Thursday Spotlight ~ Quail Crossings

Tragedy has struck the small town of Knollwood, Texas and Dovie Grant finds herself dealing with the loss of her husband and daughter. Despite her grief, she still must fight to bring her remaining family through the already trying times of The Great Depression. Her father needs help on their struggling farm, Quail Crossings. She isn't thrilled that he's hired a young 18 year old boy who's caring for his three younger siblings. Surviving her grief, as well as the constant dust storms that plague the plains, will Dovie be able to put her pain aside to care for these children or be forever trapped in the darkness of the loss in her family.

Quail Crossings

Cover Design by Linda Boulanger, Tell~Tale Book Cover Designs

Fiction Friday ~ Where Summer Never Ends For Us

"You can't surf in that." Sean pointed at Jessica's skimpy, stripped two piece bikini. "It'll come off with the first wipeout."

"Thought you'd prefer it that way." Jessica laughed, winking at Sean. "Besides, you know very well I don't surf, I tan."

Sean ran his hand along his red and yellow surf board. "Well, since this is our last day together I thought you might like to give it a try. You'll regret it if you don't."

Jessica threw her arms around his neck. "And I thought maybe since this was our last day together you'd skip the surfing and cuddle on the beach with me."

Sean dropped the board, wrapped his arms around Jessica's waist and kissed her. "I guess I could surf tomorrow after you've gone back to Kansas."

She cringed. "We promised never to say the K word."

Letting go, Sean turned around and picked up his board. "You know you don't have to go."

"You know I do." Jessica sighed, when he didn't turn around. "I have to finish my degree, I only have one semester left. It would be stupid for me to not to finish at K State. Just think, in six months I can come back here, get a job, and stick to you like glue until you're sick of me."

Sean's silence prompted another hug from Jessica. "I don't want to fight today, baby. Let's make a deal, you forget about me going back to.... well you know... and I'll try to surf."

He looked over his shoulder. "Really, you'll try?"

Jessica eyed the board. "I don't see the appeal, but you love it, so I'll try it. But only because I love you."

He turned and kissed her hard. "I love you, too."

The couple spent the day playing and making out within the waves. As the sun drifted down the horizon, Jessica paddled to catch one more wave. Sean cheered her on and she reached the crest and attempted to pop up. The wave crashed into her and everything went black, followed by a blinding white light.

"Jessica. Jessica, wake up."

Jessica felt her a hand shaking her shoulder and reached up to grab it. "Sean?"

"No, it's not Sean." The hand jerked away. "It's your mother. It's three o'clock in the afternoon and you're still asleep. For the love of God, I thought you were going to look for a job today."

Jessica sat up and looked around the room. She was in her parent's house. She flopped back down.

"Look, I told you if you were going to move back in with us, you had to get your life together, find a job, and then an apartment. But no, you just sleep all day. I can't imagine why you'd want to sleep so much anyway."

Jessica stared out the window, taking in the horizon of sunflower fields blowing in the wind like ocean waves. Wiping a tear from her eye, she whispered. "Because that's the only place where I can see him."

Her mother planted her hands on her hips. "For the love of God, Jessica, it's been 23 years. It's time to move on."

Jessica waited for her mother to close the door before exiting the bed. She shuffled to the desk at the far side of the room and took a small shoe box out of the bottom drawer. Inside were all her mementos from her summer interning in Hawaii.

She smiled at each memory, tracing the faces in the photos. At last she came to the bottom of the box, where a single newspaper clipping lay open. Sean's obituary, dated two days after she returned to Kansas.

Returning the items into the box, she grabbed her teddy bear and returned to her bed. In just a few minutes her breathing turned into a soft snore as she returned to the place where summer never ends.

Thursday Spotlight ~ Winter Song Trailer

Wee Wednesday ~ Drawing a Blank

Car keys… Where are those stupid things? 

Jacket pockets?  Nope. 

Think darn it; you’re going to be late.

Bedroom, on the dresser? 

Crap, not there either.

Where in the world did I put them?

I went to the post office, maybe in the kitchen? 

Crap, crap, crap … I’m going to be so late.

 “Honey, what are you looking for?”

“My keys.”

“You mean the ones attached to the strap of your purse?”

I grab the missing keys. 

Crap, I’m going to be so freakin’ late.

