Broken toes and such

It's been a rough week. Last weekend, Hoppsy had a seizure. She's since recovered and is feeling well, cruising along as if nothing happened. The doggie Valium comes in handy for that, too. Two days later, we found that Abner broke his toe. Most likely, her brother/homie/best buddy Doc, the 80 pound, clueless wonder pooch, stepped on him. Abners a ten-pound, slightly built tabby with tiny feet like his mother, so there you have it. He got a shot of anti-inflammatory at the vet and is doing much better now.

The weather's been beautiful in Hawaii, everywhere but here.

I drove to the university Monday to find bright orange cones blocking my entry into the parking lot.

"What's up?" I asked the security person at the gate.

"Spring break," she said. Duh! So I went to Seattle's Best at Borders (since Kope Kope is pau - sniff!). It was packed, probably because Kope Kope is pau. They have a killer orange spice latte. I hunkered down and wrote a goofy piece of flash fiction that I've entered in a small writing contest sponsored by Western State College's fledgling MFA in creative writing program. I'm hoping to win a gift certificate to Amazon. The story started out with 750 words and I pared it down to 360. That, in itself, may disqualify me, since the word limit for the contest is a paltry 250. I submitted it anyway. If nothing else, it was a good exercise in revision. I can also submit it elsewhere. It's just weird enough that someone might pick it up. To all my fellow Alaskan Fictionaires out there, a piece of flash fiction might keep us all from going over our three minute time limit at the student reading next year.

Speaking of flash fiction and in honor of brevity, I'll sign off now.

A hui hou. Aloha!

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Mountains and Islands

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