Meagan's Tail

A new Universe, a New story!

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Saturday, July 9 2016
Palos Verdes, California

Meagan hopped the three steps down as she exited the small metro rail car, then took time to count her shopping bags to make sure she had them all and waved to her friends still on board, "See ya Monday at swim team practice!"

They all waved goodbye as the smaller metro car pulled away to finish up its trip going towards the harbor and ending at Fort Mac's huge metro station that connected to the rest of LA and the state beyond.

With the metro car disappearing over the hill and the traffic light showing green, Meagan took a quick glance to check if the road was safe and crossed that last half of the blacktop to her side of the street.

As she stood there on the street corner, another metro rolled silently past in the middle of the wide street that 25th street was and it blended into Palos Verdes drive, then into Hawthorn boulevard ending up at the utterly huge South bay mall Meagan had just shopped at with her teammates.

Meagan glanced up at the sign for her street, she knows it was lucky to have a rail stop at the end of the street that connected up to the huge metro system of the city and beyond. All of that was thanks to her Great Grandma or was that Great Great Grandma? That lady had foreseen the jump in housing decades ago and had built a huge house on the hilltop, plus named the street it sat on...Mermaid Drive and was her personal driveway till 'GGMa' she called the older lady of the family at times, sold the lower acre parts for millions long before Meagan was even born!

It was only a few blocks to the top and end of the street where Meagan's home stood. At the gates she waved her purse and the gate card it held by the gates reader and the large iron gate swung open to her. When Meagan finally bounced into the home's huge kitchen, she dropped all five bags she had on the center island, "Hey mom I am back!" she beamed to the young woman pulling a hot pie from the oven.

"I honey..." her mom Doris started then spotted the stack of shopping bags covering her counter, "Ahhh young lady you bought far too much again, you know to call me if you go over your limits!" she barked now and placed the hot pie on top of the left over space.

"But mommmm," she whined back, "They had a sale on wetsuits and jeans....beside I need the jeans for school and you saiiiid I could buy the wetsuit to replace the one I ruined on the rocks last week?"

"Yes I did, but you bought far more than jeans and the suit!" she barked back and put both hands on hips to show her growing displeasure with her daughter.

"Okay...Okay, but admit this," Megan said while pulling the sales receipts out, "I got a deal and the cost is far less than you thought mom?" she offered in her defense.

Doris counted up the damage to the family credit card and found her teen was indeed right! Meagan had found a bargain and jumped on it! "Yes you did, but...."

"Mom read the bottom of this one," she pointed out to her mother, "I got David some jeans too...and if they don't fit, he can get ones that do, the price is locked up!" she boasted.

"I hate it when you use logic on me, you are getting far too smart little girl!" her mom admitted.

"Thanks!" Meagan said, as she gave mom a kiss on the cheek and picked up the bags.

On the way to her room, she stopped in the family room where she found her brother David playing yet another shooting game. She whipped out the three jeans she had bought him and tossed them at him, "Here ya go squirt...new jeans and thank me later!" she laughed at him.

"Hey what gives...these are not my size...I think?" David yelled back to his retreating sister, then checked the tags and she was right on...they are his size!

"Darn girls, of course she memorized my sizes...girls and shopping...like ham and eggs!" David shook his head to her room and then went back to his games.

Safely in her room again, Meagan dumped the treasured bags onto her bed and started sorting them out, plus taking the tags off them as she went. When she had them all piled up, colors to colors, whites to whites and on. She placed the whole stack a section at a time into her laundry basket and made way to the washing machines.

As Meagan got ready for bed, she felt strange. A strange feeling like someone walked across her grave or something else as depressing and with that she stayed in her room till dinner time.

The depressed teen only snuck out past her gaming brother for moving the wash to the dryers and then finally grabbing the fresh basket to fold up, or hang back in her room. Meagan took time as the sun started its slow set to watch it touch the water far off and watched the lights at the Trump golf course below her snap on one by one.

At nearly eight, Meagan's mom yelled from the kitchen, "Hey kids, dad's back and he has Bar-B-que!"

All that came to her mind was that dad was late and work must have called yet again! That darn job was taking him away far too much, every time one of his company's film units needed something...they called him and Meagan thought the whole deal on filming fish for some NatGEO cable channel was a waste of time. She was only happy when he was doing the film work on another company of GGMa's, one that was busy salvaging one of those GOLD filled wreaks!

