Mystery Writer Joan Lowery Nixon Dies

Joan Lowery Nixon, age 76, died Saturday, June 28, 2003 in Houston. Mrs Nixon specialised in mysteries for young adults. She is particularly known for her 'Orpan Train' series. She won many awards for her writing and was the only person to have received 4 Edgar awards. She wrote over 140 books published in 20 languages. She developed 'Kids Love a Mystery Week', and initiated the writing badge for the Girls Scouts of America. If you do a web search on her, you'll find many interviews where she really wanted to encourage kids to write. [Some of the material above was derived from an obituary making e-mail rounds; I'm unsure of the original source and The Houston Chronicle doesn't archive paid obits; I'm assuming it may be from there, but I couldn't link to one.]

A Classic...

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables, and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight out, and froze. When he heard nothing more, after a bit, he shook his head and promised himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables. Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shone his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.

Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" He hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses."

"The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus."

[Although my personal experience with Rottweilers is that they're more likely to drool and hug you than anything.]