{"id":209,"date":"2008-06-18T06:15:37","date_gmt":"2008-06-18T11:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=209"},"modified":"2008-09-16T21:02:35","modified_gmt":"2008-09-17T02:02:35","slug":"she-always-wore-red-by-angela-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=209","title":{"rendered":"She Always Wore Red by Angela Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is time to play a Wild Card<\/span>!<\/strong> <\/span>Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour<\/a>. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his\/her book’s FIRST chapter!<\/p>\n

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today’s Wild Card author is: <\/strong><\/div>\n

Angela Hunt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

and her book:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

She Always Wore Red<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tyndale House Publishers (April 23, 2008)<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/a>\"\"<\/a>Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who have learned to expect the unexpected in novels from this versatile author. With over three million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 100 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to novels.<\/p>\n

Now that her two children have reached their twenties, Angie and her husband live in Florida with Very Big Dogs (a direct result of watching Turner and Hooch and Sandlot too many times). This affinity for mastiffs has not been without its rewards–one of their dogs was featured on Live with Regis and Kelly as the second-largest canine in America. Their dog received this dubious honor after an all-expenses-paid trip to Manhattan for the dog and the Hunts, complete with VIP air travel and a stretch limo in which they toured New York City.<\/p>\n

Afterward, the dog gave out pawtographs at the airport.<\/p>\n

Angela admits to being fascinated by animals, medicine, psychology, unexplained phenomena, and \u201cjust about everything\u201d except sports. Books, she says, have always shaped her life\u2014 in the fifth grade she learned how to flirt from reading Gone with the Wind.<\/p>\n

Her books have won the coveted Christy Award, several Angel Awards from Excellence in Media, and the Gold and Silver Medallions from Foreword Magazine\u2019s Book of the Year Award. In 2007, her novel The Note was featured as a Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel. Romantic Times Book Club presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Angela completed her Master of Biblical Studies in Theology degree and completed her doctorate in 2008. When she\u2019s not home reading or writing, Angie often travels to teach writing workshops at schools and writers\u2019 conferences. And to talk about her dogs, of course.<\/p>\n

Visit her at her website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong>
\n<\/span>
\n
\n<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Chapter One
\n<\/span>
\nThe nameless cadaver on the cover of my anatomy textbook\u2014a middle-aged man who is no longer black, white, or brown\u2014would be counted among the orange in a census of the embalmed.<\/p>\n

Someone should have adjusted the tint before they juiced him.<\/p>\n

I flip the book open and study the color photographs of the cadaver\u2019s aortic arch and brachiocephalic veins, then close my eyes and try to commit the multisyllable words to memory. Here I am, near the end of my first semester of mortuary school, and I\u2019m still having trouble keeping my veins and arteries straight.<\/p>\n

Behind me, an irate mother in the carpool line is honking, though we have a good three minutes before kindergarten dismissal. She probably has to pick up her child and get back to work before the end of her lunch hour. While I sympathize with her impatience, I wish she\u2019d lay off the horn so I can concentrate.<\/p>\n

I open one eye and examine the book propped on my steering wheel. The right internal jugular branches off the right and left brachiocephalic veins, which lie outside the brachiocephalic trunk. Brachiocephalic sounds like some kind of dinosaur. Bugs would like that word.<\/p>\n

I turn the book sideways, but the photograph on the page looks nothing like a prehistoric animal. In fact, I find it hard to believe that anything like this jumble of tunnels and tubes exists in my body, but skin covers myriad mysteries.<\/p>\n

I snap the book shut as the bell at Round lake elementary trills through the warm afternoon. The kindergarten classes troop out into the sunshine, their hands filled with lunch boxes and construction paper cutouts. The tired teachers stride to the curb and peer into various vehicles, then motion the appropriate children forward.<\/p>\n

My spirits lift when my red-haired cherub catches my eye and waves. Bradley \u201cBugs\u201d graham waits until his teacher calls his name and skips toward me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Mom.\u201d He climbs into the backseat of the van as his teacher holds the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey yourself, kiddo.\u201d I check to make sure he\u2019s snapped his seat belt before smiling my thanks at his teacher. \u201cDid you have a good morning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYep.\u201d He leans forward to peek into the front seat. \u201cDo we hafta go home, or can we stop to get a snack?\u201d<\/p>\n

My thoughts veer toward the to-do list riding shotgun in the front passenger seat. I still have to run to the grocery store, swing by the dry cleaner\u2019s to pick up gerald\u2019s funeral suit, and stop to see if the bookstore has found a used copy of Introduction to Infectious Diseases, Second edition. Textbooks are usually pricey, but medical textbooks ought to come with fixed-rate mortgages. Still, I need to find that book if I\u2019m going to complete my online course by the end of the semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll pull into a drive-through,\u201d I tell Bugs, knowing he won\u2019t mind. \u201cYou want McDonald\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nods, so I point the van toward Highway 441.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. gerald make any pickups today?\u201d Bugs asks.<\/p>\n

I ease onto the highway, amazed at how easily my children have accepted the ongoing work of the funeral home. \u201cnone today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSee this?\u201d<\/p>\n

I glance in the rearview mirror and see Bugs waving his construction paper creation. \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a stegosaurus. Can I give it to gerald?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019d like that.\u201d I force a smile as an unexpected wave of grief rises within me. like a troublesome relative who doesn\u2019t realize she\u2019s worn out her welcome, sorrow often catches me by surprise. Gerald, the elderly embalmer at Fairlawn, has become a surrogate father for my sons. Thomas, my ex-husband and my children\u2019s father, has been gone for months, but in some ways he\u2019s never been closer. He lies in the Pine Forest Cemetery, less than two miles from our house, so we can\u2019t help but think of him every time we drive by.<\/p>\n

I get Bugs a vanilla ice cream cone at the McDonald\u2019s drive-through, and then we run to the grocery store and the dry cleaner. I\u2019ll call the bookstore later. no sense in going there when a simple phone call will suffice.<\/p>\n

Finally we turn into the long driveway that leads to the Fairlawn Funeral Home.<\/p>\n

Gerald has poured a new concrete pad next to the garage, and as I park on it, Bugs notices that the call car is gone. \u201cuh-oh.\u201d He looks at me. \u201cSomebody bit the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

I press my lips together. A couple of months ago I would have mumbled something about the old station wagon maybe needing a wash, but now I know there\u2019s no reason to shield my children from the truth\u2014we are in the death care industry. The squeamishness I felt when we first arrived vanished the day I walked into the prep room and gloved up to help gerald lay out my ex-husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome in the house,\u201d I tell my son. \u201cI\u2019ll pour you a glass of milk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is time to play a Wild Card! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his\/her book’s FIRST chapter! You never know when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}