Don't Fence Me In

War in Resolution Galaxy (Episode 5)

Previously in …War in Resolution Galaxy (#4), the EVOLVE Empire warriors special forces division learned that play, rest and relaxation was one of the keys to being a great warrior in Resolution Galaxy.  And, they saw that the Force could grow stronger in them as they opened further to their intuition.

“How is the scheduled maintenance going, recuits?”

“Commander, it is going great, I repaired part of the defense shield while I checked the valves on the rocket launchers, and helped recruit 345 with his assignment…”

“And I am half-way done with the computer systems check while I began to help recruit 678 with the repairs on the defense shield, I also started my assignment and am helping to fix lunch for everyone…”

“The maintenance was scheduled to be done on the defense shield two hours ago, and the computer systems check needed to be completed three hours ago. These are vital functions to our survival during this war in Resolution Galaxy. Without our priorities set and energy focused, we are vulnerable.”

“But Commander, we have done what you ordered, we rested and played. Now we are strong and want to use our energy to get many things done.”

“I commend your energy and enthusiasm. You have learned how to grow the Force within you.  But now you must learn to focus your energy so you are not scattering it about and diffusing your power.  Multitasking is deceiving, you may feel like you are accomplishing a lot, but you are behind schedule and nothing is getting done well.  This is draining your Force and you didn’t even realize it.”

More About Multitasking

Here is a series of articles about multitasking that I enjoyed reading.  The articles are from a website I just discovered called, The Second Act, by Tessa Ivascu, a French journalist and professional development teacher. I hope you enjoy them and find some useful tips.

The first three articles are short research reports that shows why multitasking is not a good idea.

How Multitasking Messes With Your Brain

How Multitasking Puts You Behind Schedule

How Multitasking Affects Driving, Learning, Aging

Here are two articles with solutions. They describe applications of mindfulness to help us reduce the amount of multitasking we do that is harmful.

Curb Multitasking By Practicing Mindfulness – You may know I am a fan of meditation and mindfulness. This is a simple description of how to do it.  ”Just listen to that chatter in your mind, (that is different than thinking)”…

How Marcel Proust Found Mindfulness – And How You Can Find It Too – This is a fun article that describes examples of mindful thinking in passages of In Search of Lost Time, by Proust.

Friday Check-In

You know the drill, let us know how your week went in the comments below.  And, follow the comments and write to each other – it’s just more fun as a conversation!

If you didn’t get a chance to enjoy the end of January celebration party, head on over to the Spa by the Sea for writers and have a relaxing treatment or two. There has been quite a bit of high jinx happening at the spa.  You can also link to the websites of all the participants in #writerlbsOff. There is a lot of talent represented in this wonderful community!

Congratulations #writerlbsOff community!

Our community members made amazing progress in January with several pounds off, higher creativity and productive writing.  And, some of us have persevered through challenges with our health and creativity, but we are all here strong and happy.

We did it together! What started as a simple suggestion of a few friends who wanted to lose a few pounds in the new year has grown into a wonderfully suppportive community of friends!

We made it through the first month and there are three more to go. This is our January party and I thought we all deserved a Spa Day for us to relax, reflect, rejuvenate, and just hang out and have some fun.

Come in, chat and enjoy the sensual pleasures! Leave all your January worries behind and get ready for February! I wrote a poem to get the party started!

January Ends

January,
began with champagne,
turned quickly insane,
moments of weight gain,
Migraine,
Fibro pain,
weather disdain,
Hernia strain,
lame brain,
trying to maintain,
and not complain.

Don’t shed a tear,
When you look at your rear.
Don’t let your fear,
Make you cry in your beer.

This is YOUR Year,
for change and good cheer!
Your friends are all here,
And our love is most dear.

Welcome to the Spa by the Sea

Come in, find a dressing room and enjoy the fluffy soft robes and slippers. Enter the beautiful spa, have a drink, and enjoy the therapeutic and relaxing services. The aroma you smell is lavender and eucalyptus. All of our products are organic and (mostly) cruelty free.

Music

Click on the links below to enjoy some music while you are here.  I have chosen some very relaxing and reflective music for you to enjoy while you are receiving your treatments. It is great music for contemplative thought and relaxing your body & mind.

