DEAR HARMONY
ISBN 978-1-60145-810-0
Come join Harmony and her family, friends, and neighbors in a little trip to the Texas hill country. Catch a view of life in a Texas fairy tale that begins with “Once Upon a Time” and ends with “Happily Ever After”. It won’t be like any other fairy tale you’ve ever read, after all, it is TEXAS! We welcome you to Dunmare and hope you enjoy visiting our almost typical American small town. We’ll serve up some southern hospitality with bar-b-que, football, holiday celebrations, a horse show, and a few surprises. You may enjoy your visit so much, you’ll want to settle down and live here! All are welcome and you can visit as long and as often as you like. Y’all be sure and tell all your friends to come see us! We’ll be here with the welcome sign hanging on the fence post.
EXCERPT: Night has fallen and turned the world dark by the time Harmony turns off the old highway onto Brookshire Road. The narrow two-lane route is unlit and deserted. The only traffic it ever sees is old ranchers on tractors headed from field to field or in their pickup trucks on one of their infrequent trips to town. G. Willy likes living out in the middle of nowhere without any neighbors on the horizon. It had been a twist of fate that he found this deserted cabin, forgotten and forsaken by its owners. Shortly after taking the Dunmare deputy sheriff job, he was flying with his boss in a small two-seater plane surveying the area for any marijuana patches hidden in corn fields when he spotted the cabin tucked inside a grove of trees miles from any other buildings. He had tracked down the owners and asked if it was for rent. The old man and his wife were so surprised by his question that they offered to let him live there rent-free if he would fix the place up and keep an eye on their property. They shook hands on the deal and G. Willy fixed up the cabin to suit himself. The only way to know the place is there is from the window of a small aircraft and the sheriff’s plane is the only one that flies in that airspace. The number of people who know where he lives can be counted on one hand.
Harmony turns off Brookshire Road between the end of the barbed wire fence and the beginning of a pecan grove and drives across the cattle guard. These are the only landmarks to go by to find the dirt road that leads to the cabin sitting surrounded by trees about two miles further down. She follows the twisty dusty road at a snail’s pace so she won’t damage her car or miss the ruts that keep her from ending up out in the field instead of at the cabin. As she passes between the thick growths of trees that line the drive, she can see her destination. The only light is from her car’s headlights. No vehicle in the yard means that G. Willy is not home yet so she lets the car’s lights illuminate her way up the steps and in the front door where she turns on the living room lights and then walks back to the car to turn off the headlights and get her tote bag and purse.
It isn’t unusual for G. Willy to not be home when Harmony gets there. He never locks his doors because no one knows where the cabin is except him, Harmony, and the owners. Harmony knows she’s alone and there’s nothing to fear. G. Willy will be home as soon as he can get there. There’s no cable or satellite dish and an antenna is useless here, so there’s no way to watch TV. Harmony goes into the kitchen and cleans up the few dirty dishes she finds in the sink and then returns to the living room to rest and relax in G. Willy’s recliner and promptly falls asleep.
WEBSITE: nelmajeanbryson.com
Come join Harmony and her family, friends, and neighbors in a little trip to the Texas hill country. Catch a view of life in a Texas fairy tale that begins with “Once Upon a Time” and ends with “Happily Ever After”. It won’t be like any other fairy tale you’ve ever read, after all, it is TEXAS! We welcome you to Dunmare and hope you enjoy visiting our almost typical American small town. We’ll serve up some southern hospitality with bar-b-que, football, holiday celebrations, a horse show, and a few surprises. You may enjoy your visit so much, you’ll want to settle down and live here! All are welcome and you can visit as long and as often as you like. Y’all be sure and tell all your friends to come see us! We’ll be here with the welcome sign hanging on the fence post.
EXCERPT: Night has fallen and turned the world dark by the time Harmony turns off the old highway onto Brookshire Road. The narrow two-lane route is unlit and deserted. The only traffic it ever sees is old ranchers on tractors headed from field to field or in their pickup trucks on one of their infrequent trips to town. G. Willy likes living out in the middle of nowhere without any neighbors on the horizon. It had been a twist of fate that he found this deserted cabin, forgotten and forsaken by its owners. Shortly after taking the Dunmare deputy sheriff job, he was flying with his boss in a small two-seater plane surveying the area for any marijuana patches hidden in corn fields when he spotted the cabin tucked inside a grove of trees miles from any other buildings. He had tracked down the owners and asked if it was for rent. The old man and his wife were so surprised by his question that they offered to let him live there rent-free if he would fix the place up and keep an eye on their property. They shook hands on the deal and G. Willy fixed up the cabin to suit himself. The only way to know the place is there is from the window of a small aircraft and the sheriff’s plane is the only one that flies in that airspace. The number of people who know where he lives can be counted on one hand.
Harmony turns off Brookshire Road between the end of the barbed wire fence and the beginning of a pecan grove and drives across the cattle guard. These are the only landmarks to go by to find the dirt road that leads to the cabin sitting surrounded by trees about two miles further down. She follows the twisty dusty road at a snail’s pace so she won’t damage her car or miss the ruts that keep her from ending up out in the field instead of at the cabin. As she passes between the thick growths of trees that line the drive, she can see her destination. The only light is from her car’s headlights. No vehicle in the yard means that G. Willy is not home yet so she lets the car’s lights illuminate her way up the steps and in the front door where she turns on the living room lights and then walks back to the car to turn off the headlights and get her tote bag and purse.
It isn’t unusual for G. Willy to not be home when Harmony gets there. He never locks his doors because no one knows where the cabin is except him, Harmony, and the owners. Harmony knows she’s alone and there’s nothing to fear. G. Willy will be home as soon as he can get there. There’s no cable or satellite dish and an antenna is useless here, so there’s no way to watch TV. Harmony goes into the kitchen and cleans up the few dirty dishes she finds in the sink and then returns to the living room to rest and relax in G. Willy’s recliner and promptly falls asleep.
WEBSITE: nelmajeanbryson.com
