We’re seeing temperatures mainly in the upper 60’s and mid 70’s as we move into Spring. It’s been mainly sunny for the past week, although we had plenty of clouds throughout yesterday. Today, we’re supposed to have a couple of showers and possibly a thunderstorm before we zoom into the lower 80’s at the end of the coming week.
The NCAA’s March Madness continued this week with the University of Michigan losing their Sweet Sixteen game to Auburn 78-65, so that finishes their 2024-25 season. Meanwhile, Michigan State scooted past Ole Miss 73-70 to move into the Elite Eight where they’ll play Auburn later today. The winner will move into the Final Four.
The Detroit Pistons are now 42-32. Right now, they’re still in the top six in the conference and will continue into the playoffs if they can win several of their remaining games.
The Detroit Tigers opened their MLB regular season on March 27th against the LA Dodgers. I was able to watch two of the three games. Unfortunately, Detroit lost all three. What a bummer!
Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.” – Ray Bradbury. Compliments of https://press.barnesandnoble.com/bnpress-blog/inspirational-quotes-writing/.
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on March 30th, the thirteen Sunday of 2025 and the fifth and final one for March. (Compliments of https://www.onthisday.com/birthdays/).
Jethro Tull, English agricultural writer; John Hawkins, English writer (A General History of the Science and Practice of Music; Life of Samuel Johnson); Anna Sewell, English author (Black Beauty); John Fiske [Edmund Fisk Green], American historian and philosopher; Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (Sagesse; Clair de lune; Hombres); Franz Oppenheimer, German sociologist and economist (The State); Sean O’Casey, Irish playwright (Juno and the Paycock); Melanie Klein, Austrian-British author and child psychoanalyst (object relations theory); Erwin Panofsky, German-American Jewish art historian and iconologist (Early Netherlandish Painting); Jean Giono, French writer (World Chant); Heinz Risse, German writer; Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Bengali writer (Satyanweshi, Tungabhadrar Tirey); Ernst Gombrich, Austrian-English art historian (The Story of Art); Herbert Asmodi, German writer and actor; Milton Acorn, Canadian poet; Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish eccentric businessman (founder of IKEA) and author (The Testament of a Furniture Dealer); om Sharpe, English historian and author (Riotous Assembly, Want); Graeme Edge, British rock drummer, and poet (Moody Blues – “The Dream”; “Morning Glory”); Gerrit Komrij, Dutch poet/essayist (Happy Schizo); Ryszard Kotla, Polish travel writer and activist, tour guide, journalist, academic teacher, engineer; and Piers Morgan, English newspaper editor and TV personality (Daily Mirror, CNN).
Any names familiar to you? There were two for me this week: Anna Sewell andPiers Morgan. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one!
My Work In Progress
I had hoped to complete chapter seventeen of Vendetta, the sixth novel in my Bedlam series this week, but ran out of time. There were another thee reviews this week, bringing the total to 229. As always, plenty of suggestions to improve my writing.
Here’s another snippet:
That same evening, Mongo left his house and strode toward the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-door Coupé parked in the driveway. He nodded at the armed guard who held the back door open and ducked as he entered.
The guard handed Mongo a sealed envelope. “This came by messenger.”
“E se, Akin.” Mongo thanked his bodyguard in the Yoruba language.
Akin showed a toothless grin, the result of a beating at the hands of the authorities, before closing the door and hopping into the front passenger seat.
Mongo studied the handwriting on the envelope. Don’t recognize the writing. Wonder who it’s from? He pulled an obsidian letter opener from a map pocket on his door and slit the envelope. He replaced the letter opener and pulled out a sheet of paper.
Beware! Things might not be as they seem. Eyes are watching over you. Take all precautions if you want to live.
The handwritten note was unsigned.
“Hmm.” Mongo stuffed the note back in the envelope and shoved it next to the letter opener.
“Where to, sir?” The driver glanced in the rearview mirror.
