Bonus Material from the Nebraska Series Read online

  Joel: Then the picture of the rolling pin, tacky sunglasses, appalling apron, and modern kitchen stands. I’m putting it back up.

  Rick: Don’t you dare. No one wants to go blind looking at it a second time. Joel, I think it’s safe to say that Mary used her womanly wiles to convince Dave to fake his own kidnapping. Hence why her face is as bright as a tomato.

  Joel: Even so, I think it should be noted that Dave wasn’t smart enough to come up with the scheme himself. Mary is still part of the blame for causing Ruth much anguish while she searched all over Dave and Mary’s property to clear her good name. No more questions, your honor. *looks at Dave and mutters* It’s so sad when the wife has to do her husband’s thinking for him.

  Photo credits:

  Mary as Joel presents her to the court: ID 15813772 © Andrey Armyagov | Dreamstime.com

  ***

  Dave Larson is at the Witness Stand

  (Posted on June 28, 2012)

  Rick: Tom, who’s your next witness?

  Tom: Dave Larson.

  Dave: *goes to the witness stand and sits down*

  Tom: Dave, tell us your side of the story.

  Dave: There’s not much to tell except everyone has a warped view of what really happened.

  Tom: How so?

  Dave: This whole thing started because I was a concerned parent. I love my children, and I want what’s best for them.

  Tom: What does this have to do with Ruth?

  Dave: I’m getting to that. You see, while she was writing Isaac’s Decision, it broke my heart. I mean, how would you feel if one of your daughters was going to marry someone you thought wasn’t good for her? What parent is going to sit idly by and let their child make a huge mistake? I intervened and tried to offer Ruth alternative endings to her book. I don’t know why that is such a crime.

  Tom: It’s not a crime to do that.

  Dave: Exactly. But Ruth made fun of me by mocking my attempts at writing and saying I gave myself 5-star reviews while she gave me 1-star reviews. Then I had to be the perfect character in To Have and To Hold. But Ruth made a spectacle of me. I was the laughing stock of this blog.

  Tom: How so?

  Dave: I merely wanted to caution her readers that she might be a bad author because she doesn’t listen to her characters. If she’s not listening to me, then there are going to be others she won’t listen to in the future. I thought if her readers banned her books until she changed her ways, then she’d listen to all of us and give us an equal say. We are her characters, after all. Don’t we deserve to have a say in what happens in our books?

  Tom: But the ban didn’t work.

  Dave: No, it didn’t. She made it sound like I was a joke. Everyone was laughing at me.

  Tom: It hurt, didn’t it?

  Dave: *shrugs* Well, I was more annoyed than hurt. I didn’t cry or anything.

  Tom: So when banning the books didn’t work, you created the Characters for Better Treatment Union?

  Dave: Yes. I thought if I couldn’t convince her readers to demand better treatment for her characters, then I could get other characters to join me.

  Tom: And that didn’t work.

  Dave: No, it didn’t. Except for that immodestly dressed woman from the environmental group and her weird friends, no one was interested. None of those characters would have helped. I needed Ruth’s characters to stand with me and demand our rights.

  Tom: But it didn’t work.

  Dave: *looks pointedly at him* No, it didn’t, and you were one of the characters who supported Ruth during that time. You didn’t bother joining the union.

  Tom: Objection, your honor.

  Rick: How can you object? This is your client.

  Tom: My involvement in the union has nothing to do with this case.

  Rick: Don’t you mean ‘your lack of involvement’?

  Tom: *thinks for a moment* Yeah, I guess so. Lack means I didn’t participate, right?

  Rick: Objection sustained. Move on with the questioning.

  Tom: *turns to Dave* So in desperation, you faked your kidnapping?

  Dave: It was all I could think of. I could have kept doing the same things I did before, but there’s a saying that goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” I had to do something different. Faking my kidnapping was all I could think of to help people understand the seriousness of the situation.

  Tom: Thank you, Dave. I have nothing else to ask.

  Joel: *stands up and approaches Dave* Do you think this trial is pointless?

  Dave: Yes. It’s a waste of time.

  Joel: Some might argue that you faking your own kidnapping is a waste of time.

  Dave: Desperate men do desperate things.

  Joel: So, you’re feeling desperate?

  Dave: That picture isn’t me.

  Joel: It’s not you, but it represents your thinking process during the whole time you’ve been giving Ruth grief.

  Dave: There’s nothing wrong with my thinking process, Joel. Some day, Ruth might take your children and write a story about them. What if she makes one of your children a bandit or a cold-blooded killer?

