Happy May Day! It’s time for Tuesday Tales, May 2, 2023, where we use word and picture prompts in the stories we’re writing. I am working on a cozy mystery. Today’s word prompt is intense. Peri has arrived at the hotel in Glisten, Georgia. When you finish reading my snippet, make sure to visit all the talented authors of Tuesday Tales.
My heart raced as I pulled into the driveway of what locals still call the August Crow Hotel. I rolled past the Tea Thyme entrance on the side and around to the parking lot in back. Though I had visited the tearoom on occasion over the years, my old home lived mostly in my memories, a ghostly structure breathing with its own poignant but intense energy. It surged within me like a murmuring, low level electrical jolt running over and under my skin. The memory house came replete with its own smell, its own signature music. When I opened my mind’s door and walked in, the emotions of its signature song plumped out each cell of my being. Distant but familiar people lived here–my mother, father, and three-year-old me. We had been happy.
It gave me a pang to see the tearoom closed again. Good for my godfather to take on its rebirth.
“The crew looks to be working hard,” Dovie said in a low voice, exiting from the car. “Jack would be glad.”
I nodded. “He said he wanted Tea Thyme open for Halloween.”
“Oh, yes, the ghosts, you know.” She smiled at me, as if we shared a secret.
I blinked, for a moment thinking she had been reading my mind about my memory phantoms. Then I realized she spoke of the hotel’s haunted reputation. I must have been in some kind of fugue state, because only now did sounds of heavy work and hammering bombard the air. Two men were on the roof, unrolling a green strip of something, and several more were in various states of unloading, carrying, fitting, and constructing.
I glanced at the gazebo, flanked by overgrown gardens—both herb and flower. Marcella Strickland had taken good care of the herb garden last time I was here. Now it could use a good dose of tender loving care.
Dovie pulled a key from her purse, and I followed her to the back door.
We walked down the hall, passing the tearoom on our left that decades ago had been created from a receiving parlor. The income it generated had kept the home/boarding house/hotel afloat off and on during the bad years. It had been closed and reopened several times.
“Luella should be someplace about,” Dovie said. “There’s her bedroom.” She pointed. “Jack set it up for her to be close to the kitchen.”
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the snippet inspired by the word prompt intense.
If you haven’t done so already, check out the other excerpts at Tuesday Tales.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Spirited Stories
All rights reserved, copyright @ 2023 Flossie Benton Rogers
Love the way you describe the place.
I’m glad you love the way the place is described. Thanks for stopping by, Susanne.
I’m looking forward to the next excerpt.
I’m pleased you are looking forward to the next excerpt. Thanks for commenting, Loretta.
Lovely post his week. This is part just lyrical: “my old home lived mostly in my memories, a ghostly structure breathing with its own poignant but intense energy. It surged within me like a murmuring, low level electrical jolt running over and under my skin. The memory house came replete with its own smell, its own signature music. When I opened my mind’s door and walked in, the emotions of its signature song plumped out each cell of my being.”
Beautifully done! Jillian
Oh, I’m so glad you like that passage! Thank you for the kind comments.
❤️
So well written, as usual! I love the name Tea Thyme! I like how her memories of the past are woven into this scene.
Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comments, Trisha:)
Brilliant, evocative writing, as usual. You make the place come alive through your words. It’s almost as if it’s also a character in the story. Well, in fact it is Even though it has no dialogue, you make it speak. So beautifully written. Great job!
Aww, I really appreciate your kind assessment. Thank you so much, Jean.
Love the imagery of the hotel and the activity going on around it. I also love her memories and the ghosts they create. Great job!