Minneapolis writer weaves scams, sibling ties into new novel
The title of Laura Zimmermann's book is a phrase which some, maybe all, parents use: “Just Do This One Thing For Me.” Early in the novel, as Drew explains her mother Heidi uses it a lot.
‘Come on! I just need you to do this one thing for me, Drew.' She should have worn a sensor that played it automatically as soon as I came within range, like those Halloween skeletons that threaten you when you come up for candy. Somehow she always seemed to believe it really was just one thing, as though I hadn't already done one thing for her an hour before, a hundred the week before, a hundred-thousand in the years before that.
On a recent summer morning Zimmermann sat on a park bench near Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. As cyclists whizzed by on the nearby bike trail, it was a far cry from the novel's setting in snowbound small town Wisconsin in late December.
It's there Heidi tells Drew, her ultra-responsible, list-writing, detail-oriented daughter, she has exciting news. Justin Timberlake is appearing at a New Years concert in Mexico City in just a few days. It may be Heidi's last chance ever to see her teen-age crush. So she's heading south. Like, now.
The family business
Heidi is a single mom. So she needs just one thing from Drew. Well, two things actually: take care of her antisocial sister Carna and her unworldly brother Lock.
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Oh, and keep the family business going while she is away.
“Her mother has been juggling some scams, and light Social Security fraud,” said Zimmermann. “You know, it turns out there is no 'light' Social Security fraud. It's all felony level fraud.”
The scams involve five star online reviews Heidi writes for poor quality, and possibly illegal, knock-off products sent to her by shady manufacturers. She turns the samples they send into cash. The felony fraud involves Drew's late grandmother. Heidi is still claiming her government benefits.
Drew finds herself writing reviews for off brand air pods "Five stars: sound great and don't fall out unless you sneeze"
But when a Social Security Administration investigator unexpectedly turns up on the doorstep she has to start coming up with excuses for Heidi's absence and that of her long cremated grandmother.
Could it get any worse? Well, yes,
“When Heidi fails to return from her trip on time, that leaves the kids to figure out in an increasingly elaborate and morally compromising ways how to keep all of these side hustles going and to keep their mother's disappearance a secret,” said Zimmermann. “Against all of that Drew is also trying to get accepted into the University of Wisconsin.”
‘Powerful without necessarily being pretty’
It becomes a wild ride and all in the middle of a bone-chilling winter.
When asked where this story came from Zimmermann said if was inspired by anything in her own life she would be in big trouble. She laughs that the search history on her computer involves some unsavory subjects.
She really just wanted to tell a tale of siblings, and especially about the bonds between sisters.
“They are some of the most defining and powerful relationships in our lives. And they're powerful without necessarily being pretty.”
Zimmermann stresses she's not trying to teach any lessons with her book. Young readers can smell that a mile away she says. She wants them to figure it out for themselves.
Zimmermann will launch “Just Do This One Thing For Me” at the Red Balloon Bookstore in St Paul at 6.30 p.m. Wednesday evening. It's free, but people are asked to register in advance. She will also appear locally at the Twin Cities Book Festival on Oct. 14.
The author says appearing before an audience is important to her. A writer's life can be isolating, and she has taken part in local storytelling events including the Moth, reveling in audience reactions.
“I like writing and then sending that off into the world. But to be able to kind of be there in the presence and get the energy get energy from the people hearing the story is really its lifeblood, I think,” Zimmermann said.