Every week in Friday Free Web Fiction I post a first draft scene from my work in progress (WIP), or a short story, or an excerpt from one of my books. Today’s offering is from my Prunella Smith WIP, Past Worlds, The Lock Smith's Secret. Singing floats in through the window. I look towards it. Sunlight streams through the small portal placed high on the stone wall of my room. It falls in a golden pool on the floor beside where I kneel. The song comes again, and the rich, male voice sends vibrations through me—both body and soul. I take a deep breath, fix my eyes on my Lord on his cross on the wall and return to my prayer. The song stops and metal hits dirt. He must be digging, I think, and an image of him working in the garden comes to mind. I slap myself, and curse wordlessly. Did they hire a handsome gardener just to test us? Why couldn’t they have found someone old and ugly, like the sisters who don’t seem to notice his existence? Surely it is not only I that feel his presence. … [Read more...]