Shameless Plug:  Don’t forget to check my interview out at Kristen’s Custom Creations! And just for the record, I adore Madeline L’Engle, Bruce Coville and Roald Dahl.  Typo on my part!

To read the previous Twirl, go here.

For my new Invisible Friends, Twirl is the story of a star-crossed ballerina named Vivi and her handsome cowboy named Wade, who have stumbled into a international ballet scandal and a old Texas legend that might possibly lead to riches! To catch up in the archives, go to the Never Ending Stories Tab at the top of this site.

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“Where?”  Wade’s head whipped around, his voice raising with excitement.  “Where’s the clue at?”

“Shhh,” Vivi hissed, glancing at the couples around them suspiciously.  “It’s in the bookcase.  Dance me over there and I’ll show you.”

“Why don’t we just walk?” Wade asked, his eyes fixed on the bookcase behind them.  At Vivi’s expression, he sighed.  “Ok.  We’ll dance.”

Vivi nearly exploded with impatience by the time they had circled the dance floor another time, waltzing around the old cowboys and their wives who swayed slowly side to side, their boots tapping a soft rhythm on the floor.  As they dodged a biker couple making out in the corner, Wade twirled her around and around until she had pirouetted to the bookcase.  After a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, Vivi pressed her nose to the glass.

“Right there,” she murmured, pointing to the book in the middle of the third shelf.  “See that?”

“Vivi, it’s a Bible.”  Wade’s voice was heavy with disappointment. “I don’t think it’s what we’re looking for.”

Vivi shook her head, her strawberry blond curls bouncing around her face.  “That’s no Bible.  Trust me.  You think they’d open the case for us?”

Wade looked around, his face creased with worry.  “Isn’t that a little suspicious?”

“Right now, I’m more concerned with reading what’s in this book then raising suspicion,” Vivi admitted.  “My theory is that Addy hid her letters in this diary for Bullet Bill to find.  I mean think about it–who would look in a Bible?  She probably took it from the church next door and put it in his “office” here.”

Wade nodded, excitement turning his cheeks pink.  “That’s really good, Vivi.  Real good. How do you think of this stuff?”

Vivi smiled, bowing her head modestly.  “I have no idea,” she murmured.   “It just comes to me.”

“Can I help ya’ll?”  The couple whirled around to see a tall older man with a black Stetson and electric blue Western shirt glaring at them.  A pearl handled pistol hung from his belt.  Vivi hoped it was a prop.

“Yes sir,” Wade replied.  He introduced himself and Vivi and added, “We’re doing a history project on the legend of Bullet Bill.  We were just at the Satin Belle Tea Room, and they said Bullet Bill often worked out of this dance hall.”

The man’s face smoothed into a grin.  “That’s right.  This case is a collection of everything we found when we added air conditioning and indoor plumbing.  Most people don’t even notice it.  But the walls were literally full of history.  My wife is a history buff like you two.  She went nuts over everything we found.  She’s the one who made this case and who had everything documented and such.  I’m afraid she could help you more than I could if you’re curious.  I’m Jason, by the way, the owner of this dance hall.”

“Jason, would it be possible for us to take a look at the book on the third shelf?” Vivi ventured, giving him a blinding smile.

Jason’s face creased.  “I don’t think Melanie would like that.  She put some kinda preservative on that stuff.  She’s very particular about her artifacts, or whatever she calls them.”  Wade leaned over and whispered in his ear.  Vivi watched as his worried expression melted into a smile.

“That’d be fine, Miss Vivi,” he replied, pulling a key ring from his belt.  “Tell you what.  I’ve got to check on the cooks in the back and make my rounds at the restaurant in the front.  That’ll give you about twenty minutes.  How’s that?”

“That’s perfect,” Vivi beamed.  After unlocking the case with a quick twist of his wrist, Jason handed the book to Vivi.

“Oh gosh!”  Vivi cried, smiling so wide she thought her face would crack.  “This is amazing!  Thank you. Thank you so much!”  She gave him a quick hug and Wade tried not to chuckle as Jason’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.  With flushed cheeks, Jason scuttled away, hurrying through a dark door by the bar that Vivi assumed lead to the kitchen.

Glaring up at Wade, Vivi poked him in the chest.  “What did you say to him?”

“I said you wanted to hold it and feel the history, draw energy out of its cover for your project,” Wade replied with a grin.  “It worked, didn’t it?”

Standing up on her tip toes, Vivi pressed her lips to Wade’s.  “I don’t know how you do it,” she murmured, rubbing his stubbly chin with her thumb.  Wade started to lean towards her, then forced himself to pull back.  “We better look at that book,” he said, kissing her hand instead.  “Before Jason comes back.”

Leaning against the wall under a blue neon sign, Vivi carefully thumbed through the yellowed pages.  For dozens of pages, she flipped through the books of the Bible and browsed through psalms and hymns.  Sighing, she handed the book to Wade.  “I was wrong.  It’s a Bible after all.”

Flipping through the book, Wade’s fingers brushed the pages apart.  “Did you look at these in the back?” he asked, flipping to a section of pages stuck together.

Vivi shook her head.  “I didn’t want to break the book or rip it apart.”

Wade’s forehead crinkled and he bent over the book.  “No one would glue the back of a Bible together unless they were hiding something.”  Pulling a knife out of his pocket, he carefully separated the pages.  Vivi watched with her heart in her throat as the knife slid through the glue, yanking the ancient paper apart with a pop.  Leaning over Wade’s shoulder, Vivi gasped.  The pages had been hollowed out in the center and a small notebook the size of Vivi’s hand rest in the center.  Wade carefully extracted the cloth bound notebook and handed it to Vivi.  The spine had been stitched with a thick string, and the yelled pages smelled like mothballs.

“It looks like it was homemade,” Wade said, closing the Bible carefully.  “I know that book binding was a popular craft for women in those days, to create their own stories or write in journals.  Paper was hard to find, so people made their own out in the country.”

Vivi’s eyes widened as she skimmed over the tight blue writing.  “Wade, this was Addy’s journal!”  She looked up, her green eyes dancing with excitement.  “And according to her, she was pregnant with Bullet Bill’s baby!”

To be continued….

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  Tomorrow we have a new feature here at the Pond!  Then we have a week full of whimsical fun coming up–new stories, new recipes and the debut of the Puppy Ball!  Stay tuned!