 Matt -
It's no joke! I swear it really happened! The case of Bella, Book, & Flashlight is officially open! Here are the details: Bella was placed on the doormat, wet. The book was facedown and opened to random crinkled pages. The flashlight was, well, a flashlight, but was left at the top of the stairs, not next to Bella like the book. I can't make sense of it. - KC
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 Matt -
Remember when we were kids and solved mysteries? Like The Case of the Soda Pop Dandelions? Where we followed footsteps in the dirty, found a patch of the neighbor's law, without dandelions, and Lucy's doll? I think the Curious Kids need a 20 year reunion... because I found Bella, my cat, dead on my doorstep with a flashlight and a tattered, water-worn copy of Moby Dick. What do you think? -KC  Stay tuned for a new special series! These are mini-mysteries are written via postcards. Yes, they really do get sent out and the recipient reads one card (clue?) one week (or so) at a time! The mini-mysteries, however, are all fiction.
I am excited about this exercise--as I buy postcards every time I travel and they mostly sit in a box for years. Wait, does this mean I get to write off my next trip as a business expense? Ha! Stay tuned because this series is coming at ya soon!!  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. It was time, Tina could feel it. It was late spring and the window was left open just a bit so that the crickets serenaded her from afar. The last stroke left Tina's right side nearly useless. Even her grandkids couldn't understand her, couldn't have fun and make memories with her. Before Gemma had left that day, Tina asked her to dig out that old Wish Journal and leave it on the table beside the bed, next to the dinner she didn't have an appetite to eat. She grabbed the pencil foreignly with her left hand and then opened to a clean page in the journal. She rested her dead right arm on it as a paper weight, to keep it from closing on her. Shakily, she began to write the final entry in her Wish Journal. Wish #19: I wish a world of luck and happiness upon my daughter, Gemma. My last wish is for my dear Gemma: the child I hoped and prayed for and loved more than my own life. My wish is that she lives a long a fulfilling life, full of good choices, happy memories, and to always find the positive side.
I wish she will live every day knowing I loved her, up until my last breath and beyond. Both her father and I love her very, very much.  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. Tina was at that age where it hurt to move. Ever since her mild stroke, she had been living in an assisted-living home. Each morning she woke up with the sun illuminating her hospital-like room. She would shuffle down to the Common Room on good days. But on days like today, she sat in the wheel chair beside her bed and watched television until a nurse came in with a meal or medicine. Once a week Gemma would visit with eight year old Vivian and three year old Max. Tina's heartstrings pulled knowing that her grandchildren would never know their grandfather because those memories of Mitch never left her. One could say she almost eagerly waited to be reunited with him, if it wasn't for the weekly visits from her grandchildren. She was having a painful morning, most likely because the grandkids came for a visit yesterday and Tina walked up and down the hallway and out into the garden with them, smiling and laughing at her prodigy. She would have a nap today, there was no doubt about that, and an early bedtime. For now, though, she watched the morning news coverage on the war, the flooding, the hurricane that hit the gulf, and the clear signs of climate change that silly politicians denied half her lifetime ago. She tisked at the state of the world. Then an idea formed in her head, one could tell from the way her head tilted and her eyes drifted from the television set to the cedar chest in the corner. With creaking bones and sore muscles, she used her feet to move the wheel chair into the corner and bent down into the cedar chest. She rummaged around the few precious belongings she was able to keep when the house was sold and she moved into the home. The Wish Journal was old. The leather cover was dried and flaking off in the corners. Some of the pages were warped with moisture and turning colors. There were enough pages for twenty-five wishes, but she knew she didn't need them all. Wish #18: I wish for a better planet for my grandchildren. I wish humankind would get their act together and think of each other instead of themselves. Maybe then Mother Nature would stop punishing them and the innocent.