  Joel: You can’t compare Isaac marrying Emily to criminal behavior.

  Dave: I’m using an example to show you the depth of my pain. Not that I cried or anything.

  Joel: *rolls eyes* Sure, Dave.

  Dave: I didn’t.

  Joel: Whatever. *holds his hand up before Dave can speak* Under oath, can you honestly say that Isaac is miserable right now?

  Dave: That’s not the point.

  Joel: It is the point. The truth is that even if you didn’t cry *coughs* yeah right *coughs*, Ruth gave Isaac a happy ending because Emily turned out to be good for him.

  Dave: It isn’t the point at all. The point is that Ruth didn’t even listen to my concerns. She made all these posts where people laughed at me.

  Joel: Do we need our teddy bear, Dave?

  Dave: What? Teddy bears weren’t even around in the 1800s.

  Joel: It’s an expression, Dave. It means that even if you’re a grown man with a family of your own, you still need to be protected from a few laughs. You’re sensitive. Your emotions get hurt easily.

  Dave: That’s not true!

  Joel: Oh, isn’t it? The reason why you faked your own kidnapping — after Mary the mastermind thought up the clever scheme — was so you could run off and pout with your teddy bear.

  Dave: No, it wasn’t. I did it to make a point!

  Joel: Yes, you did! And now we all know when things don’t go your way, you act like a kid having a temper tantrum.

  Dave: *motions to Tom* Aren’t you going to object?

  Tom: To what?

  Dave: Really? You have to ask?

  Tom: Well, you have been throwing temper tantrums on this blog and acting like it’s all about you.

  Dave: *huffs and turns to Rick* Your honor, I want to represent myself for the rest of the case.

  Joel: There’s no need, Dave. I believe I just proved my point. When things don’t go exactly as you want them, you get demanding like a little kid. No more questions, your honor.

  Photo credits:

  Dave as Joel presents him: ID 18474950 © Zigf | Dreamstime.com

  ***

  Richard Larson is at the Witness Stand

  (Posted on June 30, 2012)

  Rick: Do you have a witness to call up here, Tom?

  Tom: Yes. I have one, and then we’re done with the trial.

  Rick: Thank God. I was beginning to think this trial would never end. So who are you calling up?

  Tom: Richard Larson.

  Richard: *comes up to the witness stand and sits down*

  Tom: Do you think Dave and Mary had a good reason to fake his kidnapping?

  Richard: No.

  Tom: Objection, your honor!

  Joel: Objection to his objection!

  Rick: Oh for goodness’ sakes. What’s going on here, Tom?

  Tom: R
ichard is supposed to be on Dave and Mary’s side. That’s why he’s up here. He can’t say “No”.

  Richard: Well, it’s the truth. The whole thing is stupid, but I think Dave has a point in why we should listen to him.

  Joel: *mutters* This ought to be good.

  Rick: Settle down, Joel. Go ahead, Richard. Where are you going with this?

  Richard: Well, if we all remember right, it’s Dave and Mary who started the whole Nebraska series.

  Tom: Right. So what about it?

  Richard: Originally, Eye of the Beholder was supposed to be a romance between Neil Craftsman and Mary Peters. Then in chapter two, Ruth thought the story would be better if Neil turned out to be a slimy character. That’s where Dave came in. Had there not been the friction between Dave and Neil, a lot of what makes the story as good as it is would’ve been lost. The only reason Ruth did everything she did in that story was because she was listening to her characters. So when Dave is asking for Ruth to listen to her characters, it’s because the stories are better if she does.

  Tom: Yes, very good.

  Richard: And if it hadn’t been for Eye of the Beholder, she never would have went on to write more Nebraska books. Let’s face it. We’re a lovable bunch of characters, and all of us in Eye of the Beholder wanted Ruth to write our books. You, Jenny, Joel, Sally, Isaac, and soon I’ll have a book. None of this would be possible if Dave and Mary hadn’t taken the initiative and been willing to be the first characters in Ruth’s historical westerns. It’s because of them Ruth fell in love with writing historical westerns. It’s because of them people fell in love with the Nebraska Series. We can’t dismiss Mary and Dave’s contribution to Ruth’s career. I mean, no one would even know who she is without them.

  Tom: Thank you, Richard. That’s all I have to ask, your honor.

  Joel: *stands up and approaches Richard* How much did Dave and Mary pay you to say all that?

  Richard: Nothing, Joel. I am capable of independent thought.

