About Chessie

By Cheryl Writing

About Chessie is the tale of a lime green creature who crashes through Sharon's roof. It is a tale of escapades and a curiously unlikely friendship. It can't be real, but here it is all the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cheryl Writing
• Release date: Feb 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386185932

Cheryl Writing

The most interesting current thing about me is actually About Chessie, a tale that evolved in my imagination.  Writing this story was especially fun. I hope you have fun reading it. I’d love to hear from you! [e-mail]  

Book preview

An Especially Good Wednesday

Sharon walked through the art fair doing her best to get distracted.

She stopped at a display of brass animal sculptures: baby ducks lined up behind the mother, rabbits with ears that pointed straight up like exclamation points and a parade of penguins. She hopscotched around them.

Lenny, a co-worker, walked up behind her. Enjoying your lunch hour?

Escaping the work stress with a little fun. Sharon clamped her feet together, tightened her arms against her body, and rocked side to side in Charlie Chan fashion.

Good solution. Lenny imitated Sharon’s imitation.

They laughed at their own antics.

Watch for the reorganization—coming soon to a department near you, where the tempers are short and the morale is low. Sharon spoke in an exaggerated entertainment announcer voice. Rumor was credentials were being reviewed with possible demotions on the way. The uncertainty was as stressful as the possibility of being demoted.

A department where the director encourages everyone to job-hunt—one of his better staff meeting pep talks. Lenny imitated the firm set of his chin and raised eyebrows.

Their laughter reached a scene-causing pitch and then turned sober. Lenny tipped a pretend-hat and left.

Sharon had applied for other positions with no luck. I’m too young to retire and too old to diplomatically handle the fear, she thought. I feel stuck in place and nothing but dread when I wake up and realize it’s a work day. She stood in the middle of the animal sculptures before going back to work. She imagined being one of them with no responsibilities.

Thank goodness for vacation time, she thought. At 5pm she would have several days away.

A most unusual Thursday

The aroma of dark roast coffee wafted through the kitchen.

Sharon poured a cup and sat down at her retro metal table. Topped with a teal laminate, it was an automatic day brightener. I would love the morning hour if only it came later in the day, she thought. In fact, I wish the whole day came later, so I could sleep through it. She chuckled at her lack of logic.

PF and Prancer, her two dogs, munched their breakfast, noisily moving their food bowls around in the process. Time for me to get dressed, she said to them.

Sharon screamed at the top of her lungs as she walked past the living room. Her chandelier lay crashed on the floor, and there was a hole in her ceiling. She thudded onto the couch, her mouth wide open like the entrance to a large birdhouse.

A person standing in a room Description automatically generated

PF and Prancer came running, their nails clicking on the laminate floor. They slid into the room sideways and hopped onto the couch.

Such great protectors. Why didn’t you wake me up when this happened? Sharon stared at her chandelier. By some miracle it had weathered the fall—bent, but not broken. She remembered hearing a ‘whoosh’ in the middle of the night, but not a hole-in-the-ceiling, crashing-chandelier kind of noise. The dogs had stirred briefly. She had gone back to sleep, thinking it was a loud dream.

Suddenly a pair of bright lime green paws hooked onto the inside edge of her ceiling and pulled into view a most unusual looking creature with multi-colored facial stripes, sparkling lime green eyes and ruffled ears with a hint of sequins. Judging by its paws, it appeared to be about the size of a small bear.

The dogs looked up and slightly wagged their tails, hesitant but friendly.

Sharon, on the other hand, slammed against the wall as though facing a firing squad. She grabbed the corner of the hutch for balance. The rattling of her cobalt blue glass collection gave her the presence of mind to let go. She pinched her chin, hard—and it hurt. She clamped her teeth onto her index finger—and left a mark. Hmm, it seems I’m awake. I’ll ignore the ceiling shenanigans, they’re sure to disappear, she thought.

She scanned the room for distraction. Her eyes rested on her small wicker elephant dubbed 'LA-phant because it was purchased in Los Angeles. The flat tray on LA’s back held a dictionary, a pair of brass and gold sewing scissors, and a copy of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (Lily Tomlin performed a remarkable one-woman show based on the script).

Sharon looked up. The creature looked back. This can’t be happening but here it is all the same, she thought.

I’m Chessie—and you are? the creature asked.

Sharon didn’t answer.

Cheese crackers! I damaged your roof!

I couldn’t help but notice, Sharon said flatly.

Chessie sputtered with giggles—like the sound of a car with a dead battery—then let go with a full force laugh. She looked a bit like a steam engine spewing a spray of teal sequins in the air.

Hard enough to accept a creature peering at me from my ceiling, Sharon thought. But this—is it laughter or hysteria? My luck, the thing is psychotic. Here to steal my identity like the alien pods in that 1978 movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I watched it on the Sir Graves Ghastly Theater, great for its Saturday afternoon horror flicks.

"Scared the squash out of