Class Novel: Chapter 16 by Carrie Mullenholz

Author's Note: Sorry this is so late guys. Today was really not a good day for me to have to post a chapter (which is why I chose yesterday...) Anyway. I was trying to do what everyone was posting in the comments, bringing in more people knowing about her pregnancy and bringing a conversation with her mom in again.  I thought about telling Cody, but it didn't feel like the right moment, plus I have no idea what climax we are working up to right now so I was honestly a little lost.  Sorry if it's not very good, I didn't have a solid amount of time to work on it. I also was confused on what the brother's name is so I just went with Nathan. Also I thought bringing her mom to Unalaska would make it interesting, but you can certainly change that. I had the thought that she could show up, Jack could show up or they could both come together. Either way, I think Jack needs to be brought in soon.

Nat woke up in the hospital and cringed at the headache she had.  Eugene and Susan were sitting in chairs at her bedside.

                “Oh thank God,” Susan said, “we thought you were never going to wake up.”

                “How long have I been out? Is Cody okay? Is the camera working?” she asked.

                “You’ve been out for a couple hours. Cody is having an x-ray done, they think he might have broken a couple of ribs,” Eugene answered looking nervously at Susan.

                “What about the camera?” Nat looked from Eugene to Susan.

                “The lens is broken,” Susan said gently, “it turns on, but you can’t see anything.”

                “Shit.” The doctor came into the room and said,

                “Sorry to interrupt, but we ran a CT scan and everything looks okay there bu—”

                “What about the baby? Would the fall have damaged anything?” Eugene blurted out.

                “Eugene…” Nat sighed looking at the bewildered look on Susan’s face.

                “We will run an ultrasound to make sure everything is fine. But it is very rare that a fall this minor would damage it,” the doctor continued on without noticing the obvious tension in the room, “We will be right back in to set everything up.”

                “You’re pregnant?” Susan said once the doctor had left the room. Nat nodded staring down at the hospital bed she was sitting on top of, not able to look Susan in the eye. Eugene exited the room, giving them their privacy.

                “Why did you tell Eugene and not me?”

                “I only found out about a month ago and Eugene just happened to catch me at a weak moment. Plus you’ve been going through everything with Cody, I just didn’t want to bother you with it,”

                “Is it Jack’s?”

                “Yeah.”

                “And you haven’t told him yet? Or your mom?” Nat shook her head, tears starting to sting her eyes.

                “Oh Nat. I’m sorry.”

                “Susan, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I always thought having kids was going to be in my future. Not now, but somewhere down the road. I’m not ready to be a mom. This movie was supposed to be my introduction into the movie industry, but now Jack is somehow holding me back again.” The doctor with impeccable timing strolled back in with a nurse and a cart with the ultrasound machine on it.  They put a gel on her belly and moved the wan around to find the baby. Nat grabbed Susan’s hand nervously and they both stared at the screen until the outline of a baby appeared.

                “Alright, there we go. I can hear the heartbeat and they look fine. I don’t see any damage done. Would you like to know the sex?” the doctor asked. Fear electrocuted her body as she gulped and nodded her head.

                “It’s a boy,” he said. Susan gripped her hand and smiled at her.  

                “Okay, everything looks okay to me. I don’t think there is any reason you should have to spend the night in the hospital,” he said, “Let’s be a little more careful when diving for replaceable objects, you have precious cargo.”

                “You got it. Do you know what room Cody Jackson is in?” Nat asked as they stood up to leave.

                “I don’t, but you can check at the nurses’ station, they have the list of patient rooms on their computer.” They walked out to the nurses’ station and they sent them to the third floor to Cody’s room.  He was sitting on a bed talking to a doctor.

                “You need to stay in bed for a few days and take some painkillers for a few weeks and you should heal in no time,” the doctor said.

                “Well that’s good to hear,” Nat said holding her stomach subconsciously.

                “Nat. You’re okay?” Cody asked.

                “Yeah I’m good. I’m more worried about you,” she said while Susan stared at her questioningly, “Because you’re my lead actor, we can’t do this without you.” This seemed to placate her a bit and Nat praised herself for a good recovery.

                “We are going to head back to the hotel, but we will call you in a few days to see about filming some more scenes—”

                “Umm, Nat. The camera?”

                “Damn it. I forgot about the camera. I’ll have to figure out how much money it is going to cost to fix the camera. And then we will call you about shooting some more scenes.”

                “Okay, sounds good. You’ll find the money somewhere, right? This can’t all be for nothing,” Cody said.

                “I hope you’re right. Maybe I can see if I can take out a loan somewhere.”

                “Or you know? Maybe ask your parents for some?” Susan pressed.

