“No!” Christine snapped.
“You know what, you can join my foodie group, become one of the guys.” The PI beamed.
“No, thank you,” she countered. “I’ve many hopes, dreams and aspirations. But becoming one of the guys, especially one of your guys never entered my wildest dreams.” She blew a kiss at Edwin and clicked her briefcase shut.
“Why not, you’re a natural and you’ll fit in easy.” Gerard was adamant.
Keep at it, if you want a fight, your wish will come true, Edwin thought.
“I’ll tell you why not.” Christine had rounded on Gerard, taking two steps to the table. Edwin groaned and buried his face in his hands. He decided to keep out of this, but ready to pull them apart if need be.
“I don’t want to fit in. Why would I? So that I can fart while peeing, brush but not floss, chew with my mouth open, pick my nose at traffic lights and change underwear once every two days? No thanks!”
“Is your husband Derrick?” Gerard was intent on getting himself killed.
“So what if he is?” Christine shot back.
“Oh, I just feel I’ve known Derrick all my life.” Gerard wore a vacant grin.
Edwin leapt up, convinced that in the next second Christine would reach over and scratch out Gerard’s eyes.
Fortunately, her cell phone rang. Christine hissed. It was Derrick. Her voice grew sweeter by the second but not before her eyes had shot a dozen daggers at Gerard. She swiveled on her toes and strutted to her car.
Edwin sighed heavily. Gerard still had his eyes and Edwin still had the services of the best private eye in Singapore, at least for now.
Christine slipped into her black Porsche which was parked across the road. Heads turned as she burned rubber and disappeared towards the neon lit skyline.
(An Extract from my novel – Beck And Call, A Business Thriller Set In Singapore)
*******************************
A feisty woman with an attitude, but has a sweet spot for the love of her life (from what I gathered here, at least)
Spot on, as usual, Dee 🙂
Christine does love her man fiercely…glad that came through in one sentence…
haha! nice… i enjoyed it 🙂
Splendid – that was the intention 🙂
I’ve heard that “hiss” before. LOL.
Haven’t we all. LOL
🙂 this was great.. I love Christines attitude, im all about strong women in a mans world. We Rock 😉 ………….Awesome writing!
Thank you Venus,
A compliment from a woman about a female character developed by a male author – that is valued compliment 🙂
Eric, you are truly the first writer to make me laugh so much at PI stories. I just became a huge fan of Christine (and Edwin!) here! I would have peeled a lot of rubber getting out of there, as well!
Awwwh! Thank you Granbee.
For a male author, it is a challenge to develop particular female characters – how do you make her tough without losing her feminine charms. I reckon Christine came out all right 🙂
This was an intense scene. Gerard sure knew how to push Christine’s buttons. Glad they both came out of that scene alive 🙂
Thank you Janna,
Gerard is laid back, seems to spend more time on food than investigations. Christine is a driven lawyer. Its a running battle of one-upmanship between the two. In this scene it would seem Gerard got the better…but it isn’t over yet…
I can only dream about writing like that…. thank you for sharing this. I’m interested, how do you write, everyday? When did you know that you wanted to write and was there a transition between knowing that you wanted to write and feeling you were a writer? Sorry I’m just keen to learn and know.
Well Jacqueline,
I’ve always wanted to write and three years ago I stepped out of the corporate world to pursue this dream. (Okay, I do business consultancy work – but as a self-employed, get to pick/choose my projects now).
Yes, I write daily – easily two to three hours. I’ve never encountered ‘writers block’ – perhaps because I harbour so much and simply can’t get it all on paper fast enough. But it could also be due to working on two/three novels and several shorter works at any given time. I keep rotating and this keeps me zooming on high octane.
I’m learning this craft. People are kind with compliments. But when I pitch myself with the bestsellers – and I’ve always been brutal with self-assessment – I know I have a very long way to go.
Luv and peace, Eric
Ha! You caught the “B” character pretty good Eric! Women have it down to a fine art–especially PI’s!! 🙂
Thank you Jeannie – this woman, Christine, is certainly an accomplished artist 🙂