Sharing A Brilliant Book

Today I am excited to share with you the work of another Indie writer, Maureen Morrissey. This tale of growing up has an energy about it and brings with it a certain amount of nostalgia. It is very rare that I will share an indie author’s work, unless I feel that it is of a high standard and would intrigue my readers. This extract from a brilliant book is very worthy of checking out, commenting about and sharing with reader friends.

Maureen – showcased author

Snippet from Sonder: Janie’s Story

Janie, like many city kids, quickly became a member of the neighborhood pack once she began school. In all weather on Saturdays, the children in the area burst out of their apartments as early as eight o’clock in the morning and began their street games. Janie and Greg stayed in their pyjamas to watch Rin Tin Tin or Davy and Goliath cartoons or Bozo the Clown, until their father woke up around ten and threw them out of the house.

Waving at Ben, who was not allowed to join the games and was watching out the window, Janie followed Greg to the common backyard behind the apartments, where a dozen kids were in the middle of an intense game of Ring-a-Levio.  

“How do you play, Greg?” Janie asked a bit anxiously. The yelling and wrestling of the kids, mostly bigger than her, was intimidating.

Greg put a reassuring arm around her shoulders as they watched the game.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be on my side for your first game.  One team is hiding and the other team is looking for them.  When they find someone, they have to hold on to them and yell, ‘ringalevio one two three, one two three, one two three, ringalevio one two three.’ If they can say the whole thing without letting him get away, the one they captured goes to jail.  See, jail is the old sandbox there.  When they catch the whole team, they switch places.  But if one of the hiders can sneak in and tag the jailed ones, they can escape and hide again.  Got it?” 

She did, and the game went on for over an hour until they all got tired of it. Janie had caught on quickly.  Tackling one of the bigger boys, she wrapped her arms around his knee and her legs around his ankle, hanging on for dear life and screaming the entire Ringalevio call Greg had taught her while the boy, laughing so hard he almost wet his pants, tried to shake her off his leg and finally gave up, falling to the ground.  Both teams cheered as she triumphantly led her captured enemy to the jail.

After the game, the whole group trouped around the neighborhood for a while, and then ran down to the Grand Central Parkway side road. At the foot of the overpass into Flushing Meadow Park, they hung around a garbage-strewn area. They took turns climbing into a tree with an old piece of plywood, precariously perched in lower branches, that served as a treehouse; and played pirates. 

When the noon fire bell went off, they split up, yelling, “See you after lunch!” and ran back to their apartments. Gulping down peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese or rice and beans or Pop Tarts and milk, they were back out running the neighborhood in under an hour.

Janie loved being a big girl, and loved going to school every day. She leaped out of bed with the sun, ate her Apple Jacks or Cocoa Puffs cereal sprinkled with extra sugar, and was dressed in her light jacket, hopping up and down by the front door while Greg was still slurping the milk out of his bowl at the kitchen table.

“Come on, Greg! We’re gonna be late, hurry up!”

“We are not going to be late, Janie. Hold your horses, I’m coming.”

“Mom, can I walk by myself? Greg is taking too long!” she called.  

Their mother had the window screens leaned up in the bathtub, working to remove the brown crusty filth caked on them since she had cleaned them just a month ago.

“Not until first grade, dear.  You won’t be late, give Greg a few minutes.”

When he finally led her down the stairs, she zoomed around the corner and found Deidre waiting on her cement stoop.  They grabbed hands and skipped ahead of the boys, singing nursery rhymes as they went. When they got to the corner of the busy 108th Street, they did not pause to look for traffic as they began to cross.

“Janie! Deidre! Stop! Stop!”  Greg and Deirdre’s three brothers screamed as they raced towards the girls, who did not hear them through their singing.  

Just as they stepped into the street, the boys reached them and roughly pulled them back onto the sidewalk. At that second, a large sanitation truck was backing up at the intersection to pick up the overflowing trash cans, right where Janie and Deidre had been standing.

“And this is why you won’t be allowed to walk yourself until next year!” Greg yelled into Janie’s shocked face, while Deidre’s brothers gave her a few solid smacks on the arms and bottom. The tearful, shaken Kindergarteners held their brothers’ hands for the rest of the walk.

———————————————————————

Thank you so much for checking out Maureen’s work. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did and may wish to check out her Amazon Author Page. Also, kindly drop a supportive comment if you can. Authors welcome feedback and it is lovely to get enthusiastic responses.

If you want to discover more about the value of book reviews, check my article on Why You Should Write A Book Review.

Smorgasbord Funnies 2023 – love and one liners

I love funny one liners, so if you do too, check out the latest funnies from Sally and Debbie.

Firstly, some funnies from Debby Gies who is on winter vacation in Mexico but has left us some funnies to enjoy. D.G. Writes is where you will find …

Smorgasbord Funnies 2023 – Hosts Sally Cronin and Debby Gies – Kids talking about love and one liners

For a funny Netflix TV show, check out my review of the best comedy series Motherland.

Why Business Sim Games Are Fun To Play

Collaborative post about money-related online Sim games.

I have mentioned before how much I love playing online games. They can be very entertaining and useful, especially when filling time, waiting for meetings or travelling from one place to another. If these games can reflect the real world, then that is even better. You may even learn something while playing them.

Money-related games

Imagine being able to play Sim games that are based on real life. Games that simulate financial things such as making investments and making decisions about trading. For me, these kinds of games are more interesting and relevant than racing games or wrestling simulations. My best friend would disagree. For him, you can’t beat an hour of Wrestlemania.

This article is my way of saying that business simulations can be just as fun, but while also being educational.

A Few Examples

I have become fond of a game which relates to trading stocks and shares (something which I do regularly, but not always well). Stocks is a game where you have to click to buy and sell your stocks as they rise and fall in value. It is quite fast and you have to be a rapid clicker to stand any chance of making money (not real money obviously – this is a game after all).

A screenshot from the Stocks game.

Housing Market Game

Real Estate Tycoon is also a lot of fun. I have been trying to get my head around this one which involves buying and selling houses as they increase and decrease in value. As each property is built, a green speech bubble appears showing the value go up or down. You have to make quick decisions about when to sell and the resulting profit or loss shows up in the top score bar.

A screenshot from Real Estate Tycoon

Entertaining but cost-free

There are so many games to choose from which are related to money and finance. If you enjoy activities which make you really think and make quick decisions, then these particular games will easily satisfy your needs. For me, they scratch an itch. The best thing about them is that they are free and you don’t lose any real money if you make the wrong decisions.

A lot of computer games do cost money these days. Even if they are free to begin with, you soon end up buying credits to progress further through modern online games. That is why I happily recommend free business Sim games, as they are easily accessible and you won’t be persuaded to pay for credits later on.

Final Thoughts

The idea of playing online games to pass time may be commonplace these days. However, having the chance to practise life skills while playing Sim games may be new to you. I learned about these types of games through blogging and previously wrote about them but this time I have focused on ones which I find most fun and relevant (especially for me, as a person obsessed with stocks and shares).

Thank you for reading my article about online games. Which do you prefer to play? If you are also looking for TV suggestions, check out Two TV Shows Worth Watching. Please drop a comment and consider following my blog for future similar content.