Life... Successfully
  • Life Successfully
  • Family & Home
    • Kymani's Travels
    • The Nova Skye Story
    • Upstream Parenting >
      • Positive Parenting Books By Lyn Lomasi >
        • Upstream Parenting Book
        • The Pregnancy And Baby Care Guide Every Parent Needs
        • The Only Potty Training Guide You'll Ever Need
    • Family Craft Store
    • Life & Home Blog
    • Better Plumbing Blog
    • Momtrepreneur Moments
    • Successful Relationships Blog
  • Education & Literature
    • Free Learning Education Blog
    • Heart 'N Mind Homeschool Blog
    • Free Homeschool Worksheets
    • The Perpetual Prose Machine
    • Books - News, Reviews & Info
    • Science and Nature Articles
    • Creative Writing
    • Academic Articles
    • Monsters Within Us Monstrous Incantaions Blog
  • Animal Advocacy
    • Crafts For A Purpose Family Craft & Jewelry Store >
      • Give To Pets
    • Animal Advocacy & Healthy Pet Parenting Articles
    • Heart 'N Mind Paw Rescue Blog
    • Positive Pet Parenting Blog
    • Raising Pet Positive Kids
    • Super Pet Mom...Kind Of
    • Pawsitively Adventurous Pets
    • Purrely Pawsitive And Barkably Amazing Pet Training Tips
    • Dog Praising
  • Health & Beauty
    • Healthy Living Blog
    • Good Eats Recipes, Diet, & Food Blog >
      • Recipe Books By Lyn & Rich
    • Fash Diva Fashion Blog
    • Naturally Simple Beauty Blog
    • Senior Living
    • Disabilities Articles
    • Green Living Articles
  • Society & Causes
    • Speak Up!; A Homelessness & Social Justice Blog
    • Motivational Friends Inspirational Blog
    • Straight Up LGBTQ Blog
    • Colorful Expressions
    • Inner Healing & Spirituality Blog
  • Fun & Games
    • Gaming Successfully
    • Luna Starlight Comics
    • Crafting Successfully Crafts Blog
    • Mouthy Momtrepreneur Blog
    • Clowning Around
    • Music Articles
    • Entertainment Articles
    • Holiday Articles
  • Travel
    • RV'ing Successfully RV Blog
    • Local & Travel Blog
  • News
    • News Articles
    • Sports Break
  • Writing, Web, Business, & Tech
    • Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff Blog
    • Writing Tips Blog
    • Write W.A.V.E. Media Thought Leadership & Tech Blog
    • Be a Writer!
  • Our Books
  • Services
    • Custom Jewelry-Making
    • Native & Magickal Healing
    • Social Media & Content Marketing
    • Author & Book Marketing Services
    • Custom Product Marketing
    • Get Reviewed, Interviewed, or Featured!
    • SEO & Marketing Research & Writing
    • Social Media Posts & Community Engagement
  • Contact

"Skye's the Limit" by Phoenix Desertsong - Chapter Two: A Ticket to the Past

12/21/2017

0 Comments

 
by Phoenix Desertsong, The Prose Machine
Phil Rizzuto
You may have guessed by the picture that this chapter has something to do with a Phil Rizzuto baseball card. It does. What you don't know is why! Read on!
"Skye's the Limit" was my novel project for NaNoWriMo 2017. We'll just call  it contemporary fiction/adventure. It follows the adventures of fortune hunters/pickers Phoenix Desertsong (yeah, original name) and Skye Stevenson and their crazy discoveries.

You'll want to catch chapter one first. Feedback is always welcome. Enjoy!


A Ticket to the Past



“Uhhh...”

I was mortified by what just happened. I’d just watched a tween girl hold a baseball card and vanish in a flash of blue light.

Skye walked in with a big grin on her face. She slapped me hard on the back.

“You made our host disappear. Great job!”

Seconds later, a very excited Billy reappeared. “I just turned a double play! We won the Series!”

I stood aghast. “But the Dodgers won the 1955 World Series…”

I double-checked my phone. That’s not what Wikipedia said. The Yankees won in 7 games. Phil Rizzuto was the MVP, hitting 7 home runs in the series. That simply wasn’t right.

“How would you even know a thing like that?” Skye asked.

Billy grinned. “I hit those home runs.”

“OK I’m confused,” Skye said with her typical blank expression.

“You see, gals, I was Phil Rizzuto!”

“But you were gone, what, thirty seconds?”

