Day 2 - 4228 Words in The Return of the Flamingo

I got through the tough gaps and pushed on through to the end of Chapter 3. I also had some very good ideas for the big gaps later on, and I noted them ALL down.

Running Total: 8328 Words.

8328 / 75000 words. 11% done!

In Today's Pages:

(George, suspicious that the missing child may be inside, has burst into Karla's house. She grabs the nearest weapon at hand -- a garden flamingo with a yo-yo tied to the beak -- and follows him inside.)

And thus armed she went in to beard the lion.

She crept into the living room as if there might be a dozen men around. Even though there was only the one and she could hear his footsteps as he moved and paused and finally came trotting down the stairs. She instinctively crouched, ready to run.

He came into view and saw her crouching there, brandishing the bird, and he sighed deeply and faced her.

"I apologize, Ms. Marquette, for bursting into your house."

"Breaking into my house."

"But a child is in danger."

"He's not in dan...ger." Too late, she realized she had just admitted that she knew where Elias was, or at least how Elias was. She clamped her mouth shut and brandished the flamingo.

"I'm not here to harm you or threaten you."

"Then get out."

"I need you to hear what I have to ... say ...." He drifted into silence as he finally seemed to notice the flamingo. He looked slowly along the length of it and down at the swaying yo-yo, and he paused to chew his lip thoughtfully.

"Are you threatening me with a flamingo?" he said at last, as if he were not quite sure.

"Yes," she said firmly.

"A plastic flamingo."

"And a yo-yo."

His eyebrows went up, but he didn't smile, but he also didn't look patronizing. Just puzzled.

"I understand the yo-yo. It makes a decent weapon, I suppose. But why is it attatched to the bird's beak?"

He might have been just trying to engage her in conversation, but he did look curious. She kept looking him straight in the eye, chin tucked in so he wouldn't see she was shaking.

"Because it's funny," she said in her best, flat, dry Clint Eastwood impression. You know what funny is, doncha punk? she thought, but she said, "Do you watch cartoons?"

"No...." he said slowly, looking even more thoughtful than before.

"If you haven't seen Fantasia II, you wouldn't get the joke," she said, and then she couldn't help but add, under her breath, "Philistine!"