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PASS THE BATON

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Marla, from Marla’s World, has created a writing challenge. The challenge is for multiple authors to write a single story. She will choose a story that she has written, or that another author has submitted for this challenge, and she will nominate the next person to continue writing it. Once that person has added their section, they will nominate the next author. It will continue like this until the story is complete.

Marla has started the ball rolling with this:

He woke up slowly, stretching out his fatigued muscles as if he hadn’t just spent all day yesterday using them. He laid in the bed staring at the unique shape of the ceiling. He had always loved this house – the architecture made him feel at home and at peace.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand up, but his calf immediately cramped. It wasn’t a bad cramp, but it was enough for him to flash-back to the competition yesterday between his brother and him. Once a year they met up at this place, the last place they had seen their grandmother, and they created a competition that their entire family would participate in.

Because it was in memory of their beloved grandmother, Tutu Lulu, they had decided that it had to take place on the ocean, as that was her favorite place on the planet since she was a young girl. She had taught them Aloha ʻĀina, or to love and appreciate nature, especially the crashing waves. Therefore, this competition involved the ocean.

They would compete against each other in various “events” such as surfing, speed-snorkeling (which was something they had created as children), and shallow-water scuba diving. The whole family truly enjoyed it, and everyone turned up.

Yesterday had been so much fun, except when…

Susan of Sillyfrog’s Blog continued with

Yesterday had been so much fun, except when Kai, his older brother, and he nearly came to blows in front of the whole family.

Kai accused him of cheating in their speed snorkeling event. He’d won it for the first time ever and wasn’t going to back down to Kai’s arrogance.

The claim was made that he had grabbed onto big brother’s ankle which was ridiculous. But Kai produced evidence in the form of red and purple finger marks above his foot.

A shouting match turned into a shoving match and if his brawny uncles hadn’t intervened, who knows what would have happened.

It was decided to break for their picnic lunch before entering the water for a more relaxed shallow scuba diving experience.

The two avoided each other until day’s end.
Stars twinkled and the moon looked larger than ever on the horizon when Kai approached his little brother beside the bonfire on the beach.

Looking at his hands as one finger traced the rim of his sweating beer, Kai whispered to him,

“I heard her, Noa. She spoke to me clear as day.”
Kai had taken Tutu Lulu’s disappearance the hardest. She had named him after the sea and had been her sidekick longer than he. He hadn’t really recovered from their loss.

“I’m sorry. But when you, someone, grabbed me Tutu Lulu spoke to me.”

“What did she say?”…

Di, from Pensitivity101 continued with

‘She told me that difficult times were ahead and you and I would have to put aside our differences and work together.’

‘Do you think it was Tutu Lulu who grabbed your ankle to attract your attention then?’ Kai ran his damp fingers through his hair.

‘I don’t know, but it makes sense. The finger marks are beginning to fade but looking more closely, they couldn’t be yours as they’re too small.’

The two brothers sat side by side on the sand. There was three years between them, but Noa was the bigger of the two though in the shadows cast by the fire, it was hard to tell one from the other. ‘She always seemed to prefer you. She’s never come to me, not even in my dreams. Did she say anything else?’

‘I doubt it as we started to fight and the uncles intervened. I wonder what she meant?’

Now it was the following morning and yesterday’s events were still preying on Kai’s mind. The competition was over and everyone would be returning to their own homes after the traditional family meal in the huge kitchen. As always, it was a joyous affair, but suddenly their laughter and banter was shattered by the sound of rockets…

 Fandango , from This, That, and the Other, continued with

“What the hell is that?” Kai said. He and Noa ran outside, followed by the rest of the family.

One of the uncles looked at the rockets streaking across the sky. “Oh Jesus,” he said in disbelief, “those are anti-ballistic missiles and they’re coming from the direction of Pearl Harbor. Someone go into the house and turn on the television.

Everyone gathered in the living room and silently watched the shocking news that satellites had detected a half dozen missiles launched from North Korea headed toward the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea had escalated over the past few months, but no one anticipated that North Korea would actually go so far as to launch potentially nuclear armed missiles at Hawaii.

