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Friday, June 18, 2010

[Fiction] Friday - June 18, 2010

[Fiction] Friday: A signal is misinterpreted…….

“Martini please and the special.” I politely asked the bartender which was hard to do after the lousy day that I’ve had.

I hate these sales trips. Once the working part is done there is nothing to do except sit at this bar. I have to admit though it is a beautiful, classy bar. The well kept stained wood, the brass bar, comfortable stools and a good bartender who makes it all worth the slightly inflated prices.

The place was busy as it should be around dinnertime. The bartender brought me the special and asked if I needed anything else. I told him no and began to organize myself to enjoy the meal in front of me.

“Enjoy your meal sir.”

“Thank you.” I replied.

Sir…I like that. You don’t get talked to like that where I come from. It’s usually here or nothing at all. I guess when your only clientele is traveling sales people you have to treat them with respect.

Frank Sinatra was gracing the audio system and the lighting was pleasant. I placed the cloth napkin on my lap and took a sip of my martini before I started.

As I placed my martini back down on the bar next to my plate I noticed a stunning woman at the far end of the bar looking my way. I looked down at my meal and then back up to see if she was still looking at me. She was.

I gave her a smile in which she returned it back to me. Hmm, beautiful woman smiling and staring at me, martini half gone, this may turn out to be a good day after all, I thought.

She called the bartender over and as she conversed with him he looked over in my direction as if she were asking about me.

I decided to play it cool and continued to enjoy my meal until the bartender had a free moment. I called him over and asked him to bring the beautiful lady a drink, compliments of me.

“Are you sure sir?”

“Yeah, well yeah. I saw you looking this way when she was talking to you and she returned a smile my way earlier. Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?” I asked the young man.

“Well, sir, she wasn’t asking about you. She was asking me to make sure I treat the party behind you very well and to make sure no one gets thirsty. She owns the place and she’s married. Sorry sir.” He explained.

“Well don’t I feel silly. It pays to be a good bartender. Here you go young man.”

I handed him the bill with payment, a nice fat tip and I quietly exited the establishment.

Monday, June 14, 2010

[Fiction] Friday - June 11, 2010

[Fiction] Friday: Include this in your story: “I wish he’d knock on my door instead……..”

I heard his footsteps coming down the hallway; I’ve learned to recognize the sound of his walk strolling toward the door.

It was Friday night, date night. Every Friday he would come to wine and dine my neighbor across the hall and every Friday I’d watch in envy through the peephole in my door.

I wish he’d knock on my door instead of hers. She was always so rude to this nice sweet man. He is handsome and tall and he always stands in front of that door and checks himself over before knocking just to be sure he looks his best.

I don’t know why he bothers. She’ll open the door like always and snap at him about something and then just leave the door open and disappear into her apartment, leaving him standing there to enter on his own. And every time she does he’ll lower the beautiful arrangement of flowers he has carefully presented to her down to his side, slouch a little, step forward and shut the door.

Except today was different. He wasn’t dressed as neat as he usually was and he was wearing a baseball cap, but I know it’s him. He slowly stepped in front of the door and reached into his pocket as he looked left and right suspiciously. He pulled out a key, slid it into the key slot and slowly rotated the doorknob.

He crept in the slightly open doorway and then turned to look out as he closed the door quietly. As he did I saw his face surface from the shadow and his eyes focused right on the peephole as if he saw me looking at him.

I quickly jumped back, startled, forgetting that the door was between us and he couldn’t possibly have see me watching.

As much as I hated that woman for treating him so badly I couldn’t sit back and ignore that look on his face. I called 911 and then waited at the peephole.

A single police officer came down the hall and knocked on the door about fifteen minutes later. The usually dapper man opened the door and answered a few questions until the officer asked what was behind his back.

He ignored the question and began to attempt to close the door. The officer blocked his attempt and began to go for his gun. He didn’t get very close to it though as his body came thrusting backwards toward my door.

I jumped back, saw the whole wall shutter and light began creeping in around the frame as the dust floated and hovered around it. Then I heard the rhythm of shoes racing down the hall becoming quieter by the second.

I opened the door and the unconscious police officer fell backward into my apartment. I peeked out the door and looked down the hall.

There he was staring at me from the end of the hallway, our eyes finally meeting. He looked at me as if he knew I had been watching and knew how horrible the woman across the wall was. For a moment I was lost in his stare until the officer started to come to.

I looked down at the cop and then back the end of the hall. He was gone and it was the last time I ever saw him.

***********************

At least I thought it was the last time I would ever see him.

“ohh…” the officer moaned as he rubbed his battered skull.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really…I think I busted a rib.” He replied wincing from the pain. “You live in this apartment?”

