GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!

This year was actually a hard year to plan for. Traditionally I have a grand extravaganza on February 2nd, full of groundhog games of skill and a viewing of the movie itself. I invite as many people as my house can take, and we hog it up, with themed desserts and goodies. However, this year Groundhog Day is on a Wednesday, which is usually a very busy day for me, full of work, writing group and church meetings. So fitting a party in there just wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I took the day off and planned to laze around all day.

In a fitting Groundhog Day gift, Punxsutawney Phil gave me a blizzard, which gave me a snow day, which means I don’t have to take time off for today. And since I don’t have a big party scheduled for tonight, I don’t have to worry about cancelling. 🙂 Instead, I’m hanging around home, watching the movie as a fam (we exchanged gifts this morning), baking something yummy and playing video games. Groundhog Day is all about hibernating–doing whatever you want to do and like to do most.

But it wouldn’t be a Bryce Groundhog Day without something elaborate, right? And so back when I noticed Groundhog Day was on a Wednesday, I started plotting. Planning. Scheming.

Writing.

And I created “A Groundhog Day Murder Mystery.” It’s a game for eight people. Want to know what it’s all about? Well, here’s the introduction I wrote. 

Of one thing there can be no doubt: Ned Ryerson is dead. It’s true. That annoyingly obnoxious insurance salesman, the bane of all of Punxsutawney, that moron of morons, irritant of irritants, has passed on. And of all days for it to happen, it had to happen on Groundhog Day.

It all started out as your typical, run of the mill Groundhog Day. The locals were out early, either cursing all the traffic that kept them from getting to work or causing that traffic in an effort to get to the celebration on time. Tourists had invaded the town like a biblical plague, and polka music was blaring from the town square’s gazebo. Phil came out and did his thing, and the result was typical: six more weeks of winter. The sole item of interest was a rather bizarre news report by Phil Connors of WPBH Channel 9, where he started yelling at the groundhog and throwing things at the poor creature. The weatherman was taken into brief custody by the police, however, and soon everything was back to normal. There was ice carving, a chili cook off, dancing, local bands–the works.

And then it happened.

Some local kids at the park found Ned’s body in the gazebo at seven o’clock. There wasn’t a mark on him, but he was dead as dead could be. They called 911, and the paramedics did what they could, but it was too late. If Ned had been able to opine about the incident, he would have told anyone who would listen (and anyone who wouldn’t) that the statistical odds of a healthy Caucasian male dropping dead like that were astronomically low. But Ned wasn’t there, and everyone was ready and willing to forget about the incident and head to the Groundhog Ball.

Everyone but Detective Hardy, that is. He was a local Punxsutawney man, and he knew the town better than anyone. He also knew just how many people Ned had irritated over the years. Putting two and two together, he concluded it was likely a case of foul play. He doesn’t have any proof just yet, but he’s asked the likely suspects to assemble in one of the local homes to wait for the toxicology report to come back from the lab. If it comes back clean, then everyone at least got a free dinner out of the situation. If it doesn’t . . . then it’ll be time to find out whodunit.