Suzie’s House 58: At Cross Purposes
As Miranda stood to leave, Christina and Cindy paused at the door of the Caribou Bar, glancing around the small, dim interior.
“Hey, Christina!” the bartender called. “You know this lady?” He jerked a thumb toward Miranda.
Miranda waited tensely for the moment they recognized her. It wasn’t long in coming.
The two women put their heads together. Cindy pointed at Miranda. Christina glanced behind her at the door as if considering escape. Then the two of women advanced on Miranda, Cindy in the fore.
Miranda plopped onto the same seat she had vacated moments before. The drunk who had been annoying her also reassumed his seat right next to her. He kept muttering something that included the word married, looking at her, and shaking his head.
“Hey, Christina. The usual?” The bartender was already sliding a bottle of Old Milwaukee toward her as she and Cindy took the bar stools to Miranda’s right.
“Yeah, thanks Lenny.” Turning toward Miranda, and leaning forward to see around Cindy, Christina said, “What are you doing here?”
Miranda considered lying, but the bartender would probably tell Christina everything anyway.
“I’m looking for Sean and Joseph. I thought you said they hang out here.”
“Oh. Did I?” Christina looked totally innocent, which made Miranda think the woman was faking it. Not that she was cynical or anything.
“Lenny here tells me they don’t.” Miranda waved toward the bartender, who was mixing up some complicated drink under Cindy’s direction. She recognized it as the one Cindy invented – Café a Frisson.
“Oh, well, I wouldn’t know.” Christina swallowed her beer with a nervous gulp.
She was playing some kind of game, but Miranda couldn’t figure out what it was. What reason could she possibly have for lying? She glanced Miranda’s way as Cindy took her Café au Frisson from the bartender, oblivious to anything going on around her.
“I don’t suppose you’ve seen them lately,” Christina asked.
“I was going to ask you the same thing. You could say I have a bone to pick with them.”
“I guess so with Joseph shooting Vin and Sean trying to kidnap your boy.”
“You mean Suzie’s son, Ben,” Miranda corrected automatically. “He isn’t mine. How do you know which man did which thing?”
Christina shrugged. “I don’t. I think they just look that way. Don’t you?”
Miranda sat back on her stool. She’d never realized it before, but she’d never actually seen either man. All she knew was how devastating it had been to find Vin in the hospital. He could have died. He almost did.
“What are you two talking about?” Cindy took a sip of her concoction, and glanced back and forth between them.
“Nothing,” both women answered at the same time.
Miranda glanced over at Christina with interest. Christina lifted an eyebrow and failed at not smiling. So what if she had secrets. Miranda liked her anyway.
“Did I tell you guys I’m entering a marathon?”
“Yes,” Miranda and Christina both answered.
“It’s a new one called the Four Lakes Run-Walk. It’s a fund raiser, but I don’t remember what they’re raising the funds for. I’m entering the Power Walk division. I could win, you know.”
Both Miranda and Christina dutifully nodded while Cindy rattled off all races she had won. At one point Cindy had tried to talk her into joining the walking club, but Miranda wasn’t all that into it. She didn’t even own a pair of running shoes. Neon green high top vintage Keds didn’t count, did they?
Christina leaned around Cindy’s back and said, “Tell me about Vin and Drew. Are they both FBI?”
Christina might be all right, but Miranda didn’t like her enough to tell her anything about Vin. She shrugged as if she hadn’t understood, and leaned forward, putting Cindy between the two of them.
“Are both Drew and Vin in the FBI?” Christina leaned forward and shouted around Cindy, who was now leaning back as she gestured something about the differences between kilometers and miles.
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
“Yes he does,” Miranda said, her chin coming up in spite of her intention to play it cool.
“Not you,” The drunk on the other side of her said. “You’re engaged.” He glared at her with something half way between hauteur and hurt, then turned a cold shoulder toward her, scooping his drink off the bar as he went.
“Oh.” Christina made no effort to hide her disappointment. “I think both those guys are so cute!
That was not what Miranda wanted to hear. It made her uncomfortable to think anyone outside of Suzie’s house might be interested in either of the guys, though it made perfect sense. They were both hot.
“So, what are you doing here anyway,” Cindy asked Miranda. “I thought you liked The Crystal Corner better.”
