Rocky

Ryan Yamada sipped slowly from a cup of strong black coffee as he poured over his designated stack of incident reports that would dictate the course of his day. He was just deciding between following up on a vandalism report or a break and enter incident when his eyes were drawn upward by motion passing the top of his cubicle and the familiar waft of Lily of the Valley perfume. His sister Stephanie rounded the corner of the inadequate partition. She was smiling but with a determined look in her deep brown eyes, and to Ryan’s alarm she was holding a large wire mesh cage containing a hamster.

“Good morning!” Stephanie chided.

She had shiny jet black hair like Ryan’s, her own worn long with the front pulled back. Stephanie shared the same slim athletic type build as Ryan and had similarly even skin. The two both took after their mother, Sakura. Their older brother Garrett was built thicker, like their father Hiroshi, and had skin that showed all his life’s marks. Stephanie was wearing a green patterned sundress with a light matching summer cardigan over it and high heeled beige strappy sandals. Her purse matched the shoes and her pedicure matched the dress. To say Stephanie was organized was an understatement.

Ryan eyed the cage warily “Uh hi…why are you carrying that around? Show and tell at Tristan’s day camp?”

Stephanie shook her head and gave her brother a look of disappointment “No and I see you haven’t read my email yet or you’d know why I’m here. This is Rocky. We have him over the summer from the school. He has an anxiety disorder so he gets a little queasy if he’s left alone too long, and he needs to get used to people. I figure you guys should get to know each other since he’s yours on the list of care duties regarding Tristan when I go away.” Her cheery smile returned as she said brightly “He’ll keep you company at work!”

Ryan watched with restrained shock as his sister shoved piles of work aside on his desk and made a featured space for the cage. She started detailing a litany of feeding, water bottle filling and shavings changing that mostly flew by him because of the speed she delivered it at. When she stopped for a breath he asked with a tone of dread “There’s a ….list….. of duties?”

Stephanie sighed and then laughed “Don’t worry. It’s super easy if you and Gare follow it in order. I numbered it actually. Mom’s back at work now that Dad’s doing a bit better so she can’t be expected to do all the child care. Plus she’s doing my job part time too.  I put Tristan in camp again then though so he’s sorted during the day, unless he gets sick….then one of you has to stay with him…but its summer so he probably won’t.” Stephanie shifted her purse higher onto her shoulder and leaned in giving Ryan a peck on the cheek “You guys are awesome though. I haven’t had a vacation in years. This is going to be so amazing. Have you seen Tams by the way? She wasn’t at the front desk.”

Ryan stared at her like a deer in the headlights. He was completely overwhelmed with information and obligation. Finally it registered that he was expected to answer a question so he stammered through.

“Uh yeah…no problem. I think she’s on community service supervision. Check the beach. It’s clean up day. Listen Steph, I really need to get to these.” He gestured at his stack of reports and she took the hint and wrapped up.

“I know. I just wanted to bring this little guy by. I’ll catch you later at the restaurant. Bring Rocky OK?”

Ryan nodded and chuckled to himself “Yeah OK. See ya.”

No sooner had Stephanie left the building and his phone vibrated on silent in his left chest pocket. He took it out and it was Garrett trying to face time him. With a wince Ryan slid his finger across his phone to unlock and then answered.

“You guys know I’m at work right? Steph just left. I do actually have shit to do.”

Garrett looked and sounded like he had just woken up, which he probably had considering he worked nights as a sushi chef in their parent’s restaurant “Nine pages.” He mumbled.

Ryan squinted in confusion at his brother’s face on the screen “What?” Garrett had his phone held at extreme close up so his face filled the entire screen. His head was tilted back so Ryan could see up his nose. The effect was disturbing to anyone new to face time with Garrett as this was his standard operating mode. When he laughed his mouth took over the screen. Ryan often teased him saying he could pick Garrett’s tonsils out of a police line up.

