Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
In addition, now and again I will provide some of my fiction to read, for free, on this newsletter. Everything is available to anyone who subscribes, but I am always pleased when someone shows their appreciation for the newsletter by upgrading to paid.
Daily Diary, Friday, April 19, 2024, Day 1326:
As anticipated, not much work time, yesterday, but I did almost get done with chapter 5, andI hope to finish it tomorrow and move on to the next chapter. My meetings went well, my walks went well, and this morning I had yoga, and lots more decluttering, so I am not going to take my morning walk, since I have some more I want to get done. This room, that we are going to temporarily turn into a temporary bedroom, was essentially our office (printer, etc.) so I made way to put the printer in another room, but it also had lots of miscellaneous stuff like all the children’s books (from my childhood, my daughter’s childhood, and my grandsons’ childhood visits.) Also has old yearbooks, and lots of various memorabilia (a pelican that my father carved, a tree fungus? I carved in 1957 with my name, my daughter’s baby handprint, etc.) And lots of framed photos.
Some things will get put away for the first stage of remodel, then brought back out, (like the photos, memorabilia, yearbooks-I thought grandsons might get a laugh from them next visit—since this is the room we pull out futons for them to sleep on when then visit), and the rest will go up into the attic. And everything needed a thorough dusting as I went through them. Once this is all done, and I have swept up, I will bring in an air purifier and give the room a thorough airing so it will be ready for us to move in the bed.
However, time to put up the next scene in the short story, and a reminder that if you go HERE, you will see the rest of the scenes published so far. Next Monday and Wednesday will be the final two scenes!
Dandy Detects: A Victorian San Francisco Story
By M. Louisa Locke, copyright, 2010
Scene 6:
"Positively howled! I don't know how to describe it, a kind of eerie yodel. It was the most bone-chilling sound," Barbara said to the three women sitting with her in the kitchen later that evening. Mrs. O'Rourke, the cook, Kathleen, the servant, and Mrs. Fuller, the boarding house owner, all looked at the dog in question, who was lying down, his small muzzle between his front paws, his brown eyes looking up at them.
Barbara felt like an interloper in the basement kitchen. Yet she was desperate for advice, and this was the only place she could think to turn. She didn't know why she felt so uncomfortable. Jamie, of course, could be found down here almost every day, doing his homework or playing with Dandy, who stayed in the kitchen when Jamie was at school and Barbara was at work. And she knew that Mrs. Stein often spent the evening down here when her husband was away on business. It wasn't that she felt she was above Mrs. O'Rourke or Kathleen, either. Mrs. O'Rourke had been so good to Jamie; she felt nothing but gratitude towards her. And Kathleen! Well, she just wished the young girls in her English and literature classes had half the intelligence and lively curiosity of Kathleen, who was probably not much older than those students. Maybe it was the third woman sitting across from her in the kitchen rocking chair, Mrs. Annie Fuller, who made her feel so uneasy.
Mrs. Fuller was a young widow, in her mid-twenties, who had inherited the house on O'Farrell Street and last year had turned it into a boarding house, although Mrs. O'Rourke was in charge of the day-to-day running of the household. She was a slender, graceful woman with reddish blonde hair and deep brown eyes--eyes that were now looking at Barbara with disconcerting directness. She sees too much. That's what makes me uncomfortable, Barbara thought. Everyone else just sees me as Mrs. Hewitt, the schoolteacher and doting mother of Jamie. She looks like she can see into my very soul. She couldn't possibly be really clairvoyant, could she?
Barbara tore her eyes away and looked back down at Dandy. As "Madam Sibyl," Mrs. Fuller spent most of her days reading palms and charting stars in order to advise a number of proper middle-aged women and prosperous businessmen. Mrs. Fuller had explained to Barbara, when she had interviewed her about becoming one of her boarders, that she billed herself as a clairvoyant because this was the only way she could get paid for the domestic and business advice she gave. She had assured Barbara that her clientele was very select and that there would be no reason for her to worry about the effect living in the same house as Madam Sibyl would have on her son or her own reputation. At the time, Barbara had been so eager to move out of the wretched rented room she and Jamie had been living in that she had paid little attention to these assurances. But Mrs. Fuller had been true to her word. In fact, she was so discreet that Barbara had only once gotten a glimpse of her dressed in the odd clothing and wig that made up her alter ego, and Jamie seemed oblivious to the fact that the Madam Sibyl who worked in the front parlor of the house and the "nice Mrs. Fuller" were one and the same.
