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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

T-ennyson

by Chautona Havig · 1 Comment

No, not the poet.  My character.  I was sitting here wondering what I’d do with T when I remembered a very short opening to a book idea I had and the main character’s name was Tennyson.  So, I thought I’d just post that little opening.

Funerals are seldom jolly affairs.  Movies like to depict them with an overcast sky or a steadily drizzle of rain, but I’ve been to hundreds of funerals in my life and almost all of them were on sunny days.  I guess movies just think they have to remind us that it’s a sad occasion and assume we aren’t intelligent enough to figure it out without appropriate mood music and weather.  I shouldn’t be surprised; Hollywood has made an art of telling us what it thinks we should know.

I’m a people watcher.  I particularly enjoy studying people in dramatic situations.  A funeral is usually an optimal one.  People put up odd walls around them in some ways, but in others, they let people see into parts of their personas that they usually guard.  I learned this when I was about four at my first funeral, but that’s really not relevant to this story.  Suffice it to say, I watch everyone around me with great care.

As a funeral director, I get to do this much more impersonally than I did as a child, and I’ve learned a lot about people in the process.  Take today for instance.  The woman in the center of the group standing around the coffin here at the grave site—she’s the widow of course.  I helped her pick out the coffin, the order of service, and hired the pastor of a local church to perform the ceremony.  We have a staff reverend, but he’s on vacation so Pastor Bob over at the Presbyterian church fills in for us on occasion. 

We like to give him the business because he’s underpaid; he rarely turns us down.  It also helps that he’s from a liturgical church.  This makes the Lutherans, Episcopalians, Anglicans, and even ex-Catholics comfortable.  However, the Baptists, Congregationalists, Nazarenes, and independents all feel better knowing that he’s officially a protestant.  We aim to please.

The widow, Jessica Terrell, insisted on that black suit.  I thought it was a bit much myself, but it’s not exactly good manners to tell a grieving widow she can’t wear black to her husband’s funeral.  I did convince her to soften it with the ivory blouse.  The dozens of scarlet roses in her arms were also not my idea.  I suggested a single rose to lay on the coffin but Jessica insisted on five dozen scarlet roses.  “That’s what he sent me the day he met me.”  How do you argue with that?

The man next to her is the deceased’s brother.  Elliot Terrell is a local businessman.  Highly respected.  I personally hadn’t met him before this account, but I found him charming.  We’re meeting for coffee next week, and  I’ve already bought a new sweater for the occasion.  If a man like that wants to ask a woman like me to coffee, I’m giving myself any advantage to have a repeat offer.

Oh no.  Here come the officers.  Frank Terrell was an ex-Marine and not, apparently, without connections.  Jessica had made a few calls from my office, and the next thing I knew, a twenty-one gun salute was ordered and now it was time.

I suggest you put in your earplugs.  I know I am.

The minister finished his homily about the brevity of life and the certainty of a blissful hereafter for those “belonging to the Lord.”  At his signal, a group of Marines congregated at the foot of the casket in formation.  They readied their guns.  They aimed.  They fired.

Elliot Terrell crumpled.  Jessica, not noticing the man at her side was now a heap on the grass, stepped forward and laid the massive bunch of roses on the coffin.  She buried her head in her hands as she stepped back and tripped over the body of her brother-in-law.  She took one look at the blood spilling over his stomach and screamed.

Tennyson Hughes stepped toward the scene to help when she saw the blood and gave out her own yelp of shock and panic.  Moments before she fainted, Tennyson thought to herself, Do I have to give a family discount for something like this?

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Comments

  1. Rebekah says

    April 25, 2012 at 8:52 am

    That’s a good beginning for a story! I hope you continue it sometime… and I get to read it! 😀

    The last part was the last thing I expected actually. And I really like Tennyson’s name!