Fiction Friday ~ A Chance Meeting

Olivia squirmed in the blue chair. It was time to get up and walk around, but she knew some slut would steal her seat and she'd have to stand. There was no way that was gonna happen, it had taken her an hour to get this seat and giving up because of a tiny cramp was stupid.

"So you come here often?" came a whisper from behind.

Olivia rolled her eyes. Another deadbeat trying to get her number. Did these losers really think they were in her league. She turned her head to tell him to get lost and stopped herself when she met piercing blue eyes and dark curly locks. The guy was a Greek god. She wondered how he'd found his way into this crummy place.

"Actually, this is my second time." Olivia smiled. "You?"

"Oh, you could say I'm a repeat offender. This place is a bit like a magnet; you don't really want to come, but you don't really have a choice. I'm Marco and you are?"

"Olivia." Curling a leg under her, she turned so she could see him better. "So Marco, what's your story?"

"I'm just a man looking for love."

Olivia laughed. "Does that line really work?"

Marco chuckled. "Depends on the setting, I guess. Honestly, I feel I'm in the middle of my story and does a good author share his story before it's finished?"

"Sounds like you don't want to tell me why you're here." Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to tell me why you're here?" Marco asked.

"Sure, I like to drink," Olivia said casually.

"What a coincidence, I appreciate an adult beverage as well." Marco leaned in close. "Olivia, I'm not sure what it is about you, but I find myself totally enamored with you."

"Pretty sure that's the liquor talking," Olivia laughed.

"No," Marco shook his head. "I want to know everything about you. What if we put all the crap people tell each other when they first meet aside and be our true selves until they make us leave this joint?"

Olivia looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be engulfed in conversation of their own and even though she'd hate to admit she was curious about Marco.

"Ok, no lies, no show, just the truth."

Marco and Olivia talked for the next hour. She was surprised to find him so easy to talk to. Before she knew what she was saying, she had told him her entire life story. As she was sharing the events that lead her to their current location when he held up his hand.

"Shhh... the master's coming," he whispered.

Olivia turned back to the front and pretended to watch TV as a police officer approached her.

"Olivia Stapleton, it's time for your arraignment. Your lawyer's already in the court room."

She turned to Marco. "Are you making bail?"

"More than likely," he answered quickly as the officer pulled Olivia to the door.

"Then I'll wait for you," she called out.

 Turning back to the officer, she smiled. "I see great things on the horizon."

The officer grunted. "Honey, you'll be lucky if they even allow you to have bail. You're accused of killing three of your lovers over the past year. Even if you do get out what makes him any safer?"

Olivia licked her lips. They had nothing on her other than a half fingerprint found at the scene of her first lover. She had been less careful then, but now she knew better. Before they had time to blink she'd have Marco in Mexico. She just really hoped he'd be different than the rest. She'd heard Mexico was lovely this time of year, it'd be a shame to have to kill someone.

 

Fiction Friday ~ The Plan

Mona slammed the dinner dishes into the sink. “You’ve had all day to tell me and you wait till now?”

 “I just couldn’t find the right words,” Clare stuttered.

Mona examined her youngest daughter. “The right words? There are no right words. Those words should’ve never come out of your mouth in the first place. What were you thinking?”

Clare shrugged.

“Oh, so now you’re speechless.” Mona flipped a dish towel over her shoulder and leaned against the cabinet. “So what’s your plan?”

Sliding on a barstool, Clare sat and folded her hands in front of her. “I plan to keep it.”

“Keep it!” Mona whipped the dish towel off her shoulder and started wiping down the bar. “You have no idea how hard it’s going to be. Do you expect your father and me to help? Is that your plan?”

Clare stared at her hands. “Given the situation, I don’t really see any other options.”

 “You could go to the…” Mona couldn’t finish her sentence, eyes dropping to the floor.

“I can’t do that, Mom,” Clare whispered. “I can’t kill it.”

Mona nodded as she sat by her daughter. “I know this is hard.” She grabbed her daughter’s hands. “What about adoption?”

Clare shook her head. “I don’t think I can do that. I’m already so attached.  I don’t know how to explain it, but it brings me so much happiness. I can’t help but smile every time I think about it.”

Mona sighed. “Fine, we’ll do what we can.”

“Oh, thank you, Mom!” Clare threw her hands around Mona and squeezed her tight. “You won’t regret this I promise.”

