Good morning WIPpeeters and guests! I have been mostly iced in since last Thursday, and when I did venture out to work last night, I crashed my car on the way home. All is well. I’m not even sore this morning, and Emilie (my car) is only scared a little bit–more like bruised.
I’m in the midst of finals, so I have done absolutely no writing this week except for the Creative Buzz Hop. The prompt was “serenity,” and it was so much fun to write on. If you want to join in, it’s free for all.
Onward to my WIPpet this week. What is WIPpet? I can hear my guests asking this! WIPpet is an amazing thing. That is all. =P WIPpet is where those who write post their WIP (Work In Progress) on their blog that somehow correlates with the date. For example, today you will be getting 27 paragraphs from me. 25 of those are short, as this is mostly dialogue, and 2 of those are long. So it’s a quick read–I promise. I arrived at this number with some simple by intriguing math. 11 (for the day) + 12 (for the month) + 1 + 3 (for the last two numbers in the year) = 27.
To get you into this excerpt, I will provide some quick information. Peter Schultz has been around since the previous book, where Grace (Deputy Halling) discovered him drunk on more than one occasion. He’s 19, and she felt something tugging at her because of the poor kid, so instead of arresting him for public intoxication and a minor in possession, she finally ended up taking him to a rehab facility. Fast-forward to this book. Peter is trying to figure out what he wants to do when he grows up. He’s started school again and is working toward his degree once more, which he will accomplish in a few short years. He’s been hanging out with Grace’s ex, Amya, who is the Police Chaplain for the Sheriff’s Department. Grace is taking Peter out on his first ride-along so he can see what she does for a living–it also happens to be Saint Patrick’s Day.
So without further ado–27 “short” paragraphs.
“I promise—you won’t get hurt or shot at tonight. We’ll stay away from those calls.”
“That sucks,” he pouted.
Grace shook her head and turned down Montgomery, heading into her district and away from the university.
“It does not suck,” she hissed. “It’s part policy and part that I don’t wanna get shot at.”
Peter grinned and turned to her, holding out his hand palm up. Grace gave him a funny look, her brow scrunching and her nose wrinkling as she tried to figure him out. Something was off about him, but then again, she hadn’t spent much time with the kid when he was sober.
“Calm down, boss,” he started. “I just want to see what all the fuss is about in this job.”
“Why?” she asked as she turned down the road and started to drive slowly through the residential streets.
“Because I thought about being a cop once. And I thought about not being a cop. Now I know that it’s not what I want to do, but I do want to do something similar.”
“Like Amya,” Grace muttered.
Peter turned in his seat and stared at her full on, giving her a blank and surprised look. Grace caught it and turned back to face the road, following the number eight line from the last bus stop to the transit center. She wasn’t going to ask Peter what that look meant at all.
“How did you know that?” he asked for her.
Grace rolled her eyes and spun her wheel so that they could sit in the parking lot and watch the people get off the buses. Grace rolled her eyes and spun her wheel so that they could sit in the parking lot and watch the people get off the buses. She ignored him as best she could, not wanting to talk about Amya if she could avoid it. She put the car in park and started to watch each individual that got off the bus, hoping that just one of them would do something suspicious so she could avoid talking to Peter even more.
Peter would have none of it and twisted in his seat to face Grace. She ignored it for as long as she could, but by the third time he repeated his question, she felt she had to answer.
“How did you know that?”
Grace sighed. “I took a guess. Between you spouting off Scripture and hanging out with Amya, I figured it was coming somewhere around there.”
Peter smiled and turned to look out the front of the vehicle, whispering, “‘The Lord is my shepherd. … He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.’”
“I know that one.”
“Which one is it then?”
Grace shook her head and looked at a black male, six foot three, wearing a gray hoodie and with pants down his ankles. He looked strangely familiar. She couldn’t place him though, and he wasn’t doing anything that currently would lead her to pulling him aside and questioning him, so she let it go.
