THE REVIEW

WINNERS ALL!


At the end of the Olympics, we all feel like winners. Seven writing athletes attended the meet here on Wednesday with everyone competing in friendly fashion.

Bob read first, an update on his electronic woes. All systems failed, but rescue by a neighbour restored television viewing at least. Full restoration is waiting for greater “Visions”.

Margaret read her next chapter in “Coffin & Dye”. Dye is explaining to Lord Mossity about the plague in 1664 when many people died, and he thinks the ten ghosts seen in the Manor were plague victims buried in a mass grave on the property. He tells Lord Mossity the grave should be dug up but the Lord is extremely reticent to have that done. Dye then goes on to explain about the great London fire that destroyed parts of the city but eventually ended the plague. Unfortunately for Dye, Mossity decides he and his wife will move to France and the Manor will become a museum, ghosts included, no eradication necessary.

Jason read us Chapter 6. Greg is at school avoiding a bully, waiting for Jodie to come to her locker. Classes start, but Jodie is late and he is still waiting. He is agonizing about wanting to tell her how much she means to him, how to tell her, how to give her the necklace. Jodie finally arrives, with Sean, who than kisses her goodbye and pushes Greg into his locker as he passes him. Jodie is upset that Sean didn’t stick up for himself and tells him he is too immature, and then walks away. Greg hears his grandmother’s voice telling him to give her the necklace and he calls Jodie, but is unable to say anything more. She pauses, but then keeps on walking away. There is a lot of teen angst in this chapter, which most thought added to the tension.

Danny read from his autobiography. The first short chapter he read was “The Rudest Awakening”, describing the jolt of reality in having his mug shot taken and finding himself in cuffs. The next chapter was “Fifty-One Up” about his stay in jail before being transferred to a psychiatric unit. He described the fights with other inmates, the shackles and cuffs, the bad food, the Sally Ann band at Christmas, and his desire for redemption. He told how the only thing that kept him going was the attention from family and friends who came to visit. On Jan. 10th, he was finally transferred to the psychiatric unit, in shackles and cuffs and wearing an orange jump suit, driven by two officers. On the 401, they started speeding, hiding the speed behind a piece of paper on the dash. But because Danny knew about racing, he could tell when the speed increased and he estimated they were doing 140 MPH. in their Chevy Caprice. Scary stuff, but some really great detail here.

Jim read Chapter 2 of his ghost story. The young Olivia wants to help her sister thank the people who had tried to save her, but doesn’t know who they were and couldn’t get the information from her sister’s ghost. She decides to investigate herself, and starts doing volunteer work at the coffee shop anytime she goes there, to get an ‘in’ with everyone. She has a chat with a girl named “Tammy”, who works there and is the only one who admits the place is haunted.

I read a short story about the new coffee table project I initiated with Honey for the beginning price of ten dollars, and which eventually cost us several hundred. Everybody laughed and I keep telling honey the table was “Only Ten Dollars”.

Gemma didn’t read, but did give me the latest issue of Writers’ Digest. My subscription had expired, and lucky Gemma received two copies of the same issue. Also, I hear rumours of some children’s stories Gemma has that Margaret suggests she bring to read.

Margaret brought us several copies of the March issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine and I see that Marilyn has an article in there, “The Last Tsar”. Congratulations!

The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 17th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. That is St. Patrick’s Day, green attire suggested (a welcome switch from red). I’ll see if I can remember to colour the water and the ice cubes. See you on the 17th.

Lisa