The Power of PJs

Sunday, my wife and I drove over to her mother's
house to deliver some homemade cinnamon rolls for Mum's breakfast.

Rather than get out of our pjs, wifey thought it would be funny just to wear our long nightshirts. After all it was Sunday before a holiday and there would be no one out and about at seven a.m., right? Wrong!

As we drove into the driveway, a new neighbor was doing yard work next door and she stopped working when she saw us get out of the car. Mum came out of her front door at the same time. My comment was, "I knew we shouldn't have worn our pjs to your mother's!"

Of course, the neighbor walked toward us smiling and introducing herself to the two idiots in sleep shirts and a mother-in-law who hadn't combed her hair yet, as we apologized profusely for being dressed like clowns.

As it turned out, the neighbor Debbi told us she often retreated into her fenced backyard in a halter top and worn out shorts and that we were not to worry about the way we were dressed. Personally, I thought being half dressed in a fenced backyard was a far cry from standing in front of a whole neighborhood full of open windows wearing old, faded sleep shirts.

Wifey invited Debbi into the house and we all sat in the living room reminiscing. It turns out Debbi was a school marm from Michigan, but now teaches at the elementary school in Camp Verde. My wife and her mother are also from Michigan. It was like old home week!

Of course, the subject of my murder mystery, Evil in the Mirror, came up because I am forever trying to sell the novel to anyone who will sit still long enough. One thing led to another and I now have been invited to speak in front of Debbi's third grade class about writing novels. We also left a copy of the book for Debbi to keep and review. A good review from an educator on Amazon would be a very good thing indeed.

Wait a minute...seems to me when I was in the third grade, we played with mud pies and recited parts of Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater. These kids are learning about being an author in the third grade? What if they are smarter than I am? Oh, crap...what have I gotten myself into?

I'm just saying,

Mittster