Bud Blossom on SampleSunday

Bud Blossom sounds like such a sweet guy, doesn’t he? Shows you how deceiving names can be.

Bud originated in a short story I wrote for the Southern Indiana Writers’ anthology DRAGON: OUR TALES. He’s American, from China, and Bud Blossom is a translation of his Chinese name. There’s nothing “delicate flower” about him, though.

Here’s an excerpt from one of the stories in my collection about him, THE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK.

About Bud Blossom
Excerpt from “Terra Incognita”
by Marian Allen

The Golden Lotus was a houseboat moored downtown on Cherokee Creek, the almost-a-river that ran through Shepherds, Indiana, and emptied into the Ohio. The boss, Bud Blossom, was Chinese-American with a generic Midwestern twang and the charm of a water moccasin. His one recommendation as an employer was an offshoot of one of his defects: He treated anyone who did any work for him as personal property, under his command but also under his protection. Nobody but Bud was allowed to make passes or even inappropriate comments, and poor tippers found themselves upbraided about their stinginess if they ever came in again, no matter how much time had gone by.

Bud also never forgot any minute a worker showed up late. Tara timed herself to step off the gangplank onto the houseboat’s deck within five seconds of her shift’s start. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, she could count on Bud to know it. You gave me two extra seconds today, Miss Timepiece. You couldn’t cut it any closer?

This evening, he was at one of the tables, straightening a dime-store vase with a plastic carnation sticking out of it. Her step was silent, and he was facing the other way, but he glanced at his watch and grunted.

~ * ~

What a sweetheart, eh? So why is he so many people’s favorite character? Why do I love to write about him? It’s a mystery.

But it’s no mystery where you can get a copy of DRAGON: OUR TALES or THE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK.

dotAmazon Print: $9.00
Amazon Kindle: $2.99
Lulu PDF: $2.00

 

 

 

 

It's all about Bud BlossomTHE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK
Price: $0.99
Read about it and sample it.
Buy it for the Kindle at Amazon.

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Buy it in other electronic formats at Smashwords.

 

 

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write about a character’s relationship with their boss.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Bud Blossom on SampleSunday

  1. saramarian

    March 23, 2014 at 1:21pm

    “What a sweetheart, eh? So why is he so many people’s favorite character? Why do I love to write about him? It’s a mystery.”

    Because he’s SO snotty and snarky that it’s funny…and because he would never admit that he sometimes does nice stuff, and yet…he does (occasionally….VERY occasionally). 🙂

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