[GTSKate]

Inspiration?  I'd have to say, "being fed up".  😉

Long ago, boys and girls, in these early days of message boards and bulletin boards, I was Jenwalters.  (After our favorite green glammazon, don'tcha know!)  After a prolonged absence, I had returned to find that another lady had been going by the nom de plume of JennJenn.

And much confusion ensued.

So, I changed it to Kate.  My real name.  Just Kate, I believe, although AlexG. was kind enough to call me Lady Kate  ;D
After another unfortunate prolonged absence, I discovered another lady had been posting stories under the name Kate. 

And much confusion ensued once again.

So, here I am, settling at last for an adaptation of my own name, GTSKate, and I'm not changing it again.  So everyone will just have to get used to it.  🙂

-Kate

[GTSKate]

I um…guess I'll tentatively volunteer…
having admitted that I am a professional vocalist.  I've done storytelling events, I sing in a major metropolitan chorus and am a frequent soloist around the Southeastern Michigan area.

So, leave me a message, we can discuss it  🙂

I'm what's usually described as an alto, although my speaking voice is slightly lower pitched than the average female. 

-Kate

[GTSKate]

Hmm.  An interesting question, Alex! 

After careful pondering of the idea, I do not recall having a smoker in any of my stories.  I would like to believe that that's because I write in the things that are most familiar to me, and as I am a professional vocalist, smoking would not be in that realm. 

That is not to say that I have not smoked.  I stopped for my health.

My mother would have beaten me to within an inch of my life if I had continued after she'd caught me.  I started in fifth grade at the tender age of 10 (thanks to the neighbor next door–who by the way was an Olympic athlete in Women's hockey later!) and stopped about six months later.  My mother had discovered a bit of ash stain on an article of clothing and whupped the truth out of me. 
I was also encouraged not to spend time with that neighbor anymore, since it was getting me into trouble.  (Since the aforementioned neighbor had also taught me how to box, and got me into several fights, well…you can imagine that Mom wasn't real pleased.)

Anyhoo, would I make one of my characters smoke?  I guess it would depend on the character, but I'm inclined to say no, simply because after studying voice in college and seeing ALL sorts of photographic and video demonstrations about what your throat looks like even after a short period of smoking, I would be rather grossed out.

(might I suggest:  http://www.entusa.com/voice_box_cancer.htm  just to see what I mean?  Not a kick or a message, just interesting pictures.  And the biopsy video is fascinating!)

Again though, I suppose it depends on the character.  I'd never rule it out, because you know all our characters and stories ACTUALLY exist on some parallel universe, and we're only seeing it in the window in our minds  😉

-Kate

[GTSKate]

Now, now, boys.  I know it's new, but really we shouldn't be allowed to respond to these kinds of threads until you've lived with it for a week or so.

THEN you can accurately say whether or not you like it  😉

As for me, having just returned today, I won't say that change isn't always a teeny bit of a shock, but I think it could grow on me.  (pun intended)

I'll live with it a bit first, and then decide  ;D
-Kate

Oh, that reminds me, JimmyDimples:  I LOVE your signature quote  ;D

[GTSKate]

Hey folks! Sorry for the delay, Moving was a bit rocky (as they always are), but to complicate matters I had a bad allergic reaction to SOMETHING in the new apartment. Never know what ??? but it seems to be getting better, so I’ve gotten another chapter done.
It’s not QUITE the end, but almost! Hope it will tide you all over until I get the rest on screen! Let’s see…I left off posting at Chapter 33, didn’t I?

…

Chapter 34

Jessie began speaking almost as they were out of the auditorium, but Nicole held a finger to her lips. Then she whispered so that Jessie could barely hear. “Not yet. Wait till we’re a little further.” Two rooms away in Jessie’s office, the doctor finally asked, “What was that? And were you and Scott communicating somehow before we left?”

