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The Devil’s Messenger, Part 2, A True WWII Story

Sep6

Yesterday, I started to tell the true story about my dad’s experience with The Devil’s Messenger as one of his crew members called it.

Here is Part 2 of The Devil’s Messenger:

The Devil’s Messenger, Part 2

by Terry Spear

“Briefing mission, now!” the first sergeant bellowed as he stepped into the barracks.

Walter picked up the Ouija board and set it back on the table as one of the men playing poker griped, “Gee, Sarge, I was winning.”

Walter glanced back at the Ouija board as the superstitious crewman slapped his shoulder. “Get rid of it, Wilde. It’s bad luck.”
* * *
Following the briefing, Walter hurried into the barracks and grabbed his brown-leather flight jacket, then glanced over at the Ouija board. Was it truly evil? Would it harm the mission? Walter slipped the board into its wooden box and closed the lid.

“Hey, Walter!” an airman shouted into the barracks. “Mess sarge’s got a Spam sandwich for you to go!”

“Sure thing.” Walter tossed the box onto the bunk and strode to the mess hall. After grabbing his meal, Walter and the rest of the crew headed for the armament shack. Soon after, he and the other crewmen hauled their loaded guns onto their Flying Fortress. But before they took off, he grabbed the Ouija board, intending to dump it in the ocean on their mission. Just in case the man knew what he was talking about when he said the board wasn’t anything to mess around with. Then they waited in their assigned positions in breathless anticipation as the engines roared to life.

It was Walter’s seventh mission, despite still only being sixteen. He’d lied about his age to get in, anxious the war would end before he’d have a chance to fight the good fight along with all the other war heroes he’d watched on the big movie screen back home.

While enroute to Germany, heavy anti-aircraft fire flew into the cloudless sky, popping and cracking in black puffs of smoke as it missed the B-17. Walter manned his guns as left waist gunner and soon hit a Focke-Wulf FW-190, highly regarded as one of Germany’s best fighter planes–certainly a match for the spitfire. He reached down to grab more ammunition, then saw the box containing the Ouija board shaking with the vibration of the plane as it rested on his parachute covering the hole where the last gunner had died. He pulled the chute aside and slipped the box through the hole where it plummeted into the sea.

As he turned to ready his guns once more, splinters of metal from high explosive shells ripped through the plane. Tearing through Walter’s oxygen and communication lines, the still-hot shrapnel cut through his flight jacket and lodged in his left arm. The seven-inch piece of jagged metal severed muscle, splintered bone and sliced blood vessels that caused the blood to pour out into a steady stream as Walter fought for air.

Seeing he was losing consciousness, the right waist gunner leaned down to him and offered his oxygen before Walter passed out.

***

Part 3 and the conclusion tomorrow!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

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Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

The Devil’s Messenger–Part 1, A True WWII Story

Sep5

The Devil’s Messenger

by Terry Spear

Sixteen-year-old, airman Staff Sergeant Walter Wilde studied the brown paper-wrapped parcel from his mother as he sat stiff-legged on his bunk bed in Snetterton Heath, England while B-25s roared overhead. The barracks were nothing more than Quonset huts–buildings made of corrugated sheet metal with no insulation or covering on the inside. A small coal stove in the middle of the building crackled away as it provided the only heat.

“Hey, Wilde,” another staff sergeant said, as he punched him in the shoulder. “You’ve been eyeballing that package from home for over an hour already. Let us have a look-see.”

Walter touched the string criss-crossed binding, the package dated, October 4, 1943, from his hometown of Seattle, Washington. The big man stepped over to the bunk and peered down at the mail. “Come on, Wilde. Everyone else has shown off their packages from home. Maybe it’s some homemade cookies you can share with the rest of your good buddies here.”

“Yeah, besides,” another crewman said, “if you don’t hurry, we may be called up for another mission before you get the chance.” He handed Walter a knife.

“By the time he ever opens the package,” the first said, “the war will have ended.”

Taking a deep breath, Walter sliced the knife through the string, hoping his mother wouldn’t have sent something embarrassing. Not once had she sent him anything the whole time he’d been in combat. He ripped the package open. Inside, he found an Ouija board. He shook his head, relieved it wasn’t something really awful. “Nothing good to eat.”

One of the crewman grabbed up the Ouija board and smiled. “Come on, let’s play a game.”

Another held up the cards he was playing at a game of poker. “Play a man’s game. That’s kid’s stuff.”

Another shook his head. “This isn’t kid’s stuff –it’s not something you should mess with. Get rid of the thing, Wilde. It’s the devil’s messenger.” His voice was shadowed with concern.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just superstitious!” The airman laid the board on a table, then pulled up a chair. Walter sat on the edge of his bed across from him to play the game.

After a moment, the board seemed to move on its own. “You did that,” he accused. Walter wasn’t superstitious normally, but the crewman’s words had his skin crawling.

“No,” the airman responded as he held his hands up in the air. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a Scout!” one of the poker players retorted as he threw a pillow at him. The pillow slid across the table, knocking the Ouija board to the floor. Walter looked down at the board and could have sworn he saw it move again.

***
This is based on a true story.

My dad had numerous near-death experiences from the time he was three-year’s old. So by the time he was sixteen, signing up to fight the war illegally, he was a pro at living through whatever danger life threw at him. We swore a Guardian Angel watched over him until his death at 74 years of age.

I don’t believe the Ouija board is the devil’s messenger, and yet…who really knows.
What do you think about Ouija boards? Have you played one? Anything spooky ever happen?
Part 2 tomorrow…

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

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Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

View from Eilean Donan Castle–a Blue, Blue World of Fog and Mystery

Aug26

Eileen Donan Castle View

Don’t you love the view? The water? The mountains from the castle? Blue and more blue. Mysteries beyond. It draws the eye deeper and deeper and deeper, one layer of mountains at a time. As you can see it is cloaked in a light fog from the closest hills to the farthest mountains.

Have a wonderful day no matter what day it is. I called my daughter on Saturday, who is a dietitian for a school district, and she informed me she was at work. Okay, school personnel don’t work on Saturday. So I was thoroughly confused. “Is this Friday?” I was hopeful it was and I still had an extra day to make word count.

“No, Mom, it’s Saturday.”

“Okay. Good, I thought I had messed up my days somehow.” lol

But, I will say I finished Covert Cougar Christmas! And after finishing it, I cut out more bears for orders, and then pulled out my notes for Jaguar Christmas, so I can remember what story I pitched, brainstorming I did on it, and get started.

So whatever day it is, have a great one! 🙂

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

I’m Not Really Behind…

Aug22

I was thinking I was behind on posting my blog today. But in truth, I was cleaning out kitchen cabinets and getting boxes of stuff ready to give away. So that makes me not behind. Because I’m ahead in cleaning. Don’t you see? And I was getting stuff ready to ship.

Purple Bubblegum Bear

This is the latest creation. New fabric. Isn’t she cute?

Fog at Sunrise

Love Fog

Yesterday, we had fog. Why is that cool? Besides making an interesting picture in depth perception, it’s just cool, for real. I mean, it’s been so hot, when it cools down, fog happens! And that makes it the coolest. The puppies got me up at 2:30 that morning, and it was still hot. At 7 am, it was much cooler. And that’s when the fog rolled in. I loved it. This morning? Hot.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

And I caught a scissor-tailed flycatcher watching me. I had actually taken the camera out front to take more pictures of the cool fog and snapped a few of him.

And, and, and, then I found this!

White Crepe Myrtle

A volunteer underneath my cypress tree. What’s so unusual about it? I have red, watermelon, and pink crepe myrtles. NO WHITE crepe myrtles. Until now. Isn’t that fascinating?

Life is truly wondrous.

Back to my regularly scheduled writing. But I’m in a real cleaning out mood. What should I tackle next?

