Round Robin Story B

Sorry about the lull. I'm trying to think of something to add, but I can't seem to at the moment. Perhaps someone else can? ;)

Don't worry about it. I have the same issues at times. That is why it takes me a while to post an entry also. I have an idea though so I am going to add some now.
 
All right going to have to wait on that. I did type something up and it was pretty good sized. The problem is somehow I ended upo backing up out of the message page and lost it all. I am really disheartened now. Someone else can add something if they want or just wait until I feel up to typing all of that again. Sorry folks.
 
All right going to have to wait on that. I did type something up and it was pretty good sized. The problem is somehow I ended upo backing up out of the message page and lost it all. I am really disheartened now. Someone else can add something if they want or just wait until I feel up to typing all of that again. Sorry folks.

I understand that. That same problem has happened to me on different occasions, so I know how frustrating it is, especially when a lot was written, and then it was all deleted by an error message.

I'll mull over the content of the story, but I think that we've now hit a lull in the plot.
 
I understand that. That same problem has happened to me on different occasions, so I know how frustrating it is, especially when a lot was written, and then it was all deleted by an error message.

I'll mull over the content of the story, but I think that we've now hit a lull in the plot.

I've had similar things happen in the past - even with a fairly long email reply which then times out.
I tend now to write a word or notepad document with the content, then just cut and past into the email or webpage when I'm done. Saves a lot of frustration!
 
Alright, here is something that should stimulate the story again; I left it rather open-ended.

Sam nodded, and noticed Betty at the table. "Would you like to go outside and get some fresh air?" Sam asked Betty.

"Sure, Gerry," Betty smiled, as the two of them headed towards the door.

"You kids behave yourselves now," Buck chuckled. "Don't be too friendly welcoming him back, you hear?" he said, winking at Betty.

"I promise I won't, Mr. Rogers," Betty said good naturedly.

The two of them walked outside, where the sun was setting, and a beautiful sunset could be seen taking place. Sam and Betty both found two chairs on the patio, and sat down across from each other, their view at the magnificant red sky.

"So, how does it feel to be back?" Betty asked.

Sam took a moment to think of what Gerry would say. "Well, it's been pretty exciting, what with Hank and all. But, I am glad to get to see everyone again, and eat a good, home-cooked meal."

"Well, I really am glad you're back, Gerry. And I should apologize about Hank. You see, he just gets jealous of you. He's a bit insecure..."

"And controlling," said Sam, before he could stop himself.

"What do you mean by that?" Betty asked.
"He thinks he owns you, Betty. Just be careful, alright."

At that moment, Sam had the idea for something else that he was there to do, after he asked Al. He wanted to know what Betty's history was, and if he had to help her as well as the farm.

As Betty was about to say something, and from the look on her face it was going to be an argument, a man began to walk up towards the walkway. The sun was behind the man, so Sam couldn't make out who it was. However, he had a strange feeling inside of him that told him to be on guard.
 
Sam squinted in a better effort to get a look at the face of the person. Unfortunately the attempt failed and left him with a minor headache.

"Can I help you?" Sam asked in hopes of learning who the person was by their voice.

"Maybe," the man replied.

Much to Sam's relief and discomfort it was a voice he didn't recognize.

Oh boy, Sam thought.
 
Sam knew two things, even though he could see the man. The first, much to his relief, was that the voice did not belong to Hank, or the two men that Hank was with. The second was that the man seemed not angry, but at the least very serious. He had a feeling that this wasn't a social call. Sam turned to Betty, to see if she knew who he was. The look on her face told him that she didn't. Finally, though, he saw a hint of recognition on Betty's face.

"Who is it, Betty?" Sam asked. "I, uh, can't see because the sun is in my eyes?"

"I can't either, and I almost forgot who the voice belonged to. But that is you, isn't it. Bill?"

