At our annual post-holiday white elephant swap I selected
the largest box and just about jumped out of my skin when I opened it and saw
lying there.amidst a puddle of red tissue paper a little bitty book. But not just any little-bitty book, but a
fresh-off-the-Barnes-and-Noble bookshelf copy of the latest Mommy Porn book. It
was the most popular book, sales wise, ever. I could feel heat flood my face as
I stared down at the very, very, very, suggestive cover. Me, retired
kindergarten teacher, president of the Ladies Aide society and a Girl Scout
Troup Leader of the Year for the past quarter century, was expected to lift the
book out of the box and pass it around for all to see. This was not the kind of
thing one shared with this audience. "Show us" came a chorus of
church ladies, the youngest of whom was seventy-two. I feared old Mrs. Monroe
would have a heart attack if she saw what was in the box. But the chants got louder and I couldn't very
well NOT show it. So I reached in, and
between pinched fingers, extracted the glossy-covered book and held it high for
all to see. The crowd reaction was
shocked silence, stone-faced disapprovers all. Not a gasp or a titter or snort
to be heard. What would those women
think if they knew my dirty little secret, that I was the author of this
naughty little book? But an author who
was smiling all the way to the bank.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
January Starter Sentence
This month's starter sentence was provided by Sally Parrott writing as Jayne Ormerod.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Our Favorite Passages of 2015
Each year in December our members share their most memorable or favorite passage they have read in the past year. Below is a list of books where we found our 2015 favorites. Maybe you will find a new read for yourself.
Michelle Davenport The Night Before Christmas
Michelle Davenport and Mike Owens The Velveteen Rabbit
Mike Owen "Kindness" (poem)
Jenny Sparks Go Set A Watchman
Pat Clark Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Skip McLamb A Brief History of Time
Karen Harris Blood Bones and Butter
Sally Parrott a Christmas card from a friend
Gina Buzby The Girl On The Train
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
December Starter Sentence
Contributed by Skip McLamb
Today, we discovered the secrete, of that old, black,
hooded, rain slicker hanging on Granny’s back door for the last ten years. My grandparents, Walt and Naomi, were married
in Sampson County, North Carolina in 1914.
They raised a large family.
Anytime Grand Dad Walt, we called him Pap, was asked about his offspring
he would proudly answer, “Naomi and I have eleven children, thirty grand
children, twenty eight great grand children, and two little bastards.” Granny would fuss at him every time he said
that.
Pap would always calmly tell her,
“Naomi, I am just telling the truth. You
know I love those little bastards just as much as the other children.”
After
their annual physical in 1973, four of the older children met with Granny and
Pap to explain that the doctors wanted them to stop using tobacco. Granny enjoyed a pinch or two of Sweet Peach
Snuff every day. Pap was seldom seen
without his Red Man chewing tobacco and his spit can. After much discussion, some of it heated, they
agreed to the tobacco ban. The children,
grandchildren and bastards immediately started making bets on who would cave in
first. Almost ten years later both were
still tobacco free.
Then,
Aunt Margaret saw it all. Aunt Margaret
moved in with my grandparents after her husband passed away in 1980. Her aim was to be their caretaker but, in
reality, Granny and Pap took care of her.
One day she spied Granny heading toward the coat on the back door. She saw Granny reach in the left hand pocket,
pull out a tin of snuff, and take a pinch.
Margaret did not say a word, because she had bet on Grand Dad caving
first and did not want to lose her bet. Just a few days later she saw Pap doing his shuffle
walk toward the backdoor. As he passed
through the door Pap deftly lifted a pouch of Redman from the right hand pocket
of the black slicker. Then he shuffled on
to his workshop.
As word of the misdeeds spread, the
majority opinion was that the two were unaware they were using the same hiding
place. What soon followed was the most
interesting and revealing McLamb family meeting ever held. A meeting so epic, it was mentioned on the
Paul Harvey radio show.
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