I’ve finally gotten back to editing EEL’S REVERENCE — yes, sorry, I’m keeping that name. Nobody has come up with one I like better. I can’t help it if it makes you feel all squiggly; you’ll just have to deal with it.
ANYWAY, I’m editing it for republication. I just got to this scene, and want to share it. Aunt Libby has been stowed in a room in the basement.
Uncle Phineas Comes To Call
EEL’S REVERENCE excerpt
by Marian Allen
“Clare,” Hilda called sharply.
“Coming!” Clare closed the door behind herself. After a brief gurgle and the sound of a broom, dampness seeped an inch or so under my door and, with it, the heady smell of malted barley.
At the same time, from the cracks in the ceiling, sifted feathers of brownish-green. Fresh dill.
They were certainly taking no chances. They had scented my shoes and the hem of my cassock with mint and masked my presence with dill and beer. It seemed a bit extreme. Why would they need to –
Sounds also sifted down from upstairs, muffled but audible. A heavy tread and a scrabble of wolves’ claws raised the hairs on the back of my neck. No one would even know I was here? Was I hidden, or trapped?
“Good afternoon.” Uncle Phineas’ brassy voice fell like hot metal through the cracks of the floor.
“My, it smells lovely in here,” Uncle Phineas said. “Dill, isn’t it?”
“Sure, it’s the dill,” said Isaac. “I wondered. The wolves usually sniff around whenever they come in with you.”
“But, today, they can smell nothing but dill,” said Phineas, as smoothly as his husky voice could sound.
~*~
This was an early novel — the first one I ever had published, electronically, back when “electronic publishing” meant finding a book you like in a paper catalog or online, ordering it, and having it delivered by mail on a 5 1/4 floppy disc. You’d think I’d be bored with the book, but I’m not. I’m really excited about getting out again. Sooooooon (I hope)!
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: How would you hide somebody if you needed to. Somebody alive, I mean.
MA
perry block
September 27, 2015 at 2:31pmIt makes me feel all squiggly, and I can’t deal with it.
Marian Allen
September 27, 2015 at 3:26pmTake some penicillin and call your rabbi in the morning. …I mean, gosh, I’ll change the name, then! 😉