tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-233663572024-03-07T01:15:15.722-05:00Wright WritesRandom thoughts from a fat, surly, bald guy who reads, writes, rants, and (occasionally) blogs.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-56387111502822778112017-10-03T13:05:00.001-05:002017-10-03T13:05:22.411-05:00Story Archive | The Old Man We Saw on Bourbon Street
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<br />
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
This story started out as a poem, like “Tuesday Evening in
a Small, Southern Town”, but, because I’m not a poet, it eventually became a
piece of flash fiction that, I think, sort of serves as a follow-up or sequel
to my short story “Two Flights”.</div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
Originally
published <span style="font-style: normal;">Foliate Oak Literary Journal</span>, September,
2012.</div>
<h1>
The Old Man We Saw on Bourbon Street</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If he drinks enough, he can remember the way things used to
look: The smooth gray stones, tight and even, rising above her
little courtyard garden, the shallow pools sparkling in the
light of the iron-faced lamps, the neat double rows of daffodils that skirted the
meandering cobblestone path, the wooden swing moving gently back and forth in
the still summer air.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If he closes his eyes, she's there on the wall, her arms
extended, fingers splayed. Her bare feet move:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Toe-to-heel, toe-to-heel, along the crest of the garden wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stands in the garden, arms tense, legs
tight, as if he could actually catch her should she fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She laughs and the Spanish moss shudders in
the old oaks behind him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The night clings
to them the way it always does.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If he drinks enough, he can remember that he once tried to
forget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I toss him whatever change I
have in my pocket—a dollar, maybe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
nods and puts it in the old felt hat at his side then goes back to staring at
the crumbling wall behind the sagging house.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we walk away, she takes my hand and tells me she wants to
go home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to our apartment, but home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The night clings to us the way it always does.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-60309000499091155702017-10-03T12:54:00.001-05:002017-10-03T12:54:40.105-05:00Story Archive | Two Flights
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<br />
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
Often, I will write two or three stories that I later
realize work pretty well together. This bit of flash fiction is now, as far as
I’m concerned, a prequel to “The Man We Saw on Bourbon Street” and, perhaps,
even a sequel to “Tracks” and “Terminal”. It could even be part of a sequence
with other stories. Having said all that, I really don’t care for this story
very much and I’m not even sure why I’m publishing it here.</div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<h1>
Two Flights</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I crush the cigarette on the sidewalk and slowly exhale a
thin cloud of smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wind comes hard off
the river but does little to diminish the oppressive heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I take a deep breath and inhale the putrid,
vegetable rot stench of the Crescent City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tomorrow, working on the docks, that stench will permeate my
clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time I get home, I will
stink so badly that she won’t even talk to me until I’ve showered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The apartment, though, will smell as it
always does—of scented candles, clean laundry, and musty carpet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She will, of course, smell like garlic,
marinara sauce, sweat, and wine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
usual, she will be tired, her feet will ache, and she won’t feel much like
painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She never feels like painting
anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She never feels like doing
anything anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then, neither do
I.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking up, I see the light in our bedroom go off and I
sigh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Just two flights to
the shower, the fan, and the bed</i>, I tell myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That’s
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not so bad really when you consider
how little we pay for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still…</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stare at the jagged cracks in the sidewalk, wishing I
hadn’t promised to stop drinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sweat
has matted my prematurely-thinning hair, the heat burns and itches beneath my
clothing, my shoulders ache, and the strained muscles in my lower back are
beginning to stiffen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sit on the stoop and look toward the river that I can
smell but can’t quite see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I light
another cigarette and, for the tenth time this week, think about the home we
left behind and the stairs I continue to climb for her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-20514779664769055002017-10-03T10:13:00.000-05:002017-10-03T10:13:51.138-05:00Story Archive | Terminal
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Terminal”
was written well before “Tracks” but, in my mind, it is now (after a light
rewrite) a sequel to that later, slightly shorter story. So, if you haven’t
read “Tracks” yet, read that first. Or don’t. It probably doesn’t matter since
they have unrelated origins and were intended as standalone pieces.</i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h1>
Terminal</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though there are plenty of empty seats, a guy in a
cheap charcoal suit has plopped his ass down just two spaces from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His name is Bill, he’s in real estate, and
he’s telling me about how the government is killing him with their regulations
and taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s tan, tall,
broad-shouldered, and only a little soft in the middle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s chewing his Nicorette loudly—the second
piece since he sat down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dozen red
roses lie on the seat between us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several
petals are considerably darker than the rest, a few leaves are wilted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You waiting on family” he asks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shake my head slightly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re too young to be waiting on a wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Girlfriend?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nod once.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He smiles wistfully, eyes focused on something beyond the
doorway or maybe on nothing at all, and says, “I was probably only a little bit
older than you when Lila and I got married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was my only real girlfriend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was a cheerleader, I was a running back.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He shakes his head and bites his lower
lip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Probably would have married her even
if I hadn’t knocked her up after the prom.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I fold my arms across my chest and stare at the grimy
concrete floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A row of tiny black ants
marches from under our row of seats to a discarded ice cream wrapper several
feet away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Been married almost ten years,” Bill tells me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Two beautiful kids.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He shows me the pictures in his wallet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lila’s not bad; she has good cheeks, bright
eyes, and hasn’t quite lost the cheerleader figure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kids, however, are ugly little fuckers,
pug nosed and portly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“She’s visiting her mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Been there with the kids for a week.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He runs a soft hand through his thinning hair. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“First time we’ve been apart since we got
married.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A rumbling diesel
engine grows louder, air brakes sigh, the rumble subsides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stands eagerly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Bus is here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Don’t forget your flowers.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As he picks them up, a petal falls onto the floor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I consider reminding him to put his wedding ring back on,
but decide against it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lila and the kids are last off the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jessica and Julie were third to exit, but Jessica
moves slowly, supported by her friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She stops, leans against the wall, lets the eager crowd pass.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bill’s kids mosey over to him and give him half-hearted hugs;
he tousles their hair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kisses Lila on
the cheek, tries to hug her but she’s unresponsive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Bill leads his family away from the gate
he gives me a wink and a quick thumbs up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jessica makes her way toward me with an almost
shuffle-footed gait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her long hair is
pulled back from her face and she isn’t wearing makeup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I meet her halfway, we embrace gently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t ask her how she’s feeling and I avoid
eye contact with Julie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We go outside to
where Julie’s boyfriend, Tom, is waiting in his mom’s station wagon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jessica and I climb into the back seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I take her hand in mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to say something comforting,
reassuring, healing, but I’m only seventeen and woefully short on wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I just sing along softly when Tom
turns on the radio.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the ride back to her house, Jessica rests her forehead on
the driver’s side window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her face is
half mirrored in the window and I see my own ghostly reflection over her
shoulder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beyond us, the world is a gray
blur.</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: 13.5pt 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 6.5in 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-34814046219922095172017-10-03T10:03:00.000-05:002017-10-03T10:03:47.490-05:00Story Archive | Tracks
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Tracks”
was based on an idea I had years ago but that took a while to develop—not that
there’s much development here. I wrote this thinking it would fit neatly into a
short story collection I had planned but I think that it’s probably better on
its own, though the short story “Terminal” works as a sequel to it.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This
one has never been published. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
think I’ve ever even sent it to anyone.</i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h1>
Tracks</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She’s waiting for me at lunch and it’s there she gives me
the news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t take it well and I
don’t say the right things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She gets up
and walks quickly to the door where Julie is waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Julie shoots me a nasty look then leads her
outside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In no mood to eat, I dump my
tray in the trash and head out back for a smoke with the losers and burnouts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Somehow, I get through the rest of the day and, after
school, we drive up to the old cabin on the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She doesn’t want a beer or a cigarette—gives
me a dirty look when I offer—so we just sit on the back porch and stare at the
kudzu shrouded trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t say much.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a while, I get up and walk down the narrow game trail
to the bluff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She waits a couple of
minutes before following.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below us at
the edge of the lake, weedy, rusted train tracks sprout from the factory where my
father works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rails slash like a
wound through our hometown and out of sight before bending gently westward,
threading their way through the pass and into the open valley beyond.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tell her that, when I was little, my grandfather talked about
his time as a hobo—though he never referred to himself as such.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his brother, “out of work, thanks to
that damned Herbert Hoover,” travelled the country by rail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They worked odd jobs when they could get them
and, sometimes, stayed on for a full season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When the work dried up or their pockets were full, they hopped on a
boxcar and moved on in search of something better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a kid, that had always seemed like a great life to me so,
at fourteen, I ran away from home and went down to the pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a backpack with two changes of clothes,
a towel, and several cans of food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my
pocket was a Swiss Army Knife and almost thirty dollars I’d earned mowing lawns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My plan was to jump onto an open boxcar as
the train slowed to make the hairpin turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, as the train chugged by, I found no boxcars at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those had been phased out, replaced by
brightly-colored, graffiti-scarred shipping containers that could be lifted from
their flatbed cars with a crane and dropped onto trucks or ships for the next
leg of the journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was damned
efficient, unless you were a hobo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The trains don’t even run in the valley anymore,” I say.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She takes my hand in hers and, after a time, we sit, looking
out at the valley and imagining the world beyond the pass.</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: 13.5pt 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 6.5in 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-67567496922012471572017-10-03T09:44:00.000-05:002017-10-03T09:44:51.465-05:00Story Archive | The Ballad of Judas Kane<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
Yee haw! I done went an’ wrote a western!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This
story was written after reading a couple of westerns by mystery writer, Robert
B. Parker. I don’t think I’ve ever read any other westerns but I had an idea
and thought it would be fun to try. So I wrote this and submitted it to a magazine
called </i>All Genres Literary Magazine<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
in 2012. The editor wrote me and told me he rejected it because there wasn’t
enough action and it wasn’t a traditional western. I, of course, thought, No
shit .But I ended up writing a new western just to show him (and myself) that I
could do it—I called that one “The Legend of Justice White”—and he published it.
But I never liked that one as much as I like this one so I’m posting this one
instead.</i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
Originally
published in <span style="font-style: normal;">Rope & Wire</span>, January,
2013.</div>
<h1>
The Ballad of Judas Kane</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A kid from somewhere up in Oregon winged me a few weeks
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put a bullet through his heart
sure enough, but not before he took a pretty good chunk out of my left
bicep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had he lived long enough, the kid
might have enjoyed the considerable honor of being the first man to get off a
shot against the great Judas Kane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Course that kind of reputation can make a man cocky, reckless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, if I hadn’t killed him, some other gunny
would have done it soon enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kids like
that rarely last long, no matter how fast they are.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This happened just outside a rathole saloon in a little west
Texas town called Far Orleans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
wasn’t much of a crowd to witness my wounding, but word travels fast on the dry
desert winds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By now, people from the
Rio to the Rockies will know about how Judas Kane almost lost to a kid no one
has ever heard of.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The kid had heard of me though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said he recognized me from a photograph he
saw in Abilene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said I looked older in
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> older—older by several hard years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He said he’d heard I was the best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him I’d heard that too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve heard a lot of things about myself—some
of them true, most of them not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
knew where it was going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hadn’t had
much to drink, but he’d had enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
could see it in his eyes, in the way he stood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He told me he’d killed ten men and at least twice that many
Indians, maybe three times as many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
wasn’t impressed and I reckon it showed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He asked how many notches I had and I told him notches ruin a good
pistol grip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That wasn’t a good enough
for answer for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pressed me and,
eventually, I told him I didn’t know; I’d lost count.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That many,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That many.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The kid wanted to buy me a drink, but I told him I buy my
own drinks; always have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That offended
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he was looking for
offense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted a reason to call me
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nearly an hour before he
found one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, while I was waiting to
kill him, we sat with our backs to the wall, drank our whiskies, smoked our
cigars and watched the Mexican girl dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She wore a bright yellow dress with red lace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wasn’t a great dancer and not much of a
singer, but she didn’t have to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
had every eye in the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the
other girls watched her from their chairs at the back of the room beneath the
stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her name was Inez and she
reminded me of someone I had known when I was about the kid’s age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, as I walked away from the kid’s body,
blood filling my sleeve, she was what I was thinking of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inez, I mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not the other one, the one from long ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though, before long, my thoughts went back to
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They always do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What was his name?” the doc asked as he sewed me up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The kid?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Didn’t introduce himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, if he did, I don’t remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said he was from Oregon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do remember that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He have any people around here?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Came in with a couple of friends about the same age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They left him in the dirt.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Think they’ll come at you?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He nodded, tied off the last stitch and began to dress the
wound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I assume you know how to care
for a gunshot wound,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not really.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He explained the process, gave me a bunch of supplies and,
when I tried to pay him, he waved the coins away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t take money from legends,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I put the coins on the table, said, “I pay my debts. Cash.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Maybe there’s another way,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, by the time I rode out of Far Orleans, I’d killed the
two men I went there to kill originally, plus the kid from Oregon, and the guy
who’d raped the doctor’s only daughter. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now I’m on a train, heading east.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rumble and clack should be relaxing but
isn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re still several hours outside
of St. Louis and the tracks here are rough, uneven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the distance, beyond a line of low hills,
I can see the glow of a raging fire that’s sweeping across the plain, just as
it has been for nearly a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The smoke
is lost to the night but, to the south, no stars sparkle in the sky, no moon glows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even on the moving train, I can smell the
charred grass.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m in the back seat of the last passenger car, left side,
aisle seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a clear view of the
only viable entrance to the car and my right hand is free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Colt is holstered under my left shoulder
and, its usual place, is a custom-made ten gauge over-and-under with the
barrels and stock sawed down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a
special rig made for it a couple of days ago and I sit with my right leg in the
aisle, the ankle bent back under my thigh so that the blunt barrel extends just
beyond my knee and points at the forward door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s the first scattergun I’ve ever owned.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An old novel lies on my lap, a page about halfway through
dog-eared to mark my place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dead man
sits in the seat facing me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sat down
there hours ago without saying a word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He simply nodded to me, took out his own novel and began to read by the
light slanting through the window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Occasionally, he would make a notation in the book with a stub of pencil
he’d pulled from his breast pocket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
didn’t seem to be heeled, but I kept a discreet eye on him just the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, he tired, took off his glasses,
laid his pencil and book aside, yawned and closed his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only when sleep slackened his face
that I recognized him as a man I killed nearly ten years earlier in
Arizona.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t recall his name or why
I killed him, but I will never forget how he looked lying face up in the mud of
the corral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if the kid I killed
in Far Orleans remembered the faces of the men he killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if he killed as many men as he
claimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d bet the answer to both is
no.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve seen probably fifteen or twenty dead people walking
around in the last few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of
them had heard of me, but I don’t think any of them knew they looked exactly
like someone I killed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the early seventies, I spent a bit of time riding with a
weathered old Englishman named Hudson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was always dressed real nice—even on the trail—and he talked like
some kind of sissy, but on the job he was hard and cold and handled a gun about
as well as anyone I’d ever met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably
only myself and a dark-eyed kid named Robert Cole are any better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mostly, I don’t say much when I’m working—or
when I’m not for that matter—but Hudson was a talker and, one day, while we
were riding in a private three-man posse with an Apache tracker, he told me
about a guy from Greece who claimed that all life was cyclical.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And everybody’s got a doppelganger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An exact twin,” Hudson said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That twin might be ten, fifteen, even fifty
years older or younger than you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell,
they might not even be born in your lifetime, but there are only so many kinds
of people and, eventually, we all come around again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Out here in the wide open, it’s not so
obvious because the population’s low, but go to a big city like New York or
Boston and you’re likely to see two or three people a month that you know from
somewhere else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell, you might even run
across yourself sometime.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nodded and, for a long while, we rode in silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We followed the Apache who was following
three-day-old sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the while, I was
thinking about something that happened just before the war.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With things getting tense in the south, I had hired on as
private security for a plantation owner and his family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stayed behind to see to his land while I
accompanied the women and children to London where they were to stay with
distant family for the duration of the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wasn’t there long—not more than a few days—but I did get a chance to
walk through one of their grand old cemeteries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was so old that it was full up and they weren’t putting anyone else
in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent a good half hour
walking around, looking at the stones, the names, the dates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were some so old the names and dates
had weathered right away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those
people—the ones under the weathered blank markers—are about as gone as you can
get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They aren’t just dead; they are
utterly forgotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember a
few other things about London, but those old stones are what has stayed
clearest in my head</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That kid I killed back in Far Orleans won’t get a stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’ll get a wooden cross in a little plot of
land out past the stockyard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he’s
lucky, one of his friends will carve his name on the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that it matters, really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fifty years or so, if there’s no family to
keep it fresh, that little cross will be gone and, in another hundred, maybe
less, the city will swallow up the cemetery and all the souls therein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe the prairie will reclaim the
land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve seen that happen too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It happens quicker than you’d think; the land
is hungry.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I take my eyes off the sleeping dead man and look out the
window for a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can see the fire
now, actual flames.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A modest cabin
stands in ever-shifting silhouette against the wall of fire and a covered wagon
is moving away from it, toward the tracks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hudson said once that guys like us are a prairie fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sweep across the great, empty spaces
burning up anything or anyone that gets in the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we burn so brightly that they can see us
from the tall buildings back east.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
one knows how it got started or where it will end, but end it will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No fire burns forever except the one we’ll
find after we die.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The door at the front of the car opens and Robert Cole, the
legendary shooter from St. Louis, steps inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His hat is low, shadowing his eyes and the collar of his duster is
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the dancing orange glow of the
fiery night, his face is waxen and flat, almost featureless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t see his gun but I know that it will
be on his left hip, pearl handle gleaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I saw him shoot in Arizona, must have been ten or fifteen years
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus, he was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No reason to think he isn’t still.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though I can’t see his eyes, I feel them sweep the car and
stop on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel them drop to the
shotgun strapped to my leg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His lips
twitch into a thin smirk then he nods once, turns and leaves, moving back
through the train.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Cole is gone, I sit for a moment staring at the place
where he stood then I flip to the back of the novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It ends on an odd numbered page so the
backside is blank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gently pick up the
stranger’s pencil from his lap and write:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My name is Judas Kane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 10,
1839.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I scouted for Longstreet then came
west after the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never married and
I don’t have any family but I once loved a woman named Carmen. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I look at what I have written for a minute then added:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Before the war, I visited England.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I’m done, I tear the page from the book, fold the
paper, tuck it into the band of my hat, and get up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, leaving the shotgun behind, I go to
look for Cole.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2013 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-70532739459603480212017-10-03T09:15:00.000-05:002017-10-03T09:16:01.398-05:00Story Archive | The White Bear<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This
is not my best story—far from it, in fact—but, for a long time, it was one of
my favorites. After years of writing horror, sci-fi, and fantasy (with an
occasional try at moody hipster fiction), I wrote this—a southern story. And I
loved it. After this novel, I started writing almost exclusively southern lit
and, on the rare occasions I still write, it’s usually set in the south and
usually about working class characters.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
spite of how much I love(d) this story, I’ve never found a publisher for it.