“Nine fuckin pages man. I just put Steph’s duty list into a word document. Does she really think we’re going to starve the kid and let him stay up all night?”

Ryan laughed “Yep. We gotta do the list in order or the kid turns to sugar and melts. But we can’t give him any sugar or it happens faster. But don’t worry Gare, I’m on hamster duty so you dodged one.” He shifted his screen to show Rocky running anxiously on his small plastic wheel.

Garrett laughed heartily, with his mouth opened fully and creepily across the screen, “Suckah! K go arrest someone or something.”

Ryan shook his head “Not likely but thanks. See you tonight man.” He tapped to close his phone app and looked up into the not remotely amused face of Chief Nick Callahan.

“Officer Yamada, that’s one personal visit and one personal call today. Do you have any other social distractions that are going to keep you from getting to your work I should be aware of?”

Ryan gulped  “No Sir.”

Rocky let out a high pitched squeak and Callahan looked down at the cage in disdain “What’s with the rat?”

“It’s a hamster Sir. My nephew’s but my sister needs me to…” He broke off as the police chief’s impatient glare bore through him.

Nick Callahan was simultaneously ancient looking and ageless. His skin had a leathery quality to it. He had steely blue grey eyes and cropped white hair cut that likely never dared to to grow and a small neatly kept white goatee. His sparse but expressive eyebrows were potentially a life form of their own and they furrowed, threatening to jump off his face at Ryan and consume him whole.

“You know what, not important. I’m going to hit the pavement and do these follow up calls.”

Over Easy

Anna Wright shifted her weight from her left foot to her right as she hovered with a plate of toast and bacon by the stove, waiting on her trainee to make a third set of over easy eggs in the hour. After a few disasters Caitlin had finally perfected the many types of eggs demanded of them by the tourists who overflowed the Lavender Dreams Bed and Breakfast in the summer months.

Caitlin grinned as she flawlessly slid the eggs on the plate “Perfection.”

Anna laughed “Simmer down now. But you’re doing great.”

She leaned into the door to the dining area to open it and deliver the meal to the patron. He was an American in around his late fifties or early sixties planning to hike as much Canadian West Coast as he could set his boots on. He looked to be in the right shape to take in on with a tall and wiry muscular frame. He was lightly tanned with a short grey goatee and a matching full head of silver hair. She suspected his accent originated somewhere in the range of Ohio as yesterday he had asked her about the location of the Laundromat because he wished to “worsh” his clothes. He thanked her for the eggs and darted a look at his dwindling supply of coffee.

“Could I get a refill on that please?”

Anna smiled “Sure. I’ll be back in a sec.”

She circled the dining area, gathering dishes in a mildly precarious stack and made her way back into the kitchen.

Her mother, Tallulah Beal, was in the kitchen talking to Caitlin as she loaded the dishwasher and the two looked up as Anna came in.

“Oh, got some more for you.” She teased before taking them to the sink to rinse off anything too chunky for the machine.  Tallulah took them from the sink and began to pass them to Caitlin. Tallulah had her long white hair swept up in a bun for the morning’s work. She looked like an older, slightly more robust version of Anna except for the long hair and her tortoise rimmed glasses. Tallulah was an eternal hippie. She had on a worn tie dyed t-shirt and loose billowy capri length pants. If it wasn’t health code regulation to wear close toed shoes in the kitchen, she’d happily be in bare feet than her small flat shoes. Beside her, Caitlin was practically a pixie with her slight build and bobbed blonde hair.  Cailtlin also had a very bohemian vibe which is likely what drew Tallulah to hire her as a summer cook. There was, of course, another reason for the hiring which Tallulah addressed.

“Anna, we’ve got this you know. You should take that road trip with Steph and Tams.”

Caitlin nodded in support of the statement and Anna looked between the two women “Are you sure? It’s the high season. Having three of us has actually been a really good balance. And that Swedish exchange group won’t have even arrived yet when I’m supposed to be leaving.”