Of all the women in the boarding house, Mrs. Fuller was closest to her in age and education. They both had been married but were now without their husbands, and it would have been natural for the two of them to become close. Nevertheless, Barbara had been relieved that Mrs. Fuller seldom ate with her boarders and that there hadn't been many opportunities to get to know her better. Until now. Why do I have such difficulty making friends? Surely none of these women would ever deliberately hurt me, she thought.
"Mrs. Hewitt, dogs do howl. Why has this upset you so?" Mrs. Fuller's crisp clear voice interrupted Barbara's thoughts. "Was there a particular reason you needed to see Mrs. Francis today about the piano lessons?"
"Oh, no. Not really," Barbara replied. "But afterwards, I began to worry about Gordie, Mrs. Francis' little black Scottie. You know, from my window I can look down and see into their back yard. On the days I'm not working, I always see Gordie, digging in the back or sitting in the shade of a bush by the back door. And every evening, about when the sun sets, I hear Mrs. Francis call for him to come into the house. But I haven't heard her or seen the dog in a few days."
"Perhaps Mrs. Francis is away," Mrs. Fuller said.
"Yes, yes," said Barbara. "That is what her husband told me, but I don't know...."
Kathleen interrupted, "Did you speak to the lady's husband then? A handsome man but ill-mannered from what I have heard."
"Yes, I did. Maybe that is what has me so rattled. While we were trying to figure out what was wrong with Dandy, suddenly Mr. Francis loomed over the gate and asked us what was going on. Quite startled us, Dandy included, because Dandy started snarling and then leaped up, as if he wanted to bite the man on the nose. Of course, he couldn't reach him, but he can leap awfully high, and Mr. Francis pulled back and began to curse. Quite abusive. Ill-mannered is the least of it!"
"Heavens be merciful," said Mrs. O'Rourke. "What did you do?"
Barbara smiled at Mrs. O'Rourke and said, "Well, first I instructed Jamie to pick Dandy up and take him down the block and hold on to him. Then I tried to apologize to Mr. Francis. To be fair, Dandy had been very fierce, and I think he gave Mr. Francis a start." Barbara saw the three women look down at the small dog at their feet, appearing anything but fierce as he lay on the floor, gently snoring.
Barbara went on. "In my apology, I had mentioned that I had hoped to see his wife, and that is when he said Mrs. Francis had left Wednesday evening on a trip. In fact, he became quite friendly. Told me his wife's sister had turned ill and his wife had left very suddenly. Called himself an old bachelor, having to cook for himself."
Kathleen scoffed, "What cheek! His wife isn't gone three days, and he's trying out his blarney on you. Georgeanne, who works in the house next to them, she said he was a flirt and how it was such a shame with that pretty blonde wife of his. But they do say, 'When the cat’s away, the mice do play.'"
As the women laughed, Barbara thought, Was that why I felt so uneasy? Because Mr. Francis was trying to flirt with me?
"Mrs. Hewitt, if Mrs. Francis' absence is accounted for, why are you still uneasy?" Mrs. Fuller said, disconcertingly echoing her thoughts. "It's Gordie, isn't it?"
Barbara looked in those clear brown eyes and nodded. "Yes, I shouldn't be worried. I even asked after Gordie, offered to take him for walks with Dandy while his wife was away. He told me it wouldn't be necessary, that his wife had taken the dog with her on Wednesday night. But you see, I remember Wednesday night because I had trouble sleeping, and later I woke up from a disturbing dream. The light was on across the way, and I saw Mr. Francis in the upstairs window. Not his wife, but then she would have left earlier in the evening. What worries me is that right before I fell asleep the first time, around midnight, I could swear I heard Gordie furiously barking at the back door. If that is true, why did Mr. Francis lie about his wife taking the dog, and what has happened to Gordie?"
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