“Yeah…looks like I’m goin’ need a new door though.” I replied with a bit of wit, trying to make him feel better.

“Did you see which way he went?”

“Who went?” I asked.

“The man who did this. He was in that apartment, I asked him a few questions and then he kicked me like some kinda’ kung fu master.”

“As far I know just a woman lives there.”

“Did she run too?” He asked.

“I haven’t seen anyone else.”

“Anyone else…I thought you didn’t see anybody.” He remarked staring at me trying to see if I was lying.

“Should I go look?” I said trying to distract him.

“No.”

He called for backup from the hand radio mounted to his shoulder. Soon after several more cops entered and taped off the hallway. EMT’s loaded the injured officer onto a gurney and confirmed his busted rib.

“Stand back ma’am.”

The coroners’ team came down the hall with another gurney and entered her apartment.

“Is she dead?” I asked.

“Please just stay back ma’am. The situation is under control.”

“I just wanted to know…” I started to say as they rolled the gurney out of her apartment with a body bag loaded on it. “Oh no.”

“Hold it.” An officer called to the man pushing the gurney. “Ma’am, do you know the person that lives here?”

“I’ve seen her but I’ve never talked to her.”

“Her ma’am?”

“Yes the woman who rented that apartment.” I answered confused by his question and with an awful feeling suddenly in my stomach. “Wait, who is that?”

“Well he didn’t have any ID so we don’t know.” The officer answered.

“Wait, he?” I jumped over to the body bag and tore down the zipper before they could stop me.

It was him. The nice neatly dressed well-mannered man. How could this be? Was that her at the end of the hall in disguise? Why would she do that? Why would she kill him? What the hell is going on?

Thoughts of utter confusion and anger clouded my mind as the coroner and officer pulled me away from the gurney.

“He was supposed to kill her! She was the evil one! She ruined everything!”

Friday, May 28, 2010

[Fiction] Friday - May 28, 2010

[Fiction] Friday: A writer’s computer begins to flash messages on its screen, as if trying to communicate.

“How much for this?”

“Oh god, just take it…it’s yours.” Replied the woman having the tag sale.

“Okay. Thanks.” I said as I picked up the old computer and monitor. They weren’t very big, just heavy.

“Do you need a hand?” She asked.

“No thanks. I got it. Thanks again.” I replied.

When I got to my car I put it down in the trunk and packed some other stuff I had in my trunk around it so it wouldn’t break on the ride home. There’s not too many of these old PCs around and this one in particular looked like it was a superior model than my past vintage PCs.

Sitting down at my desk with everything plugged in and set up I was ready to go. I have a fancy new laptop but banging on the keys of these relics helps me to concentrate on my stories and not the different fonts and sizes and all of that stuff. No spell checker or grammar checker, just me and the story. Of course, that is, if it works. I wore out my last one and was lucky to find this one.

I pushed the button on the monitor and then flicked the switch on the computer but nothing. ‘Good thing I didn’t pay a lot’ I thought as I sat and stared at the screen.

Suddenly, as I was about to get up and unplug it I heard a whirling noise.

“No way!” I said as if someone else was in the room with me.

I sat and waited for it to boot up. The monitor slowly began to glow slightly and the little flashing underscore brightened in the upper left corner.

“HELLO” Flashed on the screen and then faded off.

I sat up in my chair thinking that was an old splash screen and it was ready to go. Then came more.

“DAVID, YOU ARE IN DANGER.” It flashed and then faded off again.

“What is this a joke? How does it know my name?” I said as I got out my cell to call my buddy and see if this was one of his pranks. As I was about to hit the call button another message flashed and faded.

“NO JOKE. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE GET OUT NOW!”

“What the…” I stood up confused. Was this a joke or should I actually get out? I questioned myself as I stood there and then another message popped up.

“TOO LATE…”

Just then the computer made a popping sound and smoke started to come out of the box. I pulled the cord from the wall, opened a window and waved the smoke out, hoping it was not on fire inside. Then I called 911.

About fifteen minutes later my studio apartment was swarming with cops and homeland security detectives. They were asking me all kinds of questions and looking through my laptop.

“Why are you guys looking at my laptop? What’s going on?” I demanded after sitting and watching for a bit against my will.

“Sir.” Said a burly cop who wouldn’t let me stand up.

“I didn’t do anything! Why am I being treated like a criminal?”

A man wearing a homeland security jacket who was talking with the first police officer on the scene came over to me. He was on his cell on the way over and hung up seconds after stopping in front of me.

“Sir. The officer said you told him that you got this computer just down the street at a tag sale?” He asked with a curious tone.

“Yeah…that’s true.”