Sands of Time

The Sea Caresses You

Simple Pleasures

Close Your Eyes

Massage

Enjoy the unique massage services. Your masseurs today will be Laszlo, the Kaszinov’s handsome chemist who has some wonderful new oils with secret ingredients to delight you.  And Jezebel (several of you may know Laura Eno’s, uh, companion – just ask her if you don’t) is joining us to amaze you with her tentacle massage. Just don’t let her get to your neck.

Sunsations

After a soothing oil massage you may want to take advantage of your slippery smooth skin by going outside in the sun on the beach to catch some rays (the weather is great) or play naked Slip and Slide.

The Boys of the Kaszinov Family (of my Russian Mafia story fame-picture at the bottom of this post) will be serving drinks and lunch seaside.  They are very helpful and they love to watch people swim with the fishes.

Mud & Wraps

There is a lovely mud bath that has been replaced with liquid chocolate just for our special spa day. Please no licking, you don’t know who was in there before you.

Enjoy the mummy wraps with special herb infusions guaranteed to give you a high feeling of relaxation and hallucination.

Steam Room

For the hard-core members who want to keep losing weight even during the spa day, we have a special steam room with the aroma of  Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies to help you take off a few pounds while you have the illusion of enjoying treats.

The Pharm

Spend part of the day on The Pharm. There is very special treatments for anyone who recently had surgery, illnesses or injuries.  Here, you will find pharmaceutical wonders to eliminate pain of all kinds.  Laszlo would also like your feedback on his new concoctions, Ice, but if you want to be put on Ice, please allow extra time. It packs quite a punch, but is quite relaxing.

Oxygen

Rejuvenate your mind and writing with oxygen therapy. Boost those brain cells. We also offer helium, but wait until there are several people in the room, it is much more fun in groups.

The Rack

For those of you who are still feeling a little batty, put yourselves on The Rack and hang upside down for awhile to do a little lymph drainage. I highly recommend this treatment in conjunction with the mummy wraps. Hallucinations become much more vivid this way.

Have a wonderful, relaxing day!

I’m so grateful for each and every one of you.

I wish you peace, strength and serenity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are a member and haven’t been able to participate yet, join in the party, comment, or join in when you can.

If you are a newcomer and want to know how this all started check it out here. If you want to join us, introduce yourself in the comments below. You are welcome any time. Then follow the #writerlbsOff on Twitter for chatting and updates.

Listed below are the wonderful people who have signed on to join the #writerlbsOff joining the quest for improved health and creativity.  I encourage everyone check out their websites and follow them on Twitter.  There is a great deal of talent and creativity in this group! (let me know if your info needs any changes)

Laura @lauraeno
A Shift in Dimensions

Marisa @marisabirns
Out of Order Alice

Julie @Okami0731
Whatever

Kelly @KBSagert
Kelly Boyer Sagert

Tony @TonyNoland
Landless

Ruth @ruthdemitroff
Reconnecting

C.L. Dyck @lifeledlearning
Scita Scienda

Tomara @2maraA
2Mara.com

Nishi @CafeNirvana
Nydiessi

Maria @mazzz_in_Leeds
Mazzz in Leeds

Olivia @SimplyOlivia
Liv Loves Lit

Maggie @rowemag
Maggie Rowe

Marwa @marwame
Writer, Reader, Chocolate Eater

P.J. @doublelattemama
Inspired by Real Life

Cynthia @cswriter59
The Heart of Writing

Shon @chicklitgurrl
Shon Bacon: A True Wordsmith

Angie @techtigger
Techtigger’s Soapbox

Sam @FutureNostalgic
Future; Nostalgic

Betsy @wildthyme
Wild Thyme Creative

Candace @cheshirescribe
A Writer in Wonderland

Deanna @deannaschrayer
The Other Side of Deanna

Louise @WeezelWords
What Scares You

Alison @alisonwells
Head Above Water

Pauline @aspiringmama
Aspiring Mama

Deb @debs1
Shining Garden

Juliette @jterzieff
Juliette Terzieff.com

Gail @radlady
Gailforcewriting.com

War in Resolution Galaxy

Previously in …War in Resolution Galaxy (#3), the EVOLVE Empire warriors special forces division were tired from all their training and fighting.  They were worried that exhaustion, illness and lack of creativity were going to cause a loss for the EVOLVE Empire against the STASIS Republic. The commander ordered them to rest and recuperate and taught them it was an important part of their training.