Mona glanced down at the brown ball of fluff chewing on her shoelace and rolled her eyes as she felt a tug in her heart. Lifting the critter into her lap, she rubbed its ears causing it to close its eyes in ecstasy. Clare giggled causing Mona to smile. “Welcome to the family, puppy.”

Wee Wednesday ~ A Little Problem

"Look at him, got to be 12 points," whispered Dad as he lowered his eye to the scope on the rifle.

"Ah... Dad...?"

"Shhh, you're going to spook the buck away."

"Dad, I'm scared..."

"I told you, you had to be a man if you were going to come, that something was going to get shot today."

"D...Dad I think we have a little problem."

"Yeah we have a problem; you won't shut your trap."

"Seriously, Dad you have to turn around."

"You are never coming with me again."

"Dad look out!"

"DON'T SHOOT!" yelled Dad catching a glimpse of the black and white tail.

"Tomato juice?" asked the boy.

"Tomato juice," agreed Dad.

Wee Wednesday ~ When the Music Stops

When the music stops he’ll see me.

It’ll be just like Cinderella. The music will stop. He will turn to look at his friends, but he won’t get that far. He’ll see me, probably for the first time, but definitely not the last time. He will look into my big brown eyes, see the way my hair flows around my face and be captivated. His friends will be calling to him, but he won’t even notice they’re there. He will see only me.

He’ll walk towards me, brushing other girls aside as they ask him to dance. They will scream his name and call him rude, but he won’t care. There is only one voice that he wants to hear and that is mine. We will embrace and he will feel complete. I will be complete.

One more song, then the music will stop and he will see me.

Wee Wednesday - Ariel's Obsession

Ariel grabbed the bag of potato chips off the passenger side seat.  As she munched on the salty snack she looked through her binoculars and gazed at the blue house across the street.  Dropping the binoculars she picked up her journal. 

11:58 pm – Still inside bedroom with her, lights off.

“Apparently he’s into sluts now,” she said to herself as she wiped her greasy hands on her jeans and moved on to the Peanut M&M’s. “I’ll show her.”

She grabbed her keys off the dash and jogged to the slut’s car.  In careful block letters she smiled as she scratched “I’ll kill you” into the driver’s side door.

Getting back into her car she grabbed her journal.

12:03 am – Got rid of the slut.

Trouble with the Yeti - part 1

Check out my new mini novella on the Anna's Legacy blog, Trouble with the Yeti.

A Foreign Shore - Part 3

Part 3 of A Foreign Shore is now up on the Anna's Legacy blog.

Fiction Friday ~ Harvest Queen

Check out my new short story, Harvest Queen, on Clever Fiction.

Wee Wednesday ~ Mother and the Birds

I watched Mother as she sat on the back porch with her tiny binoculars and thick field guide.  She sits there for hours raising the binoculars to her eyes and then slowly flipping through the pictures to identify the creature.  I always wondered how she could find little animals that pooped everywhere so fascinating, but every sunny day she insisted on being left out back for hours.

“Don’t walk in and out,” she’d say when I checked on her. “You’re scaring them away.”

I shook my head. All that time alone staring at birds couldn’t be good for her health.  She needed to be with her family, spending time with her grandchildren, not watching rats with wings.

Mother placed the binoculars gently on her nose and studied the blue jay at the feeder.  She never paid that much attention to me, how I longed for her to take interest in my life, read my field guide.

I chuckled to myself as I started supper: look at me, jealous of Mother and the birds.

Source

Thursday Spotlight ~ Jar of Pickles

An ordinary trip to the grocery store for pickles turns out to be anything but ordinary.

 

Jar of Pickles always #FREE on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

 

 

 

Halloween Short ~ Lost Item, Never Returned

Trick-or-treat? How about a little of both.

Lost Item, Never Returned

Inspired by true events

 

            The library has a secret.  Ok, maybe secret is too strong of a word, it’s just something we don’t talk about, and for a librarian that’s a big deal.  But due to an experience I had last Wednesday night; I can no longer stay silent.  People must know, before someone gets hurt.

            The library has a ghost.

            That’s right folks, a transparent, walks through walls, thing that goes bump in the night, ghost.  Oh, I can hear you laughing; the skeptical side of your brain telling you “there’s no such thing as ghosts.”  But you’re wrong, and I know this because I saw her Wednesday night.

