A door

After Matthew 7:7-12 

It looks ordinary,

this door, an entrance

to a house, a place

unvisited before. It does

not encourage or

discourage; it stands

there, offering protection

or domain to those

behind it and a barrier

to those in front of it.

It is a door made

to be opened, but it

does not open by itself.

To open, it requires

initiative, simple as

it is but still necessary

to open. All you must do

is knock.

 

Photograph by Edgar Moran via Unsplash. Used with permission.

"Knock, Knock. You're Dead" by M.C. Beaton

A low-risk way to learn whether or not you want to read more by an author is to read a short story. Inexpensive (typically 99 cents on Amazon Kindle) or even free, it’s a good way for a reader to decide whether or not to risk more money and time. 

I’d heard of M.C. Beaton (1936-2019) but hadn’t read anything by her. She’d written a considerable number of historical novels and mysteries. She’s best known for her detective series starring Hamish Macbeth, an observant and intelligent police detective working in Lochdubh, Scotland. Bright, smart, intelligent – and totally lacking ambition.

 

M.C. Beaton

In Knock, Knock, You’re Dead, a short story first published in 2006, Macbeth is making his rounds and likes to check on the elderly and others living alone. He drives to a small sheep farm (or croft) outside of town and visits with Morag McPhie, a lady in her 50s living by herself and raising sheep. She’s trying to figure out how to afford the air fare to Australia to visit her daughter. One obvious way to sell a “piece of old furniture” that antique owners are hunting for. Macbeth primises to send along any antique shoppers or agents he runs across.

 

And he does come across one and sends him to Morag. The next day, Macbeth finds himself back at Morag’s; a dead woman is in the parlor and it’s not Morag. Instead, it’s the local busybody who makes everyone’s business her own.

 

In 20 pages, Beaton spins a pretty good yarn. And she’s sold me. There are some 37 books in the Hamish Macbeth series, and Knock, Knock, You’re Dead is a good introduction.

A trinity

After Luke 11:9-13

We ask because we want

or desire or we need or trust;

we ask in youth from the heart,

from the love of a child.

We ask in innocence,

the opposite of knowledge.

We seek because we’re lost,

or driven by a consuming hunger

of spirit, of mind, of heart.

We seek in maturity from the heart

of a man.

We knock because we’re polite;

we want admission to what’s within,

on the other side of the door,

We knock in old age because we know

we do not deserve an open door.

And the promise is

it will be given

it will be found

it will be opened.

Photograph by Claus Pescha via Unsplash. Used with permission.