Categotry Archives: Suzie’s House
Suzie’s House 364 : Keeping His Thoughts to Himself
Gene focused on his fingering, but his heart wasn’t in the practice session. “…and I’ll divulge my godless dreams,” Emma sang. “My insignificant, paladin dreams.” She stopped singing and lifted the bottom of her paper bag to look at them from its dark recesses. “Wait. Shouldn’t that be paltry?” “Just go with it,” Kate kept drumming. “Yeah, I kind of like ‘paladin’,” Justin grinned around the array of hanging glass bottles he’d been experimenting with. “We should make it a […]
Suzie’s House 363 : The Best Dad Around
His mother hadn’t abandoned him. She’d merely been murdered. Gene pulled his guitar onto his lap and strummed a few notes while he considered all the mixed up feelings he had about family and friends now that he knew the truth. Tracy would probably say something like how this would make a good song. Maybe she was right. Maybe he needed to try writing one.
Suzie’s House 362 : Fine, Just Fine
As Trent drove off, everyone else on the porch went back in the house, but Drew needed a minute or two, so he sat on the porch swing and stared at his tips of his shoes. It felt like someone took his life vest just as he was about to head into the worst rapids on a rafting trip. His vision blurred a bit. He tried to focus, and sudsy white waves appeared to wash over the top of his […]
Suzie’s House 361 : Saying Goodbye to the Old Man
Drew followed Trent out to the front porch with a feeling of impending doom. He had to remind himself this was no crisis. It was simply wishing Trent goodbye. He could hardly even gripe about it. “Well. I guess this is it.” Trent straightened his back and lifted his chin. “Yeah. I guess so.” Drew fought down the urge to say that Trent could at least have invited him to come along. They both knew that would be counter productive.
Suzie’s House 360 : Sonoma Calls
What a fine woman Drew had found for himself. Trent couldn’t help but admire her apple cobbler, and her fried chicken put to shame anything he could sneak past Sonoma. He pushed his plate back and settled an aching leg on the chair on the other side of the kitchen table with a sigh of relief. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like thirds?” Suzie bustled around the kitchen with a spoon in one hand and a mixing bowl in the […]
Suzie’s House 359 : What Gene Wanted the Most
Gene sat on the edge of his bed with his shoulders all slumped and everything. There was Lisa and Ben in the room, too, but Tracy didn’t think they’d want to hang out for long, no matter how meddlesome Lisa might be. Tracy sat next to Gene, but she didn’t’ try to rub his back or anything this time. She couldn’t bear to be shrugged off again.
Suzie’s House 358 : A Tale to Tell
Suzie handed me a cup of herb tea. I’ll admit I might have given it a concerned look. “It’s perfectly fine,” Suzie said in exasperation as she sat across the kitchen table from me. “Just some ginger root I sliced myself and a bit of lemon. Nothing to set off one of your allergies.” “Ah. Thanks. Sorry about that.” The mint tea she’d given me a while back had set off a whole new set of reactions. “It’s getting so […]
Suzie’s House 357: Absurd Developments
Content Warning. Not quite bad enough to put on the newsletter, but Ana better not read this while eating breakfast. Ben followed the others in the back door and through the house with the intention of taking mental notes for future writing. How often did a guy get to see a dead body? Assuming Gene really did kill his dad when he beat him up. Had the place always been this bad? He remembered coming here back in sixth grade. […]
Suzie’s House 356 : How to Deal with a Guilty Conscience
“Do you think Gene meant it when he said he killed his father?” Kate leaned toward Justin as the two of them left the practice room and glanced over her shoulder at Gene. The two of them looked totally conspiratorial as Justin glared over his shoulder like he was morally superior or something. Gene tried not to groan, but couldn’t help closing his eyes for a minute. He sat on a drummer’s stool while everyone but Tracy left.
Suzie’s House 355 : When He Plays, No One Speaks
“I think I might have killed my father.” Gene dropped that bomb shell, then started playing his guitar with an intensity that made Tracy stumble. He was playing Last Man Standing, one of their newest songs. Bruce was still standing behind his keyboard, so he jumped in right away. Then everyone was scrambling for their instruments. Tracy never got a chance to ask what he meant. She’d set her bass in a stand by the practice room door and ended […]
When He Plays, No One Speaks
“Gene, what’s bugging you?” Tracy put her bass guitar on the stand and went over to where he strummed a few cords. “Nothing.” “Come on. I’m your girlfriend. I know when something’s bugging you.” “Leave him alone.” Bruce butted in without leaving his place behind the keyboard. “He’s got issues.” “Yeah? Like what?” Gene stared at the back of his guitar for a long time. “I think I might have killed my father.” Everyone else in the band shut up […]
Suzie’s House 354 : The Urge to Kill
It bugged him; what Bruce said about how his dad might have killed his mom. Gene tried to laugh it off, but he couldn’t quite fool himself. Even when he and Bruce sat around talking in the park for a while, Gene thought about it. He was still thinking about it when he started to walk home. The thing was, it might be true. His dad might have done it on accident. He like to come out swinging at anyone, […]
13 Characters
I have been writing and posting Suzie’s House episodes on a weekly basis for seven years now. Quite a few characters have been introduced in that time. Here are 13 of them. 1. Suzie Hammaker, aka Mrs. H. – the owner of a great Victorian house in the Willy Street neighborhood of Madison, Wisconsin. She is forced by economics to turn the place into a boarding house. She tends to be a little too nice. 2. Miranda Bailey – Suzie’s […]
Suzie’s House 353 : Impassioned Speech in the Park
This takes place at the same time as the previous episodes. “I don’t know, Bruce, He looks like a pervert.” Gene hadn’t really wanted to come with Bruce in the first place. Now that he saw the guy they were supposed to buy the stuff from, he was even more sure he didn’t want it. “What? Because his hair’s all oily?” “No. Because of the way he keeps looking around all nervous like.” Gene caught himself looking around the park […]
Suzie’s House 352 : Don’t Ever Go Away Again
“Wait. Drew. Where are you going?” Drew paused with one foot already in the hall and the other still in Suzie’s room. The light from the hall spiked the darkness around him. She hadn’t bothered to turn the light on in the room when she’d gone into the hall to confront Gene, and Drew hadn’t bothered with it when he tucked her in. He glanced over his shoulder, knowing it was a dangerous thing to do. The slice of light […]