Writing. 🙂

Have a super great Saturday!!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Fun with Fog! Remember The Wizard of Oz Movie from Black and White to Color?

Mar24

This is not Oz, but the fae world. 🙂 <3

It’s time to take those gloomy days and make them bright. 🙂

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

In the Middle of Edits, but…

Jan14

I wasn’t going to blog today, but I was checking for preorder sales on Kissing the Highlander and saw we had a couple of sales for Itunes! I hadn’t looked for the link today yet, but it’s now available there.

Kissing the Highlander:

I’m not sure what they’re supposed to be called, so I’m going to call them all kinds of names:

Apple/Itunes/Ibooks

This was a baron’s chamber at one of the Scottish castles. Nice view of the water. His wife had her bed chamber at the other end of the hall. Maybe a sitting area between them?

Okay, now, I’m behind on writing on A SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble, of course, because A Silver Wolf Christmas edits have to be done and turned in. I’m over halfway done. Once I finish these, I’ll reread the book again. It’s kind of hard sometimes because there all kinds of changes through some sections, and so it’s easy to read the wrong thing. If I could just accept changes and reject changes, it would work. But they want to make sure I addressed all the issues so I can’t accept and reject changes. They want to see what I’ve changed.

I had some fun with the puppies last night. I’ve been getting them to go into their crate at night, giving them a treat. I didn’t used to, and they were fine with being in it. But I wanted to give them an extra incentive of going on on their own. So Max, 6 months old, is great about going in and sitting, waiting for his treat. But I have to be right up to the crate and then he goes in. My cue is: Bedtime, kennel.

Tanner, 11 weeks, just wants the treat, and usually, I have to lift him or give him a little push to get him inside, and then he sits with Max and they get their treats.

But last night, I said, “Bedtime, kennel,” and Max raced to the kennel. It was the cutest thing. He sat inside and wagged his tail. Course, I couldn’t get there quick enough because I hadn’t expected him to do that, and Tanner was underfoot as I was trying to get there, wanting his treat. So Max started to come out. But I said again, “Bedtime, kennel, and he whipped around and sat right back down. For the first time ever, Tanner joined him and sat next to him without me forcing the issue.

Yesterday too, I usually have them on my lap, desk chair sleeping while I’m writing. They sleep, and I don’t have to worry about them getting up and wandering and having accidents. But I wanted to begin to train them that they can have an afternoon nap in one of their beds. So it was a trial of patience. I put one in the bed, and then the other. Tanner would get out. I put him back in the bed and Max got out. I put them in the separate beds next to each other, Max got out. Tanner finally got it and stayed in the bed. Max kept wanting in my lap, but after maybe the fifth time of returning him to the other bed, he finally climbed into bed with Tanner and they slept.

Yes! Pumping fist. I AM the alpha! Sometimes I think I’m losing the battle. LOL

Five new Highland novellas by Bestselling Authors of Highland romances that will delight with mystery, intrigue, romance, drama and much more! From the authors who have provided countless hours of reading pleasure so that fans can slip away to the past and live among all those hot Highlanders.

PREORDER BUY LINKS:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

ARe Books (All Romance ebooks)

Kobo

Smashwords

Apple/Itunes/Ibooks

Print version also coming!

Okay, I’m back to edits! Have a lovely day! Oh, shoot, it’s Wednesday and that means garbage day. Usually get it out at oh-dark-thirty. Can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!!!

So it was warmer out and my neighbor was taking his garbage out, so we had to do more socialization training. Max was licking his sandaled feet. That is progress.

🙂

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:
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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

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Wilde & Woolly Bears

Kissing the Highlander at Barnes and Noble!

Jan13

Misty and Cold–not sure what the green stuff is that the farmer planted but it makes it look like spring. It isn’t. It’s cold. 🙂 I think we had snow showers/freezing rain at some point. It didn’t stick, but it didn’t feel like rain. It was too dark to see on one of my jaunts outside with the puppies.

