Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Holiday Short Story--The Good Neighbors--Excerpt and Giveaway!

Delightful holiday short story

Jim and Gloria Hart, snowbirds from Michigan, always help out the neighbors in their Florida retirement community when asked. Who knew being good could turn out to be so bad?
This delightful holiday short story will tickle your funny bone and question the idea of being good during the warmth and good cheer of the holiday season.

Review from Amazon
4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful short storyDecember 7, 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Good Neighbors (Kindle Edition)
I wouldn't have believed that a retirement community in Florida would be a fascinating setting, with intriguing and fun characters. But J.Q. Rose's short story delivers exactly that--I also believe it is an excellent taste of her mystery novel, Sunshine Boulevard, with the same setting and characters, and if so, I'm certainly off to read Sunshine Boulevard! More, please.

Excerpt:
A booming megaphone voice jarred the unsuspecting couple. “This is the police. Come out of the shed, Mr. and Mrs. Hart. Come out now with your hands up.”
Jim dropped his screwdriver and jumped away from the door. Gloria ran over to cling to him. What in the world is happening?
“Jim?” Tears welled up in Gloria’s eyes. Her heart felt as if it were going to pound out of her chest.
The front door of the shed ripped open and two policemen stood aiming their weapons at the frightened couple. At the same time two armed policemen wielding their guns burst through the already broken back door.
“Put your hands up and walk this way,” one policeman demanded. Gloria and Jim’s arms shot up in the air, and they started moving quickly toward the carport and out into the driveway.
“Officer, what is it? What’s happening?”
“Please don’t talk now, Mrs. Hart.”
Escorted by the policemen, Gloria shuffled out onto the driveway holding her hands high above her head. She saw a line of police cars up and down her street. I don’t see our first responders or firemen among them, so I guess there is no emergency. Against the backdrop of outdoor Christmas decorations, curious neighbors stood in driveways and yards up and down the block.
“Just co-operate fully with us. Okay, lay face down on the grass.” He motioned to the side yard.
“But, Officer, ….”
“Face down now, Mrs. Hart.” Gloria saw one of the policemen train his rifle on her, so she dropped to the grass immediately next to the candy canes lining the driveway and spread-eagled on the lawn.
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What is your favorite Christmas story or movie? Leave a comment to win a free PDF copy of The Good Neighbors. 
If you can't wait until Friday to find out if you won, you can buy The Good Neighbors short story for 99 cents at amazon All royalties from the sale of the story will support local food pantries. 


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, J.Q. I hope you will stop by to accept an award that I've nominated you for.

http://susannedrazic.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-award-nominees-are.html


Sherry Ellis said...

I think that's nice that the royalties will support a local food pantry! That's a terrific Christmas present for them!

J.Q. Rose said...

Susanne...an award? I'll be there! Thank you, I think. Maybe I should peek to see what I won, hee hee.

J.Q. Rose said...

Thanks Sherry. I donate food to the food pantry all year round. I don't think folks realize food pantries are looking for donations in the summer because the children are not getting a lunch at school. Thank you for stopping by.

J.Q. Rose said...

Congratulations, Sherry. You won the PDF copy of the short story. Please contact me at jqrose02 at gmail dot com so I can send you the story. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

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