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Flash: The Back Room Part 2

 

Muddy Boots from the Interwebs

The woman folded her leather-gloved hands atop the silk pooled there from her veil and sat rigidly upon the settee Matthews vacated for her. She said not a word, though her eyes, the color uncertain in the shadows of the veil, studied them both. The Duke of Seaport walked to the second most comfortable seat in the room, close to the cracked window and the evening breeze, and sat, placing his pouch of books on the small table beside him.

Nigel waited as long as he could with his churning thoughts. She hadn’t given him any acknowledgement in the introduction. Did she actually think she outranked him? The innkeeper had given him a noble title, abet his lowest, but still it was a noble title and had introduced her as Mistress.

Her clothes. He quickly placed them as an amalgamation of the Zeriff, Kylan, and a half-dozen other minor countries which allowed their women to travel and operate as merchants, unlike Everdance, Middlelands, Disrave, and his own country of Roadsky where the only time the valuable females left their family estates was for marriage. The lack of clear nationality in the clothing matched the generic name of Zeriff’shaZeriff, Crew of the Crew. People of Zeriff identified themselves by their boats among themselves. “And what is your boat?” he blurted out.

She tilted her head, the veil fabric flowing over the Kylan-style bodice which complimented the two-tone skirts presently the rage in Mysentee. The choice of blue as the primary color was pure Zeriff though. On ships, they would wear every color they could trade or steal on the high seas, but ashore, they were blue in memory of the water surrounding their island chain.

“Where are your servants?” Nigel asked searching for a topic. “Shouldn’t they be back by now after taking your stuff to your room?”

“What my associate is asking is how much room do we need to make for your traveling companions?”

“I have no companions, your Grace.” Her voice creaked, guttering low, roughened by unknown sources.

Nigel jumped in, shocked. “None?”

Her head turned his way barely before her eyes dropped to her gloves, and she started pulling them off tips by tugging on the fingertips of her left glove with her right hand, ignoring him.

He was not used to being ignored. “None?” He repeated, taking a step her direction. “None?”

“Nigel, do not harass my guest, and find a seat for the gods’ sake.”

Continuing to tug at the sweat-tightened leather, the woman watched as he stomped across the room to high-back chair with the horsehair cushion. Of the five seats in the room, it lacked any semblance of comfort, but the dearth of arm rests allowed Nigel the ability to move freely. With the left glove plucked off, she worked on wiggling the other worn glove off. Nigel noticed the task was challenging because rips crisscrossing the palm; the gloves were effectively ruined. Once both were off, she tucked them into some of the bodice lacing. The Kylan tucked everything into the network of laces giving support to the bodices.

During Nigel’s time in Kylan, he had seen purses, letters, statues, charms, daggers, and a myriad of other items worked into the tops of the men and women. Gemstones were exceptionally popular, often threaded through the laces. This woman lacked any accoutrements as far as he could tell, other than the gloves, a rather poor merchant in his opinion.

“May I ask how you came to be traveling alone, Mistress?” The duke angled his body toward the invader of their privacy and leaned forward.

“Of course, your Grace.” If she had an accent, the roughness of her voice hid it. “My horse threw a shoe just outside of Crossroads,” she paused, moving her body carefully toward focusing on Matthews, “so I sent my party ahead, telling them I would catch up shortly. Little did I know the harvest meant the forge was cold and everyone was in the fields.”

Nigel was aghast. “You walked all the way here from the Crossroads?” Crossroads was an hour pushing on horseback, an hour and a half fast march.

“It’s not like I could ride Cotton,” she snapped, at last addressing him directly. The men watched as the veil pulled in toward her mouth, before she continued at a lower volume, her shoulders twisted, blocking Nigel out of the conversation. “You understand, your Grace, the road is paved the whole way, I would never abuse my animal thusly.”

“Admirable.” The Duke pulled at his calvary boots, indicating his understanding of how horses should be treated. “But I am surprised no one was here to greet you.”

“We are on a firm deadline, what with the marriage next week. The caravan leader rightly continued to push the carts ladened with the bridal gift as far as they could before stopping for the night. I should easily catch up with them as they climb the gap.”

“That is the truth,” Nigel said, trying to insert himself back into her notice, “carts are slow going up the mountain.”

“We also are traveling that way on the morrow. We could stay with you until meet with them,” the older man offered.

She laid her hand upon her chest. “Oh no, your Grace. I could not accept. The innkeep assured me that the forge here was just banked for the night and the blacksmith will take care of the reshoeing first thing in the morning,” she paused, “or whenever he recovered from tonight’s hangover enough to handle the banging. I could not ask you to wait.”

“No, no. I insist—”

Knocking on the Back Room door, quickly followed by a bevy of boys entering, their heights in staircase steps, looking remarkably like the Innkeeper except for the smallest, whose blond curls peaked over the towels he carried. The oldest bowed first to Nigel, then the Duke, and finally the female merchant. “Mistress, your bath water.”

“That was fast,” her voice laced with approval.

“We always have water heating for dishes.” The youth turned to his younger brothers. “Mag, close the window, Billy and Cruz lay out the towels so the water won’t splash.” He took the two pails of water from the younger boys had been carrying. “Mik, the bath.” The second smallest carefully placed a broad pottery bowl down and pushed it toward the Zeriff’s skirts, who lifted them at the knees, raising the muddy hems to reveal calvary boots similar to the ones both of the men wore, though much worse for wear than their shiny leather.

One of the pails filled the foot bath. “We will leave the pail if you need more water, and one to empty the water in when done. Here are the salts and herbs you asked for, and extra towels and bandages.”

“Bandages?” Nigel muttered, frowning. “Fuck.” He breathed. She had walked five miles in calvary boots, meant for riding, not walking.

As the boys began to leave, the Innkeeper returned. “Your Excellencies, your meals are coming out of the fire now. Is there anything else you need, mistress? Food, wine? I had the saddlebags taken upstairs.”

“No, no food, although some mulled wine would do me good. And I do apologize, Mr. Keeper, but now that I have had a chance to sit, I realize there is no way I will make it up those stairs tonight. Could you bring them down here? I can just sleep in the Back Room.”

“Mistress!” the man protested.

“I’ve slept in far worse conditions, I assure you.”

“Of course.” The innkeeper froze a moment, before turning to Matthews, “With your Grace’s permission, of course.”

“When we are done tonight and retire to our rooms, Mistress Zeriff’shaZeriff is welcome to use the Back for her rest.”

(words 1,300; first published 2/9/2025)

The Back Room series

  1. The Back Room (1/19/2025)
  2. The Back Room Part 2 (2/2/2025)
  3. The Back Room Part 3 (2/9/2025)

Book Review (SERIES): Mrs. Pollifax

Movie Poster from the 1971 Movie: Mrs. Pollifax Spy

I was introduced to the Mrs. Pollifax series in college, read through all of them, and then went on to read through the author’s, Dorothy Gilman, entire catalog. She passed in 2012 and I had to move on to other authors.

Fast forward to 2024. I had been hired to work in a library. Who knew that working for a library would mean I would have virtually no time to read? I was constantly shelving books, working on programming, or helping patrons. Faced with the challenge to keep up on my reviews, I thought “why not try audiobooks?” Normally, my version of neuro-spicy hates background noise, but I had a long half-hour commute on a mostly empty highway each direction (more like 45 minutes in the morning). I like my music, but I was missing fictional stories.

I had been shelving audiobooks and noticed Mrs. Pollifax and thought “Perfect!” A comfort read that I could turn off easily arriving at work or arriving at home. These are the three audiobooks I read while working for a library system.

Mrs. Pollifax is a widow of a certain age that when she had nothing left to live for, contacted the CIA to become a spy. This a series of unexpected shenanigans, she received an assignment and survived the results. Her name went into Carstairs rolodex and whenever a random older lady could get through a situation that a normal spy would be pinged immediately, he would brush the dust off and call her again. Fourteen books resulted.

