Steffie at the Church on Time @StoryADayMay #espionage #amwriting #ThursdayDoors

Okay, Pete. I missed the Steffie story yesterday, so I give you one today. It also has doors in.

Thursday Doors is a link-up founded by photographer extraordinaire Norm Frampton. Every Thursday, dooristas post pictures of interesting doors, often with the history attached to them. My contributions to the linkup in May will be stories with doors at least mentioned in them. But, if you’re a door fan, go to Norm’s blog and look at his wonderful post. Click on the blue frog button at the bottom of the post and find links to other doors in other places.

Steffie at the Church on Time

by Marian Allen

The bride wore white; Steffie wore teal. Although she didn’t know anyone in the wedding party and only one of the guests, nobody questioned her right to be there. The teal fascinator pinned to her hair was like an invisibility cloak that got her past the guardians of the high, wide, iron-hasped red church doors without a second glance.

She sat in a short pew against the back wall, beside the only person in the place she knew.

He was surprised to see her, not to say … what was her great-grandmother’s word? … flabbergasted.

“Steffie! How did you know?”

“Silly!” Steffie patted him gently on the thigh, her ring glittering in the red light from a stained glass window. “I am a secret agent, after all. Still one of the good guys, you naughty man.”

A dew of perspiration gleamed on his forehead. His eyelids drooped. His head bowed – just as the priest invited the congregation to pray; how appropriate! – and he was gone.

Steffie made sure the injector on the band of her ring was fully retracted, put a handkerchief to her nose, and ducked out of the service. Downstairs in the reception area, the caterers bustled about from the kitchen to the tables. Her dress, almost the same teal as that of the bridesmaid’s cocktail gowns, gave her the perceived right to inspect the arrangements.

She lifted each of the bowls holding butter mint wafers. In the hollow under the foot of one of the bowls, she found a purple mint, which she palmed and, in the ladies’ room, tucked into a pocket in her fascinator.

Before the groom kissed the bride, before the blare of the wedding march, and long before the distant cousin of the bride’s uncle’s best friend was discovered to be dead in the sanctuary (A blessing for him! Straight to heaven!), Steffie had delivered the mint and the stolen plans it contained to her handler, Pete.

At home, Steffie ran a tub of scalding hot water. The dress and fascinator would dissolve in it, leaving nothing but a handful of rhinestone buttons and artificial pearls.

Meanwhile, she curtsied to herself in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She loved wedding clothes. She felt sorry for brides, pressured by the fiction of purity to wear boring old white.

“I feel pretty,” she sang, entirely pleased with her day. “Oh, so pretty!” She twirled off to make sure the tub didn’t overflow.

MY PROMPTS TODAY: Purex Free and Clear, musicals, Pete Laberge

If you liked this story, you might like my other stories and my novels. Support an author: buy a book and leave an Amazon review. I thank you, and my cat thanks you.

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 “Steffie at the Church on Time @StoryADayMay #espionage #amwriting #ThursdayDoors

  1. joey

    May 11, 2017 at 10:27am

    Heh.
    I wasn’t a fan of my wedding, but at least no one was murdered there.
    Fiction is good for gratitude. 😉

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 11, 2017 at 11:32am

      Heh. Glad to hear you had no assassinations at your wedding. Although Steffie is a fun gal, when she isn’t killing people.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Pete Laberge

    May 11, 2017 at 1:08pm

    Well, at least she got rid of a bad guy……

    I like women who wear fascinators. (Well, I like the fascinators.) I prefer Blondes, with Black ones, but will accept “Steffie in Teal”. (Sounds like a country music song title!)

    A dissolving dress, eh?
    “Don’t get caught in the rain Dear Steffie… Embarrassing that could be!” Sounds like a Petula Clarke song “Don’t Sleep in the Subway….”

