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Monday, April 14, 2014

L is for Leavenworth

My theme for A- Z is the year my book takes place: 1881. I"ll be posting about people, places, and random facts about the year as it relates - however distantly - to my book, West of Paradise.

Today we have L for Leavenworth, which is where both Jack and Katherine arrive after being sent into the past. The following scene takes place upon Jack's arrival...



     Jack came around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks.
     Horses and wagons and people who looked as if they had stepped straight out of an old history book paid him no mind whatsoever, going about their business. Wooden sidewalks, raised up away from the ground to allow for drainage, fronted the buildings, big boxy things, all clapboards with a smattering of brick here and there. The Planter’s Hotel sat on a rise above the Missouri River, an old keel boat grounded near the shore. Out in the middle of the river a newer steamboat was chugging away and come in from the west…he could hear the train.
For a second he just stared like a kid at Christmas who’d gotten the best present ever. He was really here…or there: Leavenworth, Kansas. And there on the corner across the street was the Silver Slipper, two doors down from the barber’s, just like Miss Adjani said.  
     Jack shoved his hat down on his head and walked across the street, trying not to stare at the wagons and horses jostling along the wide street. He stepped up onto the sidewalk and pushed the doors open. The smell of whiskey and cigars assaulted him.




13 comments:

  1. Great snippet of your story. That would be so strange to go back into that time period.

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  2. He certainly handled it well.

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  3. I'm kind of jealous of Jack because I'd love to go back in time just once! As long as I could get back of course. Great snippet.

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  4. Nothing like the smell of whiskey and cigars!

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  5. Not reading the scene! I should be starting the novel this week and don't want any spoilers. But it will be fun to see how all these A to Z topics fit in. :)

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  6. Nice beginning. It kind of reminds me of the trailer "A Million Ways to Die In the Old West."

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  7. Since there have been so many times in my life I've thought I'd like to go back and see what things were like "when," I loved the whole premise of your book. This scene highlights why.

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  8. I remember that scene very well from reading the novel. It tickle my imagination then and the imagery is still fascinating.

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  9. How freaking cool is that? Love this. I'm wishing I was Jack right now.

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  10. Very cool. We have a recreated Old West village only a couple of miles from my house. I was up there once researching the purported hauntings in many of the buildings and thoroughly enjoying the raised wooden sidewalks. Your scene took me back to there.

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