I wish we could take care of our planet and work with it instead of against it. I wish for a better planet for my grandchild. I wish their children and their children and their children will know what fresh fruit tastes like and the feel of soft grass beneath their feet, and that the sky is blue and the taste of fresh, crisp water. I don't want them to ever go without the simple pleasures that make this life worth living. I wish humankind loved one another as much as they love themselves.  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. It was a cold day in October when another notice came from the bank, threatening to repossess the house unless the mortgage was paid. It's funny; when Mitch and Tina bought the house, they thought they were on track. They made all the right decisions. Then, when Mitch was laid off, they hit a tough spot they barely crawled out from under. And when Mitch got sick a few years back, the medical bills started to add up. The thought of it all still made Tina's stomach knot. It had been years, nearly 32 of them, since Tina last pulled out the Wish Journal. She had all but forgotten about it until her heavily pregnant daughter, Gemma, found it while putting away her mother's laundry. "Hand me that, Gemma. And a pen, too," Tina instructed and with her arthritic hands she began to write, despite Gemma's pessimism. Wish # 17: I wish I could keep this house. I wish to keep this house and home. I wish to wake up every morning for the remainder of my life in my bed, shuffle into the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee, and sit in my blue arm chair to watch television, visit with friends and neighbors, and make all who enter feel at home.
And while home can really be anywhere, I wish to remain in this house where I can live out my days with the memories of Mitch hiding in the corners. I want this to be the house my grandchild remember and where we can make memories that will last longer than me. This place is my livelihood and I wish to keep it.  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. Tina was sitting at the kitchen counter with Gemma. Though her daughter was only five, her long blonde hair nearly reached her lower back and Tina liked to keep it in pigtails to keep it out of her daughter's face. They were practicing how to write Gemma's name using both upper and lower case letters even though Gemma was partial to using all capital letters; she liked to be noticed. They could hear the garage door open from where they sat and Tina prayed silently for positive news as she smiled and told Gemma what a good job she was doing. This was Mitch's third interview at the boxing plant and it was only forty minutes from the house. As a family, they really needed good news. They needed a win. It seemed to take forever for the door to the attached garage to open and Tina could feel the cold grasp of anxiety take hold of her heart. Finally the door opened and Mitch appeared. There was a darkness in his eyes when Tina caught his gaze. He only shook his head slightly and the corner of his mouth dipped into a frown until Gemma ran into his arms. Tina's shoulders slumped. It was bad enough that they were running low on their savings, but seeing Mitch getting beat up by job interviews that went nowhere was a punch to the gut. That night, when Mitch was sleeping restlessly in bed, Tina pulled out the Wish Journal that she kept tenderly tucked away in her sock drawer. Wish #16: I wish Mitch could find work. We had it all planned. Everything was set. We got married and paid off the wedding. We saved and bought a house. We saved and put money into a high-interest savings account for a rainy day. We budgeted. We didn't use credit cards. We did everything we were supposed to do. Mitch was laid off when the plant closed and that was two years ago.
Sure, I still have my job which is getting us by, but our savings is nearly drained. Mitch has been looking. Bless his heart because he has tried. He has tried so hard. He's gone as far as Bozeman and Tacoma, but no one is hiring. Please. I wish Mitch could get work. Perhaps a stable job with benefits, if it's not too much to ask. I wish my family wouldn't go through hard times like mine did as a kid.  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. Tina sighed away the tears that were threatening to form. Another negative pregnancy test. She dreaded having to tell Mitch that another month went by without a positive. She buried her face in her hands, rocking back and forth just to feel something, even if it was only the cold hard porcelain of the bathtub beneath her. "I wish..." Tina said to herself and stopped. Raising her head, she licked her lips and slowly rose from the edge of the bathtub, throwing the plastic stick of broken dreams into the bin. She went to her closet and searched the boxes of old journals and letters. Her fingers slid across the spines of the books on display in the office and yet she still couldn't find what she was looking for. It had been so long--ten years now?--since she last saw it. That was two apartments and a condo ago. Finally, in a dusty cardboard box in the garage marked, "Tina's Junk," she triumphantly emerged with the Wish Journal. Technically, she didn't believe what she wrote would come true, but she did find her soulmate and married him. Now all she wanted was a child. They both did. After four years of trying, and twelve months of really trying, she was desperate. Wish #15: I wish we could conceive a beautiful, healthy child. I wish trying to have a kid was fun again and not a chore full of monthly trepidation. I wish Mitch and I could have children--at least one. I wish I could be a mother and Mitch could be a father. We would be such great parents.
