Story for the Week
One of my daughter’s friends asked me yesterday, “What kind of psychopath are you?!” My response was, “Well, my brother-in-law does think I’d make a good serial killer.” ☠️
I think that first paragraph might require a bit of explanation. 🤔
We’ll talk about the psychopath part first. We had a birthday party for Corinne yesterday. One of her friends had asked a couple of weeks ago if we were going to have a bonfire. Since I have toyed with the idea in the past of getting a portable fire pit, I figured no better time than the present. Thank you, Amazon, for having everything I could possibly be looking for every moment that I’m looking.
And when you’re going to have a bonfire, you have to have s’mores! Now, I’ve known what s’mores are since I was young because they are a Girl Scout camp staple. Most of Corinne’s friends knew what they were, but not all of them.
You need graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey chocolate bars. (Yes, it must be Hershey’s. The only appropriate substitute…ever…was my mom’s chocolate mint frosting.) You break one graham cracker in half, top it with half of a Hershey bar, then add a toasted marshmallow, and top it with the other half of the graham cracker. They’re called s’mores because you always want some more.
I asked Corinne to toast a marshmallow for me, and I reminded her that I like mine burnt. I don’t know why. I just always have preferred them that way when making s’mores. When she showed me the marshmallow and asked if it was ok, I told her it wasn’t burnt on all sides. I could still see some white. It must be burnt…all over. That’s when one of her friends asked me what kind of a psychopath I am. And that’s when I told all of her friends that my brother-in-law wants to make me a serial killer.
I have mentioned before that Rodolfo wants to be a screenwriter (Palm Beach Story to #MeToo). I also have mentioned that a lot of my friends consider me the “neighborhood mom” (Gotcha! A Special Kind of Celebration). Now a key trait of any good neighborhood mom is to always have at the ready whatever is needed in any given moment—ibuprofen, bandages, loose change, tissues.
At the height of COVID-19, I used to carry a packet of sanitizing wipes with me when we went out and especially when we went to the store. I would get my shopping cart with a wipe in my hand and wipe down the handle and the sides…anything that we might touch. When I got to the self-checkout, I would wipe the credit card pin pad, the scanner, the bagging area.
One day when Rodolfo happened to go with Corinne and me to the grocery store, I was doing my standard wipe-down routine at the checkout, and Rodolfo said that he would love to write me as a character in a movie, and he would make me a serial killer. Now that might come across as pretty offensive to some people, but Rodolfo and I get along pretty well. I understand his humor (most of the time) so I actually laughed and waited for the explanation even though I was a little shocked at the sentiment.
He explained that I would make the perfect serial killer. I am the neighborhood mom, all of Corinne’s friends seem to like me, I drive other people’s kids to and from school and activities, and I even go so far as to wipe down the self-checkout area at the grocery store. His idea was that I would make the perfect serial killer…because no one would suspect me. Who would expect me, the neighborhood mom who always puts safety first, to be a serial killer?
I laughed again because I knew he was right. Even Corinne said that he made a very good point.
To be honest, I like being the neighborhood mom, and I do put safety first. When Corinne’s friends are with us, I treat them just like I treat Corinne. I won’t ever send them home hungry. I make sure they’re safe and having fun when they’re with us. I appreciate that their parents trust me enough to leave them with me because not all of them know me. It takes a lot of faith to trust a stranger with your child…even if she is the neighborhood mom.
Maybe especially since she’s the neighborhood mom…who also likes her marshmallows burnt…who her daughter’s friend thinks might be a psycopath…. 🤔
(I’m not a psychopath or a serial killer…really I’m not. The story is true, but it’s just a blog post. Honest. Really…honest. 🤫)
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 Stars for Schoolgirl Missing by Sue Fortin
433 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: January 10, 2019
I originally received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Publisher.
Publisher’s Description
When fourteen-year-old Poppy vanishes on a family boating trip, suspicion soon turns close to home – to the two people who should do everything to keep her safe, her parents, Kit and Neve.
Neve has a secret. Kit is lying.
Everyone is watching.
Who do you believe?
************
I have read and liked several books by Sue Fortin, and Schoolgirl Missing keeps that streak going. The characters are well-developed, although the only one who was at all likeable was Poppy. This book is less about Poppy going missing (it was only a few days) and more about the secrets everyone is keeping.
Overall, Neve has made some very poor decisions in her past, but her current life with her husband Kit and Poppy, who Neve adopted when she and Kit married, seems great except for one thing. Neve would like a biological child of her own, and Kit is dead-set against it. Neve’s obsession leads to additional poor decisions as a result.
I thought the book took a while to get to the schoolgirl missing part, and the ending was a little too convoluted for my liking. That said, one of this author’s strengths is her ability to guide you in one direction, and just when you think you have it figured out, she makes you realize that you were completely wrong. I won’t give anything away because that wouldn’t be fair.
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