The Thursday Excerpt - Owen Fiddler

Please welcome Marvin and "Owen Fiddler!!!"

Owen Fiddler Blurb: (Sing along to the tune of the Beatles' "Nowhere Man")

Has a selfish point of view, why he's such a fool, no clue. Isn't he a bit like me and you?

Owen, man, please listen. You don't know what you're missing. Owen, man, your world is at your command!

He's no role model for you or your kids, but reading his story will learn ya a thing or two, and that's a fact. This is an entertaining, thought-provoking, humorous and spiritually insightful book which will surely have you thinking about your own life.

Do you like to dance? Don’t forget to pay the fiddler!

Owen Fiddler - Excerpt – Chapter Three, Final Scene


It was dark as Jewel drove home. She looked at the dashboard. Ten o’clock. Wow, had to have slept at least six hours. Must’ve needed it. Nice of Mom and Dad to hold off on dinner until so late at night so I could eat with them. Usually, it took about half an hour to get across town. Traffic was light tonight. She made it home in twenty minutes. I wonder how Frenda’s doing.

As Jewel made the last turn onto her street, her gut tensed. Something’s not right. Upset stomach? Doctor Miles warned of possible side effects. But so soon?

There was a police car parked in front of her house. Now what in the world? Stomach tightened more. She parked her car in the garage and headed toward the side entrance.

An officer, a sullen five foot ten stocky bad omen, called out to her from the front lawn, “Mrs. Fiddler?”

“Yes?”

His partner could have been his twin. “Are you Mrs. Jewel Fiddler?”

“Yes, that’s me. What is this, officers?”

“May we come inside, Ma’am? We need to talk with you, if that’s all right.”

“Certainly, here let me get the door. Can you tell me what this is all about?”

Stocky bad omen shook his head as if to clear it. His double nodded a dirge.

“Prefer to wait ‘til we get inside and sit down, Mrs. Fiddler.”

Jewell let them in; tight gut cramping now, “Make your selves comfortable, officers. The couch be all right? Get you something to drink? Coffee? Soda?”

“No, thank you, Ma’am.”

“Just had a late snack and tea, thanks.”

“Mrs. Fiddler, I’m officer Dankins, my partner here is Officer Marshall. Please, sit down.”

Jewel did. Gut balled hard. She stared at them with beware screaming from deep inside.

Officer Dankins clasped his hands together on his lap, sucked in air as he lifted torso up and back against the couch. He held his breath with his gaze fixed on the ceiling. With a weighty sigh, he committed himself to the task. “Mrs. Fiddler, this is the toughest part of our job. Bar none. I’m afraid we have some bad news for you.”

Jewel trembled, could not bring up words. Her silence did the asking.

“Ma’am, there’s been an accident. Happened this morning, about 8:15. We have tried to contact you, but you haven’t been answering your phone. Officer Marshall and I have been waiting here all day and night for you. It’s about your daughter. The accident was ...” His head went down as he sighed, pursed his lips with a knit brow. Jewel was now a ball of potential hysteria frozen stiff in an arctic realm of Hell.

Dankins looked back up, “The accident was fatal. One of the passengers survived, but I’m so sorry to have to inform you. I … well, ahm … Frenda didn’t make it, Ma’am. Your daughter is dead.”

Jewel collapsed.

“Get the first aid!” Dankins shouted at his partner who had already scurried out to the squad car. He placed a hand behind her neck, lifted her head just off the back of the chair and patted her on the cheek, “Ma’am? Mrs. Fiddler? Can you hear me?” Marshall was back, handed him the opened bottle of ammonia. Dankins held it under her nose. “Ma’am? Can you hear me?” Three more pats.

Jewel blinked and opened her eyes. A mere state of shock would have been a welcome relief compared to the earthquake in her soul.

“She’s in shock,” Marshall summed it. Dankins agreed with nods. “We better get her to the hospital. “Ma’am, can you hear me at all? Just give a nod if you can hear me.”

Jewel’s small nod was slow coming.

“Good. That’s it. Now stay with us, Ma’am, try to stay awake. We’re going to take you with us down to emergency. You’re going to be fine. Just fine.” Looking up and over at his partner, “Here give me a hand, okay? Probably the both of us should carry her. Bring her purse. She’ll be needing it. It’s over there on the kitchen table. Oh, and get her cell phone, too. It’s right there on the ledge beside the front door.”

The two officers carried Jewel and her handbag out to the patrol car, eased her into the back seat and started for the hospital. Jewel felt bombarded. A soul-concussion pounded her mind. A dam of misery restrained the torrent of wails that threatened to fracture her heart. Not now. Lord help me, I’ve got to hold on. I need to be with my Mom and Dad. And I need some answers. She felt something that couldn’t be anything less than God propping her up.

“Officers?”

Dankins and Marshall looked at each other, surprised. Marshall looked in the rear view, “Yes, Mrs. Fiddler, are you all right?”

“No, I’m not. Not hardly. But I am fully conscious. I’d rather you not take me to emergency. If it’s all right with you both, could you please take me to my folks’ house? It isn’t far from here. Parker Avenue, just off Langley Boulevard.”

“Ah, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Ma’am,” Dankins said. “You’ve had quite a shock. Might be best to have professional care watching over you for a bit.”

“No, I’m going to be fine. Physically, that is. I’d prefer to go to my mother’s house. I’m about to fall apart. She and Dad are the only ones I want to be around when that happens. Can you please understand?”

“Yes Ma’am, I certainly can understand. Bill, call in to headquarters. Give ‘em our new destination.”

Marshal with car phone in hand, “You got it, partner.”

“Thank you so much. I appreciate all you’ve done. One other thing?”

“Ma’am?”

“You haven’t told me how it happened; the accident.”

Dankins breathed heavy, “The details are rather gory, Mrs. Fiddler. Wasn’t a very pretty scene. Some rather strange happenings around the incident, also. My advice? Go and get the pain off your chest and heart at your folks’ house. A good cry is what you need right now. I’ll leave you with a copy of the full police report. The survivor, a Miss Amanda Jones, was able to give us a detailed account. It’s all right in here.” Dankins waived a black folder in the air. “But leave that for later? Just a suggestion.”

Arriving at the Wellings’ residence, Dankins got out and escorted Jewel to the door. “Sure you’ll be all right here, Ma’am?”

Jewel knocked on the door and followed with a ring of the doorbell. “Yes, officer, I’ll be fine, now. And thank you so much once again. I know this hasn’t been easy for you, either. Thank you for how well you’ve handled it. You and your partner.”

“It’s part of our job, regretfully, but thank you, Ma’am. Thank you much. Well then, we’ll be off now.”

The door opened. A startled Andrea flanked by her equally confused husband looked at their daughter. A picture of a thousand horrible words.

Jewel stepped in and fell into her mother’s arms as Dad closed the door behind her. As she related the horror to her parents, the dam in her heart finally broke. A deluge of wails and tears poured out, sweeping over her parents. She, Mom, and Dad became one in misery and spent grief together as if it were a currency they had millions of. Pleading for and receiving a grant from Heaven, they eventually shook and trembled their way through to the other side of the emotional holocaust. Near midnight, broken hearts still beating, they knelt beside the couch and prayed.

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