Bonus Material from the Nebraska Series Read online

  Owen: So you’re planning on kidnapping all of the heroes so you can accomplish your goal? You’re beginning a life of crime as a serial kidnapper?

  Joel: What is wrong with you? A serial kidnapper? I’ve never heard of anything more ridiculous. Has your job gone to your head?

  Owen: I just need to cover all my bases.

  Joel: Yeah. *rolls eyes* Sure.

  Owen: But the fact remains, you’re glad he’s gone. In Joseph Connealy’s article, you said you were glad he’s gone and called him the biggest whiner around.

  Joel: That doesn’t prove I’m the kidnapper, though it might prove I’d thank the kidnapper when I find out who did it.

  Owen: Maybe. Maybe not. But don’t leave town, Joel. I’m keeping my eye on you.

  Joel: I’m soooo scared. *shakes head and leaves*

  ***

  Owen Interviews Suspect #3: Mary Larson

  (Posted on April 24, 2012)

  Owen: Where you were on March 9?

  Mary: I was looking for my husband.

  Owen: When was the last time you saw him?

  Mary: That morning at breakfast. He went to the fields to plant corn, and I haven’t seen him since.

  Owen: Did you have a fight?

  Mary: No. It was a morning like all the others. I fed him before I woke up the kids.

  Owen: So when did you discover he was missing?

  Mary: Isaac went out to help him in the barn and said he couldn’t find him. We went out to see where he was, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

  Owen: Could he have been in the fields?

  Mary: No. His horse was still in the stall.

  Owen: Maybe he took another horse.

  Mary: Everything was where it belonged.

  Owen: Are you saying he never made it to the barn?

  Mary: I don’t know if he did or not. The last time I saw him, he left the house. I went upstairs to wake up the children.

  Owen: Did he say anything that might explain why someone might kidnap him?

  Mary: Well, he was going on and on about the Characters for Better Treatment Union. He was drawing up banners and making flyers. He was worried someone might try to stop him from going through with it.

  Owen: He was getting some support, especially from Kayla and the characters from Stephannie Beman’s books.

  Mary: *frowns* Yes, I remember her.

  Owen: You don’t sound happy.

  Mary: Why should I be? She was flirting with him, and she sent him a risqué picture of herself. I didn’t think that was appropriate for a woman to do to a man who’s already married.

  Owen: Well, to put things in perspective, Kayla is a tree nymph. She flirts with every man she comes across, and she’s been known to send out suggestive pictures to them.

  Mary: How do you know this?

  Owen: I did background checks on everyone.

  Mary: Including me?

  Owen: I had to. It’s nothing personal.

  Mary: If you say so…

  Owen: Do you think Kayla kidnapped him?

  Mary: Is she one of the suspects?

  Owen: Actually, she is. I plan to interview her next.

  Mary: Oh. When you talk to her, tell her to stop sending letters to my husband. I’m tired of getting them.

  Owen: Is it possible you kidnapped Dave to keep Kayla away from him?

  Mary: *laughs* No. That’s totally absurd.

  Owen: The day before he disappeared, you came to this blog and said, “Ruth, I’m keeping an eye on the situation. I hope this thing with Kyala doesn’t become a big deal.” That comment was made the same day Kayla sent Dave a second fan letter.

  May: You spelled her name wrong. It’s Kyala. Didn’t you notice that when you typed in my statement?

  Owen: Fine. I misspelled her name. The correction is duly noted.

  Mary: I wonder why no one else realized you misspelled it.

  Owen: It doesn’t matter.

  Mary: Sure, it does. She’s one of the suspects. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get her name wrong.

  Owen: Do you think she kidnapped Dave?

  Mary: *scowls* I hope not. I’d hate to think of what she might be doing to him.

  Owen: It’s not like you to scowl like that.

  Mary: Well, I don’t like her.

  Owen: No one expects you to. Before I let you go, was there anything besides the union that was bothering Dave?

  Mary: He didn’t like Ruth Ann Nordin’s plans to make him impotent in Forever Yours. He was planning to write a letter to Ruth’s readers demanding she throw out that subplot. He was planning to hack into her email and find their emails. Then he was going to hack into her WordPress account so he could make a blog post pleading for them to send a ton of emails to her inbox so she’d have to listen to him.

  Owen: Wow. That’s pretty elaborate.

  Mary: It really bothers him that he might not be seen as…virile. I don’t know what he’s worried about. We end up having seven children.

