Friday, September 17, 2010

Mystery Week: Conclusion!!!

Wow, this has been a fun week! I loved reading your responses, and I really appreciate your enthusiasm! I had a great time writing this story, so I'm glad to hear you had a good time reading it. ;)

I'll extend the suspense a little longer by starting with my acknowledgments. I want to thank my wonderful daddy for helping me edit my story so that it was a little cleaner and a little less sinister (go ahead--ask me about that one!). Thank you, Daddy!

I also want to thank my grandpa for all the work he has done to help maintain the actual nature trail in our home county. It's a beautiful trail, and I'm sure I'm not the only who has been inspired by it! Thank you, Grandpa!

And thank you to the generous friend who donated the books for this giveaway. You know who you are. ;) Thank you for being the kind, sweet person you are!

Now, for the winner! There were a couple of great responses, but the person who was the closest to the correct response (who officially entered the contest) was . . . ARIEL! Congratulations, Ariel! I hope it's alright if I share her response with you later on, so you can see just how close she actually was. Great detective work!


Thank you to all of you who shared your thoughts. You are all so clever! And both of the people who guessed about the T.V. show I based my characters' names off of were correct. That would have been an extra entry for both of them if I had needed to do a drawing.

My characters' names were from The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries show (the one from the 1970s)! Here's a look behind the names:

Callie: She's a friend of Frank and Joe Hardy. From what I recall, she mostly shows up at the beginning of the first season.

Ned: This was probably the name that clued most people in to what show I was referring to. ;) Ned is the name of Nancy's love interest in the Nancy Drew episodes (again, primarily in the first season from what I've seen so far).

Pamela: This one's a little bit trickier. The actress who played Nancy Drew was Pamela Sue Martin.

Parker: The actor who played Frank Hardy was Parker Stevenson. Oh, those blue eyes! (Note the reference to "bright blue eyes" in the fourth installment of the story!)

Carson: Read the conclusion to the story below to find out who Carson is in The Nature Trail. Carson was the name of Nancy's father in the show.

And the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived! Here's the final installment of The Nature Trail:


The Nature Trail (Conclusion)
By Amber Stokes

“Ned!” The man in shadows emerged to reveal her boyfriend, looking quite dashing in a black suit. Callie’s gaze shifted from Ned to her brother, hoping that someone would explain what was going on. But Parker led her straight to Ned and handed her off to him, giving them both a wink before heading back the way they had come.

"Ned?"

“Simplicity really is best, Callie. I should have listened to you when you told me that on our first date. Do you remember?”

“Yes, I remember.” But that didn’t answer any of her questions. Or did it?

“I wanted to take you out to the fanciest restaurant, go to the best show at the theater, and bring you jewelry and flowers, because I thought that would show you how much I love you. But all you wanted was simplicity—simple love, right?”

“Yes,” Callie whispered.

Reaching out, Ned stroked her long, curly ponytail. “Why didn’t I listen to you?”

“I don’t know.” Her words were so quiet that she wasn’t sure he heard her.

“I thought doing something elaborate would impress you. I tried to have a friend set up a scavenger hunt for you, like looking for buried treasure.” He smiled, a smile that matched the soft yellow light over the bay. “But you caught him before he could finish.”

“The necklace…?”

“It was meant for you. I bought it for you, Callie.”

Callie wasn’t sure whether she wanted to giggle or sob.

“So then I got the bright idea that it would be rather romantic to set up a candlelit path to the nature trail, starting in your driveway. Of course, you caught poor Carson again and he almost burned up your yard.” Ned grimaced. “I’m so sorry, Callie. I was waiting at the entrance to the trail, so I saw the whole thing. I should have known it was a stupid idea.”

Tears did start to fall then, but a strange laugh flowed out of her mouth, too.

“So now here we are, standing in your favorite spot on the trail. Nothing fancy, but it’s fitting, don’t you think?"

His fingers caressed her cheek, and then her lips. But just as he leaned in to kiss her, she asked, “Who’s Pamela?”

Ned jerked back. “What?”

“I got a rather intriguing letter from a girl named Pamela. I tried my best to ignore it.”

Laughter rumbled from Ned’s throat. He tilted his head back and laughed hard.

“What is so funny?” But Callie found herself smiling despite her words.

“Pamela is one of my co-workers. She had already sent the letter as planned before I could let her know that the first phase of my scavenger hunt had failed. I waited at the marsh for you anyway, just in case you showed up there for the second phase. But I like the way this turned out much better.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Callie said with a small smirk as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Looking into Ned’s dark eyes, she asked, “But what is all of this for, anyway?” In the last bit of light from the sun for the evening, Callie repeated, “What have you been planning?”

“This.” Pulling a ring out of his front pocket, he knelt before her. In the white gold setting the lone diamond and the lone emerald, sitting snugly together, shined expectantly. “Our birthstones,” he explained as he held the ring out to her.

“Oh, Ned.”

“Will you marry me, Callie?”

The serene silence of nature was broken when Callie flung herself into Ned’s arms and said, “Oh, yes!”

Yes, the nature trail in the woods near her home was Callie’s favorite place in the world.



So now I want to know your final thoughts! Did you enjoy the story? Were you surprised by the ending, or did you see it coming the whole time?

Here is what Ariel (the winner) e-mailed me about her thoughts on what would be the conclusion of the story:

"For the ending, I think that Ned is going to propose to Callie, and give her the necklace, but something happened and the brother and mysterious man were supposed to help make it romantic and messed it up. The necklace was supposed to be buried and she would find it as a surprise, and the candle was also part of the romance. Just my thought :)"

She was pretty close, don't you think? ;) Again, great job, Ariel, and the rest of you who shared your guesses with me!

