LIST OF CHARACTERS WITH BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS

Meet the characters in my novel.

Yvonne Brianka was orphaned at age seven and shipped off to a Catholic orphanage, where she is treated as a third rate citizen because of her Jewish father. Her dad has disappeared. Her younger sister Lisa insists he was lynched.

Somewhere along the way Yvonne picks up the nickname of Vonnie. When she left the orphanage at age 16, she went to work for the Rinaldis, the wealthiest family in town. One night she is gang raped by two violent young men, and soon she discovers she is pregnant. Knowing her predicament, Ezekiel Cheney offers to marry her. He is a Civil War veteran seventy years her senior, who expects nothing but housekeeping from her. He fulfills the father role for her and her son.

Vonnie eventually takes over as manager of Almasy House, a historic old hotel. But her problems are far from over. Her son’s death was ruled accidental, but she knows he was murdered. And whoever killed her baby is still out there.

When her sister is accused of murdering her son. Vonnie gets the town snoop, a hippy girl named Penny Payton, involved in proving her sister’s innocence.

Lisa Brianka talks about hanged men and drowned babies. People say she’s crazy. She’s witnessed violent death, and now a serial killer targets her.

Jack Brianka spent a year in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now people say he’s mobbed up. It could be true.

Dylan Mynter’s first wife cheated on him; his second wife, Lisa Brianka, is crazy and his daughter is a freak.

Lucinda Rinaldi takes in strays. She’ll help anyone in need. But then the Klan discovers she’s a black woman passing as white.

Penny Payton is the town snoop. She’s discovered several of the town’s secrets. But a serial killer needs to shut her up.

MY HIPPY NAME

If I were a hippy, what would my hippy name be?

I think it would be leaf. Long ago a friend named me Leaf because when he met me I had a leaf in my hair. One of the few half way decent poems I ever wrote was about leaves, and I think of myself as a person changing and light hearted like a leaf.

But I would need two names. For some reason hippies have two names.

I will stick with just the one for now.

WRITING PROMPT: USE STORY SONGS TO MAKE SHORT STORIES

As I was doing my exercises this morning, I noticed “El Paso” by Marty Robbins in the mix. That was a big hit around 1960, but most people have probably forgotten the tune.

I named one of my cats Felina, after the girl the cowboy falls in love with in the song. He sings, “Nighttime would find me in Rosa’s Cantina. Music would play and Felina would whirl… My love was deep for the Mexican maiden.”

I love story songs, and I thought about the cowboy, Felina, the handsome young stranger, and Rosa.

Writing prompt: Take a story song, and write a short story about one of the characters?

For instance: What was Felina like as a girl? After the cowboy died, who did she marry? Did she tell her husband about these men? Did she have children? How many?

Get crazy. What if my calico cat Felina, is the Felina from the song reincarnated. Perhaps two of my other cats, Lancelot and Dodger were the cowboys who in another lifetime loved her. Now they all live together as a spayed and two neutered cats in a household.

How would each of these cats tell their “El Paso” story?


 Too silly? That is okay because when we are writing we can get silly. Make up incredible stories. Have fun.

MEET MY NEW ROOF

As I drove home from my morning volunteer cleaning shift, I saw the trucks on our lawn, and knew our new roof was being laid. The new copper penny roof looked like a second sunrise in the morning as the sun reflected on its bright surface.

“Good morning,” I called to the roofers. “It’s beautiful, and redder than I thought it would be.”

The foreman said the color would change at different times of the day, and in different seasons.

I imagine our roof shining up at the heavens, imitating the sun.

A new roof will keep the attic cool even when the temperature outside blazes. I wonder what it will look like under street lights at night.

I never thought much about roofs before. I can’t tell you much about the old roof except that it was grey asphalt. I don’t remember roofs of houses from when I was growing up.

But I like this roof. It has a 200 plus watt smile. I smile back at it.

All Lives Matter, The Legacy of Sandra Bland

Sandra Bland was an eloquent spokesperson for Black Lives Matter. She knew that all lives matter. Her tragic death reminded us of that. Her arrest video was painful to watch because it was a classic example of bullying. I have known too many bullies in my life.

Everyone dislikes bullies, but we all bully sometimes. Some people are easy victims. We can yell at the store clerk for mixing up our order; we can yell at the waitress when the kitchen burned our steak. We justify our bullying. He did something stupid. She should have known better. Bullying is often misdirected anger.

We are frustrated when things go wrong. We need to take it out on somebody. Kick the dog; scream at the kids; pull a trembling woman from her automobile and label it resisting arrest.

We all have power over someone, and when we misuse that power, the technical term is bullying.

Let’s find find other ways to deal with our frustrations.

Otherwise we might end up on candid camera like that policeman and the beautiful and eloquent Sandra Bland.

Sandy, we need you back to stand up for what is right. We need you to be our spokesperson again. You stood up for what was wrong. You died showing us what was wrong.

LEARNING HACK- PRACTICE LOOKING FOR ANSWER CLUES IN TEST QUESTIONS

Students, do you want to practice taking tests and understanding tests strategies? Go to freekibble.com. Try to answer the daily dog trivia question there and then click on Freekibble Kat and answer the daily cat trivia question. Most questions have clues to the answers. If you can work out the answer from the clues, this is great practice for looking for clues in school tests.

And those clicks earn free food for animal shelters.

Then click on Free Kat Litter. No question here, but it only takes a second, and that click earns free litter for animal shelters and rescue groups.

NEW CHAIR, OLD CATS

I have a new office chair, but I am hiding it under colorful beach towels. The towels add color and fun to my office. More important they protect the chair from the cats.

Lancelot, a huge grey cat about ten year old, hurries over to the chair and climbs up to the back where he hangs on like the chair is a bucking bronco about to throw him. The old chair was a rocker, and I used to sometimes forget he was there. Lancelot learned that he has to hang on, but I don’t want him hanging on. I hope he will cling to the beach towels and not to the new chair.

Kira, a younger cat is a climber too. The chair is in front of the book case, and it is part of her daily climb. I didn’t mind the climbing or the clinging with the old chair. It had some of its stuffing pulled out by cat paws, and I used the beach towels to hide the damage to the chair.

I hesitated to get a new office chair. I thought the cats would quickly destroy it. They’re working on it.

I have cats. so fancy furniture is not on my want list. Even the floor and walls get some mistreatment. We need to paint, but this year we are putting on a new steel roof and solar panels.

We have all indoor cats so the roof should be safe. My new office chair, however, is in danger from cat claws.

But this chair is new. I want it to last for awhile. I scold Kira. I pull Lancelot off when his claws are sunk deep into the chair.

I have taken Lancelot off the chair several times, and he seems to be okay on the desk. For now.

Cats seem to think new furniture needs to be clawed up, so it looks more cat friendly.