This Van has a story to tell ...

People ask where writers get their inspiration. I was checking email (read: avoiding the time-hole that is Face Book) and found this pic on Yahoo.

It's a 1965 Volkswagen van that was stolen 44!! years ago from Spokane, Washington. It was recovered on Oct. 19, 2009, from a shipping container at the Port of Los Angeles bound for The Netherlands.

Inspiration can be as simple and compelling as a photo of something from the past. In this case, the van shouldn't have been where it was found. My writer's brain says something's up. The shiny paint. The mint condition of the fenders. The pristine interior. My muse says this van has been hiding in a shipping container for 44 years at the whim of a crook who would now like it shipped to the Netherlands. BTW, the Netherlands don't extradite criminals.

The possibilities for the truth are endless. This van was rolling off the line the same year I was born! What are the chances the container and the van are the same age? Someone had to be paying attention and colluding with the criminal mastermind who pulled this off to make sure the van was moved around for the last 44 years and made it to that specific container for shipping. Right? The big question is why. And more importantly; who? (Yes, I'm intrigued. And impressed that someone has successfully hidden the van and the truth for 44 years.) Mystery/Suspense genre writers could easily build a story around this premise.

If you live on the Far Side of reality and enjoy writing Science Fiction/Fantasy, who's to say the van didn't materialize into that container from another dimension?? Hey, it was found in LA, remember? (Home of the spaciest people on the planet.) Or if you're really into the whoo-whoo, what if aliens beamed it up from a country back road in Spokane and decided to return it? Now? 44 years later?? Why?? Hey, stranger things have happened in California.

I could go on and on but you get the picture. I'm writing today. Have a great one!