Living in Mayberry and other stuff

I often feel like I live in Mayberry. You know, with Andy, Opie and Aunt Bee. But I was very happy the other day to realize that Mollie’s little town is even more like it. She called me the other day as she got off school. I asked how her day had gone and she said, “Fine, the police only had to talk to me once.”

It seems that on routine patrol on Mollie’s street an officer saw her front door standing wide open, but her car was gone. The policeman stopped and checked behind the house but didn’t go inside the fence, where the two dogs were, to go up to look in the house.

He then called the school where Mollie works (we don’t know how he knew where she worked.) The conversation with the school secretary went something like this:

Officer: Hello, I need to speak with one of your teachers. I don’t know her name but she lives on In the middle of Nowhere Avenue. 

Sect: Hmm… I’m not sure who that is.

Officer: She’s the one with the golden retriever.

Sect: Oh! You’re talking about Maggie, that’s Mollie’s dog. I’ll ring her room.

They talked for a minute and Mollie realized that she had just pushed the door closed and then later put the dogs out the other door and forgot to firmly close and lock the front door. One of the dogs had evidently jumped on the door opening it. Mollie was able to run home, make a quick check through the house – the officer stayed while she checked she and was back at her school in  exactly six minutes. She said she was grateful that the police were so observant and she was most grateful that he didn’t go up to the open door and look in. She says that there was no doubt he would have assumed someone had gone in and ransacked the place! Unfortunately, she keeps house just like her mother.

As a mother I’m most grateful that the police notice such things and that he went to the trouble to track her down and got the situation corrected. Living in Mayberry isn’t so bad.

We had a small craft show in our town this weekend and I had a booth with my book marks and also a few of my Cassie paperbacks. I think I gained some real author credentials. When I would mention to folks my age and older that I wrote books, they would ask, 

“Can I get them at Barnes and Noble?”

“Umm… no, only on line.”

“But I can order the book on Amazon?”

“Well, no it’s an ebook. You know, for your Kindle.”

The next thing you know I was getting a half smile with an, “Oh, that’s nice.”

When they saw real book, I could tell they were truly impressed and I sold seven! Five to people I knew and two to a total stranger. Now that was a really great feeling.

One last thing – I was interviewed over at Becoming His – Beautifully His. My thanks to Jlynne. I think she did a lovely job. Please go by if you get the chance. Thanks!