The HORSE stood majestically in the pasture surrounded by the newly
fallen SNOW. Perfect.

He fiddled with a lens and took the PHOTOGRAPH. He hoped he'd win an
AWARD in the wildlife category.

As he plodded back to the house, he saw his sister playing in an
igloo he and his brother had made for her earlier that morning.

"Wanna come get some hot chocolate?"

"Can you find the marshmallows?"

"Yeah. I know where Mom hides them."

"Yippee."

"Come on, out of the igloo."

"It's a CASTLE!"

Jamie laughed. "Well come on Princess Alisha, let's get inside and
get warm."

*The usual disclaimers apply—story came to me while I was walking on
Buckroe Beach early this morning. This is a filler for my story
Aftermath. I took some liberties with the spelling of snow cones
–usually spelled `sno-cones' but I don't think it's too bad Hope you
enjoy*

Cloud-Watching

Sunday, July 8, 2001

Buckroe Beach, Hampton, VA

8:30 AM

A long shadow fell over her beach towel, temporarily blocking out the
sun. For a minute Jenna tensed, her fists clenched, ready to run if
she had to.

"Relax, munchkin," the shadow said. "It's only me." Dad sat down
beside her on the sand. "Your Mom said you were out here."

Jenna nodded, her heart rate slowly falling back under control. "I
woke up early and I didn't feel like staying in the hotel room.
Besides, it's peaceful out here."

"Well that was one reason that we came here instead of Virginia
Beach—too many crowds."

"Makes sense," Jenna said. "There aren't many waves, though."

"Well that's because we're on the Chesapeake Bay instead of the
ocean." Jenna felt Dad's eyes on her as he spoke. "Do you want a SNOW
cone—I think the guy that sells them is setting up his cart on the
boardwalk."

"A snow cone for breakfast?"

"Listen, we're on vacation—there are no breakfast rules here. We won't
be busted by the breakfast police if we eat the wrong thing."

In spite of herself Jenna grinned. "Now you're just being silly."

"Could be," Dad said. "So—is there anything on your mind?"

"Yes—I don't want to do it," the words, held back for so long. burst
out of Jenna's mouth. "I can't. I can't be in that courtroom and tell
everyone what he did to me and all the while he'll be there—just
sitting there and looking at me with those eyes of his." She
shivered. "Maybe I'm a coward but I can't do it, and I won't."

"I see," Dad was silent for a moment. "Well you were ordered to
testify, Jenna. If you don't, that's breaking the law. Is that what
you want to do?"

"No." Jenna's voice was small.

"Do you want Gary Johnston to go free? If you don't testify that's
always a possibility."

"I think he should go to jail." Jenna's vision blurred and she wiped
at her eyes fiercely with the back of her hand. "I just don't see why
I have to get up there for him to do it."

"The prosecution thinks that the jury needs to hear from you."

"What if they cross-examine me? Like that movie I saw where the lawyer
was yelling at the woman—that was horrible."

"Come on—that was just a movie."

"It won an AWARD."

"Well that doesn't make it real life. No one's going to yell at a
twelve-year-old."

"They could."

"You're just making it worse by imagining these things." Dad told
her. "If someone does cross-examine you just stick to the truth—that's
what you have on your side. The jury will believe you."

Jenna dug her toes down into the warm sand, breathing in the salty
tang in the air. Seagulls circled noisily overhead. "I hope so."

"I know so," Dad said. "And don't worry about Gary Johnston being in
the courtroom—he doesn't have the power this time. You do.'

"That's true," Jenna said. "I guess I didn't really think of it that
way." She was silent for a moment, looking out over the water.
Everything looked so perfect, this morning, she thought. Undisturbed
and serene—like a PHOTOGRAPH—and part of her almost wished that life
could stay that way.

"That's a HORSE." Her dad's voice broke into her reverie. Jenna
looked at him with surprise.

"Where?" she asked.

He pointed. "Up there—you see it? That cloud there looks just like a
horse."

Jenna looked. "Oh yeah," she said. "And that cloud there could be the
horse's CASTLE or something."

"The horse's castle? When does a horse have a castle? "

Jenna shrugged. "Well a very smart horse could have a castle. Or maybe
someone who's riding the horse."

"That horse doesn't have a rider."

"Well—the rider's probably inside the castle. Right now the horse is
just walking around by itself."

Dad ruffled her hair. "And you told me that I was being silly."

"Thought I'd find you both here," Mom said. "I found a café just
around the corner—I thought maybe we could have some breakfast and
relax a little before we have to start back. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a great idea, Amanda," Dad looked at Jenna. "What do you
think , munchkin?"

"It sounds fine," Jenna stood, shaking out her beach towel and
brushing the sand off her legs and feet. She wasn't sure what it
was, but suddenly the prospect of the trial on Monday didn't seem so
terrifying.

"What were you two talking about by the way?" Mom asked. "The only
thing I heard was something about horses and castles."

Jenna and Dad looked at each other.

"Just cloud-watching," they said in unison.

The End

Usual disclaimers apply here.


Augie Swan stood between the doors which separated his mud wrestling
bar from the apartment in which he lived.

"Don't these people know that a man's home- and his business- is his
CASTLE?"

He mopped up the SNOW vigorously before mixing with the mud to make
more of the ugly slush that appeared on the floor.

He put the front page of the sports section down in the entrance. He
took one last look at the PHOTOGRAPH of the AWARD winning HORSE.

Maybe if he placed a decent bet and won, he could afford some decent
mats to put down on the floor.

The End

A little tag extension to the Legend of Das Geisterschloss

SMK SMK SMK SMK

Lee slid into the seat next to Amanda. He sat there for a moment with
his hands firmly clasped behind his head. Then slightly turning his
head he saw Amanda smiling back at him.

"It's really nice of you doing this for me, Lee," she gushed.

"Hey, no problem."

"No, really Lee, I know I've already said this, but thank you for
taking me on this tour."

He shrugged. "What are friends for?"

"You know I love The Sound of Music. I've seen it…"

"…seven times. Yes, Amanda, you've told me."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, Lee. You know it's my absolute favorite movie,
and I just would never forgive myself if I left Salzburg without
seeing some of the filming locations,"
she rambled. "Have you ever done this tour before?"

He rolled his eyes. "I can honestly say no."

"You're going to love it. I was reading the brochure back at the
hotel, and we'll be seeing the Nonnberg Abbey, Leopoldskron CASTLE,
the lake district, the wedding church in Mondsee, and the SNOW
covered Alps, where there filmed the opening sequence of the movie."

"Yes, Amanda, I know."

"Lee..." He turned towards her, putting his arms down to his side.
Then watched her place her hand on his arm.

"Thank you," she said. They both looked at where she has placed her
hand and she quickly removed it, turning away to look out the window,
she watched a HORSE drawn carriage pass by the bus. Lee cleared his
throat.

"Actually, Amanda, it's me who should be thanking you. You figured
out the clue's Emily left in her drawings."

"It was really nothing."

"No, Amanda, you're wrong," he said shaking his head. "You were a big
help on this case and you figured out a way for us to get out of the
room before that bomb went off."

"I like Mrs. Farnsworth and I was glad to be able to help you on this
case."

Lee smiled down at her.

"Did you know The Sound of Music won the Academy AWARD for best
picture?" She told him trying to break the awkward silence between
them.

"Ohhh, Amanda," he groaned.

"Sorry, I know…you know." She sighed as the tour bus pulled away from
the plaza. "Salzburg is such a beautiful city, I hope at least one
PHOTOGRAPH turns out."

"If not you can always go home with postcards," he smiled knowingly.
She shook her head; her eyes laughing back at him.