Bard in the Yard

Dear Ashley,

Waitressing does kick your butt. I totally understand. Even when it's 104 degrees out and I'm burning my fingers on my bike while I'm out walking dogs, I sometimes think "at least I'm not still waitressing."
Well, that might be an exaggeration. I usually am glad that I'm doing something other than waitressing. This past week filled with extreme heat advisories and air quality warnings did make me want some other job. But it's only supposed to be 86 degrees, today! Yay!

I'm glad we're in agreement on Italy; I figured you'd be happy to go along with it. I so want to go back to Austria, too! I miss it- all of Europe, really, but especially Westendorf.

Third, I love your excerpt! I can't wait read the whole thing all at once. Since you asked so nicely I'll share one of the last scenes of part one of Comet. (Honestly, I'm cheating a little on the word count. But the whole point is that only minor things were changed to create a catastrophic outcome, so I am happily copy/pasting from part one for the same scenes in part two...up until the part where things are different, of course :D )

Anyway, an excerpt:

Aly opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment the door swung open and a man in a business suit stepped in out of the cold.

“Aly?” He asked. “We spoke on the phone. I’m…”

“John, right.” Aly said, reaching out to shake his hand. “This is my mother, Salem. It’s really her place.”

Salem tried not to show that it bothered her that he was here. She didn’t do such a good job.

“I want you to know,” John said smoothly. “That I love this place the way it is, and I don’t want to change it too much. I just want to make a few minor adjustments, you know, to modernize it a little and make it more efficient.”

“Tell me,” Salem said. “What’s your favorite kind of crepe?”

Whatever question John had been expecting, that wasn’t it, and he stumbled a little over his answer. “My favorite kind of crepe? You know, I don’t think that I’ve ever had a crepe.”

“I see,” Salem said stonily.

“Mom,” Aly tried to break in, but Salem held up a hand to silence her.

“So you don’t know how to make crepes then either, I take it?” Salem asked.

John looked nervously around. He could see that he had given her the wrong answer, but there was no going back now. “No ma’am, I’m afraid I don’t. That…uh…that was one of the minor adjustments that I mentioned before.” He tried to put on a winning smile.

“Mmm,” Salem said. “That is just a little more than minor. Crepes are not a minor part of this café, you know. They’re really what it’s all about.”

“I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t mean to upset you…” He tried to back his way out of the sticky situation.

“You didn’t upset me. You just confirmed what I already knew.” Salem looked around the place with tears in her eyes before standing and shuffling towards the door. She turned, just before exiting, and told them softly. “The way it is, is gone.”

Finally, I'll leave you with some pictures from last night. We went over to Clark Park to see some Shakespeare in the Park. 

I was a little surprised by the turnout, honestly. I wasn't sure how many people would be excited to come see Much Ado About Nothing. It was really well done, though. I was impressed!

Off on my dog route now,
Lizz