Monday, August 10, 2015

Charley Cooked my Tookies




 The subject line of today’s blog is food for thought. Right? Sometimes the things that come out of our mouths aren’t what we meant to say. I’ll give you a couple of examples.

 

Sugar, my female yellow Lab, is having problems with her rear legs. She loves to swim and she needs the exercise. So the other day I let her swim. No problem. Uh, she couldn’t get out of the pool. I tried to bribe her with her favorite treat. It didn’t work. You have to understand that she’s a ninety pound dog, and I’m a… Well, we won’t go there. Let me say I’m not a big, muscular woman and I’m not in my twenties anymore, and I had to lift that dog out of the pool. The circumstances warranted my lifting her. I called my daughter later and told her that “the legs in my muscle” were as sore as could be. Now that didn’t come out right.

You’re wondering about Charley’s antics? When I was very young I was at work and had a box of sugar wafers on my desk. I was away from my desk for a few minutes and when I returned, they were gone. Charley had hidden them. Being a sweets freak, I looked everywhere for them. My boss was also away from his desk. He came back and found me searching everywhere. When he asked what I was doing, I replied, “Charley cooked my tookies.” He looked at me like I was nuts. Just to make things crazier, it turned out Charley had hidden them in a filing cabinet under “S” for sugar.

I’ve often talked about making characters real – and funny. Sometimes all it takes is a misspoken word or sentence. Once in a while a comment can further the story if it can be misconstrued. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “That’s not what I meant. Let me start over.” Unfortunately, there are moments when people won’t let you correct yourself.

When my daughter was three-years-old (her age now is another place we won’t go), we had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii. On the flight home, the stewardess (that’s what they used to be called) gave her a small blackboard and some chalk so she could draw a picture. Boredom on an airplane can be disastrous. The stewardess returned after a few minutes to see what my child had drawn. The drawing consisted of a few squiggly circles. The woman gave me a funny look and asked her, “Oh, did you draw a ghost? Have you seen one?”

Okay, my daughter could have replied that, yes, she’d drawn a ghost just like the one who was sitting in the seat across the aisle. That might make a good storyline in a book. In reality, she replied, “No. It’s spilt milk.” No mystery there, but you never know what a child is thinking. Sometimes they can make or break a scene or a story. By the way, “spilt” was her word, not mine.
 

I’m going to step back into the days of Charley again. We worked with a woman who was engaged and her military boyfriend was being sent overseas. She was a nervous wreck, to put it mildly. She was telling me about him when the phone on her desk rang. She answered her stapler instead of the phone and kept repeating, “Hello? Hello?” I had to take it from her and hand it to her while I answered her phone. It never dawned on her that the phone kept ringing after she’d “answered” it.

Maybe my stories aren’t all that funny to anyone except me, but you get the idea. Sometimes we need to lighten a particularly dramatic scene with humor. In real life, it’s one of the things that helps us through a difficult time. The woman who answered her stapler laughed and relaxed a bit while she waited to hear from her fiancé.

Have you ever put something like this in a book? Would you? Do you have a funny story about misspeaking or answering something other than a telephone? I’ve often said we need to look for the funny side of a tragic or dramatic situation. There isn’t always humor, but if there is, it can help. I have a friend who laughs long and loud when tragedy strikes. She’s not unfeeling, but laughter helps her through situations. It’s a nervous reaction, one I almost wish I had.

Until next time, think before you speak. Never mind. You might lose the humor if you think first.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website
CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Looking for a little humor with your drama? Think about trying either The Sandi Webster Mysteries or The Bogey Man Mysteries.

21 comments:

  1. Okay for you -- but I have cat stories out the wazoo.

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    1. LOL Bring them on, Dac. Thank you for commenting.

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn, and I always enjoy your posts, too.Thank you for commenting!

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  3. This was a neat post. I don't always intend to write humor but sometimes it comes out that way and I just leave it in the story.

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    1. The humor you include is priceless, Pat, whether intended or not. Thank you for commenting!

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  4. Enjoyed the post, Marja. I always include humor in my plots as well as in my nonfiction books. I think it helps to prevent boredom.

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    1. Another good point, Jean. All drama can be boring sometimes, or it can make a person's mood drop to their toes. Thank you for commenting!

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  5. Humor and mispronounced words is very evident in my novels as I'm dealing with mischief and mayhem. A line from Black Cat and the Accidental Angel. "Hogwash. I’m calling the sheriff and file charges. Cat-napping, that’s what it is. Downright, malicious, pre-medicated cat-napping!"
    Grandma was pretty riled up, I fear! Great post. Thanks for your thoughts on the subject.

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    1. And thanks for giving me a chuckle, Elaine. Grandmas are very good at this kind of thing. Thank you for commenting!

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  6. Marja,
    I love that your books make me laugh. As you said, we all need humor to lighten up our lives. And, when we can laugh at ourselves, well, that's the ultimate comic relief.

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    1. Very insightful, Pat, and I'm glad my books can brighten your day. We need to keep laughing at our mishaps. Thank you for commenting!

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  7. Great blog, Marja. I like the way your mind works. Occasionally, I'll write something I don't think is funny, but other people do. What does that tell you about me?

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  8. That you don't know when you're being funny? I've thoroughly enjoyed your books because they are lighter and entertaining. Keep it up. : ) Thank you for commenting!

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  9. My friend was searching for something in her closet, but couldn't see well, so she reached back for her flashlight and grabbed instead her dog's nose.

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    1. Thanks for a good laugh, Lesley! Thank you for commenting! (I'm still chuckling over that.)

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  10. Another entertaining blog. :-) My two protagonists insist I put some of their quips into my books. Since writing would be even more difficult if they gave me the silent treatment, I go along with them.

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    1. Good plan, Sharon. : ) Always listen to your protagonists. Thank you for commenting!

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  11. Marja, I made a slip years ago, but I don't think I could use it in a story. I was out to dinner with my wife and our two daughters, and it was time to order dessert. I looked over the menu and saw they had Kentucky Fudge Pie. When I told the waitress I wanted it, I transposed a couple letters and it came out, "Ken*ucky Tudge Pie." Everyone in the place was in stitches. I was bed as a reet.

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    1. LOL I'm in stitches, too. Thanks for a much needed laugh. There are a few I can't share, but, oh well... Thank you for commenting!

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  12. Great stories and comments added to laughter.

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