Gen 1.4 A Meadow Glen Mystery, A Taste of Back Story, and A Teenaged Dream

Meadow Glen has been rocked by a crime spree. The past three nights, houses have been broken into and items of value have gone missing. Only the wealthiest families have been targeted. The town is on edge and the police are baffled. Mayor Lewis Alterman is out for blood after the burgler made off with his mother's jewels, but the thief is canny. None of the stolen goods have shown up at the local consignment store or other fences. 

Lupe put down her newspaper and shook her head. She gave her tea a stir and looked around the cafe. Who of her neighbors would do such a thing? She looked at Robin as she angrily tapped at the computer. She observed Gil as he pulled his hat down over his eyes and leaned back in his chair; his wife Penny was leaning forward, earnestly reading her book. The bell tinged as the door opened, admitting someone Lupe hadn't seen much of before. She thought his name was Shane and all she knew of him is that he worked in the factory downtown and had a young daughter named Jasmine. Before she could school her face into a neutral expression, he looked over at her and caught her eye. He held her gaze for a moment before heading up to the counter and ordering a croissant and an americano.

Lupe went back to her newspaper, but was interupted in the middle of Miss Manners, “Would it be ok if I joined you?” She was confused, the cafe wasn't crowded, but here he was. It would be churlish to turn him away, plus she admired his guts, “Be my guest.” He sat down across the table from her and broke off a piece of his pastry. He read the front page of her newspaper as she returned to the advice column, “That's some caper, huh?”

“The thief?”

“Yeah,” he took a sip of his americano, grimacing as he burned his tongue.

“I think it's awful,” Lupe said, “People should feel safe in their homes. He's ruining that for them.”

“Maybe they feel a little too safe. It says here they didn't even have their doors locked.”

“What did you say your name was again?”

“Shane, Shane Granger, nice to meet you...” he said holding out his hand.

“Lupe Estes” she replied shaking his hand.

“I gotta get going, but we should get together sometime. I enjoyed our chat.” With that he got up and left, and taking the color out of the cafe with him. When she picked up her newspaper to go, she found his name and number scrawled on the top corner. What a smooth operator! She hadn't even noticed him doing that. She shook her head, intending to toss it in the recycling bin on her way out, but didn't.

She hopped on her bike and checked her watch, she had a half-hour to make it home before Juniper did. Juniper was no trouble at all, but she didn't really like to be alone. Lupe couldn't really blame her on that one. People react to their past in different ways. Lupe's parents left her and her brother alone while they worked and Lupe became fascinated by the world around her. When the fridge was empty, she would go to the neighbors around dinner time looking pitiful. She knew her parents were trying, but she never really felt their love the way her brother did. Juniper's mom... the less said about her the better.

When concerned neighbors called DCFS about her leaving her daughter alone in the house for hours, she would take her to the park and leave her there instead. She was comfortable in the belief that everyone there would assume she was there with someone else and she'd pick her up after the end of her shift.

The first afternoon Juniper played happily with the other children, but began to get nervous as one by one her playmates left for dinner. She sat on a bench and clutched her knees to her chest and waited. Eventually, her mom came back and got her. When they got home, she gave her a poptart and sent her to bed. Her mom sat on the couch, “soda can” in hand and fell asleep. In the morning, Juniper got a lecture before the bus came about keeping to herself and this was family business- no one needed to know.

Her mother failed to anticipate that people would eventually notice that Juniper didn't go home when the other children did. People would notice the little girl that didn't play with the others, but sat on the benches watching the parents with hungry eyes. Maybe it was the grandmotherly woman who walked her little white dog through the park every evening at seven that called. Or maybe it was the nanny who took the last child home. Or maybe it was the harried mother with the two little boys. Or maybe it was all three who called DCFS and called and called again.

Juniper didn't like being home alone. Juniper didn't like being outside for too long. She wouldn't get into trouble, but she wouldn't be happy either. She would do her homework with Floyd laying on her feet and look reproachfully at Lupe once she got in. Lupe peddled faster.

