Writing: Pieces of the old NaNoWriMo Story - Introducing Todd

[I recently started writing some new characters for the old story I began for National Novel Writing Month in 2007; this is one of them, albeit a little incomplete still. Since I don't usually share this stuff, I have no idea how good or bad it is - let me know and feel free to drop suggestions; the plan is to gradually create a fairly large number of characters and slowly intertwine them in the larger tale]

A horn sounded and there was a screech of rubber as two turning cars nearly collided in front of Todd; he squeezed the working brake on the handlebars of his battered bicycle and dragged a heel to stop as quickly as he could. A brief argument was exchanged out the windows of the two cars, along with some more vulgar gestures and commentary on the drivers' upbringing. More horns honked among those waiting to pass. Todd's head hurt from the noise. He needed to get his fix of coffee, he knew; it was 7 AM, far too early for car horns, far too late to have not had his coffee. He looked around him at the crappy old row houses and sagging apartment buildings.

God, he thought, this city is depressing in the morning. Todd realized he was using 'God' in his own thoughts, referencing the Biblical sort of god with a capital 'g'. He only briefly scolded himself as he watched the drivers go their separate ways, neither paying much mind to the road ahead as they hollered out their windows. Todd let out a sigh and shook his head. The light had turned red while he waited for the intersection to clear. Rather than waste his effort balancing when he didn't have clips on his pedals, he just set a foot down and leaned, knowing it would be a long light. He was traveling cross-town, and Pittsburgh traffic always favored travel toward downtown, but even more so in the morning.

Todd glanced down in the window of the car pulled up beside him to see a woman feverishly wolfing down a bagel and craning her neck to see the opposing traffic light. It was a strange sight; he guessed the woman was something of a power player judging by her stylish BMW and tailored pants-suit along with her array of electronic gadgets and elegantly functional briefcase resting in the passenger seat, but there she was without even the time to sit, eat, and gather her thoughts in the morning. He wondered if time was a luxury she could afford at all, or if she had just slept late that day.

It was 6:23 on a Friday. Not just any Friday, but her anniversary, as well. Anna glanced at her phone again - 6:24 - she had four missed calls. Dennis had made reservations for eight o'clock, but had asked her to be home by six. The calls had started coming in since about 5:15, when she would've called to say she was on her way home if she were going to make six o'clock. She didn't want to ignore him, but she knew if she talked to him, she just wouldn't be able to stay at her desk, and she absolutely had to have the full set of case memos finished by Saturday. With only a few changes to be made and one final proofreading, she thought she might actually make it to dinner. She grabbed her stack of notes and started typing; the phone rang again.

Todd jumped slightly as he realized his phone was going off. He glanced around: the light was still red, and Anna the Workaholic was only about halfway through her bagel. He chuckled at dubbing the woman this based on a brief imagining of her circumstances, but decided it was probably a fair judgment. As he pulled off the road onto the sidewalk, Todd realized it seemed foggier than a moment before. He swung his backpack down, reaching for the now-silent phone in the small front pocket.

He flicked his wrist to open the phone and check the number. He called back and glanced at the high stone walls of St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, listening to the phone ringing in one ear and bells from over the wall ringing in the other.

"Hey Leslie, whatcha need?" he said when the phone was answered. Her response was lost on Todd for a dumbstruck moment when the woman who'd been beside him drove off. Her license plate read "BIG ANNA" - he momentarily tried to imagine the odds of assigning her actual name to her in his imagination, but found it somewhat overwhelming to consider. It wasn't completely impossible, just such a strange sense of confirmation of his judgments that he found it unnerving, unnerving enough that he momentarily forgot all about Leslie on the other end of the phone. When his thoughts came back to the phone call, she was simply whistling tunelessly on the other end, waiting for him to feel guilty for his silence.

"I just had a pretty weird experience. Some woman stopped at the light beside me... What? Of course I have time for other people - you haven't been gone that long, Les, I haven't really changed." Todd scrambled to cover his ass, like he always did with Leslie. She always seemed to be weighing him somehow, testing his character in every conversation and action; sometimes it was more subtle, but other times she just tore him apart like this, blunt as could be.

"Look, forget it, it was something weird that distracted me; you don't need to hear about it. How's Chicago treating you?" Todd winced at another reprimand for his distraction, and looked visibly relieved for a moment once Leslie moved on.

"No shit? Are you okay? Where are you gonna stay?" he was stunned by his friend's change in circumstance, "Well, of course you can stay with me - what about your job? ...Oh ...Yeah, I forgot. When should I expect you? Are you flying, or taking a bus? ...Absolutely, just let me know when and where. Hang in there, Les. Talk to you in a bit." Todd hung up slowly and looked around. The fog had started to burn off and a bright blue sky stood out sharply against the gaudy colors of the new Children's Hospital. He took a moment to just soak it all in. The morning had that strange feeling of momentousness, like the world had just been shaken up a bit and he should do his best to mark the day in his memory. He spent a few seconds thinking it over before he glanced back at the phone in his hand and realized he had only five minutes to get to work. He raced off, wishing he had time to get his morning coffee.