How Sweet The Story Or Gotta Grab ‘Em Right Away

She never really knew why.

He came into her life like some wonderful new perfume. Never before had any man awakened in her hear the tingling romance that his presence seemed to bring.

And yet his attentions were destined to last only one short evening.

They had met and danced. He had seemed quite interested. She was beautiful girl. And still he left her that night saying not a word about seeing her again.

She never saw or her from him and really never knew why.

Did he have a right to suspect her?

Dunbar was in a terrible state of mind. He was worried sick about this wife. He was madly in love with her and she had been acting very strangely during the past several months.

The thing that troubled him most was that she now responded very reluctantly to his affectionate advances. She wouldn’t even let him kiss her. The whole state of affairs was driving him mad. He suspected everything. And, yet, he alone was to blame.

Why had he changed so in his attentions?

The thing was simply beyond her. She couldn’t puzzle it out. And every moment it preyed up her mind and was almost breaking her heart.

He had been the most attentive lover and husband imaginable. But of late some strange something seemed to have come between them. Now he was so changed.

Was is some other woman? No, she told herself, – it couldn’t be! Yet why wasn’t he the way he used to be toward her?

Often a bridesmaid but never a bride.

Edna’s case was really a pathetic one. Like every woman, her primary ambition was to marry. Most of the girls of her set were married – or about to be. Yet not one possessed more grace or charm or loveliness than she.

And as birthdays crept gradually toward that tragic thirty-mark, marriage seemed farther from her life than ever.

She was often a bridesmaid but never a bride.

“Could I be happy with him in spite of that?”

She had announced her engagement to him. Her friends were beginning to be quite curious as to when the wedding would occur. And he, more insistent that nay of them, was pleading with her to set a definite time.

One thing seemed to stand in the way — something she didn’t have the courage to talk to him about — something she feared, might interfere with her happiness.

She simply didn’t know what to do.

Have I captured your attention, yet? What did you think of these five 1920s blurbs? After reading them all, did they make you want to find out more about each of the characters or possibly their significant other?

They did me. As I read these quick blurbs, I kept thinking, Wow, I wish I could come up with neat little ditties like these. They’ve got me hooked. I want to read more.

It’s been a while, since I actually wanted to write anything fiction. After I found these blurbs, I suddenly got the urge to start composing new stories, some being in the same time period of the pictures shown, others possibly being turned into time travel material, and others used with more of a modern-day theme.

That’s why, when it came time to write an article for this month’s newsletter, I decided to offer these blurbs up to you, in hopes that they’ll motivate you as well.

Take them, swirl them around in your creative brain for a while. See what comes up. I bet there’s some really great story material for you.

If you do come up with something, let me know. I’d love to hear all about your ideas.

Oh, and by the way, you’ll get a kick out this little bit of information. These five blurbs were actually 1920s advertisements promoting Lambert Pharmaceutical Company’s LISTERINE mouth wash.

You know what I really think is hilarious about all this? The one thing that’s keeping these lovers apart is halitosis. Just think...how many romance authors do you suppose would actually dare use this as form of conflict between their characters?

Until next time. Happy Writing

(originally written for the March 2004 Valley of the Sun del CorAZon, newsletter)