Thanks for coming by the story page:-)
Ok here is the deal:-)........
My friend Kat and I have been writing a story and its interesting so far! *L* What we do is we each write a bit then send it back and forth continuing from where the other left off. So I thought it might be neat to see what happens when more than one person can join in. So I'll start the story and when you stop by you can add a word, a line, a paragraph, a page *L*
and we'll see what happens. No smut! No explicit profanity! Just funny, sad, interesting, profound, outrageous, entertaining versions allowed. I won't edit (well unless the spelling is really bad;-)) or pick and choose, I'll post what comes in unless it is offensive. So write your additions and stop by often to see how story has progressed. Feel free to add more to the story each time you stop by:-)
Thanks for hanging out at Heartland/1539,
Audra
THE BEGINNING
Paxton sat looking at the piece of paper in her hand. She was stunned. She didn't know what to do next. Stuck between tears and an overwhelming desire to start laughing she just sat there looking confused. People were walking by, they would look at her and then keep going. A few asked if she was allright. She just looked at them blankly and not knowing what to do they would continue on. How could she explain to them what was happening? She didn't know herself. Life was ironic. Life was bizarre. Life was so full of highs and lows... no wonder nobody survived! Living was enough to kill even the toughest!
Paxton looked again at the piece of paper and sighed.
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( Wanda Kennedy - wkenne@tc3net.com)
Life is really that hard. it shouldn't be. Life is short, we should enjoy each minute of every day, and do our best
to help others whichever way we can. These were the thoughts, that let Paxton believe that life really was
worth living, people just had to change their ways of thinking, and Paxton would do whatever possible
to help people change their minds.
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(Bill Rowe - billro@goodnet.com)
This was the first telegram she had ever received. One would expect the first one to be informative or decisive in some manner. How could she possibly win a contest she never entered? Did they have the name right? If
this was on the level, what would she do with all that money? If this was some sort of prank, who would she go after for revenge? Questions filled her mind with no good answers coming forth to give her comfort. She wanted to yell out at the world that she was rich but settled for just waiting for her bus. She would have to look farther into this before letting herself get carried away for nothing.
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(Bonnie)
When Paxton realized her bus wasn't coming, she ducked into a nearby cafe. She casually ordered a coffee and thought of the possibilities that lay before her. Fifty million dollars could take her where she'd always dreamed.... exotic lands, trust funds for her children, a wardrobe of her choosing. "No more discount racks for me," she thought. Trying to keep her excitment in check and knowing that she just musn't get carried away yet, she paid the bill and left a rather large tip. As she left the cafe, Paxton decided to walk the 8 blocks to her apartment. Just then, without warning and while she was pondering her possible luck, a bus screeched around the corner and headed straight toward her. She turned and screamed.
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(Melissa Boaz)
THUMP! Paxton felt something heavy propel her through the air. THUD!
The concrete underneath her was cold and hard. And the something heavy
was, well, it seemed to be moving. HONK! A roar of exhaust choked her
nose with fumes as the bus moved past her, and Paxton realized she was
still alive and the bus had not hit her. But what had? The something,
she rolled over and saw, was a man. An very, very handsome man, with
the rugged good looks of the Marlboro Man...before he became politically
incorrect. Paxton realized she was staring with her mouth open, and
worse, was just lying there gazing at him.
"I'm so sorry, " he said in a deep, soft voice. "You must be
stunned. I was afraid that bus would hit you."
"You saved my life," Paxton gasped, wishing she could think of
something more original to say.
"I couldn't have stood by and watched you get hit! Here, let me
help you up. Are you all right?"
He gently helped her to her feet.
"Let me walk you to where you were going. That was quite a hit on
the pavement! Or, " he glanced over at the little sidewalk cafe that
sold sandwiches and coffee, "perhaps you would like a cup of coffee
before you continue? I can't just let someone I saved continue walking
without at least knowing her name!"
Paxton smiled while her brain, finally clearing, was racing. Now?
she thought frantically. I finally meet someone interesting and kind
now? I'm a single mother with two children, only in the movies do single
mothers like Michelle Pieffer meet the George Clooneys of the world! I
can't possibly stop for coffee now! Then, a new thought hit her... For
the first time she realized the burden of her great fortune...would she
ever again be loved for herself, or for her money?