But reluctantly because she was very hungry after a long day of shopping, Meagan made her way out to the kitchen and hugged her dad along the way, "How was the shopping trip, did ya kill off the whole mall and now I have to get a loan my little pumpkin?" he joked.

"Naw dad I kept the damage down to state disaster level and global apocalypse!" she zinged him back with the family trademark sharp wit!

Dad laughed at her jest, "Good I did not want to get one from the ports leg breakers anyway..."

Meagan was slowly dropping ribs on a plate, then scooped up some potato salad when Doris noticed the teen girl was rather slow and seemed a bit sickly?

"Honey are you okay?" she worried and felt the teens forehead for warmth.

"Nope mom, just a bit down right now." she moaned out and grabbed a biscuit from the box of them.

"All right, but tell me if you feel worse hon..." the mother worried even more.

"Yessss, but can I eat in my room?" Meagan asked.

"Yes if you take a towel to keep your bed clean, I don't want you sleeping in sticky sheets!" her mom warned back.

As she left, dad stopped her with a yelp, "Meg do you need a ride to team practice tomorrow or not?"

"Yep I need a ride and I am going at noon after I surf...if I feel like it?" she told him.

"WHAT!," screamed her brother, "I can't go surfing unless you come...you promised?"

"David...if Meg is sick, then she is sick and can't surf. You know the rules, unless you are one hundred percent, no surfing in that rough water!" Mom barked a firm reminder of the family rules and her decision on the matter to the boy.

"Yes mom," he moaned back is displeasure.

"But don't worry David, I'll take you if your sister can't?" his mother offered back..

"Great..." the yelped then thought it over....not so great, mom always kept him on a short leash and she had to get her swim time in too and when she was out doing her far longer laps along the shore...he had to wait for her return on the beach!

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Sunday, July 10 2016 4:35AM
Palos Verdes, California

Meagan's eyes snapped open even before the alarm she set last night sounded and she sat up in bed feeling way better than last night! Her feet flopped off the covers of her bed and she leapt over to the bathroom to start a shower warming up, then rushed across the hall to yell at her brother, "Wake up squirt...the tide is up and surf is on!"

David sprung up in his bed startled at the sudden shout, but caught up fast to what was going on, "Ya, ya Meg....I'm coming!" he barked back and then flopped back down in bed, then pulled his pillow over his head.

Meg finished up her shower and personal morning chores in record time, then tossed a shoe plucked off her brothers floor at his still form laying in bed, "All done your turn!"

David tried to slam the door on the hall's bath to show his anger at being woke in his opinion nearly a whole hour early, but how could he stay mad...Meg was up, feeling obviously good and she wanted to go surf!

While David was busy, Meg made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a small snack trying to keep it light before hitting the waves. Then bounced happily down stairs to grab her long board and give it a quick wax down before heading out.

Meg was still busy giving the surf board longs strokes of wax with a puck of the special grip wax that she liked to use, when David showed up and tossed a backpack filled with her needs on top of the work table.

"I packed your new wetsuit and junk...lets go!" he grinned to her.

"Yep all done," she smiled back while standing the board against the garage's doorway and put on the backpack he was now handing her.

David slipped on his backpack, then placed his 'boogie board" on his bikes small cargo rack and then rolled the electrified mountain bike into the drive. Meg was busy with her large electric motored 'off road' skateboard and her much bigger surfboard.

A few hops down the drive, after wrapping an arm around the board and Meg was quickly rolling down their homes hilly drive. David was close behind after he slapped the garage door closer, then sped up to keep up with her.

"Race ya to the bottom!" David shouted while blowing past his sister.

Meagan grinned evilly when she leaned down trying to cut the wind faster and rolled the remote throttle in her hand to full. She loved these motorized skateboards, fast, easy to carry, off road capabilities to a point and add with the addition of Technopath made batteries, then the bigger plus...high torque motors!

So with this skateboard being one of her pride and joys...then add spending lots of free cash on making it one of the fastest in school...Meg blazed past her brother while leaning into the streets long left turn and now with a clear road going all down hill in front of the teen, she was sure to win!

At the bottom of the hill before it hit the main Boulevard, Meg hit the brakes on her run smoking the tires with the boards mini disk brakes and the electro-mechanical braking system that feed back energy into the battery pack.

She laid out a rather nice set of four tracks as her feet slid the board sideways to a stop, "Beat ya again squirt...I told ya...you can't win unless you spend the cash to win!" she laughed his way.

"That's because mom and dad give you more allowance!" he spat back.

"I get MORE, because I DO more...way more than you!" she giggled back at him and pressed the button on the street pole to start the crosswalk lights.

Both teens make their way across the wide street, then down a few short winding streets to a large house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Meg kick flips the skateboard into a waiting hand and shoulders her longboard. Right behind her, David gets off his bike and both walk slowly down a small concrete covered walkway bordering the huge home towards the sandy beach.

Meagan waved to the couple working out on their home's deck as she passed by, "Hi Mr. John!" she yelled to the man and received a wave back. His obvious wife dove into their pool, then popped to the surface nearest Meg, "Heya girl, going surfing!" the drop dead beautiful woman wrapped in a form hugging swimsuit asked her .

"Yep and mom should be down in a few hours...we are just getting in a few extra waves before she shows up for her swim." she told the woman, who she knew was a famous actress and for sure mutant by her great body and looks! Her husband was a huge movie agent in LA...Hollywood and both of them had made millions over the years.

Meg thought about both of them, he was a mutant too so her mom Doris had said more than once and the wife was Rosie Hunter-John. She was the female lead actress in several of the transforming robot pic's and more than a few hard core sy-fy movies, plus TV shows. Most of Rosie's days where now filled with modeling shoots or trying out for her next movie series.

Timothy the man of the Hollywood matched set was the major money winner of the family, because of his cut of most of the town's stars...the man was paid nearly ten percent of all clients earning and he did EARN that money!

Meg was snapped back to the real world form her day dream by a playful splash of pool water landing on her, "Hey Meg...dear" Timothy asked form his spot floating next to his wife, "Have your dad call me... I landed the director of next six pictures of the Lord of the Thrones series as a client and that man will need someone like your dad for all the underwater shots...big money in this for him," the man grinned, while holding a hand up and rubbing his fingers together in the classic 'money' gesture and surly thought about his 'cut' too while doing the simple motion!

"Too cool, so they are green lighting the 'Atlantis' story arch?" she instantly bubbled back thinking of all the cool efx or whatever her dad might do!

"Yes they did, one of my long time clients connected my up with a sea elf or sea Fae or ocean...whatever and they made her the lead actress on the spot! Then rewrote the script for a few other Fae I know to be added in next!" He smiled and

As Timothy smiled, she felt a wave of what only cold be called...someone whispering into her ear...'like me, do as I ask' float or waft into her brain. Meagan instantly shook off the feeling with a quick shake of her head and gave Timothy a very harsh stare! "What was that...are you using some mutant power on me...MR JOHN!" she barked angrily.

"Ohh shit you felt that...my bad Meg...I just slipped into my 'work' mode and used my gift. I don't do that to friends...I messed up, please forgive me?" he begged, knowing her dad would clean the beach with his face if he ever heard about this incident, then Doris would take her turn! The couple was not mutant hating morons, but messing with their kids in this way was a NO, No! And Timothy knew it, as they had been good friends and great neighbors for years!

"Tim...don't ever do that again!" Meg warned the man, but she could not stay mad at the dear family friend for too long because she had known the couple for years and then add that mutants in LA...they outnumbered the tourists on most days and had been accepted into the city as regulars and protected from any government influence or hate groups.

"Yep...I promise and I owe you one...want a new board or?" he suggested a way to make-up for his slight.

"Naw Tim, I would love an invite to a premier or something like that?" Meg told him while thinking of what else she might have wanted.

"I'll getcha one, then see if I can find you a better board too...Ask me next week or call me?" the agent said back while sliding up out of the water and walking over to shake the teens hand on the deal.

"Cya!" Meg yelped as she ran off to go change in one of the many stalls next to the beaches edge.

A few minutes later she was catching up to David who was already rolling his boogie board through the surf line. Meg ran with the long board into the water and flopped onto it as the water rose high enough for her to do so, then paddled out a few dozen yards into a calm part of the surf line.

Meg stopped paddling and sat up on the large board to better read the surf's action and strangely she could really read the water...and read it's motion really well! So well, that she sensed where the best runs would be coming from and where a nasty 'rip' current was developing.