Max and Tanner

They really have been angels. No chewing on…well, mostly, no chewing on stuff they shouldn’t. I put my wool coat on the coffee table, gloves, hat, so I can easily grab them and run the puppies outside. When they have to go, they have to go. I’ve taken to making them sit on my chair while I get bundled up. That way I don’t have to worry about them. So they had been playing with an empty birdseed sack and they had gotten really quiet. I stopped writing to see what they were up to. They had pulled down my coat and hat. Tanner was happily chewing on my hat. Max was lying on top of my coat, chewing on his chewstick. Ack.

Sooooo, they’re mostly good. And no accidents inside for several days. So we’re doing good.

Just wanted to share for our Nook readers, which I’m one, that Kissing the Highlander is now available for preorders at B&N!

I received first edits on Silver Wolf Christmas. Which means: one seemingly insignificant change can change EVERYTHING. Sooo that always means first edits are a bear. Lots of gnashing of teeth. I read through the comments last night, but I’m not a night person, so trying to tackle it wasn’t going to happen. It doesn’t mean that there are tons of changes, but just one change can affect tons of stuff in a mss. One time, they wanted me to put a kiss sooner in the book. I thought, no problem. But guess what, folks. When the hero and heroine have had that first kiss, it changes everything between them. The dynamics are different. They’re not anticipating it any longer. Been there, done that. AND you have to add new conflict to keep them from going further. Yes, I’m murder on my hero and heroine.

I write romance. What can I say?

Anyway, I always tackle the simple stuff first, but even that can change everything. Sometimes, I say no. That the comments made are wrong. That the way they’re suggesting the change will ruin the whole story. I used to roll over and play dead. Whatever my editors wanted. But when they started suggesting radical changes that would have destroyed the characterization, the black moment, the whole point of the book, I said no. I couldn’t do it.

Some battles aren’t worth fighting. Some changes are worth making. And some, absolutely not.

*sigh* And that means that I’m going to get WAY behind on SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble. I was 900 words behind yesterday, which considering I was 6,000 words behind is not bad. But I need 3400 words today and with doing revisions on the other book, probably not happening.

Despite not wanting to even look at it this morning, I’ve got my sword in hand and I’m going to face the battle. You have to do it, you know. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to. You just have to get into fighting stance and tackle it, one step at a time. And then, it’s just like word count. It happens!

“BIG sigh”

The puppies got me up at 4 am. I’m a morning person, but NOT that much of a morning person. I’ll be glad when they can last through the night and wake at a more reasonable hour. Like 5. 🙂

Have a super great Tuesday!!!

And may you win on all your battle fronts today! Or even better? Not have to face any!

PREORDER BUY LINKS:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

ARe Books (All Romance ebooks)

Kobo

Smashwords

IBooks coming! Print version also coming!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Goodreads:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears

The Puppy is SUPPOSED to Sleep

Dec11

Hey, just because I can’t sleep, doesn’t mean that the puppy shouldn’t. I just had too much to do, so I was up at 4 am this morning, HOPING Max would sleep. No such luck. He was like it was our regular time to wake up between 5-6:30, depending on how late I worked the night before.

So we had to go out, and we had to eat and we had to play and I was trying to get some of the million and one things done, like get the bear ready to ship, and a Christmas card ready and bills paid, and Max is happily getting into mischief. Of course. 🙂 I can’t say what he grabbed hold of this morning and was tearing through the house with until I caught him. 🙂 <3 He was having a fine time of it. I couldn’t help laughing. Which only encourages the little devil. 🙂

Amethyst Nana Bear is done!

Max and my desk chair

So I usually sit down first thing to work on blogs and emails and such and stop to play with Max often until he tuckers out. But I REALLY had things to do. So I wasn’t doing anything the way I was supposed to. He jumped onto my desk chair and looked at me. I was supposed to be sitting right there. I was getting a bunch of stuff ready for the post office. After I did that, I sat down, and he was in my lap to sleep.

