[stylist] the stories behind the question

[Barbara HAMMEL]

But if it came from them, it was the truth ... They just needed a prompt of you buying it. LOL!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 7, 2014, at 7:49 AM, "Chris Kuell via stylist" <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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