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Other Works...
*Peter's adventures continue in BOOK TWO of the exciting series...
GALADRIA
(Book 2 of 5)
Peter Huddleston & The Mists of the Three Lakes
Coming Out May 2012!
(CONTINUED BELOW)
Novella...
(Short Novel)
The Unicorn
By Miguel Lopez de Leon
By Miguel Lopez de Leon
The Unicorn is a heartwarming urban fantasy novella surrounding Alex and Jason, twin brothers who live an enchanted suburban life overflowing with magic and mystery. Soon though, their privileged existence comes crashing in around them with the sudden decay of their parents' marriage. A domestic saga interlaced with guardian fairies, ancient water nymphs and obsessive compulsive gingerbread men, The Unicorn sees the twins' mystical lives slowly fade away, leaving them in a grisly and relentlessly toxic reality. Alex and Jason are forced to choose between a suffocating, draining home life, or leaving everything they know and love for a chance at something better. Sample excerpt from The Unicorn:
DING-DONG-DING-SCHMAKEL“Press the doorbell again Jason, she probably didn’t hear it,”
DING-DONG-DING-SCHMAKEL
Amid the sound of shuffling feet and the jangle of the lock, the door flew open to reveal a jolly woman in a quilted pink robe, with big, round curlers in her hair.
“Haddy!” yelled Catherine, as she hugged her bespectacled sister. "Sorry if we’re a little late."
“Catherine! Boys! Come in, come…oh dear, Alex! Jason! What happened to you two?”
“Remember, over the phone I mentioned they had stood up to a bully at school, Haddy?” said Catherine proudly.
“Oh yes, of course,” she replied, staring into two pairs of smiling black eyes. “Turned my nephews into a couple of raccoons! Well come in, come in, we have lots to do today! Oh, is that tin for me? How nice!”
“How is the gingerbread competition going Haddy?” asked Catherine, as they entered the warmth of the cluttered little house.
“Very well!” she responded enthusiastically, leading them all into the busy kitchen. “I think I might need some help with this one though.”
As the three house guests turned towards the kitchen table, a massive gingerbread kingdom stood before them in all its gleaming cookie glory. The sturdy walls were armored in chocolate bars and wafers, as candied balconies glistened outside the castles endless licorice windows.
“It's beautiful!” cried Catherine, peering intently at the marshmallow smoke coming from several pound cake chimneys. “I’m sure you’ll win this year!”
“We’ll see,” said Aunt Haddy, critically eyeing every inch of her gingerbread masterpiece, “Still needs a lot of work, got some stiff competition this year-damn Gladice Witherby! I’ll beat that withered old prune yet! Oh, where are my manners? Would you all like something to drink? Made some fresh lemonade this morning. We could have some of those cookies you brought me.”
“Um…sure Aunt Haddy,” answered Alex distractedly. Both he and Jason were on tip toes next to the castle, peering into one of the highest licorice windows. Inside they discovered over two dozen little gingerbread men and women, all dancing a grand waltz to a full symphony orchestra of chocolate bunnies.
“And one, two, three, one, two, three…” said the head gingerbread man, gripping a striped candy cane and tapping it vigorously against the floor. “Feel the music gingerbreads, one, two, three…Stanley, you dance like a drunk hippopotamus... lighter on your feet! Denise, we're not working for tips, this isn't happy hour at a strip bar! ‘Grace’ isn’t just a prayer at mealtimes people! Stanley, seriously, are you trying to do it wrong? One, two, three, one, two, three…”
After some lemonade and chocolate chip cookies, Alex and Jason strolled outside into Aunt Haddy's small garden, while she and their mother attempted further construction on the gingerbread castle. In the center of her garden she had a small pond that was always full of little green turtles.
“Aunt Haddy’s gingerbread castle is pretty good this year,” said Alex, seated lazily and looking at two tiny turtles in the palm of his hand. “Remember what she made last year?”
“Yeah, that zoo of gingerbread animals, pretty cool I guess,” said Jason, stretched out on the grass, a couple of turtles happily sitting on his stomach.
“What do you think it’s like to be a turtle?” asked Alex ponderously, his nose an inch away from the ones in his hand.
“Probably just have to be okay with being slow, but you’re already used to that.”
“Yeah, being around you all the time,”
“Hey Alex, why are you so stupid?”
“I don’t know, I guess you’re contagious.”
“But if I were contagious, you’d be good looking,”
“If you were contagious, I’d be obnoxious and short,”
The afternoon moved hazily along, as Alex and Jason gathered up all the turtles in the garden and arranged them in battalions for a mock battle. Soon though, they were back in for tea, all seated cozily on one side of the large kitchen table facing the gingerbread castle. Aunt Haddy had arranged several small cakes, pies and sandwiches for everyone, along with lobster and a couple of big wooden hammers.