“Commander, we are rested and ready to resume the battle!”

“Recruits, you are not yet prepared.  It is time for some good hard PLAY!”

“What? We don’t have time. We are rested and strong.  Look at all the other EVOLVE warriors out there fighting. We must defend Darwin Vader and the EVOLVE Empire from any more losses.”

“You are part of the elite EVOLVE warrior special forces division. You are in this war for the long-haul.  Look closer at those warriors out there, getting blasted and blown to smithereens because they are mindlessly impulsive and distracted.  They are battling the STASIS Republic by leading with their minds and wills.”

“Yes sir, but shouldn’t we do that too?  We need to be strong, controlled and focused.”

“I agree we must be strong, controlled and focused, but you must learn the secrets of the Force that will give you indestructible powers and lifelong change. EVOLVE warriors will always lose when they employ tactics that lead with the mind and will. Look out them blasting at anything that moves, you are watching beginner mistakes.”

“Commander, we are anxious to learn the wisdom of the Force.  What shall we do?”

“As I said, it is time to PLAY! The Force must have an open channel within you to flow freely and grow stronger.  First, you must learn to rest and play without straying.  Do not become distracted by all that is yet to be done and by the threats of destruction.  When you return to continue your training and resume the battle you will be much more passionate and powerful warriors.”

Listen to Your Broccoli

With #writerlbsOff in full swing, you may think this has to do with eating better, but no, it is not about nutrition, but rather intuition. I thought it would be a great cross of all our interests – writing better & living better.

I have been reading Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott. It is a great book with advice from the classes that she teaches about how to become a better writer and how to manage the highly emotional and sometimes rocky life of being a writer.  Anne Lamott is a humorous and insightful writer. Her lessons are easily digested with her honest, realistic and wacky view of the writer’s life.

I was inspired by her insightful chapter, simply entitled, Broccoli.  It begins…

There’s an old Mel Brooks routine, on the flip side of the “2,000-Year-Old Man,” where the psychiatrist tells his patient, “Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it.”  And when I first tell my students this, they look at me as if things have clearly begun to deteriorate.  But it is as important a concept in writing as it is in real life.

It means, of course, that when you don’t know what to do, when you don’t know whether your character would do this or that, you get quiet and try to hear that still small voice inside.  It will tell you what to do.  The problem is that so many of us lost access to our broccoli when we were children.  When we listened to our intuition when we were small and then told the grown-ups what we believed to be true, we were often either corrected, ridiculed, or punished.

Anne Lamott is talking about the importance of intuition and being open to it in the writing process and in our lives. This may take conscious effort as adults if we have had our intuition shut down by past experiences in childhood or as adults.  Sometimes we close it down ourselves and favor the hard-core intellectual activity and multi-tasking that is so popular today in the work environment.  Our society and educational systems have been quite busy beating the creativity out of us in favor of more “productive” modes of operating.

Anne Lamott continues…

You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind.  The rational mind doesn’t nourish you.  You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating.

Sometimes intuition needs coaxing, because intuition is a little shy.  But if you try not to crowd it, intuition often wafts up from the soul or subconscious, and then becomes a tiny fitful little flame.  It will be blown out by too much compulsion and manic attention, but will burn quietly when watched with gentle concentration.

So try to calm down, get quiet, breathe, and listen…

I think a major step in learning to rely on your intuition is to find a usable metaphor for it.  Broccoli is so ridiculous that it works for me.  A friend says that his intuition is his animal: “My animal thinks this,” he says, or “my animal hates that.” But whatever you come up with needs to suggest a voice that you are not trying to control…. You have to stop directing, because you will only get in the way.

Listen to your broccoli. Maybe it will  know what to do.

Intuition

How would you describe your intuition or your muse? I would love to hear about it in the comments as part of your update.

When I thought about my intuition/muse, the first image that jumped forth for me was a squirrel.   I see squirrels as highly energetic, wild, crazy –  running, jumping, climbing.  I see their concentrated effort when preparing for winter.  They have a quiet, cute nature when eating a nut. They are so cute when they play.  Sometimes squirrels are calm enough to come up to us and take food out of our hands.