Sam put his hand over his eyes, and could see a rather gruff man with a beard, glaring at the two. So this was Bill. Sam figured he could try to gather some information, but before he could, Bill spoke again.

"Can we speak in private, Gerry. I have... something that needs discussing."
 
"Ummm...yeah, sure!" Sam reluctantly said. "Would you excuse me, Betty?"

"I'll be inside," Betty quickly replied.

Sam watched as she trotted up the steps and shut the door behind her. It was then he turned back to Bill.

"You've still got that deed, Gerry?" Bill asked.

"Of course I do," Sam said. "What about it?"
 
Bill looked around the area, making sure that Betty had really gone inside, before he turned to speak to Sam.

"Is it on you, or did you leave it in your room?"

Sam didn't know rather to lie or not. However, he was a terrible liar, and he really didn't know what the few seconds would do for him. So he nodded. "Yeah, it's on me."

Bill smiled. "Good. Hold on to it, along with the money."

At this, Al's voice pierced into the conversation. "Sam, we figured out why he got so rich. Apparantly, the farm sits right above a small oil field, which would explain why he did so well off."

Sam widened his eyes, trying to now carry on two conversations at once. "What?" Sam asked, surprised at Al's statement.
 
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"Hold onto that deed and the money! Didn't you hear me the first time?" Bill hissed as he glared at Sam.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that..." Sam muttered.

"Keep holding onto it until I give you the word."

"Sure."

"This isn't good Sam," Al said. "Bill tries to force Gerry's family off the farm! This guy has connections crazy enough to attempt to terrify the family into leaving by any means necessary!"

Sam's jaw nearly fell to the ground upon hearing that.
 
Bill noticed Sam's shock, and glared at him again.

"What do you look so afraid of. I told you, if you cooperate, then you'll be well rewarded."

Sam wanted to knock this guy's lights out, for hurting his family. However, he was able to control his "Gerry Anger", and just nodded. "I understand."

Bill nodded. "You'd better. You wouldn't like what happens if you cross me."

Al took this time to interject, as Sam nodded to Bill. Sam didn't trust himself to speak at the moment.

"Sam, I talked to Gerry, and he admitted that Bill asked him to hold onto the deed. Bill wouldn't say what he was going to do with the deed to the farm, but he offered Gerry a good amount of money. I'm sure he knows something suspicious is going on, but I don't think that he was trying to intentionally hurt his family," Al briefed him.

"That's good to know," Sam said quietly, just low enough that Bill couldn't hear.

"What did you say?" Bill asked, his brow furrowed at Sam.
 
"I said it's good to remember what you told me. Believe me, I don't want to cross you," Sam said.

Because I don't want to have to go to prison for punching your lights out... Sam silently added.

"That's good," Bill growled. "Now just remember to do as I told you."

"Of course."
 
Bill walked inside the house, leaving Sam and Al alone outside. He hoped that he had a minute with the hologram before Betty came out to ask what that was all about.

"Should I tell the family about the oil underneath the farm?" Sam asked.

"Let me check," Al said. He pressed some buttons on his handlink, and then after reading what it said, looked back up at Sam.

Sorry that its so short.
 
Alright, I've noticed in this story that the start was five and a half months ago, and the story has had some copmlicated twists. Therefore, I'm going to put a summary of the story on the next post to quickly catch everyone up to date. I should note that one should really read the whole story, but this is just a way to get people caught up quickly, in the bare bones. Maybe this will get us out of the lull the story seems to be in.
 
Story Summary up to this Point

Alright, here you go. I should probably warn you that over the course of the story, some names have been changed a bit. However, anything on here is the "official" version, most notably when I botched "Victoria", and changed it to "Veronica". The real name is "Victoria", so I made an error there. Anyways, I tried to make the summary as short as I could, but still keep the essence of the story. Sorry that it still ended up being so long. However, it should serve as an adequate refresher to those who want to contribute, but have forgotten parts of the story.