Tallulah shook her hands in the air and then placed one still damp hand on Anna’s shoulder “We’ll be FINE. Take the camper and have some fun.”

Anna exhaled and then hugged her mother “OK, but I’ll keep it short.” She let go, reaching for the coffee pot. “That hiker guy needs a refill.”

Tallulah flushed slightly and scooped the pot away from her daughter “Oh you mean Paul? Please allow me.”


Anna released her grip and smirked. Caitlin giggled. After the door swung shut from her mother's exit Anna said "Keep an eye on her while I'm away Caitlin. She shouldn't be left unsupervised."

Cedar Point Introduction

Cedar Point is nestled in the quaint crook of Kingfisher Bay, to the south of White Rock B.C. Canada, just before the American border. The sea side town began in 1874 as a haven for fishermen. The gathering of fishermen and their families were a diverse group. There were Japanese, Chinese, First Nations and Europeans in the town as it began to develop. It was unofficially called Cedar Point for the Cedar trees on the cliff tops where the lighthouse now resides among them. The name eventually just stuck and became the real name.

During the 1890s there was an industrial expansion of salmon canneries in B.C. and Cedar Point grew again in size when the Kingfisher Cannery opened in 1892. It’s one of the smallest canneries but still in operation today. The Kingfisher cannery was originally commissioned and owned by Arthur Edmund Beal from Cornwall, England.  Mr. Beal had a Victorian style home built for him and his family that still stands as the Lavender Dreams Bed and Breakfast.

The town officially had 5 founders who made up the first town council. Thomas William Beal (brother of Arthur Edmund Beal) became the town's first mayor. The other council members represented various aspects of the community and were Captain Benjamin Wright, Ning Hai Chen, Chief Robert Douglas and Makota Yamada.

Aside from salmon, the town's main industry has been tourism. At one point, a significant repository of zinc was discovered and Cedar Point attempted to start mining it. The mine caved in with the worst earthquake in the town's history and was forced to close. Earthquakes are a most peculiar environmental anomaly in their magnitude relative to the geography of Kingfisher Bay.

Teams of seismologists have been monitoring Kingfisher Bay for a long time because the intensity and affects of earthquakes from the surrounding fault lines seem more significant than they should be. Architects and engineers have begun to build strategically in Cedar Point to minimize damage experienced by buildings from prior quakes. There are only five original buildings left in the town after the big quake that shut down the zinc mine and those have been repeatedly reinforced to preserve them. Those five are the Lavender Dreams B&B, the mayor’s manor, the fire hall, the Kingfisher Cannery and the Lighthouse.

Cedar Point is still home to a proud diversity of cultural heritage. It offers kitsch tourists attractions, whale watching and wonderful scenery, food and accommodations. It is described as a place of beauty and mystery.

Some town residents say there are spirits at work or unexplained forces. In the 1970s a small cult like group formed called the Quake Takers to speculate about the potential paranormal disappearances of some victims who were never found after earthquakes. Missing people have been unaccounted for since the big quake that closed the zinc mine. The cult was short lived but there are some people who are still influenced by those wild ideas. Hysteria created by the cult, and its viewpoints, has led to reports, fed by hallucinations, of victims vanishing right before people's eyes. The mental health of the hallucinators has been of the utmost importance to the medical community and the town council. Appropriate psychotherapy has always been administered in such cases. The more commonly held belief is the rational deduction that some victims simply were not found, or even that the timing of earthquakes has been used by certain criminals to cover for their violent acts.

Amenities in Cedar Point include a credit union, groceries, restaurants, a service station, a local community police station, a somewhat antiquated fire hall, a walk in family medical clinic and pharmacy, shops, a small K-12 school, a community centre and multi-faith gathering space, a cemetery, a museum, a small harbour and two beaches, a hotel and a B&B, a local pub and a nightclub and a small bus station.