And, squirrels can be ornery, naughty, mischievous & the most frustrating animals on Earth if you try to control them. They are clever and totally unpredictable.  You can’t tame them, cage them or control their behavior.  A squirrel fits the description of my state of consciousness on most days.  The metaphor helps me because I can immediately get into a state of not trying to control my intuition/muse when I see it as a squirrel.  I must only watch, listen and accept the antics of my squirrel. If I am still and quiet, the squirrel is more likely to come near.

So, I will Listen to My Squirrel.  That is why I need lots of nuts in my life:))

Update

How was your week? I love to chat with everyone in the comments.  Feel free to chat with each other.  The more support the better.

If you are not already a part of #writerlbsOff and want to join us on Twitter, just introduce yourself and the goals you want to work on in the comments below.  Here is how it all started.

This is one of my #FridayFlash fiction stories. Each Friday, members of the #FridayFlash group on Twitter write fictional stories of 1,000 words or less and share them. Join in the fun!

This short story is part of a series called Mafia Rehab (you can read here from the beginning). It continues where the Frostbite (begin reading here for the entire story) series ended. Mafia Rehab is a mixture of light and dark humor written in the soap opera episodic style about the happenings in the Kaszinov family, who live on a family compound in the Hungarian countryside near Budapest. Russian mafia members have family lives, too, they just behave a little differently, or do they?

Previously in Mafia Rehab…Inna, the Hungarian Child Welfare worker was beginning an evaluation on the Kaszinov family to assure they had an appropriate home before their daughter Tasha returned their children.  Tasha brought Inna to the Kaszinov family compound during a wild party celebrating their freedom from indictment.  Viktor drugged Inna’s wine and they all cleaned up the house. However, Inna court-ordered them to attend a Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment rehab support group.

Kaszinov Family Crest

Let’s have ‘em all, empty those pockets! No one is going in until you have been searched and pass the metal detectors.” Inna was supervising the security checkpoint at the child welfare office building. This was the first meeting of her new Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment (MAFIA) rehab support group.  As the newly appointed head of the organized crime unit of the Budapest Child Welfare division, Inna was anxious to try new methods to turn these people into better parents.

“Take it easy!” Alena scowled at the security guards firmly patting her down in every crease of her sixty-five year old body. “Grusha, Nadya, get over here.”

“Gladly.” Alena’s sisters giggled and flirted with the security guard who began touching them everywhere.

“Those are family heirlooms, I expect everything returned in perfect condition!” Viktor growled as he placed his guns and knives in the tray.  He walked resolutely through the metal detector and extinguished his cigar on the floor. Viktor glanced at the security checkpoint on the opposite side of the atrium.  His fiercest rival, Rudolf Zabrovsky and his Family members were just beginning to check their weapons.  Viktor secretly motioned to his Boys standing near the entrance. Viktor whispered to each family member as they passed the security point. They moved quickly to the meeting room on the first floor.

Viktor entered the large dimly lit room and stood by the window as his wife, Alena, her sisters and all their adult children found seats near the back.   As Viktor sat down near the exit, the Zabrovsky Family came clamoring into the room until they laid eyes on the Kaszinov Family. They fell silent. Rudolf Zabrovsky stopped dead. His son whispered in his ear and they both walked to the opposite side of the room.  Viktor sat filing his nails refusing to acknowledge Rudolf Zabrovsky’s presence. The two men had not seen each other for over ten years, but their Families were deeply entwined in fierce competition for the Hungarian territory.

On the chalkboard in the front of the room, someone had erased, Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment and wrote in its place, Mothers And Fathers Insultingly Annoyed. The room echoed with shuffling and silence.

Inna boldly entered the room with three other nervous adults. She went to the chalkboard and erased what was written. “Welcome to the first meeting of the MAFIA rehab support group.” She slyly smiled and introduced the other instructors.

“You are all here to learn how to be more nurturing, caring and attentive parents.  I commend your willingness to have parents and grandparents attend these meetings together.” The sly smile erupted again. She knew they were court-ordered to attend under the threat of prison time.

Viktor was now sitting still as a stone, only his eyes moved. The Kaszinov women were nervously shifting in their chairs. The young men were watching for cues from Viktor.

“A family is the group of people you trust. It is the parent’s responsibility to lead the family. Here you will learn new ways to care for each other.”  Inna turned the lights off and closed the shades to start a slide presentation.

Viktor silently rose from his seat and motioned for the women of his family to leave. They shuffled out as Viktor shot a red laser beam out the window near the Zabovsky Family.  Gun shots showered that side of the room.  The closed blinds crashed to the floor and light flooded the scene.  The instructors tried to reach the emergency security button. Members of the Zabrovsky Family rushed the door and pushed to get out. The instructors and the several Zabrovsky men were trapped in the front of the room crawling on the floor to dodge the bullets.

The Kaszinov women smiled as they escaped unharmed into the hall, but they were grabbed by several Zabrovsky women. Old and young were pulling hair, tripping and kicking each other in a rumble.

Viktor rushed out the door before the stampede, but a bloody arm grabbed him. “You son of a bitch!” Rudolf’s deep raspy voice meant nothing to Viktor.  The two Family bosses had a long gruesome history. Rudolf lunged at Viktor, slamming him into the railing of the stairs leading to the basement.

Viktor was leaning backwards grabbing Rudolf by the neck. “You goddamn fool!  Did you really think we would let you just walk out of here after what you did to my Family?”

Viktor pushed Rudolf and he began falling towards the stairs.  Rudolf  kicked Viktor’s legs as he was falling and both men tumbled, fighting their way down a steep flight of concrete stairs. They groaned and swore vengeance as the sharp edges of the stairs gouged into their ribs as they rolled. Their bones cracked and heads crunched as they repeatedly hit the concrete.  By the time they fell to the bottom, the world went black for Viktor and Rudolf.

Police and several ambulances arrived on the scene and teams loaded up victims and perpetrators.  The women from both Families had scratches, lacerations and bruises.  Inna only suffered minor injuries, but her instructors were gravely injured. Several men were carried on stretchers with blood oozing from various appendages.

Later that night, Viktor awoke in his hospital bed feeling excruciating pain.  Surprised to find he was placed in a double room, he painfully tried to take a deep breath in order to scream for a nurse. He stopped cold when he noticed the man in the next bed. Rudolf Zabrovsky.

I was recently honored by Laura Eno with the You Are My Sunshine Supportive Comment Award. The purpose of it is to acknowledge those that have a blog and spend endless hours ensuring that other bloggers get feedback on their blogs by leaving comments, adding themselves as a follower or dropping by just to let you know there are people out there. Thank you, Laura!

Here is a few of my good friends that I would like to honor. I appreciate your friendship so much!

Laura Eno of A Shift in Dimensions (yeah, you get one back)
Marisa Birns of Out of Order Alice
Deanna Schrayer of The Other Side of Deanna
Sam at Future;  Nostalgic
Maria Protopapadaki-Smith of Mazzz In Leads
Estrella Azul of Life is a Stage
Marc Nash of Sulci Collective
Cynthia Shuerr of The Heart of Writing
P J Kaiser of Inspired by Real Life
Olivia Tejeda of Liv Loves Lit
Michael J. Solender of Not From Here Are You
Cascade Lily of  Ten Seconds a Day

Now to pass it on.

It’s Raining Sunshine

Previously in… the War in Resolution Galaxy…The Homeostasis (STASIS) Republic led by Status Quo is at war with the Evolution (EVOLVE) Empire led by Darwin Vader.  The EVOLVE Special Forces Warriors are in training to avoid being slimed by the NegaNator by the STASIS Troopers, which blasts negative feedback all over them when they attempt to change.

“Let’s go warriors, keep up your exercises, practice, practice, practice…”

“Commander, I can’t do it anymore, my body is giving out, I can’t go on, I will have to give up…”

“Me neither, commander, too many other things to think about, it is all too much…”

“My muse has left me, I have nothing left, I will never be a writer now…”

“Recruits, I know this is hard, your pain and tiredness mean you need a rest.  Time for you to recharge your energy.  We all need rest at some point.  It doesn’t mean you are out of training or that we are losing the war.  The quest for change is filled with times when we need to gather our energy.  The path to higher healing, heath and creativity is a spiral, recruits, it is NOT a steep mountain.”

“Thanks commander, but I feel so weak, I can’t do anything I want. I look at the strong recruits exercising and creating so much and I wish I could, too.”