I read books ten, eleven, and fourteen of the series this time around. The entire list from BookSeriesInOrder.com:

  1. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966)
  2. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970)
  3. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971) – Movie come out this year
  4. A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax (1973)
  5. Mrs. Pollifax on Safari (1976)
  6. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (1983)
  7. Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (1985)
  8. Mrs. Polllifax and the Golden Triangle (1988)
  9. Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish (1990)
  10. Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief (1993)
  11. Mrs. Pollifax Pursued (1995)
  12. Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer (1996)
  13. Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997) – a direct-to-DVD movie starting Angela Lansbury come out in 1999
  14. Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled (2000)

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF

The assignment is a snap: Mrs. Pollifax just has to shoot some pictures at a quiet funeral outside Washington and take them to Sicily, where her old friend Farrell — a former CIA agent turned art dealer — anxiously awaits them.

But like all Mrs. P’s assignments, so ostensibly suitable for the CIA’s favorite garden club member, this one quickly turns lethal. Her welcoming committee in Palermo includes a most unlikely CIA agent and several unseen enemies. Unfriendly eyes also observe Mrs. P’s rendezvous with Farrell in a secluded mountain village and weapons are soon displayed. With mysterious forces hot after them, she and Farrell scurry for safety to a fortified country villa, where the bizarre chatelaine, once a star on Madison Avenue, is almost as unnerving as the dangers she’s protecting them from.

So, though the sun shines brightly, the food is delicious, and romance is in the air, Mrs. Pollifax is too busy handing out karate chops and playing catch-me-if-you-can with an assassin to enjoy the amenities . . . .

MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF

Read through a local library audiobook. The audio was crafted by Brilliance Audio with a multi-member cast.

I forgotten just how good this particular Mrs. Pollifax is.

I love John Farrell and his admiration of his “Duchess”. The love story. The eccentric aunt of Kate. The village. The return of Aristotle. The political intrigue. The Second Thief is picture perfect Mrs. Pollifax.

 

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED

The last thing Mrs. Pollifax expects to find in her junk closet is a young woman hiding. Kadi Hopkirk insists that she’s being followed by two men in a dirty white van. Under the cover of darkness, Mrs. P. tries to drive Kadi back home to Manhattan, only to have a dark green sedan give them a run for their money and, Mrs. P. begins to suspect, their lives.

Finally Kadi shares the startling truth: her friend, Sammy, is the son of the assassinated president of an African country and, unbeknownst to the young man’s bodyguard, he passed her something under the table during a recent meeting. Ever resourceful, Mrs. P. puts in a call for help to her CIA colleague, Carstairs, who installs them in a safe house—at a carnival! Before Mrs. P. knows it, a dash to safety expands into an assignment that leads to hair-trigger violence in exotic places. . . .

MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED

I’m exploring whether I can listen to audiobooks while driving and I thought I would dive into a comfort favorite. I haven’t read Mrs. Pollifax since the Nineties – this book was originally published in 1995 and is part of a series started in 1966 and ran until 2000. I listened to the Brilliance Audio version, recorded in 1995. Words and situations like “VCR” and “gypsy” and the “quaintness of Africa” all date the book, but the listen was still very enjoyable. I managed to listen to the book going to and from work for three of the four discs but couldn’t wait for morning to finish and listened to the last disc while sewing at home.

Mrs. Pollifax finds a young woman hiding in her closet. This escalates and intertwines with a kidnapping Carstairs is helping the FBI with. Humor and adventure, mystery and murder, carny and spy action ensues. I love Mrs. P as an older protagonist.

While the book has aged, and may not be accessible to younger readers, I still enjoyed the revisit.

Checked out through the local library.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED

After facing down hijackers on a flight to the Middle East and saving the lives of the passengers on board, a young American woman steps off the plane in Damascus in a blaze of celebrity and disappears. The CIA believes Amanda Pym was kidnapped, possibly murdered.

Masquerading as Amanda Pym’s worried aunt, Mrs. Pollifax begins her determined search, slipping through Damascus’s crooked streets and crowded souks . . . and trekking deep into the desert. Yet she is shadowed by deadly enemies, whose sinister agenda threatens not only Mrs. P. but the fragile stability of the entire Middle East. Only a miracle–or a brilliant counterplot– can forestall a disaster that will send shock waves around the world.

MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED

Re-read through audio performance by Brilliance Audio.
Unlike the two previous Mrs. Pollifax I listened to by Brilliance Audio which had a cast, this version only had a single performer. It still was a lovely read listening to a woman’s voice.

The last of the Pollifax series (due to Ms. Gilman’s (the author) failing health) our intrepid spy lands in Syria to find a lost American woman, who may not want to be found. With Farrell at her side, they arrive as innocent tourists looking for their “family” member. The police state tears Farrell away from Emily, with her being injured in the process, and now Mrs. Pollifax, or Duchess as the painfully missing Farrell calls her, must meet their objective alone in a country where she doesn’t speak the language and the people are ruled by fear.

But being Mrs. Pollifax, she endures and makes friends. Still finding one person in a country alone is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The story, now twenty-four years old (published in 2000) is becoming dated. Amanda Prym is always referred to as a “girl” though she is a full-grown adult – college age, so forgivable by our team of world-wearied adults. Other technology issues have gotten better, the mix of politics in the mid-east have gotten worse, stuff like that. Still a wonderful yarn.

I hope Mrs. Pollifax and her Cyrus live on forever happy having their adventures.

Flash: The Back Room

Photo by Tomoe Steineck on Unsplash

The inn’s Back Room cracked windows released the some of the excessive heat created from the afternoon sun beating down on the building just mere hours ago, but soon the keeper or one of his sons would need to come into the well-appointed space and close them to keep the temperature necessary for sleeping against growing the late autumn chill as the sun dipped below the mountain range. In the meantime, a young nobleman paced while an older man sprawled on the settee, a book dangling between fingers to mark his place while he waited for Nigel to wind down.

“Have you made the decision to run?” Matthews asked. “I can have a ship ready for you before you make it back to Seaport.”

“I can’t do that, you know I can’t do that.” Nigel turned on the knotted wool rug to walk the other direction. “If I was going to do that, I wouldn’t have come this far. I would have run while in Kylar.”

“Then tomorrow morning we go through the pass.”

“Gods.” Nigel threw his head back in frustration, before executing another turn. “It’s so stupid. I thought I was safe.”

The old solider chuckled. “I know I taught you better than that.”

“There is no safety in war.”

“And?”

“The crown is either at war or preventing it, and therefore they are always in a state of war.” Nigel crossed the carpet again. “But Jackel has two children already. It should be one of them.”

“They are too young, considering.”

“Exactly.” Nigel ran both hands through his top-cut before throwing them out at his old mentor. “Thirty-two! ‘Considering.’ How is this even a consideration?”

“Treaties are made.” Matthews gave up waiting for the twenty-four-year-old to calm. Picking up his bookmark, he slid it between the pages and tucked the leather-bound treatise on horse breeding back into its velvet bag for storage with the other two books he had brought on this trip. “The merchant trade alone is worth a princely reward.”

The glare Nigel shot glanced off Matthews careless manner without effect. He hardened its steel and stared. Knocking on the door to the Back Room, startled him and drew both their eyes to the wooden barrier as it opened and the noise of the main room flooded in.

“My pardon, your Grace, your …,” the innkeeper coughed, cutting off his speech for a moment, as Nigel raised his eyebrows, “Sir.” He entered, a veiled lady traveler on his arm. “This good lady arrived seeking succor, and, as you know, with the harvest holiday, things are … hectic in the front rooms. May she share the Back with you?”

Rarely did anything trump Matthews station as Duke of Seaport. But a quick glance at the woman’s silk veil indicated crafting, if not necessarily nobility, the lacework being minimal around the eyes, then at least high merchant class, the delicate thinness of the fabric while retaining opaqueness was beyond the reach of all but the deepest purses, and as Nigel’s present dilemma revealed, accommodations needed to be made for those who ruled the trade routes. The duke stood, indicating with a hand sweep to the keep to install the woman the best seat of the room. She sunk, carefully arranging layers of green and teal skirts around her, heavy red clay clinging around the hems. She untucked the edges of her veil from the laces holding her bodice and blouse together so the bottom foot of fabric pooled in her lap.

