Hot Flash excerpt
Later, Nurit tapped the door open, pulling her smoky shawl tight as she entered, knowing as she did so that this interview would be difficult. “Zerata?” she called gently.
Sniffles sounded in the living room.
Nurit squared her back.
A mound of crocheted blankets hid Zerata’s face.
Nurit placed her hand on the woman’s shuddering back. “Ama will spend tonight in the hospital wing. Tomorrow, she’ll be up and about with a bandaged foot. It will heal quickly. She’ll be fine.”
Zerata’s chubby face peeked out at Nurit from beneath her curly hennaed mop, her eyelids swollen and her pug nose tipped red. “I didn’t mean to cause her hurt,” she sobbed. “Madre de Dios. I would never—she’s my baby. I would never let anything hurt Ama. You believe me, don’t you?”
Nurit pulled Zerata to her chest, feeling a twang of sympathy. “Of course I do.” Zerata’s wail answered her. Nurit relaxed, rocking the woman back and forth. “Shush.” The seaweed garden pulsed with wave action. “Ama’s okay. Shush.”
Meditatively, Nurit counted species. Dark clusters of purple mussels. Burgundy sea urchins looking like the hair from a Raggedy Ann doll. The pale, almost see-through hands were green algae. Surf grass swirled and waved. A long-legged, pink brittle star dined on an oyster.
Zerata’s large hands snuck out of the afghan and patted the coffee table, searching. Nurit moved a handkerchief into them.
After numerous blowing, snot releasing sounds, Zerata met Nurit’s gaze. “I’m sorry. I was just so worried. Can I see her?”
Nurit shook her head. “Ama’s sleeping. Later. After the committee meets.”
With a deep sigh, the blanket shrugged off Zerata’s shoulders. “Would you like tea? I’ve got chocolate chip cookies I’ve saved. C’mon.” She limped toward the kitchen without a backward glance.
The tension in Nurit’s shoulders seeped away. She glanced at her Upad; almost an hour yet before Shabbat. She had time. She followed the sounds of clanging pots and chattering china.
Zerata set down a heaped plate of cookies, two large hand-painted mugs and a matching teapot.
Nurit raised her eyebrow. “How did Ama get matches?”
Her friend slumped into the chair opposite. “I’ll … I’ll show you. Have some cookies first.”
She wiped sweat from her face and chomped into a cookie.
Helping herself, Nurit waited. Twenty minutes until Shabbat.
After several cookies and a warm cup of ginseng tea, Zerata sighed. “In here,” she gestured.
They wandered through the kitchen and passed through the yellow gingerbread door to Zerata’s bedroom. Zerata shuffled over to a closet and opened the door.
A draft of smoke-scented air escaped into the bedroom. Within the closet, a mirror hung on a charred wall. Two candles in sconces guarded a statue of the Virgin Mary and a rosary. The box of matches lay in a mess of white foam. Nurit closed her eyes, understanding.
Zerata’s worried brown eyes pleaded with the leader. “Do I have to give up my God, too? Haven’t we lost enough?”
“No, Zerata, I understand. I pray, too. You may do what you please in your home. I know you’re Catholic.”
Zerata knelt. “They were so mad. Why? It was an accident.”
“They worried about Ama, and everyone. Fire can deplete the oxygen down here.” Nurit snapped her fingers. “And we’d smother.”
Zerata clutched her rosary to her heart. “Sometimes I’m so lonely. I don’t bother anyone with my worries; instead I come here, light the candles, say the rosary, or just talk to God. Sometimes I feel his hand on my shoulder. He takes my pain. How could I give up such a comfort?” She shook her head.
Nurit glanced at her Upad. Shabbat approached. She knelt beside Zerata and put her arm around her shoulders. “Well, I’m Jewish and it’s time for my prayers. Shall we?”
Eyes teary, Zerata nodded.
Fumbling the matches, Nurit’s stiff fingers lit the candles.
“What?” Zerata gasped. “I thought, I mean, with the fire …”
Nurit smiled. “For the Sabbath, we say a prayer welcoming the light into our lives. Your sconces didn’t start the fire, after all. Ama did.”
“Say it out loud,” Zerata begged. “It’s been so long since I attended mass or prayed with friends.”
Nurit squeezed Zerata’s hand and then arranged her shawl out of the way. “Me too.” She circled her hands over the flames, pulling light toward her, and then covered her eyes with her palms. “Blessed are You, Eternal One our God, Ruling Presence of the Universe, Who makes us holy with acts that connect us to our Source, and gives us this kindling of the Sabbath lights.” Gentleness settled on her soul.
Zerata smiled. “That sounds like our mass. Amen.”
“Amen. Even though we’re two old busybodies disinclined to change our ways,” she bumped her hip into Zerata’s, “it’s very nice to pray with you.”
title: Hot Flash
genre: Science Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Utopia/Dystopia
age range: 14-120
word count: 105,968
author name: Sherilyn Harper, pen name: Sheri Fresonke Harper
why a good fit for Trident: Sheri writes in mixed media in multiple genres including nonfiction, memoir, poetry, essays, with novels and short stories in Science Fiction that have a political and societal and also personal psychological emphasis. Most of the work she does contributes to the betterment of the world.
the hook: Grandmother aged women despair when a meteor crash destroys the world with climate change related disasters, what will they do when they find a girl baby?
Synopsis:
After the death of most life on Earth following the breakup of a methane ice comet in Earth’s atmosphere, Ama NOVELLO is raised to be the next Eve by eight retired women living in the Tethys and Oceanus underwater luxury condominium. Will the demands placed on Ama by these women force her to run away?
After the disaster when most governments fail, the Hope Treaty Satellite prevents nuclear retaliation and directs surviving military assets to establish emergency centers. Unaware of other survivors, the women at Tethys and Oceanus despair until they find Ama and decide they can learn the genetic engineering skills needed to restore the human race.
