"How romantic of you. I had no idea cops were so sentimental in Tennessee. Here's a little tip, Detective, I don't know what happened to her. I don't even really know what happened to whoever did that to her. I don't know what happened to my husband, and I have no idea where my life is going right now. I'm seeing a therapist who asks me a ton of questions that make no sense, and I have work in the morning. Let me know when you get it all figured out, because I'd sure like to know."

*she drops the phone... looks at the woman in bed... out the doorway.... starts running down the hall, opposite direction of the man... she looks back, he's following. She rounds a few corners.*

"I have no idea where I'm going..." *She's out of breathe* "... or why I'm running."

*The man catches up to her after stopping to check which way she'd turned more than once.*

"I'm clearly in no shape for this. Look, I really just wanna talk to you. I didn't mean to scare you. S'why I used the phone instead of coming into the room."

"I didn't do anything..."

"Then why are you back here?"

"I didn't have anyplace else better to go." *she bursts into tears*

*The man looks awkward* "Let's get some air, alright?"

*They walk outside and the man offers her a cigarette, she declines, and as he lights it up, she smells the hint of vanilla and clove and takes one anyhow*

"Cops dress a little differently than what I'd expect. A little smarter too."

"Well, I'm a detective and off-duty anyhow." *his cigarette is dangling from his lip and his brownish hair, has been clearly ruffled from the short chase. He pulls his left hand out of his pocket and brushes his hair back. We notice a wedding band on his hand as he does so.* "My name's (tbd)." *She looks at his hand* "It's a hand, you shake it. No handcuffs waiting in t'other, I promise."

*She takes his hands and looks at him for the first time. He looks younger than the lines around his eyes would suggest. Probably 36, 37.* "Isn't your wife worried about you running after girls at supper-time? You said you were off-duty."

"Ex. So, it's none of her business anymore, I s'pose. Can we talk about that girl in there? What happened to her nearly happened to my wife. That's why I'm running around looking for you instead of drinking myself stupid about now. I couldn't catch him after he got to Angela, so she left. You not only caught him, you did exactly what I have been wanting to do for a year now. But you can't go around killing these guys, you know? No matter how much we want to, there's a reason I wear this badge, it means accountability, it means I have to take them in and hope they rot."

APE

I went to APE this weekend in San Francisco. It was really encouraging to be around people who self-published their comics, or those who were just there getting their comics and wares out. I'd really like to get this whole mess here done by next year. Get at least an issue done or short GN and push it some, see what the response is. What needs to be worked on. I know right now it's a bit of a mess, and there will have some editing to do when it is translated into graphics.

Maybe I just really need to purge this. Toying with the idea of calling it Memphis Belle. Google doesn't turn up any comics with that name that I was able to find. So, there is: working title.

I'm looking at lulu.com as a source for doing a small run of the issues to start, at least enough to get feedback on. They seem pretty reasonable as far as pricing.

"hello?"

"You did kill that guy, you know. He may have deserved it, but it's still murder."

"Who is this?"

"Why don't you come into the hall and we can talk about that?"

*looks down the hall. A man in a suit and beat up shoes is on the nurse's phone at the end of the hall, seeing her, he waves.*

"I didn't..."

"You did, and I intend to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"What am I supposed to do with this?" *looking down at the detonator in her hands... starts walking... just ahead we see the lights from the ER sign*

*sitting by the bedside of the still-comatose girl* "I didn't know where to go. I guess I figured talking to you was better than my therapist or sitting at the computer all night. I'm not a hero. Just remember that when you wake up. I mean, I have all these stupid fantasies about blowing up car speakers, only lately, it's been happening. I thought somehow I was doing it, but I ran into this guy tonight, literally ran into him and he dropped this thing and ran... it looks like it could be a detonator, but what do I know, I've only seen them in movies. I feel really alone in this. After finding you.. and what I, I guess I did to that guy who did this to you... *sigh* There's this guy online who talks the way my husband used to talk... but he's dead... maybe that's just how all guys talk. I sent him to the store for tampons of all things and he didn't come back. They said it was a drunk driver, but the guy was too afraid to stick around afterwards, so who knows. I don't know why I'm spilling all of this to you...."

*phone rings in the hospital room*

*starts to rain*
*runs right into a tallish bulky man... knocks him down and something falls out of his hand, it looks like a remote of some kind. She gets up and grabs it to hand it back to the man who looks a little shaken*

"I'm sorry, I guess I didn't look where I was go... *brushes back her hair.... realizing what she has in her hand has a thumb trigger. A detonator. The man runs. She chases. He disappears into the crowd*