Once settled, she turned her head toward the keep and nodded. “My Lords, it is my pleasure to make Mistress Zeriff’shazeriff known to you.” He stumbled over the foreign name. “Mistress, these are his Grace, my own Duke of Seaport,” Matthews ruled the land between the pass and the port and bowed acknowledgement of the introduction, the woman tilted her head slightly in return “and … Nigel, Knight of the Order of the Icey Pansy, Lord of … Ground-swell?” The keep looked toward the two noblemen for confirmation.

Matthews nodded, impressed the man had pulled one of Nigel’s lesser noble titles from the heated air, while his old squire grabbed his hat where he had thrown it hours ago and bowed excessively and said, “A pleasure.” The woman veil had puffed out when Nigel was introduced, but her head moved not at all after his obeisance.

“Your meal should be here shortly,” the plainfolk bowed to the men before turning to the woman and saying in a nervous rush, “and Mistress, I will have that foot bath ready for you straight away.”

The two soldiers shared a glance, Nigel giving a quick finger signal they used to exchange when he was squired to the duke to indicate troublesome officers with delusions of grandeur. The innkeeper hadn’t batted an eye having Matthews stay in the Climb’s Start for a week while the letter he sent ahead found Nigel and brought the young man back home from his most recent escapade, nor had he cared when Nigel finally arrived other than delivering the wanderer directly to his old mentor, yet this woman had already managed to get into the Back without a title and had the man rushing to meet her demands over the nobles. What kind of harridan was now ensconced with them for the evening and how soon could they extract themselves from the situation?

(words 899, first published 2/5/2025)

The Back Room series

  1. The Back Room (1/19/2025)
  2. The Back Room Part 2 (2/2/2025)
  3. The Back Room Part 3 (2/9/2025)

Geeking Science: Artemis Accords

Government provided logo for the Artemis Accords

The Artemis Project (returning mankind to the Moon by 2026 to develop a testing station for technology to use when visiting other planets, a research station for learning about our Moon, and port for jumping off to explore Mars) has created the opportunity for the Artemis Accords. Over forty countries have signed the Accords, that is a fifth of Earth’s nations. (Note that the biggest “competitors” to the USA in space, China and Russia, have not joined.) 

This is something to Geek About!!!

“The accords establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations. … The Artemis Accords reinforce and implement key obligations in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They also strengthen the commitment by the United States and signatory nations to the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices NASA and its partners support, including the public release of scientific data. More countries are expected to sign the accords in the months and years ahead, which are advancing safe, peaceful, and prosperous activities in space.” (Bardan)

That said, the Artemis Accords are very USA centered in the interpretation of how space law should work, including the commercial activities such as mining. Both Russia and China object to that base. (Wikipedia)

The key principals in the Accords is as follows (from Lea):

  1. Peaceful Exploration of space
  2. Transparency / public release of scientific information
  3. Emergency Assistance
  4. Registration of Space Objects
  5. Preserving Heritage – Preserving robot or human landing sites of historical significance
  6. Space Resources – Extracting and using resources from celestial bodies is needed to explore space and permitted.
  7. Orbital Debris.

The full Artemis Accords wording can be found here: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Artemis-Accords-signed-13Oct2020.pdf

The Orbital Debris (Section 12) is an interesting addition and includes both reduction of the present debris and requiring all new space structures come with a de-orbit plan for safe disposal. I also adore the Transparency section.

Fingers-crossed, the spirit of international cooperation will continue.

Biography

Bardan, Roxana. “NASA Welcomes Greece as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory.” NASA. 2024 Feb 9. (https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-welcomes-greece-as-newest-artemis-accords-signatory/ – last viewed 5/22/2024)

Lea, Robert. “Artemis Accords: What are they & which countries are involved?” space.com. 2024 May 16. (https://www.space.com/artemis-accords-explained – last viewed 5/22/2024)

NASA. “The Artemis Accords.” (undated) (https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/ – last viewed 5/22/2024)

US Mission Unvie. “An Interview with NASA’s Kevin Conole.” US Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. 2022 February 25. (https://vienna.usmission.gov/nasas-kevin-conole-on-the-artemis-accords/ – last viewed 5/22/2024)

Wikipedia. “Artemis Accords.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Accords – last viewed 5/22/2024