Snippet Sunday: Medical Specialities

This is a passage involving two of our supporting characters in our manuscript, from the point of view of one of them. Rachel is one of Gabriel's closest friends, and a doctor in New York City.

Rachel walked through the hospital late in the afternoon, unwinding from a successful delivery. Mother and baby were doing fine, and father had made it through without fainting. She smiled, shook her head, wondering about the notion of someday having children with Olivia. We’d just have to settle which one of us gets pregnant, she thought with a smirk.

She looked ahead in the crowded corridor, and saw a good friend and fellow doctor. Faith Cavanaugh worked here in the oncology department, fighting a battle against a disease that all too often ended in a loss. Too many patients lost the battle to cancer. Rachel had often wondered how Faith could stand the emotional toll that area of medicine took on its doctors and nurses. It was something she could never do herself. She preferred the happy endings that came out of helping bring a new life into the world.

Snippet Sunday: Breakfast With Gram

Another short passage from our manuscript, this featuring Gabriel paying a visit to his grandmother in Ireland at the end of a working trip in the British isles....

Saturday morning saw Gabriel awake early. After checking out of the hotel, he drove out of Galway in a rental, along the familiar roads to Headford. It wasn’t long until he was in the town, pulling into a parking space by his grandmother’s home. Bridget was already awake, greeted him with a hug, fussed over him, and brought him back to the kitchen, where she was engaged in making pancakes. The smell of cinnamon, sugar, and flour filled the room.

“So, Gabriel,” she said breezily. “Tell me about it.” 

 

 “About what?” he asked, digging into a pancake.  

 

“Something’s changed about you,” she remarked. 

 

 He smiled. “Can’t get anything past you, could I?”

Snippet Sunday: Quite A Noise

We have another passage today, this from the manuscript and the point of view of Dana, one of our supporting characters, a city girl out in the country staying with her friends, and hearing something she is definitely not used to in the night....

Dana had never heard a screech owl before.  

The owl outside her window roused her from a sound sleep. She grabbed the bedside phone and made a frantic call to 911. Then she went running down the hallway, screaming. She woke everyone except Linda, who was heavily sedated. They rushed into the hallway. Chloe grabbed her friend's shoulders. “Dana—what's wrong?” Dana was shaking. 

“Someone's being killed outside! I heard the screams!"

Snippet Sunday: Stormy Weather

We thought we would go with something a little different today with dialogue between Chloe and a minor character (this may be the only time she appears) while Chloe's distracted.

         "I picked a lousy time to stop smoking." Staff writer Kelly Raynaud looked as if she were on the verge of a meltdown as she appeared in the doorway. "I'm this close to taking hostages on the observation deck at the Empire State Building." 
         "Welcome to the club," Chloe said with unmasked sarcasm. "What's your excuse?"  
         Kelly waved her phone as if she might throw it at any moment. "I scheduled a phone interview with Stella McCartney for yesterday so I could make deadline. Now I can't get a call through to London because some storm took out the phone lines."

Snippet Sunday: Just The One Fire

Today we're picking up right where we left off last week between Chloe and Gabriel...

“How are you with barbecues?”

“Fine. I only started the one fire.”

He looked at her, saw her smirk. “Just the one?” He stepped out of the way, giving her the spatula, heading back into the kitchen, finding the condiments and buns. He brought them out to the side table beside the barbecue, and looked at Chloe, who seemed to sense his gaze.

Snippet Sunday: A Gathering Of Friends

Today we're going with something from our manuscript, just a quiet moment among some of our characters at the farm of Chloe's mother.

Dinner that evening at the farm was informal as always. Gabriel had picked up food in town, and was busily grilling burgers on the barbecue outside. The weather was fair, and so lawn chairs had been brought out. Gabriel listened to the chatter of women as he grilled, smiling to himself. I’m outnumbered, he thought. Fortunately I don’t mind at all. Cass and George were coming over, and at the moment, Linda, Rachel, Olivia, and Dana were behind him, engaged in conversation. Chloe came outside, carrying a smoothie for her mother, bringing it to her. He kept grilling, tending to the burgers, and felt her hand against his back, her cheek resting against his shoulder. “Can I help?”

Snippet Sunday: Not Your Usual Coyote

We have something a little different today. A couple of times through the manuscript, we left the point of view of our main characters and supporting characters and saw things through the perspective of other residents: animals. In this case, a coyote making his rounds in the vicinity of the home of Chloe's mother. Here he sees the arrival of Chloe and Gabriel on the farm.

He considered the land his own, crossing the farm periodically as part of his wanderings. He had come through the orchards often, knew the voices of the people in the area, preferred to avoid them. Instead he moved quickly, quietly, in the shadows, always on the hunt. Rabbits were the preferred prey in his diet, and he knew well enough to avoid the farms in the area that had livestock. While that kind of prey might be easy to hunt, doing so brought other problems. 

 The coyote had seen the car pull up at the farmhouse from a distance, had seen the younger couple step out. The female was related, in some way, to the woman who lived there.  Her cub, he thought. The male was a newcomer, had only shown up recently. I wonder if they’ve mated yet, the coyote thought.