“At 1634 South Avenue?”

“Yes. A big white colonial.”

“Okay see that’s going to be a problem…that’s an empty lot…has been for about twenty years. Get ‘em outta here.” He said to the burly cop by my side.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Post to Boast - Volume 7

This weeks topic: Best of Ten

This weeks Post to Boast is me asking a favor. I will be attending the Big E this fall in the Connecticut building with CAPA. I have ten books to date but I can only bring one or two to sell, so what I am asking is can you vote for your favorite to make it easier for me to decide? I would really appreciate it. Here is the list with links to see more about the books:

Welcome Baby
There's a Bear in my Bathing Suit
Fallen Star
The Magic Eraser
The Last Leaf
I Do It
It's Time For Bed, My Parents Said
It's Time To Come In, My Parents Said
It's Time For School, My Parents Said
The Holiday Christmas Tree

Just post a comment with your pick and thanks.

[Fiction] Friday - May 21, 2010

[Fiction] Friday: A boy and his father awaken early to watch the sunrise from their mountain campsite, but they begin to panic when the sky remains dark long into the afternoon.

“Hey buddy. Rise and shine.” My father whispered to me as he shook my shoulder.

“What time is it?” I asked him in a groggy voice.

“Shhh. You’ll wake your mother. It’s um…it’s 5:15.”

“Doesn’t she want to see the sunrise too?” I asked.

“She said not to wake her. She’ll see the next one…c’mon.”

We slowly unzipped the tent and crept outside. To our surprise my mother was sitting at the picnic table. Her forehead was leaning on the palms of her hands and her legs were bouncing slightly on her toes.

“Mom? I thought you were…”

“Oh thank God you’re up! Something is not right here.” She said as she got up and grabbed a hold of my father. “You two…I couldn’t wake you! I tried to but it’s like you were in a comma or something.”

“What are talkin’ about? You’re not making any sense…slow down and tell me again.” My father asked, trying to calm her.

“I couldn’t wake you. I decided to watch the sunrise with you guys…but…I kept trying and shaking you both and making noise but you just wouldn’t wake up.”

“Well, I feel fine, he’s fine…I guess we were just really tired. Besides, you couldn’t have been trying too long, the sun hasn’t even come up yet.”

She looked at my father with scared eyes and said, “That’s why I’ve been freakin’ out. It should’ve come up by now!”

“It’s not even 5:30 yet.” I said grabbing at my fathers watch to show her.

“PM! It’s 5:30 pm! You two have been out all day!”

“What!” My father asked as it sank in.

“I tried calling 911 but the cell phones don’t work. I yelled for help but no one answered.” She continued.

She was right, I went to the tent and got my dads cell phone, nothing.

“But that’s impossible…how can that be?” My father said looking at his watch and then to the sky. “Why didn’t you drive to get some help?”

“I would’ve but…” She started.

“The car’s not working either?” I asked.

“No…the car runs but the GPS doesn’t work and I don’t know how to get out of here…the nearest ranger station is probably an hour or two away…even if I did know where I was goin’.”

“What are we goin’ do?” I asked in a very concerned voice.

“Wait! You hear that?” My mother asked.

“Hear what?”

“Shhh. That. Listen…don’t move.” She said and held up her hand.

“I don’t hear anything…can you dad?”

“Ahh! You don’t hear that?!? It’s horrible!” She yelled as she closed her eyes tight and blocked her ears with the palms of her hands.

My father tried to grab her and calm her but she was too tense.

“Make it stop! K-cha! K-cha! K-cha! K-cha! Can’t you hear it?” She screamed, repeating the sound that only she could hear louder like a train approaching.

“Dad! What’s wrong with her? Can you hear any noise?” I yelled to my father over the wailing from my mother.

“K-cha! Gt-cha, Gt-cha, Got-cha, Got-cha, Got ya!” She hollered laughing.

“Got ya? What?”

It took up a minute until we realized by the way she was looking at us that she set this all up. She changed my fathers watch, took the cell phone batteries out and we never bothered to check the GPS in the car.

“You should’ve seen your faces. I couldn’t do it anymore…I had to spill the beans.” She said, still laughing.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Books Featured at Bank Square Books

 
A few of my books are now available at Bank Square Books in Mystic Connecticut, that's right across the street from the famous Mystic Pizza (as in the one from the movie with Julia Roberts).

You can see all of my books and more here.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Post to Boast - Volume 6

This weeks topic: Paper or Plastic

This weeks Post to Boast is a tricky one.
Would you prefer to read to children with an iPad or an actual book with paper pages?


It's an interesting multi-sided question.

