c_tickler
3rd Level Red Feather
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Ok here goes - I've almost finished the pages for Chapter 2 but for now i'll post the first 5 pages drawn up - along with the story so far to coincide with the pages.
Chapter 1
Katie Harrison looked at her watch. 4:55. “Yes…closing in 5 minutes!” She looked around her from the work counter. As usual, at this time of the day, business at the Ockerman Nursery and Flower Shoppe was slow. She began the process of closing out and balancing the cash register. She got it all done quickly and was able to lock up right at 5 pm.
Normally, she was not in a hurry to leave. In fact, many nights she would stay way after closing to tend to plants, work on the books, or even create new advertising gimmicks. But tonight was different. She was hoping to find something waiting at home for her. She got on the bus and read the paper. Ugh. There it was, again. Another full page ad from Munster Nurseries. And, of course, there she saw her nemesis. Hailey Fullard, this time wearing a skirt that barely covered her bum and a top that covered little more, as she flaunted her body holding a fern. She tossed the paper aside, angry and jealous. Munster was the largest chain of plant nurseries in the area. Their advertising budget was more than Ockerman’s annual total budget. She did everything she could to keep business up, but it was not easy.
It was the latest ad campaign that had her steamed the most. Hailey had always been her biggest rival since grade school days. Her family hand the money, the name, prestige. Katie had worked hard, and earned every break and had brought back Ockerman’s from nearly closing its doors. The one thing Hailey did not have over Katie in their younger days was looks. The only reason they hung around Hailey was for a shot at title and position. When it came to looks, Katie had been the star of the show. But, that was 10 years ago. They had gone other directions; Katie to what she loved, her plants, and Hailey went the high society route, eventually becoming a model because of the family name.
Katie had wanted to do a similar ad campaign, even if a low budget version, but Ockerman would not hear of it. HE was very conservative and didn’t see the need to do more than what he had done 40 years ago. At least Katie had the website going last year, which did a lot of business for them. She sighed as she imagined herself in that outfit Hailey wore in the ad. It would look much better on her. She had the curves to carry it off.
Katie got off the bus and walked to her home. It was small, but it had a nice yard area for her to garden and test new plant varieties in. She prided herself in creating new hybrids, unique and only available through the store. This was where they were beating Munster’s bum. She thought about a new fern-hydrangea hybrid she had been working on. In a month, she would know if it had worked.
Then, she saw the box. It was waiting at the doorstep. She ran and grabbed it as fast as she could and took it inside. She opened it instantly. It was the shipment she had ordered from a bulb distributor in Quito, Ecuador. The specialized in jungle varieties cross bred with plants native to other regions to prevent them from overtaking other regional plants, unlike kudzu in the Southern U.S. or other transplanted species. She looked them all over and squealed as she found her new treasures, toys almost to her to play with. She sorted them all out and began to pot them according to their directions.
She was almost done when the timer went off on the oven saying her dinner was ready. She got out her lasagna and brought it to her table as she noticed something strange. There was an extra envelope on the box. She was puzzled, for she had planted all twelve bulbs she had ordered. She picked up the envelope and looked it over;
“Test hybrid TK-11 Strange name, it must be something as a bonus or fell in by accident,” She thought out loud. Cautiously, she opened it up. IT did not look much different than any other bulb she had seen. There was a small slip of paper next to it that had fallen out of the envelope. It had simple planting instructions, and a warning. “Plant with care in open, public areas. Normally grown in secluded jungle areas and human-animal compatibility unknown. Wonder if it’s poisonous, or just ugly?” She giggled. She potted it along with the others, finished dinner, and then went to bed.
The next few weeks were not very exciting, just the old routine. Her new bulbs at home grew well, esp. the TK-11 plant. It popped form the dirt first, with succulent, deep green leaves. IT quickly developed a bud that looked like a small blossom ready to appear. But, instead of a blossom, the bud just grew bigger and bigger, along with leaves ands vines that grew out. After a month of growth, she took them all to the store to show off and attract customers.
All of the plants were beautiful, with leaves and blossoms to spare. Bright colors and blooms of all sizes and shapes. Except for one. TK-11 just grew more vines and the bud that had now grown to the size of a basketball. All the customers joked about how big the blossom would be, and, as a promotion, Katie started a contest for people to pick when it would blossom and how big. It worked for several weeks, but as it still stayed a closed bud, the popularity wore off. She began to wonder if it was like a century plant, which only bloomed every 70 years or so. Or, was the environment here more fertile than what it was used to? Or, maybe it was just adapting to the new habitat, causing it to grow bigger than normal. Oh well, she would just have to wait for TeeKee, her pet name for the plant, to do what it was supposed to do.
After two months, it had grown tall enough to reach the ceiling. This caused quite a stir and made the nursery even more popular, bringing TV and print reporters to visit. Trade journals were visiting often. The stir was enough to really turn around the profits. It was going so well, that Katie hired her young cousin, Keelie to help her run the store. This strange, unknown bulb had brought the people in. Now, she was using her expertise in plants and gardening to keep them coming back.
This did not go unnoticed by Hailey. The last thing she wanted or needed was that lower class Katie popping up again. She had known why the guys hung with her but dated Katie in school. Now that Hailey was famous, there was no way she was going to allow that blonde little tramp to push her aside again. She had sent spies to Ockerman’s to find out the real reason why Katie was succeeding. She knew it had to be something on the side, or giving her customers special ‘favors’, not unlike what she herself had done to get the modeling career she now held. But, Katie was as ‘goody-two shoes’ clean now as she had been in the old days. Nothing to find there but that wild, exotic plant of hers.