“That’s what the card does! It takes you back to that season and you imagine the scenario you want to be in.”

“Wait, you actually change the outcome?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s all in good fun! It’s just a fantasy!”

Billy had no idea what she was doing.

“You realize that Phil Rizzuto never hit 7 home runs in a world series.”

“He did now,” Billy chuckled. “Man, I’m getting good at this!”

The 11-year-old had no idea what she’d done. She actually changed history.

“You realize you’re actually changing real life, right?” I asked her.

“So what, it’s only a game!”

“Baseball may only be a game,” I said. “But it affects a lot more than you’d think. If these cards really do what you say they do, and there are more of them…”

“There are!” she yelled excitedly.

I let out a heavy sigh. “Well, please, stop using them.”

Skye’s usually blank expression became one of wonder. “So these cards, they actually take you back in time and put you in the shoes of the player?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Billy said. She turned to me, “I thought you’d appreciate it,uh, what’s your name again?”

“Sorry, we never introduced ourselves,” I realized. “I’m Phoenix and this is Skye.”

“Phoenix, you seem like you love the game of baseball. Why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to put yourself in your favorite player’s shoes?”

“Because it’s DANGEROUS!” I insisted.

Skye interrupted. “Can you bring stuff back with you?”

“SKYE!” I screamed.

“Really, though,” Skye continued undeterred. “Can you bring something back, like a signed baseball or something?”

“Hmm, never tried,” Billy said, clutching the baseball card as if it were the only thing keeping her alive. “But why does that even matter? You get to play the game as it used to be played! That’s reward enough.”

“It would be if it didn’t actually change real history!” I continued to argue. “Yeah, baseball is just a game, but it’s extremely dangerous to change the course of any past events. You have no idea what might happen by changing the tiniest thing. You know, the butterfly effect?”

“I’m 11, I don’t know these things,” Billy said, wide-eyed.

“How much you want for the whole lot?” Skye asked.

“All the cards or just the time travelin’ ones?” Billy wondered.

“Just the time travelin’ ones. Unless it’s a better deal to take the whole lot.”

“There’s hundreds of thousands of dollars of cards here. But I’ll never be able to sort through them all before Nanny tosses ‘em.”

“Gimme a number,” Skye insisted.

I shook my head. Those enchanted cards needed to be destroyed. At least, that’s how I felt at the time. I didn’t have the imagination necessary to foresee what SKye intended to do with them.

“Twenty-five grand,” Billy insisted. “I’ll take no less.”

Of course, Skye and I didn’t have anywhere close to that. We had 30 bucks, plus our rainy day fund which had maybe 200 in it. But we needed that fund for absolute emergencies like last minute repairs to our car or other unforeseen expenses. We didn’t have anywhere close to making her an offer.

“How much just for the Rizzuto?” I asked.

“But… it’s my favorite.”

“You’ve done enough damage with it,” I said. “Thirty bucks?”

“But… but…” Billy was becoming extremely upset. But she needed to understand how absolutely dangerous these cards are.

“How ‘bout this,” Skye offered. “We give you thirty now, and we’ll sign somethin’ saying we’ll give you thirty grand for the whole lot by the end of next week.”

My eyes almost popped out of my head.

Billy’s eyes almost did too. “DEAL!” she screamed, handing over the Rizzuto card. She jumped up and down. “Now I can save them without worryin’ about Nanny throwin’ em all out! Yay!”

Skye is always quite the deal maker. But that promise was nigh near unattainable.

Until Skye signed a quick note with that promise, handed it to Nanny and we were in the car driving away, and she let me know her plan.

“So no we’re not in the sport collectin’ biz,” Skye said. “But if we get 1955 stuff, we be makin’ bank!”

“But you don’t even know if we can actually bring things back!”

“But we CAN make money by CHANGING history.”

“SKYE!”

“It’s only baseball. And thirty grand for that many old cards? Even I KNOW that’s a good deal. Even our most skeptical buyers will pay big bucks for that crap.”

Skye was right, as long as we could have someone front the money.

0 Comments

"Skye's the Limit" by Phoenix Desertsong - Chapter One: The Pick

12/20/2017

0 Comments

 
by Phoenix Desertsong, The Prose Machine
First Generation Ford Escort
Yes, there's a point to this picture of an 80's Ford Escort :-P
"Skye's the Limit" was my novel project for NaNoWriMo 2017. It's a bit hard for me to put a genre to it, so we'll just call  it contemporary fiction/adventure. It follows the adventures of fortune hunters/pickers Phoenix Desertsong (yeah, original name) and Skye Stevenson and their crazy discoveries.

Here's chapter one. Feedback is always welcome. Enjoy!

I. The Pick


My name is Phoenix. This is my story.

I spend far too much time inside my own head. Considering some things that I’ve been through this is both a good thing and a bad thing.

I wander, far too often, even for my own liking. But you know the saying, :Not all who wander all lost.” Well, most of the time, I’m probably lost, and many if those times I don’t even realize it.

I make my living day to day turning trash to treasure. It’s not a unique occupation, to be sure.But some of the items I have come across certainly have been,

“People really like junk too much,” I said to my partner Skye one day.

She just looked at me with those big brown eyes with a blank expression on her chocolate face. “The fuck they do,” she said, shaking her head.

“I mean, yeah, we make our living off of hoarders, don’t we? But really, should it be this way?”

“Prob’ly not,” Skye says with a shrug, taking a whiff of her e-cig. I really wish she’d quit those.

“What do you think we’ll find today?” I asked her. We took turns scouting out the local classified, on the phone and even in the local penny savers. Today, it was my turn at the wheel of my old rusty ‘86 Escort. Skye was usually a genius at scouting. Today, she didn’t seem too optimistic. Not that Skye is ever optimistic, but she usually at least was confident we had some sort of lead.

“Bed-buggered furniture, scrap metal, and old sports cards. Nothing too great.”

That last item caught my attention, “Old sports cards?”

“We’re in the flippin’ biz, Nix, not a sports collectin’ biz.”

Skye had a point. We needed to find buyers quickly to not spend the night in the car. Even with our spare battery in the trunk to run our 12-volt heater, it still gets damn cold.

But I’ve always had a thing for card collecting. It all depends on how old those cards were.

“Tobacco cards?” I asked.

“Eh,” Skye shrugged. “Prob’ly worthless 90’s junk. No pics.”

“No pics?” I echoed. That was either a really good thing or a really bad thing. A lot of older folks aren’t too handy with a phone camera.

“Yeah, they’re only a mile out. But could be a waste of time. We don’t have the cash for gambles”

“That’s what you have me for,” I say. “To make the gambles worth it.”

“Nix, we got 30 bucks. After gas and eats, we’re in the car for the night.”

“Could be worse,” I said. “Let me get that address.”

So we get there. It’s about what expected, a little two-bedroom bungalow. It was pretty non-descript, but the lime green 1962 Pontiac got my attention.

Skye’s eyes lit up. “Ooh,  how I need that ride.”

“Dunno about the color,” I admitted. “But yeah. I like this guy already.”

But who answered the door after making us wait a black minute was not a man. It was an old haggard black lady.

“What you ‘stutes want?” the lady barked.

‘Stutes? We weren’t dressed that bad.

“We’re here about the listing?” I said in the most annoyingly charming upbeat tone I could.

“Yeah, yeah, that Craig list whatever thing,” she scoffed. “BILLY!” she roared at the staircase behind her.

Billy wasn’t what I pictured either. It was a tomboyish white girl with dirty blonde hair stuffed under a baseball cap. Skye’s eyes got wide.

This wasn’t a normal pick.

“You the pickers?” Billy asked with a strong Southern accent. This was weird in Massachusetts.

And Skye and I had been all over. This was one of the strangest houses we’d been to.

“Yeah, that’s us,” said Skye.

“Huh,” she looked at us with a look of disbelief. “Was expecting a couple of smelly guys.”

“You lucked out,” I said with a chuckle.

“You have fun,” the old lady said. “But don’t be pickin’ us clean for pennies!”

“I assure you, ma’am,” I said. “We’re always fair.”

Humph was the only reply before she whisked off.

“Pardon nanny, gals,” Billy said. “She’s all been up and grumpy since Dad passed away.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.

As usual, Skye starting scouting out potential picks right in the door. “This china?” she asked.

“For sale?” Billy wondered.

“Yeah.”

“Well, Nanny probably don’t want to part with that. It was Mumma’s.”

I always feel like I have to explain Skye’s often rude behavior. “What Skye means is that valuable dishware is always at the top of our list. We always have a buyer.”

“I see,” Billy nodded. “But ya’ll are here about the cards, right?”

“She is,” Skye said, pointing rudely at me. She kept looking up and down the hallway, crunching numbers in her mind. “This is a gallery.”

“I don’t follow,” Billy said, crossing her arms.

