TEOTWAWKI
#115: Henry Drake : I intend to get her back
Henry settled back in his chair and sipped his coffee, he already had a cup. “Ahhh... Sometimes I go hours without drinking coffee…it’s called sleeping”
If looks could kill Henry would have died right then and there from the glare Bob sent his way. Bob watched Henry sip his coffee then looked at the cup sitting in front of him...then back at Henry.
Henry hadn’t died yet.
“Oh what the hell’ he muttered then picked up the cup and took a cautious sip.
“ Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love AND...have a kick!” he said...”this qualifies.”
“Ahem...” then he grinned sheepishly at Henry. “Sorry about that. The tech startled me a bit. How’d you do that anyway? Where’d you get it?”
“I thought that you’d never ask” Henry proceeded to tell him.
“That’s the story” Henry finished “ that’s how I wound up out here”.
“It’s kinda hard to believe the part about the dragon” Bob grinned.

“What kind of remark is THAT?” A little blue dragon flew into sight.
“You’re moving your lips” Bob Grinned at Henry. “I knew you would HAVE to do that. You ain’t the kinda guy who can resist a challenge.”
“Well yeah” Henry grinned sheepishly “ Sometimes I can’t. I don’t do little flying dragon avatars too good.”
“I can see that” Bob grinned back “What DO you do good?”
“SeaMonsters” Henry told him. Fluffy surfaced into full view, tentacles and all. “I drive SeaMonsters really good. Behold Fluffy!”
“Damn it’s a big one ain’t it?” Bob was wide eyed. “But that name has got to go. It’s embarrassing”
“Ain’t it just” Henry sighed “What do you suggest?”
“I dunno...I’ll let my hind brain cogitate on the matter while I tell you MY story...you wanted to hear it din’t ya?” Bob asked.
“Well yeah I do...go for it” Henry told him. “I got nothing but time. Speaking of time. It’s kinda late to be drinking coffee. Time to switch to whisky. That kicker in the coffee just ain’t enough”
“Fine by me” Bob told him “If you run out of whisky I gotta jug of moonshine in BOB.”
“I lost a leg in Ass-crack-istan.” Bob recounted, then looked closely at Henry“ One of them damn IUD’s got me.”
“Don’t you mean IED?” Henry asked.
Bob grinned. “You got me”
Henry grinned back “Thank god for that. The visual of you getting your leg blown off by an IUD will haunt me to my grave.”
“ At any rate , I’d been in the service long enough that I could take medical retirement. I got a little monthly check. It wasn’t much but it was enough to take care of my needs. That and doing some odd jobs now and then. I’m a coon-ass” Bob continued. “Born and raised in the swamp. I came back to it. the swamp that is, and built BOB. I’ve been living in it ever since.”
“I was meaning to ask you about that” Henry said “Why do you call your boat BOB?”
“I though YOU would never ask” Bob snickered “It’s short of Bug Out Boat.”
“Makes sense” Henry agreed “I had often thought about that myself, before I got Fluffy that is. I hear there was a lot of preppin going on. Turns out they sure needed to. I dunno if they thought of floods though. Seems I recall they were worried about EMPs, Zombies, or Currency devaluation and economic collapse, or something.”
“Economic collapse happened didn’t it?” Bob said somewhat defensively “ but you’re right. No one ever thought about an impossible flood.”
“Why do you say it’s impossible?” Henry asked him.
“Cause there’s not this much water in the whole WORLD to make it flood this much.” Bob told him.
“What about Greenland and Antarctica melting?” Henry asked.
“No where near enough.” Bob told him. “I’m a prepper...trust me on this.”
“Then where’d it all come from?” Henry asked him.
“That’s why I said it was impossible. I don’t know. Nobody I’ve heard talking about it has the least clue either.” Bob said “Except that it ain’t. Impossible that is. Its happened.”
“Yeah..good point.” Henry said...”So what happened next...go on with your story.”
“Well there was this little orphan girl....and then along came the Child Protective Service Harpy.”....Bob told Henry his story. It took him a long time to do it. What with Henry interrupting with questions, , cigars and refilling the whisky glasses. They went thru more than one bottle.”