                “You know that’s not an option,” Nat muttered, “Especially not right now.”

                “It may be our only option,” Susan responded.

                “We will figure it out. Bye, Cody.”

               

                

Later on at the hotel Nat sat down with the phone in her hand typing her mom’s cell phone number out and then deleting it. She knew she had to call her, but she didn’t know how to brace herself for the lecture that was going to come with it. She was going to tell her mother about the pregnancy and hope she could deal with the money for the camera later.  She couldn’t have her parents thinking she was knocked up and needed to beg them for money.

                “Natalie?”

                “Hey, Mom.”

                “What’s wrong?”

                “Why do you automatically assume something is wrong?”

                “Because you called me. And you never call me,” her mom said skeptically.

                “That’s not true… I call you sometimes.”

                “Natalie. What is going on?”

                “Umm right. Well I found something out recently and I couldn’t figure out how to tell you.”

                “Are you out of money? You know if you talk to your father, he could probably loan you some.”

                “No, that’s not it.”

                “What is it?”

                “I’m pregnant.” There was nothing but silence. 

                “Mom?”

                “I’m here. Whose is it?”

                “Jack’s. I haven’t slept with anyone else since him,” she groaned having to share this intimate detail with her mother.

                “You need to come home. You need to tell him. I know you miss him, honey. He can afford to provide a good home for you and your baby.”

                “I don’t love him anymore, Mom.”

                “But you’re going to have a baby together. You don’t think it’s worth thinking about? You aren’t the only one to be thinking about in this situation. What’s going to be the best option for your baby?”

                “I don’t know, Mom. It’s all happening too fast. I haven’t had time to fully wrap my head around it.”

                “How far along are you?”

                “I think the doctor said I’m in my second trimester. It’s a boy, by the way.”

                “Oh how wonderful, Nat. You need to come home. Let me look after you and you can tell Jack and it will all be okay. Just abandon your movie. You need to do what’s best for your baby boy’s future.”

                “I can’t come home, Mom. I feel closer to Nathan here. I’ve found an actor that I can see Nathan in an—”

                “Natalie, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You need to come home. You and Jack should figure this out together.”

                “No, Mom. I’m staying here for now. I’ll tell Jack on my own terms.”

                “Well if you aren’t going to come home, I will just have to come and get you myself. I’ll be there on the first flight I can find to that God forsaken town. Goodbye,” she said hanging up before Nat could protest.

                “Oh shit.” Nat sunk back on her bed and wished she had never pressed the call button.

Class Novel: Chapter 15 by Chad Oliver

Author's Note:

Sorry about the confusion of order, but I think we've got it figured out now. I interpretted Cody's injury as something that's either not a big deal or something that is a big deal that Cody is ignoring for Nat's sake and the sake of the movie. I decided to revisit the relationship with the mother and give Eugene a bigger part, with him knowing that Nat's pregnant before anyone else, I think there are interesting things to do with him after this. As for the ending, I'll leave it up to the next writer for what happens next. Maybe the camera isn't damaged, maybe she needs to somehow buy a new expensive lense? How does Susan respond? How does Eugene respond? Is Cody okay? Etc. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this chapter, but I do feel I got things moving. I wrote it all in one sitting so I'm sorry for typos that are no doubt there.

