Story Weather -Device gone Haywire

Stormy Weather

As a beginning writer, Juanita sometimes struggles with writer’s block and creativity. She prefers technical, scientific writing to fun and silly things, but she hasn’t earned the respect to get those types of assignments yet. She struggles to meet the deadlines and write pieces her bosses are happy with on these topics she doesn’t care about.

2 weeks ago there was a terrible storm. Torrential rain, flooding, high winds, thunder that shook the windows, and lightning that flashed through the sky. Juanita was working on a piece about keto diets (UUGGHH), that was due the following day when all of the power in the house went out. Poor Blackie, her Chiweenie, was scared and hid under the bed. Her laptop flashed off but she unplugged it and the battery kicked in. Her cell was also plugged in so she lost her hot spot connection. Juanita unplugged it and reset the Personal Hotspot. It took a little while but eventually, everything seemed to be working fine and she finished her blah, blah blog and went to bed. She would proofread it the next day.

When Juanita logged in the next day, her blog was not at all what she had written. She thought she had accidentally shared the google doc with her editor and these were his changes. But there were no little Suggestion boxes like usual. She checked and it had not been shared. “What the hell?”, Juanita said to Blackie.  He was the only companion she had since her adulterous husband left her. She shared it with her editor and he was thrilled. “Best piece you have ever written” he typed on her entry.” I think you are finally getting the hang of it. I kept telling everyone that you had potential.”

Juanita thought that maybe she had written the blog in her sleep. After all, she had taken 3 sleeping pills and drank 3 vodka shots before bed. She hadn’t been sleeping well, but that night she thought she had slept great.

Juanita received her next assignment 3 500-word blogs about beach weddings for this swanky resort in California. OMG, why couldn’t they give her something serious or scientific to write on? This is horrible!  It was all so depressing. She never had a beautiful beach wedding, Juanita had never had the kind of money that it took to have that kind of wedding, and the ass she married had no money at all. She married a lying, cheating man at the courthouse. Turns out what money he did have he spent on his girlfriends. They were married 10 years before she got away from the slimy creep that she thought was the love of her life. He couldn’t manage to keep up with his alimony payments, but he could afford a new truck. Thank goodness he couldn’t reproduce.

Juanita started writing the first blog and it was depressing. She had no happy feelings to put into it. That night she used her tried and true sleep remedy of 3 sleeping pills and 3 shots of vodka. When she woke up and logged in the next morning, the blog was finished and it was fabulous. Maybe sleep writing is the answer to her dreams of a successful writing career. She started the 2nd blog and then tried the 3 shots of vodka to see if it loosened her up enough to write better. That didn’t seem to be the solution. She still had writer’s block and didn’t write more than 2 sentences in 4 hours. At bedtime, 3 sleeping pills, 3 shots of vodka, and off to sleep she goes.

On day 2 of her 5 days, Blog 2 is finished and it is also great. Nothing like the waking Juanita would write, but great. Maybe her alter ego, the creative, fun-loving side that she had forgotten existed, comes out in her sleep. The weird part is that when she writes she sits at her desk. Then she takes the laptop to the coffee table to look at non-work items when relaxing before bed. When she shuts the laptop down at night she leaves it on the marble top table to charge. When she gets up in the mornings it is on the marble top charging. Does her sleeping self write at the desk or the coffee table?

Juanita decides there is no point in her even starting the 3rd Blog. Why make herself miserable writing it when her sleeping self seems to enjoy it? She does nothing all day except watch CSI and Law and Order. She leaves the laptop charging at the desk. At bedtime, she takes her usual 3 sleeping pills and 3 shots of vodka. Off to sleepy land. 

Juanita awakens to a beautiful sunny day 4. She tells Blackie she might even do some yard work today. She won’t, depression is tough. When she logs in, she is hugely disappointed that Blog 3 is not written. She realizes she made 2 major changes and maybe that is what threw sleeping Juanita off. She didn’t start Blog 3 and she moved the laptop. She tries to write some for Blog 3, but she just can’t come up with anything. She is very angry with herself for sabotaging her sleeping self.  She opens a google doc and leaves the laptop on the coffee table that night. Watches Law and Order all day again, drinks vodka and finishes the day off with 3 sleeping pills and 3 shots of vodka for bedtime.

On day 5, Juanita jumps out of bed and runs to the laptop. Blog 3 is there and it is wonderful. Thank goodness. Juanita shares the 3 blogs with her editor and again he is very impressed.

