Shelby Nichols Consulting

A few weeks ago, my friend, Billie Jo Payne, asked me to help her with a story she was writing. She’s a newspaper reporter, and she needed to know if her source was telling the truth. Naturally, she thought of me and my ‘premonitions,’ since I’m highly successful at that sort of thing.

She doesn’t know the truth that I read minds, which is for the best, as I don’t want that little secret to get out. So I call it premonitions, which mostly works out as a good explanation for what I do.

Anyway – While at the newspaper offices, I picked up someone’s thoughts about shooting the big boss. Since Billie and I were talking to him at the time, it made for a tense few moments.

To make a long story short, I was able to stop the shooting spree before it happened, thus earning me a bit of notoriety I didn’t necessarily want, and firmly cementing my reputation as the Queen of Premonitions, and hero of the day.

That led to a whole new threat that I won’t go into right now, but since trouble follows me… well, you get the picture. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before Billie called to ask if I’d come to her office. She was receiving an award for the special interest story that I’d helped her with that day, and she wanted me there.

I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go back. I mean… look what happened the last time? But she persisted, telling me that my help had been one of the main reasons she’d won the award, and she wanted me by her side to enjoy her special moment.

How could I turn her down now? Since I didn’t want to ruin her day, I agreed. Walking into the lobby brought that day back to mind, but I didn’t let it bother me too much. I took the elevator to the third floor, and found Billie waiting for me.

Her delight to have me there offset my reservations, and I was happy to join her and her new husband, Dimples, for the award ceremony. Dimples was my partner with the police, and they’d just recently returned from their honeymoon.

The ceremony involved the newspaper staff and a few family members of the person being recognized, and it took place during their lunch hour in the big conference room. In addition, lunch was provided after the award was given out.

“So, does this happen very often?” I asked Dimples, just before they got started.

“I think the last time they did this was about three years ago. So… it’s a pretty big deal. I guess the board, along with Michael, the editor-in-chief, decide when a story warrants this special recognition.”

“Oh… no wonder Billie was so excited.” She was always thinking of getting a journalism award of some kind, so this was great.

“Yeah, totally. They’re not Pulitzer Prizes, but they’re still nice to get.” He was thinking that this was the first time Billie had made the cut, so it was a huge deal to her.

Michael began, proceeding to explain Billie’s great work on the article she wrote. He spoke of how it got picked up by several news syndicates and boosted their paper’s credibility. He ended with high praise for Billie’s excellent work and tenacity.

Next, he presented the award to her amid a round of applause, and she beamed, gratefully accepting the plaque with her name in bold letters. She fairly beamed with pride, and I picked up that she could hardly wait to hang it on her wall.

With that over, Michael caught everyone’s attention before they could move to the buffet table. “We have one more award to present.” He glanced at me with a smile, and my heart sank. Oh no… it was for me.

“We don’t usually do this, but our editorial board and the newspaper owner felt it appropriate. We’d like to present a small token of our gratitude to Shelby Nichols for her quick thinking and extraordinary measures to keep us from harm on that fateful day. Shelby, would you please join me?”

As I snapped my mouth shut, all eyes turned my way, and I forced my feet toward the front of the room. I tried to smile, but I don’t think it worked, since a few people were thinking that I looked shocked… and how could I be taken by surprise when I had premonitions?

Once I reached Michael, he told the story of that day, making me sound like some sort of super woman. Instead of a plaque, he handed me a beautiful, crystal paperweight with the newspaper logo in gold, and my name engraved underneath.

With a smile, I thanked him and took the lovely triangular shaped object, impressed that this was an award I could actually use.

He insisted that I join them for lunch, and I gave in, sitting by Billie and Dimples. It was a relief that Billie didn’t mind that I got an award too, and it was great to catch up with her and Dimples.

Just before it was time to leave, Michael joined us, and I picked up his satisfaction that I’d been surprised. He’d made sure that no one knew about my award but him and his assistant.

He wasn’t sure what that meant about my premonitions, but he was hoping that I’d agree to a personal interview. He’d mentioned it to me before, but the timing hadn’t been right. Maybe now it would work?

Before he opened his mouth to ask, I jumped in. “Thanks for the award, but the answer is still no.” His mouth dropped open, and he stuttered a little. “When I’m ready to give an interview, I’ll let Billie know. How does that sound?”

“Uh… sure.” He shook his head. “I’m… uh… just so you know, the award wasn’t meant to make you feel like you had to do an interview.”

I smiled. “Oh… I know, and I appreciate it.” He wished me a nice day and left us, thinking he was more convinced than ever that my premonitions were real.

Billie shook her head, and Dimples sent me a knowing smile, thinking that I sure knew how to use my superpowers when I needed to. Since he knows my secret, I nodded and smiled back.

“So where are you going to put it?” he asked. He thought it would look good on my desk at the precinct, but I had other plans.

“I’m taking it home so Chris and my kids can see how great I am, since they’re not always convinced of that.”

He chuckled and we finished up our lunch. Soon, it was time to go. As I carried my award to my car, I knew where it needed to go. I’d use it on my desk at Thrasher Development. It would fit in much better with the decor there than at the precinct, and I wanted to show it off to my boss and the hitman who worked for him.

All in all – that experience hadn’t turned out so bad.

It still proved that my life is a little mixed up and crazy… but hey… now I have a Major Award to show for it, so it’s not all bad. In fact… I think things are looking up. Next week, I’m going on vacation with my family to New York, and it’s going to be a blast!

Until next time ~ Shelby.