“Where do you think Sean and Joseph might have gone?” Miranda had already begun to speak before realizing Cindy was talking to her. She smiled apologetically at Cindy, who gave her a long, considering look.
“I don’t know.” Christina shrugged negligently. “They could be at Woodmans for all I know. Wait, didn’t they both get shot? I’ll bet they are in the hospital. If not St. Mary’s. Try Meriter, or the U of W Hospital.”
Something about the way Christina cut an assessing look her way made Miranda think Christina was trying to throw her off the trail. She’d bet dollars for doughnuts Christina had already checked every Doctor’s office in town. Yet there she sat looking at her as if the whole situation with them was her fault.
“So are you and Vin engaged or something?” Christina asked.
“So what do the two of you think about meeting with me tomorrow morning to go for a walk?” Cindy accidentally rescued her.
“Um….” Christina bit her lip.
“Not me,” Miranda held her hands up to ward off the suggestion. “You know I don’t walk unless I have to.”
“You should. It’s good for you.” Cindy started extolling the virtues of exercise.
Miranda leaned back, and so did Christina.
“Are you really engaged to Vin?” Christina asked behind Cindy’s back.
“Yes.” Miranda said it with only the slightest of hesitations. For all Cindy knew, it might be true, so she couldn’t rat her out. Miranda wasn’t sure why she wanted Christina to think Vin was taken, and had no intention of delving into it.
“I thought there was something going on when I visited before. You are so lucky.”
“Lucky? Me?!”
“Well it’s obvious you love him and he loves you back.” Christina heaved a deep sigh. “I’d give anything for a relationship like that.”
“Guys, are you even listening to me?” Cindy huffed explosively.
Miranda and Christina grinned at one another before say in unison, “Yes.”
“But I’m still not going for a walk,” Miranda added.
The previous was Suzie’s House 57: Miranda at the Caribou
This is Suzie’s House 58: At Cross Purposes
Next is Suzie’s House 59: Chance Encounter with the Ex
Thursday Thirteen #18: Careers I would like to have.
Maura asked on Romance Roundtable if you could have five parallel lives and a different career in each what careers would you pick. I’m picking 13:1. Writer. Of course. I’m going with Accountant as my real-life career, for now.
2. Movie actress.
3. Singer in a Rock band.
4. African drummer. What? I have to get paid? Ok, famous African drummer. What do you mean there aren’t any rich and famous African style drummers? It’s my alternate reality and I can make the world be anything I want. So there.
5. Saint. See #4.
6. Owner of a coffee shop. I’d call it Alice’s Restaurant. 😀
7. Real estate mogul.
8. Carpenter. I can actually drive a nail straight. I just can cut wood the right length.
9. Elven princess. See #4.
10. Private Investigator
11. Alchemist. Yep, #4 again.
12. Gentlewoman Farmer – the kind that owns the land and points and things get done.
13. Rocket Scientist.
More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Gwen Mitchell
Kaige
Debora Dennis
Frigga
R.G. Alexander
Paige Tyler
Debbie Mumford
Rims
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
By George! What a Mess
When we left off last week George III had begun his slow decline into insanity while his boy, George IV, went on a bender. The government is up in arms, and the Queen is not pleased with her wayward children.
The Prince and his brother were convinced that mom was motivated more by her hatred of them than by her concern for dad. It was true that the Queen seemed ready to believe almost any negative story concerning her boys. It was also true that she was willing to give the lads a piece of her mind when the mood was on her. Which was more or less all the time when they were around.
Relations between the Queen and her boys took on an almost pathological tone. At least on her part. It was her burden that she had to deal with the Prince and the Duke. They were in England and she couldn’t get rid of them if she wanted to. At least the other sons, her opinion of which was uniformly low, were left to rot on the continent.
These boisterous lads could, and did, engage in disgraceful behavior. Drinking, gambling, affairs of the heart, and groin, mostly the latter. The parental response to these things, once they made the papers, was to ship them off to ever more remote and desolate places. Like Gibraltar and Canada. All the boys were in the military, so it was a fairly easy matter to punish them in this way. That did not, however, keep them out of trouble.
It was in November that Prime Minister Pitt realized that he would probably have to give in to the Prince becoming Regent. He was not going to say so publicly, of course. The bitter truth was, there was no viable alternative. The Tories would need more than unseemly gossip in the newspapers to deny the Prince the Regency.