“The little girl and her parents were neighbors. They was from the Philippines or somewhere close to there. They wuz sea nomads.” Bob looked at Henry a little bit cross eyed. It’d been a long time since he’d drank THAT much whisky. Henry wasn’t much better. He didn’t drink alone much..but he loved to drink in company. Bob qualified as company.
“Then her father was killed somehow. That part I’m not real clear on. They say it was an accident. ” he continued. “To make a long sad story shorter....her momma couldn’t live without her husband. They’d been married since she was a little girl. The girls marry really young where they come from. The momma grieved herself to death. Drugs and Alcohol did her in. She OD’d one night, or so they say. I woke up to the sound of the little girl screaming.”
“That must have been tough.” Henry consoled him.
“You don’t know the half of it. She was screaming in my ear. RIGHT in my ear. She’d jumped into the water when she’d seen her momma dead, and swam over to my boat and climbed right in. She had a nasty habit of doing that although I kept telling her to quit it. She swam naked. I kept complaining about that to her father and mother when they were alive. They ignored me and told me that the little girl was my future wife. “ Bob grumbled. “they had some kind of foreign religion..something about a snackbar. I never understood it.”
“I don’t like kids much...always hollering and screaming. I liked that one pretty much though. It didn’t hurt that she was cuter than a puppy. I took her in. It was quite the experience let me tell you.”
“shudder” Henry drank some more whisky” I don’t like kids either.”
“That was about ten or twelve years ago” Bob said..sipping on whisky.”She’s about eighteen or so now. She still won’t hardly wear clothes. She claims it interferes with her swimming. She swims like a dolphin. Odd thing..she can see underwater just as well as she can see in air and hold her breath for a LONG time.”
“You mean?” Henry couldn’t help himself...he grinned.
“Yup...like I said..she’s a sea nomad. I looked it up on the internet once. They’re some kind of mutants.” he grumbled.
“Oh yeah.....the age of consent in Louisiana for marriage is sixteen with parental consent and I guess I got that with them always saying that she was my future wife.” Bob slurred his words a little.
“Doesn’t matter no how” his words became more forceful
“She took it into her head to marry me when she got old enough. She’s was probably old enough by then anyhow. Old enough according to anybody.” he was growling now.
“You mean?” Henry said.
“Yup...She my wife. ” Then he didn’t grin. He snarled. “and they kidnapped her. I intend to get her back”
The Next Episode Is
#116: Daniel Freemartin - Boat Sale…
The Previous Episode was
# 114: Melvin - Video Call…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
..............
Book One: SoulStone
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I'm
@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
My books on Amazon.
I engage in political commentary
and
generally talk about anything that strikes my fancy
on
Steemit
and
Sola
When watching the LameStream FakeNews Media
it's hard to tell what’s true or when they are lying isn’t it? It seems that they are more interested in influencing public opinion than they are reporting the facts.
SteemPunk Snail Image from Pixabay
I feel like I just got in the middle of a great series. I'm hooked already!!
So far Bod has got to be my favorite character. What an odd dude (?). I feel though as if I had to start reading previous episodes, which I am will to do!
I don't know yet in what kind of a world they are living in nor its timeline. Can't wait to see all of that. I love imaginative work such as yours, so congrats!
I am trying to improve my writing and explore similar genres to this one. Hopefully it will serve as inspiration.
Book One: SoulStone
That good! stories are crisscrossed and it seems that Henry and Bob can make a great couple, not only for work, but also to start and continue the search for Bob's wife ... coffee, beer, whiskey, cigars ... Good atmosphere for a pleasant and wide conversation..."Sea nomad... They’re some kind of mutants.”Did the adaptation of the species begin?...Interesting.
sea nomad is a real thing
So kidnapped, or ran screaming away? gonna be interesting to see. Been awhile for any confrontations. I'm sure Henry will, be careful and not go in all guns blazing.
That's FOOD for thought
(hint)
Great article. I always ejoy your post. I will check the #112 as i dint read that. Please keep it up.
Love these words “ Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love AND...have a kick!”
WELL great work