The "Hammer" in Cornell Dyer and the House of Horreur

At a WriteOn Joliet meeting a couple of weeks ago, I read the following excerpt from the BryonySeries chapter book "Cornell Dyer and the House of Horreur," (part of The Adventures of Cornell Dyer subseries), currently in the drafting stage.

Here is a short bit, the point of this post.

CHAPTER 1: A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT

The beginning of that fateful workday looked like the other workdays.

By the time the sun was up, the men had returned to the worksite with their tools, lunch pails, and tin cups of coffee, ready to start the day’s dig.

“Good morning, Dave!”

“Good morning, Chip!”

“Good morning, Chris!”

“Good morning, Chuck!”

“Good morning, Craig!”

            They’re hardworking men, so they don’t waste time. All morning they dug and dug and dug.

            Chip’s shovel hit a rock with a “TINK!”

            Puzzled, Chip hit it again. TINK! TINK!

            Chip knelt on the ground. He brushed the dirt away with his hands and found a hammer.

            “Hey, Dave!” Chip called, holding the hammer high. “Did you lose a hammer?”

            Dave shook his head. “Nope! Got mine right here. See?” He patted his toolbelt.

            Chip rose, still holding the hammer. “How about you, Craig?”

            “Nope!”

            Chip turned the hammer over in his hands. It wasn’t a new hammer. It wasn’t an old hammer either. But it was a smaller hammer, such as a young boy might use working beside his father.

The blade glinted in the late morning sun.

            “It’s a nice hammer. Chris?”

            “Me neither!” Chris called back, still digging.

            “Chuck?”

            “Hammer right here!”

            Chip wiped the hammer on his pant leg and held the hammer close to his face. No name or initials carved into the wooden handle. “Well, how about you, Tommy?”

            Swooft, swooft, swooft went the shovels through the dirt.

            Chip turned this way and that, shading his eyes. “Tommy?”

            Swooft, swooft, swooft.

            “Hey, guys! Anyone see Tommy?”

            All swoofting stopped.

So one piece of feedback from the group concerned the hammer, specifically the sun glinting on the hammer BLADE.

"Hammers don't have blades," I was told.

I took that piece back to Timothy, who created the story concept.

He sent this video.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/Ruf-cLr2PZ8?is=lX4NcAqIDZy244e1