The Prince, for his part, was keeping everyone guessing as to what he intended to do if and when he became Regent. The Tories feared the worst, and for good reason. Pitt resigned himself to the probable loss of the Prime Ministership and was ready to resume his private law practice. If the Tories were worried about the loss of all they held dear; the Whigs were in a vicious fight over who would take it away from them.
Not even party leaders like Fox were guaranteed posts in the Regency government. It all boiled down to the Prince’s whim. This was the very thing Fox had always railed against, government by Royal Whim. And now, because the Prince’s sorta, kinda, wife had been poisoning the well against him, he might very well find himself odd man out. And for no other reason than the Prince didn’t wish to made to sleep on the couch because he gave Fox a nice job!
The jockeying for posts within the Prince’s Regency cabinet was becoming a spectator sport. The London papers reported on who was dining with whom, and speculated as to why. Some Tories were hedging their bets by making nice with their probable Whig successors. Some Whigs were hedging THEIR bets, should His Majesty recover, by making nice with the Tories.
No one knew what would happen next. The whole of the British government, the growing British empire, hinged on two people; one, an irascible, ill-educated, reactionary old coot who was, at the moment, a complete nutter; and the other, an emotionally stunted, but highly educated, alcoholic hedonist with no sense of responsibility to anyone but himself.
And then, on February 10, 1789, the impasse was broken.
On My Feet Again
It’s taking me about twice as long to recover from the flue as it did anyone else in the family. That’s all right. I’m a woman. I can take it.
What do you think? Are men wimps, or what? Not mine, of course. Last time he complained, he really did almost die.
Now it is simply a matter of scraping my life back together. I’ve done well on revisions, but I hadn’t planned on starting them until I had a few Suzie’s in the can, which I don’t. I still need to get Zack out. Quit yelling at me! I’m on my way to the post office right now. See? See me dropping the submission into the mail? And it is now officially tax season for me.
I got more than enough to do. How about you? Have you done any good revisions lately? Been so caught up in revisions that you put “fun” stuff like taxes on hold? Planning on deducting you home office this year? I would, except my tax agent doesn’t seem to think a laptop in a lounger counts. Ah well.
When Grandma Goes To Court
Lawyers should never ask a Mississippi grandma a question if they aren’t prepared for the answer.
In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, ‘Mrs. Jones, do you know me?’ She responded, ‘Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.’
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, ‘Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?’
She again replied, ‘Why yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.’
The defense attorney nearly died.
The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said,
‘If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair.’
Girl Scout Cookie Contest Winner
This week’s winner was Renee. You know where to find me. Tell me where to send them and as soon as I’m no longer contagious I’ll send them out.
Alive – sort of
I’m back. Sort of. Bad case of influenza took me down. I’m still under the weather. I’m sitting here at my desk lightheaded right now.
I’ll go ahead and do the drawing for the box of Girl Scout cookies tonight and post tomorrow, but it’ll be several days before I can send out either box, as I don’t want to contaminate them.
Hopefully sometime today I’ll be able to fix up all the Alice Calling links. I’m so sorry I just couldn’t do it before.
As to the menu – why do I get deathly ill everytime I try to update it? I’ll try to get back to my regular postings Monday, but I just can’t do the recipe tomorrow.
It tell you, this is the sort of thing that makes one take a long, blurry look at the world.
TT something or another – I know I'm really sick when
1. I don’t care about the blog
2. The floor tilts when I walk
3. I pant when I try to go to the bathroom
4. My throat hurts to much to swallow water
5. I can’t decide if I’m going to throw up or if I’m hungry
6. The boy volunteers to get things for me
7. I don’t recognize my mirror reflection
8. I’m too tired to roll over
9 The wrinkles in my sheet leave and imprint
10 I’ll have to finish this when I’m feeling better
By George! Who Should Rule?
We continue from the discovery that all is not well with George III. Next week we will be taking a little break from the Regency to celebrate Mr. Al’s Tudor blogs. The week following we will once again trace the ways and means of a rake on the throne.
