he was working on.  There was something scribbled on his notepad. 

“We couldn’t read it.  I was hoping you’d be able to decipher Ben’s handwriting.”

Ben’s writing was chicken scratch at best. If he hadn’t gone into real estate, he would’ve been a good doctor, at least where writing scripts was concerned.    

Tom’s heart sank when he saw the symbol for the Westboro Baptist Church on the yellow paper.

“We’ve had plenty of problems with that group.  They have the nerve to picket military funerals and spread their hatred of gays on their website.  The problem is they hide behind the first amendment.”

“Is that what they’re going to be able to do now?  Use Ben as an example of what happens to gays and then they’ll be able to hide behind the first amendment?” Tom was trying to keep calm, but the thought that Ben was in the hands of those bastards made his blood boil.  

“No, we’ll get them on kidnapping, and whatever other charges can be thrown at those SOB’s.

“Do you know where they’ve taken Ben?”   Tom wasn’t a violent man by nature, but if he owned a gun he’d be at that church right now, blowing some holes in whoever took his man.

“They have a church on the outskirts of town. “

“Come on, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get Ben.”

“Hold on, Tom.  I know you do the hero thing all the time on the job, but I’m the cop here.  Go on home and let the police handle it.  I’ll call you when I have news.”   Freddy escorted Tom back to his car.

Tom was never good at waiting, and he certainly wasn’t going to just sit at home wondering if Ben was alive and well.

My fellow flashers are:


 






Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Weds Brief




Well the 'fun' continues.  Lots of angst coming (just thought I'd warn you)

This week's prompts:   "He's mine to do with as I please" or "welcome to the grand illusion" or use: cabbage, rose, napkin or have a character that is being followed or "She's a slut with a capital S!" or use a hopscotch game in your story or "tiptoe through the tulips" or "Who are you?"



“Can I help you? Are you interested in seeing the house? Just officially came on the market today.”  Ben had been getting the house on Elm Street ready for showing.  He was putting the for sale sign up when a stranger came by.  He was dressed in a suit and a tie; to all intents and purposes he just appeared like an average guy.   Despite this, Ben’s little voice was telling him this was trouble coming at him.

“Me and my missus are looking for a house. I was driving by and noticed you were hammering that for sale sign into the ground.” 

“Sure, is your wife with you?” Ben looked to the car parked behind his in the driveway.  He noticed a license place that read  Lords Way

“No, she’s at the church, getting ready for a special event.  I figured I’d take a look at this house and take some photos on my cell phone and show them to her.  We’ve already looked at so many houses I wanted to save her some heartache and not waste her time looking at any more if they didn’t have what we’re wanting.” 

“I can give you a tour. The house was built in 1974, and it’s undergone some upgrades.  Let me get the specs from my car and we can go inside.”   Ben went to the passenger side of the car.  He opened the door and was going through the folder he had on the seat.   Something on the stranger’s car windshield caught his attention.   There was a parking placard sitting on the dashboard that read Westboro Baptist Church Lancaster parking.   A cold feeling of dread permeated Ben’s insides. This was a hate group, one who persecuted gays, and they were the same group that shot up an Amish School a couple of years ago.  He fished out his cell phone and was just about to dial 911 when his world went dark.

* * * *

“Uh, what?  Where am I?”  He looked around the room; he was sitting on a stage, his hands handcuffed to the arms of a chair.  “Who are you?”  The man who he’d seen at the house was standing in front of him, holding a Bible in his hand. 

“And this, this is one of the heathens we are trying so hard to fight against their vile, disgusting ways.”

Ben looked past the man and saw a group of men and women sitting in what looked like pews.  He was in a church, and the man who had kidnapped him looked to be a preacher.  

“And it says in the good book...”  The preacher held the Bible up above his head.  "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.  I have seen this man kissing another man, holding hands, and you just know they were fornicating.” The preacher gestured to the gold Jewish star that hung around Ben’s neck.   Tom had given it to him as a Chanukah gift a few years ago.  “He’s a Jew bastard as well.”

Well, it looked like that was two strikes against him.  “We’re human beings just like you, we’re supposed to love one another.   That is what God wants us to do.  What difference should it make who I love?  God is supposed to be about love, isn’t he, and loving thy neighbor?  I don’t remember it ever saying except if you don’t agree with who he is or who he loves.” Ben felt like he was pleading for his life which, by the looks of these people and what he knew about them, he was.

“Blasphemer, you will not talk about the Lord. You are a sinner!”


“Imagine allowing a piece of text from two thousand years ago decide for you that you have to hate a specific group of people, despite the fact they haven't done anything to you.”

By the looks on the faces of these people, there wasn’t any way for him to change their minds about anyone who was different then they were.

Ben knew Tom would be worried about him not showing up for dinner, and would be looking for him.  His office knew where he was supposed to be.  But how would Tom find him now?  Ben believed in God, but he wasn’t overly religious.  He observed a few of the Jewish holidays.  Last Saturday it was Yom Kippur; he’d gone to Shul to say Yizkor for his parents whom he’d lost years ago.  He hoped he lived to see Tom again; he prayed he would.  Never hurt to pray.

TBC

My fellow flashers:






Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Weds Brief

They're BACK.