  Owen: It’s a man thing. I was almost pegged with the impotency thing, and it sucked. Fortunately, in my case, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. But anyway, who is taking care of the crops while Dave’s missing?

  Mary: Richard is.

  Owen: Who is Richard again?

  Mary: Dave’s oldest brother.

  Owen: I thought that was Tom.

  Mary: So do a lot of people. Richard pops up once in a while, but no one remembers him very well.

  Owen: While everyone remembers Dave.

  Mary: I think everyone remembers all the other Larsons. It’s just because Richard hasn’t had his book yet, but that will be resolved when Ruth writes it.

  Owen: Maybe reading it will help me remember where else he’s shown up in the Nebraska books.

  Mary: He showed up at the jail on the day Irving Spencer showed up and you were found out in The Wrong Husband.

  Owen: No way.

  Mary: Yes, it’s true.

  Owen: Let’s see, there was Tom, Joel, Dave, and… Oh, yeah. There was that fourth guy. He was pretty loud and obnoxious.

  Mary: If he was so loud and obnoxious, then why don’t you remember him?

  Owen: *shrugs* I don’t know. Maybe it’s a survival mechanism.

  Mary: A survival mechanism?

  Owen: It’s hard to explain.

  Mary: *shrugs* Alright.

  Owen: I think I have all I need from you. Go on back to your farm and make sure the kids are comforted while their father is away.

  Mary: *nods and leaves*

  ***

  “Outraged Author Storms Character’s Property” (News Article by Joseph Connealy)

  Posted on April 26, 2012

  Outraged Author Storms Character’s Property

  by Joseph Connealy (April 26, 1885)

  Ruth Ann Nordin as you’ve never seen her before.

  In a bizarre turn of events, Ruth Ann Nordin has used futuristic technology no one understands to go into her laptop’s hard drive to go to the Nebraska Series. Upon last report, she was hiding in the back of Neil Craftsman’s wagon while he headed home from the mercantile.

  “I didn’t even know she was there,” Neil said. “It’s a shame, too. I would have gotten her autograph if I’d known. Anyone who can get under Dave’s skin enough to drive him crazy is my hero.”

  Fortunately, I was able to track down an eyewitness who saw her hitch a ride to the country. “At first, I didn’t know it was her. She looks nothing like her Facebook picture. But all that aside, she was definitely upset. I couldn’t make out everything she said as she got under the blankets in the wagon, but I definitely heard her say she was going to get to the bottom of this whole Dave Larson thing,” Sally Larson said.

  Owen Russell and I took a trip out to Dave’s farm to investigate further. Upon our arrival, Ruth was going through the whole house where cushions were tossed aside and dresser drawers were pulled open.

  An overwhelmed Mary and her three childr
en were in the parlor in apparent shock. “I don’t know why she’s here,” Mary said. “She’s never come into her stories before. She’s usually dragging us to her time to talk to her.”

  We didn’t find Ruth in the house. We, did, however find her in the barn, digging up hay from the loft. When I asked her what she was looking for, she said, “I’m looking for those plans Dave made. I read the interview Owen did with Mary. I refuse to let this rebellion continue. Dave will not send that email to everyone and demand I change Forever Yours to suit his agenda. I’m tired of all his whining and complaining. He is not the author. I am! I have every right to write the book as I see fit.”

  After sending in for reinforcements to get her down from the loft, Ruth finally gave up going through the barn in her search for papers no one is sure even exists.

  “She might feel guilty for kidnapping Dave,” Tom Larson said.

  “I hope she did kidnap him,” Joel Larson said. “If so, then maybe she’ll put him in his place and he’ll stop being so bossy. I’m tired of going to his ’emergency’ meetings. Just because he’s not getting everything he wants, it’s not an emergency. The rest of us have more important things to worry about.”

  “Right. Like cuddling with our wives,” Tom added.

  “Or saving people’s lives,” Joel finished.

  “I wasn’t even called into the last emergency where Dave was calling for another boycott on Ruth’s books,” Richard Larson said. “I had to show up unexpected, and had it not been for Tom asking about me, no one would have even known I was there. It sounds like all the other Larson brothers have been included in everything, and that’s not fair.”

  “Sorry, Richard,” Joel said. “We assumed you and Amanda wanted to move back to New York, so we didn’t think you were interested in what happened in Nebraska.”

  “Of course, I’m interested in what happens here, and no, Amanda and I aren’t moving to New York. We’ll never move to New York after what she went through,” Richard replied.

