Cut from "Salvaging Scottwell"

1,210 / 12,477 (9.7%)

11/01/2008 - Saturday, no work
* Rewrote beginning of "Salvaging Scottwell" as per rewrite request from Baen's Universe. I hope I did an adequate job of "speeding up the beginning." Yargh. I'm not used to revising for a specific purpose.

So it was that when he reached the corner of 32nd and Vine and saw the heat of two bodies writhing against each other in the back seat of a parked car with a cooling engine, he had plenty of time to record the image and listen to the couple as he approached.

"Oh, baby, you're worth every penny!" the man groaned. "Yeah, just like that. Right there."

"You come back to see Carly, you hear?" the woman said huskily. "I'll always take real good care of you."

Max stopped beside the car door. He barked to get their attention. When he heard the car window retract, he spoke.

"Carlotta Sims, you are under arrest for prostitution and lewdness in a public place. What is the name of your companion?"

"I--I can't be arrested! My wife'll be back from her bar shift in an hour! I'll--" the man stammered.

"Hush, now," Carly said to her companion. "Max, his name is John Smith."

"John Smith, you are also under arrest."

As he recited their Miranda rights, Max noted in his arrest report that John Smith was probably an alias, but he was unable to examine the man's identification.

"Please accompany me to the station," Max finished.

Carly sighed. "Max, you know I can't do that. I got business here. Maybe I'll stop by later."

Max's ears drooped. He added a note to his report saying that the suspects had refused to go to the station, and then he turned and limped away.

Behind him, he heard John Smith ask, "Why's it leaving?"

"Don't call him an 'it'! He can still hear you, and he ain't stupid like this old Chevy's 'bot," Carly scolded him. "Max can't arrest us. Something's broken that means he might hurt us if he tried, so he ain't allowed to. Poor critter still tries to do his job, though. Ya gotta admire anyone who don't know how to quit like that."

John Smith snorted. "Just the other day, I saw a story on the news about a police 'bot that caught a robber after running him down. The 'bot mangled the robber's leg so badly, it had to be amputated."

"Max here's an older model," Carly said. "I 'member the mayor bringing him in here. They threw a parade and everything. We were a--what you call it--test case. Guess they stopped being interested when he weren't new no more. The only time a politician shows his face in this neighborhood any more is when he wants to see good old Carly." Her voice lowered. "Don't you agree that I'd be worth it?"

"Yes!" John Smith gasped.

* Answered Spec the Halls submitting question
* Sent out 1st Spec the Halls newsletter, posted to blog, posted to website main page and newsletter archive. Feelin' all accomplished and stuff, here!
* Worked some more on updating Aswiebe's Market List. Almost done!
* Posted new version of "Salvaging Scottwell" to the Baen's Universe Slush board. Fingers crossed!


11/02/2008 - Sunday, no work
* Read Critters, FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters newsletters
* Updated market list
* Replied to Baen's Universe slush comments, which was more of a pain in the neck than anticipated.
* Finished updating market list!
* Wrote up Aswiebe's Market List newsletter, emailed it out, posted it to blog, updated it on website. Whew!