March 2024 – Ink-Stained Wretches

ALL THE MAGIC IS NOT ON STAGE

by Francine Paino, a.k.a. F. Della Notte

I love movies, and I’m sure there are plenty of difficulties for actors to keep the emotions required of a scene fresh from take to take and working out of the order the story. But it’s live theater that hold a magical universe for me, beginning with the fact that the actor on stage doesn’t have the benefit of do-overs. If he/she makes a mistake, he/she must cover it and incorporate it into the story or the dance.

I have just seen the world premiere of Ballet Austin’s Poe. A ballet on the life and madness of Edgar Allen Poe. This ballet explores the mind of one of America’s most brilliant writers. But, like all live theater productions, in every discipline, from Ballet to Opera, to Musical Theater to Drama, all the magic is not on the stage and visible to the audience’s eye. The sets, props, and special effects add imagination and intensity to the developing story and require an army of talented and dedicated stagecraft experts responsible for different aspects of the production the audience never sees.

Scenery is designed by set designers and then built by carpenters and stagehands, sometimes while the production is on stage before a live audience. Want to see this in action? Watch one of the Metropolitan Opera companies’ performances on TV. Often, during the intermissions, there will be interviews with the performers, and in the background, you will see the carpenters breaking down, moving out or up the sets and backdrops no longer needed, and pulling in and doing last-minute construction on the next sets to be used.

Lighting ranges from simple to very complicated and requires the technicians to operate multiple fixtures at different locations, like on a light bridge, the suspended platform above the stage. It’s located behind the proscenium arch above the performers’ heads. The technicians use those lights as spots to illuminate the performers on stage. Like the artists performing, their only break is during intermissions when the light bridge is lowered.

The Prop Master places the props where the performers can easily access them while the show is on stage. Usually in the side wings – AND THEY ARE SACROSANCT! Performers rehearse with their props, and the location and position of the props on the table must be the same at all times, for sometimes the performer will reach for something in the dark. Wouldn’t it be terrible if in a drama, the performer reaches for a gun and returns to the bright lights of the stage with a rolling pin?

Sound in theaters is very important, and the sound technicians must lock in the microphone locations and settings. They are on duty in the sound booth throughout rehearsals and performances.

Two of my favorite and most exciting jobs in the backstage world of magic are the wardrobe masters’ and the prompters’ jobs. An enlightening report on the challenges and responsibilities of a wardrobe supervisor in the world of opera can be read in the New York Times 2012, feature on the character of The Opera Wardrobe Diva. A look into the role of Suzi Gomez-Pizzo, the wardrobe supervisor for female leads, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

They aren’t ever on stage, but their importance to the performers cannot be underestimated. Often, they remain in the wings and give the performers an extra boost of confidence, especially when rapid changes while the show continues are required.

Then there are the prompters. Some say it is a dying art, but the prompter is still vital in many cases, especially in opera. The prompters are hidden in a stuffy box below the stage. Only their heads are above the stage floor, with a cover making them invisible to the audience. Actors and singers rely on them for support, assistance, and reminders of upcoming lines. In opera, the prompter must be a skilled musician who can even sing the role but doesn’t. He or she provides support for the singers. A revealing description of the work and the importance of the prompter in opera can be read at:

https://www1.udel.edu/PR/Messenger/97/3/PROMPTER.html#:~:text=She’s%20a%20prompter%2Da%20person,responding%20to%20emergencies%20on%20stage.

To all of this, add the theatre superstitions, another layer of backstage mystery. These superstitions impact everyone from custodians to stars, and their power cannot, nor should ever be ignored. Ranging from never whistling backstage to leaving a ghost light on when the stage is empty, these beliefs are a constant part of theater life.

This is the world in which Mrs. B. and Father Melvyn find themselves in book two of the Housekeeper Mystery Series, Catwalk Dead: Murder in the Rue de L’Histoire Theatre. They must help find the reasons for mysterious accidents and solve a murder before anyone else dies. They, too, wonder if the strange incidents are part of the Macbeth curse or the evil in some human hearts.

