October is halfway over! This past weekend I attended a gathering that the hostess calls a witchy party. There were seven of us, all family, and the hostess holds it every October. We had good vibes and a lot of laughs. Welcome to Tuesday Tales, where writers use word and picture prompts in our stories. This snippet is from a cozy mystery set in fictional Glisten, Georgia. The week’s picture prompt is related to apples. When you finish reading, make sure to visit all the talented authors of Tuesday Tales.
If it was Jacksonville, a news crew would already be here. Glisten didn’t have a tv station. It did have a radio station, but maybe the news director didn’t follow the emergency channels. Still, wouldn’t Bill, as newspaper editor-in-chief, have heard about the murder? I figured it wouldn’t be long before he sent someone over. I had no doubt the online Word of Mouth group had already been fully activated. Grass didn’t grow under those thumbs. Onlookers were here. They resembled gophers, popping up and down, phones in the air. Two uniformed officers prevented outsiders from entering the scene.
I sipped apple tea and thought things over. Robin would go into conniption mode at not being here when I’d found a dead body. Bill had dispatched her to the community college on the other side of Blairsville for the low down on a brewing controversy. An instructor was shaking up the English department with his method of teaching Shakespeare. He had students hurling insults at one another in Shakespeare’s own language, including Elizabethan obscenities and supposed blasphemies. Robin and I thought it might be an effective tool. The students were having a barrel of fun. Several higher ups at the college disagreed. Robin had been enthusiastic last night, but the assignment would be dirt when she learned what she had missed here.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the snippet inspired by the picture of apples. 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 idea of the Elizabethan insults! Great post.
LOL sounds like fun to me, too.
I love, love, love the idea of the students shouting Shakespearian insults at each other- very clever. And I love how you used the picture. Now I want some apple tea- to go along with my sugar free pumpkin latte I want since you posted about it on FB. Jillian
I’m the same way– getting the taste for something when seeing it in print. That Shakespeare trick does sound entertaining. When I had Shakespeare in college, we could choose between reading select plays and writing a long paper or reading all the plays and writing a short paper. I chose the latter (and am so glad) because there were so many I had not read and wanted to. However, a brief session of Insult Therapy would have been a cool addition.
I love that you picked reading them all. I still lack a few in my reading. And yes, insult therapy sounds fun. 🙂
Great snippet! I love the apple tea to get the picture prompt in there. Great job!
Yes, it made me want some.
I love that method of teaching! There are many ways I’ve seen Shakespeare taught. I think it would be effective. Love the scene you set here. Great job!
I think so, too. I’d enjoy taking or teaching it that way.