A Long, Drawn-Out, but Interesting Post :)

Well, I can't believe it. It seems not a week ago that I complained I was not keeping up this blog as I ought, and here I am posting so often you haven't a chance to keep up with me. :D Although it is generally against my creed to post twice in one day, I saw this Character Interview on Whisperings of the Pen and knew it had my name on it. After all, with no chores today, since I'm the birthday girl, I could dabble in something so silly as interviewing my own characters. But you know? I found out some interesting things through this interview. :) For instance, I never knew before that the Captain had a cat and a canary, that Ann Company was quite so attached to her donkey, or that she played the bagpipes. The bagpipes just sprung to mind when I was thinking of what instrument she played...she needed something weird, and I was *not* about to make her a tuba-player. :P Anyway, enjoy.

Frank Williams: 30
Maggie Williams: 28
Tucker (Tuck) Williams: 6
Dorothy (Dot) Williams: 2
Cora Lesley: 14
Dorie Ann Beaumont: 16
Flounder, Ann Company: 19
Captain Boniface: 65

Do you want a hug?
Frank: As a general rule I prefer handshakes.
Maggie: Of course, dear.
Tucker: Long as you don't mind the jam.
Dot: Hug!
Cora: If you're giving it.
Dorie Ann: You'll only rumple my skirt.
Ann Company: Are you sure? I hug hard as a bear.
Capt. Boniface: I'd say so.

Do you have any kids?
Frank: Maggie and I are the proud parents of Dot and Tuck.
Cora: No ma'am.
Dorie Ann: Of all the nerve! I don't see why you even bother to ask such a thing of a young lady of my class.
Ann Company: You kiddin'? Eulalie's the only kin I got `sides Pa.
Me: Who's Eulalie?
Ann Company: That there donkey.
Capt. Boniface: No, no children. Addie, I been faithful to ye're memory.

Have you ever killed anyone?
Frank: Never.
Maggie: What a horrid thought!
Tucker: I accidentally...well, kinda on purpose set traps to kill the sea-mice when we first came to Puddleby Lane.
Dot: Cowa, me's hungwy!
Cora: I would never dream of killing a fellow human unless I was defending my family against attack.
Dorie Ann: Kill? As in, like, dead? Some of the fellows have called me drop-dead gorgeous.
Ann Company: I don't generally hold with killin' unless it was a bandit.
Capt. Boniface: Life at sea is rough and unpredictable as th' ocean itself. There are mutinies and crimes that can't go unpunished.

Do you love anyone?
Frank and Maggie at once: "Maggie! Frank!"
Tucker: Mommy and Dad and Dot and Cora and Captain Boney-face.
Dot: Me wuv's evvybody!
Cora: Franki, Maggie, the children...and my hero.
Me: Your...hero?
Cora: (blushing) Yes...wherever he is.
Dorie Ann: Dozens. Or they love me...that's more like it. What's not to love about a beautiful Beaumont girl?
Ann Company: Eulalie, Pa, and Cora.
Capt. Boniface: Maggie and the children...and Addie.

What is your job?
Frank: Railyway man, but until recently, a new car salesman.
Maggie: seamstress.
Tuck: clam scraper, treasure-hunter, pirate and...what was that one you called me, Cora?
Cora: A flibberty-gibbet.
Tucker: Oh, yeah.
Cora: I'm the unofficial caretaker of Tuck and Dot. And I help Maggie with the housework and plain sewing. I'd love to be a famous author.
Dorie Ann: Author? She's a nanny. A servant. Quite beneath anyone's notice, let alone mine.
Ann Company: Leave her alone! I'd like to see what you can do."
Me: What *do* you do? What job do you have?
Dorie Ann: Is Queen of Beauty and Charm a job? No? How about Official Miss Amazing?
Capt. Boniface: I used to be a sea captain, but now I keep up the Bonnie Addie and help Flounder and his gal up in town.
Me: So is Flounder Ann Company's father?
Ann Company: Shore is.

Favorite Season?
Frank: Summer.
Maggie: Thanksgiving--the in between of fall and winter.
Tucker: Just about any time I can be outside without my shoes and socks.
Dot: Cowa, me's hungwy!
Cora: Autumn.
Dorie Ann: Spring--that's when the Paris collection comes out.
Ann Company: Winter. Me an' Eulalie an' Pa are cozy as a den full of possums come Christmas.
Capt. Boniface: Spring. My rheumatism isn't so bad and the honeysuckle reminds me of Addie--her eyes shining like stars.

Who is your best friend?
Frank: I don't have many close friends.
Maggie: Cora. Who is better than a sister for company?
Tucker: Cora!
Dot: Cowa!
Cora: Maggie, Ann Company...my books and writing.
Dorie Ann: I'm independent. Who needs friends when they've got talent, brains, and a stunning figure?
Ann Company: Eulalie and Cora.
Capt. Boniface: Maggie's children and that pretty slip of a girl, Cora. Flounder's good for a game of checkers now and then when he ain't squeezed up in his ticket booth snorin'.

Hobbies?
Frank: Dancing with my beautiful wife.
Maggie: gardening.
Tuck: Cora says Mommy has a green thumb. I like catching sea-mice, digging for treasure, playing at bein' poor, and exploring with Cora and Dot.
Cora: Reading, writing, and exploring.
Dorie Ann: reading fashion magazines.
Ann Company: teaching Eulalie new tricks, racing the sandpipers, and play my bagpipes.
Me: Wait. Bagpipes? Where'd that come from?
Ann Company: The Cap'n gave `em to me.
Me: Aha.
Capt. Boniface: Sorry about that. She isn't half bad on `em now. I like buildin' model ships and fixing up the Bonny Addie....and talkin' to Tucker.

