For those readers of mine who like to ask me where I get the ideas for stories, here's the truth about Summer of the Cricket.
Years ago when I was a young newly wed and my husband was stationed in Texas, we lived in the apartment building described in this story.
Winnie and Joe were real people, although not with those names. And the events that followed did indeed happen.
I fictionalized our jobs and layoffs. Obviously we were in no danger of being unemployed. Nobody gets laid off from the military.
Soon after this story happened my guy was transferred, which happens frequently in the military, and then his enlistment ended and we moved on with our lives. I never knew what became of Winnie and Joe but I also never forgot them. Years later when I started writing I remembered every scene, everything that was ever said.
Yup, that's where I got the idea.