Happy reading (and hopefully writing ;))!
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Farmington, New York
August 25, 1963

Sam leaps into a farm, he first sees his mother, Victoria, sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of the house. After he scares the familiy cat (Sam), and gets playfully accosted by the family dogs, he determines that he is on vacation (he works as a junior lawyer in a big city), and is wearing a suit on the family farm. He then goes inside to get information from Al, although he hears his grandfather's very loud snoring all the while. Al tells him that he is Gerry Rogers, his grandfather is Buck Rogers, and his mother is Victoria Rogers.

Sam went back to his mother, and found out that his mother may lose the family farm. This hit Sam personally, due to his own family losing their farm. He then finds out that the farm has been kept alive by Justin Rogers (Gerry's brother) and Bill (Veronia's boyfriend). Al returns, and tells Sam that in three days, the Gerry, Justin, Victoria, and Buck end up dead. He learns that Bill takes over the farm, and it thrives shortly after. Sam decided that the best bet was to go into town, and try to find out who, besides Bill, might want them dead.

When he first gets to town, he meets his old girlfriend Betty Greene. As Sam explained some of the lawyer work to her, her boyfriend, Hank, who accuses Sam that the company he works for, and his parents, are greedy people who steal land. This leads to Sam punching Hank, and then fleeing the scene, with Betty mad at him. When he talks to Al, he learns that part of his anger has been merged with Gerry's and he is now a "hothead". As him and Al discuss this, Betty comes up to him, and they eventually make up for what happened earlier. Betty agrees that there was some merit to Sam punching Hank, and they end up going to lunch.

At the restaurant, Betty declares that her and Hank are not dating. Sam then meets with Al at the bathroom, where he is told by Al that he needs to focus his anger, and use it for good. As Sam came back to the table, Hank and two big men came to the table. The four men and Al went outside to an alley, and he learns that Hank feels he has a degree of control over Betty. After that, they get in a fight, where Sam fights off the three men, and tells Hank that he had better not come to bother Betty again.

When he returns to the table, he realizes what time it is, and invites Betty to his house for dinner. On the way, he realizes that he has much more money in his wallet than a junior lawyer should, as well as the deed to the farm. They return to Gerry's house, and he talks to Al again, where he learns that Gerry and Bill must have had some type of agreement to seize the farm, although they don't know why Gerry ends up dead.

At the dinner table, with Victoria, Sam (Gerry), Betty, Buck, and Justin, he learns that Bill is more withdrawn now then ever. After dinner, Sam and Betty go on the porch, where they meet get in an argument over how Hank treats Betty. After this, Bill comes up to the porch, and talks to Sam privately. Apparantly, he wants Sam to hold onto the deed that he has, along with the large sum of money.

Al comes back at this point, and tells him that oil was found under the farm, and that Bill has connections crazy enough to scare the family off the farm if they try to resist him. Sam agrees to hold onto the money, while he secretly wants to get more information. At that time, he asks Al if he should tell the family about the oil or not.
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"Well?" Sam asked.

"Ahh, Sam, if you tell them they'll be aware but they won't leave the house. They don't want to leave. However when they do find out it becomes a battle of wills," Al said.

"Meaning it's whoever gives up or gets kicked off first?"

"Pretty much," Al said with a shrug.

"Can it hurt if I tell them?"

"No. It might be easier hearing it from someone they trust."

"I'll wait for the right time and then let them know."

"They're going to need your strength Sam. You're going to become a major force in the outcome."
 
Am I the only one that thought of War of the Roses, with that last posting? :lol

Just before Bill walked out of sight, Victoria walked out of the house, looking like she had just run from the kitchen.

"Wait up, Hon!" she said to Bill, who stopped and turned around, walking towards his girlfriend.

"I saved you some dinner, aren't you gonna eat?"

Bill looked at Victoria, and the look on his face amazed Sam. He still looked "withdrawn", in the sense of the word, but he didn't look sinister and foreboding like he did before. Instead, he almost looked like he was just shy, with a hint of a sad smile.