Many years ago before kids, I was required to go to a military wives’ luncheon. I as on Active Duty at the time, had no husband or kids, no pets at the time, either, but had them growing up. So when a woman asked if I had kids, I wisely said, “No.” I didn’t mention no husband either, which I would have to have to be a military wife. *sigh*

Everyone was talking about their kids and I said something about puppies being just like them. Hey, I babysat kids and babies when I was a teen, so it wasn’t that I didn’t know about kids. And I’d help raise a number of puppies, toy poodles, Afghan Hound, and a silky terrier. And guess what? They’re just like little kids.

When I was substitute teaching in the kindergarten classes, they were so used to doing everything in a certain way. Not my way, of course, but the teacher’s way.

The kids had a routine they felt comfortable with. So do puppies. And you know what? So do we as grownups.

With Max’s coming home with me, talk about my routine being out of whack. But we’re beginning to settle down into somewhat of a routine and that makes us both happy. When Tanner comes home, he’ll have to learn our routine too, and then he’ll be confused when I don’t stick with it. But, hey, I’m only human.

And we had a breakthrough! Max laid down when I gave him the word command. Woohoo!

Do you have a routine? How do you feel when it’s out of whack?

Have a super Thursday! Next up for us is Max is getting a bath. And that’s not in our usual routine either. The breeder says Havanese aren’t smelly dogs. She lied.

🙂

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
www.terryspear.com
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter:
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Wilde & Woolly Bears

Being Smarter than the Dog

Dec10

I can write full-length novels, and do any number of things well. But now is the time to be smarter than the dog. 🙂 <3

Every day is an adventure. I’ve discovered this Havanese is a chow hound. Maybe because he had others to compete with back home, so he wolfs down his food and then wants to get up on the printer cabinet where I’ve measured out the rest of his food for the day so I don’t overfeed him.

He’s a jumper, so trying to jump on top of the printer stand, but he can’t make it. Thankfully.

So then his next goal–you see, just like in books, characters have to have all-important goals–so does Max. His next goal is to get the trash out of the wastepaper basket next to my desk. It’s mostly paper trash, though I throw my used up green tea bags in there too. It’s empty as it’s trash day, but I always line it with a recycled plastic bag. So he keeps getting into the wooden receptacle and I put a towel over it. Yesterday, I just put the trash can up above on the printer cabinet, but then I can’t reach it. Sooo, have to have another solution. He tried to pull off the towel, tried to go underneath the towel, finally climbed on top of the towel. With a new mission in mind. He could use this as stepping stool to reach his food on the printer cabinet. 🙂 <3

But the towel sank under his weight.

He’s not going for playing with his ball or chewsticks or rope pull. He wants something different. So we went to down training and he’s doing well. He still doesn’t go down on command, but he’s no longer trying to grab the treat out of my hand. Maybe because I’ve switched the treat to the other hand and he just has to follow my empty hand to the floor.

I will say that we had no accidents in his bed the last two nights and I was working on a final Christmas bear order, I know I keep saying that, but I keep getting last minute bear orders, and I worked so late, he went into his cage to sleep. Woohoo! No fussing, just is totally acclimated to it.

When I bring the other puppy home, it’s going to be a new day dawning.

I did get my word goal down for yesterday, and about 500 extra words, but still about 2500 behind. Which is a lot less than I was behind. I spent a lot of time getting packages ready to ship. 🙂

Are you ready for Christmas? I need to pick up some candy, but otherwise, I’m done. 🙂 Well, except for finishing the last bear order and then I’ll ship it tomorrow.

Amethyst Bear

It’s an Amethyst Bear like this one.

Off to work on the story before I run errands. Max finally pooped out. 🙂 I think he was waiting for his training. 🙂 <3

We had another fun foggy day.

A Cool Vampire Day

Even More Vampire Like?

Have a great Wednesday!