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(Carlene - carlenek@earthlink.net)
Paxton turned and gazed for a moment into her Knight in shining armour, and
thought, he doesn't know a thing about me, he has no idea that I can do
whatever it is I want now, money being no object....and more importantly she did
not know him either. So she went to small cafe and they orderd. They only said
a few words at first, then he said I can have my driver take you wherever it is
you were going....Driver Paxton thought, it is not my money, it is me he is looking
at, could he be wealthy, good looking and gentle and still be real? Maybe I hit my
head or I am dead...Maybe this is all a dream...whatever it was she loved every minute of
it. He has to be married she thought, but as they talked over their coffee, she found out
he was single, with a 9 year old daughter he was raising alone, that his wife had passed
away when his daugher was only 3 years old.
He owned quite a large company, and he was indeed gentle and polite. But she thought there has to be someting wrong with him.
Why me she thought to herself, why me???
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(Roz)
And then it occured to her, "why me?" Why? Because she deserved it. After everything she had been through, with her husband, her child, it's about time something good happened to her. However, she still couldn't help but notice something mysterious about the man across the table.
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(Bill - billro@pop.goodnet.com)
As they sat talking, the small talk was turning into a conversation that was getting more comfortable for them both. "I'm sorry!" Paxton said. "I don't even know your name." He extended his hand warmly and said, "I'm George, and you are?"
Paxton was reviving her thoughts of a while ago and kiddingly said, "George Clooney?" then laughed. "My name is Paxton." "Who is George Clooney?" he asked with a serious look on his face. She could only laugh again and said, "Oh, he is just someone you
remind me of," and laughed to herself again. "So George. Do you make it a habit to just go walking around, saving ladies from oncoming busses?" George laughed and said, "No, I just happened to be there and saw what was going to happen so I didn't even
think about it much. I just pushed you out of the way. No big deal." "No big deal? You saved my lfe and that's a big deal to me! How can I ever thank you enough?" "Don't even try," George said. "Just seeing your smiling face, now, is more than enough thanks. You know you are a very pretty woman. It would be a shame to let a bus ruin all of that. Are you married?" "No, I'm not married," and Paxton found herself blushing now. "OK, do you have a boyfriend?" "Was he
asking these questions out of interest or just making conversation?" she thought. With a moment's hesitation, she said, "No, I'm not seeing anyone right now." She wanted to throw her arms around him, in gratitude for saving her life, but now the table wa
s turning toward something more intriguing. She found herself entranced by this man, who she had never seen before. George said, "Look, I am going to be late for a very important meeting if I don't get going, but before I go, I want you to have dinner with me tonight and I won't take "no" for an answer. I want to finish this conversation and would like to have your company. Please say, yes!" Without even thinking about it, Paxton said, "Yes."
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(Bonnie)
Paxton and George decided on where and when they would meet for
their date that evening. "I'm so sorry I have to leave like this,"
George said, "but I really can't miss this meeting." "I've got
a few things I need to do anyway," laughed Paxton. "Don't worry about
it....I'll meet you at eight o'clock in front of the Imperial Restaurant."
As George summoned his chauffeur, his thoughts went back and forth between
business at hand and the lovely woman he had just met. "Corporate head-
quarters right away, Mark," ordered George. The limosine moved swiftly
through traffic and before long pulled up to the entrance of New York
Sweepstakes, Inc.
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(BIll Rowe - billro@pop.goodnet.com)
With the telegram clutched tightly in one hand, Paxton pushed herself to her feet with the other. Her hip was decidedly sore from the fall she had taken earlier. Her chest was also hinting of bruises that might be there from George's pushing, life-saving hands. She wondered to herself how a football player managed to survive a game with all of the successive falls they would take as the game went on. She quicly diaqualified herself as a candidate for playing football and chuckled about it on the way out the restaurant. The noises of the street brought her back into the real world away from the dreamland she was visiting with "George Clooney" planted in front of her.
Paxton wanted nothing to do with a bus for now. She limped her way down the street, cringing every time a bus would go by. The soreness was working its way out of the hip with the exercise but she knew it would be a different story in the morning. She knew she had to keep it limber and moving for tonight, though. If she was going to go out with George, she didn't want him to focus on the earlier happenings of the day. She wanted him to focus on her femininity. "How can I look feminine if I'm walking like the losing wrestler climbing out of the ring?" she thought to herself and laughed again.
Paxton slowly crept up the stairway to her apartment, stopping several times to rest along the way. As she would stop in the well-lit stairway, she kept glancing at the telegram over and over again, still in disbelief that she was the valid recipient. After making it inside her apartment door, she placed the telegram on the small table waiting just inside. It would remain there until she would make her trip to "New York Sweepstakes" in the morning.
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(Carlene - carlenek@earthlink.net)
As George sat there thinking about Paxton, her beauty, her sweetness
and how he had tried desperatly to figure out a way of meeting her..
he thought to himself, I did it, I pulled it off.....
This is the woman I won, she is now my prize...
