Tuesday Tales: From the Word SOFT

Welcome to June and another week of scenes to read from Tuesday Tales. This week, we have a word prompt, SOFT, and a 400-word limit to our scenes. I’ve started a new book and all of this month’s scenes will come from it. It’s intended for my Cocktails for You series, so it’s written in the first person. It comes with a temporary cover for the box set in which it will eventually be published. It’ll get a vector cover when I publish it on its own later this summer. Enjoy.

The first thing that penetrated my tired brain was the lack of cars in the driveway. Even if someone had chosen not to drive drunk, wouldn’t at least one of them have driven here tonight?

The second thing was how quiet it was. There were a few lights on in the house, but the only sounds belonged to crickets, frogs, and the whistle of a freight train in the distance. I got out of the van and went up to the front door. I rang the bell and waited. No one answered.

The hoot of an owl sent goosebumps racing down my spine. I recalled a book I’d read in high school about owls and premonitions of death and sorrow.

Where the hell was everyone? Had the place been raided and all of them carted off to jail? It would serve them right—at least Ken. If anyone skirted the letter of the law, it was him. He called it living on the edge; I called it stupid and irresponsible.

I stopped walking to check my phone for messages. None.

Going around the house, I heard soft music coming from the pool area. Maybe they’d all passed out. They weren’t spring chickens any longer, although thirty wasn’t exactly old age, but alcohol had a way of making even the young feel aged. I reached over the top and unbolted the gate, letting myself into the yard. Over the sounds of Blue Rodeo, I could hear the bubbling of the hot tub. The yard was littered with red and blue Solo cups and beer cans, proof that there had been one hell of a party here. I turned the corner and stopped cold. The pool deck and patio were deserted, but not so the spa area. A woman, naked at least from the waist up, her long blonde hair streaming down her back was kneeling in front of a naked man sitting on the edge of the tub, his back against the wall, his head thrown back, his eyes closed, his … I started to back away until the bells and whistles exploded inside my addled mind, and I recognized the mole on the man’s shoulder.

“Zak!” The word exploded from me.

He opened his eyes, blinked, and smiled. The woman stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me. Karen.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I screamed.

She giggled. “I would think that was obvious.”

That’s it. Stay safe, and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.