“So boys, tell me more about this bully the two of you took care of,” said Aunt Haddy, pouring everyone some tea.
“It was nothing really,” said Jason, cramming some peach pie into his mouth. “No one in school liked him, so a lot of people helped out. We dog piled him!”
“I did most of the work,” added Alex, biting into a pepperoni sandwich, “I could’ve handled Dean, that was his name-Dean, I could’ve handled him on my own, but Jason was a big wimp and told everyone to join in.”
“Yeah right!” Jason said in astonishment, “If I hadn’t been there he would’ve flattened you, you big wuss!”
“You wish! I was the one who got in the first punch, right in the big ape’s jaw!”
“Did you now Alex?” asked Aunt Haddy, grinning, “You know, I remember a similar incident with someone else at this table.”
“Oh Haddy, don’t!” said Catherine demurely, as she pounded the shell of her lobster with a hammer.
“I remember it vividly,” she continued, ”Your mother was walking by our class, I was three years ahead of her, when this giant of a girl, you remember her Catherine? Agnes Taurus, she was a big titan of a thing. She started making trouble with me over some boy I didn’t even know. Before I knew it, that beast was pulling my hair! Your mother dashed into the classroom and decked her, right on the nose! Big Agnes fell like a lump!”
“Cool mom!” cried Jason.
“I believe that!” said Alex, helping himself to some cake. “Mom almost made our principal piss in his pants when he tried to suspend us!”
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad!” said his mother, waving her hand.
“He deserved it!” he continued, enthusiastically.
“Oh Catherine..."
“Haddy, you’re one to talk!” she said jovially. “Did you boys know your aunt use to be a professional boxer!”
“No way!” said Jason, walloping his lobster with a hammer.
“Lightweight women’s division,” said Aunt Haddy proudly.
“What was your nickname again?” asked Catherine teasingly.
“Steel Hammer Haddy,” she said, turning misty eyed.
One of the thick wafer doors of the gingerbread castle opened. Out ran the two dozen gingerbread people, led by the same head gingerbread man.
“Alright you cream puffs,” started the head gingerbread man, as the group of them began to vigorously jog the perimeter of the table. “There’s not one of you here who couldn’t stand to lose some weight, some more than others-you know who you are. Pick it up in the back! This isn’t a nature stroll! So help me Stanley, don’t make me go back there!”
“Where are all those trophies they gave you Haddy?” asked Catherine, as the little gingerbread people jogged, huffing and puffing, past her plate.
“Oh, I keep them stored in the closet, sometimes I take them out and give’em a good polishing.”
“Show us some of your moves, Steel Hammer Haddy!”
“Oh Alex, I couldn’t! It was so long ago! No, now I’m into baking-it’s much more calming.”
“Move it you bakery store rejects!” shouted the gingerbread man from across the table. “Are you cream puffs or are you gingerbread men? ANSWER ME!”
Eventually, Aunt Haddy was persuaded to dig out some of her old boxing trophies, to the delight of her persistent nephews. The sun outside began to set, and as they all said their farewells, they quietly passed neat rows of gingerbread people in deep concentration, each holding one of their little legs in the air, doing yoga.
“Alright you cream puffs,” started the head gingerbread man, as the group of them began to vigorously jog the perimeter of the table. “There’s not one of you here who couldn’t stand to lose some weight, some more than others-you know who you are. Pick it up in the back! This isn’t a nature stroll! So help me Stanley, don’t make me go back there!”
“Where are all those trophies they gave you Haddy?” asked Catherine, as the little gingerbread people jogged, huffing and puffing, past her plate.
“Oh, I keep them stored in the closet, sometimes I take them out and give’em a good polishing.”
“Show us some of your moves, Steel Hammer Haddy!”
“Oh Alex, I couldn’t! It was so long ago! No, now I’m into baking-it’s much more calming.”
“Move it you bakery store rejects!” shouted the gingerbread man from across the table. “Are you cream puffs or are you gingerbread men? ANSWER ME!”
Eventually, Aunt Haddy was persuaded to dig out some of her old boxing trophies, to the delight of her persistent nephews. The sun outside began to set, and as they all said their farewells, they quietly passed neat rows of gingerbread people in deep concentration, each holding one of their little legs in the air, doing yoga.
Time melted away, and as days turned to weeks, then months, everything continued to play out in this same relaxed fashion. School was unfolding excellently for the boys and was drawing to a steady close. Everyone looked forward to their oncoming graduation.
