Guest Blogger: LM Brown
Feb 14, 2012 
Filed under: guest blogger, m/m
For the Birds by LM Brown
Welcome to the fourth day of my blog tour in celebration of Valentine’s Day and also my newly released Valentine’s Day themed short story.
Today I thought I’d look at the Valentine’s traditions surrounding birds – no, not women, as men in this country are wont to call us – as in the beaked and feathered kind.
Birds and Valentine’s Day have long been tied together, but I’m not just talking about lovebirds, although they, along with doves have traditionally been associated with Valentine’s Day.
Traditions are strange things, I’m sure you’ll agree, but back in olden times they were taken very seriously and it wouldn’t be unusual for a young woman to be looking out through the keyhole of her house on the morning of Valentine’s Day. What they saw through the keyhole would determine whether or not they remained single, had a love interest or married in the coming year. If they saw a single object or person then they would remain single, if they saw two or more objects or persons they would have a sweetheart, and if they saw a cock (get your minds out of the gutter people) and hen then they would marry before the year was out.
I can’t say I’ve ever peeked out through the keyhole on Valentine’s Day or any other, but the chances of seeing any poultry is pretty slim around here.
Another Valentine tradition surrounding our feathered friends is for single women to look and see what bird is flying over her head because it would tell her what sort of man she was going to marry.
Robin = a sailor – no idea on the logic of that one at all.
Sparrow = a poor man or farmer (which may be one and the same) but be happy.
Goldfinch (or any yellow bird) = a rich man.
Blackbird = a priest – sounds like some very naughty goings on in that case.
Any blue bird = a happy man.
Dove = a loving man.
Woodpecker = will not marry. So best to avoid those ones if you can!
Now I have to wonder if a Bluetit would be the bird to look out for since that would seem to indicate a happy rich husband.
In any event all the women out there should apparently take up bird-watching, just to make sure we get it right. Though I’m pretty sure the only bird we get around here that I would even recognise if it flew over me is a sparrow – since they are so common here – so I guess I better make my own money since I won’t be marrying into wealth.
Thankfully for the two heroes of my Valentine’s Day story, they don’t have to resort to looking for birds – neither the feathered kind or the female variety. They are very much gay and there aren’t too many traditions for the homosexual community for Valentine’s Day. Though considering some of the traditions out there, I am guessing most of them are quite grateful for the fact.
Blurb
Can a wrong number lead to Mr Right? Nick Davis’s life takes an unexpected turn when a stranger starts leaving messages on his answer machine. Is there hope Nick can become more to Connor Hayes than just a wrong number?
Excerpt
Nick Davis stumbled from his bedroom into the kitchen, cringing at the bright sunlight of the January morning. He snapped the blinds down, causing him to simultaneously sigh with relief at the more subdued light and groan at the sound, which echoed far too loudly for his liking. Every step he took was careful and measured, so as not to make his aching head pound any more than necessary. He spared a glance at the blinking red light on the answering machine: a new message. Suspecting it to be a slightly belated Happy New Year greeting, and probably a loud one, Nick left it for the moment. He headed for the fridge and a hangover cure in the form of hair of the dog, also known as a nice cold beer.
Damn, what did I do last night? He remembered meeting his mates at The Red Lion for a night out on the town. They’d had a few drinks there before moving on to The Royal Oak. Then they’d headed out to the city, where things started to get a little hazy. He did recall Marc screaming Happy New Year down the phone at least an hour early, but midnight itself was a complete blank. He supposed he should be thankful he’d made it home in one piece, and hadn’t woken up to find a strange man in his bed this morning.
After nursing his hangover until mid-afternoon Nick finally remembered the message and hit the play button.
“Hey, baby! Happy New Year! Missing you already. I can’t wait to see you again. Give me a call to let me know you got back safely. Love you.”
Nick frowned at the answer machine. He didn’t recognise the voice of the soft-spoken man on the other end of the phone. Chalking it up to someone too inebriated to dial correctly, he deleted the message and promptly forgot about it.
Available from Silver Publishing
You can also enter a draw to win a copy of the anthology during the With Love, Valentine’s Day Blog Hop which is running on my blog from 11th February to 14th February.
Where to find L.M. Brown
L.M. Brown says:
I thought I had commented here, but am obviously losing the plot. Thank you again for letting me blog with you.
On February 19, 2012 at 6:53 am