Nicole took a long breath. “We’re not sure if Mom can hear us when we’re so close or not. We know that her senses are improved at least a little, but Scott and I have been really careful not to test it. And yeah, we were whispering REALLY quietly, but mostly just using our eyes. I meant that Scott should stay with Mom, just in case, and he got it. Besides, he really would rather see the telescope than study all this stuff, which is what he knows we’re doing.” Jessie was struck by how much the two siblings could share with just a few looks, having never had a brother or sister herself.
“Well, we’d best make use of the time we do have. I read your notes…how in the world did you have time to make so many? Jeff says that you were only in here a half hour after I left.”
Nicole’s blue eyes softened as she admitted, “I can move really quickly. And that counts for writing too, though it gets kinda messy.” She interpreted Jessie’s expression correctly as distant jealousy.
“That would be…rather handy though.” The doctor shrugged, dismissing the desire and got down to work. “So, your theory about her expansion matching that of a star holds up. The curve of her growth seems to match a star cooling and becoming a red giant. But that only happens when a star uses up the hydrogen and helium within it’s core. So, what we need to discover is what exactly is powering, or rather cooling, Carolyn. I agree that the photon activity from Porphyrion’s remains has been a primary suspect, but how is that interacting with Carolyn’s body? I still haven’t figured that out.”

Nicole nodded and tossed out her own further theories. “We need to discover the exact progression, because I think it’s the secret to making Mom small again. After a star expands and becomes a red giant, when the core is sufficiently cooled, it shrinks again, becoming a white dwarf star, right?” Jessie affirmed her assumption that far. “But how do we stop Mom from shrinking even smaller than she started out? Or even, can we? There must be a way, Jessie…there has to be.”
“According to your vision, though, we’re not going to find that answer before she expands a lot more.” The doctor frowned, her mind already ordering what she knew from Nicole’s vision with what she already had studied about Carolyn’s condition.
Nicole’s eyes grew cold. “I can’t believe that those visions have to come true. My Mom, a giant so big she can hold this building in one hand? My Dad crashed, maybe dead? And you…” Her voice stopped, having gone one moment too far. She closed her eyes, hoping that Jessie hadn’t processed what she said.
“Me? What have you seen, Nicole?” The doctor had heard, after all. But her voice was detached, still using the potential knowledge like facts on a page. Nicole wasn’t sure that Jessie comprehended what that meant to her own well being. Still, she blew out a breath and looked Jessie in the eye.
“I saw you, swinging back and forth, hanging from a chain around your neck.”

Nicole held her breath, afraid that somehow, Jessie would blame her for what she had seen. The doctor merely raised an eyebrow, her “fugue look” in her eyes. Nicole knew that meant her mind was working on reconciling that vision, but she had to hear what was going on in Jessie’s mind. “Jessie, please. Tell me what you’re thinking. I have to know.”
The scientist tried speaking, but it was in halting, very distant speech. “Chain…where?…Swinging, off the floor, why? Why would I have…?”
“I was afraid that you were…you know…trying to kill yourself.”
That broke through Jessie’s haze enough to make her stare at Nicole with wide eyes. “What? Don’t be absurd! I would never….Nicole, I would never do that. Ever. If that was your vision, then something happened to me that will be an accident. I would never have put myself in such a position willingly. We just have to figure out what happened.” Her voice grew softer, “But remember, I’m not the most important person here. I’m just not. I have a responsibility to your Mom. And if that means that something happens to me, but she …recovers…then that’s what must happen.”

“Jessie, I have to believe that I’m seeing these horrible things so that I can change them. I can’t just let it all happen if I can stop it. And I don’t want …” Nicole’s eyes grew misty, but her steel will refused to allow tears to form more than that. “I don’t want you to be hurt. I need you now more than ever. You’re the only one who really understands; the only one who has the key to everything.”

