Tuesday Tales: From the Word FUNNY

Wow. Today is September 3, and my 53rd wedding anniversary. Where has time gone? Today, the authors of Tuesday Tales are working with the word prompt FUNNY. I struggled to find a way to use the word based on where I am in the novel, but then I recalled that not everything one considers funny is humorous. It can be odd and strange, unusual to sat the least. I’m continuing with Listen to the Stones. Enjoy.

He swallowed and the truth tumbled out of him.

“I went to see Bronagh earlier this morning. I was there when her cottage exploded.”

“Oh my God! Couldn’t you have gotten her out?”

“No. It was a miracle that I wasn’t still inside when it exploded and to try to go back inside … The fire was too hot and burned at an incredible rate. I called for help and waited until they arrived, but there was nothing to be done.” He licked his lips. “Before the explosion, I found her door open. That seemed funny to me.”

“The woman’s dead. I see nothing humorous.”

“I wasn’t implying anything of the sort. It seemed off, odd, strange, and incredibly out of character. I knocked on the door, called out to her and heard a moan, so I went inside. The woman had been viciously attacked and badly beaten. The cottage had been searched and something taken, something she’d gone to great lengths to protect, something dark and evil.” He described the inside of the cottage, focusing on the box. “With all the questions I have, her death is simply too convenient. When I touched her—”

She frowned.

“You touched her and yet you didn’t try to save her?”

He shook his head. He was making a mess of this.

“Hear me out, please.” Painstakingly, he explained about his birth, leaving James’s name out of it for now. Then, knowing how ridiculous and far-fetched it would sound, he described the vision he’d had, the thought that Bronagh had taken him into herself and placed the other embryo in the selkie, and then the darkness he’d seen not only at the cottage but at the stones.

Marina didn’t say anything. She stood, picked up their plates, and took them back to the kitchen. Her silence was far more daunting than if she’d laughed at him. A few minutes later, she returned with a slice of cake for him but nothing for herself.

“So was this vision like the ones you had with your books?”

“It was similar, and yet different. Do you agree that someone wants you to leave the island?” She nodded. “The notes, the threats, the vile rubber rodent were the first step. That person would know that eventually Bronagh would seek you out. She’s famous on the island, and I know your housekeeper was a close friend of hers.”

“James called her a crazy, eccentric, old woman who might’ve incited people against me.”

That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.