This week's prompts are:   use a bowling alley in some way or "my mind is racing but my body's in the lead" or "when did we fall apart?" or use: a mouse, a cat, a bell or make a Supertramp reference or "why shouldn't we fall in love?" or "hot child in the city" or "why do fools fall in love" or have a character appear on a runway or use popcorn in some way.






It had been weeks since their homophobic tormenter had tried something. Tom and Ben were trying to live as normal a life as they could. There would really be peace of mind if this bastard were caught.  Tom’s friend, Bob McClain, was a police officer that Tom had known for as long as he’d been a part of the fire department.   When he and Ben had reported the incidents to them, John had made sure the patrols in their area were stepped up.

It was the only thing that put Ben’s mind at ease so that he wasn’t staying up all night peering out the window, worrying that ‘he’ was out there somewhere.

“Did you see that Tom, I got two strikes in a row!” It was refreshing to see a smile play across Ben’s face. After all they’d been through ,Tom had his doubts he’d ever see it again.  He was glad Ben agreed to go bowling with him tonight.

“Yeah, yeah, I saw it.  It looks like you’re going to win this game, too,”  Tom playfully groused.

“Aw, are you really bothered that I’m a better bowler than you are, Tom?”  Ben sat next to his husband, his arm draped around the muscular firefighter’s shoulder.

“No, of course not, just that I don’t know if there’ll be any living with you now that your head has swelled up.”  They both broke out laughing.  The bowling alley wasn’t that crowded for a Wednesday night. There was a big tournament going on over the weekend so the alley was going to be closed to anyone not in the tournament.   “Hey, maybe we can stop by and watch the bowlers over the weekend.  I heard there’s going to be some pros showing up for this thing.”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun.  Let me check my schedule.  I know I have some listings to show.” 

They finished up their games, they’d had pizzas and sodas, and now they were heading for their favorite ice cream parlor,  ‘Sweet Memories.”   The place was like stepping back into the 50’s: black and white checkerboard floor, old-fashioned counter, and glass containers filled with candy that Tom and Ben remembered from their childhood. 

“What will you gentleman have?”   the soda jerk asked them when they sat at the counter.

“I’ll have an ice cream float.”  Tom loved their floats.

“I’ll have a banana split,”  Ben told him.

They sat and talked while their order was being filled.  
“I don’t have to work tomorrow, do you want to help me paint the back deck?”  Tom asked him. The deck needed some painting. It had been a few years since that was done and it was starting to peel.

“I wish. I have to work.  There’s a new listing I’m showing over on Chestnut Street.  Sorry, Tom, I would love to help you. You know that, right?”  Ben felt guilty that his man had to do the work himself.

“Don’t sorry about it, sweetheart.  I can take care of it.  I hope you get a sale.”  Tom knew how hard Ben worked; they both worked hard in their own ways.  And they celebrated whenever Ben got a sale.

“Me too. This house I’m showing has been on the market for a while now.  I keep telling the owner to lower his price, but he won’t budge.  He has a price in mind and that is that.”

They went home and made some sweet passionate love before they finally drifted off to sleep.

                                                                          ****

They started off their morning like they usually did when they were both home.   Tom made the coffee and Ben made some omelets.   “I should be back around six tonight,”  Ben told him as he put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

“I’ll be counting the hours.” They kissed and hugged each other.  They didn’t want to leave, but duty called.  

Tom busied himself with getting the deck scraped and putting the can of primer and special paint made for decks out onto the deck.    It took hours and, by the time he was finally done, there was sweat and paint covering the old clothes he wore for this project.

“I better take a shower and get dinner started.” By the time he showered and changed clothes, it was after six.   “I wonder where Ben is?”  It wasn’t like him to be late like this without a phone call.   Tom checked his cell phone and the landline.  Nothing. He called Ben’s phone; it went straight to voicemail.   Tom started to get worried. He called Ben’s office and Carolyn, one of his co-workers, answered.

“Hey Tom, how are you?” She was always a cheery person, one of those people who could cheer you up when you were down.

“Hi, Carolyn. Listen, has Ben come back to the office?”

“No, Tom, he’s been gone all day.  He went to that open house on Chestnut Street, then he said he was going to put signs up for a new listing on Elm street, and then he was coming back here to drop off some signs he was picking up at the printers.  He should have been back by now.”

“Okay, I’ll swing by the printers and see if he’s there.”  Tom had been to the printers with Ben so he knew where it was.  

“Sorry, sir, but I haven’t seen Mr. Meyers at all today,”  the man at the print shop told him.  “I have his order all ready for him.”

“I’ll tell him it’s ready when I see him,” Tom said distractedly.   Tom swung by the listing on Chestnut—no one was there—and then he swung by Elm. He noticed the new sign that had been put into the ground.  He ran his fingers over Ben’s name that was printed on the sign.  He was the listing agent; his name was under the real estate company’s name.   “Ben, where are you?”  

My fellow Weds Brief authors:

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Weds Brief

HI everyone,

I'm sorry I didn't do a Weds Brief this week.   I plan to do one next week for sure.   RL got very busy and I didn't get a chance to write.

Here are my fellow authors who did write a Weds Brief.

Tom and Ben will be back next week. (maybe, if their stalker doesn't do anything to them.)