“Which Scripture?” Peter asked again.
“Don’t remember exactly,” Grace muttered.
“It’s Psalm twenty-one. People say it at funerals a lot, but I think that it’s much better in other cases. ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’ It’s so awesome. God guides me and leads me and prevents me from going astray.”
“I think you went astray,” Grace said as she picked up on watching another individual walking down the street toward the transit station. She tracked his progress as Peter continued.
“I did—but God came and found me. I’m pretty sure that would happen for any one of the flock that got away.”
Grace snorted.
“What?” Peter asked.
“I highly doubt God’s going to come find me. I don’t want to be found.”
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Thanks for tuning in!
Man, I wish I was allowed to go on ride-alongs! Not that I’d want to see most of the people my husband deals with, but it would be fun to ride in the front seat for a change.
Um… not that I get arrested. I’ve just… never mind.
You have one sentence in there twice (Grace rolled her eyes, etc.). Otherwise, nice scene. I like Peter. 🙂
I love peter! Why can’t you do ride alongs?
They’re not allowed to do them here. :/
Oh that sucks!!
Yeah. Probably best that they don’t leave me alone with a man in uniform, anyway. 🙂
Rofl. Right ? My SO wants to be FBI or secret service. Yummy!
HELLO.
AJ keeps saying he wants to work in a plain clothes section. I would be so disappointed!
Ummm maybe in 20 years when the uniform doesn’t look so good on him
There we go! I’ll suggest that.
Having sat in both the front seat and the back seat, the front one is a lot nicer, but a LOT more crowded with ‘stuff’ (at least around here)… I have to confess, I didn’t get much of a sense of a real patrol car in this scene. I get a very strong sense of these two as characters though. And while I know Grace is got her own issues that will continue to follow her (especially as long as you’re writing about her), I have this feeling that Peter’s going to get hit hard one of these days. Not by Grace (well, maybe), but by Life…
Lol he did get hit hard already and it happens again later in this chapter. The patrol car is more when he gets in the car. Which happens just before this scene. She has to move a lot of stuff for him lol
Ah! Got it.
Like Eden already said there was a great sense of characterisation in this scene. i really like the way Grace is looking for a way out from having to answer Peter’s questions.
Lol right?! She’s so amusing sometimes.
I loved the last line. 🙂
You have “rolled her eyes” and “watch people get off the bus” (or similar) each twice in one paragraph. I’d trim that down. Otherwise, nice character interaction and lots of good implied conflict!
yeah…the woes of it being the first draft.
I do like Grace. And I love the way you’ve captured how she’s looking elsewhere, commenting on something entirely different while trying to avoid someone who is sitting right next to her.
And I’ve never been in a squad car. Front or back. I could maintain it’s because I’m so sweet and innocent but . . .
Lol or you just haven’t been caught yet!!
Yet?!!? That implies I eventually will be. 😉
I’m sure Grace would catch you
Yeah. 🙁 If she can take down a clown, she can definitely take me.
Rofl!!
I like how the characters come out even in this little bit of dialogue. So glad to hear you’re ok with all that ice and the crash!
thanks! Yeah…crash was scary, but I wasn’t nervous about driving after it, which is good! And not sore really at all, which is also good.
Psalm 23. Not 21. 🙂
I like Peter. 🙂
Where’s a clown running down the street when you need one to avoid awkward conversations??? Grace wasn’t so lucky this time, boo. Yay for the reader though, because the conversation was engaging and *I* wanted Grace to reply to Peter’s question, too 🙂
haha Grace answer a question that she doesn’t want to? I’m not even sure Amya has accomplished that yet.
Feels like he did the ride along just to make awkward conversation and put Grace in a position she doesn’t want to be in. That’s a great place for characters to be. Or maybe I’m just really mean to characters. 😉
Lol he didn’t. But what I love about peter is he asks the hard questions.