Laura Novak
  • Welcome
  • About
  • NYTs
  • Scribd
  • Murder
  • Clarity
  • Contact

A Cup of Tea: Work In Progress

9/19/2012

 
Picture
I gripped the mug of hot tea and blew away the steam hovering around my lips. The unrelenting fog filled the frame of the picture window reminding me of the white out conditions we used to experience in Minnesota when I was growing up in the ‘60’s. The Berkeley and Oakland hills exist in a “banana belt” which means they enjoy a Mediterranean climate and usually escape the Indian Summer fog that socks in San Francisco Bay. But this being September, all bets were off along the California coast and even inland. The marine layer, or whateverthehell those TV weathermen called it, was squatting on us and unlikely to move any time soon, save for the occasional afternoon clearing. And the ranch house at 5748 Constellation Lane where I now sat was as enveloped by the unforgiving white mist as anywhere else.

I placed my cup on the marred oak coffee table bumping up against my knees and lifted my reporter’s pad and pen off the stack of magazines cluttering its surface. The man crossed in front of the picture window momentarily creating a silhouette of his bulky frame, shock of curly hair, and the lump that protruded out of his cheek. The image made him appear outsized and bearish and, as if in a movie theater, I wanted to shout “down in front” so I could get the interview underway. He took a seat in the tattered recliner, upholstered in burnt orange tweed that also resembled something straight out of my childhood, and held up the ice pack to his cheekbone. “Your tea okay?” he solicited.

“Yes, lovely thanks. What flavor is this? It almost doesn’t need sweetening, which would be a good thing for me to know about.” I chortled, which as I pointed out earlier is something I do when I am trying to avoid another action, in this case, dwell on what Jeremy Gates had said to me the day before about this guy murdering his wife.

“Just white tea with vanilla, which gives it that sweet flavor. It was Amy’s favorite,” the man said, sighing and pushing back from the edge of the lounger. He appeared more trusting now than when I first approached the door. I clicked my pen open and drew my pad onto my now crossed legs. 



 Excerpt from a work in progress. Copyright:  Laura A. Novak, 2012


V-A
9/19/2012 03:23:06 am

Yeah, baby!

grannyj
9/19/2012 11:18:10 am

Keep em coming. I am ready for more Clarity.

Barbara Alfaro link
9/19/2012 11:31:58 pm

Wow! I'm hooked already. He may have killed his wife but he serves gently flavored tea! Laura, I can almost see them. I hope you keep working on this story.

Laura Novak
9/20/2012 02:24:01 am

Thanks, all! It's definitely a WIP, but we'll see where it goes. Thanks for reading!!

Rolando link
9/21/2012 02:37:26 am

Well, I would not be there, LOL! The person (a woman I presume) is very brave. Definitely an attention chatching narrative. And that picture is lovely.

Joey Gilbert auto accident lawyer link
3/4/2013 03:28:06 pm

I don't know it's an incident or you put your imaginations here but just can say..
Awesome creativity and good talent to write.

Get Rid of Skin Tags link
4/23/2013 02:06:37 pm

There is noticeably a bundle to learn about this. I assume you made specific nice points in capabilities also.

more here link
5/13/2013 09:53:26 pm

Thanks for the beautiful share. This type of share seems a talk about a cup of tea but it has deeper meaning behind. I think cherishing the resource available and striving for the success will lead to ones dream. I am so glad that I have landed on your page and heard lots. Keep posting more.

http://www.best-homework-help-online.com/programming-help/ link
10/14/2013 07:02:37 pm

TV weathermen called it, was squatting on us furthermore remote to touch some second later, salvage for the scattered afternoon clearing. Besides the plantation home at 5748 Constellation Street where I forthwith sat was as enveloped by the unforgiving colorless cloud as anywhere different.


Comments are closed.

    Laura Novak

    Reporter, Author, Blogger, and Mother...

    Picture

    RSS Feed


    My novel is now on Amazon Kindle!!
    Picture


    Blogs I Read

    Getty Iris
    Cloisters Garden
    Daily Dish
    AlterNet
    Immoral Minority
    Hullabaloo
    Phantomimic
    Jotting Down a Life
    Lynnrockets
    Oakland Local
    Passive Voice
    LitBrit
    Onward
    Joe McGinniss
    Barbara Alfaro
    Suzanne Rosenwasser


    Categories

    All
    Brushes With Greatness
    Dance Number
    Education
    Friday Feature
    Girls On The Bus
    Good Men Project
    Just Sayin
    My Favorite Movie
    Neonatologist
    Private Parts
    Quick Take Tuesday
    Sarah Palin
    Scharlott Stuff
    Scribd
    Shrink Wrap Supreme
    Tao Te Wednesday
    True Confessions
    Vox Populi
    Writing/Publishing

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from acidpix, sicamp, Clearly Ambiguous, breahn, hoill, William Arthur Fine Stationery, southerntabitha, *Vintage Fairytale*, NeoGaboX, Dana Moos, ButterflyOrb, ruurmo, MCS@flickr, h.koppdelaney, Andrew 94, MarkWallace, fdecomite, Wonderlane, christophercarfi, dreamsjung, the superash, euphro, melloveschallah, Rhett Sutphin, I Don't Know, Maybe., Harold Laudeus, h.koppdelaney, jennaddenda, Harrissa Sunshine, Wesley Fryer, fidalgo_dennis, bark, [cipher], fdecomite, Marcos Kontze, legends2k, optick, pjohnkeane, Kabacchi, Pink Sherbet Photography, h.koppdelaney, alexbrn, Elsie esq., Rafael Acorsi, naitokz, tiffa130, otisarchives4, Sheloya Mystical and Agrimas Gothic, allygirl520, tnarik, Daquella manera, peyri, Patrick Hoesly, Anderson Mancini, Abode of Chaos, joewcampbell, keepitsurreal, Jonas N, David Boyle, Gideon Burton, evmaiden, Mike Willis, ankakay, LadyDragonflyCC -Busy Wedding Week for BF Amy!, Cast a Line, aeneastudio, Lord Jim, hisperati, dbzoomer, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, thegardenbuzz, kamshots, AleBonvini, smadden, CarbonNYC