Chapter 15
The lights were turned off. The thick hotel curtains were closed over the windows. The room was completely dark except for the laptop screen that illuminated Nat's face. She sat at the desk with her computer, her screenplay, three empty coffee mugs, and a forth one she was drinking out of now. Since Cody's side was still not feeling up to filming due to his side, she decided she would start looking at the footage they've already shot, color correct a few things, see what needs to be redone, and maybe edit a few of the scenes together.
She had been doing this for over twenty four hours now, taking breaks only to eat and go to the bathroom. Cody had called her before, asking if she wanted to go out and do something again. Nat said no, that he should get some rest.
Nat had been working on the scenes shot at the volcano. She couldn't get them to look quite right. They were overexposed and when she tried to adjust for it, the coloring was all messed up and it looked grainy. She decided they would have to reshoot the entire scene. "Of course," she said as she slammed her laptop shut. She looked at her watch. It was 10:00 in the morning. She had worked through the night and felt like she didn't get enough done to make her sacrifice of sleep worth it.
Buzz. Buzz.
Nat's phone lit up with a call from her mother. Nat hadn't talked to her since she had first arrived in Unalaska. She picked up the phone. "Hey Mom," she said.
Her mother said, "Natalie, dear how are you?"
"I'm good, Mom. Just doing some video editing."
"Oh good," She said. "Do you think you'll be done with that movie soon?"
"I don't know, Mom. It'll probably be a while."
"Okay." She said, "I miss you."
"I miss you too," Nat mumbled. "Well I've got to--"
"So what else is new?"
Nat's face flushed. Her hand was already on her belly. It seemed noticeably rounder today and she had figured she should start telling people. "I um..."
Nat could feel her heart pounding in her neck. Her breathing was heavy. She couldn't bring herself to say the words. She was pregnant.
"You know I saw Jack the other day," her mother said. "He asked about you."
Nat couldn't bring herself to say anything.
"Natalie?" She said, "Are you there?
Nat said, "I'm here, I've just really got to go. It was good talking to you."
She hung up the phone and threw it down at the desk. Maybe she could just wear a heavy coat for the next few months and get away with never telling anyone. Nat hadn't even begun to think about what to do when the baby is finally born. She didn't know if she could or even wanted try to raise a kid. She didn't even know if she would ever get this movie done and this video editing session was certainly discouraging.
Nat's coffee had gotten cold. She carried her sip in her mouth to the bathroom sink and spat it out. She put her laptop into her bag and carried it with her out the door. In the hallway, there was a vending machine and Eugene was filling it up with snacks. He greeted her warmly and she ignored him. Before she could quite get away, Eugene sprung up and said, "Is everything okay, Nat?"
Nat stopped walking and turned around. "No, everything's not great. Everything kinda sucks right now actually."
"What's wrong?" He said, "Anything I can do to help?"
"Well, I'm here in Alaska which I feel is stuck ten years ago. And its cold and I'm trying to make this stupid movie and I don't know what I'm doing. I broke up with my boyfriend and now I'm pregnant with his kid so I'm probably gonna have to talk to him again and I'm not really looking forward to that. My lead actor bailed out on me so I had to find a new one, Cody. And he's great but he's inexperienced and now he's injured so we're having to put filming off for another week. So now I'm stuck in that room for the last thirty hours trying to edit video but finding out that half of the footage isn't any good and now I'm going to have to reshoot. And now my mom is trying to pressure me to quit my movie and come back home. Is that enough?"
Eugene was stunned. He just listened. When Nat was done ranting, Eugene just said, "You're pregnant?" Nat laughed and nodded. Eugene tossed her a Kit-Kat Bar from the vending machine. "Just take it one thing at a time. You'll make it."
"Thanks," she said, still overwhelmed with it all.
"And if I can be of any help in the filming process, just let me know." Eugene smiled, "I've never acted before or anything, but I can hold a camera or move heavy stuff for you."
"Thank you," She said, and she walked down the hallway. She took a bite out of the Kit-Kat Bar and she breathed.

Nat had forgotten the beautiful landscape of the volcano. There were clear skies, snowy peaks, and lots of sun. The serenity was continuously interrupted though. "Quiet on set!" Susan would yell. "Eugene, how are we on sound?" She said.
It had been a week since Eugene had offered to help with the movie and he was fumbling between the field recorder strapped to his belt and the extra long boom mic, struggling to find the record button. "I got it!"
"You're supposed to say 'speed,'" Susan said.
"Why?"
"I don't know, you just do," Susan said. "Nat, are we rolling?"
Nat had been staring into space, sleep deprived but she snapped back when Susan said her name. "Yes," she hit the record button. "Rolling."
"You okay, Nat?"
"Yes." Nat was tired of everyone asking her this. Perhaps she needed to smile more.
"Okay," Susan gave her a look as if to say 'We'll talk later.' She said, "Action."
Cody stepped into the shot, "I guess we can set up here for the night."
"Cut," Nat shouted out. "Boom is in the shot."
"Eugene!" Susan shouted. "How many times are you going to ruin the damn shot before you learn to hold it still?
Eugene said, "I'm so sorry. It's just so heavy."
Nat said, "It's okay Eugene." She turned to Susan, "He's trying his best. Take it easy on him."
"But he doesn't know what he's doing."
"Neither do we. And we don't exactly have a full crew. Let's just take all the help we can get."
"Okay," Susan said. "Lets set up again. Cody are you good?"
He nodded. Holding his side which was still bruised.
Susan called out, "Sound?"
Eugene said, "Speed."
"Camera?"
Nat said, "Rolling."
"Action."
Cody walked into the shot again. "Let's set up camp here."
The other actor said, "It's been two days. How much longer do you think we have?"
"Until what?" Cody said.
Nat started to notice the footage seemed shaky. She called, "Cut!"
Susan turned to her, frustrated. "Can we get through two lines without Eugene--"
"It's not Eugene, look in the monitor. The camera is doing something weird." Susan walked over to see what was happening but lost her footing on the way, nearly falling down. The ground was moving under them.
"Looks like another earthquake," Eugene said. "Shouldn't be a big deal, it'll pass."
That was when the shaking started to get violent. Cody fell on his injured side and screamed out, twisting on the ground in pain. Susan, laughing, landed on her ass. Nat managed to stay on her feet, but when Eugene lost his footing, the boom mic swung in every direction. It whipped into the camera, which was on a top-heavy tripod. It fell over and Nat dove to try to catch it before it fell. Lens-first, the camera landed on the ground and Nat landed next to it.

