Monday, April 16, 2012

N - The Nod

*While reading Chloe Neil’s ‘Some Girls Bite’*

  ‘ Just as Morgan cocked back a fist, I stepped forward, pushed through the remaining veil of vampires, and stretched my sword just so the tip of it lay before the pulse that throbbed in his neck. I lifted a brow at him. “I’m going to have to ask you to step back.” The ballroom went silent. His dark eyes…”

“Hey, Honey?  I was thinking about wah wah wah wah wah wawawawawa….wa…What do you think?”

“Uh huh. Sure.” I nod blankly, eyes still glued to the page.

 ‘…“This isn’t your concern,” Morgan said. “You’re only going to get hurt.”
A corner of my mouth lifted. “Because I’m a girl?”
His lips tightened, and he leaned forward, pricked his neck against the sharpened tip of the blade. A single crimson drop slid down the…’

“Mom.”

‘… “ First Blood!” was called by someone in the crowd and the vampires around us backed up…’

“Mom.”

‘I grinned at Morgan beneath the fringe of my bangs and called up all the bravado I could muster. “You’re here. I’m here. We gonna dance?”…’

“Mom.”

‘His eyes widened in surprise…’

“Mom.”

‘…his lips parting.’

“Mom.”

‘I extended..’

“MOM!”

‘…the..’

“Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom….”

Gah! “Yes?”

My four-year-old's round face enters my field of vision. It's covered in chocolate and some other unidentified sticky substance that seems to have gotten in her hair, making it stand on end.  She stares blankly back at me a moment, forgetting what she wanted. But then raises one dubious eyebrow. "I'm hungry."

My eyes start straying back towards the page.

“Uh huh.”

‘…his gaze went hot, voice dropping down to a fierce whisper. “Yield, damn it. I won’t fight you. A fight isn’t the thing I want from you, Merit….”’

“So, Mom, can I wah wah wah wah wah wawawawawa?”

“Uh huh.” I nod. “Sure.”

Needless to say, the ‘reading-a-good-book-don’t-bother-me nod’ has resulted in the hubs purchasing an electronic drum kit, my promising ice cream and lollipops for lunch (which I belatedly retracted when my four-year-old started clamoring loudly through the cabinets in search of sugar) and my agreeing to a trip to the town-hall swimming pool with all three kiddies in toe this afternoon (my own personal version of hell). Lovely.

Have you ever agreed with something against your better judgment while in the throes of a good story?

23 comments:

shelly said...

TFF! Of course I have. Many all-nighters with teen age daughters that I pay for for like 5 days after.

Sarah Tokeley said...

Of course! On the plus side, it works the other way round on my teenage daughters too. I can get them to agree to anything when they're reading a good book :-)

Natalie Aguirre said...

So funny. When my daughter really gets into a book, sometimes when she's supposed to do something like take out the recycling, she's standing at the kitchen counter reading her book. I love it, but my husband gets irritated. Luckily my daughter's a teenager so I don't get too interrupted when I'm reading. When she was younger I only had time to read when she was in bed.

Unknown said...

LOL. This is something I think many of us fall victim too. I never realized how eagerly I was to please someone in my house just for their silence. Us readers/writers will promise anything for a few extra minutes of solitude, won't we?!

With love - Jen from Unedited

Emily White said...

Ahahaha! Oh yes, I've had similar experiences. You've got to love how your family takes advantage of those moments.

Laura Pauling said...

Very funny! yes, usually it's go and ahead and make your own lunch which results in a complete mess!

Dana said...

Too funny! I've done the same thing too many times to count!

S.A. Larsenッ said...

Are you kidding? Absolutely! With four kiddos, the dog, and the hubby, it's inevitable that I'll be interrupted while reading and/or writing. I've agreed to things I'd never normally agree to, just to finish a chapter. It didn't take long for my kids to catch on and learn to use that. lol

Love this post!

JE said...

Bwhahaha!!!! TOTALLY! Not only do I do this while reading, I also do this while writing. I need blinders. And ear plugs.

~JD

Connie Keller said...

I'm so glad that I'm not the only who has promised all kinds of weird/bizarre things when I was in the "Writer's Bubble."

My kids' favorite request is to turn the heat up. (According to the children who don't pay the heat bill, I keep the house freezer-cold during the winter.) So whenever I'm writing they ask to turn up the heat. Once when I started pouring sweat at the computer, I found the thermostat set to 90 degrees F. It was 20 degrees outside. During the ensuing investigation, I was told that I gave them permission to turn the heat to 90.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

My wife claims I've agreed to all sorts of things I don't remember!

Tamara Narayan said...

I don't remember, but there is a new aquarium in my foyer and my seven-year-old is very excited. Hmmm . . . I hope I said yes to fish and not a tarantula!

Old Kitty said...

Erm...N for no! LOL!!!!

No-one bothers me when I'm enraptured in a scrummy book! Unless you're a cat! LOL! Take care
x

Matthew MacNish said...

All the time. Even worse if I'm writing.

Anonymous said...

Manipulators, every lovin one of them. Been there, done that, loved the post.

Angela said...

Ha, ha, ha. I do this all the time! And let me tell you, it isn't pretty.

Jay Noel said...

That's great. Isn't it fun reading the same paragraph over and over and over again?

Cherie Reich said...

I definitely have. Or I get the "Aren't you listening to me?" and the "There's no reason to talk to you." I'm completely oblivious to others when I'm reading a book or watching Psych. LOL!

Dawn Ius said...

My distracted nods ALWAYS get me in trouble...and my husband is always the first to call me on it. Sigh.

Botanist said...

Yep...sure...whatever you say...now, where was I?

Kathi Oram Peterson said...

I remember days like that. Now my kids are grown and they still seem to manage to interrupt some of my best scenes. Just stopping by to say hi on the challenge.

Theresa Milstein said...

HA! Gotta watch the nod!

Slamdunk said...

Busted CQG!

I am a great multi-tasker so I don't think I have succumbed to the nod. Now, the Mrs. is all about focus, so I am sure the kids have talked her into a thing or two.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...