And, looking back at it, I see many flaws in it but I’m going to post it here
simply because it is the story that completely changed the way I write.</i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<h1>
The White Bear</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The White Bear was a grizzly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to be clear about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some folks still claim it was a polar bear
that escaped from a zoo or a circus, but the White Bear was seen in the
Winnepesaukah Valley long before circuses and such ever toured the
Appalachians.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I first saw the White Bear back in June of 1979.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had just turned ten and was being treated
to my first squirrel hunting expedition by my father and his friend Lester
Kegg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent the weekend in a cabin on
a little piece of White Bear Mountain that Kegg had inherited from his
grandfather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tiny, two-room house
wasn’t much more than a shack really but, at the time, I thought it was damn
near Shangri-La.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Army surplus cots,
secondhand furniture and a fungus-ridden bathroom gave the place a real manly
feel—something I was just beginning to appreciate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We sat at a folding table, shirts off, playing blackjack and
poker for real pennies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad and Kegg
smoked off-brand cigarettes and drank PBR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had a Dr. Pepper and a bag of chips.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those nights at the cabin were just about the only time you
could see my dad with his shirt off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
wasn’t proud of his tattoos (“Scars of a misspent youth,” he called them) and
Mom hated them so, even at home, he tended to wear sleeves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, up at the cabin, things were
different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, Kegg had at least
twice as many tattoos as Dad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Earlier in the evening, just before dinner, I had emulated
their tattoos with crude blue Bic artwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dad and Kegg had a good laugh until they noticed that I had copied Dad’s
burning cross and was working on a copy of Kegg’s man hanging from a tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg and Dad exchanged an odd look then Dad
made me wash off the artwork in the cold water of the bathroom sink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Your mother’ll shit if she sees that,” Kegg
said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My arms were freshly scrubbed before the burgers came off
the charcoal grill and the azure sky had faded to late summer bronze by the
time I’d lost the last of my pennies to Kegg’s queen-high flush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t talk dad into staking me to
another hand so I grabbed another bottle of Dr. Pepper from the fridge, headed
to the couch, and tuned in the Braves game on the old AM transistor radio Kegg
kept on the old, battered footlocker that served as a coffee table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Braves were at Candlestick that night so the game
started late and, true to form, so did the Braves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unexcited by Atlanta’s lackluster
performance, by the fifth inning, I was stretched out on the old orange and
green sofa with a Spider-Man comic book rising and falling gently on my bare
chest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then I was walking through the woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The full moon was dim, shrouded by clouds,
but the terrain was familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three
of us had covered the same piece of ground that very afternoon while hunting
squirrels, Kegg and Dad with their Springfield rifles, me with my Daisy BB
gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bushes rustled behind me and I spun
toward the sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dark, vaguely
humanoid mass that smelled like wet, rotting carpet towered above me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Silhouetted against the gauzy full moon, it
emitted a low rumbling growl—a sound like a mineshaft cave-in as heard from the
surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a step backward but a
heavy white arm arced through the dank air and swept me off my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I landed hard on my back in a thicket of
thorns several feet away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could smell
blackberries crushed by my fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried
to crawl away but the thorns had a death grip on my jeans and tee shirt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing’s shadow moved over me and I heard
that rumbling growl again, louder this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A scream rattled in my throat but wouldn’t come out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bear moved in for the kill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With all my might, I tore away from the
thorns as the thing reached for me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I lurched off the sofa and choked back a scream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lights in the room were on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That meant Dad and Kegg were still awake and
I was suddenly embarrassed by my childish reaction to the nightmare.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked toward the card table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad sat stiffly in his chair, his expression
as grim as the time he told mom the factory had cut back on its employees and
he had been laid off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I saw Kegg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stood just across the coffee table from
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His hand was on the volume knob and
no sound came from the speaker.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg looked over his shoulder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The large box fan that sat on the windowsill
spun steadily behind him, the blades blurred into a solid, dirty, metal
circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He turned back toward Dad, and
jerked his head toward the fan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad
nodded, got up, went over and flipped the switch to turn it off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The motor’s whine faded to a growl then to a
sputtering whimper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took nearly a
full minute for the rusted metal blades to wind down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The oppressive heat slipped through the windows
and under the door to cover us like a shroud.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I opened my mouth to ask a question but Dad put his index
finger to his lips.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg crossed the room to the fireplace where the two
Springfields and my Daisy sat propped against the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, instead of getting the rifles, he
reached above the mantle and gently took down the big .10 gauge Remington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he jacked the first round into the
chamber, I winced.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg looked at my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dad shrugged then nodded once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kegg took a deep breath and slowly opened the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He raised the shotgun, swept the darkness
beyond then stepped out onto the sagging front porch, and looked both ways.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Close the door, Carl,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad closed the door and came to stand beside me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither of us spoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard Kegg’s footsteps on the porch then
there was only the sound of the cicadas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Kegg finally fired his gun, I gasped—maybe even
yelped—and very nearly pissed myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
held my breath until we heard the sound of human feet on the porch again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad left my side and opened the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg stood framed against a field of velvety
black, his broad, shirtless back to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Walking backward, gun still pointed forward, he entered the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad closed and bolted the door.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You get it?” I asked, not knowing what <i>it</i> was.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I was just firin’ into the air, trying to scare it off,”
Kegg said softly as he put the shotgun back in its rack above the mantle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If the stories I’ve heard are true, that
thing can’t be killed.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If the stories are true,” Dad said, his voice just as low as
Kegg’s, “I don’t think it can be scared either.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>
it?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was whispering, my voice dry and
cracked, but the sound seemed loud in the still air.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg looked at my dad and started to answer but Dad said,
“Bear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grizzly, probably, judging from
the sound.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sighed, relieved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The woods up there were full of bears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most people in Winnepesaukah County considered bears more of a nuisance
than a threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my short life I’d
probably already seen a half dozen or so in the wild—though most of them had
been the smaller black bears, not grizzlies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, if it was just a bear, why had Dad and Kegg looked so worried?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I glanced down at the dirty rug beneath
Kegg’s feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had once been a black
bear of considerable size.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it looked
as if it had come out on the wrong end of an encounter with a cartoon
steamroller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only its head and paws
retained their original size.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A bear
like that one?” I asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg laughed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My dad
shook his head and smiled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not like that
one, Bud,” Kegg said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Not like any bear
you’ve ever seen before in your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
are likely to see, for that matter.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg turned the fan back on and took another beer from the
fridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The air began to stir but it
would be a good while before the temperature dropped from stifling to simply
uncomfortable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You ever hear of Chuck, the White Bear?” Kegg asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I thought about it for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Is he the one this mountain is named after?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“His name’s <i>Chuck</i>?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s actually some long-ass Cherokee name,” Kegg
explained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>Chuckatwokatall</i> or <i>Chuckatokeekee</i>
or somethin’ like that but people round here ain’t so good with Indian names so
we mostly just call him <i>Chuck</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They say his Indian name means <i>Ghost</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <i>Bear</i></span>.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Kegg,” Dad said tilting his head to the right and eyeing
his friend sternly, “This ain’t a story for a little boy.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But I’m not a little boy!” I protested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You said so yourself when you told mom you
was taking me squirrel hunting!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg smiled at my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Kid’s got you there, Carl,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad shook his head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Story like that’s
liable to give him nightmares.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
mamma’d kill me if I get him all screwed up in the head before he even gets to
junior high.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He paused and scratched
behind his right ear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But, if he really
wants to hear it…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad waved a brawny,
callused hand dismissively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll let
you deal with his mother when he wakes up crying in the middle of the night.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No
problem,” he said, “since I’ll be in bed with her, anyhow.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He finished the sentence with a broad,
gap-toothed smile.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad glared at Kegg and cut his eyes sharply to me then back
to Kegg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg quickly and sincerely told
Dad he was sorry while I tried hard to pretend I didn’t understand the joke.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg suppressed a smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“So, I guess you want me to go on and tell it then?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll
just correct your mistakes.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If I wanted my mistakes corrected,” Kegg said sourly, “I’d
a brought Peggy.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg sat on the footlocker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Let’s see…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He scratched his
stubble covered chin with a dirty fingernail and looked upward, squinting as if
cue cards were affixed to the ceiling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It all started back in the old days,” he said at last,
“back when there weren’t no one but Cherokee Indians here in the Winnepesaukah
Valley.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sat on the sofa, pulled one of the misshapen cushions over
me, and clutched it firmly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg didn’t
seem to notice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a soft
thumping ripple as dad shuffled the cards behind me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I glanced quickly back at him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was dealing a hand of Solitaire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with reading the sports page and
smoking cigarettes, playing Solitaire was one of Dad’s great hobbies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Like I said, the Indians had a name for him that most white
folks don’t remember or, more likely, ain’t allowed to remember on account o’
Ol’ Chief Settin’ Sun’s Curse but, that’s another story for another day.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He stopped, coughed and continued. “They called Ol’ Chuck
the Ghost Bear because Indian legend had it that he couldn’t be killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either he was really, really old or he was a
ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I s’pect he was just old but you
know Indians’ll believe most anything.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">didn’t</i> know
that—I didn’t even know any Indians—but I nodded anyway.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Anyway, Chuck was ‘bout as old as the Winnepesaukah Valley
itself, I reckon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They say that, when
the Cherokee’s ancestors first tried to settle this land a thousand years ago,
the bear killed all of ‘em.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took a
very old and very wise medicine man to work a deal with the spirits.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg fished cigarette out of its pack and lit it with a
match he struck on his thumbnail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
watched with envy while rubbing the fading blister on my own thumb—a painful
reminder of a not-quite-failed experiment with that same trick.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg blew smoke at the ceiling and continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The medicine man’s deal with the Spirits of
the Valley said that two times as year…”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He paused and scratched his head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He looked at my dad and asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Carl, what do you call it when the days are
real long?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Work,” Dad replied.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No, I mean, in the summer, on the longest day and in the
winter on the longest night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a
name for that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Solstice!” I blurted proudly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You’re talking about the summer solstice and
winter solstice.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked back at dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He lifted his head from his cards, took the cigarette from his mouth and
smiled at me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He nodded slightly and I
nodded back.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yeah,” Kegg said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“The summer and winter solstices.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I smiled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Anyhow, each year on the summer and winter solstices, the
Indians had to send one person out to a special holy place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the winter they sent a young brave and, in
the summer, they sent a virgin squaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was an altar, just above what we now call Duggan’s Bluff.” Kegg
stopped and looked at me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You know
where that is, right?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nodded and pointed in what I thought to be the general
direction of the road and said, “Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s above the lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s where
the old fort is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad’s taken me there a
lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a really neat place.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I reckon it was a pretty neat place back then, too,” Kegg
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I mean, picture yourself standin’
up there lookin’ down at the Valley and seeing nothing but trees, grass, water
and teepees.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Cherokees didn’t live in teepees,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They build log cabins like the Pilgrims.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg looked at my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I looked at my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad
nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg shrugged and continued.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You gotta picture it,” he implored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Close your eyes and imagine yourself up there,
lookin’ down at the valley, the way it must have looked then before
civilization dirtied it all up.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My eyes were frozen wide open yet I <i>could</i> picture
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my mind’s eye, I clearly saw the
peaceful and magnificent Winnepesaukah Valley stretched out half a mile below
me, unspoiled by the White Man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard
a hawk circling frighteningly close in the deep blue sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could almost smell the scent of history
carried on the ancient winds that swirled around the bluff.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They’d take them up there and have a big party with a lot
of dancin’, singin’, drinkin’ and smokin’ of the peace pipe,” Kegg said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Then, after that was all done, they’d all go
back down to their teepees—,” Kegg caught the mistake and quickly corrected
himself, “I mean log cabins.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I smiled and nodded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m learnin’,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad grinned around his cigarette.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Anyway,” Kegg continued, “They’d all go back down to their
homes in the valley, around the edge of the lake ‘cept for the one that was
chosen to face the White Bear.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He paused and sat on the old wooden crate that served as a
coffee table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So, now, it’s the middle of the night and this Indian boy
or Indian girl—not much older than you are now—is up there, all alone, at the
top of Duggan’s Bluff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, what
they had to do was go up on this altar and take this horn and blow on it, like
this.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg put his hands to his mouth
and made a loud, bellowing sound that would have probably attracted a bull
moose had there been any in that part of the country.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I laughed and he made the sound again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You know what the horn was for, Bud?” Kegg asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“To call the White Bear?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded solemnly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was to call
Chuck.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You know,” Dad said, “the story’d be a might scarier if you
didn’t keep callin’ him <i>Chuck</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How scary can anything named Chuck be?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Damnit, Carl, you’re screwin’ up the natural flow of my
story,” Kegg said testily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A story’s
gotta have a flow to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t you watch
TV?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Just get on with it,” Dad said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He waited a second then added, “And stop
callin’ him Chuck, for Christ’s sake.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded, shrugged and turned back to me, the cigarette
dangling from the corner of his mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“So now the horn had been blown and the bear was comin’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Indian had to sit on the altar and wait…
And wait… And wait.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg paused for
effect then said, his voice almost a whisper, “And then…” Another long pause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There would be a rustling in the trees.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I inhaled sharply, “The White Bear?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His eyes
were locked on mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The White Bear.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I realized I had been holding my breath so I exhaled and
looked deep into Kegg’s dark eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s where the story was now: <i>In</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <i>his</i> <i>eyes</i></span>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You can imagine the terror of the poor Indian stuck up
there on the bluff with the White Bear comin’ through the bushes toward him.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Imagine</i> the terror?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I could <i>feel</i> the terror!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My heart was pounding, my mouth was dry and my palms were sweaty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was on the bluff, standing there alone in
the dead of winter waiting for a bear with a name no White Man could pronounce.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The bear never came right out, though,” Kegg said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“‘Cause Ol’ Chuck, he liked to make ‘em
wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, eventually, just when the
young Indian was just startin’ to think that, maybe he wasn’t to the bear’s
likin’, here he came.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keg stood up, the
cigarette clamped between his teeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
arms were extended and he started to growl. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My stomach tightened and the hairs on the back of my neck snapped
to attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even my feet tensed,
waiting for the final word from the brain that the fleeing should commence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg growled again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He stands at least fifteen foot tall and his eyes are as
red as coals in a campfire,” Kegg said, his voice still a throaty growl, “and
there was nowhere the poor Indian could run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nowhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothin’ but thick woods
and the White Bear in front of ‘im and nothin’ but a suicide drop into the lake
behind ‘im.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a long moment of silence, then Kegg sat down and
puffed on his cigarette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he
might have been smiling, though, if he was, it was not a smile of happiness or
humor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So the White Bear ate the Indians?” I asked, my voice
timid, shaking a little.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg shrugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Who
knows?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He definitely drug them off some’rs,
but nobody to this day knows where.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
only know they never came back and no trace of them was ever found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No blood, no bones, nothing.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I swallowed hard.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As an afterthought, Kegg added, “Twisted Foot, that fat ol’
squaw that used to have the Indian knickknack store down at Mudpeak told me
that her mamma told her that after the Indians had been sacrificed, their
ghosts would walk the mountains at night with the White Bear to keep all
non-Cherokees out of the valley while the Winnepesaukah tribe slept.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But they <i>did</i> get in,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Didn’t they?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When Colonel Duggan kicked Chief Setting Sun’s butt?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked at my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was frowning very slightly and I didn’t think it had anything to do
with the game of solitaire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, as I
grew older, wiser and more cynical, I would discover that much (if not most) of
what I had been taught in school about the county’s history was rife with
inaccuracies, prejudices and outright fabrications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect that Dad, being something of a
history buff, already knew that, but he was never one to openly challenge
conventional wisdom, even when he knew the conventional wisdom was foolishly
inaccurate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yeah,
kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s part of the story, too.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He lit another cigarette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Chief Settin’ Sun was a great warrior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He and his ancestors had kept the White Man out of the Winnepesaukah
Valley for a thousand years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then,
‘round about 1839, Colonel Douglas Duggan led an army of White Men into the
Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Duggan’s job was to round up all
the Indians who refused to quietly and politely go west to live with the others
on reservations.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You mean on the Trail of Tears,” I said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He nodded again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“That’s a good name for it, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And everyone knew it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See, these
Indians, the Cherokees, were smarter than most White Men allowed.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew, from years of listening to southerners speak, that <i>allowed</i>
usually meant <i>thought</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>rather
than the more common <i>permitted</i>; however, looking back on it, I think
Kegg might have actually meant both.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So the ones who had escaped the great Indian roundup
gathered here in the Winnepesaukah Valley,” he continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Under the leadership of Ol’ Chief Settin’
Sun, they were prepared to defend the valley—to the death if necessary.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He paused for a long moment then asked, “You know what happened
then?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Colonel Duggan led his Calvary and a thousand soldiers
through the pass into the Valley and fought a great battle,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“When it was over, all the Indians that
survived were sent west to live on the reservations.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That what they told you in school?” Kegg asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They told you there were survivors?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nodded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg sighed heavily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Yeah, I guess they wouldn’t wanna tell you the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Might make our forefathers look bad.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He took a long drag off his cigarette then held it in front
of him and watched the smoke curling up from the ash-laden tip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m gonna tell you all about it,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“All Americans deserve to know the truth, I
think.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That seemed
like a good philosophy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“There weren’t any Indian survivors of that battle,” Kegg
said, his voice strangely broken and somewhat quieter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Duggan had his men kill ‘em all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every last one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they didn’t just kill the warriors
neither.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They killed women and children
and old people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, with many of the
women, they…”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He looked over at my dad again, almost nervously this
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad was eyeing him strongly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad shook his head very slightly and Kegg
nodded almost imperceptibly in response.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They did some other really bad things…” He paused again
then added. “To the women I mean.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wanted to ask Kegg exactly what he meant by that, but I
understood from Dad’s warning look that it was one of those horrible things
little boys didn’t need to hear, because it just might make them grow up
wanting to do it themselves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Anyway,” Kegg said, forcing a more even tone into his
voice, “Duggan and his soldiers did some very bad things to the Indians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things no one should ever be proud of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was simply no reason to do what they
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just meanness I reckon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe they was just young and foolish and
followin’ someone they believed in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t know.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hated sermons, especially uninvited ones that occurred in
the middle of a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shifted
uncomfortably in my seat and promised myself then and there that, if ever had
to tell a story, I’d stick to the point and let the listener figure out for
himself what was right and wrong.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg saw me fidget and he got the hint.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Duggan’s men slaughtered all of the Indians in the Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those that survived the first wave, climbed
this very mountain to the place we now call Duggan’s Bluff.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He took a comforting drag on his cigarette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That bluff was supposedly the holiest of all
places to the Cherokees in the valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was not only where they made their sacrifices to the White Bear, it
was also where there they had their funeral services, war councils and stuff
like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up in the hills behind it, is
where they buried their dead.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
smiled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hell, this very house is
probably sittin’ on an old Indian burial mound right now.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg finished his cigarette and crushed it out in the ash
tray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So, when Duggan and his men were
sure nobody was left alive in the valley, they climbed the mountain and went to
Duggan’s Bluff.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He took another cigarette from the pack and tapped it against
his open palm a few times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After it was
lit, he said, “But all they found up there was a bunch of dead Indians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ol’ Chief Settin’ Sun had made them all
commit suicide rather than die at the hands of the White Man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the Ol’ Chief himself was left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stood on a large stump at the edge of the
bluff, his back to Duggan and the advancin’ troops, his right hand stretched
out ahead of him, to the west, toward the settin’ sun he was named after.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg stood and acted out the scene, the old footlocker taking
the place of the stump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And they say he
was chantin’ some Indian mumbo jumbo voodoo stuff.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg began to chant, making up vowel heavy
nonsense that sounded like Indians in the movies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I giggled a bit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg stopped chanting, lowered his arms and looked down at
me with a very serious expression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Colonel Duggan and his men thought it was funny, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They started laughin’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t know it was an Indian voodoo
curse he was puttin’ on ‘em and on all their descendants for a thousand
seasons.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg stepped down off the table and sat on the arm of his
chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Colonel Duggan raised his pistol
to fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I s’pect he lined up on the
back of the Chief’s head.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg imitated
Duggan with his index finger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He even
closed one eye as he sighted on his imaginary target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But, before he could fire, Ol’ Chief Settin’
Sun jumped right off that stump and dove into the lake, nearly half a mile
below.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My eyes were wide, my mouth was open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew this part of the story but I had never
heard it told with such passion before.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Some of Duggan’s soldiers that were still down in the
valley said that, when Ol’ Settin’ Sun hit, he didn’t even make a splash or
nary a ripple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He just cut right through
the water like a…” Kegg paused and looked at my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad shrugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kegg shrugged and turned back to me with a slightly sheepish grin.
