In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* Grouse, a Character
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“You’re a writer, not a character. Never stand between the reader and the story.” Harvey
Grouse, a Character
After the two previous excerpts (which occur in the novel back to back), over supper Sam asks about Dot’s Delta Force team. She reveals that one of them will stop by the suite the following morning. So this excerpt occurs a couple of chapters later when that character introduced herself to me.
Both Sam and I expected the new character to be a guy. That she was a female and the personality of the character herself was a total surprise. That’s one more benefit of writing into the dark instead of trying to control everything:
As Dot and I continued to work, at around 9:30 a.m. someone rapped quietly on the door.
She was out of her chair so fast I didn’t see her move. A Beretta PX4 Storm Sub-Compact pistol had appeared in her hands and was leveled at the door. Without looking around at me, she said quietly, “Sam, would you get the door please? But open it slowly.”
As I got up, Dot sidestepped past the table and stopped a few feet on the other side of my chair. She would have a clear view of the opening from the time I first cracked the door.
I stopped next to the couch, put my back against the wall, crouched, and reached for the doorknob with my right hand. Then I glanced at Dot and arched my eyebrows.
She nodded.
I turned the doorknob and opened it, but only a few inches.
Dot tensed, then quickly shifted her weapon to her left. “Grouse! Good to see you!”
The door shoved open and a young woman sauntered through. She was maybe all of 5’2” or 5’3”, so a little shorter than Dot.
I closed the door, then straightened from my crouch.
The woman’s blond maybe shoulder-length hair was pulled up into a short ponytail. She was dressed in a black t-shirt, green shorts like the ones I’d first seen on Dot, and black Nike running shoes. She carried a slim folder in her left hand and nothing in her right. She grinned at Dot. “Jeeze, boss, you gonna shoot me now?”
Dot laughed. “You know the deal, Grouse. You don’t bring nothin’, there won’t be nothin’.”
I grinned. Will Smith’s character in Independence Day. I love that movie.
She lowered the pistol and it disappeared behind her back.
She must keep it behind the waistband of her jeans, but I hadn’t noticed it in the kitchen earlier.
Grouse fanned the air with the folder. “Wait’ll you see what I got for you.”
Still grinning, Dot gestured past Grouse with her now-empty right hand. “First, may I present Sam Granger? But strictly for your viewing pleasure. No touching.” She glanced at me. “Sam? This is Grouse.”
Grouse stopped and turned around. She glanced at my face, then looked at my boots. Then she let her gaze slowly travel back up to my face. She gestured with her chin. “Good t’meet ya, Sam. An’ I see you’re one’a God’s people, with the blond hair an’ all that.” She turned away and jerked one thumb over her shoulder. “So is he your toy boy or—”
Dot burst out laughing. “No, he isn’t a toy boy! Sam’s the other principal on this thing. He and I worked together in Denver awhile back. The Tatio thing?”
Grouse turned around again. “You made that shot? Jaheesus, that was a nice shot!” She touched her forehead with a quick two-finger salute. “My hat’s off to ya, m’man.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder again. “Well, her man.” She eyed me again. “But listen, if y’ever do get lonely, dude, I could have you sheathed in about half a hearbeat, so—”
Dot laughed again. “Stop it, Grouse! Sam’s happily married.”
Grouse continued eyeing me. “Unfortunately for us, eh?”
“He’s just very good at what he does.”
“Yeah, I can only imagine. Whew!” Grouse chuckled.
I grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Do I detect a Brooklyn accent?”
Grouse wagged the folder at me. “Oh god no! Lafayette, Louisana, born and raised, m’man. I never been ‘reared,’ as they say. An’ I don’t plan—”
Dot said, “That’s enough, Grouse. What’ve you got for us?”
I started past Grouse to stand near the table, but I kept one eye on her.
“Got for you?” Grouse frowned, then looked at the folder in her hand as if she’d never seen it before. Her eyebrows arched. “Oh! Yeah, right.” She noticed the folders on the table and pointed with the folder she was holding. “Shall we? You guys might wanna sit down for this.”
I sidestepped out of the way and gestured. “You guys sit. I’ll stand.”
On her way to the table, Grouse eyed me again. “Ah. One’a those, eh?” She looked at Dot as she gestured toward me with her empty hand. “All’a that an’ a gen’leman too? Jeesus, boss.”
Grinning, Dot said, “Grouse! Focus!” then took a seat in the chair I’d used.
As Grouse sat in Dot’s previous chair, she wagged a hand. “A’right, a’right.” She opened the folder, then passed it over the table to Dot.
Dot started reading, then flipped the first page up and looked at the second, then the third, then the fourth. She let the pages drop, closed the folder, and reached it up to me. “We have more primary targets than I expected, Sam.”
Grouse grinned. “Yeah. Three more than Cousins and Santa Claus. An’ there might still be more. That’s all me an’ Longlegs uncovered so far. But we got our eye on a few more.”
Dot frowned. “How much longer do you think you’ll need?” She put up one hand. “Realistically, I mean.”
“Realistically?” Grouse shrugged. “No more than another day. Maybe two.”
Dot released a breath. “So we’re still on track then, timewise.”
Grouse shrugged again. “Yeah, I guess. Why? You got a hot date?” She glanced at me again.
Dot ignored that. “Any hints of any of the others being movers and shakers?”
Grouse shook her head. “Not that we seen so far except those three. Like I said, we got our eyes on a few more, but all the others are runnin’ far, far back in the pack.” She wagged a hand. “My opinion, they’re goin’ nowhere fast.”
“Okay. All right. Listen, keep us posted, okay? And if it looks like we can’t go by the day after tomorrow, let me know. We’re depending on you guys.”
Grouse spread her hands. “Hey, ‘ve I ever let you down, Major? Well, other than that time in Barbados.” She wagged that hand again. “But that was just a wardrobe malfunction, am I right?”
Dot blushed hard red. “I thought we agreed never to mention that again?”
Grouse grinned. “Right. Well, you agreed, I remember that much.” She laughed. “An’ who could blame you, what with your tits out lookin’ around on their own an’—”
Dot slapped the table, hard. “That is enough, Captain!”
Grouse lowered her head and the grin fell off her face. “Sorry, Skipper. Won’t happen again.” She looked up at me. “Sorry, Sam. Tweety here really is a good sort. Righteous an’ all that.”
I only grinned and shook my head.
Grouse pushed against the table and stood. “Welp, I better get back out there. Longlegs might get lost if I let’im off the leash for too long.” She turned toward the door, then stopped and turned back. “By the way, boss, thanks for poppin’ for a dedicated space for me an’ Longlegs. Sure beats when all of us were crammed in here.” Again she turned toward the door, and this time she only raised her left hand, “See’ya, boss. Good t’meet’ya, Sam. An’ good huntin’.”
And just like that, the door opened and closed and Grouse was gone.
Still grinning, I looked at Dot. “What exactly in the hell was that?”
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
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The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 1390
Mentorship Words…………….. 1130
Total Nonfiction…………………. 2520
Writing of Blackwell Ops 50: Sam Granger | Rocky Ground
Day 1…… 1440 words. To date………… 1440
Day 2…… 2986 words. To date………… 4426
Day 3…… 3523 words. To date………… 7949
Day 4…… 3315 words. To date………… 11264
Day 5…… 4128 words. To date………… 15392
Day 6…… 2990 words. To date………… 18382
Fiction for October………………………… 77370
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 655908
Nonfiction for October.…………………… 29360
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 239470
2025 consumable words………………… 887809
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 120
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29