Murder - Part II

Last week’s blog about how I almost bought a house where there had been a triple homicide, got me to thinking. A dangerous activity, I know.

I realized that I have lived within a block or so of a lot of homicides. Several, in fact. And no, I didn’t commit them! More than half were suicides and the others were all solved, as far as I know.

As I started counting them up, I was a bit surprised. There have been nine. This seems like a rather inordinate amount for my short forty-six years. Even more so, when you consider that the first one didn’t happen until I was fifteen. So, that’s an average of about one every three and a half years.

It would seem that perhaps I have lived in a bad neighborhood! But, I’ve lived in numerous neighborhoods, in multiple states, during this time. Maybe it’s just that my neighbors don’t like me. Although, I can’t imagine that would drive them to suicide or murder. I may not be the perfect neighbor but I’m fairly sure I’m not that bad.

Then I hit on another theory. I’m a writer. I like to write crime stories. Could it be that my neighbors were all trying to help out by providing me with plots and scenarios to write about? Book fodder; is that what it was?

But then, I must admit, it seems highly unlikely all these people would go to such great lengths just to help a writer. However, it is certainly odd that I started writing around age fifteen - right when the first one occurred!

So, now I suppose I need to get busy immortalizing these individuals in book form. I’ll write the books, sell a few, other people can read and maybe enjoy them; everyone’s happy! As the old saying goes, if you look hard enough, you can find the good in anything!

Told you it could be dangerous when I start thinking!

Okay, just to clear things up. I don’t actually think the murders and suicides had anything to do with me. Nothing whatsoever. Most of the people didn’t even know me. They didn’t do it because of me, or for me. My presence had no bearing on anyone else’s fate. Of that, I’m sure.

Pretty sure.

But just in case, it may be wise not to move in beside me!

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books. Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, and Miscarriage Of Justice, and other titles, are available as ebooks on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. His books are also available in paperback at most online retailers or at www.bruceabordersbooks.weebly.com. The popular Wynn Garrett Series Books are now available on Barnes And Noble® at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=867526 See Bruce’s Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders?ref=BruceABorders  #BruceABorders

Smash words Author Interview with Bruce A. Borders

Have you read the Smashwords Author Interview with Bruce A. Borders yet? You can find it here;
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Read, Read, Read

Ever since I learned to read, I loved books. Not just kids books, lots of books, almost any book – well, except for textbooks. I had a strong aversion to anything school related.

I used to make weekly trips to the county library and check out stacks of books. I had a mission; to read every book they had on the shelves. The library, on the other hand, seemed to want to thwart my efforts by imposing a limit of a ridiculously low number of books any one person could check out at one time, twelve as I recall. Fortunately for me, my school had a library as well. Yes, finding a way around rules and restrictions was another thing I loved when I was a kid.

I came up with a lot of methods to extend my reading time. For instance, after going to bed, when I was supposed to be asleep, I’d use a flashlight under the covers, with the pillow propped up to help shield the light, and I would read until the wee hours of the morning. If my parents came to check on me, the flashlight was instantly clicked off, the pillow allowed to fall, covering the book, and my head came out from under the covers to fall onto the pillow – all in about two seconds.

My cantankerous nature was not limited to just making time to read however. Rules are made to be broken so the saying goes. One day, my third-grade teacher made the mistake of telling the class we were not allowed to leave the school grounds without her permission, and if we tried, we WOULD be caught! That sounded like a challenge to me.

After a couple of days of playing by the gate at every recess – to get the teachers used to seeing me in that area - one Thursday morning, at the first recess, I slipped through the gate, disappearing around the big evergreen bushes. From there, it was simple to make it around the corner unseen. Then, I casually strolled on downtown. At two forty-five, I was standing in line to get on the bus, like normal. The next day, I arrived at school with a dubious feeling of accomplishment. I hadn’t been caught, but I couldn’t very well point that out to the teacher, or anyone else for that matter. That sort of robbed me of my sense of victory. I had to be content with just knowing that I’d done it and that the teacher was wrong.

Oh, yeah. Just in case anyone is wondering – where does a nine-year-old go while skipping school for over five hours? The library. At least that’s where I went. They had a couple of books I hadn’t read.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter, has over 500 songs and more than a dozen books. Over My Dead Body, The Journey, and Miscarriage Of Justice, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. For more information, visit www.bruceaborders.com. See Bruce’s Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/bruceaborders or view his Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders