Weekend Serial — Atonement in Zugzwang Episode-4, featuring Robbie Cheadle!

Talented story teller, Teagan Geneviene, has featured one of my recipes and selected three items from it to create her latest episode of Atonement in Zugswang. Thank you, Teagan.

Fondant animals & barn by Robbie Cheadle

Welcome back to Atonement, TN, everyone.   If you saw my post yesterday, then you know that this new installment of Atonement in Zugzwang was driven by a recipe (from which I chose 3 things) created just for this post by the amazing Robbie Cheadle.  Here’s a link to the post where you can learn all about that fabulous Black Bean & Vegetable Soup.

This episode is a little longer, and I’m sitting up late to finish writing it, and do this post.  So let’s get to business.  The three random things I took from Robbie’s recipe are: chopped, carrot, and soup.

Previously

Pepper learned that the body of her uncle, Wirt (Salty) Riley was missing.  In its place a mysterious blue bottle had been left.  Inside the bottle, they found a cryptic message, “You must set up the chessboard.”  We also met a new member of the heard (more accurately called “drift”) of otherworldly glowing pigs.  Moccus has an excessively prankish nature.

Atonement in Zugzwang

Episode 4

MCS Mandalas, Pixabay

The thick metal frame of the front door was cold against my hand.  A heavy deadbolt slid into place as I locked it.  Only then did I pay close attention to the glass.  The big windows on either side of the door had the same kind of glass.  It was thicker than normal.

Some kind of security glass?  Maybe even bulletproof?  But why?  A little town like Atonement, Tennessee probably doesn’t have enough crime to keep the local cops busy.  And the upgraded alarm system — again, why?  There’s something wrong in all this, I thought anxiously, and the hair on my arms stood on end in confirmation.

An unusual form of discontent settled onto my shoulders.  It wasn’t simply the industrial appearance of the remodeled service station, or the rundown appearance of its exterior.  Everything within my gaze felt strange… foreign to me.  Although I wasn’t sure whether my unfamiliar surroundings were at fault or if I was the alien presence.

“Maybe some of both,” I remarked aloud, and my voice echoed from the high ceiling and on the large metal staircase.

Looking out through the abundance of glass on the front of the place, I forced a smile and waved as Maudie got into the bank manager’s car.  Russell Skeen kindly offered to take my friend to the closest rental car agency — which was by no means nearby.

Continue reading here: https://teagansbooks.com/2023/03/18/weekend-serial-atonement-in-zugzwang-episode-4-featuring-robbie-cheadle/

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