“Anyway, the thing is, he didn’t make a splash.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Somehow, it seemed possible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg sank back into the chair and puffed on his
cigarette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now everybody knows a fall
like that’ll kill a man sure as shootin’, but there are those who say that Ol’
Chief Settin’ Sun ain’t really dead.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Then what happened to him?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The same thing that happened to the Indians that were
sacrificed to the White Bear,” Kegg replied.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You mean he became a ghost to help Chuck keep White Men out
of the Valley?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg tilted his head to one side and wrinkled his heavily
creased face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Not exactly.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He took another long drag on his cigarette then leaned
toward me and asked, “You know what the last thing was Ol’ Chief Settin’ Sun
said before he jumped off that stump into the lake?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one word he yelled at the top of lungs
just before he dove to his death?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did know that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone knew that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Winnepesaukah.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Winnepesaukah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Know what that
means?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shook my head.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That’s just it,” Kegg said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Nobody alive today does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Least
not no White Man.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He leaned back in his chair and took the cigarette from his
mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He studied the tip for a moment
then said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Some people say it was a
curse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people say it was a
prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people say it didn’t mean
nothin’.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He put the cigarette back
between his lips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Whatever the word
meant, it was remembered and, by-and-by, it came to be the name the White Man
used for the Valley itself.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I waited for more but Kegg said nothing for a long while. He
simply smoked and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, he added, “Accordin’ to the stories
I’ve heard, Ol’ Chief Settin’ Sun gathered up all the other Indian ghosts and
they all became one with Chuck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
went inside the soul of the White Bear so he would never die and never forget
what happened to the Indians in his Valley.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kegg let the sentence trail off into ominous silence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Accordin’ to the Indians, that’s why he’s still out there,”
Kegg said at last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s why he can’t
be killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why he still hates
White People.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But that was a long time ago,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“None of those White People are still
alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would he hate <i>us</i>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did <i>we</i> ever do to <i>him</i>?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kegg leaned back and shrugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s just the way things are, Bud.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked at dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
frowned and nodded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sometimes,” Kegg said, “you got to pay for things you
didn’t do.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Is that one of those things I’ll understand when I’m
older?” I asked Kegg.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He shook his head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Son, I hope you <i>never</i> understand that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was thinking about this when Kegg announced, “I gotta take
a dump,” effectively dissipating whatever magic remained in the room.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Kegg was in the bathroom, out of earshot, I asked Dad,
“Do you believe what Mr. Kegg just told me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All that stuff about Chuck being a ghost.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad crushed out his cigarette on the card table and
shrugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Doesn’t really matter,
son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s stories and there’s
facts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes, you get one with the
other sometimes they don’t never come together at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing to remember is that, some stories
are more important than facts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either
one can be a weapon or a tool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s what
you do with them that matters.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometime later that night, I awoke in darkness with an uncomfortably
full bladder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the other room, I
could hear the distinct, roaring snorts that were the hallmarks of my father in
a state of deep sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The huge fan
whirred steadily and, beyond its metallic barrier, I could hear the songs of
White Bear Mountain’s night creatures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, the way my dad had taught me,
then I slipped off the couch, careful not to trip over the rough edged coffee
table, and made my way toward the bathroom, in the corner near the fan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had drunk more than my fair share of Dr. Peppers that
evening so I was in for a fairly long piss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I stood before the toilet, swaying slightly the way you will when
only instinct is keeping you awake and upright, I looked up to the narrow
window above the tank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The window was a
thin rectangle with grimy glass and no screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I closed my eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I opened
them again, I was not alone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Beyond the old glass, a pair of fiery red eyes stared at me
from a stationary bank of fog that was very nearly invisible in the thick,
moon-cast shadows of the drooping eaves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took two steps backward not caring that the diminishing
yellow stream’s trajectory was altered for the worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As warm liquid splashed against my bare feet,
I held my breath and tried to force my eyes to close but they would not
respond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing growled, rumbling,
low and ominous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ground seemed to
tremble beneath me as the sound magnified, swelling to encompass the whole of
the available air in the tiny room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
opened my mouth but my throat clenched tight, stifling the scream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The red eyes blinked then raced upward and
the muzzle was in the window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fangs the
size of hunting knives flashed in the narrow rectangle. Then there was only
sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The growl faded and bushes rattled
as the beast receded into the night from which he had come.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stood there for a long moment, paralyzed with fear yet
exploding with curiosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had seen
what few White Men had seen and lived to tell about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took some time for the adrenaline rush to
subside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it did, I sat on the
toilet, my underwear around my trembling knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wanted to get up and follow the bear into the black night, to find the
secret lair with the dusty bones of countless young men and women, but I was
just a boy and boys must sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
still sitting on the toilet, I slept.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thunder woke me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Standing quickly, I pulled up my shorts and turned to look at the window
above me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rain swept under the shallow
eaves to tap arhythmically against the glass.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the sofa, I lay staring at the nearest window,
watching the lightning and waiting for the return of the creature that would
surely kill me to repay an ancient debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, by dawn, he had not returned so I slept and, being an ordinary boy,
dreamt of ordinary bears and ordinary men.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I related this encounter to my friends the following
week, the story was received with much awe and admiration; however, in high
school, my girlfriend, Jessica, laughed at the tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She declared it a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had simply fallen asleep in the bathroom, Karin
explained, and dreamt the whole terrifying encounter because of the ideas
planted in my head by Kegg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The growl
was the rumble of thunder in the valley and the eyes were lightning, some
smaller, more harmless creature or, worse yet, only a product of my eternally
overactive imagination.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After that, I never told the story again until now, even
though I saw the bear on at least five separate occasions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, each sighting was little more than a
flash of white in the dark of the forest but I knew what he was and what he
wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I knew that I was safe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With more than three decades between that first encounter
and the present, I’ve begun to suspect that, maybe, the legend of the White
Bear <i>was</i> simply a ghost story told by old men to frighten, to entertain,
or even to educate a little boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
guess that doesn’t really matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether fact or fiction, if I am to truthfully relate who I am and where
I came from, then this story must be told along with all the others that form
the mosaic of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I tell you now
what I did not understand then: One hot summer night when I was a kid, for a
moment, I looked into the eyes of the White Bear of Winnepesaukah County,
Georgia and I saw his soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw Old
Chief Setting Sun and all the other Cherokees imprisoned there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw the hate, the fear and the
passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I waded at the edge of an
ancient, bottomless pool and I did not drown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wrestled with the past and, being young, I won.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-67993011945490471272017-10-03T08:56:00.002-05:002017-10-03T09:16:48.839-05:00Story Archive | The Old Quilt<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
wrote “The Old Quilt” for one of Lascaux’s flash fiction contests and, to my
surprise, I was one of seven finalists out of more than 240 entries. The story
was based on a visual prompt—a color collage that looked a lot like a stained-glass
window.</i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<pre style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Originally published on LascauxFlash.com, Sept. 2012.</span></i></pre>
<h1>
The Old Quilt</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The quilt was made by my great-grandmother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She turned ninety-nine the week before I was
born and didn’t live to see my fifth birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To me, she will always be a short, stooped, wisp of a woman with thin,
silver hair, a hard jaw, and cloudy blue eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dressed always in a simple, gray housedress, she was a quiet,
near-ghost, still and introverted, somewhat frightening to us children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never knew her as the woman who lost three
sons to war, two to the mines, one to drink, and one in youth to God only knows
what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have only vague, sometimes
contradictory, three-generation-old stories of her time at the front tending
the wounded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m told that, somewhere,
in a trunk at my aunt’s house, there is a yellowed letter from a President now
decades dead thanking my illiterate great-grandmother for her service.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remembering bulbous purple knuckles, barely capable of
pinching a cheek, it’s hard for me to imagine her sitting, night-after-night, in
a hand-hewn rocker, working by candlelight to assemble this quilt from the scraps
of the hand-me-down and homemade clothes her ill-fated children had worn until
they could be worn no more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, nearly a
century later, the stitches are tight, the edges only lightly frayed, the
colors muted but warm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My child, born to a child, will know even less of me, but I take
comfort in the fact that, before saying goodbye, I swaddled her in the colors
of a hundred autumns. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-33920653341689054232017-10-03T07:45:00.000-05:002017-10-03T08:49:08.221-05:00Story Archive | The Fear Inside<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<span style="background: white;">“The Fear Inside” is a
long(ish) short story from back in the days when I was mostly writing horror,
science fiction, and fantasy. This one was published in 2009 but the first
draft is a few years older—maybe even several years older.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
wrote this one after reading Stephen King’s</i> The Green Mile. <i>I’ve long been
fascinated by prisons and thought it would be the perfect setting for a horror
story.</i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; tab-stops: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<i><span style="background: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Originally published in </span></i><span style="background: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Absent Willow Review<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, 2009<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.</span></i></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
<h1>
The Fear Inside</h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i>“A
murderer is one who is presumed to be innocent until proven insane.”</i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: right;">
<i>-
Unknown</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no sound in Heaven, Hell or Earth more terrifying
than the one made when that steel door slams shuts. I still remember how
it sounded the first time I heard it, and that was more than sixty years
ago. The way those cold cement block walls magnify and distort the crash
of metal on metal can only be described as the sound of a human heart
breaking. The echo dies slowly and reluctantly in these dreary
halls. Sometimes, lying awake at night in that foggy place between
wakefulness and sleep, I can still hear it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They always do that,” Remy said. “They always stan’
there lookin’ out t’rough th’ bars, like any minute th’ warden gonna come down
here and say, ‘Oh, shit, boy! We done fucked up! You ain’t s’posed
to be here. Go on home, now!’”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The new guy stood with his back to us for a long time.
Like Remy said, they always do that, but something was different about this
one. His hands were in the pockets of his standard issue orange jumpsuit,
not white knuckled on the bars. His back was straight, his shoulders were
squared and his head was held high.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Butch Sipe, the de facto leader of Cell Block D, crushed his
cigarette under his boot then heaved his massive body off the bench with a
grunt. He crossed to the new guy and tapped him on the shoulder with a
meaty, nicotine-stained finger. Slowly, the young man at the bars turned
to face us. His hands were still in his pockets and the son-of-a-bitch
was smiling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll never forget the sound of that door closing and I’ll
never forget that smile. Cold and completely devoid of humor, it was more
an expression of blissful emptiness than emotion, while the face that bore it
was a long triangle of harsh lines with the ironic beauty of a free-form pencil
sketch. His eyes—icy flakes of cobalt—swept the room slowly and
methodically, pausing on each of us for the briefest of moments before drifting
on to the next. In spite of the fact that they stood just inches apart,
Butch was the last to receive the emotionless scrutiny and, despite Butch’s
imposing presence, the new guy calmly dismissed him as casually as he had the
rest of us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Butch’s right fist clenched and a vein on his right temple
began to throb rapidly. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Name’s Logan,” the new guy said. His voice was
musical, but in a harsh, gritty way, like an electric guitar in a good blues
band.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m Butch,” the giant growled, moving even closer to the
new guy, “and I’m sort’a the Saint Peter of this particular circle of Hell.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan’s smile changed, becoming even colder. “Okay.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“First thing I’m gonna do,” Butch said, “is teach you some
fuckin’ manners.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the lesson was Logan’s to deliver.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Butch looked at me and opened his mouth as if to ask a
question, but there were no words. A glistening red bubble ballooned from
his trembling lips and exploded silently with the force of his dying
breath. His knees buckled and he sank slowly forward onto the cold cement
floor. Butch lay on his stomach as his glazed eyes stared at the ceiling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan stood with his back against the bars and his hands in
his pockets. He still wore the same cold smile that had been on his lips
since they slammed the door in his face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy chuckled. “Looks like this circle of Hell just
got a new gatekeeper.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">– 2 –</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Green Beret,” Cracker said, nodding vigorously to prove he
was correct. “Gotta be a Green Beret. Nobody else could do something like
that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Maybe a ninja,” Juan suggested. “A ninja could do
that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vin agreed. “Yeah. A ninja could kick a Green
Beret’s ass.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A ninja’s got a code of honor,” Cracker protested.
“They don’t kill for no reason like the government does. Did’ja see his
eyes? He didn’t even blink. Only a government-trained killer could
be that cold.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Juan’s leaned in toward the group, his eyes wide.
“Maybe he’s a ninja trained by the government.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this last hypothesis, they all nodded enthusiastically.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shook my head, chuckled softly and slipped farther down
the long bench to where Remy sat alone at the other end of the table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Everybody’s got a theory,” I said. “What’s yours?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He shrugged. “You’re the ed’acated one, Ol’ Man.
You can prob’ly come up with somethin’ better’n that gov’ment trained ninja
shit.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hesitated for a moment then said, “I think Logan’s a
vampire.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy laughed in his peculiar rasping-hack sort of way and
slapped the table with an open palm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I let him laugh for a bit then said, “I’m serious.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy stopped laughing and looked at me with a crooked
grin. “You done gone ‘n’ got senile on me, Ol’ Man,” he said amid a
chuckle full of humor, pity and phlegm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shook my head and pounded the table with a fragile
fist. “Goddammit, Remy, I’ve seen them! They <i>do</i> exist!
They do!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Don’t have a
heart attack, Ol’ Man.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I thought you’d be the one to believe,” I said.
“Coming from swamp country and all.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He shrugged and gave me a crooked grin. “It’s true I
seen some strange stuff ‘n’ heard some weird tales… But, <i>vampires</i>?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Come on. I’ve heard you talk about Voodoo.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sure I believe in Voodoo ‘n’ Black Magic,” he
conceded. “But those is religions, ‘n’ even if’n they ain’t real, any man
that’s got alota both hatred and religion is dang’rous ‘nuff to take
seriously.” He lit a cigarette and shook his head. “But vampires,
now that’s somethin’ altogether dif’rent.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy started to say something else but, before he could,
half the lights in the common room went off, stayed off for a second then
flashed again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Light’s out’s early tonight,” I said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked at the catwalk above our table. The guards
all had their billyclubs out and were shifting nervously in their
positions. “Everyone’s been on edge since this morning,” I said.
“And they don’t even know what they just put in their cage.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">– 3 –</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Rats,” Juan said at lunch. “The coroner said it was
rats that ate Vin’s throat after he was already dead.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the morning after the death of Butch Sipe.
Logan was doing what would turn out to be a five day stint in Solitary and,
after a morning in lockdown, the whole block was buzzing with rumors about what
had happened to Vincent Cappi sometime the previous night.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It wasn’t rats,” I said, my voice low and thin.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Ever’body knows there’s rats as big as your foot in this
nasty ol’ place,” Hawke said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We’ve all seen ‘em,” Remy said quietly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Juan held up his hand to show a thin scar. “Some of us
even been bit a time or two.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stood. “It wasn’t a rat. And, if any of you
dimwitted delinquents had half a brain, you’d know that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If it wasn’t rats,” Cracker said, “how’d Vin’s throat get
ripped all to shit?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a pause then Cracker laughed and the others joined
him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I said, “Fuck you,” to no one in particular and walked
away. I went to my cell and lay on my bunk. I was beginning to
shake uncontrollably and I felt bile rising in my throat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">– 4 –</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan had been back in Gen Pop for only a few hours when he
appeared in my doorway and said, “Hello, Mister Poe.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lying in my cell with a book, I instinctively glanced toward
the other end of the bunk where my mother’s weathered old crucifix hung on its
well-worn rosary. Logan followed my gaze and smiled. The crucifix
was not more than a foot from his head. He reached up and reverently,
almost lovingly, caressed the silver figure for several seconds. “A
beautiful artifact of a dead movement,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What do you want?” My voice was barely a whisper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m told that you have a rare gift for insight,” he
continued, his eyes never leaving mine. “It often serves you well.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I find that I have a surplus of free time in which to
consider the nature of things.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Then why did you stop writing?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t know,” I said. “Fear of failure, maybe.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“There are far worse things than failure,” Logan said.
“Just remember: Sometimes, the things you know are more terrible than the
things you imagine.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I looked
at him again, Logan was no longer smiling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m tired of waiting and I’m tired of playing games,” I said,
the words coming slowly and with great difficulty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan smiled. “All shall be resolved tonight.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">– 5 –</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy sat at one of the concrete tables in the exercise
yard. He smoked a cigarette and stared at something in the distance only
he could see. I sat across him, picked up his rusted Zippo and took a
cigarette from his pack on the table. I lit it with shaking hands.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I inhaled deeply and almost choked before the sweet poison
found its old hiding places in the dark corners of my brain. “It’s been a while.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy smiled. “Better when you start back, ain’t it?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m not starting again,” I said. “I’m just having one
to calm my nerves.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy slid the pack to the middle of the table. “Well,
they’ll be right here when you get ready for ‘em.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Do you know why I’m in here?” I asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Jesus Christ, Ol’ Man, ever’body knows why you’re here.”
