Linda Hebert Todd

Author - Westlake, Louisiana

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Y2k: New Year’s Eve 1999

December 27, 2016 By Linda H. Todd Leave a Comment

Where were you when the world was supposed to descend into chaos? Do you remember? I do. My sis Hillene and I were in the balcony seats at the Lake Charles Symphony’s annual New Year’s Eve bash. As usual it was held at the Civic Center. The floor seats were for the A-listers, and every table was full down there.

They wandered around, everyone dressed to the nines (pardon the cliche), and mingling, mingling, mingling. The hoi polloi—that would be us—were in the balcony, up in the nosebleed section, wearing blue jeans, sweatshirts, and hooded jackets. I don’t remember what Hillene’s choice of footwear was, but I was festive in my four-year-old Reeboks.

We spent the hour or so before the performance watching the crowd on the floor, trying to see if we knew anyone down there. We saw two women meet up on the floor wearing the same dress. They seemed to be good sports about it, but obviously they hadn’t found them on the rack at WalMart. Probably a little buyer’s remorse for having spent so much money trying to be original.

Clock hanging on exterior brick wall

Photo Credit: Paula Raley

The performance was its usual outstanding endeavor, and ended around 11:00. While the floor crowd made its way to their various parties or homes, Hillene and I decided to make our way a couple of blocks over to the corner of Ryan and Broad where we heard there was going to be some kind of gathering to welcome in a new century. Or maybe not. Maybe the world was going to shut down.

A crowd of people, similarly dressed, met us there and told us a ball was going to descend on Keith’s Pawn Shop—there on the corner of Ryan and Broad Streets in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at the stroke of midnight, Central time. Well, we decided, we couldn’t miss that. Eat your heart out Times Square.

Now, you may be wondering what two sixty-something women were doing wandering around the downtown area of Lake Charles by themselves. To tell you the truth, we didn’t even think about it. We were just a bunch of human beings—black, white, brown, young, old—who wanted to be a part of the celebration, and celebrate we did. I don’t remember exactly the number they started the countdown with. I just remember watching that ball come down. I remember yelling, “Three. Two. One. HAPPY NEW YEAR.” We even hugged a few people we didn’t know.

Guess what. The world didn’t blow up. We all went home to start a new century and what a ride it’s been. I will say this—it has never been boring.

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About Linda

Linda Hebert ToddLinda has completed her novel—Wild Justice, a crime story with a revenge theme, and has started another one set in Labrador and Louisiana. She writes all her stories in longhand, bringing to life the beautiful bayous of south Louisiana. Read more...

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Linda Hebert Todd, Author, Westlake, LA - Mystery Novel
Mystery Novel

Wild Justice

By Linda Hebert Todd

Keeley Chesson, a crime reporter for a city newspaper, is orphaned at age fourteen, courtesy of a sheriff's deputy who killed her parents and got away with it. Now, fourteen years later, the deaths of her parents still a mystery and the deputy now her town's police chief, tragedy again rocks her…

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Short Stories

Sidonie and the Loup-Garou and Other Stories from the Bayou

By Linda Hebert Todd

The short fiction in this book introduces the reader to an interesting assortment of characters. The lead story—Sidonie and the Loup-Garou—features a high school girl who learns it is a good idea to heed the warnings of her Cajun grandparents. The final tale—The Ghost and Sadie Stackpoole– solves…

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