Class Novel: Chapter 14 by Timothy Collier

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Again, plot is a tricky thing when I am a fraction of the plotting apparatus.  I tried to think of what kinds of emotional beats could be included at this point in the novel and in Nat's story.  A lot of what I did felt like interpreting what people have already written--about Cody, about Nat and her brother, the town of Unalaska, and finding new ways of exploring and developing those ideas.  Hopefully Nat's relationship with Cody is really becoming a substantial thing with weight and nature of its own.  I have no idea what happens next...but the idea of this movie actually being finished in the space of this novel has hopefully been scrapped by all.

            Nat had low expectations for the Unalaska production of Macbeth, shocking even in its existence.  Cody stood in the lobby of the Grand Aleutian Hotel in a three-button cotton shirt, green and brown, with five-pocket khakis and Timberland boots with streaks of polish around the toes.  Nat exited the stairwell and blushed.  She had decided to wear the one real dress that she had brought to Alaska.  It was slim with broad, horizontal stripes of blue and black.  She carried a light blue, rhinestone pocketbook.

            “Oh, shit, damn it.”

            “What, Nat?”

            “I…probably could have worn something else.”

            “You look great,” Cody said.  “At least, that’s what I’m supposed to say.”

            “Thanks,” Nat sighed.  She meant it.

            The theater was still using the auditorium of Unalaska High School for its performances.  Nat and Cody sat at the end of an aisle of metal folding chairs and silently read through their programs, waiting for the production to begin.  Cody had nothing to learn from the program which was on the front and back of a piece of printer paper.

            Nat’s brother had spent his twenty-third year feeding a brief obsession with the theater.  Most of what she knew came from his impassioned lessons.  He read Shakespeare and Ibsen and Stoppard and the impenetrable literary theorists’ work on the theater: Auerbach, Derrida, Said, Butler, and Eco.  It was his brief venture into intellectualism.  He had told her to always pay close and creative attention to the physical space of the theater—its depths and framing, the curtain’s colors and the height and design of the arch.  This curtain looked like it had been green at some point.  The back wall was grey stone.  A couple that looked to be upwards of eighty years old sat two rows ahead of Nat and Cody and there were two teenaged boys in the front row.  Five people in the audience for Macbeth.

            “This is going to be good,” Cody said.  Nat could not tell if he was being sarcastic.  “Lady Macbeth thinks she has blood on her hands at this one part.  It’s great.”

            “Yeah, I think I’ve heard about that scene.”

            The three witches entered the stage and the house speakers buzzed with thunder and thick rain.  Nat found the dialogue difficult, except for the conversation with Banquo about the weather, which was dull.  All that people in Alaska talked about was the weather.  She audibly gasped at one point and then shrank in embarrassment.  The actor that played King Duncan was a cook at Amelia’s—an old and bearded man with leathery skin.  He stood tall in the center of the stage in regal polyester and his voice boomed and cracked out “Whence camest thou, worthy thane?”

            Duncan’s blood was almost surely ketchup.  Ross and Siward seemed prepubescent.  Cody laughed when the actors stumbled over loose upholstery and their own painted loafers.  He smiled and glanced repeatedly at Nat when Lady Macbeth scrubbed her hands because it looked like the actress had spilled something on her wrist that had stained, and the illusion was undermined.  At one point, the lights went out and Nat grabbed Cody’s arm in a faux-terror and they giggled until the stage lit again and Macbeth’s soliloquy continued with something about his birth by Caesarean section.

            “The end was underwhelming, but it was fun,” Nat said in the linoleum lobby after the performance.  “Supposedly, these things are supposed to have some pity and fear.”

            “Fear?” asked Cody.

            “I don’t know.”

            It had begun to snow fiercely.  The harsh fluorescent light made the outside world look uniformly black, the flakes pounding the glass doors of the auditorium like a million shooting stars.

            “It’s like someone’s shaking a snow globe really hard,” said Cody in a consciously sensitive voice.

            “Or like the sky is falling,” said Nat.