    And a good curtsy, is a thing worth while indeed. I know a Lady who can put out a curtsy that puts Lady Dianna’s to shame. In fact, in a dream once, SHE curtsied to Elizabeth. And since I was in charge of PR, The Curtsy was captured on film and video, and sold as “The Curtsy Heard ‘Round the World”. A historical reference to “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. And that was BREED’s HILL, not, repeat not Bunker’s. Bunkers had better PR, is all. Someday, I may write that as a story. The only problem being that Elizabeth and The Princess (Our Princess, not Lady Di.) both exist. And how could they be disguised? An alternate world….? A world where SHE had become Empress, of Earth. Blame my adopted Swedish brother, me, and the aliens….

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 11, 2017 at 1:39pm

      What a neat dream! And Steffi’s dress only dissolves in really really HOT water. If she’s ever caught in water that hot, she’ll have more to worry about than her dress dissolving. lol

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
      • Pete Laberge

        May 11, 2017 at 1:45pm

        Ah, yes, well for that, women wear rings. Like the Borgia Rings.
        A little slip in the drink, and the gentleman has a MIckey Finn to worry about.
        But hey…. who can’t use a good night’s sleep!

        Steffie, a Russian Spy (Tall dark, handsome, desperate!)
        An awesome GOWN and fascinator…
        And a martini, with something special from her ring…….

        Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Dan Antion

    May 11, 2017 at 7:43pm

    Oh, here we go again. The Like Button won’t load. Like There.

    Except for the dead guy, this could have been a family wedding from my younger days. Nothing was stolen, except 5 years of happiness.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 12, 2017 at 8:40am

      Yeowch. Sorry about the Like button. I’ve had them show missing on a couple of other WP blogs I visited today.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 12, 2017 at 11:38am

      The stuff only dissolves in super-hot water. Convenient she didn’t spill coffee on herself….

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  4. Pete Laberge

    May 12, 2017 at 11:25am

    Worse, if the like button evvvvvver does load, well, it simply does not work for me. No where. I seem to have been banned from liking anything by the internet daemons……

    A “like” unsaid, an internet daemon, and a cup of coffee. But i doubt anyone could do anything with those prompts!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author
      • Pete Laberge

        May 12, 2017 at 7:15pm

        But I am a Bond Villain! I HAVE TO challenge you!

        What do you want me to DOOOO, Pierre Finger?
        Why nothing, Madame Bond. I want you to have the inspiration to write another story or something. Bwaaa haaa haaa Haaa
        I want you to share it with Holly and challenge her.
        (eg You both write on the same subject. like………..===>>>)

        Actually, I want a chocolate milkshake, but those are bad for me!

        PROMPTS:
        1. Something bad for you, something good for you, something Meh, for you.
        2. Something you did that was good, something you did that was bad,and something you did that was a big fat Meh!
        3. Annoying guys from Canada. The writers writing the same topic. Success….
        4. Collaboration, Creation, Celebration (TM: AVB)
        5. Making a meal for a friend. Giving a homeless man a meal. Having to eat alone…..

        Permalink  ⋅ Reply
        • Author

          Marian Allen

          May 13, 2017 at 7:43am

          You can’t be a Bond villain AND a hapless, hopeless romantic! ~grin~

          Permalink  ⋅ Reply
          • Pete Laberge

            May 13, 2017 at 1:00pm

            I can’t? And I had a NEW Villain Name all picked out for me! Dr. Strangelove! I invent a drug that makes everyone fall in love, and threatens the military Industrial Complex. The economy! Fewer weapons! Trump and Trudeau hugging Kim! Bond is sent to stop me. Dammm. It sure is TOUGH being a Romantic Villain, these days.

            You are SURE I cannot do both? So now I have to make a choice.

            Daaaammm! and I am Baaad at doing that!

            I know! I’ll procrastinate!

            Saturday prompts to share, share, Cher, and Sonny:

            Steffie, a PRO-Crastinator (not an amateur), and a vanilla ice cream cone.
            Pete, a pizza, and and and …. a mess.
            Holly, a pair of cowboy boots, and an HP laptop.
            Queen Elizabeth, Donald Trump, and a pot of Tea.
            (Liz must be made to look good. Don? Are you up to That challenge? The tea well, sip sip…)

            Permalink  ⋅ Reply

Leave a Reply to Pete LabergeCancel reply

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