Hope you've enjoyed "Mystery Week!" I recently posted my review of a cozy mystery, so be sure and check that out, too!

12 comments:

Ariel Wilson said...

Haha, wow! I can't believe how close I was! Thanks Amber! :)

P.S. I miss you!!!

Amber Holcomb said...

Ariel,

You were very close, indeed! :) Thank you for participating in the contest, and I'll try to get that package sent out to you today!

~Amber

P.S. I miss you, too! I hope you are having a good time at George Fox! :)

Ashley (Ibreath2read) said...

You were right spot on it that conclusion of yours, Ariel! Congrats on winning, girl!

Amber, I love this past week, it has been SO much fun! And the mystery was very intriguing and interesting to read. And I can't help but ask... how much sinister and dirty(?) was it before your Pop cleaned it up? Just curious is all.
Thanks for giving this night owl something fantastic to read this week, Amber!
Love Ya,
Ashley

Amber Holcomb said...

Ashley,

Thank you for stopping by! :D I'm so glad you had fun this week and that you enjoyed the story!

And haha...I was wondering if someone would ask about that! ;) I guess by "cleaner" I meant that my dad helped me "clean" it up--polish it, so that there were fewer errors in it and it made more sense. :)

As for the "sinister" part, I had originally made the letter from Pamela to be really mean. She was going to be a jealous co-worker who was quite nasty and scary. But then that left a lot of unresolved issues at the end...so I think having her be a helpful co-worker was much better! ;)

I'm quite the night owl, too, so I'm glad I could help entertain you! Maybe we should start a night owl/blogger support group or something! ;)

~Amber

Bluerose said...

Great story, Amber! I've been keeping up all week. I knew Ned would propose at the end, but I didn't have all the details like Ariel. :) I've really enjoyed reading it in segments, though. And I had no clue what show the names were from. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Bluerose,

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for taking the time to read it throughout the week! :)

Great job guessing the ending, too! ;)

~Amber

Kav said...

Aaargh! I don't know where the week went but it took me with it! I'm back now though and just finished reading your story. I can't believe how well you built that up in just four short posts. That's talent! I was figuring Ned had something to do with it...but wasn't sure if he was going to turn into a bad guy. LOL. Ariel could earn her private detective license, I guess! And funny about the names. I picked up on Ned right away and then immediately thought of Parker the actor when I read his name and Pamela as Nancy Drew only I somehow superimposed her appearance onto Callie. LOL.

Oh and FYII Trixie Belden was a girl detective in oodles of books. A series like Nancy Drew only Trixie was thirteen. they were first published in the 40's and 50's and have been reissued nearly ever generation since then. Old Trix has a real cult following. They even hold a Trixie Belden Camp every summer in one of the settings of her book (she traveled the states and always stumbled into a mystery). The camp is well attended by fans of all ages. There's your trivia for the week. Sorry I missed up on all the fun, but I'm glad I caught up. Great idea!

Amber Holcomb said...

Kav,

I know...I think this was a busy week for everyone! ;) Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words--they mean a lot to me!

I thought you would pick up on the names of the characters since you had seen the show. ;) I guess it was a little bit confusing to use a secondary character's name with one of the main characters' names from the other show, but hope it still made sense!

BTW, thanks for the trivia info! ;) That's interesting, and she sounds very similar to Nancy Drew, for sure! (Boy, do they have a lot of Nancy Drew books now!)

I'm so glad you could catch up and join us today--thank you for taking the time to read the story and comment on it! :)

~Amber

Amanda Stanley said...

Congratulations, Ariel!! Great job on your guess of the ending, too :D Hope you enjoy those books!

Amber, LOVE your ending!! Oh, SO romantic *sigh* And, I love the idea of a birthstone for an engagement ring, especially both of their birthstones together! And, I think it's so cute that his attempts at elaborate perfection sorta fumbled, his acknowledgement of it both humble and endearing. I didn't know whether to giggle or sob, either! Love has a voice of its own and always sounds sweetest in simplicity :)

Thank you so much for a very fun, "mysterious" week, and ending it on a lovely, romantic note :D Praying you have a beautiful weekend, my friend!!

Blessings,
Amanda Stanley

Project Journal said...

Ariel, good job! Lol...I was trying to decide if Ned would be a good guy or a bad guy in the end...I ended up leaning definitely towards the good guy though. I, like others, didn't have quite as many details figured out as you. BUT I DID know where the character names came from! Lol....

Nice ending Amber. It really did tie up all those loose ends that the fourth installment left us with.

I'm a night owl too, hence the time that I'm leaving THIS comment for example! Lol....I've been keeping the story for in the evening too, Ashley. Gives me something to do when I'm lonesome at college : ) Soon I'll get your books! That'll give me LOTS to do!! Lol!

Ah well, I've gotta go find something else to do instead of this....

: /

Hannah

Amber Holcomb said...

Amanda,

I'm so glad you liked it! :D Ned's a pretty sweet guy, isn't he? Quite the romantic! I love the line you wrote: "Love has a voice of its own and always sounds sweetest in simplicity :)" I couldn't agree more!

I hope you have a lovely weekend, as well, and thank you so much for stopping by and encouraging me!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Hannah,

I know you would have sent me a great response if your Internet had been working! Good job guessing correctly about the T.V. show, and for realizing that Ned's not such a bad guy after all. ;) I'm glad you liked the ending!

And another fellow night owl! Way to join the club! (Not that you should necessarily follow my example...but it's nice not to be alone.) ;) It will be so fun when you get those books from Ashley! It definitely keeps you busy when you have lots to read!

Have a good weekend, and thank you for stopping by! :) Hope we can talk more soon!

~Amber