Jessie realized that even if she and Nicole could find a way to restore Carolyn, or at least stop her growth, that Nicole herself would be permanently changed. That she would always be separated from her classmates; her peers. She would be as outcast as Jessie once was. And in truth, Jessie realized that she finally had found someone that understood her, too. The scientist reached out a hand and placed it over Nicole’s. “I’ve learned so much from watching your family too. Science alone isn’t enough and you’ve helped me see that. You won’t be alone, Nicole.” Jessie’s voice grew soft as neurons fired in her brain. “Science….alone…what else…Carolyn wasn’t alone twenty years ago…” Her eyes were unfocused, like she was actually staring into the past, and Nicole tried to think of what memory Jessie suddenly grabbed.
“Twenty years ago? When Mom…oh, the beginning…she was with Dad. I don’t get it. What does that have to do with it? You think he’s causing her growth somehow?”
Jessie smiled, knowing that Nicole wouldn’t think of the ramifications of two then-youngsters falling in love.
“I don’t think he’s causing it, Nicole. I think that your Mom was a young woman falling in love, and that was causing all sorts of hormonal and chemical changes while she was then infused with agitated photons. And that since that photon activity has returned, every time she has grown, I would bet you she’s been in some sort of heightened emotional state. As if when enough photons are collected into her system, the chemical mix agitates them, causing expansion. No, it makes sense. When you get extremely mad, you know sometimes your fingers tingle or go numb. It’s because the blood is rushing to the core parts of your body, preparing for a fight or flight response. The extremities actually cool! Like the outer layers of a star cooling! Nicole, that’s it! All we have to do is burn out the collected photons inside her! When that collector popped, I’ll bet the energy was stored inside Carolyn just like the core of a star! We have to expend that energy to get ALL of Carolyn emptied! As that energy is dissipated, she’ll start to collapse upon herself and contract! And if heightened emotional intensity is what causes the photon energy to activate, then all we have to do is get Carolyn emotionally overloaded!

Nicole listened to Jessie’s flow of consciousness, her eyes staring with such intensity. But what Dr. James was saying only made pieces of Nicole’s vision slide into sensibility. In her vision, when her Mom was hundreds of feet tall, she had been crying. Something HAD set her off, because as she was bursting through the roof, she’d been yelling. Nicole stared out the window of Jessie’s office to the night sky. Somehow, looking at that black curtain made replaying her visions easier. She took a breath and visualized the earliest moment she had seen thus far. Yes, Carolyn was already upset about something. Yelling, even as she grew larger, filling the room. She was reaching for something when her shoulders were causing cracks in the concrete of the ceiling. There! Gunshots…no, cracks. The concrete was shattering around her mother’s growing body; the stone snapping apart and falling in chunks around her. The noise was like the sound of gunshots. People started screaming as Carolyn’s form waged war in an expanding circle of destruction. Noise; fire alarm, that must be it. A flat, irritating and grating buzzing of incredibly loud volume. It was a wonder that Nicole could still hear screaming over the sound of it.

Nicole scowled as her mother’s words were still unclear. It was all becoming a cacophony of sound as the roof collapsed and two walls exploded outward. Her brows knit tightly as she thought she heard the sound of screeching brakes? But Carolyn was crying harder, screaming in frustration and rage over something happening far below her. Her towering form rose further and further upward, her feet crushing the chunks of concrete they encountered into powder. She was leaning over towards something, and the tears from her cheeks spilled down like bombs, causing puddles to form everywhere. Suddenly though, Nicole’s vision cut out, interrupted by a blinding flash of blue light.

The young girl blinked a few times to find Jessie staring at her with one eyebrow lifted. “Is that what I look like? Hmpf. No wonder Jeff is always laughing at me.” Despite the gravity of her vision, Nicole couldn’t help but smile back. “The first time Mom described your ‘space outs’ I laughed too, but I guess I understand why you do it. You don’t mean to, any more than I do. But, I can see almost everything. The scene is almost real now. Sound; people’s faces are clearer; and I think I understand that I’m seeing one side of what’s happening. I think Scott is seeing the same scene but from the other side. It feels right when I think about his description of his vision.” She then smiled enigmatically. “He agrees.”
Jessie gave an involuntary laugh at the thought of their conversation having a remote listener. “Great. Now all we have to do is get your Mom emotionally agitated.”

Nicole pondered her mother’s current giant size and said nervously, “I don’t suppose we could just get her really happy?”