For obvious reasons, those close to the King, both doctors and laymen, were reluctant to publicly declare His Majesty mad. It did not help that, because none of the doctors knew what was wrong, all of them made guesses. Some said it was minor and he would get better any day now. Others were not so sanguine. Those who’s prognosis was grim were immediately labeled “opposition doctors.” To be thus labeled was to be pilloried by the Tories in the House; to have their qualifications questioned by people who knew even less about medicine than they did, to have their alleged motives made front page news and to have their patriotism closely examined.
Not surprisingly, doctors weren’t clawing one another’s eyes out to be at the head of the line of physicians to treat His Majesty. As bad as all this was to the Royal Family, the Kings illness was also sweeping the government into a profound political crisis. Since no one knew with any certainty what was wrong, rumors flourished. Because the King wielded real political power, and his heir seemed to be in the back pocket of the opposition, What happened to the king was of the utmost importance.
There were no checks and balances of the sort we take for granted today. If the King died, the Prince of Wales became King. That much was clear. But what if he’s only incapacitated? And what if whatever is wrong is only temporary? And what if His Majesty is the God-fearing, baby-loving embodiment of all that is Right and Good, and his heir is a drunken, debt ridden, Catholic-marrying lout? And…All of his brothers are just as bad?
While the Prince became King upon the death of his father, it DID NOT automatically follow that he became Regent upon dad’s incapacitation. No indeed! There were those, like Fox, who insisted that it did. It was Fox’s view that the Prince should wield the full powers enjoyed by his father. Particularly those powers concerned with granting offices, making peers and handing out cash. The Tories were, to say the least, astounded by Fox’s new-found love for Royal privilege.
That the Prince of Wales should wield the same power as the King, without actually being King, with no restraint whatsoever, to be accountable to no one for where, when or how he spent taxpayer money, with no one to tell him when to brush his teeth and go to bed, was preposterous. The Tories were having NONE of that, thank you very much! The response to Fox was vigorous and immediate. Don’t count your chickens, buster! If you think we will allow that drunken buffoon to wield the power of the King, with you boy-o’s backing him up, think again! It was the fall of 1788. It would be a long winter.
Wish Me Luck, I'm Going In!
I’ve been sort of kind of ignoring my blog lately. No, seriously. I announced quite some time ago that I was going to do Monday Madness, Talk To Me Tuesdays, Wed with Mr. Al, Thursday Thirteen, Suzie’s House on Friday, Saturday Gerbil TV, and Sunday Recipes, and I’ve been doing the posts that way, but I never bothered to update my Menu.
That’s because my menu is in CSS. At least I think it’s CSS. It certainly isn’t English. I find messing with CSS intimidating. Everytime I change anything in a technological way I end up with a big mess on my hands. It’s like plumbing or carpentry. The saw dust keeps piling up and the water is everywhere….
Maybe that’s why my blog roll is in such disarray too. I have broken links, if the stupid blog will even let you click on them. Some people listed are no longer blogging, and people I promised to add months ago still haven’t been. So my goal this week is to get all that stuff cleaned up to the best of my abilities.
Am scared. Are you?
What are you planning on taking on this week? Anything scary?
BTW, isn’t it weird that a spell checker in a blog thinks “blog” is misspelled?
Alice Calling Participants
I’m putting the list of those participating in the Alice Calling meme here because WordPress messes around with my formatting every time I edit.
List of Participants in the order in which I became aware of them:
1. Terri http://terrisattempttoblog.blogspot.com/
2. Renee http://reneelynnscott.blogspot.com
3. Andi AKA Unhinged http://stillunhinged.blogspot.com
4. Debbie Mumford http://debbie-mumford.blogspot.com
5. Ian Thomas Healy http://popcornprinciple.blogspot.com
6. Debbie Mumford http://Debbie-Mumford.blogspot.com
7. Jodi Henley http://JodiHenley.blogspot.com
8. Harris Channing http://HarrisCahnningAuthor.blogspot.com
9. MJ Fierstein http://MJFierstein.wordpress.com
10. Kaige http://ImpulsiveHearts.wordpress.com
11. J.D. Rydell http://www.JDRydell.com
12. Winter http://winterblog.winterheart.com
13. Kathleen Oxley http://KatOxley.blogspot.com
14. Gwen Mitchell http://GwenMitchellFiction.blogspot.com
15. Gina Ardito http://www.ginaardito.com
16. Heather http://wordtrix.blogspot.com
17. Scarlett Sanderson http://scarlettsanderson.blogspot.com
18. Jana http://janahunter.blogspot.com
19. Ms Menozzi http://www.maggienash.com/Home.html
20. Maggie Nash http://maggienash.blogspot.com/
21. Jess Dee http://jessdee.wordpress.com/
’22. Deborah Dennis http://www.deboradennis.com/blog
’23. Jennifer Leeland http://jenniferleeland.wordpress.com
24. Tara Nichols http://tarasnichols.blogspot.com
25. Chelle Sandell http://chellesandell.blogspot.com/
26. Heather Rae Scott http://www.heatherraescott.net/blog
27. Theresa http://tstillwagon.wordpress.com
28. Jennifer Shirk http://jennifershirk.blogspot.com
Alice Calling
Let’s play Telephone! Did you ever play the game Telephone when you were a kid? It’s sometimes called Rumor or Gossip. You sit in a circle, the bigger the better.
