The following is a re-post from from my Facebook Author page. It’s a fun vignette, and brings subscribers up-to-speed on developments in Arroyo Loco. If you received notice of this post in your email, you are entered in the drawing to win the first copy of Missing Mom! If you didn’t receive notice, please subscribe – see that subscribe button over on the right? – to enter your name in the drawing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The rickety wooden bridge in Arroyo Loco ate a tire yesterday. It was especially unfortunate that said tire was on the faded green sedan belonging to easily traumatized Amanita Warten, although there was some justice in this since she is the one neighbor who insists on driving the scant one-half mile from home to the roadhouse. Her screams erupted at about eleven in the morning and reverberated throughout the canyon long enough to draw plenty of attention. Really, it was only one tire that had popped through a weak spot in one of the planks, but Amanita was convinced her whole car would plunge to the dry creek below, carrying her to certain death among the dust and broken timbers. Arroyo Loco’s HOA coffers are thin right now, due mainly to delinquency in the payment of dues, so the decision was made to repair rather than replace the ancient structure. It took four people to hoist the car and tire out of the hole, and several more to engage in a heated discussion about the use of eco-friendly, sustainably-produced repair materials. In the end, Raymond and Bryce liberated a few 2 x 6s from the old barn collapsing behind Ernie’s place, placating everyone by using recycled materials. They laid these in two neat tracks across the aging planks, covering the hole and giving the bridge another few months of life. All is well for now, but this being Arroyo Loco, probably not for long…