Chapter 1
Katie Harrison looked at her watch. 4:55. “Yes…closing in 5 minutes!” She looked around her from the work counter. As usual, at this time of the day, business at the Ockerman Nursery and Flower Shoppe was slow. She began the process of closing out and balancing the cash register. She got it all done quickly and was able to lock up right at 5 pm.
Normally, she was not in a hurry to leave. In fact, many nights she would stay way after closing to tend to plants, work on the books, or even create new advertising gimmicks. But tonight was different. She was hoping to find something waiting at home for her. She got on the bus and read the paper. Ugh. There it was, again. Another full page ad from Munster Nurseries. And, of course, there she saw her nemesis. Hailey Fullard, this time wearing a skirt that barely covered her bum and a top that covered little more, as she flaunted her body holding a fern. She tossed the paper aside, angry and jealous. Munster was the largest chain of plant nurseries in the area. Their advertising budget was more than Ockerman’s annual total budget. She did everything she could to keep business up, but it was not easy.
It was the latest ad campaign that had her steamed the most. Hailey had always been her biggest rival since grade school days. Her family hand the money, the name, prestige. Katie had worked hard, and earned every break and had brought back Ockerman’s from nearly closing its doors. The one thing Hailey did not have over Katie in their younger days was looks. The only reason they hung around Hailey was for a shot at title and position. When it came to looks, Katie had been the star of the show. But, that was 10 years ago. They had gone other directions; Katie to what she loved, her plants, and Hailey went the high society route, eventually becoming a model because of the family name.
Katie had wanted to do a similar ad campaign, even if a low budget version, but Ockerman would not hear of it. HE was very conservative and didn’t see the need to do more than what he had done 40 years ago. At least Katie had the website going last year, which did a lot of business for them. She sighed as she imagined herself in that outfit Hailey wore in the ad. It would look much better on her. She had the curves to carry it off.
Katie got off the bus and walked to her home. It was small, but it had a nice yard area for her to garden and test new plant varieties in. She prided herself in creating new hybrids, unique and only available through the store. This was where they were beating Munster’s bum. She thought about a new fern-hydrangea hybrid she had been working on. In a month, she would know if it had worked.
Then, she saw the box. It was waiting at the doorstep. She ran and grabbed it as fast as she could and took it inside. She opened it instantly. It was the shipment she had ordered from a bulb distributor in Quito, Ecuador. The specialized in jungle varieties cross bred with plants native to other regions to prevent them from overtaking other regional plants, unlike kudzu in the Southern U.S. or other transplanted species. She looked them all over and squealed as she found her new treasures, toys almost to her to play with. She sorted them all out and began to pot them according to their directions.
She was almost done when the timer went off on the oven saying her dinner was ready. She got out her lasagna and brought it to her table as she noticed something strange. There was an extra envelope on the box. She was puzzled, for she had planted all twelve bulbs she had ordered. She picked up the envelope and looked it over;
“Test hybrid TK-11 Strange name, it must be something as a bonus or fell in by accident,” She thought out loud. Cautiously, she opened it up. IT did not look much different than any other bulb she had seen. There was a small slip of paper next to it that had fallen out of the envelope. It had simple planting instructions, and a warning. “Plant with care in open, public areas. Normally grown in secluded jungle areas and human-animal compatibility unknown. Wonder if it’s poisonous, or just ugly?” She giggled. She potted it along with the others, finished dinner, and then went to bed.
The next few weeks were not very exciting, just the old routine. Her new bulbs at home grew well, esp. the TK-11 plant. It popped form the dirt first, with succulent, deep green leaves. IT quickly developed a bud that looked like a small blossom ready to appear. But, instead of a blossom, the bud just grew bigger and bigger, along with leaves ands vines that grew out. After a month of growth, she took them all to the store to show off and attract customers.
All of the plants were beautiful, with leaves and blossoms to spare. Bright colors and blooms of all sizes and shapes. Except for one. TK-11 just grew more vines and the bud that had now grown to the size of a basketball. All the customers joked about how big the blossom would be, and, as a promotion, Katie started a contest for people to pick when it would blossom and how big. It worked for several weeks, but as it still stayed a closed bud, the popularity wore off. She began to wonder if it was like a century plant, which only bloomed every 70 years or so. Or, was the environment here more fertile than what it was used to? Or, maybe it was just adapting to the new habitat, causing it to grow bigger than normal. Oh well, she would just have to wait for TeeKee, her pet name for the plant, to do what it was supposed to do.
After two months, it had grown tall enough to reach the ceiling. This caused quite a stir and made the nursery even more popular, bringing TV and print reporters to visit. Trade journals were visiting often. The stir was enough to really turn around the profits. It was going so well, that Katie hired her young cousin, Keelie to help her run the store. This strange, unknown bulb had brought the people in. Now, she was using her expertise in plants and gardening to keep them coming back.
This did not go unnoticed by Hailey. The last thing she wanted or needed was that lower class Katie popping up again. She had known why the guys hung with her but dated Katie in school. Now that Hailey was famous, there was no way she was going to allow that blonde little tramp to push her aside again. She had sent spies to Ockerman’s to find out the real reason why Katie was succeeding. She knew it had to be something on the side, or giving her customers special ‘favors’, not unlike what she herself had done to get the modeling career she now held. But, Katie was as ‘goody-two shoes’ clean now as she had been in the old days. Nothing to find there but that wild, exotic plant of hers.
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