Tuesday Tales: Writing Win

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 word prompt is win. Make sure to visit the other talented authors of Tuesday Tales.

All eyes turned on me. One man, apparently an usher of sorts, had waved me in from his doorway perch and then disappeared through another door. Eleven people were seated in the overstuffed chairs set up in the richly furnished room overlooking Glisten’s main street. A few looked surprised, one or two mildly curious, but most displayed no reaction at all to my appearance. One smiled and patted the empty chair adjacent hers. That would be Opal Douglas, now Montrose, my deceased godfather’s newest wife, whom I had met once.

“Just in time,” she whispered, consulting the bejeweled timepiece adorning her wrist.

I nodded, not wanting to go into the particulars of jobs that had to be rescheduled or a long drive involving an affectionate cocker spaniel who was, at this very moment, undoubtedly in the middle of my creaky double bed at the Magnolia Inn.

Finally, a man tottered in through an adjoining door. I concluded it was Clive Hawtrey, the attorney who had summoned this gathering. With him was the usher from before, carrying a tray lined with of bottles of water, which he arranged on a side table. Also accompanying Mr. Hawtrey was a fifty-something woman who had the solicitous demeanor of a long-time assistant or secretary. She got him seated at the front of the room with his glasses and a document from which she removed the banker’s clip. Then she took a seat in the front row, ready with pen, pad, and recorder.

Mr. Hawtrey cleared his throat. “We are gathered here for the reading of Part One of the Last Will and Testament of Pershing Squire Montrose, a preliminary document as it were.”

Opal gasped beside me, and a voice from behind us blurted, “Preliminary document?”

“If you please, Mr. Upshaw, although unusual, all is according to Mr. Montrose’s explicit wishes. I shall continue.” He lifted the document.

The Last Will and Testament of Pershing Squire Montrose, Part One of Two or perhaps Three, depending upon the subsequent actions of those gathered here. To my dear wife Opal, who has lifted my final days with her grace and good humor, I begin by advising, Fear not, and grieve not. Rather, live full and lend a hand as you see fit to the accomplishment of the requests and conditions herein stated. Forthwith comes the dawn. With ingenuity and perseverance over uncertainty and possible mendacity, we shall win the day.

I hope you enjoyed the snippet based on the word prompt win. 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