His voice was a nearly reverent whisper. “I was just a kid when it
happened, but I reckon a man never forgets a story like that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You don’t know the whole story.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy leaned slightly toward me and rested his bony arms on
the table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I <i>am</i> guilty of killing my wife, Rachel,” I said
matter-of-factly. “I stabbed her in the heart then decapitated,
eviscerated and incinerated her.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy swallowed hard and nodded. He may not have known
what all those five-syllable words meant, but he knew this was the first I had
spoken of Rachel’s death in over six decades.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I <i>did</i> kill her,” I said, “but what the jury didn’t
understand—what no one understood—was that I <i>had</i> to do it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“’Cause she was a vampire.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Exactly.” I took another long, satisfying drag off
the cigarette. “But Rachel wasn’t like the vampires in the movies and
pulp novels of my youth. She was more like the beautiful Sirens of the
Old World that lured sailors to their death with enchanting songs and smiles.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A devil in disguise,” Remy said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes. Unlike the blood-suckers of popular fiction, she
bore no distinguishing vampiric features. Her eyes were a calm and bright
shade of emerald and her teeth were a work of orthodontic perfection. In
the sunlight, her skin did not smoke and wither into ashes; on the contrary,
she achieved a deep, golden tan to compliment her long sun-bleached hair.
She was also quite comfortable in front of both mirrors and cameras and, in
every instance I was witness to, her image was flawlessly reproduced.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What about crosses and such?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sacraments of the Church had no ill effect on her.
She even wore my sainted mother’s Confirmation Day crucifix to mass each week
and accepted Communion.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I inhaled more smoke, letting it warm my throat and lungs
before I continued. Remy was right. The first one after quitting <i>was</i>
the best.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I know I should have recognized Rachel for what she was
much sooner than I did but, in my defense, I was blinded by what I thought was
love. Even now, more than sixty years after I had to kill her, I
sometimes find that I miss the way she used to touch me when I was writing,
that subtle, soft and oh-so-tantalizingly brief caress at the base of my
skull. I could always feel the muscles relaxing and unknotting as the
blood began to flow and my fingers pounded the well-worn typewriter keys in
time with my accelerated heartbeat. Then she’d brush my cheek with those
full, sweet, tender lips before moving on, silently, through our tiny apartment
like a leaf in an autumn breeze.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“She would sit on an old sofa as I typed maniacally.
‘I like to listen to you write,’ she’d say. ‘The clicking keys remind me
of rain on the tin roof of the house I lived in as a child.’ In fact,
when we were newlyweds, she would just sit for hours listening to me pound the
keys and sometimes (quite often, actually), I would type nonsense just to make
the staccato music that soothed her. She was a cobra and that old
typewriter became my reed flute.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“She’d bought that typewriter for me the first Christmas
after we were married, but, when I discovered her secret, it was one of the
first things I destroyed. She was furious when she found the shattered
machine in the dumpster but, somehow, I convinced her it was an accident and
she resigned herself to a prolonged pouting session on the periphery of my
vision.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Free at last of that damn machine’s mind control devices, I
was finally able to write again. I went back to producing my first
drafts—and, often, my final drafts, as well—in long hand just as I had done
before we were married. I started keeping my stories, notes and poems in
loose-leaf notebooks that I locked away in a safe to which only I knew the
combination.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Of course, Rachel feigned hurt disappointment when I
stopped letting her read my work, but I told her I was writing something
special just for her and the effect would be lost if she read anything other
than the finished product. Rachel sighed and looked at me with those big
sad eyes then gave me a hug, telling me that she understood and thought it was
sweet the way I always thought of her. She understood all right.
She understood that I was getting wise to her little game.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I still don’t un’nerstan’,” Remy said. “How’d’ya’
know she was a vampire if she didn’t look like one ‘n’ didn’t show no signs or
nothin’?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Well, it was the little things mostly—at first anyway—that
exposed the secrets her kind try to hide. Things that once seemed like
rather ordinary occurrences eventually began to form a pattern. A pattern
that led me to suspect something was not quite right with my sweet
Rachel. But I guess you could say it really started with the dreams.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They were frightening montages of blurry, flickering images
that danced in the dark corners of my tortured subconscious as I fought for
sleep on those long and humid summer nights when I was writing my second
novel. In the dreams, I was usually trapped in a small, dark, coffin-like
box with the sense that, above me, the damp, thick earth pressed down on my
tiny, molding prison. My chest would constrict and my head would swim
with bleak, desperate fear. I’d try to scream but find my voice
unresponsive, muted by the muddy taste of hopeless terror. Then, from
somewhere above, Rachel’s voice would float down to me, calling me to join her
and I would begin clawing frantically at the boards above me until my fingers
split open and the blood flowed back into my upturned face. I would taste
my own blood and I’d start to laugh.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Laugh?” Remy was was holding a lit cigarette but kept
forgetting to smoke it. The ash was nearly two inches long.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Laughter is often the first sign of insanity.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy nodded. He knew something about insanity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“As the summer wore on, the dreams became more detailed,
more direct. I can’t say <i>how</i> exactly, or <i>why</i>. I just
know that, one night in mid August, I awoke drenched in sweat with a scream
stuck in my throat and a new terrifying knowledge in my head: Rachel, my wife,
my love, was a goddamned vampire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“At first, being an educated and reasonable man, I discarded
the notions as paranoia most likely induced by the illicit substances I often
used to stimulate my creativity. But, when nearly a week with not more
than an ounce or two of the stuff had passed, I began to realize my suspicions
might be rooted in truth. In fact, my virtual chemical abstinence had so
thoroughly cleansed my senses that there could be little doubt my worst fears
were true. Blessed with this new clarity of vision, the pieces of the
puzzle slipped slowly and orderly into place.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I crushed my cigarette on the table. Remy offered me
another but I waved it away. I had no intention of resuming the habit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Like a world class chess player, I anticipated all her
possible moves and motives. That’s not a particularly easy task when
dealing with the supernatural, mind you, but I carefully devised counter-moves
and defensive strategies to thwart her nefarious plans, whatever they might
be. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took another of Remy’s cigarettes and stuck it between my
moving lips. Remy leaned across the table and, with a smile, lit my
cigarette with his Zippo as I talked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I barely slept, partly out of fear and partly because
of the chemicals. Since Rachel controlled my dreams, I kept myself awake
as long as possible by any means necessary. I gave up most of alcohol and
opiates and relied on almost exclusively on stimulants. Anything that
would keep me awake for a few more hours I gladly took in great quantities,
regardless of the risks.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“For a good part of that time, I wrote like a man
possessed. I produced page after page until my right hand was so cramped
that I had to literally pry the pen free with my left. For a time, I even
tried writing with my left hand while the other recovered. It seemed like
a stroke of genius, but, looking back a day or two later, I found the left hand
pages to be mostly illegible.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I laughed. “Actually <i>most</i> of the writing from
that period makes very little sense now. I still have some of it in a big
folder on the desk in my cell and, from time to time, I get it out and try to
figure out what the hell I was thinking. I know it was some of my best
work. I remember that. The drugs helped me write some of the
greatest prose ever put on paper, but, now that I’m clean sixty years, I can’t
understand a single word of it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The truth ain’t meant for rational minds,” Remy said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I removed the cigarette from my mouth and looked at it for a
long quiet moment. Eventually, I put it back and inhaled slowly.
The second cigarette after a long break was pretty goddamned good too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I searched out books on the subject and read every one I
could get my hands on, but they all lead nowhere. Silver bullets,
crosses, garlic, wooden steaks and variations of those tactics were all I could
seem to find and, although I hadn’t yet attempted the wooden stake approach,
Rachel’s immunity to other traditional anti-vampire talismans made me afraid to
try. The last thing I wanted was to have her alive and furious because
I’d splattered blood all over the sheets while she was sleeping. Nothing
gets blood out, you know.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy laughed at that but I did not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I was at my wit’s end when, by chance, I happened into a
little bookstore in the French Quarter one evening simply to get out of the
rain. That’s where I found it. In the back, on a bottom shelf,
scientific facts! The book was <i>The Facts Behind the Fear: A Scientific
Study of Lycanthropes, Vampires, Zombies, Ghosts and Other Things That Go Bump
In the Night</i> by Doctor Abraham Schreck, a professor of paranormal psychology.
I purchased the book then found an all-night diner and read it in one long
sitting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Doctor Schreck had determined through extensive research
that, although vampires were supernatural beings, they weren’t actually <i>undead</i>
as legend tells us they are. Neither were they evil incarnate, at least
not in the religious sense. Schreck said that God and the Devil, in all
their forms, were created by humans to explain what they don’t understand
because Man has no greater weakness than his fear of the unknown.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy nodded. He knew something about fear of the unknown.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Anyway, Schreck said that vampires, werewolves and such
were just products of a slight fork in the road of human evolution.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You believe him?” Remy asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I did. I had always considered myself a disciple of
Christ—and I still find it hard to let go of the trappings of that belief
system—but, since the books of my god weren’t offering any usable advice, I
decided to look at things from a more rational and logical perspective.
After that, it was just a matter of luring Rachel into a trap.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And the trap was up in the mountains.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes. An old college buddy offered me the use of his
cabin, so we packed our bags and set out. We got there around dusk and I
knew that Rachel had to be dead before sunrise. But I don’t mind telling
you that it was all I could do to keep from screaming in terror. If it
hadn’t been for the calming effect of the pills, I don’t think I could have
stayed sane.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“After we unloaded the car, Rachel suggested we take a dip
in the lake.” I paused and closed my eyes. “God she was
beautiful. But I knew it would be too easy for her to kill me in the lake
and drowning had always seemed to me to be one of the worst ways to die.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Didn’t know much, back then, did’ja?” Remy asked with a
chuckle.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stared at the table for a while. The next part would
be hard to recount. Remy waited patiently. Finally, I said, “I told
Rachel I was tired from driving but she should feel free to indulge herself
while I got settled in. She agreed somewhat reluctantly then stripped
right there in front of God and Nature and all the critters in the woods and
trotted off for the lake, her muscles rippling like…”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a long moment of silence, Remy asked, “Ripplin’ like
what?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shrugged. “I’ve never been able to adequately
describe just how beautiful Rachel was and I don’t suppose I ever will.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy nodded. “The best things are the ones that you
cain’t tell people about. That’s what makes ‘em yours.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I smiled and finished my cigarette.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“While Rachel was swimming, I went inside and prepared for
what I had to do even though I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. My
plan involved shooting her to take her down. I had an old army issue .45
and it was loaded silver bullets. I didn’t know if the silver would have
any special power, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Where’d you find silver bullets?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I ordered them from a magazine. The Lone Ranger was
big back then so people all over were trying to cash in on his popularity by
melting down coins and dinnerware and turning them into bullets they could sell
to kids.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Never cared much for that Lone Ranger guy,” Remy
said. “I don’t mind the mask but I jus’ cain’t trust a man that lives in
a cave with an Injun.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wasn’t quite sure if he was joking or not but I
laughed. Remy just looked at me and grinned.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I waited behind the cabin’s door, intending to shoot Rachel
in the back of the head when she walked in. But I guess my hands were
shaking too badly. The first two shots went wide and the third clipped
her left shoulder. She spun around to face me and there was this savage
glare in her eyes. Rachel opened her mouth like she was going to scream,
but all she did was make a hissing sound like a scared snake. I closed my
eyes and fired again. And again. I don’t know how long I kept pulling the
trigger but, when I opened my eyes, my finger was still working as fast as it
could. The hammer fell on empty chambers, I could hear the hollow click
echoing off the wooden walls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Rachel lay on her back in a rapidly spreading pool of
crimson. Her arms and legs were splayed at odd angles but her eyes were
wide and focused. She was still nude from her swim and, in spite of the
ragged hole in her abdomen, she was still magnificently beautiful. I felt
that old, familiar stirring and, for a moment, lust overwhelmed reason. I
sank to my knees, dropped the pistol and cradled her tenderly in my arms.
Her eyes were suddenly opaline quagmires and I was sinking fast into their
murky treacherous depths. Her right hand rose and brushed my cheek.
She started crying very softly, but my will was strong.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Screaming like a madman to drown out her siren song of
pity, I raced to the back porch and grabbed the axe I had seen there by the
pile of firewood earlier. After a few wild swings, I brought the axe down
just below her right shoulder. My aim was decent but most of my energy
was being expended in panic so it took me several whacks to completely sever
her arm. The left one came off a bit quicker, but maybe that’s because
she was moving less by then. By the time her legs were gone, Rachel had
quit screaming. In fact, she barely made a sound. She just watched
me with what seemed like detached interest, her full lips trembling with
rage. I wanted to say something sufficiently bitter and scathing as I
took her head, but all I could manage was, ‘You’re so beautiful.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took a long breath, held it for a moment then exhaled
slowly before finishing the story. “Once her body was in the stove and
the fire was going good, I lay down on the floor and laughed myself to sleep.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remmy nodded. “Laughter’s often the first sign of
insanity.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">– 6 –</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Somehow, I slept that night and, as I slept, I dreamt of
Rachel and I dreamt of being buried alive. I awoke from the nightmare
with a scream (or perhaps an insane laugh) lodged in my throat. I
swallowed the sound and pulled myself upright. The clock glowed green in
the darkness. <i>Midnight</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I swung my feet over the side of the bed, onto the floor,
stood and steadied myself with a hand on the edge of Cracker’s bunk.
Blood flowed across the floor in a great lethargic pool. I felt the
blood, warm against the soles of my bare feet, before I saw it. My eyes
adjusted to the low light and I traced the path of the blood to Cracker’s
bunk. Even in the sparse light, I could see his severed head resting
between his feet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps it was due to the calming effect of the handful of
multicolored pills I had taken before bed but the gruesome scene neither
surprised nor upset me. After all, I had once done far worse to someone I
had loved.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I turned to find the door to our cell open. I stepped
into the dimly lit corridor beyond and looked down toward the guard room at the
north end. It was empty. I stepped back inside my cell and dropped
to my knees. Crawling quickly and quietly, I skirted the pool of
Cracker’s blood and slipped under my bunk.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than thirty years earlier, while suffering from one of
my frequent bouts of insomnia, I had found a loose block near the rear corner
of the cell and managed to work it free. There was no hope of tunneling
out to freedom but I had spent countless hours in the dark of night slowly and
quietly hollowing it out to create a secret hiding place for my
contraband. Guided by instinct, habit and fear, I pulled the stone free
and groped in the darkness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My hand moved quickly across the plastic bags of narcotics,
the syringe and pages of fresh prose. I smiled to myself in the darkness
as the cool metal of the .38 slipped beneath my trembling fingers. The
small semi-automatic pistol had been my next-to-last purchase from Vin the
Scrounger. The silver bullets, the last. I had been sickened when
Vin told me the price of the gun and I had been even more repulsed when I paid
it. Now, however, with the satisfying weight of the gun in my hand, I
felt like a god.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laying the gun aside, I reached back into the hollow block
for the bag of drugs. I selected several pills of undetermined
composition and dry swallowed them. Then, moving as quietly as possible,
the gun once more in my trembling hand, I crawled from under the bunk, stood up
and made my way down the hall toward the chapel. The guards had simply
vanished and every cell I passed was devoid of life—each a tableaux of
grotesque horror rivaling the one in the cell I shared with Cracker. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The chapel was at the south end of the main corridor,
adjacent to the rec room. As always, a single votive burned on the crude
wooden altar. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My bare feet made muffled whispers on the threadbare carpet
as I crept down the aisle.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Silver bullets won’t save you tonight,” Logan said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I whirled to find him half-silhouetted in the doorway.
I brought the gun up and my finger tightened on the trigger but I seemed to
lack the strength to fire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You won’t shoot me,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tried again to pull the trigger but my finger was weak, my
arm was suddenly heavy. I let the gun drop to my side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan stepped into the chapel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With his advance, I found the strength to put the gun to my
temple. “I may die tonight,” I said, “but I won’t let <i>you</i> kill me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why the hell would <i>he</i> want to kill you?” Remy asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spun quickly and moved so that my back was to the south
wall. Remy stepped out of the shadows in the back of the chapel and sat
on the altar. He was to my right, Logan to my left.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You were right, ya’ know,” Remy said to me as he lit a
cigarette with his old Zippo lighter. “He won’t kill you long as you got
somethin’ he wants.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You were the best,” Logan said, taking a small step toward
me. “There was never another like you. So much talent yet so little
understanding.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Logan moved deeper into the chapel, the candle glowed
brighter, flooding the room in soft, flickering light. His skin seemed to
ripple like water with each step. He moved slowly toward me, his eyes
widened and his hair swept back from his face as if blown by some mystical
wind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’ll never drain my life away again!” I screamed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy laughed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan raised an eyebrow and smiled. Again his face
rippled. “I never drained you,” he said, his voice softening, the rough
edges smoothing along with his face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I know what you are,” I stammered, as if the truth itself
would save me. “You’re a vampire.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy laughed. “You always talkin’ so big, Ol’ Man, ‘n’
you don’t know diddly shit.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked at Remy then back at Logan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logan’s hair fell across his shoulders in full golden
waves. His face was shifting, changing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I protected you from those who would hurt you,” Logan
said. “From those who didn’t understand you or your art.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once his voice had been like an electric guitar in a blues
band. Now it was the gentle song of a lyre of the gods.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You didn’t really think those oils, ointments, herbs and
shit you got from Vin were what was keepin’ you safe, did you, Ol’ Man?”
