The Best Laid Plans
The Best Laid Plans
Yeah Write Weekly Challenge #490
Prompts: Storm manipulation; Trail mix
Rebecca peered through the window then turned to Janice.
“This snow is nuts!”
“I’m sure it’ll stop soon,” replied Janice. She returned to her book.
“Not at the rate it’s coming down.” Rebecca sighed heavily. “I’ll never make that meeting.”
That’s the idea, Janice thought smugly.
_____________
Janice and Rebecca were colleagues at Snetterton Holdings. Snetterton’s main rival, Conia, had contacted Janice, keen to discuss an “opportunity”. Over lunch, Conia’s President, Osmond Baines, kept the conversation light. The cheese platter arrived. Still no mention of said opportunity.
Janice was getting impatient. “You mentioned an opportunity in your email.”
“Ah, yes,“ purred Baines. “The opportunity is a one-off, with substantial rewards for you.”
“Which are?”
“Ten million dollars.”
Janice kept her composure, as if multimillion-dollar inducements came her way every day.
Baines continued. “Rebecca Harris is due to sign off on the merger between Snetterton Holdings and Plantrex International. We want to prevent the merger.”
“I’m not involved in those negotiations.”
“We don’t want you to interfere in the boardroom. We want to utilise your...abilities.”
Janice affected a quizzical look. How the hell did they know?
Baines ignored the look. “Here’s the plan. The sign-off takes place on Monday, 9am. The weather for the weekend is perfect. We have a cabin in the mountains. You and Rebecca go for the weekend. A little R&R before the big day. You simply keep her there.”
“That’s industrial espionage.”
“It’s actually just a weekend in the mountains.” Baines looked at Janice pointedly. “You can’t help bad weather.”
___________
“This is a disaster, “ wailed Rebecca. “We have to get out of here.”
“Fat chance,” said Janice. “The car’s covered. They’ll have to postpone the sign-off.”
“They can’t. The CEO of Plantrex will only deal with me, and they’re flying back to London at 10. No me, no merger.” Rebecca left the room, looking for a signal.
Suddenly, she shouted from the other room. “Snetterton’s sending the chopper!”
Janice swore under her breath.
“When’s it due?”
“About 30 minutes.”
Janice increased the intensity of the snowstorm.
A few minutes later Rebecca’s phone chimed. “The snow’s too heavy. They can’t land,” she groaned.
“Oh, what wretched luck.”
Two chimes sounded in succession. “Phew! They’re sending guides from the rangers’ station. They’ll snowmobile us out.”
Janice thought fast. Producing a blizzard was useless. The rangers had grown up here. Rain would stop the snowmobiles but free the SUV up. Hail would work, but producing hailstones large enough to discourage rangers and the chopper, and badly damage the SUV, would sap her strength, which was starting to wane. It would have to be wind and rain - no snowmobiles, a couple of trees across the road, and no chopper.
“The snow’s stopped, but my God, that wind and rain! Can you believe this weather?”
“Weird, isn’t it?” Janice listened for the crack of a falling tree.
The combination of wind and rain was uncovering the car. Janice saw Rebecca eyeing it speculatively.
“I’m off,” Rebecca said. She grabbed a packet of trail mix from the pantry and turned to Janice. “Coming?”
“The wind might’ve brought trees down,” stalled Janice. Her power was spent. She’d never had to manipulate so many storms in so short a time.
“We have to try.” Rebecca munched a handful of trail mix.
Janice had no option. With Rebecca at the wheel, they eased down the road. All trees remained stubbornly upright.
“So far so good.” Rebecca was smiling.
________
Arriving home, Janice could feel her ten million dollars going up in smoke.
On Monday morning, Janice woke fully replenished. She would unleash a biblical dust storm as Rebecca walked to the office.
Two blocks from the office, she spotted Rebecca. Janice ramped the storm up until it was an impenetrable brown wall. Rebecca quickly disappeared from view
All Janice needed was another twenty minutes.
Suddenly Janice could see Rebecca. She increased the intensity. She could still see Rebecca. She sensed a countervailing force was lessening the severity of the storm. A man appeared. The storm was abating at his approach. Try as she might, Janice couldn’t sustain the storm. Rebecca was dusting herself off and heading for the office. The storm was now little more than a dun coloured mist. Rebecca was almost inside.
The man approached Janice. God, a bloody storm attenuator! What were the odds?
“The merger’s going ahead, Janice. Conia’s not the only firm with a long reach and deep pockets.”
The boss taking advantage of Janice's powers was a great way to build a world where superpowers are NBD. The fact that Janice was okay with it told me right away that she was a villain. I loved the flash forward in the first section, but I thought it could use some images for the reader to picture and create a more interesting hook. Maybe the narrator could describe the snowed-in SUV before the conversation? The trail mix could have been more integral; it could have been replaced with any food and it wouldn’t have affected the plot. I’m sure it was a result of the word limit, but the end felt rushed to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Innatejames. They mirror mine quite closely. The foodstuff wasn't exactly 'shoehorned' in but I needed to include it and it seemed a logical pantry item in a mountain cabin. But you're right, it could've been more integral to the story. I find endings the most difficult part of stories to write, and I tried a few without being particularly happy with any of them. It also felt to me like I wrapped it up pretty quickly. I started out with 1150 words so pruning played a big part in the finishing touches, possibly at the expense of polishing the story. Cheers.
DeleteI agree with Innatejames about the trail mix. It seems as if this detail were added as an afterthought and stuffed into the store to me the requirement. However, the story was a welcome escape. I enjoyed your take on the the superpower of storm manipulation.
ReplyDeleteThank you Stone Maiden. I agree that the trail mix is problematic. Seamless incorporation of prompts is something I often struggle with. Thanks for stopping by. Cheers.
DeleteI found this tale of dueling superpowers very enjoyable. I could picture the characters well, particularly Baines. I wanted a bit more visual detail, like instead of telling us Rebecca and Janice are coworkers, show how they shared an office space or something like that. If you expand this, I'd be interested to learn how Baines knew about Janice and what will happen next.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback Jen. Initially, the story was a lot longer than this and included some of the details you mention. I'm thinking it might have legs for a short story. Cheers.
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