When Ama is fourteen years old her teachers make her the community’s historian and start lessons in evolutionary biology especially reproductive methods and how they were successful. Using the Onion—a device that records brainwaves—Ama learns how scientist Deeka, who has a mission to find her husband, has provided supplies for the community, owner Nurit, who has provided the strength of will to keep everyone together, and operations manager Matata, who keeps the retirement home operational, and her other aunts and mother survived. She is eager to have her own experiences but feels trapped because she really has no choice about getting pregnant by her fifteenth birthday and doesn’t feel ready.
Faced with the horror of the comet crash Ama witnesses through the Onion, she confronts her adoptive mother who continually nags her about babies and cuts her hair which leads her to nearly get shot. Matata makes her feel better discussing her lifelong spat with tough-talking Texan Helen. When fashion designer Aunt Chrystillia alters her hair, Ama decides to run away but Alzheimer-suffering Miako talks her into accepting her responsibility to the human race.
After facing the past decision-making about how she should be taught religion and culture and her Aunt Von’s death, Ama realizes she’s created her own weaknesses. When she witnesses the debate over choosing a father, Ama feels deprived of a voice in the decision and says so. As a gift to Matata who Ama realizes wanted to be her mother, she selects a sperm vial Deeka fetches from the St. Petersburg sperm bank and without telling anyone, uses it to get pregnant. Then faced with the floods that limit travel and supplies and stagnant water conditions that affect their food supply at home, she demands to go with her Aunt Deeka to locate a new home.
While Ama and Deeka are camping, Ama is stung by bees and accuses Deeka of deserting her. Then a category five hurricane blows in, flooding a sewage pond that will damage their fish farm. While Deeka fights to retrieve their boat, Ama works on the retention barrier and falls into a sinkhole. Deeka rescues her and Ama learns that Deeka’s love for her took a different form than the other women’s but was every bit as strong. Eventually, they take refuge in a warehouse with women held captive by Dr. Hagik Theurg. Dr. Theurg attacks Deeka again and she kills him in self-defense. Ama takes command and learns about her natural parents.
The nuclear submarine USS Powell arrives at T&O Retirement Villas with news of the category five hurricane about to strike. Matata and Lt. Spike Lemur, the Navy expert on energy systems, head out in Nurit’s mini-sub to shut down a producing oil well before the storm hits. Afterward, Matata has faced her fear of men and she and Spike are in love and engaged. Deeka learns her husband is alive, cloning animals in Norway.
At Ama’s quinceañera, Ama makes up with her mother telling her she’s pregnant and confessing she found the strength needed to take charge by counting the beads of a rosary, saying “Mama loves me, I can do it, Deeka loves me, I can do it.”
target audience: people who love women's fiction, science fiction and thrillers
bio: Sheri started work at Boeing in the factory, then pursued a degree in computing and became a systems analyst and computer architect in systems processes and computing. She later went to work at the Port of Seattle. While working, Sheri found the need to express herself, and turned to creative writing classes. She's worked as a freelance writer and photographer for the past 23 years.
platform: Sheri is on Facebook and Instagram, occasionally posts on Twitter, and is recently very active in promoting her photography to earn recognition in multimedia with work at Gurushots, Pixoto, Viewbug, 500px, Picfair, Youpic, Adobe, Shutterstock, Lifeframer, Flickr, Fine Arts America, and YouTube. She formerly wrote articles at Yahoo News and a variety of platforms. She's quite active on Quora. Sheri writes poems at Poetry Soup, Allpoetry, and at the Prose. Sheri's the owner and author of several blogs including CulturewCamy.com, EmbracingLiterature.com. She records her reading habits and tastes on GoodReads and on Amazon. She keeps her profile and CV on LinkedIn.
education: Sheri has a Bachelor of Science in Computing Science from Western Washington University, coursework toward an MBA in Informations Systems Management from City University, coursework through Boeing Education, certificates in poetry and Commercial Fiction from the University of Washington Extension, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and Poetry from Ashland University.
experience: Sheri worked for McDonald's from age 16-18, K-Mart for three months, Boeing from age 18-22, then from 25-41, and then for the Port of Seattle from 41-44. Since then she's worked a variety of freelance jobs while writing 8 books, a variety of poetry chapbooks, and multiple books in progress. She has skills in computing, with Microsoft products, Doodly, photo editing tools, blogging platforms, and web design. She reads prolifically in history, science, natural science, travel, mythology, archaeology etc. Sheri has one published chapbook titled Decalmaker about her work in the Boeing factory.
personality: Sheri's an INTJ or INTX, Taurus/Pisces, which means she doesn't mind personal contact but prefers it one-on-one and is happier as a hermit. She's told she can seem overwhelming because of her literary interests. She is upbeat, has a good sense of humor, doesn't mind puns, and tends to be sports-minded and outgoing as well as organized. But she is relationally organized which can confuse people. Her writing style is character-driven and creatively freestyle and heavily edited. She tends to draft scenes based on mood and combine them according to an emotional curve/conflict curve plot with most characters changing in some key way based on a changing matrix where she keeps track of everything.
likes/hobbies: Sheri enjoys theatre, opera, symphonies, a variety of music, ballet and she supports the arts in the local area and visits lots of museums during her travels. Sheri and her husband Robert travel extensively, often three times a year. Sheri works out at the gym, plays golf frequently, hikes, birds, swims, snorkels in order to keep fit. Sheri and her husband share an interest in economics and the stock market, politics, and the developing world. They tend to revolve around each other, require each other's permission for commitments, and take time for church and helping the community.
Sheri's 63 and grew up in Seattle, Washington but moved to the Melbourne, Florida area 14 years ago.