Remy asked with a rasping chuckle. He seemed genuinely amused.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I let the gun fall away from my temple.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another wave rippled through Logan’s body, transforming him
into something more haunting, more familiar. Radiant in a soft white
cotton dress, Rachel looked exactly as she did the first time I saw her. Her
eyes were opaline quagmires and I was sinking blissfully into their depths once
again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t live off your blood,” she said. “It’s what
you do that sustains me. Your writing, your art. I won’t let a
parasite like Remy rob the world of your voice.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I, on the other hand, don’t give a skunk’s ass about
your fuckin’ talent, Ol’ Man,” Remy said. “I just wanna rip off your
goddamned head and drink your blood.” He accented the statement by
licking his lips and slurping loudly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re a vampire, too.” I said it as more of a
statement than a question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Call me what’cha want, Ol’ Man,” Remy said, his voice
like sandpaper on wood, “just don’t call me late for dinner.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He laughed and licked his lips again. His tongue was nearly
a foot long.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Remy’s nothing but an emotionless parasite,” Rachel
said. “He exists without feeling.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Logan’s kind lives on love,” Remy said, displaying obvious
distaste with the whole concept. “But for the last sixty-five years, you
been so bottled up inside yo’self you couldn’t love.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked to Rachel, a question unspoken, asked with my
eyes. She nodded. The movement was almost imperceptible yet it was
like a knife through my heart. I staggered backward and sank onto one of
the wooden pews. I tried to speak, to repent, recant, but there were no
words.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Like most great artists, you have a troubled soul,’ she
said softly. “And, sometimes, it misleads you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy had moved closer to me yet I never saw him take a step.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He’s mine, Logan,” Remy said, his voice low. “He’s
always been mine.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Over my dead body,” Rachel said, her voice Logan’s once
again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remy smiled, showing a mouthful of sharp, glistening
teeth. I raised the pistol and pointed it at him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Be careful, Ol’ Man,” Remy hissed. His face quivered
and flowed as if searching for a new shape. “You don’t know what you’re
doin’.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked back toward the door. Rachel was gone.
Logan moved slowly toward me, his hand outstretched.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re not thinking clearly,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Listen to him, Ol’ Man,” Remy said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This ends now!” I screamed, swinging the gun around to
Logan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I moved as if submerged in a sea of molasses, but Logan was
catlike and swift. His long, thin fingers wrenched the gun away from me
and tossed it across the room. It slid under one of the pews and out of
sight. I closed my eyes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Whatever happens, tonight,” Rachel whispered, wrapping her
arms around me, “it’s not over. Remember that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her grip was iron, her breath a raging desert wind against
my neck. When she released me, I buried my face in my hands and slipped
to the floor, laughing like an idiot. As the battle began, I continued to
laugh. Laughter, you know, is often the first sign of insanity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2009 Lee
Wright</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-79089216137799869142017-10-02T13:11:00.000-05:002017-10-03T07:50:39.458-05:00Story Archive | The Garden<div class="MsoSubtitle">
Way back in the spring of 1999, when were only just
beginning to worry about Y2K and the imminent collapse of computer systems worldwide,
I found a website called The Write Markets Report that hosted quarterly 24-hour
flash fiction contests. So I paid my entry fee and wrote a story based on the
criteria—which I have completely forgotten. This story was the result. It was
also the winner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Also,
I want to give a shoutout to Benjamin Temko who read my first draft and
suggested the last part of the last line before I submitted it to the contest.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
Originally
published online at <span style="font-style: normal;">The Write Markets Report</span>,
April, 1999.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Winner, Spring 1999, </i>24-Hour Short Story
Contest<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<h1>
The Garden<o:p></o:p></h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day after day, the vivid memory of the previous night’s
dream gave Hank the strength to continue his toil under the hot Georgia
sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With each fall of the mattock and
each bite of the shovel, he thought of the dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the thick muscles in his shoulders and
back stiffened and knotted, he closed his eyes and lost himself in the garden
he saw only at night—the garden that was, for now at least, only a dream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hank was not a well-educated man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made no secret of the fact that he had
never learned to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet he was as
untroubled by his illiteracy as he was by his inability to add and subtract
even the smallest of numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hank knew
he didn’t need reams of paper filled with complex numbers and fancy words to be
the architect of the world’s most stunning garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For years, he had had the whole thing—every
flower, tree, rock and shrub—laid out in his head.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the western edge of the quiet country road, a tall,
lush hedge accented with bright, clinging wisps of honeysuckle marked the
boundary of the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the midpoint
of the verdant wall, a whitewashed wooden gate mounted between two columns of
hand-carved granite opened onto a flat, riverstone path bordered by violets
trimmed low.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The path meandered through a fragrant field of jonquils and
tulips, past a rock-walled koi pond and into a dogwood-bordered clearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, on a carpet of wildflowers beneath a
canopy of pink, sat a polished teak picnic table and a single, high-backed
chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always, there was iced tea—very
sweet of course—waiting in a tall glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hank could rest there before proceeding deeper into the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would need his strength, for the way ahead
was steep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Beyond the clearing, the path angled upward toward the first
level of a terraced ridge, where orchids and lilacs bloomed year round
alongside lemon trees and chrysanthemums in Asian style hothouses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Behind the glass walls, water cascaded down
the ridge, over smooth boulders where it collected in shallow pools edged with
tall reed mace and ornamented with marble figurines of birds and frogs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The riverstone trail ended at a staircase carved into the
very rock of the ridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his dreams,
Hank climbed the steps without tiring in spite of his advanced age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made his way up the stairs eagerly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the immense garden’s sole architect and
builder, he knew better than anyone what wonders awaited him on the terraced
levels above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One level featured a
Japanese rock garden with quiet ponds and a single red-leafed tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another featured a maze of sculpted hedges
and bronze birdbaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still another held
stone sculptures of his wife Selma, each capturing a different age and
mood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were seven terraces in all,
each more beautiful than the last, but it was at the summit that the greatest
beauty of all was to be found.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was there, high atop the world he had wrought with his
own hands, that Hank could sit on a marble bench and look down upon the garden
in its all its grandeur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that
height, the vast array of plant life—seemingly random in its placement from
ground level—could be seen for what it was: a vast, detailed portrait of Selma,
the only woman he had ever loved, the only thing he had ever lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The yellow of the tulips and jonquils were
her hair and the bright blue of the koi ponds, her eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her skin was a field of daisies freckled with
rosebushes, while the dogwoods made up her favorite pink dress.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his dreams, the magnificent garden was as real as the
night he had met the beautiful young Selma down by the lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could actually smell the flowers, feel the
stones beneath his bare feet and hear the sweet songs of sparrows in the
trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sensations were so strong
that not even waking could entirely drive the vision from his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through those long hot summer days working in
the field, it was these visions of his garden that sustained him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the memories of dreams that gave him
strength to continue with the arduous labor that he would never live to
complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dream sustained him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dream kept him alive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, as the shovel slipped reluctantly into the red clay
beneath him, Hank was thinking of the koi pond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was what he was working on today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It would need to be big so that the colorful fish would have room to
grow and play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, the pump would be
over there and the waterfall here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
could see it very clearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking of
it chased away the thirst and the bone-deep ache in his aged back.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“All right!” a harsh voice called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s it for today!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody back on the bus!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hank sighed and tossed the shovel aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hated to quit in the middle of a project,
but there would be plenty of other days in which to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The days seemed to stretch out endlessly
before him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hank wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his
denim shirt as two of the guards began to collect the discarded tools.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Let’s go!” the guy with the shotgun barked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With a last glance at the barren field behind him, Hank lowered
his head and fell in line with the other men, their iron shackles clattering
like dry bones.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 1999 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-50467174778856400082017-10-02T11:57:00.001-05:002017-10-03T08:02:31.368-05:00Story Archive | The Right Reverend Elijah J. Hogg and Naked Jesus<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
I have started so many novels. I’ve completely lost count
of how many times I have written opening chapters but never got much beyond
that. This one, however, is one I keep coming back to. Several subsequent chapters
have been written, rewritten, and rewritten again, but the book remains
unfinished. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
latest revision on this chapter was made during February of 2016, for the final
class of my MA program but the original version is several years older.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<h1>
<span style="background: white;">The Right Reverend Elijah J. Hogg and Naked
Jesus</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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The Right Reverend Elijah J. Hogg was thoroughly shitfaced
the night the golden chariot of fire came to him. Of course, by that point in
his life, Hogg was thoroughly shitfaced <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every</i>
night. A teetotaler for nigh on to fifty years, Hogg had gotten drunk for the
first time the night his wife drove off with his truck, his dog, his best
friend, and his home. The fact that the latter—a double-wide mobile home—was
also his church added public insult to injury. From that point forward, Hogg
had harbored absolutely no interest in seeing the moon and stars through sober
eyes. On the night of the holy encounter, Hogg was doing exactly what he had
been doing every evening for five years—sitting in a sagging lawn chair on the narrow
back porch of his dilapidated mobile home, smoking off-brand cigarettes,
listening to a distant clear channel gospel station on his old Phillips radio, and
drinking George Dickel Tennessee Whisky from a cheap souvenir shot glass.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The shot glass was imprinted with a brightly colored
caricature of a bearded elf standing beneath a boldly printed command to “SEE
ROCK CITY!”. Below the elf’s feet was a promise that, from said attraction, one
could “SEE SEVEN STATES!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Elijah Hogg
had never seen Rock City and he’d never seen seven states. In fact, except for
one short trip down to Atlanta back in 1969, he’d never been more than twenty miles
from the shores of Winnepesaukah Lake. Although the Tennessee line was barely a
half hour drive away, Hogg had never even been outside the state of Georgia. He
was inherently sedentary and proudly so. Even the annual sight of migrating
birds sometimes made him vaguely uneasy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg had been born to an unemployed coal miner and a part-time
cleaning lady on the east side of Winnepesaukah Lake, near Hooper’s Creek, and
he had lived most of his life on that same piece of land. Before he was called
to the Ministry, he had worked for a spell at the Jernigan Textiles plant just half
a mile down the road—walking distance in a place like Ensign County. And, although
he had reluctantly relocated to Golden Pines Estates shortly after the unexpected
loss of his home and place of worship, he rather looked forward to spending his
afterlife interred among the rolling hills of the placid little lake’s eastern
shore. After all, love ‘em or hate ‘em, a man should be with his family in
death. And Hogg was utterly convinced that his death wouldn’t be long in coming.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was sure that, after nearly a decade of hard nightly drinking,
his liver had to be permanently pickled. What’s more, he would swear on a stack
of Bibles (and Elijah Hogg was a man who actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had</i> a stack of Bibles) that he could literally feel his lungs atrophying
from abuse and general neglect. He was just shy of his fifty-fifth birthday but
he looked sixty and felt seventy. But not a spry seventy like that couple of ex-hippies
who lived just across the rutted, gravelly lane. For the once and future
reverend, every day was a series of physical challenges and unbroken misery; however,
every night, thanks to the Dickel, was a smooth slide into a waking dreamland
where he was still the man he had been at the dawn of the twenty-first century.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once, not so long ago, the Right Reverend Elijah J. Hogg had
been a Bible-thumping blowhard of the first order. He could sermonize for hours
on end and only bothered to cut himself off after two hours because that was about
all his bladder could take at a stretch. For a while, he had tried introducing a
brief intermission to the service but he found that he was routinely losing more
than half his flock while he peed. They were faithful but they had things to do
and were quick to scoot if given half a chance. For a few sermons, he had enlisted
Sisters Clara and Juanita Seagraves to sing an uplifting hymn or two while he
relieved himself, but even then he lost more than a few of his thirty odd
parishioners. One Sunday, he even lost Sisters Clara and Juanita. Eventually,
he came to the uncomfortable realization that any sermon over two hours (not
counting praise and worship, offering, announcements, altar calls and such) was
just too much for the lay person—no matter how full of the Holy Spirit he or
she might be—to absorb in a single sitting, even given the benefit of a short,
hymn-filled intermission.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But two hours of preaching just wasn’t enough.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem was that God routinely gave Hogg far more than
two hours’ worth of Sunday sermon yet rarely offered editing suggestions. Try
as he might, Hogg just couldn’t pray the messages down to a reasonable length. This
left him with a sermon surplus that did to his soul what urine did to his
bladder. It filled him up and made him uncomfortable, fidgety and anxious. He
felt—no, he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">knew</i>—that, if he didn’t
get the Word out in time, the consequences would no doubt be both dire and
embarrassing. He needed a place to relieve himself and, one fateful Sunday
afternoon, he found it in the form of a bush behind the church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bush was part of a thick hedge formed by a row of
rhododendron. Hogg was trimming it with an old pair of manual garden shears in anticipation
of imminent flowering. The work usually relaxed him but he’d never done it on a
Sunday. Sunday, after all, was the Lord’s day—a holy day, reserved for doing God’s
work but, since the hedge marked the boundary between the church grounds and
the cemetery, its maintenance was church work so he figured a little bit of
pruning wasn’t likely cause his eternal damnation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three weeks had passed since he’d officially given up on the
idea of ever delivering a complete sermon and the Spirit was bubbling violently
deep inside his gut like a bad taco. As he clipped, he began to speak—first
under his breath then gradually louder and louder, with steadily increasing
fervor and conviction. By the time he reached the last bush in the row, he was
shouting, praising God, stomping his right foot and twitching his left shoulder
exactly the way he did at the pulpit. Hogg dropped the clippers, wiped his brow
with a sleeve and began to pace. He quoted the Prophets, the Disciples, the
Apostles, the Son, and the Almighty Father Himself. He spouted scripture and
lapsed briefly into traditional song then into the Tongues of the Holy Spirit. He
spoke to the bush as if it were an old friend. He chided the bush for its
backsliding and worldliness. He begged the bush to pray with him and let Jesus
into its green heart. He wept and laid hands on its leaves to cast out the red
mites that infested it. Two hours later, spent, drenched in sweat and
desperately in need of a good long pee, he casually mentioned to the
rhododendron bush that tithes, offerings, and charitable donations were what
kept the church going. But there were still a few drops of the Word left
clinging to him that had to be shaken off. He asked the bush to remember the
other bushes in its prayers and said that it should come back later in the
evening for the prayer meeting. It should also bring a friend who wasn’t
familiar with God’s plan for shrubbery. After all, a church that wasn’t growing
was a church that was dying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg sighed and unzipped his fly. He closed his eyes and
prayed silently while the bush received its golden anointing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally drained—physically, emotionally and spiritually—Hogg
sat on the ground and stared at the bush. The bush stared back. I did not burst
into flame or even ripple its leaves in the April wind. It just sat there,
ready for more. The bush was infinitely patient and open to the Word.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg smiled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Watching from the window of their mobile home, some thirty
yards away, Hogg’s wife, Betty, frowned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the Reverend repeated the scene the following Sunday, Betty
dug a stale cigarette out of the back of a kitchen cabinet and lit up in the
trailer’s cramped laundry room. By midsummer, Hogg was tossing Communion wafers
into the hedge and watering the bushes with the Thunderbird they used to represent
the blood of Christ. That was when she added to her now two-pack-a-day-but-still-secret
habit by swigging directly from the backup bottle of Communion wine. By the fall
of that year, Betty Hogg was convinced that her husband was possessed by some
sort of demon and, since she’d heard somewhere that possession is nine-tenths
of the law, she turned to the local sheriff for help.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sheriff Douglas Van Hooten had been friends with Elijah Hogg
since they were kids and Van Hooten was a founding member of Hogg’s church, the
Glory Glory Glory House. As it turned out, Van Hooten, being a good friend,
helped Betty in quite unexpected ways. He never spoke to Elijah about the fruitlessness
of ministering to flora but he did speak to Betty about her own needs. In the
beginning, she was reluctant to discuss such matters, but after a couple of
hours in his office and half a bottle of the Blood of Christ, the kindly lawman
took her to Heaven and she never wanted to go back. The following night, Van
Hooten’s brother, Carl, hooked his wrecker up to Glory Glory Glory House and
towed it away. Carl was followed closely by Betty, the sheriff, and Revelation
the Dog, all of whom were crammed into Hogg’s fire-engine red 1962 Ford pickup.
They parked the church behind Carl Van Hooten’s filling station and turned it
into Ensign County’s first member’s only honky tonk, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Rolling Thunderbird</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
News travels fast in a small, close-knit community like
Ensign County so, the very next afternoon, Hogg’s congregation convened at the Winnepesaukah
Coast Diner to discuss their options. The Right Reverend himself was not
invited. Over hash browns and apple pie, it was agreed that, if Elijah Hogg
couldn’t keep his own house together, then he surely couldn’t keep God’s House
together. In the end, it was decided that the flock would be better led by
another shepherd. Just who that shepherd might be was a matter of serious
debate. The meeting had started promptly at seven and, by half past eight,
voices were being raised. At a quarter of nine, Sherriff Van Hooten and both
his deputies were called to break up the resulting brawl. The Winnepesaukah
Coast would be closed two days for repairs but, since its octogenarian owner,
Lila MacAfee, had thrown the first punch—as well as the first plate, the first
glass and the first cash register—no charges were ever filed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following Sunday, half of Hogg’s former congregation
attended Ensign Baptist and most of the rest joined the Ensign County Church of
God’s Holy Light. A few with tin ears joined the music-free Ensign Church of
Christ. Only four members—Sheriff Van Hooten, Betty Hogg, Carl Van Hooten, and
Carl’s best friend and longtime roommate, Eric—decided to give up on church
altogether. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Due to convoluted state, local and federal tax laws in
association with a poorly thought out and fairly antiquated bridewealth
agreement, Betty Hogg actually owned the trailer that had housed the church so
Hogg had no real recourse for getting it back. Furthermore, Hogg’s Uncle Barney,
who held the deed to the land, decided that, without the church in the way, it
would be a great place to build a couple of duplexes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elijah Hogg suddenly found himself utterly destitute and
devastatingly despondent. His Uncle Barney, being at least a moderately kind
soul, took pity on him and offered him one of the unrented trailers at the back
of Golden Pines in exchange for doing a little landscaping and general
maintenance. In less than a week, Elijah Hogg had gone from pastor of one of
the small county’s fifteen Protestant churches to an unemployed loon living
between a chubby hooker and a couple of sixteen year-olds with a newborn and a
meth habit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Word had already begun to spread, however, about Hogg’s
shrubbery sermons and, mostly out of curiosity, a former member of his
congregation offered to pay him for a little hedge trimming work. Hogg knew
what the man expected from him and he didn’t fail to deliver. Even though Hogg
no longer had a churchhouse, God was still giving him sermons and the bushes
were still mute, patient and immobile. So he clipped and he preached and found
a new vocation. By the following summer, he was getting fairly steady work
doing landscape maintenance. Preaching to bushes, trees, and flowers wasn’t as
satisfying as preaching to people and the money wasn’t great but the work kept
him supplied with ham sandwiches, cigarettes, and Dickel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Elijah Hogg drank. And drank and drank and drank. Each
night, he faced the moon with bleary eyes and a heavy heart but was spared the
bittersweet agony of God’s glorious sunrises. It had literally been years since
he had seen the end of a night. That’s why he at first, thought the spacecraft
was the sun and that he had somehow not consumed enough alcohol to knock
himself out. Of course, had Hogg not been plastered like a broken arm, he might
have realized that the light was rising and intensifying considerably faster
than was typical for a dawn on Earth. What’s more, the light was rising in the
west. The crest of Snipe Mountain went brass then deeply golden as the sky
behind it transitioned from cobalt to vermillion to crimson. A wave of warmth, uncommonly
strong for a night in late May, fell on Hogg’s face and he lifted his bloodshot
eyes to the heavens for the first time in months.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Humming a low, harmonious, three-note angel song that
rattled Hogg’s teeth and rather pleasantly tickled his tailbone, the
magnificent golden chariot of fire came into view and slid across the mountaintop.