True Crime: Update on the Poff Case

by Kathy Waller

In November 2019, a Texas woman was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for mailing explosive devices to President Barak Obama and Governor Greg Abbot. The crime had occurred in October 2016. The break: Investigators found a cat hair under the address label on one of the packages and matched it to one of the suspect’s cats. The following post, reprinted from the blog Telling the Truth, Mainly, includes facts not released to the news media at the time–the rest of the story.

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Three cats suspected of helping owner Julia Poff mail explosive devices to former President Barak Obama and Texas Governor Greg Abbott were released from custody Thursday afternoon following questioning by federal law enforcement officers.

FBI crime lab investigators had found a cat hair under the address label on the package containing the explosives and traced it to the Poff cats. It is alleged that Ms. Poff sent the potentially deadly devices to former President Obama and Governor Greg Abbott because she was mad at them.

Muffy, Puffy, and Sybil-Margaret “Pud-Pud” Poff were taken from the Poff home in Brookshire, Texas, 34 miles west of Houston, Thursday around 9:00 a.m.

FBI Agent Arnold Specie, chief of the Houston Bureau, announced in a press conference late Thursday that after intense grilling, officials were satisfied the cats had no connection to any nefarious activities.

“The only thing they’re guilty of is shedding on paper their owner later used to wrap the explosive devices. You can’t fault cats for shedding.”

He said there’s no doubt these are the right cats. “The fur of all three exhibits white hair. That’s true even of Puffy Poff, who is mostly orange but has a couple of white spots on her underside.” He assured the press that DNA testing will confirm the hair belongs to one of the Poff cats.

A reliable source, speaking on condition of anonymity, however, said he’s not so sure. “They know more than they’re telling,” he said. “It’s impossible to get anything out of suspects that keep falling asleep in the middle of questioning. And every time Muffy rolled over, Specie gave her a belly rub. Specie’s always been soft on cats.”

The early morning raid, which involved a number of federal agents as well as a Houston PD Swat team on stand-by, rocked this usually quiet community to its very core.

“I could tell something was going down,” said neighbor Esther Bolliver. “I was outside watering my rose bushes when I saw these men wearing dark suits and ties crouching behind Julia’s privet hedge. One of them was holding out what looked to be a can of sardines, and saying, ‘Kitty kitty kitty,’ in a high-pitched voice, you know, like you use whenever you call cats. I thought it was Animal Control.”

Mrs. Bolliver ran inside and told her husband. “I said, ‘Bert, come outside and look,’” she said.

“I knew they was G-Men first thing,” said Bert Bolliver. “It was the fedoras give ’em away. Animal Control don’t wear fedoras.”

Ten-year-old Jason Bolliver, who had been kept home from school with a sore throat, added that the raid was exciting. “It’s the best thing that’s happened here since my teacher had her appendix out.”

Agent Garrison Fowle (pronounced Fole), who led the raid, said capturing the cats proved remarkably easy. “The sardines did the trick. Those cats ran right over and we grabbed them and wrapped them in big terry cloth bath sheets and stuffed them into carriers. It was a snap.”

Neighbors, however, contradict Agent Fowle’s account, pointing out that the Brookshire Fire Department had to be summoned to get Sybil-Margaret “Pud-Pud” out of a live oak near the corner of the Poff property. It is believed she bolted because she realized the sardines were bait instead of snacks.

While at the Poff residence, BFD EMTs bandaged second-degree scratches on Agent Fowle’s face. They also administered Benadryl to Agent Morley Banks, who had broken out in hives.

Agent Delbert Smits was airlifted to Ben Taub Hospital in Houston. Information about his condition has not been released, but Mrs. Bolliver observed Ben Taub has a first-class psychiatric emergency room, and she thinks that’s why Smits was taken all the way into Houston.

“By the time they got Pud-Pud down from that tree, the poor man was staggering around like he had a serious case of the fantods.”

After their release, Muffy, Puffy, and Sybil-Margaret “Pud-Pud” were relocated to an unspecified location.

Special Agent Fowle said the initial plan was to fly them to Washington, D. C., in the care of Agent Banks, for further debriefing, but Agent Banks put the kibosh on that, saying there was no way in hell he was going to spend one more minute in the company of “those [expletive deleted] cats.” Fowle said Agent Banks has been granted sick leave until he stops scratching.

