Five Writers On Murder

Five writer friends get together weekly to chat, bounce ideas off each other, commiserate about being misunderstood, and in general to get away from the works in progress that eat at each of their bits of time. As they wait for their meal to be served, they each have a glass of their drink of choice: the first has a Frappuccino, the second has a Chai tea, the third has a glass of water, the fourth has a cola, and the fifth has a glass of white wine. Each of these writers have dabbled in the various genres and types of writing, though they each have their own preference: the first writer prefers mystery, the second prefers romance, the third prefers comedy, the fourth prefers science fiction, and the fifth prefers horror.

The first writer says, cupping her Frappuccino as if it is the only thing keeping her from being buried, "I have a conundrum I would like to put forth to the group."

"Do tell," says the second writer before sipping from his Chai tea.

The other two agree to listen to the issue so the first writer continues, "In my latest story,  I have a character, not the main one, that will be found dead soon. He is a wealthy sixty-three year old widower with one married son, no grandchildren yet. This character has a butler as well as a cook. For the life of me, I don't know who would killed him or for what reason. It is vital that he dies, so the main character has to deal with the aftermath that is caused by his death. Any ideas?"

The third writer laughs, "Everyone knows that the butler always did it. Maybe he did it because he wasn't getting a raise in pay?"

"Maybe it was the son who wanted to get money so he could run away with another woman," says the second writer.

"Or maybe it was the cook because she was tired of cooking for him so she wanted to cook him instead, to rid herself of her employer," the fifth writer says.

The first writer shakes her head at the three suggestions, "No, but thanks. That just doesn't sit right."

The fourth writer smiles and says, "Or you could just kill him off, as a writer's prerogative, for the heck of it. One of those "unexplained" cases kind of thing."

The third writer starts giggling, "Kill your darlings."

The fifth writer smiles, "Now that's what I'm talking about."

The five writers laugh and accept their meal that arrives at the table. A writer's prerogative: no character is safe. Anything could happen to them at any time. Just hope that you don't end up as the character of the writer whom decides to kill for "no reason".