Monday, May 28, 2007

We've All Got Choices

Written by Thomas Hamburger Jnr from Harry McFry Investigates

If anyone ever told Harry McFry he could make choices in life, then he’s forgotten. Sometimes, he feels like he’s just drifting through life. That’s why, at the age of 46, Harry finds himself confronting his former lover in a bar in Madrid, having met her for the first time in five years. There’s a lot going on that Harry doesn’t seem to understand … it’s all just, well… a bit beyond him. He’s out of his depth, swimming against a tide of history he’s never fully acknowledged. Which is strange, for a former historian.

But that’s Harry for you. He likes to think he’s ‘sorted’, even though there’s a string of people (mainly women) who would gladly take to the dock to attest differently.

Just now, he’s working on a case that’s looking like the kind of mystery you wouldn’t want the responsibility of solving. It’s family stuff – hidden secrets, jealousies, fears and even a bit of hatred all mashed up together. And it all started with a phone call from young Laurel McFry (no relation) who had ‘lost’ her family. Except it wasn’t quite as simple as that…

Now, he finds himself confronting some uncomfortable things from his own family past. A brother who’s managed (somehow) not to mention to Harry that he’s taken up with his ex-girlfriend’s sister. What kind of brother does a thing like that?

Meanwhile, there’s a 102 year old woman in Shropshire, England, who holds the key to the mystery of Laurel’s missing family. She won’t be around much longer (that’s an actuarial certainty), and Harry McFry knows it.

Things might have all been very different if, five years ago, he hadn’t walked out on Ana. She’s got her own secrets (of course) and her own reasons for keeping them from Harry. She’d be the first to say that Harry had a choice when he left her, even if, to him, it hadn’t seemed like a choice at all. Any objective reader of Harry’s story would conclude that the path he took was the wrong one. In fact, (if truth be known) he’s beginning to think that, himself. So there’s hope yet, for Harry…

Sometimes it takes the mess of someone else’s family to make you realize these things. That’s family history for you. If you think you can help Harry solve the mystery of the missing family, then you’re welcome to join him. He might just need a push, if he’s to find the right path.

Thomas Hamburger Jnr has been writing Harry McFry Investigates since the end of January 2007. Variously described as ‘derivative drivel’ and ‘inspired’, the story is about to reach what just may be an exciting conclusion. This is Thomas Hamburger Jnr’s first attempt at fiction, and he has chosen to write it via a blog because (as he says) ‘blogs are the enemy of procrastination’.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You tease! This is the first I've heard of your work, and I am already dying to know what happens..Now I have to go subscribe and find out! LOL..Well done!

Maude Lynn said...

Very cool. After the very hot post I read the other day, I'm trying to catch up on Harry's story!

Not From Lapland said...

Mama Zen, I feel you there. I need to find a day where I can just go through all the past posts and get up to date with Harry McFry rather than just keep reading the recent ones but not knowing the back story.

However, I think I would have to invent some sort of time standing still machine to manage that at the moment!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, you're suckering me in, too!

Bill Blunt said...

Thank you for your kind comments. Rocky is the road to writing a novel on a blog... it's nice to know someone's reading it!

I have averagely-broad shoulders, so please don't hold back on any criticisms - so many readers have helped me tweak the story over the last couple of months, that it makes me see the advantage of the blog.

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