Racehorses: Ups and Downs! 'Nincompoop' and Book Tour!

Toby (Rizzmo) is expecting treats! His owners are visiting and he knows there will be mints, carrots and perhaps apples too. See below for videos and updates on Toby, Audi's World, and Prized Spirit (Mimi).

There's an update on the Meg Sheppard Mystery Series as well (book tour?!), but first, my latest story, 'Nincompoop', written for the Uxbridge Writers' Circle word challenge: the words I had to use are in italics. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Nincompoop

Marcus slid his bishop diagonally across the chessboard and swiped Al’s knight off its black square. With a wide grin and sparkling eyes, he picked up the knight and added it to the six other pieces he’d captured.

“You nincompoop,” Al said. “You’ve put yourself in a dumb spot. Look, I can take your bishop with this pawn.”

Marcus shifted in his seat and squinted at the board. Al grabbed the bishop with a flourish and placed it with the growing hoard of Marcus’ pieces. They formed an orderly line facing Al—it was as if they were mocking him.

“You boys enjoying yourselves?” asked Al’s partner. She dropped four shopping bags onto the kitchen counter. “Guess who I met at the supermarket? Trudy Savannah. Trudy! I tell you, she’s lost weight. That Ozempic must work. Guess I should try some. Haha!”

“Bev,” Al says, “stop your incessant natter. We need to concentrate.”

“That beer you’re guzzling won’t help. Alcohol’s bad for brain function. Water’s what you need. I’ll get you some, and then I’ll put the groceries away and start the laundry.”

“We’re fine with the beer. Just leave us in peace, won’t you?”

“Can’t do. Have to put these groceries away.” Bev started humming a tune from Les Misérables.

Al stood up, scraping his chair on the cracked tiles and walked towards the washroom.

“Bev,” Marcus said. “Quick, help me. Al called me a nincompoop. I don’t know what it means, but it sure didn’t sound like a compliment.”

“No, you’re right there. Okay, I’ll check in case I can see something.” Bev peered down at the board and pointed her chubby finger at two pieces in turn. She indicated a move that Marcus could make with each one, resumed her humming and returned to the kitchen counter. She reached for one of the shopping bags, just as Al returned from the washroom.

“What did you buy that godawful lantern for?” he asked.

“I like it. It was on sale in the outdoor section.”

“You don’t like outdoors.”

“I do now. Trudy’s invited me to her cabin in the Haliburton Forest, and we’re going to be stargazing. She said we should have a lantern since everything runs on solar power, and sometimes there’s an issue. I said I’d bring one as my contribution to our stay. It’s so exciting!”

“The only stargazing worth doing is eyeing up those half-naked movie stars who come for the film festival. Besides, we haven’t got money to waste on goddam lanterns.”

Bev put her hands on her generous hips and glared at Al.

“And who’s sitting on his ass all day when he should be looking for a job?”

“I should go,” Marcus mumbled as he pressed his hands on the table and started to get up from the chair.

“No, it’s okay,” Al said. “I get this all the time. Let’s finish the game. It won’t take long since you’re in a bad spot. I’ll get a couple more beers.”

“None for me, thanks. I have to work tomorrow.”

Al leant over so that he could whisper to Marcus.

“You really are a nincompoop. You could play chess all day and watch your favourite shows if you just quit work. They treat you like dirt anyway.”  

“I heard that,” Bev said. “Al, Marcus is an astrophysicist. You should show him more respect.”

“That can’t be true. He told me he plays hockey. No one who plays hockey could be a goddam astrophysicist. I don’t know what that is, but I'm sure it doesn’t compute.” He stroked his straggly beard.

“I like my job and feel lucky I’m being paid to do it. Anyway, let’s finish this game.” Marcus then chose one of Bev’s suggested moves and captured Al’s remaining rook. This gained him a stronger position on the board.

“I didn’t see that coming,” said Al. He grabbed his bottle of beer and chugged about half of it. When he came up for air, he said, “You haven’t got someone on your phone, or an app or something, have you?”

“Course not,” Marcus said.

Al made a weak move, although Marcus lost one of his pawns as a result. But Marcus still had the opportunity to make the second move Bev had suggested. After a couple more follow-up moves, Marcus was able to shout, “Checkmate!”

“He’s not such a nincompoop after all,” Bev said.

“How did you know I called him that?”

“He told me.”

“Oh, and what else did you talk about behind my back?”

“Let me see. Ah, yes. We agreed on a strategy to win the game.”

“Yeah, right. You don’t know your large ass from your elbow. I’m going out for a smoke. You leaving, Marcus?”

“After a quick visit to the washroom.”

Bev grabbed Marcus’ elbow and guided him behind the kitchen counter.

“Do you like the lantern?”

“It’s perfect.”

“You’re going to pick me up tomorrow morning at nine at the park entrance, right?”

“Yep.”

“I’m feeling verklempt about all this.”

“I don’t know that word, but I hope it doesn’t mean regret.”

“It doesn’t. See you tomorrow.”

“Great. It’s going to be an exciting conference, and the skies should be clear. There’ll be no light pollution where we’ll be in Haliburton.”

“I can’t wait.”

“It sounds like you plan to leave for good.”

“It does, doesn’t it? I’ll bring as much as I can without raising suspicion. But he’s the veritable nincompoop. He won’t notice I’ve gone until there’s no food in the fridge and no socks in his dresser. And most important, he won’t be able to finish the crossword.”

Vicky Earle Copyright 2025

Racehorses: Ups and Downs!

We were three days away from a race for Audi's World when he went off his feed. So, he was scratched from the race, of course, and he's back home enjoying the pasture. With the help of some medication and tender loving care from Franz and Danielle Crean, he's eating well and feeling good. The partners who own him all agree he should have the rest of this racing season off, and we look forward to next year.

Meanwhile, Toby (Rizzmo) is learning the ropes in horse racing school at Woodbine Racetrack. He is unlikely to be ready to race this season.

One of his lessons involved leaving the starting gate. My videography seems to worsen rather than improve - I apologize. But I hope you can see him leave the gate - it's not immediate! (The gate is to the right. We can't get closer unfortunately).

Prized Spirit (Mimi) is the racehorse we now have all our hopes on for racing this year! She did a good official timed work with a jockey, Fraser Aebly, who told me he thinks Mimi is a nice horse (hopefully he means 'fast'!).

Here is another one of my poor videos (perhaps my worst. My excuse this time is that the sun was blinding me!).

And here she is enjoying a bath afterwards!

She's pleased with herself!

Meg Sheppard Mystery Series Update

I'm resuming the writing of Book 7 at last. We've had a busy and good summer which has meant that writing was put on hold. But I'm getting back into my book and enjoying Meg and Kelly's antics in particular. I don't know what they'll be getting up to next!

With the help of Pace Creative, I hope that Love and Death (Book 6) will be on a virtual book tour sometime in November. I'm looking forward to it and hope to gain more readers for the series. I've not been involved in a virtual book tour before, but I think I'll be invited to create guest posts, be interviewed by bloggers, and other adventures. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you for reading this post: Please share!

Vicky