[stylist] the stories behind the question

[Atty Rose]

She is going to be surprised when she gets more bottles, or coupons from the 
company. LOL

I am sorry to hear about your mother-in-law, Chris, that's rough and you are 
so kind. I think you did the right thing though.

love forever,
Atty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Kuell via stylist" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2014 7:48 AM
Subject: [stylist] the stories behind the question


> Howdy, folks. Thanks to you who read and responded to my philosophical
> question yesterday. I expected more responses saying either it was right, 
> or
> wrong, so I'm glad I asked.
>
>
>
> Much of my fiction, as I expect is true for a lot of writers, comes from 
> the
> seeds of everyday life. So back in May of 2010, my mother-in-law was
> diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 4 to 6 months to live. The news
> devastated us all, and this wonderfully alive woman slumped into a deep
> despondency. I bought her things, tried to make her laugh, but her spark 
> was
> gone. So, I had an idea. She loved Tom jones (the singer) and I thought a
> personal note from him would put the sunshine back into her. Searching
> online, I sent letters to his representatives in LA, Las Vegas, New York 
> and
> England. I was able to find an address for his son, who is his manager, so 
> I
> wrote to him as well. A month went by, then two, and there was no news 
> from
> old Tom. And that's when I had the idea of writing the letter myself,
> pretending to be Tom. I have a friend who lives near Las Vegas, and I knew
> he'd mail it for me. But, in the end, I didn't do it. I just knew I'd be 
> the
> schmuck of the family if the truth ever came out. I imagined how happy the
> family would be, and afterwards they'd frame the letter and comment on it 
> to
> friends, and all the while I'd feel like a total dog turd. My 
> mother-in-law
> passed away on October 9, 2010, never hearing from Tom Jones.
>
>
>
> Fast forward to this summer. In July, my niece from Ohio, who is autistic,
> came to stay with us for 10 days. We had a great visit. One day I made
> buffalo chicken wraps, and I found out how much she loved Sweet Baby Ray's
> Buffalo Chicken sauce. Over the next week, she polished off over a bottle
> and a half of the stuff. My wife, noticing how much she loved it, 
> encouraged
> her to write a letter to the company, which she did. She went home, two
> weeks went by, and I was thinking about her, so I went on amazon and 
> bought
> her a package of 4 bottles. Maybe a week later I get a phone call from my
> niece.
>
>
>
> "Hey Uncle Chris," she said with great excitement. "Guess what? Sweet Baby
> Ray's sent me four bottles of buffalo chicken sauce! Isn't that the 
> coolest
> thing?"
>
>
>
> It was only then that the lightbulb went off in my head. In truth, I had
> completely forgotten about the letter she wrote. So I was left in a
> quandary. Should I tell her I bought the sauce, and rain on her day? Or
> should I just let it slide, an untruth by omission, so to speak, and let 
> her
> think something totally cool happened to her. I only had a second, so I
> picked.
>
> "Hey, that's great," I told her. "They must be a really great company."
>
>
>
> This incident made me think back to the Tom Jones near incident, and that
> got me thinking about how I might turn this into a story. I'm leaving on
> vacation in about an hour, so perhaps I'll work on it then.
>
>
>
> Peace,
>
>
>
> Chris
>
>
>
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