Level 9, Mad!

Interviewing politicians for his latest article depleted Nick of his humor and frayed his nerves. All he wanted to do was eat a quiet dinner and relax with a good movie, cuddled with his sweet little wife, Mia.

While she worked upstairs, he heated the spaghetti and meatballs from the night before.

The moment she entered the kitchen, he knew he was in for a wild ride.

First off...

Her appearance.

One red sock scrunched down around her ankle.

One purple sock almost to her knee.

Her hair was in a frazzled ponytail, and she muttered to herself as she stood in the middle of the kitchen. Something was eating her up.

And he was about to find out.

"Oh, hey!" Mia looked off in the distance, still wrestling with an idea.

Nick knew the look and was afraid to ask, yet he did. "What's going on?"

Slamming her fist on the counter, she said to him, "I'm going to kill Kyle! That's what's going on!"

If she could shoot daggers from her eyes, he would have been toast. Thankfully, she couldn't, but she was ramping up to level 5 on the madness scale. He was in trouble.

"What did he do now?"

"It's not what he did. It's what he refuses to do!"

Nick took the meatballs out of the microwave and held his leftovers until he knew the depths of Kyle's depravity.

"He refuses to have a crisis. What teenage boy doesn't have a crisis?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

When he saw the look on her face, he knew he'd made a mistake.

Reaching level 7 mad, she was pissed off.

She grabbed the fork from his hand and stuffed his meatball in her mouth. As she spoke, she sprayed his meatball all over him. "I can't write a best-selling book without conflict. I need conflict, and he'll comply, or I'll kill him and find someone else to write about!"

"So, we're having writer's block, are we?"

Stabbing the rigatoni, she glared at him.

Approaching level 8!

He needed to diffuse the situation and find something else to eat.

"Mia, why don't we head out to the diner? Maybe a milkshake will help Kyle comply with your mandates."

Her eyes lit up.

Deflating to level 4!

Onion rings and ice cream to the rescue.

An hour later, they pulled up to their favorite haunt, only to discover they were closed due to a family emergency. He needed to head off a level 9 event! And fast!

"What about the food truck by the docks?"

Mia pursed her lips.

She was mad but wouldn't protest, at least for now.

Cuddled on the bench, with french fries and two malt shakes, Nick asked, "So, how can we solve your dilemma?"

"He needs a crisis."

"Spin his world out of control. Force him to go to a new school."

"OOOHHH! That might work. But, I'd still rather kill him off." There was a glint of mischievousness in her eyes as she plotted against stupid Kyle.

"But if you kill him, you'll need another character to manipulate. Right?" He figured as he played along.

"Yes. You know how hard it is to kill someone off. I don't take it lightly, but he really pissed me off today."

Dipping a fry in ketchup, he tapped her nose and teased, "Oh, blood. What did you do to Kyle?"

Mia giggled at his antics. He always had a way of making her feel better. Twenty minutes later, walking back to the car, a police officer approached them.

"Miss, you'll have to come with me for questioning."

Mia looked at Nick, wondering if this was a sick joke. "What are you talking about?"

"A passerby heard you plotting to kill someone named Kyle."

Frantic, she felt her anger starting to boil. It would not be good if she reached level 10 in front of this guy.

Nick stepped forward to try to calm the situation down. "I'm sorry, sir, but Kyle is a fictional character in her novel. He's a figment of her imagination."

The officer looked between both of them in disbelief. "Nice try. Get in the car. You're going downtown."

"Officer, I'm serious. She's an author. Look her up."

Crossing his arms, he said, "Fine. What's your name?"

"Maya Grayson."

"And your story, where do I find it?"

After several minutes, he found The Last One by Maya Grayson and almost let her go. Almost.

"OK. Before you leave, I need to verify that you are who you say you are. Do you have your licence with you?"

Handing him her ID, she didn't think twice about the fact that her name wasn't Maya Grayson.

"Well, looks like you just told me a pack of lies, young lady. Did you think I wouldn't check your ID, Mia Gretchen Woolsby?"

"That's my pen name! Maya is my pen name!"

"Yeah, OK!"

He spun her around and cuffed her hands behind her back.

It was Nick's turn to reach level 10!

"Officer, she's an author! Authors have pen names!"

Trying to search for her profile online only aggravated the officer.

He knocked the phone out of Nick's hand. "Nice try!"

Helpless, Nick watched as the police car drove away with his little Mia in the backseat.

In anger, he kicked the bench and fell on the ground, in agony.

Two hours later, with a hospital bill and a broken foot, Nick hobbled into the station and bailed out his little author.

Holding hands as they walked out the door, she whispered, "I'm writing Officer Lutkin in the book, then I'm killing him off!"

Nick replied, "I hope it's slow and painful!"