The Trouble with Dessert

For the next few blogs it will be Mystery. A mystery story that is and at the end, we'll see who knows what happened. This is my first attempt so please excuse the mistakes. Unless there are many then by all means, burn me at the stake. Here we go:



Mary never liked eating in the cafeteria. It was always full of noise and strange odors. However, because of her short lunch hour, she was forced to eat in the cafeteria more times then she cared to remember. Her boss, Mr. Hughs would take a 3-hour all-expense paid lunch at one of the finer restaurants in town. This left Mary with his workload. She didn't mind. She preferred her boss to be out of the office more than not. Today, she was shocked though at Mr. Hughs' choice to take a long lunch. His boss had stopped in for one of his surprise visits. Apparently, they were not impressed with Mr. Hughs' expense sheet. Mr. Hughs got raked over the coals till his face was the color of melted lava. It remained that way a long time after his boss had left. However, about an hour before Mary's usual lunch time, Mr. Hughs approached Mary with a conspiratorial smile upon his face.
"Mary, make reservations for two at Chez Monique for 1 p.m.," he told her.
"Yes Mr. Hughs," Mary was always getting in trouble for speaking her mind. That is why she couldn't resist saying, "Do you think that is wise after the visit from Mr. Cragicze?"
"Not that it is any of your business, but I don't think Mr. Cragicze will be anymore trouble," Mr. Hughs, knowing Mary's capacity for questions, left after making that statement.
Mary made the reservations at the most expensive restaurant in town. She wondered the whole time about Mr. Hughs' comment. Mr. Cragicze was the co-owner of the company. There was no way that Mr. Hughs could muscle him out of his current position. Maybe Mr. Hughs had a big connection to the other owner. Mary decided to go get coffee. Not for the coffee itself, but to receive information from some fellow gossip lovers. It must be a good day for Mary because the biggest information gatherer was sitting at a table sipping her coffee gingerly. This meant two things, that she had information that she desperately wanted to share and that her coffee was very hot. Mary made her coffee and then sat down. She really couldn't afford the time without staying late that evening. She felt like this might be worth it though.
"Hi Kim, how is your day going?" Mary asked.
"Good Mary, I heard you had quite the morning."
"Not me so much as Mr. Hughs."
"I could hear Mr. Cragicze all the way down at my desk. I don't know why he bothers though."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Well, Mr. Hughs is married to Mrs. Hughs who owns the other half of this company.""I was wondering. He is eating today at Chez Moniques."
"I am shocked to hear that."
"Really, why?"
"This is just office gossip. However, I heard that Mr. Hughs is banned from Chez Moniques. His wife had him banned for bringing his latest armcandy there for lunch."
"That is very tacky."
"True. Mrs. Hughs allows his affairs as long as she doesn't hear about them. Taking them to her favorite restaurant is a different matter all together."
"I would say so!"
"Do you know, I wonder if that's why Mr. Cragicze chewed Mr. Hughs out this morning?"
"How do you mean?"
"Maybe Mr. Hughs wife has had enough. I heard CiCi talking on the phone. She was making an appointment for Mrs. Hughs' with her attorney."
"I didn't know that Mrs. Hughs worked here in the office."
"She doesn't. Her specialties are shopping and taking long vacations. CiCi was having a slow morning and so she received the phone call from Mrs. Hughs."
"Why call the secretary pool to make a personal phone call? Oh, I think I know. To spread around the fact that she is seeing her attorney. She won't be divorcing Mr. Hughs anytime soon."
"Why not?"
"She is letting him know in a roundabout way that he better tow-the-line. She must have worked here one time to realize how fast office gossip spreads."
Kim felt a little offended by this remark. She knew she was the one to spread most of the gossip. She quickly grabbed her coffee and said goodbye to Mary. Mary went back to her desk and worked until her stomach demanded some sustenance. She hoped that by stopping off at the horrific cafeteria she would save some of the time she wasted. She waited in the unbelievably long line. Unbelievable in the fact that this many people actually ate at the cafeteria. When she finally got to the food, there wasn't much left except a grayish Jell-O mold. Not surprising, no one else had touched it. She looked at the lunch lady in hope of more food. She just shook her head and pointed to the Jell-O. Mary went over to the mold and tried to decide whether she would take the plunge. It had a strange white looking filling. She peered closer. That is when she realized eyes were looking back at her through the Jell-O. Those eyes had no more life in them however and they belonged to Mr. Cragicze!