"Hey David...stay to the left of that mark, a RIP is coming on over there!" she barked a warning to her brother and he nodded back after looking in the direction to see what she was talking about.

"Ya sis, I can see the mud stirring up from here," he said while watching the whirling busy water churn up the bottom and shove the flow back out into the ocean. A very bad rip current that would drive a swimmer or surfer way out into the water before they could slide back in.

David took the warning to heart and started to paddle off to the north along the shore towards the Trump beach. Meg took a longer glance from her board and saw that was the best choice too because the surf was lining up along the rocks over there and would give some great peaks soon!

Meg's board bobbed in the still water till she felt the waves rush in with a growing breeze and she quickly padded in to catch them and soon enough she was riding a good eight footer in. Her feet, plus body leaned to guide the board into the slot and she glided over the wave in the tube with her right hand dragging it's fingers in the roll of the wave face for fun!

The sun had finally come up over the Santa Monica mountains and after a few hours of wave riding, both teens saw their mother roll up to the beach on her bike. Doris waved to both of her kids as she locked up her bike next to David's, then she stripped off her shorts and shirt, then dropped them into the pile with the teens clothes on the beach.

Doris ran into the surf while pulling on her swim goggles, then dove into a rolling wave and popped back out on its backside. The mother of two covered the long distance in strong stokes of a person that swims in the ocean all the time.

Their mother paddled up to both teens floating in the area just before the surf began and she greeted them, "Well how is the day going so far?"

"The surf is good and a rip is developing over by the park...so watch out for that one mom?" Meg suggested and warned.

"I saw it while riding up the park, I hope no one gets caught in it again?" she thought back to when the mother had to pull two other teens from the last rip current a few weeks back.

"Naw I don't see you replaying 'bay watch' today mom!" David played with her.

"Ahh the kids are lucky that you are around here, a good swimmer that is not afraid of the ocean." Meg added in next with a laugh of played bravado

"I don't fear it, I respect its power and so should both of you!" she warned back.

Then Doris swam off, Meg watch her mother cut through the water and thought about her speed. Doris had won the gold at the Olympics one year and that is where she met their dad, he was there entered in the competition with this team and doing the surf competition at the same time.

Doris had won the gold for 1500 meter that year, a new event for women that in earlier years were limited to only the 800! Mark their father, his team lost the event and not because he did not pull his weight. The last swimmer in their relay messed up so badly, they came in dead last!

Mark's try at the surfing competition was good, but not good enough for a medal and he went pro for a year while dating their mother...then Meg was born and he went to work at one of the many family companies and ever since then the family traveled where the company sent them.

Those places so far, had been San Francisco as Meagan was born, then way down the California coast to San Diego for a year and now to LA. The company always provided the house, and it or them ones over the years always had a fresh water pool or salt water...NEVER chlorine water and never more than a mile from a beach!

Being that close to the ocean meant that the teens always had the best in schooling, because the neighborhood was always a million plus to even think to buy a home! So Meg and her brother always had rich friends that became close friends over the years.

With mom now gone off on one of her very long swims, Meg paddled into the next set of waves and waited for one that 'felt just right' then let it take her. As the wave grew up to nearly ten feet and this was a big one for this time of season. She maneuvered the board into the waves growing curl and into the long pipe the cresting water made, she grabbed both of the boards rails to hunker down under the falling water and shot out of the end of the pipe with the blast of air and water spray.

This day was developing into one of Meg's best day yet, she had not fallen once and caught every waves she aimed for along with grabbing the biggest of the sets with ease. On the next set she paddled into, she caught a huge ten footer once again and this time she was not alone on the wave's curve...a dolphin was riding the wave next to her with the ease of a creature born to play in surf and it rode along side of her till the wave dropped away.

"Hey did you see that David, he surfed with me!" Meg squealed in joy.

"I saw...I saw and we have a whole bunch of them around us right now!" he said back and reached out to touch one of the passing fins.

"Cool!" Meg squealed again seeing her brother touch the passing fin and both watched the dolphin roll over and bob on the surface playfully.

For nearly an hour both teens played or rode the surf and once David lost a swim fin in a waved that had flipped him. But a passing dolphin lobbed it back at him like a tossed ball and he smiled to the passing creature, "Thanks buddy," as he worked it back onto a foot.

The whole pod of dolphins disappeared about ten minutes before Meg spotted her dad rolling into the parking lot, he waved from the beach after getting out of the family SUV, "Hey all of you, it's time to get going!"

Doris was already on the beach stretching out after her long swim and smiled to Mark as he walked over, "Ya missed it, a pod of dolphins showed up and played along with the kids as they rode the waves."

"Humm...that's nice, I always like it when they were around....that meant no sharks!" he played at biting her side.

Soon enough both teens had paddled back into shore, showered off the sea water and dried off. Mark leaned back and pretended to count heads, "One, two and four or so I think kids...then add one wife equals seven or so? SO off we go!" he sang out as the SUV lurched to a start.

~o~O~o~

Sunday, July 10 2016 1:05PM
Palos Verdes, California
Palos Verdes High

Mark, Doris and David clapped for each person in Meagan's team as they finished each part of their relay. Then started to cheer loudly as her turn came up at the block, a teammate hit the bottom wall mark and she exploded off the blocks into the water. Meg's form blurred in the water as she sped forward under the surface and popped out yards ahead of the nearest competition a few lanes over. Now she kicked furiously as she broke the surface with long powerful strokes of her arms and sped quickly to the reverse turn of her relay and the anchor run of the teams whole effort to win.

The tips of Meagan's outstretched hands hit the wall marker to stop her clock and her head broke the surface to check the time. The next team hit it's mark and was followed by the rest of the field within seconds...but her team had won...not only won, but CRUSHED the nearest competitor by over seven seconds!

The team's coach entered the time on his computer out of habit, the added in each teammates 'split' time or section relay and the computer worked on a graph of each one. While it did it's job, she celebrated with the rest of the team!

A throng of girls stood with a good size trophy for winning the relay and with a win on the next event, Meg's team would win the overall team trophy too! While the girls got ready for the next event, a 200 meter freestyle and it was a individual event...no teams. The coach ran his numbers, the screen flashed at him the only standout of the day so far...Meagan!

In her first run of the day, individual butterfly. Meagan had beat her best time by two whole seconds, then the next team relay she beat her best by three and this last one...a whole astounding six!

A few seconds, one or two could be seen as a personal best on a best day. but jumping up over two, then to three and then a unheard of SIX! That was unheard of, small climbs in skill over a year or two would show that type of increase in performance....but not a performance increase that huge in a WEEK! Then add this little factor, Meg's times got better, faster as the day went by, not slower as she tired out or should have?

The coach closed his computer, he will not ruin other kids days for one event and maybe ruin a good family name is this was 'doping' or Meagan was suddenly showing up as a mutant or worse...some kind of drug based enhancements!

When the celebrations died down, the coach rechecked his numbers as the next event ran. But as the event progressed through a few laps of the long butterfly race, Meagan's distance from the nearest competition grew and grew with each lap flip and then she finished a whole two seconds ahead of the next kid. But after checking his past notes on Meg's times, this butterfly showed as her worst event of all and this time showed a performance increase of over five seconds over her best this year and that number was checked at her last timed practice!

When the event was over, the coach pulled Megan's mom aside, "Doris, we have to talk and in private before you go tonight?"

"What Coach Turnbull, is there something wrong?" she had to worry to the large man.

"After everyone is gone...it's best." is all he said before walking away to talk to another teammates parents.

As the coach walked away, Mark showed up with one of the family's bags for events like this and tossed it into the back along with the ice chest already sitting there, "Honey the coach wants to talk to us about meg IO think and it does not sound good?" the now troubled Doris said to him.

"Ohh well, we have nothing to hide and let's just wait right here sitting on the SUV's rear gate till he comes to talk to us...till then...the sun still shines and the moon has not fallen?" he joked.

As the parking lot finally emptied out, the coach drove his car along the side of the family eating a small snack as Meagan dried off her long hair with a towel, "Hey coach Turnbull, what's shaking!" David asked the large man.

"I have to talk with you all," he said strangely while pulling his laptop from its case and warming it up.

"So what's wrong...or is that right?" Mark questions the man as he works.

"This...please read Meg's lap times, plus her race times on this graph and see for yourselves. I know both of you can read it far better than I ever could. Doris has been competing since grade school, then high school and then college, plus the Olympics. Then Mark, you have nearly the same time in....WAY, WAY more than mine in just college..." Turnbull said making room for both parents to see the image and trace along the screen with a finger or two to track the numbers better.

"This does not make any sense?" Doris said surprised at the last string of numbers she read out silently.

"You're telling me, I checked it three times and one of those I did a full erase and started over to be very sure...her numbers jumped twenty percent in a week! AND that never happens without help...or some drastic thing changing?"

Mark knew what the man was implying and Doris's worried glance told him so, he looked back over to the kids and found them busy with packing the bags still and that meant they had not overheard anything...yet?

"Meagan please go with your brother and grab us all a soda from the store across the street..." Mark told his daughter on the spot thinking of what she should or should not hear next.

"Sodas or Slurpees...dad?" David asked.

"Whatever you both want and just a coke for me and your mother....:" he glanced the coaches way, as he handed Meg a few bills..."I'll take the same David..." the coach smiled and both teens ran off.

With the teens now gone, Doris spun onto the man that was maybe accusing her or the family of dealing dirty in sports, "Well are you going to say it or not...I am not doping my kid in a high school competition!" she roared at the man.

"Doris I would never say that about you...ever. Just look at the numbers and you tell me what happened? Kids...heck adults don't jump like that without a cause." he stated back and pointed at the screen.

"Well in some cases they do!" she shouted back.

"Yep....they do...one out of a million and I will live with that result and even tell everyone she is a miracle. BUT after she gets tested for both mutant genes and drugs...Ahhh...ahhh" he stopped her next complaint, "I said that because we have to be thorough, so it does not bite us later and you know it!" he warned the protective mother before she could object.

"Fine I will test her on Monday...But she is not showing anything else?" she nervously said next.

"I have seen plenty of them in my time as a school coach over the last two decades, some are like a bullet or lightning bolt and POOF changed. Then others take days, weeks, months to fully show up?" he shrugged an explanation to Doris.

"If this ends up being a huge nothing, you're not telling the school or the governing rules body anything about this?" Mark had to ask just knowing how one little hint of impropriety, spelled the end to a athletes career and chances at a college scholarship.

If the test show drugs...Meg is done and you know that. I don't think even for a second she is on any...but I have to say something. Then if its a mutant gene becoming active, well that has its own set of rules and I have nothing to do with them...But the school has no issues with teaching low level mutants."

Doris knew what 'low level' meant, it stood for 'not dangerous'. LA might be one of the most accepting of any place for mutants, but if you were dangerous. The mutant was either trained to be less dangerous or sent off to a special school that trained those cases regular schools could not and in extreme cases sent to places no one talks about, but that was so very rare!

"But you two talk this over with Meg, I leave it all in your hands and I expect some kind of paperwork from her doctor next week or so before she can be allowed to compete in the monthly event again." Turnbull said as he waved goodbye and jumped back into his car.
"Well do we tell Meg, or wait and just have a doctor tell us one way or the other from there?" Doris asked Mark, who seemed to be thinking heavily on something.

"We go to the doctor and let them test her, then if need be go to the Metahuman Control Agency for further testing?" he nodded agreeing with his wife's idea.

Mark was pondering something about his family past when both teens came back from the store happily bouncing about, "Where did coach Turnbull go, I have a coke for him?" David asked while pulled a smaller liter bottle from a bag of several.

Meg spooned a little of her cold treat, a huge coke slurpee as she asked, "Mom...so what's up you looked worried?"

"Nothing bad honey, the coach was just reminding us that all of his athletes have to go see a doctor before next months events and we will go get your check-up done Monday..." she told her daughter and tried to keep what might be wrong away from her just now.

~o~O~o~

Sunday, July 10 2016 6:55PM
Palos Verdes, California

Meagan was watching TV after dinner and was flipping through the channels till she spotted a short black man walking along a red carpet at the white house. Meg know who it was instantly...it was Gary Coleman the ex-child star. He ran for governors seat during a recall of the prior one of California 2003 VS a field of nuts covering the whole range, from a PORN star the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger to who lost because of the bastard son and maid deal came out! (Not to mention that Maria Shriver shot him a week later, after the story broke!)

Then after Winning the election, then getting California on budget and on track! He ran a massive building campaign that built several new major projects in California., ranging from high speed rail. That ran at over 300 MPH north to south along the state and lead improving the federal run ones that reached eastward from both LA and San fran!

The LA high speed train ran from the city center, out towards Las Vegas and then across the whole country. In some of the longer stretches, the train hit it's max speed of nearly 500 miles per hour and was cheap as dirt to ride too! Because of that train, it was not unheard of to see someone live in Las Vegas or Arizona and commute to LA daily!

Then in 2012 ran to be the nations first black president of the USA and won! So from there he went about getting the rest of the nation fixed-up to the high standards that were in California, he cleaned up the highway system and then over the last four years spurred the economy with huge building projects that powered the new industry of North America as a whole.

Meagan had to giggle just a little bit when the president hopped on top of a small box so that he could stand up to the mikes taller height! And then started talking to the crowd of media with his trademark smile, "Well let's get to it! What we as a nation are going to do is...." he began and Meg flipped the channel, "I'll read what he said later on the net...those events can be so boring!"

David flopped on the couch across from her and yelped, "Meg, turn on the movie channels guide, I think there a good one is rerunning right now?"

Meg flipped the remote across a few channels and found one she like and David smiled at instantly, "Oh, ohhh that one with the elves!" he shouted out while pointing excitedly at the TV.

Both teens sat quietly while watching the last installment of a fantasy movie, this was number five of what might be a full six in the complete series if they ever finished the last one? David yelled as she spotted the assassin stalking the main characters again, she was in all the films so far as a mainstay after the fans fell in love with her!

hours later

Even though it was after Midnight and Meagan had been up since five AM, she felt energized and ready for more fun. But mom sent both kids up to bed for the night and gave them as kiss before they trudged up to their respective rooms for the night.

A short time later, Mark strolled the balcony just off the huge master suite of the house and gazed out over the neighborhood and out into the vast ocean laying beyond, 'I hope the family curse or as GGma calls it 'the gift or business' is not what is affecting Meg...the darn thing skipped me and my parents generation. But maybe she got it, I know I felt something was off in the world yesterday and maybe that was it?' he pondered silently and took a slip of his whiskey.

~o~O~o~

Monday, July 11 2016 4:55AM
Palos Verdes, California

Meagan's eyes had snapped open at the first sign of sunlight spilling over the small mountain range behind the house and since she know mom would be waking early to get a doctor visit out of the way as soon as possible. She got up, then slipped out of her night wear and into a swimsuit so that she could do a few laps in the pool before her mom awoke.

Meg tossed a large towel onto one of the lounge chairs, then kicked off both of her water mocks and then leaned down to test the pools water for warmth on this slightly cold summer morning. She wiped the water from her fingers after feel the water was warm enough,. "That solar heater we put in years ago...it really works good on mornings like this!"

The water did not even splash much and barely a sound echoed out as Meg did a well practiced dive into the pool. She swam a feet yards stretching out her muscles after her nights sleep and warming them up for a good and hopefully long morning workout.

Meagan drifted over to one end of the pool to touch the edge and gave the wall a kick flip and was off doing her laps...counting each one as she swam mentally...'One....kick...Two' And soon enough she was past her normal forty for a good workout, so she took a rest floating in the pool.

Doris was always the first to wake on most days, Mark worked so hard most of the time he rest as long as he could and she never even thought to disturb him if he was sleeping...the poor man needed as much as he could get with working most weeks over sixty hour or more?

The mom of two walked down stairs to the kitchen and found the pot of morning coffee was already brewing up and at least a cup was ready for her. So she quickly grabbed or favorite mug and poured out a serving for herself. A little milk was added in from the fridge, a little sugar and it was done. Doris slow walked over to the sliding glass doors overlooking the pool and looked down. She spotted one of Meg's huge beach towels on a lounge chair and then silently remembered she had her swimming for sure as she got up.

She walked through the door and onto the deck beyond. This level of the deck was on the same story as the kitchen, but was just a few feet over the level that the pool laid on. Doris scanned the pool for Meagan's head bobbing about and did not find it. Thinking that Meg might be diving the length of the pool while she walked out, the kids loved hiding like that at time! Doris leaned over to search the bottom and saw it...meg's still from at the pools bottom...too still...for way too long!

Doris's heart jumped as she tossed the treasured mug that had the classic 'swim mom' on the side instead of 'soccer mom' and it broke against the glass window of the home, She shouted out like only a worried mother could, "MARK COME HERE...IT'S MEG!" echoed off the hills as she leapt into the pool.

~o~O~o~

~o~O~o~
Shadowsblade here.

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