Two Crazy Girls #SampleSunday

The audiobook version of A DEAD GUY AT THE SUMMERHOUSE is almost done! I’m so excited! ~bounce bounce Kiki poinging~

Here’s an excerpt from deep in the book. In this scene, Mitch, a 17-year-old orphan, who has been hired to look after elderly Miss Hardesty’s dogs, is talking to Corrie, the maid, and Eleanor, Miss Hardesty’s niece. Corrie thinks Mitch is possessed by the guy who died at the summerhouse.

Two Crazy Girls

excerpt from A DEAD GUY AT THE SUMMERHOUSE
by Marian Allen

“I’ll be glad to see you any time, Miss Eleanor,” I said, with firm subservience. “My name is Mitch Franklin.”

I wanted to reach back and slap Corrie so hard her teeth would rattle. I was ashamed of myself, even as I thought that: Corrie couldn’t help how she was any more than Miss Eleanor could help herself. Two crazy girls up here, and nobody to keep them from feeding each other’s nuttiness but The Dragon Lady. “Right now, why don’t we go back to the house? Your Aunt Mary would worry, if she knew you were out here. This is a sad place.”

Corrie went to Eleanor’s other side. “Not anymore.” Her eyes shone at me and I forgot to feel sorry for her.

“Will you shut up?” I snapped. “You told her I’m him, didn’t you? You saw me come back here, and you brought her out to meet me, didn’t you? Only not me, him.”

Corrie’s happiness crumpled; she seemed to draw into herself. “I’m sorry! I thought it would be all right. Eleanor has to know!”

Eleanor shook with sobs.

“Now look,” I said to Corrie. “You’ve got her worse. Why don’t you just lay off it for a while? — Miss Eleanor, come on back to the house with me.”

“Oh, no!” said Eleanor. “She mustn’t see you! She’d be so angry!”

“It’s all right, Miss Eleanor,” I said. “I’m not the person you think I am. Corrie is mixed up. I’m Mitch Franklin. I’m very pleased to meet you.” I held out my hand, just as if she were a club lady bringing used crayons for the arts-and-crafts room. Eleanor’s crying quietened and stopped. She wiped her face on the tail of her fuzzy sweater. Timidly, she took my hand.

“He’s gone, isn’t he?” she asked me, wistfully.

“Yes, ma’am. He’s gone.”

Corrie drew breath, but I glared her to silence. I gathered up the ends of the dogs’ leashes and looped them around my wrist. If they got away from me again, they’d have to take my hand with them.

“Let’s go on back, now,” I said.

“Albert,” Corrie said, from behind me. Whether she was talking at me or at the grave, I neither knew nor cared.

~*~

cover warsJust in case you should want to buy a copy of the book, it’s available in print from independent bookstores through IndieBound and from Amazon in print and for Kindle. The audiobook will be out Real Soon Now. You can also read the first chapter on my Dead Guy page.

Indiebound http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942166085

Amazon http://bookshow.me/1942166087

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character is mistaken for somebody else and has difficulty convincing anybody of reality.

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.

You may also like...

One thought on “Two Crazy Girls #SampleSunday

  1. Jane

    January 17, 2016 at 9:37am

    Yeah. I once had trouble convincing my crazy neighbors that I wasn’t a witch.
    Fun times.

    Good excerpt.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      January 17, 2016 at 1:25pm

      That would be funny, if they hadn’t acted like they wanted to burn you at the stake. Glad you don’t have THOSE neighbors any more.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
      • Jane

        January 18, 2016 at 9:47am

        Funny thing:
        They moved out one day. Overnight, of course.
        And then moved into the house directly behind me across the alley.
        The horror!!!

        Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Shelly

    January 18, 2016 at 1:06am

    We have lived out in the country on 20 acres for 20+ years. My former closest neighbor used to tell other neighbors (my aunt who was married to his uncle) he saw me jumping on my kids trampoline naked. Yeah right, I’m super modest, I don’t even wear low cut shirts. At the time, I also had four small kids and my husband worked overseas 30 days at a time. Between taking care of kids and feeding animals, I didn’t have time to do anything. LOL, it’s funny thinking about how stupid the whole story is now.

    Do you have any Kindle Unlimited books?

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      January 18, 2016 at 8:27am

      Oh, my gosh, Shelly, what a weird thing for that guy to tell people! He must have been dreaming. ha!

      I don’t have anything in Kindle Unlimited, because I don’t want to make my books exclusive to Amazon. It’s just the contrarian in me. I do have four books which are only 99 cents each, which is kinda sorta close to free. 😀 You can read samples on this blog by clicking on the navigation bar for Books or maybe Stories or maybe both. I also have many recipes on here. 🙂

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Jane

    January 18, 2016 at 9:55am

    In relation to -oh- nothing, my odd sister used to have a sunbathing addiction. She told the neighbor kids she had a wooden leg. And further told them that she had one for summer and a different one to wear in winter when her tan had faded.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

Leave a Reply, If You Ple-az

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.