*IWS intro music ends as the stage lights*
Tabi: Well folks, I hope you all enjoyed the last episode! Don’t worry, everyone was safe and Axis was able to get home just fine. And look! Our set is back in one piece!
*Audience laughs and applauds*
Tabi: I must say, today is a very special day. It is the season finale of Interviews With The Stars! Hasn’t it been a great season?
*Audience applause in agreement*
Tabi: Today we have the pleasure of interviewing one of Rhode Island’s own, Augusta Bergeron, from Eva Pasco’s hit, An Enlightening Quiche!
*Tabi stands as Augusta makes her way on stage*
Tabi: Welcome! Thank you so much for traveling all the way to Dallas for this interview and wow, the audience loves you!
Augusta: Thank you. I seem to cause quite a stir wherever I go as I’m well- endowed and dress to accentuate my curves and cleavage.
*Augusta takes a seat*
Tabi: So, where in Rhode Island are you from?
Augusta: My roots run deep in northern Rhode Island’s French-Canadian mill town of Beauchemins.
Tabi: Wow, what was it like growing up there?
Augusta: I hang onto carefree childhood memories of my best friend Estelle and her brother Marc playing hide-and- seek at the Brulé manse huddled behind or compressed under ornately carved pieces of furniture, and concealing ourselves inside closets with the depth of caves to explore.
Tabi: Sounds marvelous. And what is your biggest problem in your story?
Augusta: Many of the townsfolk gossip about my hooking up with Mr. Right For Now, or Mr. Right Away. Pas du tout! My biggest problem is blaming my loose morals on my mother who gave me up for adoption before I was a year old. Mistrustful and resentful of her motives to call it quits, my behavior has earned me the reputation of being rebellious and promiscuous. Guilty as charged!
Tabi: Ooooh, who was Mr. Right Away?
August: One of them happens to be Officer Rousseau, later promoted to detective. We had a thing going for a while. Much to my dismay he manifested the disturbing practice of leaking precinct news in the aftermath of our liaisons, then patted the bed for his canine partner Hannah to snuggle between us.
*Augusta smiles mysteriously and the audience laughs*
Tabi: Well, we all have our moments, don’t we? Sometimes the world needs a bit of a challenge!
Augusta: Without further elaboration, let’s just say that one of my challenges has been perfecting the art of cover-up all my life.
Tabi: Well, that leads me to my next question. Would you mind telling us a little bit about the story you’re in?
Augusta: Certainment! You’re already aware that moi—Augusta Bergeron—is Beauchemins’ small-town siren who engages in morally destructive behavior I attribute to maternal abandonment. That is, until I eggs-hume my mother’s quiche recipe. Then, Estelle convinces me to enter Beauchemins’ Blue-Ribbon Bake-Off, which ends up a baking rivalry exclusively between the two of us. Unfortunately, an heirloom quiche recipe and baking rivalry turn up the heat in this mill town for scandalous secrets to explode!
Tabi: A quiche? Tell us more!
Augusta: Tabi, before the contest is over, you’ll need to sample Estelle’s Quiche Genevieve and my Quiche Simone to vote for your favorite. Gabe tells me the onion flavor in mine should nail the contest.
*Augusta smiles as she winks to the crowd, who applaud in approval*
Tabi: I guess so! Well, then who is your best friend in your story?
Augusta: Estelle and I have been best friends ever since grammar school.
Tabi: That’s so sweet! Are you all still close now?
*Augusta turns red with embarrassment*
Augusta: It’s complicated! And, much too sensitive a subject for me to discuss openly.
Tabi: I totally understand. On another note, what is your favorite song and why?
Augusta: Having committed to memory, a roofer’s rush to the ground along the rungs of a stabilizing extension ladder as I watched him from my office window, I’m partial to “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack.
Tabi: She has a wonderful voice!
Augusta: Indeed! I’ll add that I thought the sun rose in his eyes!
Tabi: And here’s a personal question from one of our audience members, what makes you angry?
*Augusta grist her teeth before responding*
Augusta: Blanche Bessette!
Tabi: Oh my, and who is she?
Augusta: She is a blabbermouth whom most gals at Brulé Bookbinding call Jacasseuse, which means Chatterbox, behind her back. If you ask me—a well-deserved slur for instigating and circulating rumors.
Tabi: Can’t keep a secret, can she?
Augusta: No. She often storms the citadel of my office to purge the fridge of yogurt pods nearing their expiration date. It’s just one of her many timeworn and time-warped ruses to gain entry and scavenge for morsels of news to spread as gossip.
Tabi: I guess mums the word when good old Blanche walks in the door. That would make me angry too!
*Augusta chuckles*
Augusta: Rightly so! … Marc fetched a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Brut hidden beneath his desk after swiping it off the window sill on which it chilled so Blanche wouldn’t discover our plan of action to pop a cork when the mill officially closed until after the New Year.
Tabi: And so for those of us who haven’t made it out to Beauchemins yet, what should we see first?
Augusta: Why don’t you call me, eh? I can show you all the good places. After Pâtisseries Évocatrices for a cup of сafetière à piston and slice of quiche, we’ll head for the mill.
Tabi: The mill? I hope there’ll be food.
*Audience laughs*
Tabi: Anyway, sounds like you know that place like the back of your own hand.
Augusta: Absolument! This Canuck will give you an abridged historical tour. Since you mentioned food, there’s no finer place than Gene’s Luncheonette for you to sample our regional French-Canadian cuisine. I highly recommend the tourtière, a meat pie made of pork and lard. We’ll stop in on our way to the mill.
Tabi: I’m definitely looking forward to that. Well, that’s all the time we have for tonight.
Please give it up for Augusta Bergeron!
*Crowd stand and applaud as Tabi and Augusta rise from their seats*
Tabi: Augusta, thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us. The crowd loves
you and so do we here at SWC, you’re welcome here in Dallas any time!
Augusta: Tabi, I’m so happy I wowed the crowd! Thank you for making me feel at
home here in Dallas. Next time, I look forward to browsing the high-end
department stores.
Tabi: I hope you enjoyed this season of Interviews With The Stars! See you all next
season! Have a great night!
*Audience continues to applaud as the stage lights fade*
Have a piece of quiche and get your copy TODAY!
Synopsis:Two headstrong women in their forties coming from different moral directions clash within the confines of a French-Canadian mill town in northern Rhode Island’s Blackstone Valley. Their narratives relate how an heirloom quiche recipe and baking rivalry redress misconceptions, misdeeds, and maliciousness which wreak havoc on those caught in the crossfire of a tragedy precipitated by reckless conduct.
Augusta Bergeron: Dysfunctional. Deceptive. Demure. More than meets the eye at face value and stuck in a holding pattern, the town siren engages in morally destructive behavior she attributes to maternal abandonment until she eggs-humes her mother’s quiche recipe.
Lindsay Metcalfe: Pedigreed. Privileged. Proper. Mourning the recent death of her mother, the historian-in-residence hailing from Boston sets out to preserve the legacy of an impoverished mill, but gets more than she bargains for all around.
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Enlightening-Quiche-Eva-Pasco/dp/1495810844
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
After retiring from a career in elementary education, midlife restlessness prompted Eva to rekindle her passion for storytelling by composing novels in the genre of Contemporary Women’s Fiction–her latest release: AN ENLIGHTENING QUICHE, meriting a Readers’ Favorite 5-Star Seal and 5-Star Badge from ATAI.
In addition to writing novels, Ms. Pasco has composed over one hundred Memoirs, numerous Retro 60s Flashbacks, and a slew of essays pertaining to her native state of Rhode Island.
Author Website: http://www.authorsden.com/evapasco
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