            It was not exactly the opera, but Nat felt a peculiar kind of cultural literacy, like a purveyor of quaint theatrical artifacts, beginning with this production in a high school underneath a snowstorm in Alaska.  Jack would have never gone to something like this.  If he went to the theater, it would be for some trendy conglomerate of yuppies, transparently feigning disinterestedness and meeting afterward for drinks around the corner to talk about the start or the merger that was still under wraps.  The production would be fine and well-executed and tasteful.  It would be safe.  But Nat found something in this just barely put-together Macbeth that still reflected the great danger and hope of Alaska’s jagged mountainsides and weathered fishing vessels, lights piercing the fog in the Dutch Harbor and giant creaking pulleys swinging wildly over the netted mounds of sealife, with names like “Perseverance,” and “Irish Lord.”  It was all so uncalifornian.  The confidence of Macbeth’s great dagger.

            “Let’s run to the car,” said Nat.  “Make a break for it in the wind.”

            She swung open the door and ran into the black sky.  Cody caught up beside her, hands holding the hood of his coat tight around his ears.  The storm’s twisting was a symphony.  Nat kept running in the general direction of Cody’s car.  She could only see for a few feet ahead but the faint sense of asphalt underneath told her she was heading in the right general direction.

            There was a frantic streak of gray to her left and a loud sound like scraping sandpaper.  Cody cried out for a moment.  Nat turned and he was no longer running by her.  She could make out his shape on the asphalt, crumpled over a concrete parking marker, his back twisted and head to the sky, mortared by sharp stripes of snow and ice. Nat ran back against the wind to Cody and kneeled down.  He was holding his side and grimacing in pain.  She lifted him slowly from under his arms and he let out a small scream.

            “Cody, I’m sorry, where are you hurt?”

            “It’s not serious, Nat, it’s not,” Cody said.  “Just my side and hip might be a little bruised.”

            The snow and wind had withdrawn some and the air was clearer.  Nat looked around for help and only saw the shapes of the two boys from the front row walking slowly across the parking lot at a distance, one of them awkwardly turning his head to peer at Nat and Cody and then fixing it straight ahead.

            Cody stood slowly and they walked to his car, Nat’s arm under his.

            “Nat, I can drive.  Don’t worry about it.”

            “I’ll drive,” Nat said.  “I know it’s not too bad, but just in case.”

            In the morning, before the sun had risen, Nat bundled herself in coats and blankets and quietly left the Grand Aleutian Hotel.  She drove her rental car down Airport Beach Road and Salmon Way, her eyelids quivering without the help of caffeine, the wheel drifting and the dim streetlights guiding her off of Expedition Island and over the East Channel.  A silver fog wrapped around the town of Unalaska.  No mountains could be seen—only the shallow marinas and occasional tilting house behind the concrete ramps of the bridge and the tall grass of the valley that wilted in shades of dying green.

            What was Alaska?  Nat’s thoughts came in cloudy clumps that made less sense to her than the clumsy Shakespearean dialogue of the previous night.  The shooting of her film only sharpened the memories of her brother, never assuaging the pain of his loss, only raising questions about her fidelity and respect for him, her competence as a filmmaker, her independence.  Cody was so much like him.

            Nat parked on the side of Broadway Avenue and walked slowly through the slight wind to the white picket fence that enclosed the Church of the Holy Ascension.  She did not notice the light snowfall.  The sun’s glow could be felt and seen barely to the south of the church.  Nat sat and leaned against the white fence, facing the tall bell tower with the jade onion dome.  The faint green of the hills to the South began to distinguish itself in the growing light.  White and red surfaces of Holy Ascension blushed in the freezing morning.  Nat sat noiseless and still against the fence for some time.

Class Novel: Chapter 13 by Carson Williford

It was Jack, Nat knew, who got her pregnant. Got her pregnant—as if she were powerless. She and Jack Cozier did it together back home in San Diego, had done it for the past three years, but never with results. She and Jack had met at Stanford, where she majored in film and media and Jack majored in business. They met junior year at a party and dated until Jack inherited his father’s business three months ago. At that point, Nat had been trying to sell the screen play she wrote for her undergraduate thesis. She pitched it to production companies and had her thesis advisor send it to a few connections, but all with no return, no luck, no pregnancy.

Jack would have to move from San Diego to Los Angeles to run his father’s business. Jack and Nat’s parents encouraged her to join him, to move on and find a job in production. Nat, however, was not ready to settle down. She thinks now that it may even have been her parents’ support of Jack that made her dislike the idea of moving in with him in LA. Not that she loved unconditionally otherwise. He had been encouraging her since her senior year to look for work outside of film. She convinced him to give her a year, one year to revise and sell the screenplay. He reluctantly agreed. After a year, though, when Jack had inherited his dad’s business and her parents were pressing her to go with him to Los Angeles, she still hadn’t made a deal and wasn’t ready to give up. She needed to make her film for her brother.