Chapter 35

Scott bounced upon his mother’s knee, half his attention with his parents and half a few rooms away, listening in on the science pow-wow. Carolyn’s enormous hand rested gently upon his back, offering support. A smile crossed his face as he remembered that it took his mom a long time to stop holding the back of his bike when he learned to ride too. Her palm cradled most of his back, and he could feel her powerful thumb occasionally graze the hair on the back of his head as she fought the urge to hold him in her hand. But the unmatched strength tempered the youngster’s smile, realizing what made Nicole nervous. Getting Carolyn ‘agitated’ could definitely present some danger to everyone. The ten-year-old that idolized his mother though could scarcely believe that even in distress she would ever hurt anyone though.

Carolyn watched over her daredevil son carefully. She couldn’t bring herself to let go of him completely, as even perched upon her knee as she sat, Scott was a good four feet off the floor. While a part of her constantly marveled at the sheer size of her hand compared to her boy, another part only wanted to hold him and keep him safe. It was hard convincing her subconscious that the only danger to Scott was the very thing protecting him. Even if Scott were to tumble from her knee, he could just as easily be injured by her enormous hand squeezing too hard trying to prevent an impact with the ground. Jim could see the maternal instincts warring in Carolyn’s eyes and moved closer. All he wanted most in this world was to make things right in his family, and he had a feeling that things were getting more and more out of control all the time. Jim leaned against the arm that Carolyn was propping herself upward upon and placed his lips upon her skin. He rubbed his moustache against her arm in mimicry of the way he would have done once upon her cheek. Carolyn realized what her husband was doing and released some of the tension within her form, but not all.

Jim kissed the expanse of flesh in front of him and tried to reassure himself as well as his wife. “Hold on, angel. Just one more day and those shields will be in place.” Carolyn sighed, realizing that half a solution was better than none.
“Tomorrow the real work begins then, Jim: Relearning how to interact with the world as a sideshow attraction. The Twenty-One Foot Woman lives here. And that’s only if I don’t grow any more. My brain just can’t hold on to anything long enough to adjust. I was so thrilled, thinking about not growing anymore, I’m only now starting to realize that’s only half the problem. What can I possibly do now?”

Scott wished he knew how to cheer his mother up. It didn’t matter to him if she was five feet tall or fifty feet tall. But imagining his Mom doing mundane things made him let loose an involuntary giggle. Carolyn looked to her knee quickly to see what had made her son respond. “What’s so funny, sport?”
“I was just thinking about parent-teacher conferences. Remember how you said my gym teacher, Mr. Rabisch, was kinda a bully? I don’t think he’s going to be able to bully you. And then I thought about how the ice-cream man doesn’t ever stop when you wave because he thinks you’re a kid. You could just pick up the truck! And when we lost that Frisbee in the top of Mrs. Peterson’s maple tree this summer, you could probably have reached it! There’s still lots of stuff you can do!” Scott had such an earnest expression on his innocent face, he obviously was offering help in the things that he knew best. He couldn’t know that Carolyn was referring to more adult concerns like housing, food, and basic necessities. But she could hardly disappoint him when he meant so much good.

“That’s right, sport. I guess I just need a reminder from you that there’s still so much I can do.” She rubbed a thumb across his back and gave the tiniest squeeze to his shoulders, the best substitute for a hug she could surmise.

Back in Jessie’s office, Nicole and the doctor were still trying to put pieces in place. A thought drifted past Nicole’s brain and she puzzled over it a fraction of a second before offering it for debate. “Jessie, Mom is usually so…well, forceful. She decides on what to do, and then that’s what happens. No arguments. But ever since she’s grown, she’s been really…” The teenager pondered over the best way to describe the bouts of crying, acceptance, energy, playfulness, and despair. “…wishy-washy.” She finally settled upon. Jessie thought about the various states she’d observed in Carolyn and nodded.
“It makes sense. With each new round of growth, there’s been an increase in hormonal activity, now that we know to look for it. I don’t doubt that her emotional state has already been influenced greatly. It’s not surprising that she’s oscillated between highs and lows. I know that she’s been a lot…more…sex….er…yes, well, highs and lows. Yeah. Energy and depression.”
Nicole grinned wickedly, her blue eyes dancing with the need to expend some of her own youthful exuberance. “She and Dad have been doing it a lot more.”
Jessie looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I’m not sure we need to go there, but yes. Her…libido…has probably been heightened.”
“Aw, come on, Jessie. It’s just sex. Lighten up. Anyway, I was thinking it’s going to be easier getting her riled up when she’s already so uneven, right?”
“Actually, since her body has been getting such an overload for several months now, I believe there’s going to have to be some very traumatic event to get that energy inside her burning to the extent we need.” Jessie continued checking Carolyn’s temperature graph, trying to determine how much growth she might endure before her body became too cool to remain conscious. Something tickled the back of Nicole’s brain, but stayed in the shadows before the teenager could grasp it completely.
Jessie’s next sentence sent Nicole down a different path completely, though. “Actually, what I was also trying to determine was whether or not we can let you and Scott stay outside of the photon shields safely. Otherwise, we need to come up with a good reason why your whole family should be quarantined for the duration of your Mom’s problem.”
“Damn.” said Nicole simply. “I hadn’t thought about that at all.”

