Travis Makes Me Laugh

a Travis long before TS and TK got together

Nov 08, 2023

As I said last week, I’ve jumped into NaNoWriMo this month. I’m editing. I’m laying out character arches and diving deeper into the plot points I’ve stewed over for years. It’s fun, friends. It’s beyond fun.

I remember when I first started writing this story. There were times when I felt like I was standing on my computer keyboard playing power chords on an electric guitar. It was as fun as any wild rock show I’d ever played. And I played a lot of them. Did you know that about me? How could I have set aside this writing and those rock shows? How do these things happen?

If you like the Two Sisters and the Wolf, well, the fairy sisters Sar and Nieva from those stories are a spin-off prequel from this story I’m currently rekindling, working title Writing Charlie.

This is still a rough draft. I’m sharing it with you so you’ll meet Travis. I named him Travis long before Tay’n’Trav hysteria happened. And I love this character - Travis is the perfect name for him. See what you think…

In this scene, Charlie Shabeau wakes up thinking he is snuggled up, at home, with the family cat, Snowbell. He is not…

Charlie woke up slowly. Snowbell was warm and soft, snuggled up with him under the comforter. Charlie hoped that he could just lie there quietly for a few minutes before Mandie the Menace blasted the house awake with her favorite emo playlist. Nope. There she goes. A loud, fast drum beat split Charlie's peaceful morning apart.
“Ugh. I hate this song.” Charlie thought.
Bits of bark rained down on his face. Wait a minute...
Charlie Shabeau shot to his feet, disoriented and angry. There was a woodpecker whacking away at the tree above him - bam bam bam bam bam. The maple's cold morning shadow cast a frosty patch across the clearing, covering Sar and Nieva who were still sleeping.
Charlie’s heart was racing. This was still real. He shook his head like a wet dog, trying to gather his thoughts back together from all the places they'd wandered off to in the night. Wake up, Charlie. Pull yourself together.
A chilly morning breeze flickered through the tree leaves. Charlie looked around for his coat and then he remembered. If he was here and not at Helen’s, then what was the cat?
Charlie looked down. He cautiously poked his borrowed coat ever so lightly with his toe. A lump moved in the middle and started toward him. Charlie’s heart jumped. It, whatever-it-is, was coming out from under! Charlie would have screamed but it all got caught up in his throat. He choked instead.
First a shiny black nose peaked out from under the scratchy wool. Then whiskers. It sniffed the morning air. A masked face and two bright black eyes came next. It was a raccoon. Charlie had been curled up sleeping with a raccoon.
Charlie must have made some sort of strange sound because Sar opened one eye and looked over at him. “Charlie, are you OK?”
“Ah, ah, ah.” Charlie pointed with a shaking finger. “A raccoon,” was all he could think to stammer.
Sar propped herself up on her elbow and looked over. Nieva stirred next to her.
The raccoon crawled himself out from under the coat and looking up at his bedmate expectantly. He made a friendly chattering noise.
“He says his name is Travis,” Sar offered, sitting up.
“Yeah, I get that. Because my whole life is a travesty,” Charlie muttered to himself.
“What?” asked Nieva in a sleepy voice.
“Just never mind.” Charlie groaned.
This was all so weird. He couldn’t make sense of anything anymore.
Charlie’s mind flew up to the top of the trees and looked down on the whole scene. It hit him like a ton of bricks. He was so lost, so frustrated, so tired, so not at home, so not anywhere he could even understand, so not comfortable, so not not not - he just wanted to cry. But the tears wouldn’t surface. What came out instead was a laugh. It started as a scoff, but then it cascaded out of him, laugh after laugh after laugh. It was a waterfall. It was a river. It was the ocean. He couldn't stop laughing. Charlie laughed and laughed and laughed until tears streamed out of his eyes and snot flew out of his nose.
Charlie laughed so hard he fell to his knees, down onto his face. When he rolled over, Travis decided this was a fantastic opportunity to climb up and perch on Charlie’s chest for a closer look. Now Charlie had a raccoon on his chest. Never in a million years had he ever imagined a raccoon. A raccoon! It was all so stupid and strange and stupid and stupid that he could not stop laughing.
Charlie laughed so hard that the sisters laughing too, although they stopped long before he did. What else could he do? Charlie laughed until all of his anxiety, all his frustrations and worries, his despair and his fury were laughed out of him.
When he had laughed his last laugh, the whole woods fell quiet like everything had been listening to him. Charlie felt calm.
Charlie Shabeau stood up, depositing Travis on a nearby log, and shook himself like a dog for the second time in an hour. He took a deep breath and wiped his face with his arm. Then he nodded to the Sar and Nieva. “Okay. I'm ready when you are. Where are we going today? And is there anything for breakfast?”
Refer a friend

I made up a friend for you. His name is Travis. He’s a bit of a troublemaker.

RIVERSIDE SINGERS

If you are in Cincinnati, Ohio, I’m starting a choir! Wait, what? A CHOIR?

YES! Let’s sing together. Monday nights, from January 8 through March 11, 2024, from 7-8:15pm at the Carnegie Center in Columbia-Tusculum. Early bird pricing will be $178 for the 10-week session. I have such entertaining-to-sing, soulful, and beautiful songs to bring. I was in choir for so many years and led students in singing for so many years, and now I don’t. I deeply miss it.

And, frankly, I need to sing my way through winter with you. And if all goes well, through Spring too. And, in the USA, who am I kidding? I will need to sing my way through the entire election year of 2024. We all know, that no matter where we stand on the political spectrum, this one is going to be a whopper.

Many more details in next week’s newsletter. But LMK if you are interested - because I’m noticing that a lot of people are interested! Sign-up starts next week. YAY!

April Eight Songs & Stories

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