Missing Friends and Writing Stories - All is Good

My friend Rosemary has been MIA and we've been concerned. Rosemary is like the watch that "takes a licking but keeps on ticking". She's an older woman, maybe cracking five feet tall and probably 90 pounds - very small. But she's a power house. Norwegian in ancestry, she exhibits all of the positive traits of the Vikings - strength, perseverance (or stubbornness), and a bright interest in the world. She's at the pool every day for the 5:00 am opening, and if she won't be there, she always lets us know. 

Rosemary is at the swimming pool five days a week for 
the 5:00 am opening. She's been there for years, and the 
days she's missed she's been out of town with family, or 
something else that she always tells us about in advance. 
That wasn't the case this time. 

She was at the pool on Monday and our mutual friend, Meg, said she had looked quite tired and had even said that she was exhausted. She had family visiting over the weekend and probably overdid it entertaining her kin. On Tuesday she wasn't at the pool, and we were all a bit concerned, but figured she was taking a day to recuperate. On Wednesday she wasn't there, and we tried calling her and leaving a message on her machine (she never actually picks up the phone, and she's old fashioned - land line only, no cell phone). 

Rosemary was MIA. This is something that NEVER 
happens. I'll be scolding her and making her promise 
to call one of us if something like this ever happens again. 

On Thursday she wasn't there again. This set alarm bells off for several of us, and I determined to do a bit more in-depth searching after I was finished with my swim. I asked our gate gargoyle - Sabrina - to look into the computer and find her address for me. I wanted to drive by her house to do a wellness check on her since she has no living relations in the Twin Cities area. Sabrina agreed and gave me the information, making me promise I'd phone her with the results. 

So, I went to Rosemary's house on my way to the shop. It's a lovely house, very well kept up, neat and tidy. But all of the lights were off, and there was no answer nor any sign of life. I couldn't see if her car was in the garage or not - there were no windows in the garage door. I called Sabrina with the news, and she dug a bit farther on her end, finally finding a secondary phone number for one of her sons. The son informed Sabrina that there had been a death in the family, and Rosemary had traveled to wherever she needed to be for the family. We're all breathing a sigh of relief now, and are looking forward to seeing her again next week. I will scold her for frightening us, however. Such a naughty girl! LOL 

My latest story is up for reading, and I'm quite happy 
with it. I could easily see a longer tale with this 
character. Voting will open today, so I'll post links 
for voting in tomorrow's post. I hope you'll take 
a look/read and will vote for me when you can. Every 
vote counts. We're down to the final eight and two 
more will be eliminated this week. 

My current story is up, but voting doesn't open until later today, so I'll have a link or something in my post tomorrow. I do hope that you'll read it and vote for my tale of a worried Elven father. It was a fun story to write, went in directions I certainly hadn't planned, but that's when the best things happen when I'm writing fiction. I hope you enjoy it, I'll be back tomorrow with a voting link and to wrap the week up. Slava Ukraini.