Windhaven 20
Welcome to the Twentieth Windhaven post. I started the WhatIf? part quite a while ago. Feel free to use one of the story prompts. I’d love to know what you do with it.
I finally sent the 4th novel, Blood on the Mountain, in my Blood Justice series to the publisher. Out of my hands for now.
If you’re reading this before Dec 31, Smashwords has an end of year sale going on. My books are included – https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DavidBurton
Don’t forget to check out Girl at Sea.
To start Windhaven at the beginning click HERE.
All the parts of Windhaven are first draft with very little editing. Comments and suggestions are welcomed.
WhatIfs?
What if a woman, Jane, sold her ability to change into any other woman to 
men, or women, who had a secret crush on another woman who they had no chance with. When the customer got tired of her, or got caught by their spouse, she changed back to herself. But WhatIf? She fell in love with her client and didn’t want to leave? How far would she go to stay around? If the guy went back to his wife, how sure could he be that it really was his wife 
and not Jane. If Jane, what happened to the wife? Or, in the course of her usual business she’d probably hear some secrets, what might she do with them?
WhatIf? Two teenagers, Joe and Jane, meet at a boarding school at the start of Thanksgiving Holidays. Jane has no place to go and Joe has no place he wants to go. They decide to go to NYC for the break. They get a cheap hotel, 
separate beds, and have a good time for two days.
One morning they discover by the next room’s door, a new baby wrapped in bloody towels. The door is unlocked, inside they discover the horrible bloody body of a teenage girl, who obviously died in childbirth. They of course call the police and eventually are interviewed on TV.
Back in their room a man barges in wanting to know where ‘it’ is, and why did they take it. They haven’t a clue what he’s talking about, but he doesn’t believe them. He punches Joe, knocking him down then grabs Jane by the neck hits her, holds a knife to her. Joe smacks him hard with a lamp. He doesn’t get up, ever. They go through a more rigorous time with the police. His dad hires a lawyer. Eventually they are allowed to leave. They get on a 
train to Philadelphia. His dad waits at the station, but they never show up.
Where are they, and what is ‘it?’
??? ‘It’ – Proof that the father of the baby is the father and he wants to care of him/her, but his family doesn’t want that.
Or – Proof of the father, but he does not want that to get out.
Or – she stole money/secrets/something, or knows where it is, and somebody wants it back.
Or – ?
To start Windhaven from the beginning click HERE.
Windhaven 20
Linda entered her classroom, sat at her desk and stared at a notebook containing the day’s lesson. The nineteen students watched her in silence
until one girl, Jasmine, quietly asked, “Is he still missing?”
“Yes, Jasmine, still missing.”
“Just like my Daddy.” Jasmine’s father had gone missing a year ago. She and Linda shared a sad hope-for-the-return-of-the missing smile. “If he’s sti….If he’s out there they’ll find him. Both of them.”
One of the boys said, “I liked him on the boat. He seemed pretty cool.”
“He did, didn’t he?”
“Are they using satellites?” another boy asked. “They can find anything.”
“They’re working on it Timmy. It’s a big ocean.”
“They’ll find him. Satellites can find anything,” he said with youthful enthusiasm.
“I’m sure they will. If I hear anything, you all will be the first to know. Okay?”
The class’s lackluster “Okay” held little anticipation of good news.
XXXXXX
Lunch time in the teacher’s lounge Linda sat with her best friend, Ginger, a petite, African American woman who kept the fifth graders in check with her good looks and piercing eyes that not even the baddest bad ass (they thought) student hiding in the back of the room would dare defy. Ginger had a soft spot for Linda because she’d lost two husbands and had some idea what Linda was feeling. Also, she knew that Linda, though soft spoken, and heartbroken at the moment, had a steel spine.
“No word?” Ginger asked while supportively rubbing her back.
“No.”
“It’s been a week. Is that good or bad?”
Linda glanced at her friend. “What do you think?”
“Yeah. This guy Noah made a big impression on you in what, twenty-four hours.”
“More like twelve.” A smile slid onto her lips. “He was the One, Ginger. Is the One. Come and gone.”
“Honey, you thought that before.”
“I know. But I’m no naïve twenty something who doesn’t listen to her friend’s advice anymore. He’s it, my friend.”
“And if he’s lost?”
“Still it.”
XXXXXX
Linda had thought she had The One once before. They’d met at a beach party, when she was twenty and you could have beach parties. Steve, handsome, oozing charm, successful, how could she not fall hard for him? There were vague rumors from her friends about him, maybe his charm wasn’t as real as it seemed, maybe his supposed success came at the expense of others.