I wish I could give my mother a grandchild. And while Carly is very happy with Gina, they don't ever plan on adopting. It is up to me and I want a child more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life. I love that child already and I just want to give it a chance. I wish all children could be loved as much as I love my unborn, not-yet-concieved notion of my prodigy.  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. The wooden pendulum clock chimed ten o'clock when Tina walked through her front door. The winter's night had made everything seem so cold and dark. Kicking off her shoes with unnecessary force, Tina desperately tried not to cry in frustration. She threw her coat on the ground instead of hanging it on the back of the chair like she always did; like she was punishing it for not meeting her expectations. Tina pulled out a bottle of wine--she seemed to be spending more and more of her grocery budget on the stuff lately--and plopped down on the couch with a grunt. It was supposed to be a romantic dinner. Tina had been dating Henry for a year now. All signs led to the big question. It was a fancy restaurant and Tina dressed for the occasion. What had happened? she mused, taking a large gulp of the cheap Merlot. Henry's big announcement was that he was leaving for Japan. For work. He didn't even ask Tina to follow him, not that she would have... or would she? Henry was different. He held open doors, he had a great job, he owned his own house. He was supposed to be The One. Again, Tina let out an aggravated sigh and reached for the television remote, but stopped herself. With iron-clad decision and determination, she rose from the couch still in her best dress and pantyhose. She turned the corner to her dark bedroom and appeared a minute later, fingering the pages of a book. No, not a book; the Wish Journal. For the first time Tina found the book instead of waiting for it to find her. Sure, it was a silly childhood pastime, but right now it was all she had in terms of hope. Wish #14: I wish to meet my soulmate and fall in love. I wish I would meet my soulmate and we'd fall in love and live happily ever after and soon. I wish I met a man who had a full time job, lived in his own place, and had never been to jail. I want to meet a gentleman who respects me. One who treats the waiters with respect and tips more than 5%. I wish I met the man of my dreams who loves me more than I love myself... way more than I love myself.
I wish such a man exists and we find each other at work, on lunch at the corner bistro, or at the coffeeshop, or, heck, I'll even go hiking on the weekend if that's where he will be. I'm so tired of being alone. I'm tired of fighting for the hope--the dream--that it will ever happen. I wish love found me.  NOTE: This series chronicles the wishes Tina writes in the Wish Journal she received from her aunt when she turned 13. To better understand Tina's character, be sure to read her other wishes in chronological order. Currently, Tina was a secretary to an advertising agency in Boise. She hated to be so far from her mom and sister, but it was the only work she could find--and she struggled for years to land a full-time job. Carly had opted out of college and started attending beauty school--how Tina wished she could be closer and support her little sister. Then again, skipping college was probably the better route, according to the student loan debt that was lurking in the background of her life, ready to pounce on the first of each month. Tina sighed as she read her bank account statement. Between rent, a car payment, and student loans, she had little to no money. While wondering if spaghetti or canned soup would be on the menu tonight, the rickety shelf on the wall behind her crashed to the floor. She cursed under her breath when she saw that the picture frame of her father had broken. It wasn't the first time, but it still irritated her. Books tumbled to the ground and The Wish Journal fell open at her feet. All the dread and negativity that had filled her moments before had vanished. A smile crossed her lips. She began to associate the presence of the Wish Journal with her aunt, though she had departed this world. It had been nearly four years since Aunt Gemma was taken, but the pain was still so real, so raw. The journal was a wave or an encouraging hug from her aunt and she loved that the gift she got for her thirteenth birthday kept on giving. Wish #13: I wish to win the lotto. I don't wish for a lot, but a small lottery winning would do. I don't need all $40 million, just enough to pay off my debt, pay for Carly's beauty school, and give Mom enough so that she can retire. She's worked so much for Carly and me, she deserves something too.
I wish I could win the lottery, just enough money to get ahead. I wish I could relieve some of the stress in all our lives. |
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