Orange Alert

An author friend was being interviewed on the radio about his latest book earlier this evening & I decided to call in to ask a question. Now if I had identified myself as someone that he knew (via email & such), I would have come across like a stage prop. A planted fan. So I asked a rather lame question when my opportunity came about. I was woefully unprepared to sound intelligent, never actually expecting to get on the air, but at least I caused the interview to get back onto the real topic, meaning, the guy's novel.

Here's where it got tricky. I wanted to send a message to this author that 'it was me' - as a show of support. He's a good guy, terrific talent & he's done quite a bit to help me out. Now he & the host had been complaining about the frigid temps up in the northeast, where they're located. I mean, we're talkin' minus 28, without wind-chill. I'm in Florida, & it's literally 80 degrees warmer here than up there, even though it's been chilly. So I made the comment - "I'll send y'all some oranges" - hinting that I was somewhere warm & hoping that the Hemingway wannabe would get the hint. After 10 more seconds of banter about tropics & palm trees - he got it (& stuttered just a little). This led to an email from said author within 3 minutes of the show's end. The email was pretty funny but I won't post it.

A couple hours later, Deb says "Why'd you tell him you would send up some oranges?"
Me - "I dunno - I was tryin' to give him a hint about who was callin'."
Deb - "You probably made him nervous."
Me - "Huh?"
Deb - "Like in The Godfather. Whenever somebody's gonna get whacked - there's always an orange in the earlier scene. Maybe he thought you were some nut."
Me - (Wicked laugh) "Well, I am a bit of a nut (in a funny not psycho way). Maybe I'll send some anyway."

So here's from our backyard. We picked these the other day, but no one's gettin' whacked or goin' swimmin' with the fishes. Not 'til it warms up anyway.