Dec 20

DECEMBER OF SORROWS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about God lately. Unlike earlier this year, this time I know why. Permit me to explain as best I can. Towards the end of December, is said to be the birth date of God’s son Jesus. It’s a wonderful time for amazing celebrations of his birth to a relatively poor couple. His foster father Joseph was an unemployed carpenter and his birth mother Mary was a simple housewife. For me and my family December has been a month of deep sorrow and regret. My father died on December 29, 2001. My sister only two years older than me, died in the early morning on December 11, 2017. I miss them both so much and wish they were both still here. At times, it’s difficult for me to celebrate Christmas or New Year’s Eve with their deaths hanging over my head like a permanent dark mistletoe. I try to remember with a great deal of fondness, celebrating Christmas when I was a child and now missing family members were alive and well. Back then, my mother loved this time of year. She hung ribbons full of hundreds of Christmas cards in the hallway by the front […]
Dec 13

LOSS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
The picture above is a view of the Hudson River during a stormy day. The fog is partly covering the New Jersey shoreline near the Palisades. The road with the cars on it is the West Side Highway. It’s one of the major highways in Manhattan that runs along a body of water called the Hudson. The other roadway that runs alongside a river is the FDR Drive on the eastside, running along the East River. The bridge located over the West Side Highway is one of the entrances to Riverbank State Park. When I look at this picture, I think that’s how I feel. Sometimes, I’m sunless and kind of foggy, as if my brain is on permanent default. I get lost in the fog. There are no lights to help guide me to the light or a better day. My sister died on December 12, 2017. She was two years older than I. We didn’t speak daily. I’m not much of a caller. I never have been one to call first. If you call me and I’m in the mood, I will talk your ear off. My sister and I would talk on birthdays and winter holidays like […]
Dec 06

I THOUGHT I KNEW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I thought I knew what happens when we die. After all, I was familiar with death, since I’d experienced it at a young age. I was around eleven years old when my grandmother died at seventy-nine. The medical examiner’s records said she died of a heart attack, cardiac arrest. The report didn’t say that my grandmother was the main speaker at a church sisters’ meeting. The topic was Africa. As she was speaking at the front of the church, she felt funny. The sisters told my mother how my grandmother grabbed her chest and told the closest sister she needed to rest because she felt so tired. She managed to sit down in one of the front pews, never to rise again. So yes, I thought I knew death. When I was twelve, I bought a puppy from the local dog pound with five dollars I’d found fluttering the breeze, finally landing on a dirt should of a main road. My kid brother, big sister, and I were walking home from the library. It was the best five-dollar gift I’d ever spent on me. I called the puppy Lady, named after the female dog in Disney’s movie Lady & The […]
Dec 01

DUTCH CHOCOLATE 2: JUDGE YE NOT

by B.L. in Latest Novels 0 comments
In Dutch Chocolate 2: Judge Ye Not, a series of complications plague Judge Roy MacKay’s courtroom. He’s the sitting judge on an important criminal case against one of the world’s major drug kingpins, nicknamed El Jefe.  The judge and his courtroom staff have suffered through several bomb threats, armed guards and personal bodyguards, a courtroom filled with cameras, reporter wannabees, official reporters, and so many court watchers, daily seating lotteries are conducted before court begins. The jury finds El Jefe guilty on all counts. Now the judge must sentence the drug kingpin in eighteen days. Unfortunately, his daughter has been kidnapped to make sure he releases El Jefe. Judge MacKay hires Dutch to rescue his daughter. Now Dutch is racing against the clock. She has less than eighteen days to find the judge’s daughter and install her in a safe house before El Jefe’s minions deliver her to a fate worse than death. Can Dutch rescue the young hostage and keep everyone she holds dear safe? Dutch Chocolate 2: Judge Ye Not:  Available for pre-order 11/23/20. The release date is 12/02/20.   ASIN: B08P2GMX6Q (Kindle Version $2.99) ASIN: B08NZQCCM8 (Print Version $12.99) Here are the links for: Dutch Chocolate 2: […]
Nov 22

THE DINNER PARTY, making lifelong love connections (Jimson Murders Volume2)

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
The Dinner Party, making life-long connections (Jimson Murders Volume2) is a sequel to The Guardian & Her Captain. It continues the story of secondary characters Dr. Elizabeth Reid, who is Sophia Jimson’s ex-fiancée, and Josephina Macklin, the city hospital security guard who requested a transfer to get away from her feelings for the doctor. Elizabeth receives a dinner invitation from a mysterious wealthy contributor to the hospital where she works. Although she is reluctant to attend, her boss insists, as the contributor wants to thank her for saving his son’s life. When she attends the dinner, two strange and alarming things happen: Elizabeth sees Josephina for the first time in three years and a gang of gun-toting men bursts into the premises. Elizabeth manages to escape the ensuing shooting and hides. As the sound of gunfire surrounds her, she happens upon a seriously injured Josephina. Can the two women survive this tragedy? The Dinner Party, making life-long connections (Jimson Murders Volume2) is available for pre-order 9/16/20 on Kindle. The release date is 10/2/20. ASIN: B08J6PT16D (Kindle Version $2.99) ASIN: B08J5BGHPN (Print Version $10.99) Here are the links for: The Dinner Party, making life-long connections (Jimson Murders Volume2) Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J6PT16D Print: […]
Nov 15

