cthia wrote:Cauldron of Ghosts
When President Pritchard had notified him of her decision to transfer Cachat, Wilhelm’s reaction had been: You mean I can go back to running a spy outfit, instead of being a lion tamer?
Cachat descriptions aren't bad either.
jthoma8318 wrote:
Been enjoying your posts on the forum, always nice to see new come fans with such enthusiasm. But I'm curious to your tag line below. Exactly what did you do that your mother sent your father to hang you? Plow up her favorite flower bed? LOL
Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. -Cthia's father
Thank you for enjoying my...enthusiasm. So many people have expressed interest in that tag-line. I have sent several emails answering your exact question, so I keep the response handy. I can understand the interest, hanging is so...permanent.
The first time my father told me that, if I remember correctly was when my older sister, by a few years, had a sleep over and at least a dozen eleven or twelve year old girls were playing in the courtyard. I lit a 'bunch' of firecrackers and threw it in their midst. They scattered like mice, except one girl who was so afraid she froze, immobile, and wet her pants. She insisted that she be taken home. That was the first time I got the speech. My mom was angry, livid, because she and my sister had planned the sleepover for weeks, and that sister was particularly sweeter than honey. And I was so hurt that I had hurt my sister that the punishment...well, I got off way too easily. Sis had forgiven me long before I ever forgave myself. She never even screamed at me. She saw the regret in my eyes. It was one of those things that you regret as soon as it leaves your hand...but much too late. She actually felt sorry for me. I really regretted it. That poor girl cried hysterically.
So, I didn't think it was a capital offense either, but believe me, the punishment I surely deserved!
Edit:
The punishment I did receive has garnered its own interest. So, here it follows...
I didn't mention in the email the punishment. The punishment was a month worth of weekends holed-up in my room without any of my toys, starting with the remains of that weekend. I didn't even have any books to read. My father's decree was that I not be given anything. He didn't want to be hanged, and I needed to be punished. I talked my sister into smuggling in to me a book. The only book she gave me was A Little Princess. "What, is this the best you can do?" "Take it or leave it. It is all you are getting!" I took it. Reluctantly. And it sat there until later that night. When I finally opened its pages, I couldn't put it down! I fell in love with little Sara Crewe, and cried like a baby within those pages. It was the first evidence that books could affect me that way. I began to search those type books out, and I quickly realized, because of that book, that I was to be forever partial to any work that featured strong female characters. Even to this day. It is why I bought OBS, because of the compelling pic of Honor holding Nimitz.