“Don’t worry, you will soon enough. Everyone experiences tiredness, pain and stress. And, there are times when the muse will not visit because you need to recharge.  This is one of the most crucial times in your training. You need to learn more patience with yourself, go with the flow, listen to your body and your intuition, that is your connection to the Force.  When you listen closely to the messages from the Force, you will now what to do next.  This is one of the ways the Force can grows stronger in you.  Recruits! Go rest, recuperate, recreate and use this time wisely!”

Comforting Kitties

I send you comforting kitties to help you relax, nourish yourself and rest.  Everything looks better after a Kittie Recuperation. There are times in our lives when we need to ease the pace  to allow our bodies to heal and our minds to have space, during these times…

we need nourishing food and rest…

we need to care for ourselves and others who need us…

and, sometimes we just need to SLEEP…

Links to Inspire Your Week

Learn about the 6 Changes Method in The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions by Leo Babauta at Zen Habits: Simple Productivity.

I really appreciated this article, shared by Nishi, and the links at the end go to interesting articles too, 10 Habits of Successful Authors, by K.M. Weiland at Word Play.

There are some inspiring words and good points in this article about intuition and creativity, and making time for play and rest, Creativity & Intuition: Unlock that Secret Stash for More Passion and Purpose, by Kammie Kobyleski at Coachamatic.

Friday Check-In

You can enter your weekly update below in the comments, or give a brief Twitter update with the #writerlbsOff.

How are you doing you great #writerlbsOff warriors? Time for Friday Check-In. Feel free to take over the comments section, chat and support each other in successes and challenges. I hope this week was a good one, but if not, that is o.k., next week is just around the corner.

Do you need a little boost at times? I do. I’ve been watching the reruns of Ally McBeal for a good laugh each night. One of my favorite times is when she is going to a therapist who is played by Tracy Ullman, a great comedian.  She is just as crazy as Ally.  What Tracy told her to do is come up with a theme song that will help her when she is feeling a little nuts, upset, or down. When she needs it, Ally hears the song in her head, and often dances or just freaks out.  I think this would be fun for us!  Here is the theme song that Ally chose, “Tell Him”, to help her cope with man problems (and sanity problems) including scenes from the show. Ally shows you how to use your theme song for maximum benefits!

Ally McBeal’s theme song, “Tell Him,” and a demonstration on how to use it to your advantage.

Here is one of my theme songs right now, I kept to the Ally McBeal  songs, “Searching My Soul” by Vonda Shepard.

I use music all the time to change my mood, inspire my writing and get ideas.  The characters in my novel have theme songs for all subplots they go through.  I think music is a GREAT creativity enhancer.  Find a theme song for any of your goals, funny or serious, and share it with us for a fun Friday.

This is one of my #FridayFlash fiction stories. Each Friday, members of the #FridayFlash group on Twitter write fictional stories of 1,000 words or less and share them. Join in the fun!

This short story is part of a series called Mafia Rehab. It continues where the Frostbite series ended. Mafia Rehab is a mixture of light and dark humor written in the soap opera episodic style about the happenings in the Kaszinov family, who live on a family compound in the Hungarian countryside near Budapest. Russian mafia members have family lives, too, they just behave a little differently, or do they?

Previously, in Mafia Rehab… Tasha removed all the children from her family’s house because of their involvement in murders. Tasha has returned two years later after they were all exonerated of their crimes to see if they changed their evil ways. She brought Inna, a Hungarian Child Welfare worker to the mafia family compound to conduct an evaluation. They arrived as the family was celebrating their victories in court in high mafia style. Tasha’s father, Viktor, was furious and gave Inna a “special” glass of wine.

Kaszinov Family Crest

“Get movin’ you ingrates!  You want your kids back? Then get this place cleaned up!” Viktor waved his arms furiously as he strutted into the living room.

Tasha followed him as her cousins and aunts ran haphazardly around the house trying to figure out where to start.

“Papa, you can’t leave Inna on the floor!”

“Tasha, I got it handled.  Boys! Get that woman and bring her over here. Marek! Come take care of this.”  Tasha’s Uncle Marek grabbed his doctor bag and met the Boys at the sofa to watch Inna.

“As for you…” Viktor pointed his finger at Tasha. She backed up as visions of being bound, tortured and interrogated flared in her mind. She began regretting her bold, but foolish move to bring Inna here.