THE GUARDIAN & HER CAPTAIN, Agatha & Bonnie, a story of hate and love

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
In The Guardian & Her Captain…, Dr. Sophie Jimson delivers a young woman’s baby in the rear of a taxi. Shortly after, the doctor is murdered by a phantom man that witnesses can’t describe. The Phantom, with the newborn in his arms, escapes, but an off-duty policewoman, Lieutenant Agatha Crist, grabs the baby from him. The baby is returned to the mother and the policewoman is hailed as a hero for rescuing the child. Agatha soon finds out that Dr. Jimson happens to be her fraternal twin. They were supposed to meet for the first time to end their lifelong estrangement. Agatha is distraught and insists on being part of the murder investigation team, despite her captain’s objections. As the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear the lieutenant needs as much protection as the new mother. The lieutenant’s supervisor, Captain Bonnie Smyth, steps into the case to protect both women. As the two women bump heads, sparks fly. Will they fall in love or continue the hatred they’ve been exposed to for generations? ASIN: B08D3WLFZ8 (Kindle Version $2.99) ASIN: B08CMF2CSR (Print Version $11.99) The Guardian & Her Captain: Agatha & Bonnie, a story of hate and love, (Jimson Murders Volume1), was […]
Nov 08

LOVE THE 1 YOU’RE WITH?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Lynette Royce, from Two Moons Bakery & Get Reckless, can’t find the right woman. She keeps breaking up with good women because she can’t control her adulterous ways. In bed, one woman looks as good as the next one, until she bumps heads with a homeless army vet. Fabian Moody is a newly hired cab driver trying to return Lynette’s lost wallet and ID. Words are exchanged, tensions rise, and miscommunication reaches its peak. In a rage, Lynette sprays Fabian with a cheap version of pepper spray that contains poisonous chemicals, making everybody within ten yards seriously ill. During their hospital stay in a shared room, they can’t get enough of each other, feeling an attraction they cannot get under control, causing the two women to fight like cats and dogs. Once released, their attraction-detraction game continues, prompting Fabian to get cold feet and literally run away. Will the two very opposite women be able to overcome obvious differences and see each other in a different light? Love the 1 You’re With? is the ninth book in the Forever Woman series, featuring many of the supporting and supportive women from the rest of the series. Love The 1 You’re With: […]
Oct 25

WHY I WROTE: THE DINNER PARTY, making lifelong love connections (Jimson Murders Volume2).

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I had this dream. Well not exactly just a dream. As the dream continued, I realized it was a nightmare about an elaborate dinner party thrown for members of a private club and their guests. In my dream, the dinner party was held in this elegant space. The dining hall had high ceilings with several chandeliers made of shimmering clear crystal glass that hung over a long 30 seat dinner table. The chandeliers hung from visible and quite beautiful hand-carved wooden support beams in the ceiling. The dinner table was also made of wood and its legs had intricate designs created by the same artist who did the ceilings support beams. A series of ivory linen tablecloths covered the long wooden table with matching linen napkins at each setting. The utensils for each of thirty place settings, was old-fashioned silverware with two forks, a salad fork and dinner fork; two knives a butter knife and one for dinner; and two spoons a teaspoon and a soup spoon. The dinnerware was blue Wedgewood china, a dinner plate, a teacup and saucer, salad plate, roll plate, soup bowl, a wine goblet, water glass and beverage glass. Twenty floral decorations made of fresh […]
Oct 18

THE GOD THING

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about God lately. I’m not sure exactly why, but I’ve been doing it. For example, two weeks ago, I went out to move my car from one side of the street to the other side. In New York City, we have something called Alternate Side of the Street Parking. Particularly in Manhattan, good legal parking spots are worth a car’s weight in gold. Even bad illegal spots are worth something until the traffic agents or the police discover them. Depending on the side of the street, the day of the week, and time of day, a car has to be moved or the owner risks a ticket, a tow, or both. I saw two older Black women in long-sleeved dresses that almost touched their ankles crossing the street as I double-parked. I immediately thought of old-school church sisters. The only thing the two sisters were missing were their Sunday-go-to-meeting church hats. They did carry copies of their religious booklets, face-out against their chests as if the papers could shield them against the sinning world they were entering. I watched the two women for a long while. They both took bench seats in the park across […]
Oct 11

Should you stick with the lucky devil you know

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Years ago, when my father was still alive, I remember my mother complaining about his activities. She’d discovered he was buying international lottery tickets and sweepstakes tickets. She kept finding stubs from money orders where he’d purchased sweepstakes or lottery tickets. My parents lived across the street from a shopping mall, so while my father no longer drove, it wasn’t impossible for him to walk across the street and find a place to buy money orders. At the time, my mother was venting about wasting money on a foolish expense. “Nobody ever wins these,” she ranted. “How much money was he wasting?” she fussed. “He could use that money for something else. He could put it in the bank and let it draw interest. Or just give it to me and I’ll find a use for it,” my mother promised. As daughters sometimes do, I listened without too much comment. My mother needed to vent. And I let her. While she was complaining, I was busy congratulating myself on my goodness. Although I hung out with folks who did, I never played numbers. I didn’t place bets on the horses or sports teams. I never bought lottery tickets or went […]
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