But Linda didn’t listen, didn’t want to hear it. She knew Steve was the kindest, gentlest man ever, he took care of her, his occasional bursts of anger were at others, never her. Three months later they were engaged and she spent most nights at his house.
Friends organized a bachelorette party, a wild night, and she bubbled with giddy anticipation. She dressed at Steve’s place, ready to walk out the door. Steve, who hadn’t been informed about the party, came home and demanded to know where she was going and with who. Not happy, he said he’d planned a quiet night at home with her and strongly insisted she’d better be back and check in with him by eleven o’clock.
Taken aback for a moment, she thought he was joking. “No, I don’t think so. Equality, remember? You were out all night at your bachelor party, so I’ll be back when my party is over.”
He wasn’t joking. He grabbed her arm. “No, back by eleven, that’s enough. And I don’t like you hanging out with those girls anyway. They’re not good for you.”
“Ow. That hurts. Let me go. And some of them have been my friends my whole life. They’re good for me. So I’ll be back when I’m back. Let go of my arm.” Linda tried to peel his fingers off her arm.
“Stop it,” he said, definitely, not joking. “I think you need to stay home.”
In a second, all her friend’s warnings flashed back through her brain. She looked him in eye and said, “No,” and tried to yank her arm loose.
His head jerked back, his lips twisted. With a quick strike he slapped her, threw her down on the bed. In seconds his expression lost its angry twist and became conciliatory, apologetic, even loving. He sat beside her, took her hand.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I love you and only want what’s best for you. I think you should stay home tonight. You don’t want to get into any trouble before your wedding. Maybe order a pizza. You’d like that wouldn’t you?”
Linda forced a smile. Nodded. All those warnings swirled around in her head, chased by her friends’ “I-told-you-sos.”
“It’s alright. I know you’re looking after me. And yes, I would love a pizza.”
Later, when the pizza delivery kid rang the doorbell Linda said to Steve, “You sit, I’ll get it for you.” At the door she picked up her purse and coat, handed the kid twenty dollars and kept on walking.
Six months later The One went to prison for almost beating his new fiancée to death.
XXXXXXX
Two days later Linda stayed at school late grading homework when her cell phone rang. She had no desire to talk to anyone. Pushing the device away she inadvertently glanced at the caller.
Rhode Island.
Rhode Island. Her heart jumped, she couldn’t breath out. Was this the call she’d dreaded, or the one she longed for? She stared at it for two rings, then, afraid she’d miss the call, snatched it up. “Hello.”
“Hi. Is this Linda Truby?”
“Yes,” she said, wary. Inside her head – Hell yes it’s me! Tell me good news.
“My name is Maureen Davidson. I’m calling from the round the world race headquarters. We haven’t spoken before. You are wondering about Windhaven and Noah Wells.”
Linda had to suck in a deep breath to say, “Yes.”
“I’m calling all the families to update them on the search. I’m sorry to say there is no news, good or bad. The search has not ended. One of the other racers is diverting to where we think whatever happened, happened. We’ve been able to get NASA to task a satellite to search the area for three days. Nothing yet. Also, Australia is planning a long range, low level flight. They’re very good at that sort of thing.” Before the silence grew too uncomfortable, Maureen said, “Ms. Truby? Linda? Are you there?”
“Yes, yes, I’m here. Tell me, Maureen, for real, what are the real chances of finding anyone alive?”
I worked, occasionally went out with a few friends, occasionally got laid, had no interest in men.”
“Then you met Noah.”
“Yeah. Twelve hours, that’s all I knew him before I drove him to the airport and watched him fly away and started wishing he would come back.”
“He seemed like a good guy.”
“He was… is. And now there’s a good chance I’ll never see him again. All I can see ahead is me wondering what might have been.”
“But not a hundred percent chance. We’re still looking. Those Aussies are very good about search and rescue. Are you following the website?”
“Haven’t for a couple days. Guess I was afraid of seeing the search had ended.”
“Could be good news.”
“I know. But, I guess my optimism is waning.”
“That crew on that boat is a very resourceful lot. I wouldn’t give up just yet. We update every day. Keep checking.”
“Okay, thanks for calling.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t know if I should tell you this, but one of the crew on Windhaven is a good friend, and my brother is on another boat. If you feel the need to talk with someone who knows what’s happening, call me.”
Linda hung up and tried to ramp up her optimism with little success. She shed a tear, said something good about Aussies, and continued to grad papers. “Linda, I saw on the paperwork when Noah put down his contact information you were the only name. At first, he put down friend then he just looked somewhere and then changed it to girlfriend. He had no other contacts, no family, no business. I know it’s not my business, but is that correct – girlfriend?”
