TITLE: Secret
GENRE: YA Secret
A dozen people file into the cabin on the shore of Lake Okeechobee, each carrying an ebbó. They hand their offerings to me as they enter. Fruit. Polished pebbles. A bottle of rum. A bit of cake on a red plate. I place their ebbós on the altar, a cloth-draped table pushed against the wall. Painted statues of saints crowd its surface. Candles nest on plates piled high with herbs. A stone face with eyes and mouth made of shells sits in the place of honor at the table’s center.
One by one, the men and women make their way across the oaken floor through patches of sunlight. Some nod or speak my name as they pass me. We all wear white to show respect. Colored beads hang around our necks.
The people wait patiently for their priest. These followers of Santeria call him Babalawo.
I call him grandfather.
Miss Snark's First Victim
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Name That Genre #4
TITLE: secret
GENRE: Adult secret
"Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses, Ms. Murphy", the recruiter says. This was the first step in a long day of interviewing for a position as nurse practitioner to the junior cardiovascular surgeon at Children's Hospital in Chicago. My schedule for the day included meeting with the nurse manager of the pediatric intensive care unit, as well as the head of the department, Dr. Don Summers, and my would-be boss, the ‘gorgeous and I know it’ Dr. Noah Williams. Dr. Williams was the newest, and hottest, surgeon on the team and I was interviewing for the position as his NP. My job would include assisting him in the OR, rounding with the team as a whole, and managing the care of the kids after their surgery. From surgery to discharge, they would have my smiling face guiding them through. And the ‘assisting’ would absolutely end there.
GENRE: Adult secret
"Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses, Ms. Murphy", the recruiter says. This was the first step in a long day of interviewing for a position as nurse practitioner to the junior cardiovascular surgeon at Children's Hospital in Chicago. My schedule for the day included meeting with the nurse manager of the pediatric intensive care unit, as well as the head of the department, Dr. Don Summers, and my would-be boss, the ‘gorgeous and I know it’ Dr. Noah Williams. Dr. Williams was the newest, and hottest, surgeon on the team and I was interviewing for the position as his NP. My job would include assisting him in the OR, rounding with the team as a whole, and managing the care of the kids after their surgery. From surgery to discharge, they would have my smiling face guiding them through. And the ‘assisting’ would absolutely end there.
Name That Genre #3
TITLE: Secret
GENRE: Adult Secret
What the hell was Josh doing in my meeting?
Yea, though I’d stumbled through the valley of the shadow of tech boys aiming Nerf guns at my head, this Nice Jewish Girl® (in too-tight Nine West pumps) stood unscathed, primed, and pumped for The Promotion Talk. I'd asked for a five o’clock one-on-one, banking on my boss Sammy having consumed at least one Long Island Iced Tea by then. (Par for his course in the land where the Internet never sleeps.). My stomach growled its dissatisfaction that I hadn't eaten all day in order to fit into my favorite Jones New York suit. (I could eat later, right?) A confidence-boosting mantra, playing on internal loop, propelled me: I am worth it. I am worth it. My carefully-crafted spiel, advocating for me to become the first woman in upper management at SugarSugarMountain.Com: memorized. This was my moment.
GENRE: Adult Secret
What the hell was Josh doing in my meeting?
Yea, though I’d stumbled through the valley of the shadow of tech boys aiming Nerf guns at my head, this Nice Jewish Girl® (in too-tight Nine West pumps) stood unscathed, primed, and pumped for The Promotion Talk. I'd asked for a five o’clock one-on-one, banking on my boss Sammy having consumed at least one Long Island Iced Tea by then. (Par for his course in the land where the Internet never sleeps.). My stomach growled its dissatisfaction that I hadn't eaten all day in order to fit into my favorite Jones New York suit. (I could eat later, right?) A confidence-boosting mantra, playing on internal loop, propelled me: I am worth it. I am worth it. My carefully-crafted spiel, advocating for me to become the first woman in upper management at SugarSugarMountain.Com: memorized. This was my moment.
Name That Genre #2
TITLE: SECRET
GENRE: YA SECRET
Vince is acting weird.
And I’m not talking weird like the time he used my day cream to hide his freckles. No. This time, he went straight down the road to weirdo land and I’m pretty sure there’s no going back.
He made me a bagel.
A bagel.
That he has spread with cream cheese. Cream cheese!
Seriously, who is this freak standing by the fridge and pretending to be my brother? He looks like Vince, he smells like Vince, but he most definitely isn’t Vince.
I scowl at the bagel. Maybe he’s hidden a mop of hair underneath the cream cheese. Maybe that’s not even cream cheese.
Oh my gosh.
I draw back quickly and blink.
The bagel looks fine. It even looks amazing. And I don’t know if I should be worried or completely freaked out about it.
Either way, I’m freaking out.
“What?” Vince says, frowning at me. “You’re not hungry?”
GENRE: YA SECRET
Vince is acting weird.
And I’m not talking weird like the time he used my day cream to hide his freckles. No. This time, he went straight down the road to weirdo land and I’m pretty sure there’s no going back.
He made me a bagel.
A bagel.
That he has spread with cream cheese. Cream cheese!
Seriously, who is this freak standing by the fridge and pretending to be my brother? He looks like Vince, he smells like Vince, but he most definitely isn’t Vince.
I scowl at the bagel. Maybe he’s hidden a mop of hair underneath the cream cheese. Maybe that’s not even cream cheese.
Oh my gosh.
I draw back quickly and blink.
The bagel looks fine. It even looks amazing. And I don’t know if I should be worried or completely freaked out about it.
Either way, I’m freaking out.
“What?” Vince says, frowning at me. “You’re not hungry?”
Name That Genre #1
TITLE: Secret
GENRE: MG Secret
Archie didn’t care much for other kids. He did however like facts about dinosaurs and prime numbers. That morning he had decided that he would buy his mum a birthday present. At eleven years old he could no longer expect anyone else to do it. That had been the plan before he had been locked inside the shopping centre. Now, with all the lights out and the plastic bag holding Mums gift in his shaking hand he wondered if this had been a good idea.
He had been in in The Fields shopping centre thousands of times. But never in the dark and never alone. After leaving the toilets Archie realised straight away that something was wrong. The place was silent. Banging his hands on the locked plate glass doors had done nothing other than start up the tears again. He hated crying. He hated the dark and right now he hated stupid birthdays.
GENRE: MG Secret
Archie didn’t care much for other kids. He did however like facts about dinosaurs and prime numbers. That morning he had decided that he would buy his mum a birthday present. At eleven years old he could no longer expect anyone else to do it. That had been the plan before he had been locked inside the shopping centre. Now, with all the lights out and the plastic bag holding Mums gift in his shaking hand he wondered if this had been a good idea.
He had been in in The Fields shopping centre thousands of times. But never in the dark and never alone. After leaving the toilets Archie realised straight away that something was wrong. The place was silent. Banging his hands on the locked plate glass doors had done nothing other than start up the tears again. He hated crying. He hated the dark and right now he hated stupid birthdays.
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