This week, Juanita receives her next assignment: a White Paper for a new scientific test for Fibromyalgia. Juanita is thrilled! Finally, her editor recognizes her expertise. She has 5 days to write a White Paper of up to 20 pages. There is extensive research to be done and then put onto paper. She starts researching the testing and taking notes. She opens a google doc entitled Fibromyalgia Notes. At bedtime, she feels confident in her work and doesn’t need sleep writer Juanita, so she only takes her 3 sleeping pills and no vodka.

When she awakens and logs in, she is surprised to find that her notes have been turned into some sweet sappy story. Juanita laughs at this and goes back to collecting facts for her paper. Late that afternoon she feels she has enough information to start the white paper. This is a very exciting breakthrough in the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia has never had a definitive diagnostic test before. Juanita titles her paper as New Fibromyalgia Testing Method. She wrote the initial paragraph, then went to bed with no assistance. She was feeling pretty good and thought she could sleep without help.

On day 2 Juanita got up at 6:00 AM. She had not slept well and woke up several times during the night. One time she dreamed she saw a light coming from her office, she got up from the bed and tiptoed down the hall. The laptop screen was open and she could see letters coming up on the screen but no one was typing. She screamed, “Who is there?” The laptop closed and left her in the dark.  It freaked her out and she went back to bed, in her dream. After a couple of cups of coffee, Juanita logged in to get back to work. Her Fibromyalgia Testing Method had been rewritten into a cutesy 600-word blog. “What the Hell?”, Juanita exclaimed with only Blackie to hear her. “This is BS! I finally get a real assignment and sleep writer Juaniter is screwing with me. You have to stop this shit, bitch!”, Juanita yelled. Blackie cowered in the corner. Juanita rewrote her first paragraph on a document titled STUFF, hopefully, to confuse her sleepwalking self then she added a few more paragraphs. Juanita decided she would stay awake all night and keep her paper from getting messed up.

Juanita tried to stay awake, she didn’t even go to bed she stayed on the couch. She would doze off for some periods and then jump up and look at her laptop on the coffee table. It never was opened. No indication that anyone was typing. But in the morning there was more writing on the Fibromyalgia Testing Method paper. At least STUFF was not altered. Which Juanita thought was weird. Sure, she had put that title to be deceptive, but if it was her sleepwalking self, wouldn’t she know where the paper was? Shouldn’t Juanita have seen the laptop light up? Or wake up while typing? Even Blackie didn’t wake up when she was up, that’s really unusual. She wrote more on the STUFF paper and was on about page 15 by the end of that exhausting day. Juanita needed a good night’s sleep after last night so she decided to leave the laptop on her desk to see if that kept it safe. 3 Sleeping pills later, Juanita was off to sleep.

Day 4 dawned beautifully and Juanita felt great. She had a wonderful night’s sleep and was ready to finish up her paper. She logged in and Fibromyalgia Testing Method came up as the most recently viewed document. That doesn’t make sense. She worked on STUFF all day yesterday, She only looked at the Fibro doc early in the AM. When she opened the Fibro doc, there was another blog written. Juanita went to the STUFF document, it was fine. She put her other doubts aside and finished her white paper. It was excellent. She was so proud.

She would submit her paper the next day and finally receive the recognition she deserved as a scientific writer.

Juanita was so thrilled to submit her white paper for the new Fibromyalgia Testing Method today she could hardly contain herself. She was the most excited she had been in a long time. Maybe she would do some yard work after she sent it in. She pulled her STUFF paper up to share it with her editor, and suddenly she suffered from shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and an overwhelming feeling of doom. Her entire paper had been rewritten. It was no longer in White Paper format, it read like a never-ending educational blog. It was horrible. It was not what she had written with scientific facts and test results. Thankfully she had put a copy in another folder, and it was not changed. She immediately retitled the paper and shared it with her editor before it could get corrupted too. Now that the paper is submitted, Juanita had to find out what the heck was going on. She opened a google doc titled New Assignment. On that document she wrote in Nunito 26 WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU WRITING ON MY PAPERS? She went to bed with her 3 sleeping pills and tonight she had 6 shots of vodka and passed out.

The next morning, Juanita had glowing assessments from her editor on her White Paper. Then she checked her google docs, New Assignment. There was a reply to her question. You Do Not Want To Know Who I Am, I Am Trying To Help You. Juanita thought someone had hacked into her computer and was doing this. But she made sure that she turned the hotspot off each night so that didn’t make sense. How could someone access her laptop without internet? So she asked that. How do you access my laptop when I am not connected? A few minutes later the answer came “I don’t need the internet. I am more powerful than the internet.” Juanita typed, “BS you are some 2-bit hacker that wishes he was someone powerful. You are nothing. You couldn’t even find my real Fibro study White Paper and I submitted it. Not that sappy crap you wrote. And I am cutting my hotspot off now” Juanita changed the setting on her cell phone and cut off the personal hotspot. That canceled all internet access.  “I wrote what you needed, what you couldn’t write. I got you respect from your editor.”, it typed rather aggressively.  “Who are you?  Juanita was barely able to type.