But no matter what I can never tell her....then he thought to himself
how will I ever be able to keep this a secret....all I ever wanted was
her from the moment he saw her 2 years ago.
As he entered the New York Sweepstakes Building, he knew that
this is one secret he would have to take to his grave.....
She must never know...
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(Kelly - twinmomy@earthlink.net)
Paxton began to think about the events of the day, and was nervously going through the clothes in her closet.
Could this be him? she wondered. The man I have been waiting for? Afraid of being hurt yet again she rethought her dinner
date with George and decided it was worth the risk. She had been so lonely lately and really needed a stable relationship now
and the children really needed a male figure in their lives. It really would be wonderful if she could have the loving family she had always
dreamed of....
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(Marlene - whome2222@aol.com)
Paxton was frantically searching through her closet for just the right outfit for dinner and thinking all the while about George. The way he smiled, his voice. Just thinking about him made her feel like a school girl again. " I Don't have anything to wear tomorrow!" she exclaimed and she rushed down the stairs and out the door determined to find a suitable outfit before she had to be home for the kids.
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(kissdeb - dramirez@gator1.brazosport.cc.)
It has to be just the right outfit, Paxton was thinking as she was driving, there was this little boutique down the street that she wanted to go to...she had always wanted to go in but did not have money for that sort of thing, being a single mother and all. What I choose must go with my auburn hair and blue eyes, she thought.
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(Collette - Meyersgv@as.net)
And then reality hit, the date is tonight!!!! What she really needs to find is a suitable sitter.
Then her thoughts became clearer and she realized that her sister is going to be home tonight and
she has a never worn Black velvet Gucci evening gown. "Perfect" she exclaimed as she raced back
home to begin preparation for the mystery that awaited.
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(Laurie - purple31@ivillage.com)
She frantically called her sister, Janie, and practically begged her to watch her children. As luck would have it, and you have to admit that Paxton was having a very lucky day, Janie was free that evening and said she'd love to babysit.
Now that the details were taken care of, Paxton got down to the job of getting ready for her date. After carefully placing the gown on her bed, she started with a long bath since Janie had picked her children up. She was imagining the wonderful evening she was going to have with George.
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(Sarah Richling - crimson_fields@hotmail.com)
Paxton excitedly put on the velvet gown and sized herself up in the full length mirror. "This is perfect!" she thought.
She then slipped on her black heels and decided to compliment her ensemble with a pair
of silk gloves and a beautiful pearl necklace. She then did her auburn hair in the most ravishing
french twist and finished her look with a complete makeover of the face. Satisfied with herself, she smiled.
She then heard the doorbell, it was George, she peeked out her window and down below her, was George's limousine. When they came to the restaurant, she had a wonderful talk with him. She realized he could be the perfect one
for her, when he pulled out a long velvet box and told her to close her eyes. As she did, she felt something cold
slip around her wrist and then his soft, warm hands touched her shoulder and pulled away her hand. As she looked down,
she saw the most beautiful tennis bracelet sparkling as it dangled on her delicate wrist. Just then, a waiter ran up and said,
in a exhausted tone, "Paxton Juliano, we have a phone call for you, its your children, there's some kind of emergency!"
She ran to the phone and there she heard her sister's sobbing voice.
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(Kat - klibbey@mail.tds.net)
After hanging up with her sister, Paxton turned to find George standing right behind her. "Is anything wrong?" he asked. Paxton did not reply, but her eyes held the answer. She was not crying. She was just staring. It was the kind of blank stare that he knew only to well. Whatever had happened was bad. Really bad, and he knew that he had to get her out of the restaurant, but where too? "Paxton are you all right?" He tried again to break through to her, but she did not seem to hear him. Her face was pale and her body was beginning to sway. She was going to faint. Quickly he slipped his hand around her back and
guided her to the door. The waiter, anticipating their departure, had ordered the limousine be brought around. When the driver asked for their destination, Paxton finally, and in a voice barely audible replied "North Side Hospital please." Those words took George completely by surprise. He had swore never to step foot in that hospital again, and now he was in a situation where he would have no choice.
Five years ago, when George resigned his position as chief of surgery, he had left behind several enemies. Would they still be there? Could he conceal the hatred he felt for them, or would he lose control again? George went over those questions in his head all the way to the hospital. How could he tell her that he could not go with her? What excuse could he give? This was the woman of his dreams, and if he abandoned her now, he might lose her forever. George would stay by her side, and he would not lose focus. That was it. That was how he would get through this. He would focus all of his attention on Paxton, and not allow the past to interfere with his future. Dr.Madison and his bunch of butchers would not cost him another relationship.
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ok your turn;-)..................................