Jack was, of course, nonplussed. She thought some of this was put on to make her feel guilty. She told him that she the film and her brother meant more than their relationship and his father’s business. That was love’s end. Her parents at first refused to let her walk away from Jack and their history and his father’s business. The business, Nat thought, was the real reason her parents wanted her to stay with Jack—that, and that he would change their daughter, convince her to stop pursuing film and live like a normal person. In other words, Jack would do to Nat what her parents had tried to do to her brother: convince him that life was about settling down and making money and that dreams ought to be pursued only if they helped in this direction. That, in a way, is what killed her brother, what sent him up on the mountain where he never returned.

So she left Jack, left the past three years and her parents and after saving up ten thousand dollars to put toward production, came to Unalaska to film her screenplay herself. She did her research, gathered a crew and Susan, who she had met at Stanford, and flew out. She could not, however, leave Jack behind. No, she has his baby inside her. She can now see her stomach distended beyond, the bottom rounded and unforgiving. She’s given up on wearing tight tops and has become thankful for cold weather—opportunities to wear her baggy winter coat.

Nat talked to Susan throughout her break up with Jack. Susan had lived in Sacramento, where she worked as an editor for an app company. She told Nat about how miserable she felt working nine to five five days a week while she wanted to write for films. This made Nat even more so want to avoid entering what her classmates had called “the real world.” She had hated the term because it implied that big corporations and slaving for most daylight hours had a superior sense of reality, a dominance over the liberal arts aspirations of her liked to speak about. When Nat got the money to come to Unalaska and film, then, she made sure that Susan would be in the crew. They would film together, she thought. They would have the best of their lives, she thought.

Nat was more focused on the film than she thought she would be, though. On top of that, Susan quickly took to Cody. Because of this, Nat and Susan had not spoken personally about their lives since they arrived in Unalaska. Susan, then, thinks that Nat was sick because side effects of the drug trials.

                “Are you OK?” she has asked Nat several times. Nat always refers to the drug trials, to lingering symptoms of the past.

                The symptoms are beginning to show, though, and Nat is worried she won’t be able to keep them covered up before the film is completed. Recently, however, Nat’s worries have expanded beyond the film. She is worried that Cody will find out. When they rode in his car together on the way to the mountain, She made sure to keep her hands over her stomach. (She thought the whole time that she soon will not be able to hike up to the spot.) She kept her jacket over her bump and her hands over that. She knew he wouldn’t be able to see, but she felt compelled to hide it from him anyways. His eyes watched the rode, but she could feel his presence somehow pulling knowledge out of her, understanding her better than she was aware. She wanted to keep hidden the pregnancy from him and from the feelings she felt toward him, from the feelings she felt toward him and Susan.

When that night Cody walked Nat into the Grand Aleutian hotel, Susan was at the desk talking to Eugene. She was holding a cup of coffee, a gift that Eugene has only recently shared with Nat, who he knew much better.

                “Hey,” Eugene said, grinning.

                “Hey,” Susan said questioningly. “How was the day off?”

                “We went to the mountain,” Nat said.

                “Checking out spots to film still?” Eugene said.

                “We drove further than the planned spot. Just wanted to see what was out there, make sure we are far enough away that we don’t upset the community.”

                “Cody,” said Eugene, “You’re going to be famous.”

Cody had stayed behind Nat, tried to keep his attention on Eugene. He and Susan talked decently while on set for the film, but off set they simply avoided each other. Nat knew not the reason why.

                “Maybe. I’m getting better at my lines. Today Nat stopped me only four times.”

                “Oh—”

                “You rehearsed lines today?” Susan asked Nat. Eugene looked disappointed that she had interrupted him.

                “Well,” Nat started.

“She just wanted to see the setting in action,” Cody said. “I asked if I could recite my lines on the way up and she told me that I could only do it when I was in place.”

“Is that true?” Susan asked Nat. “He’s known to lie.” She had put her coffee on Eugene’s table and rested on her palm, hanging her fingers over the edge.

                “Susan,” Nat said, “we practiced some lines, nothing heavy. I think it was relaxing for both of us and we’ll be rejuvenated for tomorrow.”

                Susan picked up her coffee. “OK, I trust you.”

                “I should be going,” Cody said. “I’ll see you two tomorrow, 8 AM. Goodnight Eugene.”

                Cody walks out the door.

                “Is something going on between the two of you?” Susan said.

                “I need to take the garbage out,” Eugene said. Before he walked out the door he whispered to both of them, “Good luck.”

                “What?”