    To the KING be all the glory!
    Rebekah

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 163: A Chat with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel's Song
byChautona Havig

Before I began the interview with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel’s Song, I kind of went crazy and left it in to give you a chuckle. But Naomi and I chat about her upcoming release, why she chose to write about Ezekiel, and what areas she focused on. Listen in and hear her heart for the Word and for stimulating readers to love it and live it.

Oh, and that song I couldn’t remember? Well, I found it after a BUNCH of hunting on YouTube. Here you go!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Has Ezekiel Always Confused You? How about a Little Fictional Clarity?

There’s SO much to write about in Ezekiel, but after talking to Naomi Craig, I feel like I got a pretty good grasp of where she’s taking this book without feeling like I don’t need to read it now that we chatted, and that’s always great. Naomi shows service in the temple, how Ezekiel could have had a mentorish relationship under Jeremiah, and even what kind of woman his wife might have been.

Personally, I love the “Darcy-ish” meeting where he totally insults her and accuses her of being an idolatress. Let me tell you something. I cannot wait to read that! Seriously!

God had Ezekiel do a lot of weird things, and I always wondered how he managed some of it, but Naomi brings out possibilities by focusing on this wife that we don’t know much (anything) about. How cool is that?

Naomi also gave us a couple of glimpses into what’s coming next!

She’s #TeamBlue in the Keeping Christmas novella collections, writing about Herod’s palace and the wise men’s appearance looking for “the King of the Jews.”  And… from a scribe’s perspective!  How cool is that?

Also… next up is a book about a woman in Ephriam’s lineage who built three cities. A woman credited with the building of these cities!  I cannot wait! I love how Naomi focuses on how strong Biblical women were. So often we think of them as downtrodden and little more than cattle, but God shows how much He loves His daughters in the Word, and He definitely allows them to shine. We saw that in Naomi’s debut novel Rahab’s Courage.

Ezekiel’s Song by Naomi Craig

A prophet’s heart broken, a woman’s joy gone. What does Yahweh have planned for His people?

On the brink of Jerusalem’s demise, devoted priest, Ezekiel, sees the insincerity of Judah’s worship. Despite his efforts to call the people back to true worship of Yahweh, priests, artisans, valiant warriors, and royals are exiled to Babylon. When God gives him messages of continued judgment for the people in his homeland, his heart breaks. How can he minister to the people from so far away?

The presence of the Lord is tangible when Shiriel sings in the temple, and her voice prepares the hearts of many to worship. When she is exiled to Babylon, her faith is shaken. Does the Lord’s presence extend beyond Jerusalem and His holy temple?

Ezekiel is struck mute and paralyzed as he begins his prophetic ministry, and Shiriel devises a plan to get the Lord’s message back to the unfaithful people of Judah. Shiriel struggles with discontentment as serving the Lord looks nothing like she’d imagined. Can she provide for her family and carry out her husband’s ministry when her joy is gone, and her own dreams are placed on hold?

How will Yahweh save His people from themselves? Find out in Ezekiel’s Song!

Ezekiel’s Song is available at 30% off paperback and at a discount for Kindle, too through release week, so visit Naomi’s WEBSITE for more information.

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Episode 163: A Chat with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel's Song
Episode 163: A Chat with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel's Song
August 12, 2022
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August 9, 2022
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July 26, 2022
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July 22, 2022
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July 19, 2022
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July 12, 2022
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July 8, 2022
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June 28, 2022
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Harper Brevig has two skills—picking out snarky bookish t-shirts and alienating customers. 
Oh, and racking up bills out of thin air. Make that three skills. She loves the elderly and the very 
young—except the ones who destroy her beloved books. You could say she doesn’t have a very nice 
“book-side manner.” 
Milton Coleridge and his parrotlet Atticus (not Finch) come to the rescue… but is it too late to 
save this bookstore?
Twice Sold Tales: the first full-length novel in the Bookstrings Series releases on November 2, 
2022. Link to more information is in my bio! 
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#bookishbooks
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