Flowers for a Grimm

Book Launch Surprise

They party was in full swing by the time August made her entrance. To be fair she had been on time for her own book release. Well she had been an hour early, but she had been stuck in hair and make-up. Her agent was convinced that August was an old lady trapped in the body of a twenty-three year old. 

“I mean come on a pair of Levi’s” she often complained. What did she expect? August was a writer. There was no call to impress when she sat in a coffee shop for hours on end with her earbuds as company. But today she had made an effort. An up and coming designer had sent her the dress and Bailye made it clear she was going to wear it. She felt silly in the thing, but she was going to tell anyone that.

“Are you going to shoot me Detective White?' Apple pulled back the hammer on her tesla as she stared down Captain Hook. 'I don’t want to shoot you, but you aren’t giving me much of a choice here Hook.' The captain regarded her shrewdly. 'Then this is it.' He raised his gun a split second too late. Apple pulled the trigger. A blue white arc of electricity roared from the end of her tesla. It struck the captain square in the chest dropping him fast. Apple lowered her gun wishing that she could have taken him in.” August closed the book and looked up out into the audience. 

A resounding round of applause met her eyes and she smiled meekly. She was never comfortable standing in front of people. Especially doing her book signings. Sure she was a best selling author. She could communicate through a page better than she could in person, but her agent Bailey insisted she had to go on these book tours and do public readings. 

August was sure it was Bailey’s way of trying to be a good friend and force her into social settings. 

She hitched her smile further up her face, sure she was doing a perfect impersonation of the Joker, but it was her default emotion when she was uncomfortable.

The crowd clapped again. ‘Well that was a good idea.’ August though as a few camera flashes went off. She could only pray that no one had recorded her and uploaded to Youtube. She hated watching herself as much as she hated listening to her voice.

During the applause the bookstore manager climbed onto the stage and placed a hand on August’s shoulders. “Thank you Ms. Grimm for that reading. Now we will have a brief question and answer period before we start the book signing. Please raise you hand.” The manager gave August a encouraging smile before stepping back off the stage. 

An eager hand shot into the air. August couldn’t see the person’s face as the spotlights were knocking her vision around like the Ali-Frazier fight. “Yes first question.” 

The person stood clutching August’s latest book in their hand. “Oh Ms. Grimm thank you so much I’m like your biggest fan. I was wondering how did you come up with Detective White?” The person did a little happy bounce before sitting back down. 

August smiled. “Well that was easy. I just thought of my great-grandmother.” She stopped as a few people in the audience laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, my grand-mother isn’t the shoot first ask questions never like Apple is, but Apple is everything that makes my great-grandmother Tuesday the formidable woman that she is. I wanted to do something to introduce her to the world and what better way for a write to show their love of someone? Apple White is my homage to Tuesday Grimm.” Not to mention all the stories her great-grandmother used to tell her, but no one needed to hear that. If they connected Apple to her great-grandmother that was enough for her audience to chew on. 

Apple White was a character and a half for sure. The questions kept coming. Most of them were the standard questions that she got asked in every city, in every interview. She didn’t mind answering them over and over again. She had been rehearsing the in the mirror. So more of less they came naturally for her.