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Island Stories
cover design © 2006 Tamara Gagne.

 

 

 

Story Excerpt

 

 

Island Stories

Celia A. Leaman

 

 

 

Bamboozled

 

Oliver, and Dolores his wife, sat drinking coffee in their respectable, upscale, west-end condo.

They hadn't been there long. They'd sold their house, put some money away and moved in just over a year ago. It had been twelve months of hardly anything to do, except vacuum the floor and plump the cushions—peach to match the background of the peacock-feather curtains. Oliver deplored them, although when in company, under Doll's keen eye, he would admit they were eye-catching.

For Doll, it had been a year of bliss—well, almost, if it wasn't for Oliver. Of late he'd begun to worry her. On occasion she would hear him sighing and murmuring, "Oh, I do miss the lawn."

Usually she was able to divert him from those renegade thoughts, but this morning Oliver was unable to be dissuaded from his mindset. He couldn't even have his coffee on the balcony because he said the smell of new-mown grass wafting up from below made him feel quite homesick. So they sat inside in a distinctly uncomfortable silence.

"Listen to this," Oliver said, rising from his slump behind the newspaper. "Gale Island. Funky fixer-upper." He smiled for the first time since getting out of bed.

"That probably means it's made of driftwood, or that it's falling apart," Doll said with a self-assured chuckle. She rarely took Oliver's wild ideas seriously.

Oliver chuckled like a naughty schoolboy and returned to the ad with gusto.

"Farmhouse on five acres," he read. "Five acres, Doll, imagine!"

"Oliver," she said, a little less confidently, now eyeing him suspiciously. "You can't be serious? What would we do with five acres?"

Oliver muttered something about being fed up with living in a rabbit hutch, and returned to the ad.

"Has potential," he read. "All offers considered." He grinned at Doll as though he'd achieved something spectacular and handed her the paper. "Here, have a look for yourself."

Doll sucked in her cheeks, and reluctantly looked.

"It could be just what we need," Oliver said, despite her unenthusiastic grunt. "What's missing from our lives."

"There's nothing missing from my life," Doll said, folding the newspaper and slapping it onto the table.

 

 

Island Stories Copyright © 2006. Celia A. Leaman. All rights reserved by the author. Please do not copy without permission.

 

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Author Bio

Celia began her writing career after immigrating to Canada. She enjoys writing in various genres, wherever her imagination takes her. Mary's Child, her first novel, reflects her love and knowledge of the moors in South Devon, England, where she was raised. Her more humorous novels begin with Unraveled, written around the Gulf Islands in Western Canada. Celia is currently working on another Gale Island book, Weeds That Work and Pots of Goodness. The Winnowed Woman is a collection of journal entries, essays and poems.

Celia has also published three collections of short stories: Island Stories, Who is Margaret? What is She? and Journeys. Details of her books and upcoming events are posted on her web site.

TTB titles:
Island Stories
Mary's Child
Past Present I - sequel to "Mary's Child."
The Winnowed Woman
Unraveled  [a Gale Island story.]

Visit Celia's web site

 

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