Beyond the Book: Yeah, Some of That Was True

 Fortuna is the only romantic comedy I’ve ever written, and I did it for my grandson. He’s of an age to be fascinated by WWE style wrestling so he wanted me to write him a book about wrestling. Given the subject matter, I thought a romantic comedy might be a good way to go. And in case you’re wondering, the first scene in the book takes place in the wrestling ring, and then my wrestlers retire to West Virginia where the adventures won’t stop coming.

I didn’t have to make up funny things to go in the book because I have a lot of personal material to draw from. My family has had some funny stuff happen to them so I decided to share a few things in the hope that other people would enjoy the stories. 

One of the scenes I liked best was when my heroine Aimee thought she was attacked by a snake. I promise you that in the real world it happened exactly as I wrote it. My uncle had a strawberry patch that my cousin Margaret loved. One Sunday after she got home from church she wanted to go to get some strawberries before she changed her clothes. My uncle warned her to be careful because he’d seen a snake up there the day before. 

Okay, she went to the strawberry patch and started picking. Then, she felt something grab on to her ankle. Remembering the snake, she raced for the house screaming for her father. “Snake! It’s eating me alive,” she hollered. 

Her dad tried to head her off, but she wouldn’t slow down. It took him awhile to catch her. Of course there was no snake. She’d gotten a briar tangled in the hem of her dress, and every time she moved it felt like the snake was biting her. 

Do you think any of us ever let her forget it? That’s right we didn’t.

I also liked the bean ball battle scene. That one is based on something my son and I did at a family reunion. We did mock some poor girl’s bean balls, but I elaborated a little here, and she certainly never knew. We never threw any bean balls either, but honestly, what was she thinking? Bean balls at a Southern family reunion? We go for macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, and potato salad. Cake and pie too. And banana pudding. We don’t do bean balls.

What about you? What are some funny things that have happened in your family?