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Back A Penny for Your Thoughts Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. A PENNY
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Forty-Nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-One
  56. Fifty-Two
  57. Fifty-Three
  58. Fifty-Four
  59. A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
  60. About the Author
  61. Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
  62. About the Publisher

For the time being, I thought it might be time to take it all to the Lord in prayer. I sat there on the deck and bowed my head, thanking God for the beauty of nature surrounding me. I prayed for Judith and her newfound salvation, for Marion and her pain, for the souls of all who were lost. I prayed for myself and my future. I prayed for the starving children who were saved through outreach programs like Feed the Need.

Mostly, I prayed for Tom, for a healing of whatever burden of forgiveness that he carried. When I was finished, I sat on the deck in the gathering darkness and listened to the sound of the crickets in the grass. I sat there until the last speck of light had left the horizon. Then I picked up Sal and went inside, grateful for the night and the sweet, relaxing sanctuary of my home.

A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels

Join Callie on her next investigation in The Million Dollar Mysteries series

Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels

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One

I heard the gunshots from a distance, sharp and loud in the cool November air. A few seconds later there were more gunshots, then more, then all was silent.

Quickening my pace, I rounded the corner and stepped through two large stone arches into the Glenn Oaks Cemetery, a beautiful, shady old graveyard on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. I had timed this just right, because I didn’t really want to get there until the funeral was finished. Now that the honor guard had fired three volleys, I knew it was almost over.

I found the gravesite and waited a respectful distance away, noting that there were about ten people in attendance and a minister, plus seven older men in dress uniforms with rifles, and two other younger military representatives. I didn’t know who the deceased was, only that he had been a naval chief petty officer in his youth and that his family had wanted him to have a full honor guard burial.

From a distance, I watched as the two younger soldiers carefully folded the flag that had been draped over the coffin. Finally, as they presented the flag to the woman I assumed was the widow, one of the older men lifted a bugle to his lips and lightly sounded out the notes for Taps. The simple tune, always so mournful, sounded especially sad in the middle of this Tennessee graveyard.

Ordinarily, I think, the whole scene would’ve brought me to tears. Even though I didn’t know the deceased or his family, I had been widowed myself only three years before. Since then, it didn’t take much to get me going at a funeral. Today, however, I was thankfully distracted by other matters. Today I had an exciting event of my own that kept my mind from becoming too absorbed with what was unfolding before me.