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stonepicnicking_okapiI love the ocean. I don't go often but it's a great setting, symbol, inspiration.
It's not difficult to make it MURDER.
Title: By the ocean
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Rating: Gen
Prompt: Amatorculist
Length: 500
Summary: Miss Marple makes a friend by the ocean.
“…oh, dear, I’m sorry,” said the old lady, “I was talking to myself. You don’t happen to know a, let me see, ten, eleven, dear me, what are they thinking, twelve-letter word beginning with ‘a,’ well, at least that some help, which means ‘love’s pretender.’”
“I could be, I suppose, ‘amatorculist’?” suggested Miss Marple.
“Why, yes, that’s it! Oh, do sit down. I don’t really like these things, but they say they are good for keeping one’s wits nimble.”
Miss Marple settled herself beside the old lady and began knitting. She turned her gaze to the sea before them.
“The ocean,” she said by way of preamble.
“Yes,” agreed the old lady, looking up from her crossword puzzle. “It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? It represents so much. Peace, diversion, respite, danger…”
“Escape?” suggested Miss Marple.
The old lady coloured slightly and adjusted her wide-brimmed hat.
“Yes, that too…Clytie loved this spot. My dear, dear friend…”
“She’s…not with us?” asked Miss Marple gently.
The old lady nodded. “She passed on in her sleep, peacefully, a week ago. Eighty-four! Can you believe it?” She smiled. “So many wonderful memories and now, well,” she looked at her lap, “here I am.”
“I’m afraid I’m intruding on your grief, but I come from a village called Saint Mary Mead and there’s a man, a distance relation of our vicar’s, who is under the belief that Nestra Highsmith was his birth mother.”
The old lady stared at Miss Maple, then turned his gaze toward the sea. “And you tracked us down?”
“It was the first line of inquiry. Nestra Highsmith threw herself into the sea fifty years ago—but the body was never recovered. Only the bridal dress.”
“Yes, Nestra Highsmith threw herself into the sea, and Clytie Bird threw herself out of it on a distant shore, not too far from here, and I joined her soon after. No, I am afraid he’s mistaken. Clytie couldn’t have children. I have her papers back at the cottage to prove she could not have been anyone’s mother—ever. You may come and see. I think you must be very shrewd and clever to have found us,” she eyed Miss Marple, “and something tells me you understand.”
“Of course, of course. I will join you, but, and here I may be presumptuous, would you consider a visit to Saint Mary Mead?”
The old lady’s eyebrows rose.
“Well, the man is still on the search for his mother, and perhaps we can help, and a puzzle like that, well, it might be a good thing,” she nodded at the crossword in the old lady’s lap, “to keep our wits nimble.”
The old lady smiled. “Saint Mary Mead isn’t by the sea, is it?”
“Far from it.”
The old lady nodded. “Clytie always said ‘a change’s as good as a rest.’ And there are more tonics in the world than sea air. Come on, I bet you’ll want to see the garden, too.”
“Well, if it’s not too much trouble…”
This is a challenge to post about 50 things I'm fannish about in 2024. I did the challenge in 2023 so to make it more interesting, in 2024, it's Everything is Murder edition. More info & to sign up here:https://alexcat.dreamwidth.org/1357645.html
The List (to date)
Fannish 50: 2024: #1: Jeeves & Wooster
Fannish 50: 2024: #2: Libraries
Fannish 50: 2024: #3: Facial Sheet Masks
Fannish 50: 2024: #4: Venom
Fannish 50: 2024: #5: jhope of BTS
Fannish 50: 2024: #6: the art of Edward Gorey
Fannish 50: 2024: #7: The works of Edgar Allan Poe
Fannish 50: 2024: #8: SUGA of BTS
Fannish 50: 2024: #9: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Fannish 50: 2024: #10: Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Fannish 50: 2024: #11: Honkaku & shin honkaku detective fiction
Fannish 50: 2024: #12: Audiobooks
Fannish 50: 2024: #13: Holiday blend coffee
Fannish 50: 2024: #14: Jazz
Fannish 50: 2024: #15: Jigsaw puzzles
Fannish 50: 2024: #16: Sherlock Holmes
Fannish 50: 2024: #17: Poetry
Fannish 50: 2024: #18: Chocolate
Fannish 50: 2024: #19: Detective Matthew Venn series - Ann Cleeves
Fannish 50: 2024: #20: Tarot
Fannish 50: 2024: #21: Poirot - Agatha Christie
Fannish 50: 2024: #22: The ocean
It's not difficult to make it MURDER.
Title: By the ocean
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Rating: Gen
Prompt: Amatorculist
Length: 500
Summary: Miss Marple makes a friend by the ocean.
“…oh, dear, I’m sorry,” said the old lady, “I was talking to myself. You don’t happen to know a, let me see, ten, eleven, dear me, what are they thinking, twelve-letter word beginning with ‘a,’ well, at least that some help, which means ‘love’s pretender.’”
“I could be, I suppose, ‘amatorculist’?” suggested Miss Marple.
“Why, yes, that’s it! Oh, do sit down. I don’t really like these things, but they say they are good for keeping one’s wits nimble.”
Miss Marple settled herself beside the old lady and began knitting. She turned her gaze to the sea before them.
“The ocean,” she said by way of preamble.
“Yes,” agreed the old lady, looking up from her crossword puzzle. “It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? It represents so much. Peace, diversion, respite, danger…”
“Escape?” suggested Miss Marple.
The old lady coloured slightly and adjusted her wide-brimmed hat.
“Yes, that too…Clytie loved this spot. My dear, dear friend…”
“She’s…not with us?” asked Miss Marple gently.
The old lady nodded. “She passed on in her sleep, peacefully, a week ago. Eighty-four! Can you believe it?” She smiled. “So many wonderful memories and now, well,” she looked at her lap, “here I am.”
“I’m afraid I’m intruding on your grief, but I come from a village called Saint Mary Mead and there’s a man, a distance relation of our vicar’s, who is under the belief that Nestra Highsmith was his birth mother.”
The old lady stared at Miss Maple, then turned his gaze toward the sea. “And you tracked us down?”
“It was the first line of inquiry. Nestra Highsmith threw herself into the sea fifty years ago—but the body was never recovered. Only the bridal dress.”
“Yes, Nestra Highsmith threw herself into the sea, and Clytie Bird threw herself out of it on a distant shore, not too far from here, and I joined her soon after. No, I am afraid he’s mistaken. Clytie couldn’t have children. I have her papers back at the cottage to prove she could not have been anyone’s mother—ever. You may come and see. I think you must be very shrewd and clever to have found us,” she eyed Miss Marple, “and something tells me you understand.”
“Of course, of course. I will join you, but, and here I may be presumptuous, would you consider a visit to Saint Mary Mead?”
The old lady’s eyebrows rose.
“Well, the man is still on the search for his mother, and perhaps we can help, and a puzzle like that, well, it might be a good thing,” she nodded at the crossword in the old lady’s lap, “to keep our wits nimble.”
The old lady smiled. “Saint Mary Mead isn’t by the sea, is it?”
“Far from it.”
The old lady nodded. “Clytie always said ‘a change’s as good as a rest.’ And there are more tonics in the world than sea air. Come on, I bet you’ll want to see the garden, too.”
“Well, if it’s not too much trouble…”
This is a challenge to post about 50 things I'm fannish about in 2024. I did the challenge in 2023 so to make it more interesting, in 2024, it's Everything is Murder edition. More info & to sign up here:https://alexcat.dreamwidth.org/1357645.html
The List (to date)
Fannish 50: 2024: #1: Jeeves & Wooster
Fannish 50: 2024: #2: Libraries
Fannish 50: 2024: #3: Facial Sheet Masks
Fannish 50: 2024: #4: Venom
Fannish 50: 2024: #5: jhope of BTS
Fannish 50: 2024: #6: the art of Edward Gorey
Fannish 50: 2024: #7: The works of Edgar Allan Poe
Fannish 50: 2024: #8: SUGA of BTS
Fannish 50: 2024: #9: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Fannish 50: 2024: #10: Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Fannish 50: 2024: #11: Honkaku & shin honkaku detective fiction
Fannish 50: 2024: #12: Audiobooks
Fannish 50: 2024: #13: Holiday blend coffee
Fannish 50: 2024: #14: Jazz
Fannish 50: 2024: #15: Jigsaw puzzles
Fannish 50: 2024: #16: Sherlock Holmes
Fannish 50: 2024: #17: Poetry
Fannish 50: 2024: #18: Chocolate
Fannish 50: 2024: #19: Detective Matthew Venn series - Ann Cleeves
Fannish 50: 2024: #20: Tarot
Fannish 50: 2024: #21: Poirot - Agatha Christie
Fannish 50: 2024: #22: The ocean