It hung above him, a great, shining Star of David haloed by fiery red light
that pulsed in time with the hummed hymn.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg dropped the bottle of Dickel, pissed his overalls, and slowly
stood, knees and back creaking loudly with the effort. He raised his arms to
heaven and closed his eyes, unworthy of bearing witness to the magnificence of
the Father’s return.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The old lawn chair, in which he had been sitting before the
Coming of Jesus, skittered across the narrow porch, off the edge and into immaculately
trimmed bushes. Windows rattled, the porch swayed and a strong, dry wind came
from the east to swirl madly around his tiny backyard. The county issued
garbage can danced across the thin brown grass before falling over and
expectorating its contents directly into the heart of the maelstrom. Cigarette
butts, paper plates, and scratch-off lottery tickets filled the air, redneck
confetti in celebration of the Rapture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eyes still closed, Hogg descended the three concrete block
steps to his backyard. At the exact moment his left foot touched grass, the
angels sang six new notes in rapid succession then finished their hymn with a
single, sustained note so low it made the backs of his eyeballs ache. The ship
hovered for a moment, rippled ever so slightly then shrank from a massive form
that filled the night sky to one just slightly smaller than Hogg’s backyard. This
new, smaller form allowed it to settle gently onto the grass not more than a
few feet from where Hogg stood waiting. Gradually, the angel song faded and the
glorious golden light dimmed. For a moment, everything was perfectly still and perfectly
silent. Then, somewhere across the lake, a dog barked once, whimpered, and was
silent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg knew he shouldn’t look, but he just couldn’t help
himself. He slowly opened one eye halfway, then all the way, and stared
cyclops-like at the magnificent vessel that loomed before him. The ship was now
not much taller than a semi truck cab, but it was still the most impressive
thing he’d ever seen. Its skin was smooth gold with a deep, reflective luster
that seemed to flow ever-so-slowly across the angled contours of the ship. Hogg
opened both eyes and his jaw dropped. Something rattled inside the ship and a
previously unseen door slid open, revealing the backlit naked form of Jesus Christ
himself. Jesus smiled, waved casually to Hogg with his left hand and stepped
out into the warm Georgia night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Messiah was tall, swarthy, thin and extremely hirsute. He
sported long, curly hair and a ZZ Top beard that reached halfway to his navel. His
eyes were wide, dark and gentle above a disproportionally large nose. If you’re
someone like Elijah Hogg, you know exactly what the Bible says about Jesus’
background, family, homeland, and even appearance but, for some reason, you
still really don’t expect Him to look... Well... So <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jewish</i>. You also don’t expect Him to be hung like a world class
porn star. But hung Jesus was. Flaccid, the Divine Pecker reached at least a
third of the way to bulbous Holy Knees and was blessed with the girth of a
Bible. And don’t even get me started on the magnificence of His balls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg closed his eyes and dropped to his knees, crying with a
mixture of joy at the Rapture and fear that he might be just a little bit gay
for being so impressed with the size of the Holy Junk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus chuckled softly then said: “Arise, Elijah.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Lord’s voice was surprisingly nasal; however, due to the
considerable size of the nose through which He spoke, His words were sonorous
and commanding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg rose unsteadily amid further sounds of creaking and
popping. As he did, he tried his best to keep his eyes off the Fleshy Scepter
of the Son. Jesus smiled beneficently and placed His hands gently on Hogg’s bony
shoulders. Something moved beyond Jesus and Hogg’s eyes were drawn to the ship.
Two naked, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rubenesque</span> women
disembarked and stood flanking the Savior. One was tall and pale, with long red
hair, breasts like well-played softballs, and multiple tattoos inked primarily
in shades of lavender. The other was dark as the night sky, with breasts like ripe
watermelons and an ass like a basketball. Both wore copious amounts of
turquoise jewelry and sported enough pubic hair to hide a small dog.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Jesus,” Hogg whispered, blaspheming for the first time in
his life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg intended the word as more of a concise comment on the appearance
of the women than an actual greeting but the Messiah said, “It’s pronounced <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hey-Zeus</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg turned his eyes back to the Son of God and cocked his
head to one side. “What?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I said, ‘It’s pronounced <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hey-Zeus</i>.’ Not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jee-zus</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hey-Zeus,” Hogg said reverently.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus smiled. “And you are Elijah Hogg, a teacher of My Word.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, Father. I am Elijah. And I am ready. Oh, Lord, Lord,
Lord, I am ready!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Patience, my son,” Jesus said. “Two fortnights and two days
will pass before I return for you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The pale woman giggled while the darker one rolled her eyes
and shook her head. Jesus smiled, showing yellow, uneven teeth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The world is wicked and has forgotten me,” Jesus said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg nodded. “Yes. Yes, yes.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But you, my son,” Jesus said. “You are pure of heart. Not
so much pure of liver and lung these days, but your heart is good.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m afflicted with the curse of drink,” Hogg said, casting
his eyes downward, “and with the sin of smoke.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus cupped Hogg’s face with both hands and raised the
fallen minister’s fallen chin. “This night, my son, I set you free,” Jesus said.
“I set you free.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg began to cry. “Thank you, thank you, oh thank you Jesus—I
mean Hey-Zuse. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen and hallelujah.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A snot bubble formed on Hogg’s nose. “Hallelujah!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bubble burst. Jesus wiped his left eye
with the back of his right hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The world is wicked,” Jesus said again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They have forgotten You,” Hogg said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They have.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wicked, wicked world,” Hogg said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes. Anyway…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wicked backsliding worldly world full of church stealing
heathens!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus looked at His gold Rolex, the only thing He wore. “Listen,
Elijah…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wicked and blasphemous!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They have turned from Your face and forgotten Your Word!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus nodded. “I know. I have that whole omniscience thing,
you know.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg backed up and shuffled his feet. He put his right hand high
in the air and his left shoulder twitched. “But Glory is upon us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We shall cast off of the yoke of wickedness
and we shall march into Heaven singing Glory to God on the Highest.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus sighed. “Elijah.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The evil shall be trodden under our feet-ah. Hallelujah,
amen and praise His-ah Holy Name!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Elijah.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The Day of Redemption is at hand and all shall see the—”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus smacked Hogg hard across the right cheek. The Reverend
staggered to his left, turned around once and sat down hard on the ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Forgive me,” Hogg said. “I sometimes get carried away by
Your Glory.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I understand,” Jesus said. “I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">am</i> pretty glorious. But I don’t have all night. We need to talk.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Of course,” Hogg said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus spoke faster now. “As I was saying, the world has
become wicked and forgotten me.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Amen,” Hogg said. “Wicked.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Don’t interrupt.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sorry.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The world has become wicked and forgotten me. My patience
grows thin and my nerves grow raw. The hour of my divine retribution is at
hand.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hogg’s jaw dropped again but, this time, it betrayed a hint
of a sly smile. “You’re going to destroy the world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t a question.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No. Just part
of Ensign County… Am I pronouncing that correctly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In-Sine?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes. In-Sine.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus looked at the dark woman. “You owe me five bucks.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I told you crackers
talk funny,” the pale angel said with a chuckle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus turned back to Hogg. “Elijah, I have a job for you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You want me to build an ark?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A what?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“An ark,” said the dark angel. “He asked if you want him to
build an ark.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus sighed. “No, Elijah. I don’t want you to build an ark.
I’m just going to destroy Ensign County, not the whole world. The animals, as a
whole, will be fine.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Then what would you have me do, Father?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lightning flashed as Jesus gave Hogg a lopsided grin and
gestured toward the door of the great ship. "Step inside, Elijah, and
we'll talk about that."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elijah hesitated only for a second before he let the naked
angels lead him into the ship. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the door slid closed behind them, thunder rumbled through
the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A storm was coming.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis">© 2016 Lee
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-2095390156949094892017-10-02T10:35:00.000-05:002017-10-03T08:06:19.324-05:00Story Archive | So You're Dead; Now What?<div class="MsoSubtitle">
This is a story for which I’ve never found a publisher.
That probably means this story isn’t as good as some of my others but I don’t
care. This story amuses the hell out of me. And there’s a lot of hell in me so
that’s a lot of amusing. I started this one thinking… Well, actually, I’m not
sure what I was thinking but I liked the way it developed and I was surprised
by the ending. I guess I can’t stay away from small, southern towns.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<i>The latest revision on this one is
dated 2015 but the original version is several years older. I’m not sure just
when I started it but it was probably before 2010.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h1>
So You’re Dead; Now What?<o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Here’s the deal: You’re dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Departed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Deceased.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Done.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Your new BMW sailed off a dark mountain road, plummeted more
than three hundred feet, and landed on its roof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your skull imploded, your neck snapped, you
pissed your three-hundred dollar pants, and everything went black.<o:p></o:p></div>
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How long the darkness lasted you can’t say but, now, you
find yourself standing on a cold, rocky beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The car lies on its top, the roof crushed nearly even with the
hood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A film of blue flame spreads
across the undercarriage, pulsing in synch with the pounding surf.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>What a shitty ending to a great night</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, you think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>Earlier, you and Monica were attending your company’s swanky
annual awards dinner at a country club up in the mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You received a plaque and an impressive
bonus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back at your table, you
“accidentally” let Monica get a quick look at the check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five minutes later, you were on the road,
running full out, back toward L.A.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cresting a hill, you put your hand on the back of Monica’s head and
guided her down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t resist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At some point, you closed your eyes to savor
the moment—just for a second or two, three at the most, but it was long enough
to miss the curve.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You see Monica’s arm protruding from the passenger window,
the skin pale as fine porcelain in the moonlight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her fingers twitch, the arm moves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s alive!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You start for the car, but the sheet of flame that clings to the
undercarriage swirls, ripples and condenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A second later, the car explodes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Instinctively, you throw your hands up to protect your face,
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pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cautiously, you lower your hands
and watch a column of flame rise from the wreck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It blossoms for an instant into a gorgeous
luminescent mushroom before collapsing in on itself with a soft whimper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the flames cling close to the car again,
a second skin of orange and indigo, as the great oily black cloud disperses in
the otherwise clear night sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wind
shifts, cutting across the boulder-strewn beach, and you get a face-full of an
ungodly stench.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it the burning
leather?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The oil?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>No,</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>a voice in your head says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>It’s</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <i>Monica</i></span>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A wave of nausea rocks you and you turn away, gagging, hands
over your face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Behind you, the car
continues to burn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Salty spray clouds
the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wind is sharp, cold,
refreshing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You look toward the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where’s the tunnel and the bright light?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where’s the Angel of Death?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where’s the Redeemer they promised in Sunday School so many years ago?<o:p></o:p></div>
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You turn back to the car and see Monica’s arm on the
ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The once pale skin is now black
and bubbling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s not really her
anymore, just as you are no longer you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So where is she?<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>If she’s just as dead as you are,
shouldn’t she be here, too?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maybe she has <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">gone</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <i>on</i></span>,
you think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But gone on to what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">There
is no Heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no Hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>You’re sure of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Or
are you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in that tiny Appalachian town you once called home, you
were taught to be a good Southern Baptist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But you gave all that up in college after they taught you to think for
yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you started doing that,
your native religion seemed antiquated and silly, much like your hometown
itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the last decade of your
life, you were an avowed atheist, but you wonder what you will be in
death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what about the common
expectation that all life’s great questions will be answered postmortem?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You clearly haven’t received total
enlightenment in exchange for your mortal coil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, you’re more confused now than you were before you drove off the
cliff.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is all too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This afternoon, you were an upwardly mobile twenty-nine-year-old junior
executive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a year or two, you would
have been pulling down high six figures and driving an even better car—maybe
that Porsche you had your eye on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
another twenty years (fifteen if those investments panned out), you could have
retired to a villa on an island in the Caribbean and spent your days fishing
for marlin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There would have been a lady
with you there in those golden days by the sea, but you know it would not have
been Monica.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You liked her well enough,
but she was just a passing fancy, something to occupy your time until you could
afford someone better looking and less opinionated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Would you have felt differently about her if you had known
her ten years ago when, thirty pounds heavier, she was waitressing her way
through a junior college in Iowa?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would
you have crawled out of your one-room basement apartment to share pizza and
cheap beer with her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you have
comforted her when her dream of becoming a nurse came crashing down in a blaze
of latent ineptitude?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you have
reassured her that being a travel agent was just as vital a career?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A better question might be <i>would</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <i>Monica</i> <i>have</i> <i>chosen</i> <i>you</i></span>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would the chubby-but-cute daughter of
successful farmers have thought about the son of a factory worker from rural
Georgia?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those days, would she have
believed that, barely a decade down the road, the soft-spoken guy fighting to
overcome his southern accent would be a key player with a well-known and
well-respected company?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you have
believed it, yourself?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It doesn’t matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even Romeo and Juliet, Bonnie and Clyde, Quasimodo and Esmeralda were all
still dead in the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here’s the
worst part: It’s all your fault.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But so what if it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>
your fault?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who will care?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Your mother will care.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You haven’t even thought about her in weeks—maybe months,
but some of your family—your mother and your sister, for sure—will undoubtedly
miss you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For reasons you’ll probably
never understand they have always loved you no matter how much of a pretentious
and arrogant douchebag you became.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
loved you when you lived under their roof, they loved you when you moved away,
and they loved you when you refused to return.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You try to remember the last time you visited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s it been?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Four?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">No, y</span>ou haven’t been back since they buried your father five
years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the old man’s heart
exploded at the factory where he had worked for twenty-five years, you had to
go back to that godforsaken place and hold your mother while she cried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you didn’t have to stay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though you’ve never admitted it—not even to yourself—you
started drinking to forget that day and all the days before it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You did lines with Monica because the coke
cleared your head for a while, replacing the memories of home with the raw,
jittery dreams that lived underneath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The intoxicants, like everything else in your recent life were part of a
big piece of sandpaper, scraping away the rough edges of your youth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You turn your eyes toward the sky again, but there is still
no great parting of clouds, no thunderously angelic voices calling you
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could wait and see what
happens, but death doesn’t seem to have made you any less impatient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only someone could tell you what to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In life, you had a mentor of sorts, for a while,
anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was with his guidance that
you took your first uncertain steps off the path you had mapped out so long
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You eventually left him behind, but
that’s the way the game is played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Advancement is for the young and ambitious.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If only you had a mentor now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And then you
realize: <i>That’s it</i>.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
must simply do in death what you did in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You must venture forth and seek out your own kind; find a ghostly
mentor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not knowing exactly where to go, you walk along the beach
for more than a mile until you reach the road that runs up the side of the
mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the top not far from the
curve that killed you, is a large cemetery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You were there two years ago with a blonde from San Diego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her name escapes you now but you remember
fucking her on the well-manicured grass behind a marble mausoleum while the
Virgin Mary looked on with impassive stone eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were pretty drunk, but you remember her
body and you remember that the cemetery is elegant, the headstones impressive,
the iron gates high and ornate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
there you can find others who share both your predicament and your social
station.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a long walk, but you make good time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your muscles don’t ache, your lungs don’t
burn, and the climb across the gate is not difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the darkness, the tombstones seem to go on
forever, a sea of carefully etched gray slabs, rising and falling in gentle
waves on a sea of hunter green.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
flowers are nearly colorless in the moonlight, their heads bowed, as if in
somber reverence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across the cobblestone
path from you, behind a bed of roses, a lanky stone corpse lies cradled in the
arms of his silently wailing mother. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Any suggestions,” you ask the recumbent figure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You get no answer, but it’s not the first time the Son of
God has met your inquiries with silence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You use your hands to make a megaphone around your lips and
call out, “Can anyone hear me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can
anyone see me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is anyone here?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You wait but no voice responds to your cry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Helloooo!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m dead
and I’m kind of lost!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Little help?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again, no answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You lower your hands and your voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Single white dead guy, lost in Limbo, seeks
non-smoking, non-corporeal female companion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Must like long, moonlit walks and haunting trendy restaurants.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe all the other ghosts have already gone out for the
night. You can tell from the quality of the headstones that, like you, these
were once important members of society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It seems reasonable that, even in death, they have places to go and
things to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Think,</i> you tell
yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Just</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <i>think.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>You are, after all, an educated man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have a BA in Business Administration and
an MBA in Business Management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did
you learn in college about death and the afterlife?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Nothing.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You learned absolutely nothing about that
sort of thing because you have a BA in Business Administration and an MBA in Business
Management.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a few minutes of studious reflection, you realize that
all you really learned in college was not to drink large quantities of beer
before drinking large quantities of liquor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was even a little poem to help you remember that.<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why is that all you remember?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were hundreds—maybe even thousands—of
really great poems about death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you
never paid attention to any of those, did you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, you were too busy getting drunk and trying to get laid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, malt does more than Milton can to
justify God’s ways to man.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You look up at the sky just as a cloud passes in front of
the moon and, suddenly you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i>
remember something—a short story maybe—by someone whose name you can’t quite
recall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it Sandburg?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frost maybe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s coming back to you now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
you’re thinking of is a poem by Robert Frost about an old man who goes back to
a place where he once worked because, according to the poem, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“home is the place that, when you go there,
they have to take you in.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You think about this for a minute then you say to the empty
cemetery, “Home is the place that, when you go there, they have to take you
in.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re not sure you have the quote
exactly right, but it feels good to say it aloud so you say it again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A very faint light has appeared on the horizon to the
east.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s probably nothing more than