"Oh, of course Victoria. I just had to check something back at the house first," he said calmly.

For a moment, Sam couldn't believe that this was the same man that was going to kill the whole family in cold blood. He knew that it was a ruse, but he realized that he would now have a much harder time trying to convince his family about what Bill was up to. Or at least Victoria.
 
I've never seen/read it myself.

Sam's mouth opened and closed in an effort to quickly think up a response on why Bill couldn't have dinner with them. And yet no words would come.
 
It's an older movie. I've only seen part of it, but the gist is that a married couple who want a divorce gets in a bitter battle over their house and possessions.

Sam kicked himself mentally, as Bill walked off. He had no idea why he couldn't think of an excuse, or anything to say at all. Victoria smiled at Sam, and then walked back inside the house. That left Sam with the question of what he should do next. He decided that his next goal was to tell his family, and see if they would listen to him. Who should I tell first? Sam thought to himself. Victoria might not like hearing about her boyfriend in that manner.

He decided that the best course was to tell Justin, who worked on the farm with him, and see if he could see something suspicious in Bill. He went in the house to find his host's brother.
 
"Justin, are you around?" Sam called out.

"Back here! What's up?" Justin asked.

Sorry about not being able to come up with something better. Life here has been a bit hectic and Dad is in a bad mood so I'm laying low.
 
Now for an actual post in the story.

"Uh, Justin, we need to talk about Bill," Sam said when he finally came to Justin.

Justin turned to look at Sam. "What about Bill?" he asked.

"Have you noticed Bill acting, or doing anything odd lately?"

Sorry it's so short, but I don't have much else to add at the moment.
 
"He's always odd," Justin said with a little laugh.

Sam smiled and nodded a little, "Yeah, I suppose he is."

"Why do you ask?"

Sam considered lying for a moment but quickly abandoned it, "He seems a little hostile today."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What about?"

"I'm not completely sure Justin. Just be careful."

Good lord! I do hope that everything is alright.

Mom's been sick with anemia. The doctor thinks it could be aplastic anemia or leukemia or some chronic blood condition. We'll be finding out hopefully on Wed.
 
"You may have been gone a while but I am still your older brother and I can tell when you have something on your mind. What's wrong?" Justin asked.

"Go ahead and tell him Sam, Ziggy says it is your best shot." Al explained.

Feeling a little more nervous than Sam felt this situation needed. He took a deep breath, licked his lips and began.
 
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Sorry, it took me a while to figure something out.

Sam explained to his host's brother what Bill was planning, which included Bill killing the family and seizing the property for the oil beneath. He even mentioned the exchange of money and the envelope he still had. He hoped that he hadn't told Justin too much, but Ziggy said that was his best chance, so he went with it.

"I had no idea!" Justin said to his brother.

"You mean you believe me?" Sam asked, a bit surprised that he was believed that easily. Sam had a harder time convicing people of much simplier things in past leaps.

Justin thought for a moment, and nodded his head. "Yeah, I believe you. I work with Bill all day long, and he strikes me as the kind of person that would do something like that. The question is, though, what do we do about it?"
 
"We start by putting our heads together and trying to come up with something" Sam said.

"Yeah but it is going to be hard to convince Mom about Bill. For all he is worth she swears she loves him. She has always been kind of stubborn."

Al's handlink started to light up and make noises. He looked down and said. "Sam, Ziggy is saying that the best choice to make is to tell Buck about it. He will be easier to convince than Victoria."

"What about Buck? We can tell him." Sam offered.

"yeah we can do that he was always leary of Bill. It shouldn't be too hard to convince him.
 
It has been awhile since anyone has posted an addition to the story. I have been on vacation for a few weeks and I needed to think of something to add. Even now I don't think this is a strong addition to the story but I wanted to continue with it and see what everyone else comes up with.