Linda sighed, slumped back in her chair. “You know, I don’t know who I am. Before I met Noah I was just a regular thirty-something woman with a regular life. Not happy or sad, just existing. I lived alone with no particular desire to live with anybody. I worked, occasionally went out with a few friends, occasionally got laid, had no interest in men.”
“Then you met Noah.”
“Yeah. Twelve hours, that’s all I knew him before I drove him to the airport and watched him fly away and started wishing he would come back.”
“He seemed like a good guy.”
“He was… is. And now there’s a good chance I’ll never see him again. All I can see ahead is me wondering what might have been.”
“But not a hundred percent chance. We’re still looking. Those Aussies are very good about search and rescue. Are you following the website?”
“Haven’t for a couple days. Guess I was afraid of seeing the search had ended.”
“Could be good news.”
“I know. But, I guess my optimism is waning.”
“That crew on that boat is a very resourceful lot. I wouldn’t give up just yet. We update every day. Keep checking.”
“Okay, thanks for calling.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t know if I should tell you this, but one of the crew on Windhaven is a good friend, and my brother is on another boat. If you feel the need to talk with someone who knows what’s happening, call me.”
Linda hung up and tried to ramp up her optimism with little success. She shed a tear, said something good about Aussies, and continued to grade papers.
and you found out that your wife, a goddess more powerful than you, was having an affair with a mortal, a sorcerer no less. You had to be careful, the god council had already censured you for your unforgiving conduct toward mortals. You decide to go after the sorcerer, but he’s a bit more powerful than you thought. And your wife is suddenly being very nice to you. She suggests you and she go on a vacation together to a little out of the way place of your godly world. You readily agree, but when you get there you begin to think maybe it wasn’t such a good idea….
who has a plan if he’ll go along, money and her. All he has to do is help her kill her husband. Of course he agrees. She arranges for him to get into her house, quite a mansion, at night. He gets in and heads to the study where he finds her dead. Her husband, a judge who got him out so he could kill the wife, has killed her. Now he plans to kill the guy and blame him fore the murder. But the guy is not as dumb as he acts. He gets away. Now what, his only options are run or figure a plan to ruin the judge, and get the money he’s owed.
time machine to send her back. She teams up with an FBI agent who believes her. Together they are able to stop the assassination, meanwhile falling in love. The thing is, if the killing never happens, she never exists. Will she just disappear? How deep is their love of country compared to their love of each other?
How would their story play out? Maybe the vamps hate the Immortal. They can’t kill her so what do they try? What if a male Immortal is obsessed with her? Would he team up with the vamps to do…? Maybe the couple would move away. Could they have a baby? Maybe adopt an abandoned/abused kid. Maybe the obsessed
an underwater habitat experiment and save a mortal from a shark attack. You are attracted to one of the divers and they are attracted to you. Then the bad 
friend asked you to steal a book that supposedly would teach you real magic and was worth a small fortune. You manage to steal the book, but now real bad guys with real magic are after you. You try and read the book, but don’t understand it. You go to your friend. He’s dead, but his daughter can read it and the two of you become badass magicians and take down the baddies and live more or less happily ever after.
witches, werewolves, etc. were real, but, for obvious reasons given human nature, they wanted to stay hidden from us mere mortals? As if they actually could over the centuries, A Discovery of Witches notwithstanding. What if you were the only one who knew about them? What would you do? Keep it very quiet? Yell it from the rooftops – and end up in the Looney Bin? Befriend them, use them for your own nefarious purposes? What If someone else found out about them and planned to use that knowledge exactly the opposite of you. Could, would, that precipitate a war that couldn’t be hidden from the merely human. Knowledge should be used with care.
and discovered a planet populated by vampires. Like us they cultivated there own animals for their food supply, and had never tasted human blood. Maybe after an accident one tasted your blood. Oh Yum! What would they do to you? What would you do? Dole out you blood for favors in return. Would they force you to give them directions to Earth? Would you sacrifice yourself to save Earth? Maybe figure out a clever way to save Earth and yourself. What kind of hero are you?
of the Dead? So when you start seeing the Dead walking (groan) you have to find the Devil (or his minion who might be making a play to upstage his boss) and stop his, or her, shenanigans so your whole vacation isn’t ruined! Bummer.
Great, but over time, What If? the dogs took on too much power. Soon they ran their areas. When there were puppies each family had to raise one to add to the Dog Security Force. Certain Dog Leaders might become more interested in gaining doggy wealth and power and want to take over other areas, Dictator Dogs. 
Soon the humans might be forced to fight the Dog’s wars. Until, a Dog leader, slightly different from the others, smart and compassionate, finally brings peace between Dogs and Humans.
David Burton's What if? And Novel Writing Blog 