“Papa, I know everyone hates me, but I care about those kids. Hardly anyone from the family has called in the last two years. Since my cousins are asking for them back, I need to make sure this place is suitable for the kids. From the looks of it, nothing has changed.” Tasha tried to stay strong even if her own fate was hanging by a thread.

“I don’t want that woman poking her nose into our business! Our family life will NOT be aired out in public. We’ve had enough problems.”

“I know, believe me, this will not be public…”

“You know nothing is private when outsiders are involved, damn it!” Viktor was beginning to turn purplish-red. “I agreed to go along with this, but I’m handling it MY way, out of family loyalty and because I am grateful.”

“What? You mean you are grateful that I took care of the children?”

“Ah…I mean I’m glad you worked with Laszlo when you drugged the entire family two years ago. Remember him? One of the Boys? Well, he has been promoted.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Not only did you remove the kids from underfoot during all that mess in court, but it gave your cousins time to build the Family businesses, which are thriving now, thanks to you, Laszlo and our new products.”

“What?” Tasha couldn’t believe her father uttered the word “product.”

Laszlo - Mafia Chemist for the Kaszinov Family

“That formula we just slipped into Inna’s drink is the same stuff you used on us. Turns out Laszlo came up with a brilliant formula to drug people, it knocks ‘em out good.  It is powerful, lasts a long time, and is untraceable in blood tests. We are producing a lot of it now and we are making a killing on it! Every Family in the Eastern World is coming to us for this stuff. It has bought us protection from the Chinese and Korean Families and we have the perfect leverage to protect our territory. Laszlo, show her…”

Arctic Ice - Puts 'em in the DEEP Freeze

Laszlo stepped behind the bar and pulled out bottles and jars. “Here is our star product, the formula I made for you, in liquid form. We call it Ice.  It is used to put in food and drink.  It’s completely odorless and tasteless.  I have also developed Ice for use in creams, ointments and lipstick. And, one of my favorites, darts for our mini-shooter.  I’m working on a new line of products called Arctic Ice with the same properties, but it has more…ah…permanent results.”

“That’s enough! We aren’t gonna talk about that right now!” Victor shifted in his chair and glanced to see if Inna was still unconscious.  ”We are really UP-TOWN now, I had no idea any of the Boys had talent.  Izsak, get over here. We got ourselves a Family geek.”

“I have developed a secure shopping network and we are getting ready to launch our business globally. We have demonstration videos, with Nadya and Grusha as the stars, of course…”

Nadya perked up. “We have been adding free samples of Ice sewn into the back covers of our cookbook. Only our special clients know about it. That may be why our book sales are through the roof.” Aunt Nadya giggled as she swept up the shattered glasses in the fireplace. “But don’t worry about all this knock-out poison, honey, we have our own supply of De-Icer.  It makes the poison useless on us. It’s our own very secret family recipe.”

Tasha sank down into a chair, staring.

“Tasha, you’re the best thing to happen to this family. We owe you. ” Viktor smiled and chewed on his cigar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the drunken mad chaos of the household clean-up, the family members were seated in the living room trying to look “normal,” but getting ill from earlier excesses, and feeling uncomfortable sitting around with nothing to do.

“What happened?” Inna was rousing from her stupor.

“You had some kind of fainting spell and went into a seizure. I’m a doctor and I have been monitoring your progress. Do you have a medical condition?” Marek looked concerned.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. Where am I?”

“Inna, don’t you remember? I brought you here to evaluate my family.” Tasha helped Inna stand up. She looked around the living room with a furled brow.

“Oh yes, Tasha, I’ll continue that later, but since you gave me so much background on your family, and due to the fact the children haven’t lived here in a long time, I am filing orders with the court tomorrow to get everyone started in the MAFIA rehab program.”

“We ARE NOT the Mafia! We were exonerated of all charges! You can’t come in here and make those accusations…” Viktor stood up and moved towards Inna.

“Let me be more clear, I’m referring to the Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment rehab program. Since you are living here together, I expect all of you to attend the first few support group meetings.” Inna was walking quickly towards the door. ” I’ll see you all next Wednesday evening at seven o’clock.”

Tune in for more insane mafia Family life next week in Episode 4 of Mafia Rehab…