the first rays of dawn, but you don’t care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a light and, right now, you want nothing more than to walk into
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your feet move across the damp grass
of the cemetery and the light glows brighter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As you walk, the light is warm on your face and you hear—<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re not sure just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> it is that you hear, but there is definitely something
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Something!</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You start to run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
light intensifies, filling the sky before you, shifting from vermilion to
crimson to gold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On either side of you,
the landscape blurs, shimmers then vanishes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, faces, places, and events whip past you like rear projection
screens in some old B movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re
blurred and jittery, but you recognize the images: Your first love back in high
school, the chunky girl with the sweet smile…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your freshman dorm room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
reeked of beer, pizza, pot, and tissues full of seamen…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cramped cubicle with motivational posters
on the wall…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Monica in a little black
dress at a club on the Sunset Strip…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each
image, each moment, each action, is but another stepping-stone on the
arrow-straight path to that winding mountain road that took your life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Your feet slap soundlessly on the smooth road as you run, a
phantom rhythmic accompaniment to your silent breathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sky is blue now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As blue as your high school sweetheart’s
eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As blue as the waters of the
little lake in the valley you once called home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The valley, lake and all, stretches out before you, green,
fertile, and full of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the narrow
streets, a long line of cars moves slowly toward the cemetery where your father
and your father’s father are buried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
realize now what it was that you heard, what you were running toward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sound you heard in the sunrise was the
tolling of an iron bell, calling you home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2015 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-11321920958885416602017-10-02T10:07:00.000-05:002017-10-03T08:08:57.172-05:00Story Archive | Tuesday Evening in a Small Southern Town<div class="MsoSubtitle">
By September, 2011, my father had been dead for nearly six
years and I was working in commercial production and promotions at a local
television station. Still, I channeled him again for this piece that was a poem
for a few years before I eliminated the line breaks and did a slight rewrite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
Originally
published in <span style="font-style: normal;">The Dead Mule School of Southern
Literature</span>, 2012.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
Tuesday Evening in a Small Southern Town<o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Today, we worked just as we always have: Me on the line,
spot-welding dull, gray steel, Teddy driving the old, green Clark forklift, and
Earl, senior man, at the press controls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>None of us saw the news until lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We didn’t eat much; just watched in shock then went back to work when
the horn blew.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, we sit just as we always have: On Earl’s front porch,
screened from the mosquitoes, drinking Bud from cans and watching the Lab pup
romping where Earl’s kids once played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Inside, his wife watches TV and cries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My beer is warm, the can still half full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve given up cigarettes again so the beer
tastes flat, even pointless.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Teddy crushes his empty and lights a smoke with hands
scarred by ten years on the Line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What
you reckon will happen now?” he asks Earl.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Earl served eighteen months in Vietnam so we expect him to
know such things.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Earl sets his can on the dormant gas grill, his dark eyes
focused somewhere down the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
reckon I’m goin’ to have one more beer then I’m goin’ inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our shift starts at seven in the morning.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Teddy looks at the gray concrete blocks of the porch, his
thick head moving slowly side to side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wants to believe that now it will all be different somehow and he
can, at least peripherally, be part of something bigger.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I pour what’s left of my beer onto the brown grass as I walk
home down a quiet, small town street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Later, I will lie, just as I have for years: In the arms of a woman who
says she loves me, in the quiet little town where I was born and will probably
die, a thousand miles away from the big city.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-27055346918230942802017-10-02T09:24:00.000-05:002017-10-03T08:08:16.690-05:00Story Archive | On the Line<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoSubtitle">
This is another flash fiction piece, along with “My
Father’s Hands”, “My Father’s Ghost”, “Tuesday Evening in a Small Southern
Town”, and others that was at least partially inspired by my father’s life as a
factory worker. “On the Line” is actually a significantly shorter rewrite of a
(really pretty terrible) story called “Scraps” that was published in 2009 in a
literary magazine called <span style="font-style: normal;">Metal Scratches</span>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Originally
published in <span style="font-style: normal;">Word Riot</span>, September, 2012.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
On the Line<o:p></o:p></h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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My night is an eight-hour blur of warp and woof, shuttle and
loom, coffee and cigarettes. It is a dull ache in the legs and a stiff lower
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, always, the oily stench of
the machines—forty year old, greasy green monsters with clever acronyms for
names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After less than six months on the
line, my heart pumps in time with the thrum, thump, scrape; with the clank of
one particular beast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hands, not yet
properly callused, split and bleed in its service.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At other machines, people talk, laugh, bitch,
commiserate—anything to soften the hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their mandatory earplugs hang around their necks on bright blue cords,
the orange foam tips bright against the dull gray of poly/cotton workshirts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In more lucid moments, I recall the not-so-long-ago days of
freedom, air conditioning, books, and endless talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now there are always spools to change and
lines to tie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No longer able to afford
ambition, I will always be here, or someplace similar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I heft a pair of forty-pound spindles and slide them onto
dull steel shafts flecked with rust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Blood drips from my knuckles onto the thread and I wonder how much of my
blood people around the world are wearing right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look down the aisle to the machine where my
father was working the day of his heart attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How much of his blood and sweat was sold along with socks, tee shirts,
underwear, and blankets?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much of him
did this place take before he finally broke at fifty-five?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how much did he hate me for it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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A red light flashes, a buzzer screams, the spools are
empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This roll will be short and I’ll
get written up—again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My grace period is
over.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I reload, I glance at my watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little over an hour from now, I’ll sit
slope-shouldered and drained on a wooden bench and stare at two photographs
taped to the inside of my locker door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One is a picture of a man; the other of a boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both look an awful lot like me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2012 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-49556771238177713852017-10-02T09:15:00.000-05:002017-10-03T08:09:17.367-05:00Story Archive | My Father's Ghost<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<span style="background: white;">This is another of
several stories I wrote that was very loosely based on my father. Although this
story is completely fictional, the characters are based on actual people. This
one was intended as the last chapter of a short story collection that would
work almost like an episodic novel. The first chapter would have been “My
Father’s Hands”.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; tab-stops: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<i><span style="background: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Originally published in </span></i><span style="background: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The Lascaux Prize Collection 2014<i>.</i></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<h1>
My Father’s Ghost<o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My father’s ghost sits next to me on the porch of the old
hunting cabin as the last day of summer seeps into the dry
ground. The muggy air is thick with mosquitoes and the sickly-sweet
stench of vegetable rot unique to Appalachia in summer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside the cabin, it’s always the past, always a great time
to be a man. Out here however, I am forty years old, overweight, and
balding. My wedding ring lies beneath a pack of cigarettes in the
breast pocket of my sweat-soaked work shirt. I’m sure I can feel the
metal pressing against my chest with each beat of my heart, but that’s probably
just another of my bittersweet poetic delusions. Or maybe I’m just
drunk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I fish the last bottle of beer out of the cardboard six-pack
beside my chair and open it using the rusty opener nailed to porch rail.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The yard is overgrown—waist high and brambly in places—and
stinks of wild onion. Even the wide gravel driveway is almost lost
to the forest. And then there’s the kudzu. It eats
everything. It swarms over the rusted shell of the old F-100, climbs
the rails of the porch, shrouds the roof of the cabin, and creeps in the
windows. The weed is relentless, tenacious, inexorable, and, in its own
perverse way, beautiful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My father lights another cigarette. He’s maybe
forty-five, heavy around the middle, and not quite a decade from the heart
attack that will put him in his grave, but the hands are the same as they were
the first time they held me: hard, rough, and strong, the jagged nails yellowed
by nicotine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A man’s got to have his own place,” he says quietly, almost
as if talking to himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stand and my back cracks just the way my father’s used
to. I toss my cigarette into the brown weeds at the end of the
porch. I can smell rain in the air and, somewhere beyond the valley,
thunder rumbles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Does it hurt?” I ask my father’s ghost.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He looks at me for a long time, his face all but lost in
shadow. Finally, he nods almost imperceptibly. “We don’t
talk about things like that—especially in a place like this.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I smile. My dad, possibly fearing his own
restless potential, usually talked only sports and Louis L’Amour novels. They
were safe subjects and he knew them well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the darkness, I can’t see the smoke at the end of the
porch where the cigarette smolders in the dead grass, but I can smell it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Holding onto the leaning, splintery rail, I ease my way to
the overgrown gravel driveway. You’d need a 4x4 to drive all the way
up to the cabin now so my little convertible—probably the only thing I’ll get
in the divorce—is parked up by the highway. It’s a long walk in the
dark, but, already, there is light behind me, flickering, dancing, lighting my
way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2014 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-41797203268255018602017-10-02T09:06:00.000-05:002017-10-03T08:09:32.087-05:00Story Archive | My Father's Hands<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
This was one of several stories I wrote that was sort of
based on my father. Although this story is completely fictional, the characters
are based on actual people. This one was intended as the first chapter of a
short story collection that would work almost like an episodic novel. The final
chapter would be “My Father’s Ghost”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
Originally
published in <span style="font-style: normal;">The Rusty Nail</span>, March, 2013.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
My Father’s Hands<o:p></o:p></h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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My father has rough hands, callused, scarred, and scraped
raw by fourteen years on the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few
of the knuckles have been broken, the little finger of the left hand will never
again be straight, and there is always a little black crescent of machine oil
beneath the yellowed nails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
thirteen, pale and lanky, with smooth unblemished hands, shaggy hair and thick
glasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still wearing our Sunday best,
we sit on the porch at Lester Kegg’s little cabin and watch the late summer
night swallow the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The rough hands extract a Marlboro and light it with an old
Zippo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one side of the lighter, the
finish is worn down to the steel in a rough elongated teardrop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A similar but lighter patch blemishes the
lid, just above the hinge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the last
few years, he has actually been using his thumb to push the lid open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember the last time I saw him open
it with a flick of the wrist and light it by snapping his fingers above the
flint wheel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In nearly all aspects of my
father’s life, the pretense of flair and magic is gone.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“What’s going to happen to the cabin?” I ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Did Mister Kegg have a will?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The orange-red tip of the cigarette brightens as he inhales
then fades almost to nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“People
like us don’t have wills.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I ask, “You remember the first time you brought me up here?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Your tenth birthday, wasn’t it?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went
fishing and you and Mister Kegg taught me to play blackjack and Mister Kegg
killed that copperhead.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The snake’s head is still nailed above the door, fangs bared
menacingly, but, after three years, it is desiccated, the scales dull, the eyes
just empty sockets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kegg told me a snake
head above the door would keep away the haints.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My father takes a long drag on his cigarette and exhales
slowly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The smoke is almost invisible in
the gathering gloom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, I ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Did you see it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The accident, I mean.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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His face is in shadows, but I see him close his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The tip of his cigarette glows faintly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Yeah.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And he just fell in?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yeah.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Heat prickles the back of my neck, but I shiver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been to the mill, I’ve seen the
scrapper, and I know what it can do to chunks of fabric, wood, plastic, even
metal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dad stands, stretches, drops his cigarette and crushes it
with the toe of his seldom worn dress shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Anything here you want?” he asks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I want the snake, but I don’t want to tell him that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just shake my head, stand and, in the
darkness, take one long last look at the cabin they built together just after
‘Nam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a shack but they called it
the Hunting Lodge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could hear the
capital letters when they referred to it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As we walk back to the truck, Dad lights another
cigarette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no snap, no Zippo
magic, just the rough hands of a weary factory worker, lighting the last
cigarette of the third pack of the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 2013 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-15358029358084062092017-10-02T08:59:00.002-05:002017-10-03T08:10:14.306-05:00Story Archive | Cycles<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<div style="text-align: center;">
This was my first published story. It was written in 1995
specifically for a magazine I found in Writers Market that only published words
of exactly 250 words.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<i>Originally published in</i> <span style="font-style: normal;">Xtreme:
The Magazine of Extremely Short Fiction</span><i>, 1995.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<i>Reprinted online in </i><span style="font-style: normal;">MicroHorror</span><i>
(www.microhorror.com), May, 2012.</i><o:p></o:p><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
Cycles<o:p></o:p></h1>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sometimes,” she said, “I can move things with my mind.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He ignored her and wrestled the spare tire from the trunk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The power kind of comes and goes,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Some days, I can only move light things,
like clouds or leaves.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She stretched out on the grassy bank and watched the dark
clouds drift lazily across the darkening summer sky far above the lonely
highway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s a cyclical thing,” she explained as he began to pump
the jack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The power waxes and wanes.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She plucked a daisy then began to dismember it slowly and
methodically.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’ve done some research,” she said, “and do you know what I
found out?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He grunted, shook his head and continued wrestling with the
lug nuts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Most women like me say their power is stronger at certain
times of the month.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She smiled thinly at his narrow sweat covered back and
slowly stood.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As he lowered the jack, her shadow stretched out on the
ground before him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He inhaled sharply and groped in the gathering darkness
until his hand came to rest on the tire iron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But he knew it was already too late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He hadn’t really been listening and he had forgotten about the cycle
until he saw the long, dark, misshapen shadow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He didn’t have to look up to know that the moon was full and his cycle
was at an end.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As she fell on him, her howl ripped through the still
country night, but no one was there to hear.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© 1995 Lee
Wright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-76880787187027437702012-08-21T16:31:00.002-05:002017-10-02T12:52:35.839-05:00Blog | A Small Fish in Small (But Crowded) Ponds<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 21, 2012</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In my last blog post, I talked about how I don’t consider myself to be a real writer because I don’t make a living by writing creatively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the weeks since I posted that, I’ve a string of very small successes and, while I still don’t feel like a writer, I’m feeling a little bit better about the quality of my writing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In may spring of this year, I discovered <a href="https://duotrope.com/" target="_blank">Duotrope</a>—an excellent source for writers—and decided to give some of those old, unpublished stories a new shot (or five) at publication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost immediately, my first story to be published (way back in 1995) was republished by an eZine called <a href="http://www.microhorror.com/microhorror/" target="_blank">MicroHorro</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since that time, I have placed eleven other stories with online and print journals of various sizes and reputations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of these are extremely small and underfunded organizations, but one of them—<a href="http://matterpress.com/journal/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts</i></a>—actually paid me $50 for a story that will be published near the end of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That wasn’t the first time I’d been paid for my work, and it wasn’t the largest amount I’d been paid, but it was certainly one of the classiest groups to publish my work (just take a look at the cool stuff they sent along with my check).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvzxWCOGm8Kn93tEy5p2f9Ad15L4VJLn_rm8XyLa-bxbvgmmyKMbp_JwohsBO8u_ulVhIU8KJDEp-98R2Ps_LGtMgD40Pq9OhAfOL7akhX0wz8JnqQBjhKBKK0mqldETtRILSN/s1600/Matterpress+Art+2012-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvzxWCOGm8Kn93tEy5p2f9Ad15L4VJLn_rm8XyLa-bxbvgmmyKMbp_JwohsBO8u_ulVhIU8KJDEp-98R2Ps_LGtMgD40Pq9OhAfOL7akhX0wz8JnqQBjhKBKK0mqldETtRILSN/s320/Matterpress+Art+2012-08.jpg" width="275" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Then today, </span><a href="http://www.literaryjuice.com/" style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;" target="_blank"><i>Literary Juice</i></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">, another really good online mag, </span><a href="http://www.literaryjuice.com/#/pulp-fiction-august-2012/4567775451" style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;" target="_blank">published a piece that I wrote</a><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> simply because their submission guidelines presented what sounded like a fun challenge.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">For this particular section of their site, they only publish stories of exactly 25 words.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">I wondered if I could tell a full story in such a limited space.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Turns out, I can.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I keep telling myself that these acceptances are not a big deal because these are all very small publications with very limited readership and I’m not getting paid much, if anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then I look at the massive pile of rejection emails I’ve received from similar publishers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been turned down by zines that I’m pretty sure are read by no more than twenty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, even with the small publishers, there’s apparently some pretty serious competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m not just fighting to be seen; I’m clearly competing with some really good writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The magazines (both print and online) that are publishing my stories are all publications whose stories and poems I really enjoy reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They might not have huge audiences yet, but I’m honored to be published by them because I am clearly in good (if obscure) company.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-81467726671492323792012-06-22T23:24:00.000-05:002017-10-02T12:50:44.695-05:00Blog | I Am What I Am (But I'm Not A Writer)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">June 22, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">I write short stories and, occasionally novels (or parts of novels, anyway) but I don't really think of myself as a writer. The reason is simple: I make my living doing something other than writing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Some people say that anyone who writes regularly, or anyone who writes seriously, is actually a writer, but that seems an awfully low standard to me. Shouldn’t I have to meet some sort of difficult-to-achieve goal before I can claim to join the ranks of Hemingway, Faulkner, Vonnegut, Shakespeare, and the guy who wrote the latest Spider-Man movie novelization? Each of those folks has at least one very specific accomplishment that, in my mind, officially makes him a writer. Each can point to a book and say, “See that? That’s my name on the cover of a book printed by a company that doesn’t do print-on-demand. Someone appreciated my work enough to pay me for it and print it in large quantities. I don’t have to get up every morning and go to an office. I could work in my underwear if I wanted to.” And, really, who wouldn’t want to?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">And, yes, I realize that Hemingway, Faulkner, Vonnegut, and Shakespeare can’t actually point to a book or anything else since they are currently bereft of life. I haven’t checked on the Spider-Man guy, but I’m going to be optimistic and assume he’s okay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">In my mind, calling myself a writer is like going out to a bar for karaoke a couple of times a week then saying, “I’m a singer.” I can sing, but I’m certainly not a singer. Hopefully, I’m not as bad at writing as I am at singing, but I certainly don’t feel that I’ve reached any level of success that would allow me to define myself as a writer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">I guess I could say I’m an amateur writer, but everyone is an amateur something. If you meet a brain surgeon who plays a couple of rounds of golf a week and you ask, “What do you do?”, he’s going to say, “I’m a doctor,” (or, more likely, “I’m a neurosurgeon,” because it sounds even more impressive) not, “I’m a golfer.” It’s possible that he might be a better golfer than doctor. He might even enjoy golf more than poking around in skulls, but, because of the way things work in our society, it’s his work in the medical field that defines him. It doesn’t matter how you earn your rent money—you could be a mechanic, dock worker, actor, nurse, fluffer, preacher, politician, cowboy, stay-at-home parent, or anything else—but it’s that job that defines you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">If you think about it, that’s pretty screwed up. Just as I’m no writer, I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’m pretty sure that whole profession as identity thing has a lot to do with why being unemployed is so goddamned depressing. Sure, not having money for food, rent, and things like that is pretty shitty, but not having a clear identity is even worse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">If someone asks, “What do you do?” I should say, “I’m a father, a husband, a dog lover, an American, a southerner, a liberal, an atheist, a reader, a writer, a prolific passer of gas.” Instead, I say something like, “Well, it’s hard to explain. My official job title is ‘Senior Producer’ but that means exactly nothing. I work for an advertising-agency-slash-video-production-company. I write, I edit, and, sometimes, I shoot video. Oh, and I also do graphic design and build websites. I’m also sort of a supervisor and... Hey, where are you going? I’m not finished telling you what I do.” If nothing else, being able to say, “I’m a writer,” would sure cut down on the awkwardness at social gatherings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">I could go into a whole rant here about how our professions, careers, hobbies, and dreams shouldn’t define us, but there are hundreds of people out there much more qualified than I to write about such stuff. The point of this blog post is this: My lack of success as a writer is my own fault. My failure has everything to do with a shitty work ethic. I haven’t put in the time to write, write, write, write, and write some more. I write for fun and rarely push myself to finish a major project. If I weren’t so fucking lazy, I could probably be a working writer. I might not be particularly successful, but I could probably survive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Walk into any bookstore (if you can find one), pull a few books (remember those?) off the shelves at random, read a few paragraphs, and you'll discover that approximately 80% of professional writers are talentless hacks. When badly-written, self-published, fan-fiction porn is a top seller, you know that the only limiting factor to writing success is output.