After she got Juniper to bed, Lupe got the newspaper out of her bag and looked at the number. Should she call him? He had challenged her, he was confident, those shoulders... She called her friend Leah instead. Leah had moved to Meadow Glen at about the same time Lupe had to pursue art surrounded by nature. Then on one of her long walks along the dunes she'd met Elliot, a man who looked like he walked straight off the cover of a romance novel, and fell head over heels in love. Luckily, he reciprocated and they'd been inseparable ever since, even though others had tried to catch his eye.

“Hey, Lupe, what's up? Elijah, I thought you said that project wasn't due until Thursday! Well, talk to your dad.” Lupe laughed, Leah's conversations were always sprinkled with directions to her sons or interjections from them.

“I met Shane Granger today, do you know him?”

“I think Elijah has had a few classes with Jas. I've seen him at parent teacher nights, but he keeps pretty quiet. Why?”

“We had an interesting conversation, is all. Then when he left, he had left his number.”

“I guess he liked what you had to say! You should call him! Sam Lane shouldn't turn you off men for life, Lupe. Don't tell Elliot, but have you seen his eyes?”

“What's this, I hear!? My wife has noticed another man's eyes!? Oh woe! Oh sorrow! How shall I live this day down!” Lupe heard Elliot exclaim in the background, followed by a thunk which was probably Leah hitting him playfully with the phone. They soon hung up the phone. Lupe checked Tinder. She swiped left and right a few times before she saw his picture. His hair was messy and he was smiling at the camera holding a pool cue. She scrolled down looking at other pictures and reading what he had to say about himself. The picture of him on the beach laughing into the camera was interesting. Yes, interesting, she settled on texting him.

After a few days of texting, she agreed to meet him at the festival. Lupe felt about sixteen as they played the carnival games and rode the rides. When Shane grabbed her hand, electricity shot through her body. She looked up at him and noticed him looking at their hands intently, she felt herself blushing as she met his eyes. His hand was warm and firm, calloused, capable, and intensely male. He took her other hand and looked at her palms. Lupe's hands looked small, slim, and brown in his. Shane looked like he was having similar thoughts. Instead he said, “Do you like rollerskating? I've taken Jas a few times and I'd like to think I've gotten pretty good.”

“Pretty good” was a bit of an understatement thought Lupe as she began to lose her balance and he arced around to take her hands and steady her while skating backwards. “Here, relax. Keep your feet still and bend your knees a little bit.” He pulled her along like a child. “You seem a bit more steady now, try to push off with your back foot and glide. I'll be here holding your hand. I won't let you fall.” Lupe soon got into the rhythm Shane set of push, glide, push, glide. She could've let go of his hand, but she didn't. When they got off the rink, Shane grinned at her, “You're a natural!”

Lupe looked down at her feet, “You're just saying that to encourage me. There's no way you got that good 'just taking Jas a few times'” she looked up at him pointedly.

He laughed ruefully, “You're right, I used to play hockey as a kid. When I got to high school, they had an ice hockey team. I started as a defenseman, but when I got to varsity Coach moved me to center. Skating's skating even if you've got six wheels instead of a blade.”

Lupe checked the time, she had told Juniper she'd be back by four-- it was 3:45. "Oh no! I Told Juniper I'd be home in 15 minutes!" she exclaimed. "I gotta go, but let's do this again sometime, ok?" Shane gave her a look that told her he was thinking of kissing her, "Definitely"

Reluctantly, she hopped on her bike. She wasn't some young thing anymore, she shouldn't feel so fluttery just because a man paid a little attention to her! Even if he was a handsome one, with muscular shoulders and warm brown eyes. 

Note: I'm trying to get my blog closer to where my game is, but some of the things that have happened there make more sense in terms of play than in terms of the characters I've established. Coincidentally, the loudspeaker was playing "Teenage Dream" while they were at the festival. It's hard for me to advance the generation while trying to figure out how to write about it.