This is just a snippet to prove that I’m actually writing and not lounging on an island in the Caribbean:

Her voice was the first thing that got my attention. It has just enough of that smooth, slippery, Southern accent to sound charming. And she is charming. It’s only later that she lets you see that wicked sense of humor that can zing a room into howls of laughter. No one expects it from her. It’s the voice, you see. I kid her that it’s because she’s from the country, to which she takes great offense.

“I’m from the city of Forest, Mississippi,” she retorts with grand dignity, “population five thousand.” I laugh because I’m a sophisticated city boy from the state capitol of Jackson. She never seems impressed. Perhaps it’s because in a battle of wits she could take me off at the knees.

She doesn’t though. Charming.