Happy January 2, 2017!
There! That’s the first time I’ve written 2017 and it wasn’t hard at all. Now, if I can just keep doing that. I remember when the year 2,000 rolled around…for someone born in the sort-of-mid 1900s, that was hard to do. So, after that milestone, surely 2017 won’t be so difficult to write.
My hope for you and for me this year is we’ll enjoy each day, finding something about it that’s special, notice the small things, take time to listen to a child, be grateful for the freedom and hope we have in this wonderful country, and stride boldly into 2017, remembering to read at least part of a wonderful cozy mystery every day!
By the way, all this week, my guest blog will up on Evelyn Cullet’s website. She did a beautiful job posting it and I really like her happy little New Year’s sign at the top of the page. If you’ll give this link a click, I think you’ll be glad you did. http://evelyncullet.com/blog/ She is promoting the last Darcy and Flora book, Grave Heritage. If you’d like to check out this book, here’s a shortcut to get there: www.amazon.com/dp/B01KPDTHX2
Literalarily speaking, I am loving writing about Nettie Elizabeth Duncan McNeil again. (Ned, for short.) You remember that Moonlight Can Be Murder happened during the month of December and the book ended with everyone at church on Christmas Eve, candles in the windows, singing carols. Well, the new book, By the Fright of the Silvery Moon takes place in the autumn and what a wild autumn it is. Remember Dink Renfroe? In Fright, Ned called him to Granger’s Mansion to build a pet door in the side of her house and it was interesting to hear Dink’s view on a certain deserted cemetery:
Dink Renfroe must have been between jobs because he came as soon as I phoned him the morning after the storm. Soon, he had a nice pet door installed between the kitchen and the fireplace. He put away his tools and stood up, rubbing his back as he did so.
“This arthritis bothers me more, the older I get,” he complained. “I reckon, though, that both your little pets can come and go now as they please.”
I wrote him a check. “Thanks, Dink. You do hard work and I appreciate how neat that door looks. Daisy Stanton told me you take care of a property for her, a beautiful little church and cemetery out in the country.”
Dink nodded. “That’s the old Burnt Stick Cemetery. Yep, I keep grass mowed, keep the inside of the building ship-shape. I like doing that. Kind of feel closer to the Lord inside that church but you couldn’t pay me to mess around that cemetery after dark.”
I laughed. “Why, Dink! Are you superstitious?”
He scratched his head and looked at his feet. “Naw, not superstitious…just don’t feel comfortable out there. I reckon it’d be all right except for old Chief Burnt Stick’s grave. That man was evil.”
I handed him a cup of coffee. “Daisy told me a little bit about him. The story is he was supposed to have hidden some gold around here, wasn’t he?”
Dink nodded his thanks and swallowed a quick gulp of coffee. “That’s the story but there’s also supposed to be a curse on it, just to discourage anybody who might want to go lookin’.”
“It’s probably just an old tale,” I said, “but, Dink, you shouldn’t be superstitious. I don’t believe the Lord would be pleased with that. We’re supposed to trust Him. Chief Burnt Stick may have been rotten but he’s gone now. His spirit is in the hands of God. He can’t hurt anybody any more.”
“Just the same, I ain’t meanin’ to tempt fate,” Dink said. “I do all my work out there during daylight hours.”
By the way, I’ll swap New Year’s Resolutions, which I’m not good at keeping anyway, for Whole Year Success in believing, in keeping faith, in being positive, and never losing sight of hope.
I had black-eyed peas with my family yesterday, and we started 2017 together with everyone healthy and happy. I couldn’t ask for a better start to any year.
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