“Huh?” Mongo glanced at his watch. Still early, but some of the students should already be there. “Oh, take me to Euphoria.”
“Very good, sir.” The driver started the vehicle and pulled out of Mongo’s driveway. He turned left and weaved his way down the hill. They continued through the city, bright with neon signs and billboards. Thirty minutes later, the driver stopped in front of the Euphoria Lounge Bar.
Akin hurried out of the front seat and assisted Mongo out of the back.
“Akin, check inside and see if Obasi has arrived. If he has, signal to me.” Mongo glanced around before strolling toward the entrance.
Moments later, Akin stuck his head out the entrance door and waved.
Mongo climbed the single step and entered the bar.
“Obasi is at a table in the rear.” Akin pointed. “There are four others with him.
“They’ll be students who wanted to meet with me away from the university. Take up your normal position and keep an eye on them—just in case.”
“As you command, sir.” Akin led Mongo to the table before moving to the bar, where he sat on a stool facing the room.
Obasi and the others stood while Mongo took the final empty seat. “We are a small group tonight, Mongo. However, there are others who want to meet you—perhaps next week.”
Mongo nodded to a waitress who set a glass in front of him.
“Sir, would you like anything else?”
“No. Thank you.”
The waitress smiled at him as she departed.
“Mongo, you know my sister, Yoruba.” Obasi gestured to the woman sitting next to him. “Let me introduce the others. From her right, going around the table, are Musa, Ibrahim, and Ovie. You might recognize them as they”
The three men grinned as they each half-raised a hand as Obasi called out their names.
“Welcome, everyone. I apologize for cancelling the W National Park excursion, but something unexpected came up.” Mongo sipped on the drink the waitress had brought him. “I expected more interest based on comments made in my classes.” He shook his head. “Oh, well. Can’t be helped—anything could have arisen for the others as it did for me. In any event, I had planned to pick four people to function as field agents to increase our organization’s membership.
Yoruba raised a hand. “Will you do the excursion on another day?”
“Yes, of course. I had planned to have everyone swear an oath of secrecy and go through an initiation. We’ll skip the initiation for now, but to continue to hear more about us, you will need to swear an oath.” Mongo glanced at the four students, who appeared eager to proceed.
“If you’re ready, repeat after me. I, state your name, do swear upon pain of torture or even death to abide by the rules governing the organization to which I pledge my allegiance. I will never divulge what I know to any outsiders.”
The students looked at each other.
“Mongo, why such a serious oath?” Musa shook his head. “This seems like a skit from a movie, not a real-life vow.”
“If you cannot take the oath, you’re welcome to leave—now.” Mongo glared at Musa. “This is a dangerous business, and we do not take anything for granted.”
“No-no.” Musa raised his hands as if to ward off an attack. “I was just voicing my opinion.”
Mongo smiled. “Opinions are always welcome as long as the person providing them obeys the rules.”
“Understood, Mongo.” Musa lowered his head. “I am sorry if I offended you.”
Mongo glanced at Obasi. “No worries. If you’re ready, let’s do the oath.”
Everyone stood and repeated the words spoken by Mongo.
When they finished, Mongo and Obasi clapped.
The waitress returned with a tray of drinks. After setting one in front of each person, she departed.
“Welcome to the Black Shadow.” Obasi grinned as he raised a glass of chapman. “To the enrichment of those seeking to gain forbidden knowledge.”
Everyone reached for their glasses, raised them, and took a drink.
“Ugh. What is this?” Ovie grimaced.
Mongo chuckled. “Chapman. I didn’t want to use alcohol for toasting such an important event. As Obasi said, ‘Welcome to the Black Shadow.’”
“When will we learn more?” Yoruba took a swig of her drink.
Mongo glanced at his watch as he stood. “It’s getting late for me as I have another important engagement this evening. Obasi will fill you in.”
More next time.
This brings us to an end for another week. I hope you found something of interest. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading and hope you drop in again.
© Copyright 2025 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved