After a few excursions into other realms of writing, I’m back this morning with my consuming passion–writing cozy mysteries. Before I quote from Grave Shift, though, I’d like to share a couple of other quotes that I’ve found inspiring. I don’t know who wrote them but whoever it was, I’m glad he or she did.
“On my road through life, may I handle each crisis as a small bump and not a major chuckhole.”
And
“”Never let go—Dreams take time.”
So, with that last quotation clutched close to my heart, I continue with my dream of writing cozy mysteries. The following is from Chapter 17 of Grave Shift. Darcy and Flora are in the middle of a second earthquake and Oklahoma earthquakes are rare.
Far back in the woods, a cracking sound began and grew into a roar. The trees in the yard shivered as if they felt a sudden chill. The ground shuddered beneath our feet. Everything around us shook as though a high wind were striking the area. Behind the house, something banged and crashed. Glass rattled and splintered with the tinkle of a thousand icicles.
Mom gasped and wheeled back to the porch. She slipped and landed hard on one knee. “It’s another earthquake! We better get inside before it gets worse!”
I dropped down beside her and grabbed her arm. “No, we’re better off in the open. Your poor knee, Mom. It’s bleeding.”
I had an unreal feeling of deja vu. That first quake must have been a preview of the coming attraction because this one was a doozy, certainly not just an aftershock. I heard Mom whispering, “Heavenly Father, protect us.”
The trembling lasted for perhaps a minute. I hadn’t realized I had closed my eyes until it was over. I opened one eye at a time, fully expecting to see our house in shambles, but the home that had stood for a hundred years appeared intact as far as I could see in the growing light of morning. A filmy cloud drifted over the tops of the trees in the back pasture. Smoke? Dust? Whatever it was, I hoped it didn’t signify disaster.
Mom struggled to get to her feet. “I’ve got to take a look around and see how much damage has been done.”
“Let’s wait just a little longer. Sometimes aftershocks immediately follow a quake like this.”
For another five minutes, we sat on the ground, expecting to feel the shaking again. An eerie quiet settled over everything but the earth remained still and solid. As the sky lightened further, we could see a large tree near the corner of our property lying partly in the road. The big corner fence post leaned toward us, kept from falling only by the wire nailed to it.
Cautiously, we got to our feet. Mom gingerly touched her knee. “Do you reckon anything inside the house is broken?” she asked.
“Things look pretty normal here but…oh, no!” I gasped and pointed.
Instead of the tall red brick four-foot square chimney which had once risen above our roof, there was now only a jagged stump. In the growing light I could see a few loose bricks lying among the shingles on the ground. Several large masses of the toppled chimney were scattered in the yard. A huge part had broken off and fallen in against the other side, sending two slabs plummeting to the ground.
A few steps closer and we got an even bigger shock. A pair of jeans-clad legs stuck out from under the biggest chunk of chimney. The jeans ended above tan western boots. One foot pointed at the sky, the other was twisted backward.
good girl — keep it up