What are you going to do when this tag is over?
Frank: Take a long walk
Maggie: Bake a cake. Lemon-iced.
Tucker: Lick the bowl.
Dot: Lick!
Cora: Go for a sea-glass hunt...or rummage around in The Other House.
Dorie Ann: Paint my nails, then play tennis.
Ann Company: Fix Tuck's fishing net.
Capt. Boniface: Feed Napoleon Maximilian The Great.
Me: Who is...?
Capt. Boniface: My ship's cat.
Me: Oh! I wasn't sure you had any pets.
Capt. Boniface: Yep. Old 'Poleon and m' cabin boy, Columbus.
Me: Another cat?
Capt. Boniface: No, no. Columbus is a canary.
Me: I see. Pleased to meet them both.

What is your eye color?
Frank: Brown.
Maggie: Dark brown.
Tucker: Cora says my eyes are blue as bachelor's buttons.
Dot: Bwoo?
Cora: Brown.
Tucker: Like a teddy-bear's.
Ann Company: Like a fine chestnut filly's when she's runnin' free over the dunes.
Me: What color are your eyes, Ann Company?
Ann Company: Green as grass.
Dorie Ann: Violet. Like Elizabeth Taylor's.
Me: Violet?
Dorie Ann: Well, fine then. Blue.
Capt. Boniface: Blue-ish grey. The color of--
Cora: A stormy sea. Or the bay water at dusk.

Are you good or bad?
Frank: I try to be a good husband and father...I'm a little impulsive at times.
Maggie: We can never be perfect but--
Cora: But if anyone could be, it'd be Maggie.
Tucker: Most of the time I'm good...except when I'm not.
Dot: Good, good, good!
Cora: I do try so hard, and I am learning.
Dorie Ann: It all depends on your definition of good. It's no fun to be a plaster of Paris saint.
Ann Company: I'm a dutiful daughter and a fast friend, but I do feel fiercely about things.
Capt. Boniface: She's a right fiery girl, that Ann Company. As for me, I'm a salty sea dog, but the good Lord is my compass and He steers my course straight.

What is your greatest fear?
Frank: That I'll fail my family.
Maggie: That something will happen to me or Frank...or both of us.
Tucker: That the waves will knock over Dot, or that we'll have to leave Puddleby Lane.
Dot: Doggies.
Cora: A life without adventure and my family.
Dorie Ann: Those horrid hobos that beg for scraps.
Ann Company: The city.
Capt. Boniface: A journey without my bearings or a night near shore so dark and foggy we can't see the rocks.

What do you think of your parents?
Tucker: They're swell.
Dot: Me wuvs Mommy!
Cora: Frank and Maggie are the closest thing I have to parents now.
Dorie Ann: Papa's a darling but Mom is a bear! She wouldn't let me dye my hair last week.
Ann Company: Pa's the best feller within a dozen miles...exceptin' Mr. Williams, and the Cap'n and Tuck.
Capt. Boniface: I loved my parents, but father died at sea and Mama never quite got over it.

Any siblings?
Maggie: Cora.
Tucker: Dot.
Cora: Maggie.
Dorie Ann: Thank Heavens, no.
Ann Company: Only Eulalie.

Was this interview fun?
Frank: I've enjoyed it. Sounds like something Corie would make up.
Maggie: Very pleasant.
Tucker: Golly, yeah!
Dot: Fun!
Dora: I did so enjoy it, ma'am.
Dorie Ann: It was all right.
Ann Company: Shore as shootin'!
Capt. Boniface: I had a fine time. You're a very sensible gal.
Me: Thank you. You're the first to think so.

Do you have any weaknesses?
Frank: Like I said, I'm impulsive.
Maggie: French lace.
Tucker: Bein' tied up at stake when we play...I ain't strong enough to untie Cora's knots.
Cora: Heroic deeds...I pine for adventure and novelty.
Dorie Ann: New clothes. But I think that's a strength of mine--looking presentable, unlike some people I could mention.

Your favorite element?
Frank: Fire.
Maggie: Mountain Air.
Tucker: What's an element?
Cora: Water.
Dorie Ann: Oh, for Heaven's sake. What a ridiculous question!
Ann Company: Water, of course.
Capt. Boniface: Water. What else is essential to a man's life?

Do you care what others think of you?
Frank: Only what Maggie thinks of me.
Maggie: If Frank's happy, that's all that matters.
Tucker: I'd like `em to think I'm a man, not a boy.
Dot: Fink?
Cora: I'm afraid I do. Especially what other girls think of me.
Dorie Ann: Everyone knows I'm fabulous. It's so completely obvious, right?
Ann Company: Naw, I never did hold with other folks' opinions.
Capt. Boniface: I want my crew to respect me. So long as I've got that, I'm satisfied.

Your theme song?
Frank: Hmmm....Maggie?
Maggie: All Those Endearing Young Charms.
Tucker: Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Cora: Something sweet and dreamy.
Dorie Ann: Any song about a beautiful woman fits me to a T.
Ann Company: All the Blue Bonnets.
Capt. Boniface: The Water is Wide.

What's your species?

Frank: "A man's a man for a' that."
Maggie: We're humans.
Tucker: I'm a flibberty-gibbet, `member?
Dot: Baby!
Cora: What a strange question...who made it up?
Me: Don't ask me, Cora dear.
Dorie Ann: Bombshell Beauty. What else?
Ann Company: I'm a girl.
Capt. Boniface: You're a woman.
Ann Company: Barely, Cap'n.
Capt. Boniface: And I'm a seaman. It's a class of it's own, y'know?