Excerpt From my New Book

I do not have a guest this week for Wednesday’s Guest, but I do have a link to my friend, Tracy Farr’s blog where there are some cute cartoons. Check them out if you need to take a break for a little fun.

Today, I am over at The Blood Red Pencil, sharing a bit of my experience with our short story collection, The Corner Cafe.  It has been quite a ride.

To entertain you here, I am posting the opening to a new book that I hope to have available at the end of this month as an e-book.  Boxes For Beds is an historical mystery set in Arkansas in 1961. Enjoy….

“Hush little baby, don’t you cry … ” The plaintive melody whispered in the otherwise resounding silence.

One small candle flickered hesitantly atop the dust encrusted chest of drawers, the feeble light unable to dispel the gloom born of the murky darkness. The yellow flame wafted in a sudden draft, casting macabre patterns on a precarious stack of old boxes supported by an intricate network of cobwebs. The pale light briefly touched a figure hunched over an open trunk.

The figure loomed more like a shadow than a real person and reached out a hand to lightly trace the features of the tiny bundle nestled within the trunk’s musky interior.

“Would you listen to me. Singing to a doll-baby just like you was real.”

Wide, unblinking eyes stared back.

“Sometimes I wish … but no. It’s better this way. If you was was real, then I’d have to tell you to hush for sure. The Man don’t let me play with no real babies. Says I might hurt ’em. But he don’t know. I can be real gentle. Ain’t my fault those others broke. You ain’t gonna do that are you?”

Silence.