On one side you've got a less expensive, environmentally friendly, bright full color children's book (thousands of them at your finger tips) glowing on a screen...a rather expensive one.

And on the other hand you have a touchy feely, not environmentally friendly book that you can turn the pages and feel the weight of the book and it's your very own, but it costs more.

So which would you prefer now and even in the future. Will our grand kids and great grand kids ever see a book?

Also, I've posted a new [Fiction] Friday, you can read it here.

Finally I am extending the discount until May 23, 2010. I hope you will take advantage of it.

As a reminder I am offering to you a 41% discount on any of my books.

That's less than $6.50 a book. Just enter this code on my site at checkout... R6CBGQ3B

A hope this was helpful and fun for all.

Thanks for your time

[Fiction] Friday - May 14, 2010

[Fiction] Friday: I knew it was a mistake the moment it was over

It was a long drive back from the fitness convention that I was working and I was anxious to see my wife and newborn son. I was getting uncomfortable and needed to pull over, stretch and grab a cup of joe. The next exit had a sign for Food so I decided to take it.

I pulled into the parking lot of this coffee shop that was just a half-mile or so off the exit in some small town that I never knew was here. I’ve past this exit a dozen times and never needed to stop before.

As I stood and stretched by the side of my car I noticed there was only one other car in the lot and the traffic going by, well, there wasn’t any. I swung the car door shut and made my way in through the tightly hinged glass door at the entrance.

Stopping just a few steps inside the establishment I studied the menu above the brightly lit front counter. Deciding that I’d just get a coffee and go I approached the counter. That’s when it started.

I was immediately attracted. My heart rate increased, the lust grew stronger with each second that passed. Those two firm beauties staring me right in the face. I couldn’t resist. I told her what I wanted and she told me how much it was going cost me to have them.

I paid her cash and then we turned and left swiftly and made our way to my car. I started the engine and pulled into a quiet secluded spot in the back of the lot. I tried to concentrate on what I was doing but I just couldn’t keep my eyes off the beautiful pair in the passenger seat.

“This looks like a good spot, don’t you think?” I said aloud.

I shut off the car and looked over to the passenger seat. I leaned over and was gentle and caring. I tried to stop myself but I just couldn’t. The temptation was too great. Her smell, her taste, her shape, I just couldn’t control my hunger.

When I was done the guilt washed over me and I knew it was a mistake the moment it was over. I could just picture my wife’s expression if she knew, the disappointment and shame.

I opened the car door, cleaned up the mess, walked over to the trashcan and disposed of the evidence. As I walked back I thought to myself, ‘That was definitely worth it. So I have to do a couple of extra cardio workouts, those were two of the best Boston cream pies I have ever had.’

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Blog Jog Day - May 9, 2010

Thank you for stopping by my Blog.

Please explore all this Blog and/or my Website has to offer, then jog on over to http://www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com/.
In honor of the event I am offering a 41% discount off (that's less than $6.50 a book) any of my children's books. Enter this code R6CBGQ3B at check out from my site.

If you would like to visit a different Blog in the jog, go to http://blogjogday.blogspot.com/

Friday, May 7, 2010

Post to Boast - Volume 5

Blog Jog Day - May 09, 2010

Come back and check it out.

In honor of the event I am offering a 41% discount off any of my children's books.

Enter this code R6CBGQ3B at check out from my site

Friday, April 30, 2010

Post to Boast - Volume 4

This weeks topic: Prices for Children's Book

In this economy everyone is trying to save wherever they can. However, ensuring that your children like to and want to read and hear stories is very important. Which brings me to the question...What is the average price you pay for a children's book or what price would you prefer to pay?

What do you think is the "right price" for a children's book?

I try to keep the prices on my books as low as I can.

So to keep in the theme of this email/blog post I am offering to you a 41% discount on any of my books for this week only...from 4/30/10 to 5/6/10.

That's less than $6.50 a book. Just enter this code at checkout on my site... R6CBGQ3B

Friday, April 23, 2010

Post to Boast - Volume 3

This weeks topic:
What features attract you (as a parent) to a Children's Book?

For example:
illustrations, certain style?
hard cover vs soft cover?
New vs the classics?

What is it that makes you pick up that book and flip through its pages?

Thanks for your time

Friday, April 16, 2010

Post to Boast - Volume 2

This weeks topic: Favorite Children's Books

My favorite (besides my own of course) is "The Hungry Thing"

Please comment and tell us your favorite. You can do it anonymously.

Friday, April 9, 2010

A Post to Boast - Volume 1

Add your suggestions here for a topic on an upcoming "Post to Boast". Even comment on the name...I'm sure there are better titles out there. We could all save some time and money with suggestions from others that have used or tried things.