The ring leader will tell a “secret” to one person. That person turns to the person on their left and whispers it. Each person hears the “secret” on one side and tells it on the other until it goes all the way around the circle. The last person says out loud what they were told, then the ring leader says what everyone started with. Most of the time it isn’t the same thing, and can be quite funny.
Using the power of the Internet, let’s give it a try.
I’m going to write a paragraph. You’re job is to make a change. It can be as little as one word or as big as twenty words. Post it on your blog with a link to THIS POST. I mean the post, not just the blog. I will link back to you. Pick three people to whom you will “whisper” your modified version. Let them know they are up next. Link to them and to the person who passed it to you.
DO NOT USE MY PARAGRAPH TO START FROM. DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF TO IT. USE THE PARAGRAPH OF THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU.
Here’s my paragraph:
Jack and Jill went up Boot Hill to fetch a keg of beer. Jack fell down and lost ten crowns and a couple of pence. Jill hadn’t drunk as much, so she managed to get off the hill without losing anything. Her heart doesn’t count. If she hadn’t already lost it to Jack, she would never have gone to a beer bust in a cemetery to begin with.
I’m whispering to Renee, Jodi, and Andi. You can still play this game even if I didn’t tag you. Just follow the rules.Come back in a month and see what happened to our little rumor.
Here are the rules for this meme:
1. Change something in the paragraph you received; a minimum of 1 word, a maximum of 20 words.
2. Link to the post at http://aliceaudrey.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/alice-calling/ and leave a comment so we can keep track of what happens to the paragraph. I will link back to you.
3. Link to the person who tagged you, preferably to where ever they posted their version of the paragraph.
4. Tag three people you think might enjoy this game. Let them know they’ve been tagged. Link to them.
5. Include these rules in your post.
The links to participants are all here: View Participants here
Girl Scout Cookie Contest
I forgot to have my daughter draw the names before I put her to bed. Now we’re all going to have to wait until tomorrow after she gets up.
She’s up and she picked Jennifer Shirk out of the hat. Jennifer, email me at Alice Audrey Write @ aol . com with your snail mail addy and I’ll get those Thin Mints right out to you.
Now on to Next Weeks cookies.
We have for your enjoyment a box of Tagalongs. These are the ones with the sturdy cookie centers topped with a peanut butter confection, and coated all around with milk chocolate. Mmmmmm.
Leave a comment in a By George! post on Wednesday, any post on Tuesday or in Suzie’s House on Friday of this week and your name will automatically be entered in the drawing. This time I’ll make the girl pull the name out of the hat on Saturday before she goes to bed so the winner will be posted early on Sunday.
To everyone who played along this week, thank you! Even if you didn’t win I hope you enjoyed the posts.
Curry Chicken Stir Fry
I don’t normally bother with a recipe for stir fry, but this is handy for remembering what seasonings to use.
1/2 c chicken, cubed
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium potato, cubed
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup coconut milk or soy milk
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup peas
3 tbsp soy sauce
In a large saucepan, sauté chicken and vegetables, curry, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne, stirring often so they don’t stick to the pan. Add the milk, cover, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes can be pierced easily with a fork. Stir in the peas and soy sauce, and cook uncovered on medium-high heat stirring constantly until the liquid has thickened. Serve over rice or noodles.
saturday photo scavenger hunt
