Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

I first wrote and shared this story in 2016. You can draw your own conclusions about those seven brothers ;)   Blanche and the Seven Brothers   Blanche looked around the dingy cottage and nodded. It was as it should be. Just like in the stories. She’d be all right there.   Blanche had made her escape from the usual home problems. Pa was all right, mostly, but Marjorie—no way was Blanche ever going to call that woman “Ma”—was a real piece of work, and Pa was too weak to stop her. Whatever went on in this cottage, it would be better than staying with her. And the cottage was really rather charming under the dirt. It just needed the touch of a good woman to straighten things up, like the stories said.   The occupants would be laborers, of course. They always were. And there would be seven of them. Always seven—a lot to take care of but Blanche was used to hard work. It wouldn’t be bad at all, if they treated her well. And they would, because that was the ...

Our Chuck Wendig challenge this week was to pick one of the Seven Deadly Sins and write a story about it--whatever sort of story we wanted. Naturally, I couldn't follow directions and picked all seven. That number just rang a few bells...not just the fairy tale, but Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, too. And the story about the 7 Chinese brothers. Clearly something had to be done. It's exactly 1000 words, including the title, though mostly that's luck. Blanche and the Seven Brothers Blanche and the Seven Brothers The girl looked around the dingy cottage and nodded. It looked right enough. Just like in the stories. She’d be all right there. Blanche had made her escape from the usual home problems. Her Pa was all right, she guessed, but Marjorie—no way was Blanche ever going to call that woman “Ma”—was a real piece of work, and Pa was too weak to stop her. Whatever went on in this cottage, it would be better than staying with her. And the cottage was really rather charming un...