Fains I (A John Chance Mystery) Chapter 4 – What We Do in the Shadows (rewrite)

Chapters 2 and 3 had some minor rewrites, nothing worth reposting, as on to chapter 4’s rewrite (which included a name change).

Fains I (A John Chance Mystery) Chapter 4 – What We Do in the Shadows

Vincent Quarrals watched Monique Modine exit Martin’s store from deep in the shadows of the Kristoffersen’s barn. Stacey Knox headed south a few minutes earlier.
He considered walking over when he saw her pull in, decided no. She seemed okay enough. He did a cursory read of her background at the state capital using what little Monique knew as a starting point, and something about Knox told him to go deep, go further, do some more reading beyond her litigation histories.
She bought the Campbell’s farm. He never noticed her in town before. What, did she come into town on a lark, saw a broken down farm badly in need of repair with a for-sale sign on it, and decided hot damn, that’s for me? One of the top lawyers in New York City decides to go country?
Bullshit. Only a flake would do that and she didn’t seem the flake type.
Did she even know the Campbell farm’s history?
Sad place if ever there was one.
The Campbells owned the farm since dirt was young. Al Senior, Al and Blanche’s father, never came back from Korea. MIA or POW or KIA nobody knew, and Mrs. Campbell did what she could to hold things together. They dirt farmed their small patch but that gave them enough for themselves and a little more. Kind-hearted neighbors, most of them farmers themselves, bought her overflow. She’d drop off baskets of produce and they’d return the baskets, often with new or at least not too worn clothes for her and the kids.
They raised chickens and pigs. Mrs. Campbell planned on selling off the livestock and Al had none of it. “We have two good breeder sows and all our hens are good layers. I can learn how to slaughter and get things to market. We do this right and we can grow the farm, Ma.”
Ballsy for a twelve-year old kid, but nobody knew what a head for business Al had. By the time he graduated high school he was one hell of a butcher. He handled chickens and pigs with razor sharp knifes and never made a mess. Quiet, quick, and clean, and he proud of it. Neighbors brought their livestock to him for slaughter. He smiled and only took some good cuts for payment.
Al was fourteen, Blanche twelve, and the widow Campbell gets a suitor. Within a year Mrs. Campbell is Mrs. Stockton and Gus Stockton, Mr. Chocolates and flowers and smiles when people are watching, is fists and belt and a water pipe when people can’t see.
Quarrals remembered his parents talking about Gus Stockton when they thought Vince slept, how Gus beat Al and Blanche, at least once beating Al unconscious. By now Blanche is becoming a woman and Gus found other uses for her.
And if Mrs. Stockton said anything?
She’d feel his fists and strop, too.
Just the memory sickened him.
And didn’t Acra grow quiet when Gus died in a freak farming accident, his boot laces caught in the lower fork of a grain elevator, his belt – the same one he used to strop his family – wrapped around one of the tynes, and the controls well out of reach.
Damn elevator tore him apart. Literally.
Vince, starting his teens by this time, still remembered how nervous, how jumpy, Al was when the State Police investigated.
Vince decided right there and then Acra needed its own law. Go to the state when there’s a need, but otherwise keep them out. Acra can take care of itself.
Which brought Vince right back to Stacey Knox. The last newcomer was Larry Martin, a nice guy, a small-time accountant in a Baltimore-based, two-man firm who sold out to his partner, evidently floundered for a while, came north with his cousin to fish the Fingers, saw something he liked and moved in.
And boy, talk about crossing Ts and dotting Is. Vince chuckled. Martin must have been one hell of an accountant the way he went over the paperwork when he bought Acra QuickStop.
Not that Vince could complain. He never had real genuine Italian cold cuts and that Jewish pastry stuff Martin shipped in?
He must be damn good at making connections to get the stuff he could get.
Take those satellite dishes out behind the store. Larry has a crew from the city put in three big satellite dishes so he can watch overseas soccer games and never got them to work right. Anybody asks if they can come watch and either the signal’s down or the dishes were blown out of alignment or raccoons ate through his cable and he’s waiting for a replacement.
Vince shook his head and chuckled.
Something squeaked behind him. He shone his flashlight in his driver’s side mirror. A weasel stared back at him with a young barn rat in its mouth.
He wondered what would’ve happened if he bought the Campbell place. Must’ve been cheap. Modine took her life in her hands every month she went in to make sure the electricity, plumbing, septic, well, and heat still worked. Next thing anybody knows she’s taking down the For Sale sign and one night well into dark a truck pulls up, a team gets out, goes to work, and by the time they leave you could eat off the floor. Fresh paint, fresh flooring, brand new wiring, brand new fixtures, good, solid furniture in the kitchen, bedrooms, dining room, and living room, and the rest of the house with enough furniture to be comfortable without getting in the way.
Who brings a crew in, probably more than one delivery truck, probably with lifting tailgates, does a makeover worthy of Discovery Channel and This Old House simultaneously, and gets in and out between some time near midnight and sunrise?
Quarrals mused.
Al could’ve done it.
He continued to grow the farm as a business all through high school. He received a scholarship to U of Wisconsin Racine, gets a degree in finance, comes back, converts one of the backrooms into an office, and puts a sign out front, Brunswick Investments.
Turned out Old Al had a knack for picking winners. He’d go up to RPI, SUNY-Albany, down to Maris, listen to students give their dissertations, and always picked which papers could turn into profitable businesses. He mortgaged the farm, financed winners, used that to buy back the farm, finance more winners, and bought up more and more land surrounding his farm.
Somebody asked him once why he was so land hungry.
“I’m kind of like Stalin. I only want the properties which are next to mine. By the way, yours for sale?
And every Saturday he slaughtered whatever of his livestock was ripe for market and whatever anybody else brought him.
“You’re so good with a knife, Al. Ever think of going to medical school? Becoming a surgeon?”
Al laughed. “You’re land for sale, by any chance?”
Things went well until Mrs. Stockton wandered off one day and nobody could find her. She’d been three sandwiches short of a picnic for a few years by that time and Blanche, god love her, wouldn’t let anybody else take care of her.
But then Mrs. Stockton wandered off and Blanche would have none of it.
She and Al left right when Vince received his discharge from the Marines. Rumor was Al shacked up with some woman in northern Maine and Blanche to some California nuts-and-berries, back-to-the-earth ashram. They left their property in different directions and neither looked back. The place rotted. The house didn’t need work, it needed to be razed, but some damn land investment group or some such bought it at state auction for back taxes and there you go.
The weasel ran out down a hole in the barn’s floorboard and Vince turned back to watching the comings and goings on Acra’s main thoroughfare. In the cool of the shade, in the quiet of the shadows, he nodded.

