Sunday Snippet: Approaching Midnight

Geez, what a week. Starting late Monday night, a super-cell storm blew through Ohio. Around 11:30 pm, the tornado sirens went off in my little village. We took cover in our bathroom, mainly because our two doggos will not go down the basement steps and the bathroom is the most protected interior room in the house. By 12:15 am, we got the all clear, but the power went out around 12:05 … and didn't come back on until Thursday at 5:30 pm. It's been … a wild week.

Thankfully, we were able to borrow a generator to keep our AC (temps in the mid to high 90s), fridge and freezers going. We had one light in our living room and a charging station to keep our devices charged up. Not that it mattered much. The storm damaged a cell tower and we barely had a signal. I literally had one spot in the house where I could get one. The joys of living in a rural area.

Spent most of my time keeping the generator full, checking on my neighbors, and checking out my dad's house—luckily for him, he'd left early Tuesday morning for a vacation—after rerouting to get to the airport. Downed trees were everywhere. All in all, though, we were very lucky that we didn't have a lot of damage. Unfortunately, my cousin had a tree fall on their house. Weirdly, we had another storm blow through on Thursday that caused three fires from lightning strikes. Mother Nature isn't messing around right now.

So … I had a very minimal viewing week. And I'm playing catch-up on my work projects. I don't mind being a little bit behind, mainly because I'm happy and grateful we still have a house and didn't lose our fully stocked freezers. A huge hat-tip to the linemen and workers who still have their hands full trying to restore power to other locations.

I did get an episode of The Snoopy Show in. I'm almost finished with the first season and I'll be checking out the second one after I'm done.

I caught the cast interviews for Loch Ness and enjoyed getting some insight into the characters and the actors portraying them. I'll be finishing up with behind the scenes sometime next week.

Finished up a Silent Witness two-parter and quite enjoyed the twisty turns the episode took. I'm very much liking the later seasons of this show.

Ended up completing season 24 of Classic Who. Mel is going off on her own adventure and it looks like Ace is going to be the new companion. I'll start season 25 this week.

Caught another episode of Most Terrifying Places in America. A focus on historical locations ended up being pretty interesting.

Watched another episode of The Mandalorian. Again, I love the pacing of this show. There are a lot of little moments that stack up to add great impact.

Got another episode of The Hardy Boys in and the plot is getting deeper. There's a lot of cat and mouse stuff going on and I kind of like it. The pacing is a little weird but I'm happy to overlook a few glitches.

Also caught another episode of Peak Practice to round out the week. Not sure if I'll be caught back up by my next post, but I'm only a little behind and can live with that.

That's it for the life update. Tonight's post is from Approaching Midnight, a holiday-themed novella that starts around Halloween and reaches it climactic conclusion on New Year's Eve.

Here's the mini-blurb:

It's approaching midnight on New Year's Eve and Greta Davis has to decide whether to meet Mick Caplin at the NYE ball or if it's too crazy to even think they have a shot at love. After all, they've only known each other since Halloween.

And a snippety peek…

Mick closed the door and set the candy aside. "Can't believe I asked her for a date." Actually, he couldn't believe she said yes.

Hot damn. He had a date.

I wonder what her story is?

His type. For sure. He hadn't really dated since his gramps moved in. Mom and Dad were in Arizona and trying to get settled before attempting to talk Gramps into moving out there. Mick seriously doubted they'd succeed.

"Mick? I'm gonna miss my show. Where's the remote?"

With a quick sigh, Mick entered the living room and, sure enough, the changer sat on the arm of the recliner. "It's right beside you, Gramps. On the left side." Hence the confusion.

Marty Caplin sent his grandson an embarrassed side-eye. "Er, sorry about that. Forgot I moved it when I came back from the john." He made the change and settled back again. "Need to get some new specs."

Mick's lips turned up. His gramps didn't need new glasses. He needed attention. Mick asked Gramps to stick to the living room because of the trick-or-treaters. While the old guy got around pretty well, staying spry and mobile, he did move slower than he used to.

Mick propped a shoulder on the archway separating the foyer from the main living space. "Hey, Gramps. I have a date tonight—"

Marty smirked. "With that hot little thing that just left?"

Mick rolled his eyes. "Gramps, she's not a thing. Her name is Greta and we're going for a drink at Planks." He couldn't wait.

Marty arched his brows. "You're leaving me alone?" A small note of worry crept into his tone.

Mick pushed away from the wall. "Only for an hour or so. Mom and Dad will be Face-timing you at 8:30. You might still be on with them by the time I get back." The doorbell rang again and Mick grabbed the bowl of candy.

Marty frowned. "Bah. They'll want to talk about making me move across the country again. I'm not going." He folded his arms over his chest.

Mick shook his head and answered the door. "Greetings, all you ghosts and ghouls…"

He focused on the group out front and his upcoming date. He'd worry about the upcoming battle between his parents and Gramps later.

I'm having a lot of fun with this story. Greta and Mick are falling fast and hard but their family influences are throwing up roadblocks.

 

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin