Just For Fun

For those of you who were following the plotting tips from Dud, I thought you might like an update on how he is doing with his book. Dud is the creation of humor columnist and author, Slim Randles, but he has become very real for the many followers of Slim's column, Home Country. I, for one, had to know if the truck driver and the duchess were ever going to get together....

“You know what we forgot to do?” Anita asked. Dud shook his head. “We forgot to dig out those promises we made to ourselves on New Years last year.”

“Right,” Dud said. He was trying to remember what he’d written down as a promise to himself. Right after dinner is a bad time to be disappointed. “I can’t remember where we put them,” he said, picking up the Weekly Valley Miracle.

“They’re in my desk, silly,” Anita said, brightly. “I’ll go get them.”

Dud put the paper down and looked out the window at the snow where the lawn should be. He felt a little dread coming on. Not a big one, just a regular shrug-of-the-shoulders kinda dread. Do we always promise ourselves the moon and deliver a light bulb?

“Here we go,” Anita said, tossing Dud’s envelope in his lap. “You want me to read mine first?”

“You mean out loud?”

“Of course.”

He grimaced and watched as she opened hers.

“Okay,” she said. “I promised I’d learn to bake sourdough bread this year and I did. And I promised I’d join the Ladies Literary League and I did that. In May I think. And I promised I’d straighten out the filing system down at the office. Took me until August, but I got that, too, Honey. Okay. Your turn.”

Dud opened the envelope. He unfolded the paper carefully.

“Do I have to read all of them? You sure? Well, I promised to memorize the Julida Polka on my accordion.”

“And you did.”

“Yes. Yes I did. And I promised to build that birdhouse by the window.”

“Yep. There’s number two.”

He sat quietly. “Well, Honey, I promised I’d finish writing that murder mystery. You know … ‘Murder in the Soggy Bottoms’?”

“The Duchess and the Truck Driver? Sure.”

“I’m nowhere near getting that thing done.”

“Some people take years to write books. I read the other day it took Max Evans more than 30 years to write ‘Bluefeather Fellini.’”

Dud smiled sadly, and nodded. “That’s true I guess.”

Yes, he thought, but this book of mine isn’t ‘Bluefeather Fellini.’

Maybe by next year.

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Brought to you by “Sun Dog Days,” Slim’s latest novel. Available at Slim Randles Web site

Posted by Maryann Miller who is grateful to Slim for sharing his work with WinnsboroToday.com. Visit Maryann's Web site for information and pricing for her editing services, as well as information about her books. When she is not working, Maryann loves to play farmer on her little place in East Texas.