Scrambled Brain

Image by blogetta

Image by blogetta

Will rises early, eager to please his mother, whose birthday is today of all days. He shuffles to the kitchen to make her a special breakfast. He looks in the refrigerator but finds it bare. He checks the pantry and sees cobwebs in it. Remembering another refrigerator in the house, he goes downstairs to the basement.

What a senile moment, he chuckles to himself. Of course, he stocks the downstairs fridge so no one can see the exotic food he keeps. He takes out a plastic container and brings it upstairs.

After fussing around the kitchen and making all the fixings, Will carries a tray of food down a short hallway. He stops in front of a closed door and knocks.

“Mama?” He calls out softly and gently opens the door. He sets down the tray on a dusty dresser and walks to the bed where a desiccated looking body is laying under a blanket.

“Rise and shine, birthday gal.” Will sits the figure up. “I made your favorite, scrambled brain, Mama.” He gets the tray and places it on the bed between the remains and himself. Sitting across from her, he talks about the things they’ll do to celebrate her birthday.  Every year he finds it easier to face his mother because his vision is growing weaker. He doesn’t like seeing how his mother ages.

The Ones Below (a movie blurt)

A psychological thriller that plays like a cautionary tale about being neighborly. The movie is about two couples, each expecting their first child, and a dinner invite that sets off events leading to a chilling end. Set in England, the film stars Clémence Poésy, David Morrissey, Stephen Campbell Moore and Laura Birn.

The Wayward Guest (a 50-word story)

bitterness

Image: Pixabay

Photographs of smiling family portraits in the guest bedroom seem to mock his failure to hold his own family together. Bitterness overwhelms him as he impulsively grabs the decorative sword from the wall and creeps inside his hosts’ bedroom.  Soon after puncturing both their throats, he wails, “I’m so sorry.”

Criminal (a movie blurt)

Although flawed in different areas, the movie is still entertaining with action and an interesting concept—to transfer a dying man’s memory to a live person. Plus, the movie has an all-star cast: Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Costner , Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Pitt, Alice Eve, and Gal Gadot. To keep the action going, the story consists of a number of spy vs. spy vs. international gangster scenes, with always the possibility of mutually assured destruction (MAD). High level, the movie is about a poignant love story mixed in with the U.S. government held hostage by a hacker who has found the means to trigger powerful weapons.

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter (a book blurt)

Another engrossing book by the author who wrote the “The Grant County” and “Will Trent” book series. All are thrillers and full of action, some more relentless than others, but they still make you grit your teeth. This newest installation is a standalone; it’s about two sisters who become estranged from each other because of a man, who marries one of them. More than 20 years later the two sisters reunite after the sister’s husband dies. Or does he? The widowed sister begins finding out disturbing things about her spouse, who had provided her with all her needs. Was he a genuinely loving and gentle man, or was he part of a secret pornographic ring? Full of graphic scenes and unbelievable depravity, the story makes you want to read through the night until your eyes can’t stay open anymore.

I’ve listed below, in the order they were published, the series and standalone books that I’ve read by this author. I will also continue to update the list below, as I continue reading her new publications.

The Grant County series
Blindsighted
Kisscut
A Faint Cold Fear
Indelible
Faithless
Beyond Reach

Will Trent series
Triptych
Fractured
Undone
Broken
Fallen
Snatched
Criminal
Busted
Unseen
The Kept Woman
The Silent Wife

Standalones
Coptown
Pretty Girls
The Good Daughter
Pieces of Her (2018)

An American Toil

work all day

Image: Pixabay

Terri toils all day, stopping for lunch only to eat some stale bread sopped in dishwater soup. No relief until the sun sets and traffic is nil. Darkness envelopes Terri as she climbs aboard the bus. Her mood is black even though her commute is short. A blessing for others, but she sees it as a brief pause before going to another place of toil. She gets home and feeds her hungry latchkey kids. Supper is last night’s leftover rice and beans. Off to bed with tummies full of gas. The next day is another run-of-the-mill, nose-to-the-grind-day.

Neurotica

Twin sisters, Veronica and Erica,
Identical of face,
Yet different in many ways.

Always fretting with a permanent tic,
Veronica is neurotic.
Full of verve and nerve,
Erica loves anything exotic or erotic.

A grand family reunion is planned.
Surprise, surprise!
They discover a third sister,
Their long-lost triplet separated at birth.

Her name is Jessica,
Who has an obsession for kinky fashion.
She’s Veronica and Erica combined–
A neurotica, as defined.

Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

The Overnight (a movie review)

This is a comedy about friendship and marriage. A young family recently relocates from Seattle to L.A. The dad, played by Adam Scott, and the mom, played by Taylor Schilling, along with their little boy, are in their neighborhood playground. They acquaint themselves with another young father, played by Jason Schwartzman, and his son. Jason’s character invites the whole family over for pizza night, which turns out to be quite an extended event. Hence, the title, The Overnight. The whole family ends up staying all night long for an evening full of surprises and laughs.
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Ripe Romance

anniversary
On the center of the long oak dining table sits a rectangular cake with silver-tinted words that read, “60th Anniversary.” Pam runs from the kitchen to the table to put the finishing touches to the already overflowing spread. The doorbell is ringing and someone is also knocking on the front door. Her mother, Mabel, calls out, “I’ll get the door, honey. Hurry and get your father so we can quickly sing and put him back to his room.”
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Bro’, You Heavy

My bro’ is stew, or in the sewers. I am sorry for what I did, but I was tired.

Bub, my bro’, weighed a ton. For breakfast, he would eat six bowls of Honey Monster Puffs, five fried eggs, four strawberry Pop-Tarts, three buttered waffles, two thick slabs of bacon, and a partridge in a pear tree. I exaggerate. He did not eat the tree. I will not bother writing the rest of what he would eat during the rest of the day; it will just make my journal look like a grocery list. And remind me how close to broke I was getting because food is not getting cheaper. It is a good thing I get to take home some leftovers from Hog Heaven, where I wash dishes and bus tables. I also get a 10% discount at the Food Mart, where I stock the shelves three days a week.
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