  Not able to find the things she was looking for, Ruth ended up leaving but not before she vowed, “I’m sick and tired of Dave Larson’s irrational demands. I don’t care how much he protests. He won’t get his way. And he’s not really missing. He’s hiding somewhere to get some attention. This is all a ploy! Why can’t anyone else see it? He kidnapped himself!”

  “It’s so sad when people break down like this,” Owen said after strapping Ruth to a wagon to take her back to town so she could go back to whatever portal she went through to get to 1885 Omaha.

  We can only hope that Ruth gets the help she needs because without her, more of our books won’t be written.

  Photo credit:

  Ruth gone crazy: ID 13185186 © Alexander Mychko | Dreamstime.com

  ***

  Owen Interviews Suspect #4: Kyala

  (Posted on April 27, 2012)

  *Thanks to Stephannie Beman for acting the part of Kyala in this interview!*

  Owen: Where were you on March 9?

  Kyala: Um…Probably at home. Though I might have been at the river with the other nymphs…Or possibly at Persephone’s…There is also the possibility that I was at Olympus. It’s such a social place, and there are so many characters mad at Stephannie right now so they are willing to join Dave’s Union. Why?

  Owen: Because you’re suspected of kidnapping Dave Larson. Didn’t you get my letter that said I had to interview you?

  Kyala: I got as far as you wanting to meet me, and I sorta skimmed the rest. It really wasn’t that interesting of a letter. Why would a kid napping have anything to do with Dave?

  Owen: Not “kid napping”. I said “kidnapping”. As in, you took Dave off to some remote tree in the middle of nowhere where you can use him as your sex slave. You didn’t want to join his Union. You wanted to run off with him.

  Kyala: Using him as my sex slave? Sounds fun. But I would have to say you have a far baser thinking when it comes to sex games than Dave would have. Do you have a wife by chance? *giggles and bats her eyelashes seductively*

  Owen: I…Uh… That is to say… *clears throat* Don’t you bat your eyelashes at me, honey. Dave has been missing now for a month and a half. No one has seen him. He has a wife and children who depend on him. This is no laughing matter. Why are you chuckling? I can’t stress how serious this is.

  Kyala: Serious to you, love. *winks* It’s not my responsibility to look after him. That’s what he has Mary for. If you ask me, he’s probably off to some drinking hall and is drowning out his woes for marrying a closet harridan and having seven children. I mean, what is wrong with you humans that you have to procreate like bunnies on a mission? Have one kid, raise it, and move on to the next kid.

  Owen: When you’re mortal, you don’t have the luxury of waiting until one kid is grown up before having another. Dave wouldn’t drink away his sorrows, because he has none. He’s very happy with Mary. She’s been the light of his life. He is upset with Ruth for wanting to make him impotent in his next book, but since he only had three children at the beginning of that book and ended up with seven by the time Isaac’s Decision ended, then he obviously overcame that problem. So really, having more kids proved he was virile after all.

  Kyala: Too bad for you mortals. It’s so much easier on everyone when there’s not a gaggle of children underfoot. But what does Dave having children have to do with his disappearance? Really, Owen, stay on track. *lets her dress strap fall off her shoulder, gives him a suggestive smile, and pulls the strap back up*

  Owen: *averts eyes* I was just explaining that Dave did have some annoyances, but none of them had to do with Mary. I am wondering why this Union is so important to you. You have nothing to gain from joining it. Ruth isn’t your author.

  Kyala: Whatever you think. I still say the poor man is miserable. But that’s not why you asked me here. Stephannie’s telling me to just answer your “damn” questions, whatever “damn” means. *sighs, sits down, and crosses her legs* So here are your answers. I wanted to join Dave’s Characters for the Better Treatment Union because I think characters should have equal rights. It’s not fair that authors get to play with our lives like gods and make us miserable just so they can sell the story. I want to be able to dictate my story, not sit there like a puppet having my strings pulled at my author’s whim. Dave had good points. Also, it didn’t hurt that he was good looking.

  Owen: So maybe you kidnapped Dave to find out where he’s hiding his plans to form the Union? Maybe you’re going to form your own against Stephannie?

  Kyala: I’m a nymph, Owen. I party. I have lots of sex. I join groups. I don’t plan anything past a few hours. It’s way too far in the future. Besides, it is so much easier to join his group than to make my own.

  Owen: So you admit you’re forgetful?

  Kyala: I wouldn’t say forgetful. Memory selective would be a better term. *giggles and leans forward, showing her cleavage*