Monday, February 24, 2014

Come see us!


Seven Jersey Girl authors!  Great books, great conversation, wine and cheese.  Who could ask for anything more?

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

See what happens when you write out of sequence?

From Mermaids Arms...
Maggie slumped over the big roll-top desk, grabbed the sides with both hands and allowed a few tears to fall onto the ledger in front of her.  She wiped them away quickly, lest someone see her giving in to her emotions.  It was too much.  She’d been through settling her mother in law’s estate, notifying relatives and being ignored by them for weeks.  The only responses she’d gotten from anyone were queries as to how big an estate there was and who would inherit.
   The estate wasn’t big, but there had been some money, which she did not get, even after caring for the old witch for over a year.  “Well, you got to live in that big old house for free, you and your girls.  She never liked you, anyway, girl,” she’d heard in one form or another from several of the loving relatives.
  Loving. Hell. They’d all stayed away from her mother in law for years and years because she was a raving witch, but once the ding dong had sounded, they’d each thought themselves entitled to a piece of the pie.  And, strangely enough, they’d gotten their pieces.  While the old lady had been unbelievably nasty, she had been rather generous to her family...other than her only son’s wife and daughters, her only grandchildren.
   However, and this was the oddest thing, one insurance policy had not been changed over from Bill after his death. Perhaps the old lady thought he still might come back from his watery grave or maybe she’d just forgotten the small policy.  If she had remembered that the policy went to Bill or his next of kin should he predecease her, well, maybe she’d have changed her mind and the beneficiaries.   She hadn’t, though, and after some intense wrangling and threats of lawsuits against her, she now had nearly five hundred dollars to get her and the girls to Ohio.
   She wiped her eyes with the side of her hand and sniffled into her handkerchief.
   No one must see her like this.