                “Do you and Cody have something going on?”

                “No. Susan, are you OK?” Susan hadn’t been this close to upset with her since Stanford.

                “I don’t know,” Susan said. She leaned onto Eugene’s table. “I just don’t know what to do about him.”

                “You never told me what happened between you.” Nat walked closer.

                “Uuuggggghhhhhh,” Susan said. “It’s so stupid.”

                “What?”

                “It’s just that we were together, and I started to like him more than I should have. He complimented me so much and made it seem like he wanted something serious. But then after we filmed the scene by the bay he told me that he thought we should step back because things were too serious.”

                “Really?”

                “Yeah. He said that he thought he acted too quickly and was especially attracted to me because I am knew.”
                “Shit,” Nat said.

                “That’s what he told me, at least,” Susan said. “I just feel like there’s more, like maybe there’s someone else.”

                “Shit,” Nat said.

                “Yeah, that’s why I reacted so harshly. Sorry.”

                At this point Eugene walked back and after whispering, “It went well,” poured both of them steaming cups of coffee.

Artist's Walk: Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, and Auburn

For our final field trip, you are going to go on an Artist's Walk, reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's "A Street Haunting" (https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91d/chapter5.html)
and Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/ew_path.html)

Please read Woolf's essay on her walk through London on a winter evening, in search of a pen.

Some things to note and model:

• Note how the "walk" begins with a particular purpose, in the same way that our short stories begin "in the middle of the action."
• Pay attention to how characters are introduced (it's not all setting)
• And note how those characters are revealed through action
• Look at how she builds towards her conclusion--how the desire for a pen was about more than just a pen, it was about escape.

Then, read Welty's "A Worn Path," which is a short story.

• Note how Welty establishes tension in the story, and how that tension grows as the story progresses
• Again, note how character is created via action

Now that you've read and noted these things in Woolf's and Welty's work, TAKE A WALK.

I mean that kindly. Take a walk in Auburn. Many of you are coming close to the end of your time in this place. Why not stop and appreciate it a bit, while at the same time, produce what may be your favorite piece of writing this semester? Take a good, long walk, preferably somewhere where you're likely to see at least a few people. You might go out to the arboretum, or the museum, the mall, downtown, even campus. But unlike other times when you've walked around town, PAY ATTENTION. Let it all be fodder for your imagination.

Then, write a 3-4 page series of scenes in which a character you've created takes a walk in Auburn for a set purpose, and learns something about him or herself, or someone else, along the way. Try to model some of the techniques used by Woolf and Welty.

As usual, you're doing this field trip in lieu of class on April 23rd. Please bring in your Artist's Walk on Tuesday, April 28th.

Class Novel: Chapter 12 by Aaron Scobie

            They would drive down the coast in his car. No music would be playing, just the sound of the air that rushed through the cracked windows. He would scare when he drove. He’d grip the steering wheel with both hands, noticeably on purpose, and give her a quick look. Gradually, he’d step on the gas, inching his foot closer and closer to the floor of his jeep. He did this a lot, but it never failed to make her jump and grab his arm as he sped toward a red light. She’d open her eyes and look at him with a big smirk on his face. The jeep would be stopped at the red light with no one else around. She’d punch him in the arm as hard as she could. Sometimes it actually hurt him. She knew it did, but he’d never budge, flinch, or change his dumb smile. He’d kiss her on the forehead and drive off.

           

            After much convincing, the crew and Sarah convinced Nat to let them have the weekend off. Nat had been trying to preoccupy herself after finding out she was pregnant. It took her a week to after quitting her medication to go get a pregnancy test. And even when she was in the store it took her an hour and a half of walking around to just work up the courage to buy it. The clerk was an older man who knew she was the one causing talk in the town with her filming. Nat was blood red when she went up to the counter but her face was claim. The old man rang it up and gave her a look that was comforting, like he wouldn’t say anything.

            It was Saturday. Nat just finished a cup of coffee given to her for Eugene. This was the second time he had done this. He never let her come in the back to make it; he’d just pour a cup quickly and offer it to her. It was the best cup she’d had, but compared to everywhere else in town, it was like the imported stuff her parents would buy.

            Nat had to go and do something. She couldn’t stand being cooped up all weekend. She tried working on parts of storyboard she had for later scenes, going to various stores, shops, etc. The problem was that she had been to every part of this town. She called up Sarah and a few other member of the crew she was more acquainted with. Nothing came of it though. All of them had slept in. Nat kept a tight shift of being up, packed, and ready to go to the location they were filming at for the day by 8:00 sharp. Sarah enjoyed bossing everyone around and since her breakup with Cody, Sarah had become a bit of a bitch for lack of a better word.