In an auditorium a hallway away, a young boy frowned. “Neither did I.” he said, which caused his parents to stare at him with quizzical looks.

[GTSKate]

I believe I'll set us back on track and share my recollection about that day.

It was my first day as the new store manager of the art gallery I'd been working at in a mall in Southeastern Michigan.  I was at the bank, dropping off the morning deposit and getting change, when a television that was in the bank for a giveaway suddenly switched to news coverage of the first plane hitting.  The tellers and I stared for a few moments in disbelief, but I returned to the store and turned on a radio (which we weren't supposed to do, but I figured, I'm the manager, who's going to know today?).

So, I was back in the store, listening, by the time the second plane hit.  The mall was not open yet, though there were plenty of elderly "mall walkers" about.  My store gate was down, but a few people stayed near the entrance listening to my radio.  Shortly after, the phone started ringing all morning.  Each of the six stores in the malls in the area were calling each other, trying to figure out what was going to happen.  Remember, in the first hour or so, before people really started figuring out what was happening, suddenly everyone thought that a large gathering of people might become a target. 

My mall was near the federal building of the town I reside in, and I had just gotten off the phone with the panicked manager of the mall near Selfridge Air Force Base, which had scrambled fighter jets to take off on intercepts.  The area near her mall had gone into total lockdown, with the mall being evacuated and citizens being told to go home and stay there.
Mine was the last mall to be told to close up, as suddenly no one wanted to be in crowded places.

With nothing to do but go home, I suddenly realized a cousin of mine worked in the towers every so often.  It wasn't regularly, but I prayed she wasn't there that day.  With phone service in New York overloaded, I didn't get word until later that night, thanks to the internet, but I remember the sick feeling watching the towers fall over and over on television.

Helluva day.  That afternoon, my roommates and I hung our American flag on the side of the house and were encouraged when our neighbors came out to do the same thing when they saw us.

-Kate

[GTSKate]

Hey there!  Just poking my head in between the ever-emptying stacks of boxes in the new apartment!

Hell yeah, repost it!  I LOVED your version of this story!  I remember a tiny bit of confusion when the DtV version came out shortly after yours, but I was always disappointed that I had never managed to archive the whole thing on my disks.  The adventure aspect of your story was so worth reading that as it was being posted, sometimes it didn't occur to me that there was a chapter without growth or amazons.  Just a great tale!

Obviously, I'm voting in the "repost it" category 🙂

Long tales as long as they're well written more than make up for the time investment in reading them!  (As Alex G. is proving with his repost  😉 )

Thanks Silent One!
-Kate

[GTSKate]

Sorry to threadjack, but I couldn't resist…

I still have that picture of you on my harddrive, Alex.  Yup, red-blonde and cute!  ;D

-Kate

P.S. Good luck on the semester, cpbell!  Ah studies.  I remember them well.  Don't seem to use them much anymore, but I remember still  😛 😉

[GTSKate]

Hey folks!  Just thought I'd poke my head in and let you know that the move is finished…but everything is still sitting around the new apartment in boxes.  :-

Might be another week or so before I get back to writing, but thanks for your patience!

-Kate

[GTSKate]

😀 😀

I wouldn't have been able to resist saying that either…heh…clobberin' time  😀

Glad to see Vanessa's got a good grasp on heroic history!  Now, get that girl goin'!

-Kate

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