Listen To Me Honey by Fay Risner

Back in 1989, my husband and I drove from Iowa down to Thayer, Missouri on the Arkansas line to visit his parents, Minnie and Henry Risner. They had been raise in area. It was home, but in 1958, the family moved to Iowa where jobs were easy to find. After the four children grew up, my husband’s parents were home sick for Arkansas so they moved to Thayer for four years. The old country church wasn’t being used much although at the time it was supposed to be the voting place and community center. Wanting to turn back the clock, Minnie and Henry started church at Pleasant Valley again. They didn’t have a big congregation so Minnie acted as a lay preacher. Minnie’s mother led the singing. Henry kept the fire going during the service. Those that came took turns providing a lunch at their homes.

I wrote a short story for a contest about that church service in the country church. Later I added the short story to a novella I wrote called Listen To Me Honey. This story brought back memories for people who lived in the area years ago when the congregation was a large one. One such reader asked me to send her another book. She is donating it to the local library in Salam because the church is on the cover, and because the theme is an Arkansas one. How neat is that, having my book in the library. So here is the cover and the synopsis for the book. It is sold on Amazon and Barnes and Noble if you want to read the story.

 

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Synopsis for Listen To Me Honey

Eighth grader, Amanda Craftton bent to peer pressure. She slipped away from school at lunch time with her friends. They went to the mall to get tattoos. Afterward, one of the friends invites the girls to go home with her to sample a beer. The time got away from them, making them late for math class. The teacher sent them to the principal’s office for a tardy slip. The principal smelled beer on the girls’ breath and suspended the girls from school for the last six weeks of the term. Amanda’s parents don’t seem to be able to make Amanda understand what she did was wrong. Her mother, Iris, decides to send Amanda south to Arkansas. She has to live with her grandparents on their farm for the summer in Pleasant Valley without many modern conveniences. Amanda’s parents hope the elderly couple’s no nonsense ways will teach Amanda a better path to follow. Living with her grandparents, Amanda certainly knows when she goofs, because Grandma Tansy is quick with a lecture that starts “Listen to me, Honey.”

So if you are interested pick up a copy and enjoy,

Fay Risner