Trouble Us Authors Get Into

Well, a friend of mine made a phone call today. You can see it here. It reminded me of a conversation I had with Sherry, the secretary, and basically woman who knows it all at my insurance agent's office a couple years ago, before I was really serious about writing, but still playing around with the idea. I had a murder mystery in mind, with all kinds of subplots.

Me: Sherry, I have a silly question, that is gonna sound awfully suspicious.
Sherry: Okay. What is it?
Me: What happens if your house burns down, and it is proven to be arson, but they can't prove YOU were the one that did it? Do you still get the insurance money?

Now, not only is this insurance agent my car insurer, they also had just started insuring my new (to us) house less than 6 months previous to this conversation. The look Sherry gave me was, needless to say, um, worried.

Me (quickly): It's for a book I'm writing. Or thinking of writing. Really.
Sherry: (feigining [?] interest): Really?
So I babble on, and tell her a little, but not much, cause even then I wasn't huge on the plotting thing, and then tell her she doesn't need to make it official, don't want her to check on it, just thought she might know. (You know, because now that I asked this question, I just KNEW my house would burn down in the next 6 months or so)
So she says she doesn't know, but will look into it. And I get the impression that she believes me, etc. After all, she has known me for 10 years, and the fact I can be a dingbat at times.
Less than a week later, I get a formal letter. On OFFICIAL LETTERHEAD of the company telling me what they do.
oops
hope my house doesn't ever catch fire.
oh, yeah, the answer to the question?
I forget.

Tina