Dinner Date At Mt Isa

By Ken Blowers

'Dinner Date At Mt Isa' is the sixth and final volume in Ken Blowers' series of delightful short stories. The first story takes us to the quintessential Aussie town of Mt Isa to chase mysterious shadows. As we move through, we meet Aunt Edna, James the author, Matt Paint and many other new characters. The last story is a surprise prelude to Ken's new volume of stories starring B. Urglar, - stories.

All stories, as always, are short and punchy, and just the right length to read in your dinner break. The stories have something to offer everyone. Full of new characters and locations, the reader is drawn into the every day lives of regular people they can identify with.

You too can be immediately transported to a time and era that possibly no longer exists, so you can either reminisce, or choose your own adventure - in any event, your reading needs are more than catered for, with this smorgasbord of saga's.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ken Blowers
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310563645

Ken Blowers

"I like to get well into my stories from Page 1. They are low in background trivia and high in rich dialogue and action. I have no interest in how my characters are dressed, or how they walk or talk – unless it’s directly related to the way they act. This makes my short stories short and punchy. They are all the better for that.” Ken Blowers.Ken Blowers is a 'Queensland Senior' writer of short stories and one-act plays. He was born in 1934, the youngest of seven children in the small fishing port of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. His father died in 1939 when he was only 5. As a 6 year old he suffered the trauma of enforced evacuation from a coastal area threatened by enemy invasion. The returning home a year later to face the rigors of heavy enemy bombing. On leaving school at the age of 15 in 1949, Ken became an apprentice coachbuilder - at that time a woodworking trade! He was made redundant on immediately on completion of his apprenticeship at the age of 21. Thereafter he engaged in a variety of employment spheres to support his young wife and two children: fitter, car salesman, electrical salesman, postman, insurance agent, factory manager, shopkeeper, and barman. Disillusioned with his employment prospects and looking for a new start, he applied, through Australia House in London, for enlistment in the Royal Australian Air Force. He signed up on a Wednesday afternoon, flew out on the Thursday, and arrived in Australia on the Saturday (27 November 1965) which, he has been known to say, demonstrates how desperately Australia needed him!Having enlisted as a clerk he quickly taught himself to type so he could move to a higher pay level!. Having no formal education qualifications at all, he enrolled in the Victorian Correspondence School (for kids in the bush!) and after attaining matriculation standard, he eventually become a commissioned officer.In 1985, at the age of 51 and after 20 years Air Force service, he retired (with the rank of Squadron Leader). Ken and his wife Jean lived on a 28 acre property, where he bought and built a steel-framed home, over looking the valley. In 1992 the author and his wife moved from NSW to Queensland to be closer to their two daughters and their three grandchildren.Interestingly, it was their happy experiences together in their local U3A play-reading classes that encouraged him to take up the pen! He has since become a prolific writer of 1,000 daily quotations, 48 short stories, and 40 one-act plays.He now lives in Mitchelton, a north-west suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.And he recently retired from writing a total of 30,000 postings in Ken’s Corner, in his UK, Suffolk, home town website lowestoftonline.“To write good short stories you don’t have to live to a ripe old age first– but it sure helps. I can’t stop writing short stories. My characters just won’t let me.””___________________________________________

Book preview

DINNER DATE AT MT ISA

By Ken Blowers

First published by Linda Perry at Smashwords 17th April 2014

This second edition published by Linda Perry at Smashwords April 2015

Editing by Eagle-Eyes Editing Solutions

Cover Illustration by Paulien Bats

Copyright (c) 2014 by Ken Blowers

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

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CONTENTS

Search For The Mount Isa Monster

Aunt Edna

The Thieving Experience

Matt Paint

Grandad

Stairway Of Life

The Button

******************

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…….!!

Introducing the next series from Ken Blowers:

BEN URGLAR

CHAPTER 1

SEARCH FOR THE MOUNT ISA MONSTER

'What's all this rubbish about a Mount Isa Monster, Sir?' asked Brian Boule of his Editor, John Parkin. 'Surely you don't think there's anything in it, do you?'

'That, old son, is for you to find out, isn't it?'

'Ohhhh, Boss!'

'Are you a Reporter or not?'

'Yes, but…'

'Then get yourself on a plane and go find out!'

'But, Mount Isa! Really? What do I know about mining towns in the outback?'

'By the end of this assignment, my lad, quite a lot I hope, for your sake.'

'Ok, but please, fill me in first about what you know about it, Sir? I'm sure it's worth more than what I can pick up in Mulligan's Bar.'

'Alright son, but I can't spare you too much time.' The Editor paused to shuffle some of his papers and light his pipe. Then he commenced the tale, as the billowing smoke lent an eerie atmosphere to the already dingy office.

'It seems that way back somewhere around the 1920s, the precise year we don't know, but it was certainly sometime shortly after the Great War; a miner, a returned soldier called Mick Brandon, was working deep down in one of the smaller, independent pits operating around that time. What he was mining at the time we don’t actually know, but anyway, he claimed to have made an unusual discovery. We don't know what the item looked like in its raw state either, but for some reason or other he felt, knew, or thought he knew, that what he held in his hands was not any ordinary piece of rock!’

'Some sort of fossil, you mean?'

'Right, well we don’t know for sure, but more than likely. Anyway, it appears he hid it in some hidey-hole he had down the mine until after a period of time, how long we don't actually know; he managed to clean it up enough to hazard a better guess as to what it might be.'

'That's an awful lot of ‘don't knows’, Boss.'

'Exactly! Intriguing, isn't it? That's why I'm putting my best man on it! Your job is to clear all those ‘don’t knows’ up! Anyway, eventually, ever so slowly and carefully, he cleaned it up until it was pretty obvious what it was... to him.'

'Oh, no, no, Boss! Don't say it was a monster? I mean, I've heard these rumours circulating lately, but a man couldn't even lift a monster, let alone clean one up. Could he?'

'Right again, Sunshine. There you go, now you know why I picked you for this assignment - you're bright! You've got a sharp, inquiring mind. You're the ideal man for the job! You'll get me a first class story out of this. I know you will, because that's what I expect of you and why I over-pay you.'

'Ohhhh, I knew I shouldn't have said anything.'

'Right again, my boy! The secret of being a good