The solemn newscaster tried to reassure viewers. “Military leaders are confident that our anti-ballistic missiles will intercept and destroy the incoming North Korean missiles well before they get close to Hawaii,” he said.

“And if not,” Noa said, “bend over and kiss your ass goodbye.”

“Shut up, Noa,” Kai said. “This is serious.”

Nancy, The Sicilian Storyteller at  The Elephant’s Trunk continued with

The adolescent and teen years for Noa and Kai were not easy ones. Being half Hawaiian and half Korean, they were constantly teased by the other kids in school. It was their large, loving family that kept them grounded and focused.

The ocean is what saved them and stories at the feet of their beloved Tutu Lulu. Among those special times, Noa and Kai will never forget the days their grandfathers and other elder members of their family recounted the day Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese.

The brothers would often play “war” down on the beach; they spent so much time in the water, their mother teased them about eventually growing fins. As the boys became older, their attention was drawn to exciting careers that would allow them to continue their relationship with the water … that was their calling to become Navy SEALs.

Now, with the television droning on in the background about North Korea possibly launching anti-ballistic missiles at Oahu, Noa and Kai knew exactly what they had to do.

*****************************************

Good news! My friend Pete at Mister Bump UK has been tagged by me and will continue passing the baton.

42 thoughts on “PASS THE BATON”

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      1. Oh, pish-posh! Comments get buried all of the time, a short delay isn’t the end of the world lol I’ve just realized I have comments dating back to March, so I promise you, I get it.

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  15. Checking https://bard.google.com, I found:

    “An ICBM launched from North Korea would have to travel over 4,600 miles (7,400 km) to reach Hawaii. The fastest ICBMs can travel at speeds of up to 15,000 mph (24,000 km/h), so it would take them about 12 to 15 minutes to reach their target.

    The flight of an ICBM can be divided into three phases:

    Ascent: The missile climbs to a high altitude (i.e. its apogee), typically around 200 miles (320 km).
    Midcourse: The missile travels in a ballistic arc to its target.
    Terminal: The missile descends to its target and delivers its payload.

    During the ascent phase, the missile is most vulnerable to interception. This is because the missile is relatively slow and easy to track.”

    The time from apogee to impact would likely be about 6 minutes with the ICBM, traveling at its greatest velocity.

    If Noa and Kai recognized that anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs) were being fired they would have known that there was no time to check the television for news. By that time, it is likely that they had heard warning sirens. Their only goal would have been to seek shelter in order to survive and help survivors of such an attack.

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    1. Very interesting, A. I’m goin to pass this tidbit on to Fandango. Then again. let’s not forget it’s a fiction story and we need to make allowances. Thanks for your dedicated detective work!

      By any chance, despite the info you just provided, would you be willing to pick up the story where I left off? My UK friends have not responded and are likely asleep by now.

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      1. I dont know how to append anything to what has already been posted. If what is below is acceptable, I trust you will do that for me.
        ………………………….

        Noa and Kai yelled to everyone to run into the house and lie on the floor with their arms covering their heads. They knew this would be useless if a blast was nearby, but it would protect them from being blinded by a nuclear flash. It would also protect their heads from flying glass and other debris.

        The family just made it. A deep explosion was heard from the east in the direction of Pearl Harbor, but the earth did not rumble or tremor. In the ensuing silence, Kai whispered to Noa “It was an air burst.” “But where?”. said Noa.

        Noa and Kai held their breath wondering what would happen next. And the world held its breath . . .

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    1. That sounds like a great game to play!
      This is my first contribution to Pass the Baton so I’m afraid I can’t answer you’re question.
      Are you interested in adding to the story? I have asked a couple of people but they are in the UK and likely asleep. Let me know if you’d like to continue passing the baton!

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  17. I like where you took it. The backgrounds of Noa and Kai gave them more character. Nicely done. I see that Liz H. opted out. Do you have a back-up to pass the baton to? Maybe Pete?

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    2. Funny thing is most of the people I know who write stories are not located in the US so there’s a time difference. My US friends are mostly poets. I’ve got the word out to Tom and ran it by Pete but I haven’t heard back yet. It’s just after 10 there so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed!

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