  Joel: Hmm… And yet it’s taken you nine books into the Nebraska series before you came up with an idea for your own book? Nine books? The rest of us had ideas sooner than that.

  Richard: What’s your point, pipsqueak?

  Joel: My point is you’re late.

  Joel continues: You overslept. You need to get your life organized. Aren’t you aware that the series is moving to our kids? It started with Dave and Mary’s oldest, Isaac. You could have been the first book in the series, but since you took so long, you’ll be tossed into another series. It takes you forever to come up with anything, and now you expect us to believe that you came up with that whole “Dave and Mary started it all” spiel without Dave and Mary’s help?

  Richard: That’s the stupidest argument I’ve ever heard.

  Joel: Do you really believe if it hadn’t been for Dave and Mary that Ruth would never have come up with plots for our books?

  Richard: She might have come up with the same plot ideas, but the characters would’ve been different. We were all introduced in Eye of the Beholder. Do you know why some of the characters in her other books never got stories of their own? Because they didn’t scream loud enough at Ruth to write their books. We’ve been the most vocal bunch of all her characters, which is why we have the most books. None of that would be possible if Ruth hadn’t written Eye of the Beholder. So we owe Dave and Mary our thanks for that.

  Joel: Aren’t you worried that if Dave keeps bothering her, she’ll stop writing about us?

  Richard: No. This is larger than Dave and Mary now. It’s also you, me, Tom, Sally, Jenny, and all of our children. Dave and Mary are just two characters. Ruth might not write anything else with them in it, but there’s too many of the rest of us and our intriguing plot lines for her to ignore. George Lucas has Star Wars. William Shatner has Star Trek. Stephanie Meyer has Twilight. CS Lewis has the Chronicles of Narnia. Ruth has the Nebraska characters. Do you know what all of these people have in common?

  Joel: *groans*

  Richard: They all did other projects, but one stands apart from all the rest. Sure, Ruth might write other series with other characters, but when people think of her, they also think of the Larson family, and that’s something Dave and Mary has done for us.

  Joel: I hate it when you’re around. *turns to Rick* I have nothing else to ask, your honor.

  Photo credits:

  Richard: ID 7523906 © Yuri_arcurs | Dreamstime.com, picture purchased on 06/30/2012, no longer available

  ***

  The Jury Votes

  (Posted on July 1, 2012)

  The results are in! The verdict is that Dave and Mary Larson are guilty! I was given the satisfaction of putting those two troublemakers in their place!!

  Are Dave and Mary Larson Innocent or Guilty?

  Innocent 42.03% (29 votes)

  Guilty 57.97% (40 votes)

  Total Votes: 69

  A Note from Ruth Ann Nordin

  Thank you for reading this book featuring the Larsons from the Nebraska Series. If you’d like to read their books, Her Heart’s Desire, A Bride for Tom, and A Husband for Margaret are free. Eye of the Beholder is free for a limited time. The rest of the books in the series are The Wrong Husband, Shotgun Groom, To Have and To Hold, His Redeeming Bride, and Isaac’s Decision.

  Richard Larson finally got his own book in January 2016, which is Wagon Trail Bride (Pioneer Series: Book 1).

  Harriett Larson and Rose Larson (twin daughters of Dave and Mary) have their books in Catching Kent (Rose’s story) and His Convenient Wife (Harriett’s story).

  There are plans to write more about the Larsons in the years to come. To this day, they are still my favorite group of characters to work with.

  Here’s more information about each book below:

  Her Heart’s Desire (Nebraska Series: Book 1)

  As soon as Sally Larson meets Rick Johnson, she knows he's the one for her. The catch? He's interested in her friend, Ethel Mae. But Sally has a plan. With Ethel Mae's help, she convinces Rick that the only way he'll get Ethel Mae is to make her jealous. He agrees, but he has a trick or two up his sleeve. Sally just might find that the one playing cat is really the mouse.

  A Bride for Tom (Nebraska Series: Book 2)

  Tom Larson is having trouble finding a wife, and Jessica Reynolds decides to help him overcome his awkward and clumsy manners so he can attract women.

  A Husband for Margaret (Nebraska Series: Book 3)

  When Margaret Williams posted an ad for a husband, she expected Paul Connealy to arrive, but instead, his older brother, Joseph, came...and he brought four children with him.

  Eye of the Beholder (Nebraska Series: Book 4)

  A homely woman who fears she will never marry becomes a mail-order bride. The man she comes for rejects her but another offers her marriage. She accepts, not believing love will result from the union. Love, after all, is for beautiful women. Isn't it?