Excerpt: From Stem to Stern

It was strange, she thought as she studied his outline in the weak sunshine filtering through the heavy clouds, how much had changed in the last year and a half. How much her life had come to take on a new meaning. Gone were concerns of credit card bills, bookkeeping, slouchy, dirty men in her home. Gone were the worries of how she would pay for Joanna's schooling (much as it still hurt to think of her daughter sometimes), or the concern that one day, she'd wake up and find that someone had broken in in the night and taken off with everything she owned. Gone were worries about demons, darness, gates to Hell and gone were nights spent lying in bed wondering where John was, if he was safe, if she would ever see him again.

Not that life on the island didn't have its worries. Often in the night, she could swear she was hearing voices whispering in the trees just outside the square of lamplight thrown through the window. Sometimes, when it rained hard, she was sure she could hear a woman crying far away in the forest. There was always concern that a hurricane would come and wipe out their home, that poisonous snakes, spiders, and fish still skulked around the shadows. THere was the ever-present concern of not having enough to eat.

But all of that grew farther and farther away as they slowly learned to live from the land. Mick's leather-making skills assured them that they wouldn't be cold or indecent, though Ellen spent much of her time in skirts that were shorter than she would've liked them to be. He'd done well keeping the populations of the island in check, too--without the threat of big cats or wild dogs, the sheep and deer that populated the island had thrived back to healthy, fat numbers, which Mick kept in check with carefully-calculated, selective feeding. The only part of thier little island that remained uncharted was the pair of huge, jagged mountains that shadowed the northern-most tip, and Ellen vowed that they would explore those soon. She still hadn't given up on--

"Mick, what are you doing?" Ellen asked as they approached the edge of the little middle of their village. The handsome vampire was humming to himself, darting back and forth to the trees as he kept one eye on his tiny girlfriend and the two bundles of baby she held.

"Aw, damn, you're up earlier than I thought you'd be!" Mick pouted, dropping the crude stick-and-stone creation he'd been using as a hammer. "I told you to make sure she slept late."

John's eyes were amused, "Maybe if you would have told me you were building a giant...something...in the middle of the ground, I would have made more of an effort. I didn't know you were doing this...what is it?"

"Never you mind." Beth retorted suddenly, sticking out her tongue at him. "We have this all planned to a T."

"WHAT do you have planned to a T?" Ellen asked, skipping away from her husband to peer down into the little ring of wooden sides. "What IS this, Mick?"

"You'll see. I think I'm done." He stepped back and surveyed his work with pride. The center circle was enormous, as big as Ellen's living room back home, the sides laced up about four feet high with thin, closely-placed rails, fit into a peg-and-hole system that a carpenter with three times as many tools would have envied.

"Close your eyes, Ellie." Mick teased, kissing her cheek primly, "John, make sure she does. I have a surprise for her!"

"Ooh...what is it, what is it?" Ellen squealed like a little girl, bouncing on the balls of her tiny, bare feet as she struggled to see where he was going. But large, strong hands suddenly fell over her eyes, blocking out the light, and she huffed, "John!"

"Hey, when the vampire tells you to do something, you do it." John nodded, his bright brown eyes glittering as he followed the vampire's loping stride into the forest. "He's making me kind of nervous, though."

"Me too." Ellen nodded, "We should go follow him, and make sure he's not up to--"

John's loud, pealing laughter cut off the end of her sentence, and she impatiently tried to pull his hands away so that she could see what he was laughing at, "What, John? What's so funny??" She complained.

"Nope. You have to wait." Her husband said with a laugh. "I'm not giving away anything, not when it's something this good. Where on EARTH did you find those, Mick?!"

"I have my ways." The vampire's voice came to her cryptically from the dark. "Think she'll like?"

"Oh, she will." John nodded. "You have more?"

"Several." The handsome vampire nodded. "Can you keep her still for a few more minutes?"

"I'll try, but I don't know...she's a fighter."

"LET ME SEE!" Ellen complained, struggling to free herself. But it was no good--John was faster, stronger, and bigger than she was, and she was forced to wait for several more minutes before Mick's voice finally came to her.

"Okay, let her look now." He commanded regally, and John's hands ell from her eyes.

Ellen gasped, jumping forward. The little structure made sense now...a pen. A coop, rather. "CHICKENS!" She cheered, her bright eyes as exuberant and excited as a child's on Christmas morning. "Oh, Mick, where did you find chickens??"

"They were over on the other side, by the mountains. We don't go over there often, so I didn't think you knew. I've been gathering all of the stuff up for days and days...I wanted to surprise you when you woke up this morning." He looked a little concerned, "Do you like it?"

"I love them!!!" She clapped her hands, counting the squawking, confused flock as quickly as she could..."Ten! Ten chickens!" She bubbled, pointing to the fat, ruffled rooster who strutted proudly in the middle. "Look at him!"

"Yes, Ellen, I see the chicken." John teased. "So this is why you've been disappearing all the time. And you knew about this?" He turned to Beth, who only smiled innocently and returned to playing peek-a-boo with little Mirena.

"You can't prove anything." She sing-songed, and John only laughed.

"I don't think I have to." He said with a smile. "Your face gives it all away. God, Mick, this is fantastic. We can have eggs now, and chicken, if we want to." He smiled down at his wife's appalled eyes, "Not for a while, though. We'll need to build up our little flock, first." He teased, and she swatted at him, sticking out her tongue.

"What will we feed them, Mick?" She asked concernedly, studying the strutting birds with amusement. "I don't know how to take care of chickens."

"They take care of themselves." Mick assured her. "We'll throw them some grass seed and water. They'll be fine."