Tuesday Tales — step inside! Here is where you’ll find entertaining excerpts produced during smiles, tears, and hours of keyboard dancing. These are unedited snippets by a group of hard-working writers, based on word and picture prompts. You can see our works in progress unfold week by week. Today’s picture prompt is river. Make sure to visit the other talented authors of Tuesday Tales.
I was off to see a woman dubbed “the whiskey heiress.” That nickname, however, was not quite accurate.
Bonbon Jarvis lived in a luxury lodge-style cabin way up on a jutting ridge known as Whistling Rock. If you were looking toward the sky from the river road during the day, the lodge resembled a toy house. After dark, the lights from its Olympian perch painted the night a misty gold. I had often gazed on it in admiration. You could almost see yourself up on the ridge with Bonbon as she counted lightning bugs and sipped her father’s special recipe. Or at least that’s how the magazines from my childhood made her out.
Years ago her father, James Jarvis, had generated a hefty stash with his secret and well-guarded whiskey formula. It set him and his nineteen-year-old daughter up in style. Unfortunately, James passed not long after, and the sharks started circling. To everyone’s astonishment, unassuming Bonbon proved to be quite a shrewd cookie. She outmaneuvered everyone, including unscrupulous relatives, and compounded the stash into a mint. Then she built a dream house far above where most two-legged critters would dare to venture. It was said she kept a shotgun at the ready in case of intruders.
But I wasn’t an intruder. I was expected. As one of the few Glisten natives Bonbon still talked to, Doc Parsons had set it up. He was supposed to ride with me but had to cancel at the last minute. “Sorry, Peri gal. Maude Allen’s milker has gone peaked.”
James Jarvis and my godfather had been friends, and the Jarvis name was mentioned a few times in the documents I had found in the trick desk compartment. I hoped the reclusive heiress would be able to shed some light.
A slight haze had settled in. Distant thunder rumbled and dark clouds swirled off to the west side. I kept my fingers crossed there was no deluge to contend with, at least until I was safely up the ridge.
I hope you enjoyed the snippet based on the picture prompt, river. Thanks for stopping by. Read the other amazing excerpts at Tuesday Tales.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Spirited Stories
All rights reserved, copyright @ 2020 Flossie Benton Rogers
Well done. I would like to see that place myself. Hope she gets a few answers!
Her digs are fab! Thank you, Susanne
Fabulous, Flossie. I especially love the descriptive images in the first paragraph.
I’m glad you love that paragraph, Mae. Thanks!
Wonderful snippet! So evocative. I can see myself right behind her on the way. And Bonbon, love the name BTW, sounds like a most interesting character. This is a fabulous story. I’m loving it.
Thank you for the positive words, Jean!
Yet another twist! Loving it!
I’m glad you like the twist, Cathy!
I am very intrigued to meet Bonbon. From her backstory she seems to be quite the character and I hope she has some information to share concerning who the murderer is. Great job!
She interests me, too.
Ahhh. The old mountain cabin and lightning bugs. Reminds me of my childhood in Virginia. Loved the Blue Ridge Mountains and collecting L. bugs in a vented-lid mason jar- and freeing them before going in to a bath and bed. Thanks for evoking wonderful memories. Lovely use of the picture prompt and hoping some answers are forthcoming. Jilian
Thank you for the supportive words, Jillian.
No, no, no! I do NOT want to stop reading yet. You do that to us every week. Get us all hooked and in the scene….and then it stops. I want to read more!
Heh heh. I don’t know what’s with me.