AN INTERVIEW ABOUT SALLY

Why an interview with an angel? My literary agent, Tamela Hancock Murray, asked all her authors to create "different, original" interviews about themselves for her site. She suggested we create something fun and uniquely different, maybe even having our pet interview us.

Below is how I imagined an interview with my guardian angel might have gone. You can find the original interview on Tamela's Web site at, http://www.tamelahancockmurray.com/agency.cfm 

We interviewed Obi about knowing Sally.
Obi, our interviewee, would like to go on record that she received a special dispensation from a Higher Authority to be allowed to discuss her "charge" and to do this interview. We apologize for the lack of a photo. It hasn't been forthcoming, and we aren't sure if it's against the rules or that perhaps Obi's just a bit shy. Apparently it's highly irregular for a guardian angel to be interviewed at all. (But just between us, Obi did appear to emit a slight glow of pleasure that for a few minutes she would be the center of attention. After all, she's been on the job without much recognition for-- well, simply decades!)

Obi, please tell us how you met Sally.
It was loud, if you must know. Being present at her birth was an unforgettable experience. She immediately let her parents know she was not happy to leave one world for another! But I most certainly was.

That's a wistful expression you're wearing, Obi. So you and Sally became quite close?
Mmm, we are closer than ink on paper.

And that's the perfect segue to my next question, Obi. Tell me--are you surprised that Sally became a writer?
My goodness, no. It was no surprise at all. Sally always had an enormous imagination! It was positively inevitable for her to write--besides, her Father planted the desire and potential in her earliest planning stages.

Oh, you mean her Heavenly Father? But she could have gone in any direction--why do you suppose she chose to write, Obi?
It all began with an elementary school assignment to write a short story which included the main products of any country in Central America. So Sally created two girls and left them to their own devices as they roamed pineapple and sugar plantationsand her tale was far from being short.

Obi! Was that a giggle you just suppressed? I sense a story.
Yes, Sally followed through on her teacher's assignment beautifully, but she wrote, and wrote, and wrote and wrote some more. It's a story she laughs about and often tells on herself when asked. She got completely caught up in the adventures of her characters and her paper wasn't turned in on time, which earned her a disappointing, failing grade. And that was the beginning of her passion to write.

You have quite a grip on your halo, and did I detect a shiver? What else are you remembering about Sally, Obi? Please, feel free to share more with us!
She was horse crazy, you know. There were some harrowing barrel races at the rodeos Sally rode in, and encounters with a snake, and some barbed wire, to name a few more perils.

I had no idea! Sally kept you exhausted! She's certainly been a handful to watch over.
Yes, but I was never, ever bored!

That was a huge sigh--what else happened?
She loved to walk on the edges of things. I continue to have to watch her closely. There are tales of stone walls and hanging bridges and camping trips. And then there was the time she took a dare from some boys on the playground, resulting in an embarrassing moment when her dad flipped her upside down under a faucet to wash the blood from the bump on her head--but that's another story for another day.

Is there anything more you'd like to tell us about you and Sally, Obi?
She recognizes that with the imagination the Father has given her, she can write for the enjoyment of others. I've finally been able to slow down a little since she's settled into creating her novels.

Yes, the two books Tamela at Hartline is finding a publisher for, The Stonekeepers and Amazon Agenda, right?
Yes. Those are the ones.

I can tell you enjoy her novels, Obi. Thank you for this unique glimpse into Sally's life. I hope we can do this again soon.