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March 5, 2006
And now for something completely different!
Crimes and Felons Theme Week!
It is finally here! Alesia's new series has started. The first December Vaughn Mystery -- BLONDES HAVE MORE FELONS -- is in a bookstore near you. I'm excited to read it because I like everything Alesia writes and I love mysteries so this should be a double treat.
In honor of this auspicious occasion, the Chicks here at the L.C. are having a Crimes and Felons Theme Week. Yay!! I was all excited when Lani sent us all the e-mail reminding us about it. Then I started to worry. My problem? There's not much crime or felonious activity in my life to write about.
I live in a sweet little University town in northern California. My kids ride their bikes to and from school and to friends' houses. I once accidentally left one of the sliding doors to my minivan standing wide open with a small TV set sitting on the back seat while I went into the grocery store. (I know. I know. Idiotic. It was the end of a long car trip with the kids and we needed milk before we went home. The single mom thing can totally fry your brain after a while.) The TV was still there when I came out.
This is not to say that there are not occasional skirmishes with the law around here. Just a month or two ago, two women were arrested for roughing up a couple of nine-year-olds at a cheerleading competition in a scuffle over seating. But the moms were from another town and people reported them and came to the childrens' aid. My town was still okay. There's been a bit of a kerfuffle over the age of a kid who played on a baseball team. Several Little League board members have resigned. Still, the kid was only two weeks over the age cut-off. Yeah, it was wrong, but people are stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for their actions. We all make mistakes. They're doing the right thing by owning up to it. My town isn't perfect, but it's okay.
Then a week or so ago, a group of young men, some not much older than Thing One, attacked a man and his girlfriend as they walked out of their home and beat them severely. They cracked the man's skull. The people had done nothing to antagonize them and neither race nor robbery was apparently not the motive. This all took place distressingly close to where one of my kids goes to school and where he routinely meets friends for a pick-up football game followed by a walk to Dairy Queen for a treat.
I was shaken. The neighborhood where the attack occurred banded together and helped the police find the culprits. My community responded in just the way you'd want your community to respond -- judiciously, but thoroughly. A clear message was sent: this behavior will not be tolerated.
It occured to me that this is exactly why I like mysteries. Underneath even the most idyllic circumstances, evil can still lurk. It will rear its ugly head from time to time. In mysteries, evil always gets punished. I don't think that always happen in real life. It does, however, seem to be happening in my little town. So while I am still a bit shaken that my child -- whom I love more than life itself even when I want to strangle him over whether or not his homework is done -- could have so easily walked across the path of violence and been hurt, I am so glad I live in a community that is so much like a good mystery story.
This blog was brought to you by Blondes Have More Felons, Alesia’s first December Vaughn Mystery – there’s nothing like December in Florida!
Posted by Eileen at 1:00 PM | Comments (6)
Comments
When I was seven, I jumped off a diving board into a swimming pool, and accidentally landed on a boy of about the same age.
He was okay (although not very happy), and I was sorry (although wondering why he was swimming directly below the diving board) and that was that.
Until my paternal gradmother, who had seen the whole thing, said, "The police'll be after you for bodily harm." I'm sure that was just her idea of a joke, but being only seven I took her literally. For months after that if I saw a police car or a uniform, I broke out in a nervous sweat and hid. I was convinced they were looking for me.
Posted by: Michelle C at March 6, 2006 6:17 AM
Wow, Eileen! That's crazy - both the beating, and that your TV was still in the car! But I'm glad you live in a community like that. I grew up in a community like that. It's a great thing for Thing One and Thing Two.
Posted by: Lani ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.literarychicks.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 6, 2006 6:18 AM
Oh, Michelle! That reminds me of when I misheard the word "statue" and thought the darn things were called "snatch-yous". I was terrified of sculpture gardens because I was convinced things would pop out of the pedestals and drag me in.
Lani, it is kind of a crazy community, but I do love it here. When we went to the Philippines last year and I was explaining to Things One and Two about why it was important to stay close to us and not wander off, they simply couldn't believe the dangers that were out there. It's wonderful to feel safe where you live. I think we may all take it too much for granted most days.
Posted by: Eileen at March 6, 2006 10:07 AM
I can't WAIT to read Alesia's new book!
Eileen, that would scare the crap out of me. (((hugs)))
Posted by: Whitney at March 6, 2006 10:45 AM
Eileen, it's so frightening when something awful happens too close for comfort. Seems like in this crazy day and age, there are no safe havens, not even in the coziest of small towns. Though, as a mystery writer, that tends to make everything plausible. I rarely have to stop myself anymore and say, "Will people believe this?" Things too insane to believe are reported on the news and in the local papers so routinely that real life is frequently stranger than fiction. Oy.
Posted by: Susan McB at March 7, 2006 5:48 PM
It really is amazing. I'm just starting work on a book that's all about secrets in a small town and people are telling me the most amazing stories. As far as fact being stranger than fiction, let's not forget that I live in a place where the community built a tunnel so that toads could cross the road more easily. Who could make that up?
Posted by: Eileen at March 8, 2006 11:44 AM