Reading truly inspires writing

I have wondered today about the fact that I love history. I'm reading Agatha Christie's autobiography. It is full of history from a first-hand look. What I'm wondering about is the fact that I never talked to my own grandmother about history that she lived through. We were talking about things I found funny and interesting in Mrs. Christie's book. Then I told how my grandmother quit school because of the great depression. I don't know if that's why or exactly the whole story. Counting my grandmother would have been 6 in the great depression. At least, at the start of it. Obviously, I need more details. I wonder how many times we miss perfect opportunties as writers. I love watching people, but I hardly use them for my writing. I believe that is where I make a mistake. My characters would be more alive if I concentrated more on people. I have made the suggestion of people-watching for a weekend activity. The family isn't so game. I believe I'm going to try again. However, that isn't truly my point. I think we take for granted the people in our life. Many have lived through things that we only read about in books. Well, things I read about. I get so engrossed with descriptions of the time period. I never thought that my grandmother could tell me some firsthand events. I only rolled my eyes through her stories. Now I would give anything to hear them again. Now, I will pump my mother. She has endured through some major life events. I don't mean things that we all must cope about, but the events we read about in history books. My mom was alive with the shooting of JFK. She lived with the sensation of the Beattles, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and many others. I am already enjoying the things she shares. Mind you, I do have those choice relatives I never want to speak too, but the good ones are worth the time. I hope I never take advantage of the fine vault of information I can receive.

Why Cats know when we are doing something important?

I mean it. Every time I start to work on something one of my two cats insist on coming over and sitting down right in front of the computer screen. Or whatever thing I am working with at the moment. I have been sitting here reading one of my favorite bloggers, Dick Stodghill. No cat. I decided I needed to write more to my blog. I get all ready to go, signed in and to the right page and sure enough a cat comes along. He doesn't just stop in to say hi, no he sits in between the computer and myself. He has to rub his dirt invested furry self in my face. Then they are highly offended that I didn't want them to sit in their desired locations. The adult cat is also guilty of this offense. I don't know how they sense it. I can be sitting here for hours doing mundane things, but the second I want to start actually doing some work poof there is a black vision. (Both have black fur, one is black and white) Then to show me that they don't appreciate my lack of excitement for their generosity in allowing me to pet them, they do a full body clean. Right next to me, making sure to stay within my vision. Their next favorite thing to do is run by just at the moment that my hands are full. They particularly like it if my hands contain food. That way, I spill the food. This leads to them enjoying a nice snack. Which I must say, is the only reason they tolerate the girls. Little girls are always spilling tasty morsels for them to pick up. As long as they get to it before the dog. The dog has her issues also, but at least she does it by accident. Whenever she barks and wakes up the baby, she has the decency to look ashamed. She is embarrassed and very sorry for intruding on the family. Not with the cats. Apparently, we intrude upon them. They feel that six a.m. is the perfect time for them to eat. We have the nerve to sleep. They believe that the bed is theirs. Just because they allow us to sleep in their beds does not mean we can pick our location. Sure, their tails stick out five inches from their bodies. That does not give us the right to step on them. Who cares that you can't see them in the dark. It's not their fault that humans aren't as superior as cats with their night vision. If my cats had computers, I'm sure they would be writing on their blogs complaints about us humans. I can see them now. I'll leave their blogs to your imigination. I have to go feed the cats.

What Now?