            The sun had just peaked in the sky and Nat had decided to just call Cody.

            “Hello?”

            “Hey Cody. It’s Nat.”

            “Hey!” He seemed cheerful. “What’s up?”

            “I know I said I wouldn’t bother anyone this week. Everyone needs an off day I guess.”

            “Even you Nat.” said Cody.

            “Yeah whatever.” Nat smiled. “But the reason why I’m calling is I was curious if you were busy today.”

            “Let me check my agenda”

            “Agenda?” Nat accidently let her thought slip out.

            “Come on Nat, I’m kidding, sure let’s hang out.”

            “Great.”

            “What did you have in mind?” asked Cody.

            “Well, I had planned to go film the ascent of the mountain today but sense we have the day off…”

            “I have a good idea,” said Cody, “why don’t we go practice the lines for that scene?”

            “Are you sure your ok with that?”

            “Sure. I really don’t mind and I’ve already tended to everything I need to do today.”

            “Wonderful. Oh! One more thing.”

            “You want me to drive?” asked Cody.

            “Do you mind?”

            “Not at all. I don’t want you taking those back roads in the rental car anymore than you have to. It’ll ruin the undercarriage.”

            “Yeah…” Nat was put off. Her chest sunk and she sat down.

            “Well, I’ll see you in ten, fifteen minutes or so,” said Cody.

            Nat mumbled something and hung up the phone. She sat there on the floor. She seemed to be frozen to the spot her legs had put her. She reached for her stomach, but some other force pushed her hand to the blanket that was behind her on the bed. Staring at the window that allowed the sunlight to be broken in through tiny ray beams in her blinds, Nat created mountains in the blanket and collapsed them, repeating this process over, and over.

Some way or another, they’d always end up at his house. That was more her choice than his. It’s not that he hadn’t been over before to her place yet or that she was embarrassed because of her living arrangement. Honestly, her house was better than his, thanks to her parents, but that’s why she always wanted to go to his place. She would stay at his place for a few days at a time, shower there, pretend to live there, because he earned his way. He paid his own bills with his own money. He worked hard and reaped the benefits. She could see a spark in his eye that told her that she could be her own self. She could create her own identity, like him.

            Once they were on the road, Nat told Cody to go the about ten more miles than she had originally told everyone. Nat was getting worried that the locals were getting a bit to pushy with all the filming. It was one of the reasons why she was making everyone work so hard. She was trying to finish up all the scenes in the town. All they had to do now was made it on the mountain itself. Nat decided last minute to push the filming to a different, more discrete location. Her brother never liked the popular trails he hiked, so what right did she have to film using that. Cody broke the silence.

            “So Nat, how’s life been?”

            “Good, I guess.”

            “Aside from all the filming business, how are you doing?”

            “Good, maybe? This film is affecting my mental stability. There are days were I can’t stand to say the word “Action” and there are some days where I want to call home and ask my parents to take me back with their green hands. Some days I want to rebuild bridges that should stay burned.”

            “Have you been to the theatre here yet?”

            “No, why?”

            “You should go there some time. The guy who runs it is an interesting fellow.” Cody put a slow emphasis on the word interesting. “He’s this Frenchman who moved here from Canada.”

            Nat paused for a minute thinking it over.

            “There’s also a play of Macbeth tomorrow,” Cody said. “You could go see it. Try and enjoy your weekend off.”

            “That would be fun, actually.”

            “You could bring Sarah so you don’t have to go alone.”

            “I wish. Sarah hates plays. She sees them as to old fashion. Anytime I mention something involving a play, or theatre for that matter, she allows has some snooty comment to make.”

            “You can say that again.”

            Nat thought about what to say next. She wasn’t sure if she should bring it up but she was curious. “So, I’m guessing you two aren’t friends anymore?”

            “No.” Cody stared at the road. He never lost his smile. It only became smaller.

            “Would you like to go with me to the theatre then? You can introduce me to your friend. I’m no good with formal introductions.”

            “Sure. That’ll be fun. I’ll be see Macbeth again for the tenth time.” Cody laughed. “My friend has a few plays he likes to put on and Macbeth is one of his favorites.”

            The drive seemed to calm Nat’s nerves a lot more than she thought it would. She had only been out here once, and she was to busy worrying about her car getting messed up to notice how beautiful the scenery was. Even if had noticed it before, Nat was the kind of person to think that adoring the scenery was cliché. But something about being in the passenger seat, and not having to worry about the people with her, and making sure they weren’t doing anything stupid, or messing up her movie, all of it made her stop. It made her look at the world and see this calmness in chaos. She put her hand on he stomach, and stared at the passing trees.