I photographed these shells with my little point-and-shoot camera a few years back. They are at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Their images reflected off the rear glass of the display case. I didn’t see that until I looked at the photograph on the computer screen.
Shells reflected in their case
The Friday Fictioneer Challenge: Write a 100-word story based on the photo.
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Photo copyright Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
First Chair
Graziella opened the windows, her gnarled hands aching with the effort. Each morning her downstairs neighbor practiced the violin. Upstairs, Graziella listened as much with her heart as with her ears.
Sitting under the open window, she held her old violin and bow motionless in her lap. With eyes closed, she remembered the Vienna State Opera, just after the war. Life was hard, so very hard. Music helped them heal.
She could still hear the conductor’s tap tap tap. On cue, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra began to play as one musical, magical creature, when hers was the First Chair Violin.
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To read other Friday Fictioneer stories based on this photo, select the smiley blue frog.
I got wild and crazy Monday as I went to BookPeople for a Sue Grafton book signing at 7:00 pm. That’s 7:00 pm at night!
Sue Grafton signing books
Myself, I’m an early riser. And with that goes the early-to-bed routine. But I am a fan of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone “alphabet” mystery series. I figured this would be the only time in my life I’d get to meet the author, so I decided to Stay Up Late.
I’ve read all of Sue Grafton’s “alphabet” books. I never guess who did it. I am in awe of anyone who can write more than one story and not have the subsequent ones be just a re-hash of the first one. How does one figure out how and why the murder was committed, then how, when, and how much to leak into the story so that as few readers as possible figure it out but the protagonist still does? Tricky writing, indeed.
Sue Grafton’s latest book in her Kinsey Millhone “alphabet” series
I have started writing crime short stories. Notice I said “crime” stories, not “mysteries.” I’m not sure I can write a mystery, because I never know who did it and that seems to be somewhat of a requirement for a mystery author.
I started reading X Monday night after I got home late (!) and finished it Tuesday. I’m ready for Y is for ….
Sue Grafton explaining the title to her latest book
Oh. If you also read Sue Grafton’s “alphabet” series, you may be wondering why the title isn’t X is for … just like all the other titles (e.g., A is for Alibi). She explained that the working title was X is for Xenophobe (I hope I remember that right), but quite a ways into writing the story, she noticed there weren’t any foreigners in it. She didn’t want to create one just so she could kill him off and keep the title. So it ended up just as X.
Sue and me!
Lots of people were there for the book signing, and the BookPeople employees used our smart phones to photograph us with the author. Sue Grafton was friendly and gracious with each and every one of us. I’m so glad I went.
A slew of books, at the ready
Yep, I’m just one wild and crazy woman.
This is the second black widow spider I’ve found on the front porch recently. Both were dead when I found them. Hubby thinks the black wasps that also hang out around the porch are preying on the spiders and that maybe they dropped this one. Great. A wasp may fly over me, lose its grip, dumping something poisonous and not-quite-dead on my head.
It’s always something . . .
This is a bike rack on the Texas A&M University campus. Judy and I went to an art quilt exhibit at the J. Wayne Stark Gallery at the Memorial Student Center. It was in mid-August, between semesters, but there sure were a lot of people out and about the campus.