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Previous Fains I (A John Chance Mystery) Chapters

Charlie grabs a peanut, Felice sits on her Butt

They gather.
From woods, from glens, from treetops and burrows.
They gather.
Some climb, some crawl, some burrow, some scurrow.
They gather.
The cornucopia appears and nothing is questioned.
They gather.
To feast, to dine, to munch, to mind.
They gather.
Each year the cycle continues, the cycle completes.
They gather.
Not counting as as other, as threat.
They gather.
And take, and give, without asking,
Because answers are few
And survival is all.
They gather

 

RoundTable 360° June 2024 – Creating Characters on BizCatalyst 360°

EU Actress, model, and voice talent Sabine Rossbach leads a discussion on From idea to paper (or word) to performance, how do we bring characters to life?

Panelists include sf/fantasy author Liz Tuckwell; poet and screenwriter Ken Weene; cozy/mystery author Donna Huston Murray; poet, editor, and publisher Clarabelle Miray Fields; children’s and graphic novel author Mark O’Brien; agent and actress Sophie Helbig; painter/artist Anne O’Brien; dancer and lecturer Gina Mazza, Ron Esse; musician and author Mac Bogert; author/blogger Amy Olmeda; and me, boring and dull Joseph Carrabis

We had a full house with this one.

Watch and enjoy.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 17: Author Voice, Character Voice (Part 3)

This is the third experiment in the Author Voice, Character Voice arc. I mentioned in Part 1.

My goal in this arc is to demonstrate the different voices at an author’s disposal. Part 1 focused on Character Voice. Part 2 focused on Author as Character, something often used when the character has no language and only experience, which causes the author write through the character’s POV but without internal or external dialogue, and when the character’s observations, awareness, and explanations are somehow limited (age, language, non-human, …).

This time out we consider how to craft the story when the Author is the character. The author writes directly through the character’s POV in 1stP, increasing intimacy and immediacy between character and reader.

Let me know how good a job I’m doing. Feel free to ask me to elaborate. Currently I recognize this is one of those things I know and never had to explain to myself.

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.

RoundTable 360° Oct 2024 Is ‘Schadenfreude’ German for ‘Casper, the Friendly Ghost’? – If humor is subjective, what makes ‘funny’ funny?

(seems I’ve been remiss in posting our RoundTables.
beg pardon and here you go)

Our 31 Oct 2024 RoundTable 360° session was Is ‘Schadenfreude’ German for ‘Casper, the Friendly Ghost’? – If humor is subjective, what makes ‘funny’ funny? and led by psychologist, author, and humorist Peter Desberg. Joining Peter are Ken Weene, Mark O’Brien, Sarah Bowden, Amy Olmeda, Donna Huston Murray, Sabine Rossbach, Todd Sullivan, Clarabelle Miray Fields, and others.

Watch and enjoy.

 
Want to take part in future RoundTable 360°s? Reserve your space on Eventbrite.