Wolf Among Sheep – A Novella

My very good friend, Sara Dobie Bauer, is an author.  She has been publishing short stories since I’ve known her, but her goal has always been to publish her books.  Today, her goal is reality.  Her new novella, Wolf Among Sheep, is out and available at Amazon and Goodreads.  Check out the excerpt below and then go support this amazing author.

About Wolf Among Sheep:

New from Hot Ink Press! Avery Collins is an ambitious young journalist in early-1900s Charleston, South Carolina, when exotic newcomers Timothy and Vonnie Duke spot him at a fancy gala on the Battery. The Dukes like bringing pretty playthings to their marriage bed, and with a promotion in mind, Avery entertains their advances not knowing lust can quickly turn to love — and love to murder.

Wolf Among Sheep
By Sara Dobie Bauer
An excerpt

My husband shares a smile before he continues talking to the odious Cleaver woman. She is round in the wrong places, the shape of an upside-down cupcake. The layers of tulle beneath her gown remind me of juvenile dress-up.

Of course she would be taken with Timothy. His skin is pale like hers, but he speaks with the unfamiliar, crisp accent of one who travels often, unlike the lilting, lazy-mouthed dialect of this strange place. He is tall and broad and wears his light hair in a careful wave above his forehead. He keeps his moustache clean and coiffed. I know he smells like coffee beans, his trade.

I notice the shark as I reach into my purse for a cigarette. I slowly place the end into my ivory holder and light up. Smoke from my mouth joins the smoke of so many others in a blue cloud against the gilded ceiling above.

The shark is out of place out of water. How on Earth did he flounder his way up from the harbor, across East Bay Street, up an entire flight of circular steps? How does he manage to hold a glass in his fins?

I am busy studying this unsettlingly beautiful, wild presence when Timothy returns to me with a hand on my lower back. He sips champagne then leans in and presses a single, moist kiss behind my ear.

“I spy,” I say.

“What do you spy?”

“I spy a shark. A wolf among lambs.”

Timothy’s body, so close, gives off more heat than a Charleston kitchen at lunchtime. He has his arm wrapped around me, one hand on my right hip, and the other against the balcony. His half-empty champagne flute balances precariously between us.

“Oh, of course,” he says. “How could I miss him?”

I take a sip of earthy wormwood. “He’s not rich.”

“Not at all. His eyes search the party as though studying it.”

I lean closer to my husband. “A journalist, perhaps?”

“On assignment. How intuitive.”

“Describe him to me, darling,” I say. It’s a game we play. I like to hear if Timothy sees what I see.

He speaks right into my ear. “Hair the color of a spilled inkwell. Unkempt, uncut. Perhaps he can’t afford a regular barber.”

“Or perhaps he keeps his hair that way on purpose.”

“An air of flippancy, yes, which is why he wears no tie. He leaves his skin open to the air.”

“Practically a scandal.” I finish my second drink. “What else?”

“I can’t be sure from all the way up here, but I believe his eyes to be the color of burnt coffee beans.”

I smile, which is precisely when our flippant shark looks up at me. I run the backs of my fingers across my cheek. He watches.

“Although, I do believe you’re wrong, Vonnie. I believe him to be a lamb among wolves.”

“Is that so? Let’s give him a name,” I say.

“Hmm.” Timothy kisses the shell of my ear. “He looks like a Judas.”

When I tongue my top lip, the shark looks away. “Destined for betrayal?”

“Willing to do desperate sexual acts that could get him hung.”

I laugh and notice several people turn to stare. I’m beautiful—more beautiful—when I smile, and I know my laugh has the resonance of a sea horn over a motionless sea. “Let’s meet him.”

 

About Sara Dobie Bauer:

Sara Dobie Bauer is a writer, model, and mental health advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. She spends most days at home in her pajamas as a book nerd and sex-pert for SheKnows.com. Her short story, “Don’t Ball the Boss,” was nominated for the 2015 Pushcart Prize, inspired by her shameless crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. She lives with her hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she would really like to live in a Tim Burton film. She is the author of Life without Harry, Forever Dead, and Wolf Among Sheep. World Weaver Press will publish her novel, BITE SOMEBODY, this summer.

Where to find Sara Dobie Bauer:

Wolf Among Sheep book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP-hz7_li68

Website: http://SaraDobieBauer.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SaraDobie

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSaraDobieBauer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saradobiebauer/

Dear Students

I just want to tell you that it’s time to take responsibility for your own learning.  I’m trying my best.  Are you?

I had a student ask me the other week why I kept lower their grade.  Why I was lowering their grade.  Not how they could help their understanding.  Not what they could do to increase their grade.  I was lowering their grade and they wanted to know why I was ruining their GPA.  Seriously.

I’m not ruining your GPA or lowering your grade.  I enter grades in the gradebook based on your performance and understanding.  Why are you turning in assignments half completed and expecting full credit?  Why aren’t your taking responsibility for your learning?

I had another student ask if they could have extra credit.  This student is missing half of the assignments I have given out.  Why should I go out of my way to give you extra credit when you don’t do the regular credit?  Why aren’t you taking responsibility for your learning?

I am at school at 6 am every morning and I leave school around 3:30 pm every afternoon.  I work nights and weekends to ensure that you have fun in class, are engaged, are stimulated, and are learning the material.  I bring papers home and ignore my pets and friends because I need to grade and provide meaningful feedback.  I lose sleep at night because I’m trying to figure out new and better ways to teach concepts that I know are difficult.  Please don’t mistake this as a complaint.  I love my job (despite what pop culture leads you to believe about teachers).  I really enjoy working with you and teaching you and watching you grow into the young adult that you will become.  I don’t mind grading and planning on my off time.  I understood the time commitment of the job when I signed up.  So I don’t mention these things to complain.  I mention them to illustrate my dedication to you.

I know you have other things going on.  I know you have sports and clubs and jobs and friends and family and stuff.  I don’t expect you to live and breathe chemistry, but I do expect you to try.  I do expect you to do the work.  I do expect you to ask questions.  I do expect you to get help when you are struggling.  I don’t think it unreasonable to ask that you think about things and challenge yourself.  You will certainly be expected to once you leave the comfortable halls of high school.

So please, start taking responsibility for your learning.  If you don’t know, ask.  If you don’t understand, get help.  I am here for you and I am always happy to help in any way that I can.  But if you don’t do the work, don’t blame me for your grade.

Sincerely,

Your teacher