Sherry Butler has been in a rut since forever. Pushing forty, Sherry still lives in the decrepit house she grew up in, inherited when her parents died. She’s been managing a card shop for nearly as long. She’s a person of habit: she sits in the same pew at church every week and attends meetings of the Bloomfield Garden Club, where she subscribes to the group’s philosophy that the town of Bloomfield is the best place to live. The Garden Club unofficially runs the town, and their stated purpose is to reach 10,000 residents.
Once upon a time Sherry dated Theo, but she couldn’t bring herself to embrace change enough to marry him. Now Brad is back in town and showing some interest in her. Naomi, an elderly lady from the Garden Club and church, has decided it’s time for Sherry’s life to shake up a bit. Not only is she encouraging Sherry to expand her horizons and date Brad, but maybe she should sell the house that’s falling down around her ears and move into one of those new apartments overlooking the lake. And if there’s any other way Naomi can meddle, she’s up for that, too!
Add in Murray, a parrot whose owner randomly drops him off for Sherry to parrot-sit, and you get a humor-filled story about breaking out of the mold and taking a chance on life and love.
What are you waiting for? Sherry was Waiting for a View. All of us spend time waiting. Is it something we should be waiting on? Or maybe it’s time to take some initiative and grab hold of change.
About Bloomfield
Bloomfield is a fictional town created by a team of authors contracted by B&H Publishing. While it’s not unheard of for a a group to collaborate, B&H is doing some things a bit differently this time around. This first story is a novella and debuted as a series of free weekly podcasts on iTunes, read by the author. It became available as an ebook novella a few weeks into the podcasts. Other stories in the Bloomfield collection will be by various authors and in an assortment of formats. This seems like a fun way to spice things up a bit. Bloomfield even has its own Pinterest board.
Debby Mayne grew up in a military family, which meant moving every few years throughout her childhood. Debby has published more than 20 books and novellas, approximately 400 short stories and articles, and a slew of devotions for busy women. She has also worked as managing editor of a national health magazine, product information writer for a TV retailer, a creative writing instructor, and a copy editor and proofreader for several book publishers. Debby currently enjoys writing Christian fiction, which allows her the freedom to tell stories without restraining her convictions.
She lives on Florida’s west coast with her husband and two cats. She and Wally have two adult daughters, a son-in-law, and a granddaughter.
I subscribed to the free iTunes podcasts of Waiting for a View, and listened to the author read the story in installments. (See this coming Friday’s post for more info on that!) Opinions are, as always, mine alone.