Okay, I'm not hitting it off well with this blogging system. I have no problem informing people about the daily life with my children. I guess maybe I should write stories with children in it then I can blog about it. I agree that made no sense. I find that children are a taboo subject. Except for maybe the funny things they do. I should say the raising of children is taboo. That is besides the point I wanted to make. I suppose that is my problem with my whole blog outlook. I'm trying to make a point. Today, I'm going to skip that and just complain. I watched a movie last night all about an author. The man wrote one book, got in touch with an agent, sold the copyright for 300,000 dollars and sold many copies making his book a bestseller. Okay, how many times does that actually happen. Seriously, I want to know. I agree that I don't write bestseller material. Maybe I will someday. I've also learned that I don't usually read bestsellers either. I love to read but the authors I tend to like are not on that list. I'm not sure why. I read people who were bestsellers and then died. That would make my last sentance a lie. I do read bestsellers but not from this time period. But that takes away from my point. See there I go again trying to make a point. I think that making movies about people making tons of money on one book is a tad misleading. I'm not saying movie makers shouldn't do this, I'm saying my family should stop thinking I'm going to be bringing home millions. Oh, that is the other thing, the man wrote the book in about two months! Without editing. That truly is fantasy. Ask a famous bestselling author how this makes them feel. That is my thoughts today. I guess it fits my Have you ever wondered question. I'm not exactly sure how, but maybe you can make the connection.

Phil Whitley or as we like to call him Brew

Now on to authors I've actually had the pleasure to talk to myself. Starting with:
Phil Whitley:
How many of us had our favorite storyteller? Everytime they came around we would beg and plead for them to tell us a story. That is Phil Whitley. He told his stories for many years. Only orally though, he felt that he was unqualified to write them down. Then at the age of 50, Phil’s daughter was born. He was afraid that all those family stories would be lost by the time she would be able to enjoy them. He wrote a story that he called ‘Stories From My Childhood’. He still was unsure about his abilities, nevertheless Phil would send his stories online for his friends to enjoy. They enjoyed them so much that they finally convinced Phil that he should submit them to be published. Now we can all enjoy this fine storyteller. I suggest checking out the beautiful illustrations and learn more about his book at his website. www.PhilWhitley.com

King and Leroux

Today my topic is Stephen King and Gaston Leroux. Many have heard of the first one, but what about the second?
Leroux started out writing as a theatre critic. Then he became a journalist, however he loved the writing of ones like Poe, Dumas, and Doyle. He decided to write his own thrillers. They were very successful. One was entitled The Mystery of The Yellow Room. It was one of the first 'locked-room' mysteries. His most famous title though seems to fade out his name with another, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Leroux was the original author of 'The Phantom of The Opera.' Contrary to my other authors who have since died, his death was more of the normal variety. Unfortunately, he lived high of the high life and because of it he died from it.

Stephen King
He started out writing to help pay off his school loans. He wrote short stories for mens magazines. His first professional one was 'The Glass Floor' written for Starting Mystery Stories. He soon started his teaching job and continued to write short stories on the weekend. His first novel, Carrie, was accepted in the springtime. The rest is history.
I hope that I've been able to express my thoughts. It doesn't matter where an author gets their start. Talent comes from all sources.
Next time, I'll be starting my series on Publish America authors. I believe that they are extremely talented and people need to hear more about them. I'll be starting with Phil Whitley. Hope to see you then.

Ernest Hemingway and Edgar Allen Poe

Ernest Hemingway and Edgar Allen Poe
Tonight on my list of authors is Ernest Hemingway and Edgar Allen Poe.
I'll begin with Hemingway. He knew from a young age that he wanted to be a writer. He started working on his high school newspaper. Being denied by his father to join the army during the first World War, he became a journalist for Kansas City Star. He wrote many things and is very well known. However, he never seemed to find contentment.
Speaking of the discontented, Edgar Allen Poe. He's as much a mystery today as when he was alive. Many scholars disagree to what his life was really like. He started writing poetry, but his first book of poems was never published. We still quote his poetry today. He's still extremely well-known.
What's very sad about both of these extremely talented men is that they both were so unsatisfied with their life. There is a certain morbid theme here. It is completely by accident. However, the three authors that are no longer alive, all have adnormal deaths. Stay tune next time for Gaston Leroux and Stephen King.

Thank you to the following websites for the information I used:
http://www.eapoe.org/, http://www.ernest.hemingway.com/, http://www.jkrowling.com/
Agatha Christie from her Autobiography