What follows are excerpts that introduce two more characters from a work in progresses with the working title of "True Frail."
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In issue five of Voices from the Arroyo I introduced several characters from my work in progress "True Frail." The following is the introduction of the principle "true frail" characters and her cousin Charlotte. Of course, since this is a mystery, we don't learn too much about these characters when first introduced. Alexis, Big Swede's dog is also a character in the story.
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Now would be the time you would expect a fine looking women to come on the scene and add a bit of spice and intrigue, but that almost never happens in real life, this time being no exception, except what did show up a week or so later was a women claiming to be Mel's cousin, dressed in black and weighing about eighty pounds dripping, wispy hair and with good skin color. A true frail, not bad looking, but if she dropped her fork she would not have the strength to pick it up again and would starve to death as a result. Her driver opened and shut her door for her and it was a good thing too, it would have taken her three tries to shut the door on her own. She looked at the crime scene house, coroner's tape still on the door and surveyed the street stopping when she saw me on the porch fulfilling my morning obligation, dry wheat toast, black coffee and blood pressure test.

“Are you Mr. Sorensen?”

I stood, walked toward the sidewalk and replied, “Yes I am, can I help you.”

“I'm Mel's cousin, Mimi, nice to meet you.”

Mel, that was his name all right. I offered my hand and she placed hers in mine like she was giving me a delicate flower. When I didn't say anything in response she offered,

“I'm the only heir so I guess I now own this house.” after a pause she added, “maybe I'll move in.”

I kept quiet, sort of dumb struck by the person in front of me and the oddities of the situation. To end the awkward silence she thanked me for my help identifying the body and I apologized for not attending the funeral, adding that Mel and I were casual acquaintances only.

She said “Oh never you mind, you didn't miss anything, there was no funeral” and with that she said “Bye” and turned for her car where the driver quickly opened the door for her.

For the first time I took a good look at the driver and much to my surprise what I thought was a tall well built man was in fact a women and definitely not frail. I got the feeling that the last guy that offered her his arm for support, got it broken. As I watched them drive away I thought about her “maybe I'll move in” remark., wondering if anyone had cleaned up the bloody mess as yet?

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About a week later I was walking my dog Alexis, thinking about the fabulous breakfast I would have in about an hour, dry wheat toast, black coffee and for the first time in weeks, a half of a banana, oh boy, I couldn't wait. I checked the scars on Alexis' haunches and watched for any signs of limping. He looked pretty good this morning, considering. I got him from the greyhound rescue people that saved ex racing dogs from the pound and he was now my pal and walking companion. He had raced about fifty times and never won a race which did not spare him from the bites of other dogs. I told him they picked on him cause he was pretty, which he was not. To put this in perspective, imagine a boxer that had fifty fight and never won a single bout. They put him on the card just cause the fans liked to see him take a punch. Anyway, it was cause of the boxer reference that I called him Alexis after a boxer I admired from the seventies, Alexis Arguello who held the featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight titles and later became the major of Managua, Nicaragua in 2008. He was found dead in 2009 under suspicious circumstances, Managua is a tough town. As we walked past the crime scene house, the yellow tape still on the door, I thought about the elfin Mimi and her driver, cousin Charlotte, that I now referred to as Xena, after the worrier princess and what was up with the investigation and the house, would she really be moving in and would Xena be living there too? I didn't know if my heart could take having Xena around all

Warren Crane 2013 ©     Used with Permission of the author.

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