WIP Update

Some time ago, a friend read an working excerpt from this manuscript. It was rough and it was rough. I feared that the scene would offend. The friend is prodding me to get this done as quickly as possible and not quick enough for her satisfaction. Of course it takes time to write and untangle the ins nd outs of time-travel, especially when it is my hope to have a trilogy.

The casual reader my not be interested and be forewarned...this is a work in progress. Why share it? I've been asked to. And I firmly believe that comments from readers, like each of you, will help me catch and iron out the wrinkles. This isn't a task for the faint of heart.

The Talisman

Book One

Chapter 1

Present Day

"That's it then." Trish patted Yedi, her prized Arabian stallion, on the neck. She sat erect and yet relaxed.

The sun inched higher above the eastern mountains. May was always a beautiful month, one she looked forward to for more than the new greenery. It was the month of her birthday--May seventeenth, and the date she used to mark visits from Grammy, and her stories. Stories of travel and wild adventures, stories Grammy had promised, "criss-cross my heart and hope never to die," were true.

The valley lay below Trish. Tractors crawled like ants in the fields. A vehicle sped down a country road spewing a trail of dust in the early morning light. Despite the tranquility around her, Trish's heart still weighed heavy at her latest failure.

That's the third time I tried to pass the bar. I guess I'll never prosecute a case in a court of law. It's a pity, really. All I've ever wanted to do was be a successful attorney. I sat right here on my twentieth birthday and vowed I'd get there. Now it's ten years later, I'm still not there. She sighed feeling her shoulders sag. Maybe Grammy was right about what I should be.

Trish withdrew her grandmother's gaudy yet delicately beautiful trinket from under her shirt. It dangled on the long chain Trish wore around her neck. Sunlight shimmered on the intricate scrollwork delicately woven around the inner crystal. The design of the outer casing allowed the inner scrolls to turn one way while the outer scrolls turned the other. She fondled the talisman lovingly, keeping it from spinning.

Yedi shifted his feet. Trish clasped her hand tightly about the talisman and leaned forward slightly. Yedi responded to her cue moving forward at a gentle walk. Trish reined him in near the stand of cottonwoods at the edge of the gulley. Again she fondled the trinket.

"I promised, you know."

...to be continued.