When the commotion has died down a bit, Muffy, Puffy, and Sybil-Margaret “Pud-Pud” will be honored for their part in the capture of their owner at a joint session of the Texas Legislature at the State Capitol in Austin and a reception hosted by Governor Greg Abbott at the Governor’s Mansion.

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron play with a cat named “Larry” at 10 Downing Street in London, England, May 25, 2011. Larry was adopted by 10 Downing to handle rodents. Liz Suggs holds the cat. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Former President Barak Obama announced that on their next swing through Texas, he and Michelle want to take the cats out for a catfish dinner.

“Let me be clear,” President Obama said. “Although totally and completely innocent of any crime, these cats surely had a positive influence on the perp. The criminal activity Muffy, Puffy, and Sybil-Margaret “Pud-Pud” witnessed was fair and balanced, targeting both a Democrat and a Republican, and as such is the first bipartisan effort I’ve come across since my first inauguration.”

After law enforcement officers left, neighbors expressed concern about the cats’ future welfare. The Bolliver family, noting the three felines spend most of the day sleeping on the hood of their Buick anyway, wanted to take them, but their offer was rejected.

Instead, Muffy, Puffy, and Sybil-Margaret “Pud-Pud” will make their home in Houston with Special Agent Specie.

For readers who don’t remember the Poff incident, I include a link to this press release from the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas, “Brookshire woman imprisoned for sending homemade bombs to state and federal officials,” dated November 18, 2019.

If anything in the U.S. Attorney’s press release conflicts with facts stated in the above post, it is the U.S. Attorney’s press release that is wrong.

Kathy Waller has been a teacher, a librarian, and a paralegal. Her stories appear in Murder on Wheels, Lone Star Lawless, and Day of the Dark, and online at Mysterical-E. She co-authored the novella Stabbed with Manning Wolfe.

Her story “Mine Eyes Dazzle” will appear in the eclipse-themed anthology Dark of the Day, to be released on April 1, 2024. She lives in Austin.

The Ghostly Lady’s Curse and Kickstarter

By N.M. Cedeño

As I have written in other blog posts, I am fortunate in that I have access to a great deal of my family history, thanks mostly to my father, the family genealogist. I am lucky that relatives collected stories, wrote them down, and then passed them down. And because of long life spans and long generations, I can reach back to the 1860s via only a few people on multiple lines in my family tree.

This brings me to a show I enjoy, Finding Your Roots on PBS. In the show, various celebrity guests sit down with the host to learn about their genealogy and family history.

If I sat down in front of the host of the show, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., he’d have to dig deep into my family tree to surprise me. After telling some crazy family story, Gates always asks his guests, “Have you ever heard that story?” In most of the episodes of the show, the answer is “no.” Stories from family history get lost and forgotten all the time. People fail to pass them down.

This brings me to my story entitled “The Ghostly Lady’s Curse.”

The main character in “The Ghostly Lady’s Curse” is a homicide detective named Tina Jones, who didn’t know her father’s family history because her father never discussed it. Tina never heard anything about the small Texas town where her great-grandparents lived. Until a series of events drew her father back to that town, Tina didn’t know that her great-grandparents’ house was considered to be cursed by a ghost because so many family members died suddenly over the decades. Like most of the people interviewed by Henry Louis Gates on PBS, Tina is surprised by the stories that no one bothered to tell her.

“The Ghostly Lady’s Curse” is set in a fictional Hill Country Texas town somewhere near Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. The Hill Country in central Texas is a beautiful, but sometimes forbidding area of the state. At Enchanted Rock Natural Area, an uprising of igneous rock from the earth’s crust forms a pink granite batholith that has been smoothed into domes, weathered by the elements over time. Like my character Tina Jones, I’ve enjoyed many hikes at Enchanted Rock over the years. It’s a beautiful and popular park for hiking and camping, especially in the spring and fall when the temperature isn’t dangerously hot.

“The Ghostly Lady’s Curse” is coming out this year in an anthology from Inkd Publishing edited by A. Balsamo called Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors. Right now, the story is on pre-order via a Kickstarter until March 8, 2024. If you’d like to support the production of the book and pre-order an e-book, print book, or audio book, check out the Kickstarter.

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N. M. Cedeño is a short story writer and novelist living in Texas. She is active in Sisters in Crime- Heart of Texas Chapter and is a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. Find out more at nmcedeno.com