CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and THIRTEEN
(part one)

Wednesday early morning — 2:47 A.M.
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

“Jill.” Jacob shook her shoulder. “Jill.”

Lying next to him, Jill was sweating and shaking her head. Her hands were up near her face and she was crying. Her lips were moving. He leaned close to hear what she was saying.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Jill whispered.

“Jill!” Jacob said again. He shook her shoulder.  “Wake up!”

Jill opened her eyes. Seeing Jacob’s face, she threw herself into his arms and cried. He stroked her hair and her back. He kissed her neck. When she seemed to have stopped crying, he leaned back. She was asleep. Confused, he lay her back on her pillow. Her head had not hit the pillow when she started crying and shaking her head.

“Jill!”

Jacob’s voice was insistent. Jill opened her eyes. She looked confused.

“Jacob, what’s wrong?” she asked.

He clasped her to him.

“What is it?” she asked. “What happened?”

He explained waking up to her crying and the ‘I’m sorrys’. He told her about holding her while she cried then finding her asleep again. She looked more and more confused the longer he spoke.

“I was crying?” she asked.

Touching her face, she felt her tears. She sat up and leaned against the headboard.

“What’s going on Jill?” he asked.

She smiled at him.

“Could you bring me a bottle of water?” she asked. “I’m going…”

She pointed to the bathroom. Jacob watched her naked body move into their bathroom. Getting up, he pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms. He went out into their suite’s main room to get a couple bottles of water from the refrigerator. He returned to the room, and their bed, with the bottles. Jill came out of the bathroom and put on a short silk robe.

“Do you mind if I…”

She pointed toward Katy’s room. He shook his head and followed her to Katy’s room. Leaning over the bed, Jill kissed Katy’s cheek and whispered ‘I’ll never leave you.’ She stroked her daughter’s hair. Katy stirred but didn’t wake. He put his arm over Jill’s shoulder and she tucked herself into him. He gently led her back to bed. He helped her out of her robe, and stripped off the pajamas, before getting into bed.

Lost in thought, Jill lay on her side looking at him. He leaned up against the bed board and she lay her head on his lap.

“What’s going on?” he repeated.

Denver Cereal continues tomorrow…

Denver Cereal turns Two years old today!

Thank you for reading, caring, commenting, buying books and telling your friends about Denver Cereal.   We will celebrate all week!

To celebrate Denver Cereal’s 100th chapter, Delphie has agreed to give away 3 tarot readings. These are rare and unusual gifts. When she was the Oracle Taber, and slave to Levi Johansen, people flew from all over the country to get readings from her. More than one US President relied on her advice. Before her stroke, Delphie’s rate was over $300 a reading. Delphie’s tarot readings are an amazing look into your world.

Of course, she hasn’t worked since her stroke. And frankly, she doesn’t have to work anymore.

This is a rare chance to receive a reading from a true source.

How do you enter this fabulous contest? Easy!

• Write a blog post : Tell the world why you want to win the contest and why you love Denver Cereal.  You must include a link to DenverCereal.com so I know you’ve posted.  This counts as 3 entries.
• Write an Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and/or LibraryThing review : Your written reviews make a huge difference. Let people know you love Denver Cereal. This counts as 4 entries per review.
• Join the Denver Cereal Facebook page : Yes, I finally posted a Denver Cereal page to Facebook.  Give it a ‘like’. You’ll get 2 entries.
• Join the Denver Cereal group at Claudia’s Hive: Claudia’s hive is a place for people to interact, ask questions and engage with Claudia. There’s even a group for book selling affiliates.  If you join the Denver Cereal group, you will get 2 entries.
• Follow Denver Cereal via Network Blogs : Go here and click follow. Or click the follow button in the widget in the right sidebar. This simple action will get you 1 entry.
• Follow Valerie or Claudia on Twitter : Valerie Lipson has her own twitter stream. She doesn’t twitter a lot but when she does, it’s good. Please follow her or Claudia on Twitter. This is 1 entry.
• Post about Denver Cereal on social media (include a link) : Whether you plurk, tweet, linked in or facebook, tell the world about Denver Cereal. Include a link and you’ll get 1 entry.

In order for your entries to be valid, you must let us know what you’ve done. Leave a comment at On a limb or Stories by Claudia. We will draw a winner next Sunday.

Good luck! This should be very fun!

We have a number of generous bloggers offer to review Celia’s Puppies. Stop by for a chance to win a copy of Celia’s Puppies. Blog posts will include interviews with Claudia Hall Christian as well as reviews.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
(part four)

“But I thought parents controlled the rights to money earned by minor children,” her mother pressed.

“Not when the minor children are being victimized in the course of a felony,” the lawyer said. “Sandra? Do you have any questions?”

“No sir,” Sandy said. “I expected this.”

“Good,” the lawyer said. “The next matter is the house. As you know, the house was sold quickly to pay your father’s estimated legal fees. The city assessed the house at $278,000 and it sold for an even $250,000. Your father’s legal fees amounted to five thousand dollars. He also had a $10,000 government service life insurance policy which names Sandra as the beneficiary. He had some savings…”

“Five thousand in savings and two thousand in checking,” her mother said.

“Yes,” the lawyer said. “A will was found among the money. He stipulated that Sandra was the heir to his estate.”

“What does that mean? You mean she gets everything?”

“Wait,” Sandy said. “Slow down. Tell Mom why she’s here.”

“Don’t you dare call me ‘Mom,’” her mother said. “You ungrateful, spoiled child.”

“Sandra asked if you would be here…” the lawyer started.

“You set this up to humiliate me again!” Her mother jumped to her feet.

“Please sit down,” the lawyer said. “Sandra wanted everything to be clear. So there aren’t any uncertainties or confusion.”

“Mom…” Sandy said.

Her mother gave her one last look and stormed out of the lawyer’s office.

“Why didn’t you tell her I was going to split the estate with her?” Sandy asked.

“Sandra, I reviewed your parents divorce decree,” the lawyer said. “They were divorced for more than twenty years. When they divorced, she received everything – all the bank accounts, their house, the car, everything. She also received generous child support and alimony, which you generated for her, until your step-father married her. She is not entitled to anything from this estate.”

“I wanted her…”

“I’m sorry, Sandra. You can’t buy her love anymore,” the lawyer said.

Sandy’s eyes went wide with the shock of the simple truth. She sat back in her seat for a moment.

“I apologize for my frankness,” the lawyer said.

“No, it’s all right. What’s next?”

“We have a year to settle the estate. We’ve found another bank account for your father, but haven’t received the records. We’ve paid off his debts and will file taxes.”

“You’ll let me know?” Sandy asked.

“I will,” the lawyer said.

Sandy stood to leave the office. The lawyer walked her to the lobby. She was almost out the door when the lawyer said: “I am truly sorry.”

Sandy nodded and left the office. Walking down the hall, she turned toward the elevator where her mother stood.

“Mom, please,” Sandy said.

Her mother wouldn’t look at her.

“I invited you there because we planned to split the…”

“You are dead to me,” her mother said.

“What about my brother and sister? I miss them. And…”

“You are dead to them as well,” her mother said. “You ruined my life, humiliated me and…”

The elevator opened and her mother stepped on.

“I don’t ever want to see you again. Ever. In my entire life.”

Dumbfounded, Sandy watched her mother step on the elevator. The elevator doors closed leaving Sandy staring at the space where her mother once stood. She felt nothing – no sadness or grief. She felt a kind of blank emptiness. She was sure she should cry. She was confident someone else, a normal person, would scream or yell. For a moment, she pondered calling Jill or Heather or Tanesha. In her mind, she heard what they would each say about her mother’s behavior.

When the elevator opened again, Sandy stepped on it. She was done lingering in the hardship and drama of the past. After all, her present was full enough.

Plus, Nash was waiting for her.

Denver Cereal continues tomorrow…

Celia’s Puppies (.pdf) Letter – 2.2 MB
Celia’s Puppies (.pdf) A4 – 2.3 MB
Celia’s Puppies (.txt) – .55 MB

Why do we provide Free Downloads of our books?

We believe there are a lot of stories to be told. We believe that clutching onto stories keeps them from growing and being enjoyed.  Our books deserve to be read by as many people as possible.

So download the book, read it and enjoy.

What do we want in return?

Read the book. Write a review at Amazon or Goodreads. Talk to your friends about it. Pass it along to your family members. Tweet about it. Plurk about it. Review it on Facebook. Call your local library and request The Fey and Denver Cereal for their collection. Request The Fey and Denver Cereal at your local bookstore.

If you’d like a copy of the book, feel free to buy The Fey, Denver Cereal or Celia’s Puppies for yourself or forty of your close personal friends.

If you convert The Fey into your favorite format, please send them to us at cookstreetpublishing at gmail dot com. Please only one conversion per format. If we get them, we’ll post them here.

The Fey by Claudia Hall Christian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at alexthefey.com.

Special Thanks to Corey Doctorow for leading the way!

I went this morning for an interview at CBS4 Morning News in Denver. We brought cupcakes from the Shoppe as well as Denver Cereal and the Fey. After weeks of preparation, I was on for about two minutes. I was able to mention the Denver Cereal and the Fey as well as try to make some sense about why I did thing on line.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to embed the file. If you’d like to see the interview, here’s the link.

Thanks for caring and all of your support! I’m going back to bed!

Claudia is going to be at the Sassy Affair today from 11:15 – 11:45 EDT. This is a webchat with the possibility of winning a free book. Discounts on all books. Stop by to say ‘hi’, ask questions or just hang out!

Today is a day of change!

As the beginning ends, the Denver Cereal gets a new look. The new look was created by Anthony Ream in response to the Denver Cereal.  Anthony is a graphic artist, filmmaker, creative artist guy. He doesn’t have a website, yet. But if you’d like him to work for you, shoot me an email. I’ll send it along.

Entrecard Advertisers:

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Top Entrecard Droppers in November:
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Denver Cereal review posted:

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• Ruminations of a Small Town Boy
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How can I support Denver Cereal?

• Read every day on this site or weekly at StoriesByClaudia.com or On-a-limb.com
• Write a review Denver Cereal on your blog with links to Denver Cereal (http://denvercereal.com).
• Post a Denver Cereal icon (new) on your blog with a link. (The code is posted in the sidebar.)
• Entrecard users click here for advertising details.
• Have a blog? 125×125 px ads are available for $15/mo. Email denvercereal at gmail dot com.
• Run a business? Contact denvercereal at gmail dot com.

Advertising support goes toward the continuation of Denver Cereal.
Denver Cereal continues tomorrow….