“Let’s go see the daggone cards,” Skye said.

Billy rushed up the stairs and we followed up the creaky case with care. She went into the front room which was littered almost from floor to ceiling with longboxes and shoeboxes full of trading cards.

“Oh, geez,” Skye said.

My reaction was quite the opposite. “Wow, was this all your dad’s?”

“Yeah,” Billy said with a sad sigh. “It was both of ours.”

“So why you want to let them go?” I asked.

“Let ‘em go? Who said that?” Billy suddenly seemed angry.

“You did have a listing for them,” Skye offered.

Billy shook her head. “Nanny made me. She says if there’s money here it’s gotta go. I was hoping by not taking any pics that it may turn off most people.”

“But I knew better,” I said. “I love a mystery. Those are always the best places to go.”

“Picker’s nightmare,” Skye said.

“Usually, Skye’s the limit on me taking gambles. But I scored here.”

“You wanna see?” Billy asked.

“Sure!”

Skye rolled her eyes. She had no interest in thumbing thru cards.

But what Billy had to show me wasn’t what I expected.

They were old baseball cards, but they had an unusual gloss to them. I swear they could have shined in the dark.

“I know you won’t believe me,” Billy said. “But I reckon Dad would see some of him in you so here’s a go. These here are time travelin’ cards.”

Skye threw up her arms in the air and left the room.

“You gals ain’t on the same page, I reckon,” Billy observed.

“That’s a mighty big claim,” I admitted. “But I’m willing to see what you mean.”

“Well, most collectors get their valuable cards graded. But me and my dad, we got ‘em enchanted.”

I was now intrigued, and I knew Skye was too. She always acted disinterested when she really wasn’t. After all, this sounded incredible, but we’d seen truly strange claims be reality before.

“Go on,” I beckoned.

“See this Phil Rizzuto?” Billy asked, showing me a 1955 Phil Rizzuto Topps baseball card.

“Yeah?” It looked fairly normal to me, but it had an unusual sheen to it, as if it were a reprint and not an authentic original. But that wasn’t it. The blue on the card had a strange glow.

“This is my favorite,” she said.

“It’s a nice card. Probably would give you $30 for a card like that.”

“Oh, no, not like this!” Billy held it up to the overhead light. The colors on the card shone strangely. “See?”

“So if it’s enchanted, how does this time travelin’ thing work?”

“Well, you hold it like this.” She held the edges of the card gently between her thumb and forefingers and closed her eyes. “Then close your eyes and imagine...”

“Oh,, this is grand..” I could hear Skye mutter in the highway.

But no sooner had Skye said that, Billy disappeared in a flash of blue light…

0 Comments

The Young Poets (Poetry)

12/17/2017

0 Comments

 
by Richard A. Rowell
Picture
"The Young Poets" is a poem about young poets finding themselves through their words. It was written by Richard A. Rowell in February 2016.

2-3-16


Words can be mysteries
They can be foreign sounds
That bewilder the mind
Yet are how we best can share
The wishes and dreams
That we keep deep down
To tell lies we wished
And dreamed could be true

The young poets among us
Seek for freedom to say
What needs to be said
Even if that was not
The original purpose
Just to create and breathe
Life into the mundane
To fill the empty moments

I wish to free myself
As many others have
To use this voice
Forgetting rhyme and meter
Set aside Conventions
From what I may write
Believe what you may
It can be what you want it to be

All the young poets
Must unite in purpose
Unique voices
Even considering
The same themes
To let go of fear
Of misunderstanding
And of judgment

To the young poets
I have to say
Never lose
The innocence
The wonder
Keep wishing
Keep dreaming
And the poems will come

(c) Richard A. Rowell 2016

0 Comments

Spells (Poetry)

12/17/2017

0 Comments

 
by Richard A. Rowell
Magic Fantasy
"Spells" is a poem written by Richard A. Rowell in February of 2016. The theme of the poem is the magic and power that words can have over us.

February 3, 2016

Words are like little magic spells
You cast them by the tongue or the pen
Or by swipe of a finger or stroke of key

Words of anger and hate
Are like black magic
They can make things
Wither and die
Spirits crumble
And beauty waste away

Words of kindness and love
Are like the whitest magic
Make life and all in it bloom
Grow and flourish
Heals the wounds
And rights the wrongs

Cast so freely
And often
With so little thought
We must not forget
That words are magic
We are all wizards
And witches of wit.

(c) 2016 Richard A. Rowell

0 Comments

The Continuation (Poetry)

12/15/2017

0 Comments

 
by Richard A. Rowell
Picture
Where did we leave off?
When we last left our hero
What peril was she facing
How could we expect
A honestly satisfying conclusion
Her mortal enemy
Why was he nowhere
To be seen?

This is the continuation
Vague and full
Of misdirection
Distractions
Our hero remains
Unsure if she will prevail
Yet she continues

Is it merely existence
After such defeat
All that was left
To fight for, to dream
Has been all but lost
Then why continue
The thread is not ended

What can be stitched
Together from the scraps
Some knots left to be tied
Only to be unraveled
There is a plot
He continues to plan
A foil that must be crafted

Is there to be
An ultimate battle
Of wits or brawn
Who will be
The proxies
In this fight
Or will it come
To final blows

Is this struggle
Ever truly ended?
As the words survive
The long years
The continuation
Of what could have been
Or might still be
This is the stuff of dreams

RR
1-18-16
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Staff Authors

    Lyn Lomasi
    Richard Rowell


    Guest write for us!
    Hire us!

    Picture
    "Verses Short & Sweet"
    A Poetry Collection by Richard Rowell 
    Available Now!

    $0.99

    About Lyn

    Picture
    Lyn Lomasi's Founder & Community Manager of Write W.A.V.E. Media, which spotlights writers for existing work, as well as encourages expression while earning. Along with her amazing business & life partner, Richard Rowell, Lyn manages a freelance writer team.

    She’s your content superhero to the rescue! Lyn's been writing web content for years & rescuing civilians from boring text since the age of three. SEO, custom content, web design, & other content nightmares are her dream come true!

    Lyn formerly acted as Community Manager & Advocate at Yahoo! Contributor Network, where she assisted writers with community, editing, technical, & other issues. Her work’s featured all over the web. From parenting, energy usage, pets, homelessness, to reducing waste & more, Lyn’s committed to saving the Earth as a whole.


    For the self-made momtrepreneur, sustainability is a way of life and a labor of love. She’s raising her kids and pets in Colorado.


    Facebook: Lyn Lomasi
    Twitter:
    @LynLomasi

    About Richard

    Picture
    Richard Rowell is a freelance blogger and creative writer who writes on a wide array of topics including marketing, positive thinking, writing advice, and more.

    He is a staff writer and co-owner of the 
    Write W.A.V.E. Media Network, contributing to various sites in the network, such as Article Writer for Hire, Life Successfully, and Write W.A.V.E. Media itself.


    Today, Richard focuses on producing high-quality content to help clients become thought leaders in their respective fields. He is also happy to coach anyone who wants to become a better writer, and is open to help anyone critique, edit and proof their work.

    He loves cats, music, and giraffes.


    Twitter: 
    @richardarowell 
    &
     @thewriterrich
    Facebook: Richard Rowell

    Categories

    All
    Adventure
    Amelia Lockhart
    Cat Story
    Chapter
    Creative Writing
    Cry
    Crystal Kauffman
    Dreams
    Earth
    Essay
    Fashion
    Fiction
    Firmament
    Flash Fiction
    Freeform
    Free Verse
    Haiku
    Holding Hands
    Holidays
    Humanity
    Humans
    Infinity
    Insanity
    Inspiration
    Invisible
    Joshua Packard
    Love
    Lyn Lomasi
    Lyrical Poem
    Man
    Mireya Esperanza
    Moonlight
    Novel Writing
    Phoenix Desertsong
    Poem
    Poems
    Poet
    Poetry
    Prose
    Richard Rowell
    Sad Poetry
    Short Story
    Skye's The Limit
    Stories
    Sunlight
    Thanksgiving
    Tour
    Wander
    Wanderers
    Whisper
    Wire

    Archives

    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

COMPANY

About Us
Brand Healing Blog
Staff Blog


SUPPORT

Contact
Disclosure, TOU, Disclaimer, & Privacy Policy

Write For Our Sites!

ALL SITES

Write W.A.V.E. Media                                                                    Life Successfully
Article Writer For Hire                                              Pawsitive Parenting
Heart 'N Mind Homeschool                           Better Plumbing (Partner Site)
Brand Shamans

© 2005-2018 Life... Successfully by Write W.A.V.E. Media,
a division of Brand Shamans

Photos used under Creative Commons from rickpilot_2000, Epicantus, mikecogh, bjorn512, Sardonic G, ePi.Longo, beckstei, torbakhopper HE DEAD
✕