            Before Wednesday, I too, was a skeptic.   I’d heard many a tale from co-workers, claiming to hear moans and mysterious noises.  I brushed it off as air conditioning and other mechanical noises that happen in buildings as the sun goes down.  The elevators will go up and down, even when they’re shut off.  Not trusting the elevators anyway, I always assumed it was a mechanical glitch.  They are breaking down all the time. That’s why I always use the nice, reliable, no possibility of getting trapped, stairs.

            One staff member even swears the ghost locked her in the bathroom. She tried desperately to get out, but the door would not budge.  I couldn’t help but think of the children’s bathroom door and how it sticks all the time. Could this “bad carpentry” be the actual bathroom trapping spirit?  And let’s not forget how incredibly cold the library gets; there are nights it feels like a meat locker.

            Now on occasion I’ve seen someone standing on the bridge either out of the corner of my eye, or in the reflection of the big east windows, but when I turn and look there’s no one there.  I’ve always put it off as my eyes playing tricks on me.  That is until Wednesday.

            Wednesday started off as any other day.  There were books to shelve and patrons to help.  My dinner hour came and went, more patrons, more shelving.  Around 8:30 pm the reference librarian called me to say she had heard something heavy fall in the upstairs office.  She couldn’t leave the reference desk unattended and our local and family history librarian was swamped with people trying to print off their latest genealogical finds, so she wondered if I would go up and make sure kids weren’t horsing around.

            Of course, I said yes and made my way to the office in question.  The door was slightly ajar, so I pushed it open and using my best librarian voice bellowed, “This room is not open to the public.”

             Switching on the light, I saw nothing.  I scanned the room, my eyes falling on an open closet.  “Ah ha,” I thought, “the culprits are hiding in there.”

            The little hairs on my arm began to prickle, and I briefly considered calling a co-worker for some back-up, but pushed the thought away.  I was being silly.  I walked to the closet, again switching on the light, bracing myself to see some kids hunkered in the corner.  Nothing.  There was no one there.  But a box of donated books laid scattered along the floor. 

            “Ok,” I thought, chuckling to myself.  “The kids knocked it over and fled before I got up here.”

            I sighed and began picking up the books.  That’s when I noticed the small open door.  I prayed the kids hadn’t crawled into the storage space.  I got down on all fours and peered into the tiny space, feeling around for a light switch.  Not finding one, I pulled out my cell phone and used the light to scan the room.  There were piles and piles of books. 

            One particular book caught my eye, a very popular book that I was searching for earlier that day.  I flipped the book over and scanned the UPC sticker.  The number was the same, this was the lost book.  I held the cell phone higher, trying to see how far back the storage closet went, wondering if they were all lost books, when the light went out.  I fumbled for a button as a white mist began to form.  I froze in fright, cradling the book against my chest, when I heard a faint, “Mine.”

            The mist grew thicker.  I couldn’t move, my brain was telling me to run away, scream, do anything but sit there like a dummy.  But I couldn’t.

            “Mine,” the mist said louder. 

            All of a sudden it advanced toward me, forming the shape of a woman.  Her face was twisted in anger.  She was pointing at me, pointing at the book.  “MINE!” she screamed.

            Finally, my body caught up with my brain and I threw the book at the ghost and flung myself backwards out of the crawl space, slamming the door shut with my foot.  I swallowed a scream as I sat there panting, waiting for the ghost woman to come through the wall.  Waiting for her to gobble me up.

            But she didn’t come.  She had what she wanted.

            So the next time you’re in the library and you see a shadow out of the corner of your eye or the air feels a little too cold, you know what’s going on.  And if she wants a book you’re currently responsible for, trust me just let her have it.

Source (because you can totally make one of these cute ghost books)



FREE QUAIL CROSSINGS!!

Get your #FREE copy of Quail Crossings today!!!

 

Thursday Spotlight ~ Finding Hope

Becca finds unexpected hope during a wintery walk.    

 

Finding Hope, always FREE on Smashwords.com

 

New Short Scary Story ~ Mrs. Winchester's Desk

Check out my new short scary story, Mrs. Winchester's Desk.

New Short Scary Story - Rock Gut

Check out my new short scary story over on Clever Fiction ~ Rock Gut.

Clever Fiction is BACK!!

Clever Fiction is back and I have a short story up just for y'all. Check out Rivals ~ http://www.cleverfiction.com/31/post/2013/10/rivals.html