A.M. Offenwanger's Blog, page 18
January 22, 2020
#WordlessWednesday: Bread
January 15, 2020
Rescuing the Princes
I tend to get blank looks when I tell people I’m into fairy tales. “Mmm,” they say, nod and smile slightly, then quickly move on to another topic. I can imagine what’s going on behind those humour-the-weird-person smiles: “Fairy tales,” they think. “Princesses singing in meadows, princes riding to the rescue, kissy-kiss, Happily Ever After. Ugh, kiddie stuff. Why would anyone bother?”
Oh, but you’ve got it wrong, people. So very wrong.
Mind you, I don’t blame you. The average English-speaking...
January 5, 2020
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Twelfth Day
[image error]
The Twelfth Day of ChristmasI sprang forward just as the hall door was beginning to close after the last elf had wafted through the opening. I got my foot in the crack, then pushed outward against the heavy steel panel. I was not letting them take Tom from me again. And if I could not free him, then they would have to keep me as well.
Leaving behind me the sound of the confused muttering of the miners...
January 4, 2020
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Eleventh Day
[image error]
The Eleventh Day of ChristmasThe door at the front of the hall swung open, and in trooped the remaining workers of Lord’s late shift.
“About time,” Herb greeted them as the Morris dancers stopped their whirl. “Did you bring the tin whistles?”
The big bearded guy at the front of the line hoisted a pink tote bag, its delicate colour incongruous against the coal dust that was permanently ground into the skin...
January 3, 2020
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Tenth Day
[image error]
The Tenth Day of ChristmasI stumbled through the door of the fake hay shed and emerged into cold darkness. Slowly my eyes adjusted, and I blinked. Not only had I gone from a bright spring day back into a winter night, this wasn’t even the inside of the Whitewell’s dairy barn. I stood in the alley behind the community hall in town, having apparently just stepped out of the back door of the second-hand...
January 2, 2020
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Ninth Day
[image error]
The Ninth Day of ChristmasI stepped through the door of the barn out into the meadow. Birds were singing; flowers were blooming all around—daisies, buttercups, Indian paintbrush, black-eyed Susans, you name it. There were even blinkin’ butterflies fluttering over it all. All that was missing was a frolicking little baah-lamb. Baah, Humbug!
This was baloney. I looked around, trying to orient myself. Would...
January 1, 2020
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Eighth Day
[image error]
The Eighth Day of ChristmasI was out early again on New Year’s Day. The streets in town were dead—all the stores were closed, of course, and not even Dinah’s Diner had the “Open” sign out. But I didn’t need any of them, anyway; I was headed out of town.
Right at midnight, while I had been sniffling into my lonesome glass of champagne in front of the TV that showed the ball dropping in Times Square, the...
December 31, 2019
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Seventh Day
[image error]
The Seventh Day of ChristmasMy work day had never seemed as long as it did on that New Year’s Eve. I snapped at old Ernie Smith when he took so long to decide which antacid he wanted, the 10 or the 20 mg, and had to apologize; and then had to apologize again when I sent a mom with two sneezing, snotty-nosed, whining kids down the wrong aisle in pursuit of cold medicine. Finally, when I realized I had...
December 30, 2019
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Sixth Day
[image error]
The Sixth Day of ChristmasI woke up the next morning with a start. What on earth had I been thinking? It was as if that gorgeous man in Engelhard’s had literally driven Tom from my mind! I snatched up my phone from my bedside table and tried to turn it on. All I got was a blank screen. With a groan I realized I’d forgotten to charge it.
A couple of hours later I was at Mary-Lou’s. “And even once it was...
December 29, 2019
#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Fifth Day
[image error]
The Fifth Day of ChristmasI had to work again the next day. Usually I turn off my phone while I’m working; it’s not cool to have the phone ringing while you’re talking to a customer or, worse, while you’re measuring out pills for a prescription. Pharmacy techs can’t afford to get distracted. But that day, I kept the phone on.
Still no word from Tom.
To distract myself from my—well, I wouldn’t say worries,...