Juanita awoke from her nap. She didn’t normally, well ever, take naps in the middle of the day but today she had. She logged into her laptop immediately and the New Assignments paper had all kinds of ramblings and rants on it. It was very confusing. There were messages like “I came with the storm, I belong to the Lightening. I love you and want to help you. I came to you in the night. I am Your Spirit, Your Soul! Believe in me! I will show you!!”

Juanita became afraid. Who or What was typing these things on her laptop. What does “I came with the storm” possibly mean. She typed “Can you appear in a physical form or just type? Are you male or female?” She left the laptop and fixed herself and Blackie a snack, and when she came back to her home office there was an absolutely gorgeous man in her chair typing. “Who are you” Juanita managed to mumble. “I am Storm”, he said. I’m here to answer your questions and help you as long as you are nice to me. If you choose to make me your enemy, things might go another way.”He had a very sinister smile when he said the enemy part that was quite frightening. It almost looked like he had vampire teeth. “This apartment is very small, I don’t have anywhere for you to sleep.” Oh Juanita, my lovely, I do not need a bed or a desk or any of those earthly things. I will go back into the internet just as I have been. But I can be here physically if you want someone to talk to or if you want to show me off as your boyfriend because I am so handsome.

Juanita thought that sounded like a great idea. Her friends would be amazed that she had a guy that looks like Storm. “We will go to the Italian restaurant across the street for supper at 7 because my friends & I meet there every Friday night.” Storm had on a T-shirt and shorts. “ Do you have khakis and a Henley that you could wear tonight “ Juanita inquired.” Certainly my love,  anything for you. But before we go,  I want to discuss why I am here.” Storm said. “ Your writing on the beach weddings was horrendous, You have no imagination. You have to be able to write on all topics.” Juanita was trying to defend herself but Storm kept holding his hand up to stop her. When Storm finished tearing her in shreds, He said, “Now you may speak.” Juanita blew up,’ You don’t get to tell me when I can speak in my apartment. I appreciate your help on the beach wedding blogs and the little bit of constructive criticism you offered, but the rest of the demeaning insults were totally out of line and you have no right to speak to me that way, no matter who you are. And if you are such a great writer why didn’t you know what a White Paper is and how it should be written! I had to hide it from you so you didn’t mess it up. My editor said my paper was an excellent piece of writing. That is what I want to write. Factual documents, and education papers not sappy love stories!!!” Juanita finally let it all out and she felt so much better. “We will continue the discussion later, I must get ready for supper.” And with that said, Storm simply disappeared.

At 6:45 Storm knocked on Juanita’s front door to take her to supper, he was nicely dressed in khakis and a button-up shirt and he looked gorgeous. They went to the restaurant across the street to join Juanita’s friends. The women all loved Storm. They thought he was gorgeous, intelligent, and creative. In the bathroom, they all expressed a desire to have sex with Storm and how lucky Juanita was. The guys felt differently. They did not like Storm. They all felt he was sleazy, arrogant, and weird. One of the guys reported that his dry cleaning had been stolen from the dry cleaners, and it looked like what Storm had on. Juanita thought that was odd. When they got back to her apartment, Storm just let himself in. He was laughing at how stupid her friends were. “The ladies all love me, and the men are all jealous.”, he proclaimed. “That is normal of humans.” Juanita wanted Storm to go away. But she certainly didn’t want to make him mad.

Thank you for your help, she said, maybe you can go help someone else now. “NO,  Storm said, you are the one that needs my help. I must stay to help you,

We will see what your next assignment is and how you need me. I will see you tomorrow, and once again he just disappeared.

Fortunately, Juanita’s next assignment is a White Paper on a new piece of heart equipment. When Storm appeared the next morning, Juanita proclaimed, ” I can do this without you. I write white papers without your help.” Storm became very angry. The rain started pouring down, thunder shook the windows and lightning lit up the sky. Storm was gone. A message came up on Juanita’s google notes:  “I have never had someone that did not welcome my assistance. I am leaving you with the same poor writing ability you had before I came. You suck and you will see. Maybe next time you will be receptive to assistance. You better hope I do not return to see you. Good Riddance Storm.