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">So, once again, I will vow to write more, market my work more, and turn myself into a guy who works (successfully) from home. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to have to have another talk with my boss. For some reason, he continues to insist that our clients don’t want to walk into the office and see a fat, ugly, bald man sitting in nothing but his boxers with a laptop, a bottle of Beck’s Dark, and a bag of Doritos. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Damn the Man.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860963950062735327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-1156121071410178102006-08-20T19:32:00.000-05:002017-10-02T12:48:32.663-05:00Blog | Falling Is Like This<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 20, 2006</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I’ve been a slacker and haven’t posted on this site in quite a while. This was pointed out to me frequently this past weekend as Christie and I celebrated the end of the home remodeling with a big (for us) party. We invited many friends to “help us celebrate and get hammered.” Many people responded, some traveling fairly impressive distances to spend time with us. Four folks (<a href="http://atlantachronicles.blogspot.com/">Ben & Wanda</a>, Rania and Jennifer) came up from <st1:city st="on">Atlanta</st1:city>, two more came in from <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Greenville</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">SC.</st1:state></st1:place> My good friend <a href="http://www.myspace.com/suzerama">Susan</a> even flew down from the D.C. area (the nation’s capitol, not where they make the comics) just for the party, so she gets the award for longest distance traveled. Unfortunately, that prize was just a leftover FOX61 antenna ball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, much food was eaten and enormous quantities of alcohol were consumed. There was even big-screen karaoke. I’m not sure exactly <i>why</i> there was big-screen karaoke but there was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the first song (who knew that Tim McGraw had even covered “Tiny Dancer” and, if you’re going to have that song on the Karaoke thing, why wouldn’t you have it “in the style of” Elton John instead of some country doofus? But I digress so let me get out of this parenthetical and return you to the thought in progress, which, in case you’ve forgotten began: “After the first song…”) I escaped from the “media lounge” to the newly-covered patio area out back to converse with the rest of the non-singers. Although, to be accurate, there were certainly a truckload of non-singers participating in the karakoing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, anyway… I was sitting out back, talking to friends and Susan pointed out that I should be careful as the back of my chair was only inches from the edge of the patio and a very steep drop down the hill in our backyard. That lead to me telling the story of the bushes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wait? You don’t know the story of the bushes? I know it was almost four years ago but <i>everyone</i> has heard this story. No? Okay….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In September of aught-two, I was still living in my little house on <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Weaver Street</st1:address></st1:street> in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">East Ridge</st1:place></st1:city>. I had been working for Mike & Jinger for less than two months and I had yet to meet Christie. At that point in my life, things were mostly pretty good. I loved my job and, except for being chronically broke and only about a month from having to move on <i>very</i> short notice, things were pretty damned fine in my world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Furthermore, on that particular day (the tenth, I think it was), I had experienced a rather good day at work followed by a very pleasant dinner with my old friends Janet and Mike at Provino's, my favorite restaurant at the time. They even paid formy meal. By the time I got home, I was relaxed and happy. But I was still fat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had planned to meet another friend--Ted Draper--at the YMCA at 7:30 for a workout but, as is so often the case, I was running a little late. I went quickly into my house, fed the five critters (I had just gotten a new dog whose stay with me would be ended by my sudden change of residence) and changed into my workout clothes. The workout clothes consisted of black sweatpants and a tee shirt. I was wearing black socks because, as I’ve said, I had not yet met Christie and, therefore, not had the complete wardrobe makeover that people so often comment on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I decided not to waste time changing the socks. I figured that, with long, black sweatpants and semi-hightop cross-trainers, no one would see my socks anyway. So I sat down to put on the shoes. My two dogs and at least one of the cats took this as an invitation to play. My shoestrings immediately the center of everyone’s attention and, clearly, there were not going to get tied.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I decided that, in the interest of time, it might be best if I went out onto the front porch to finish the process of dressing for the gym (from the ankles down, anyway).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you who never saw my house, let me take a moment to explain the setup to you. My front porch was about three feet above the lawn and ran about half the length of my house (or is that the width?). The front of the porch was edged by a fairly thick wall of bushes, with only two-foot wide gap providing access to the three steps that led down to the walkway. The hedge-like-thing (“We’ll call it Steve!”) was actually made up of six large bushes--three on each side of the stairs. I have no idea what kind of bushes they were but they were but they were thick and healthy and effectively hid most porch-related activities from my neighbors (thus the rise in popularity of Nude Grilling).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had an old lawn chair on my front porch and, since the hedge blocked the view of the street, the chair was facing back toward the door. The chair was one of those kind with the bands of plastic woven together in such a manner as to imprint your ass and back with red and white plaid (the plaid may, of course, appear differently depending upon your skin color). The chair had normal front legs but the back legs were the kind that are joined by a bar across the bottom, forming a U-shaped support. In theory, this should be pretty sturdy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sat in this chair (where, it’s entirely possible, I had never sat before) and began the act of putting shoes on my feet over the aforementioned black socks. Perhaps, if I had unlaced the shoes rather than trying to cram them on still tied, this whole incident (which I am about to describe) might have been averted. But, as my father often said, “If a frog had wings, he’d be a fly and then he’d have to eat himself.” Or something like that. I really stopped listening once he started talking about flying frogs. I mean, how fucked up is that?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway… I tugged on the back of the first shoe (probably the right one as I always seem to start there) to get it over my heel and ankle. As I did this, I leaned backward in the chair--for leverage maybe? At that point, the single-piece back leg thing slipped over the front lip of the porch (there were no rails) and, with no chance to flail, grab, bellow or even gasp, I followed the chair over into the bushes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had the bushes not been there, I might very well have snapped my neck or broken a water main with my giant cranium (as you know, I have a giant head--thus the nickname “Buckethead”). The bushes were there, though... And they caught me. Like some giant, lazy but extremely carnivorous plant, they caught me. And held me there,flat on my back in a folding lawn chair with my black-socked feet in the air, soles to the clouds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rush of panic faded, replaced by thankfulness that I wasn’t seriously injured. The latter feeling was fleeting, however, as I realized that I was still at least a foot or more off the ground. The bushes had obviously been there for a long time and the lower trunks were quite sturdy. I had come to rest in the heart of the middle bush on the left side (if you were facing the house) and was being held aloft like… Like… Uh… Like some thing that's held aloft… Maybe as in Ancient Greece or someplace like that where the liked to hold things aloft and deliver soliloquies. “Alas, poor Buckethead…”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I was on my back but not on the ground. I looked to my left and saw bushes. I looked to my right and saw bushes. Ahead of me was only sky. Above me were the oddly inverted homes of the two old ladies who lived across the street from me. None of the limbs of the bushes (except the ones I was lying on) seemed suitable for pulling a 270</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was at about this point that I began to laugh. I continued to laugh for several seconds before it occurred to me that I should attempt a… What would you call it? Dismount? Extrication? Escape? Whatever you call it, I knew that I had to do it before one of the neighbor ladies saw me there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, my luck does not work that way. They had seen. And were, I found out later, discussing my situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neighbor Lady #1 had been watering her lawn when Neighbor Lady #2 came over from next door and said, "I think Lee's fell.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NL1 said, “No. He’s just probably moving that big cabinet off his porch… Finally. Or maybe he’s just dropped something back behind there and he’s trying to get it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NL2 said, “No! I thought at first that he was just down there behind the bushes but then I saw his feet. They was in the air!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They decided that someone needed to check on me so NL2 came into my yard, saw me lying in the bushes and said, “Lee… Did you fall?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a <i>Terminator</i> moment where various possible answers flashed across my internal response screen. I went with, "No! I just like relaxing in the bushes!"</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess she thought, “Well he is pretty fucking weird. Maybe he does like relaxing in the bushes so she went back over to hang out with NL1.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They both kept watching my house where, to use NL1's words, "The bushes was just a'shakin'! It looked like a tornado was goin' through the middle of them." Then, without warning, the bushes spat me forth like Jonah from the belly of the great fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only method I could discern to extricate myself was to was to execute a backflip and dump myself headfirst onto the ground. I managed this with roughly the grace of a stoned elephant rollerblading during an earthquake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I quickly dusted myself off, threw my shoes in the car and promptly got the hell out of there because I was convinced that I could outrun the embarrassment.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was, as you might expect, wrong.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that’s the story I told at the party. Ben followed with a pair of spectacular bike crash stories (the bikes weren’t spectacular but the stories and crashes were). Susan told her story about falling down a poorly-paved hill at a barn party and the one about falling down the hill at her old apartment. Mike told of building up speed while stumbling down a hill in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ecuador</st1:place></st1:country-region> and charging like a rhino into the bus. Jinger told us about when she fell through the floor of the attic and her leg was dangling two stories above the floor of their foyer. We finished the falling stories with my tale of how my mom fell on the ice and…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What? You haven’t heard that one? Well…</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A long time ago, in a Rossville far, far away… My mother got up at about five in the morning to make breakfast for my dad and pack a lunch for him. The previous night had been bitterly cold and that morning wasn’t much better. But, looking outside into the pre-dawn murk, they didn’t see any snow on the road. That’s because you can’t see black ice.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My dad got into his old ’62 Ford pickup and started down the very steep hill in front of our house. Almost immediately, he began to slide across the road.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Across from our driveway and down just a bit was a huge dip. We never liked him. But, anyway, the dip’s house sat at the bottom of a very steep hill that began its descent at the edge of the road. And Dad’s truck was headed right for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He floored the brake. He put on the emergency brake. He prayed to Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha and that Indian god with all the arms. The truck came to rest with one of its front wheels up on the curb of the precipice. As long as he kept his foot on the brake, it was okay but, every time he eased up, the truck shifted closer to the plunge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dad honked his horn and, Mom, being the only one awake in the neighborhood, went to see what was going on. Dad rolled down his window and yelled, “Bring me a brick to put under the tire!”</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, a word about my father and bricks. He’s one of those old school guys who never really trusted brakes on cars but used bricks under the tires religiously. I don’t remember a time when his truck was parked in our driveway (which was on a hill) that there wasn’t a brick or two chocking the tires. Sadly, my generation never fully appreciated the miraculous chocking power of the common red brick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom, sensing the danger, rushed outside. She was wearing only her slippers and one of those long, nylon nightgowns that mothers wore back when I was a kid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a side note, it kind of creeps me out to know that my mother wasn’t wearing anything under there but it makes the story funnier. So…</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom grabbed the tire brick and rushed out onto the street. Onto the black ice.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As she neared the truck, she got a good, close-up look at all ten of her toenails. Her nightgown billowed up and she landed bare ass to black ice. Her left hand went down to break the fall and the other went to her head--to protect it, I guess. The problem was that the other hand still held the brick.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So Mom, bare-assed on the ice, whacked the purple bejesus out of the right side of her head then, thoroughly dazed, slid right past dad and on down the street. Dad, his foot jammed onto the brake pedal, could only watch her slide past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom’s ice-enhanced momentum petered out several feet past Dad’s truck so she had to crawl back up the hill and jam the miracle brick under the tire before he could even get out of the truck and help her back into the house, where, ironically, they put ice on her multiple bruises.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this story was told as well. In general, the falling stories were fantastic. We laughed, we cried, we ached empathetically.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that the great unifying force in the world isn’t love or compassion or even a shared love/hate relationship with that “My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard” song. It’s clumsiness that binds us. We’ve all fallen. And we’ve all fallen often enough that, at least once, the act of falling was really fucking funny and makes a hell of a good story for parties.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That made me think of Ani Difranco. Not because she’s particularly clumsy or has a falling story that I’ve heard (though I’m sure she has one). But it made think of her song <a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/anidifranco/fallingislikethis.html">“Falling Is Like This”</a>. (Christie put that on a mix disc for me once and I think it was even on our wedding mix.) Love really <i>is</i> like falling. It’s not always graceful, it’s not always pleasant and it’s <i>never</i> planned but, if you survive it, it makes a hell of a good story.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-1148959457792040402006-05-29T22:22:00.000-05:002017-10-02T12:48:02.837-05:00Blog | Homoerotic Fifth Grade Epics and the Art of Editing on the Fly<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 29,2006</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I didn’t see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> when it came out in 1977. I saw it the following summer at
a drive-in theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got the novel for
Christmas that year and, though I had always been a voracious reader, up until
that point, I had only had the patience for short stories and comics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star
Wars</i> was my first novel.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This was fourth grade and, the
previous year, my teacher had sent home a letter to my mom telling her that I
had a real talent for writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She (the
teacher) even bought some little comic book ink stamp things with blank word
bubbles to encourage me to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think I was mostly unaware of all that praise and subtle encouragement, but I
was beginning to develop a serious interest in writing.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">On a side note: That teacher now
lives right down the street from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or,
rather, I now live right down the street from her since she’s been here since
Jesus was an infant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Anyway, by my fifth grade year when
my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> mania was at its peak,
my interest in writing was heightened by the announcement of the Young Authors’
Fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided to write a wholly
original space epic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Fast forward for a moment to the
present day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are having tons of work
done on our basement and things on the garage side are a mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of this mess, one of the rubber tubs
full of writing-related stuff has been opened and nearly dumped out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There in that box, is the space epic from
fifth grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is typewritten (my mom
did that) and bound (in the style of the Young Authors’ Fair) in contact paper (brown
wood-grain contact paper) over cardboard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Throughout the story, there are parts that have been covered with
White-Out and corrected by pen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
story is forty-one pages long (not including title page and illustrations) and
features 16 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end, before the “About the Author”
page, there eight pages of illustrations, rendered in what appears to be
colored pencil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The title of this grand
epic is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">SPACE ADVENTURES</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The story is set in the 55<sup>th</sup>
century (the “universe date is four-forty-four and one point two” for those of
you keeping track) and begins “…on a small planet known Lak,” where “a man of
twenty-two years, who was six feet and two inches tall, and had a muscular
build and black hair that was parted, walked into a rocket port” to purchase a
ticket to Zale.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">By the top of the second page, this
man , Mark Smith, has foiled an attempted robbery and received a reward of one
“Zanoi”, which, we are told, is a lot of money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So Mark sets off for Zale on a “cargo and passenger cruiser” called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Flant</i>, piloted by Captain James Rogers
and his green, reptilian, cyclops co-pilot Tway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way, the ship is attacked and
captured by Space Pirates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Captain
Rogers hides his crew and the 25 passengers, only to ambush the boarding
party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In another wholly original twist,
they dress in the uniforms of the pirates so they can move about undetected on
the pirates’ ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many firefights and
much carnage ensue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Eventually, the heroes encounter the
main villain, Captain Comet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is
captain of the pirate ship, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pirship</i>.
(Am I good with names or what?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Captain
Comet “…was a husky man wearing solid black clothes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His left hand had been replaced with a
special metal hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His right eye had
been replaced with a large gray one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
nose and mouth were only metal breath screens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wore a large black glove his right hand and he wore a large utility
belt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had rockets on his back, also.”</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I didn’t read the whole thing
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I mean, it’s forty-one pages for
Christ’s sake!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s not even
counting the illustrations!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
skimming through it, it seems that: Captain Rogers is killed and some other
character pretty much seamlessly takes his place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are more firefights, more bad prose,
and a McGuyver-like bit where Mark turns a light into an electro magnet to
disable the “electro alarm” in a crawlway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s another main villain—this one named Super Skull, but he doesn’t
really do much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, Mark goes
through a black hole and ends up in the galaxy of Micron where he becomes a
member of the Space Force and marries “a beautiful red-haired girl” named Cindy
Matthews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark, of course, went on to
have many more adventures.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Re-reading this (or skimming through
it), I can’t help but laugh.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My attention to detail was absurdly
developed, particularly when it came to describing the spaceships and the
clothing of the villains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember the
nearly homoerotic description of protagonist Mark Smith mentioned above?</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Then there’s my prose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things like: “quick as a laser flash could
shoot” and “I saw a room with a good, good lock on the door,” are just brilliantly
bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my favorite bit of all is this
bit from Captain Rogers, following the death of his co-pilot and best friend,
Tway:</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I hate the idea that my best friend, Tway, is
dead,” sobbed James.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh, well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll get over it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope!” he added sadly.</span></i></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">That raw emotion in that scene makes
me tear up a bit even now.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Just before the Young Authors’ Fair,
everyone in my class had to read their stories aloud. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one else had a story longer than four or
five pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s more, no one wanted
to listen to a story longer than two or three pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People were bored with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Space Adventures</i> almost immediately—though I can’t imagine why—so I
started skipping through it and editing on the fly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even with the instant edits, no one was
particularly impressed with my story and it didn’t open the doors to an
exciting writing career in place of junior high; however, reading it aloud
before the class left me with one solid memory.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">As I mentioned earlier, my mom typed
the thing from my handwritten manuscript and, along the way, she made some (okay,
many) mistakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them were
corrected but, as will happen, she missed a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of these mistakes were really minor and
didn’t throw me off too much in my verbal presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I got to the line where the hero disarms
one of the bad guys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my typed
version, the line read:</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“With a swift motion,
Mark grabbed the bun belonging to the guard who was about to handcuff him.”</span></i></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Fortunately, I didn’t actually read
the line as typed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I caught the mistake,
but I started laughing and never fully recovered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fifth grade and buns were fucking
funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they were also dirty so I
couldn’t tell anyone what was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
didn’t want to have to explain to the principal why I was talking about buns in
class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I couldn’t stop laughing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anyone had been paying attention (This bit
of interstellar grab-ass happened on page 33 and I think even the teacher had
nodded off by that point.), they must have thought I was a fucking lunatic.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But my point (and, as Ellen Degeneres
says, “I do have one”) is that I think this experience put me off writing
longform stuff for quite a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
next couple of years, I submitted only short story collections to the Young
Authors’ Fair and, for a while, that’s all I would write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, after reading some damn good
novels in high school, I came round to writing longer pieces again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time my interest in epics was
rekindled, I had developed an intense love for short stories and the art of
streamlined storytelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, I believe,
is why my novels tend to be on the short side and my short stories are barely
stories at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m a short story writer
trapped in the body of a novelist.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I sometimes think that, perhaps, if
that fifth grade class had gazed me in rapt awe as I rambled on and on about
space pirates and laser battles, I would be writing deeply complex novels of
distant worlds and alien cultures instead of twisted novellas about a
one-handed ex-con living in a trailer park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But there’s more to it than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I love the construction of fictional universes and I can go into great
detail about the minutiae of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i>,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Trek</i>, and the Marvel
Universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, my own writing
(most of which takes place in the same small, southern town) is full of intricate
details that flow from story to story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In my head (and, to some extent, on paper) Winnepesaukah County is just
as richly constructed as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i>
universe.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think the reason I’m so attracted
to the redneck denizens of my own little world is that the characters there
could very easily be real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people I
write about are people you might actually meet at work, at the store or in the
park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, for me, that makes them all
the more strange and frightening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just
need to learn to write fewer scenes involving bun grabbing.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-1148483950688597252006-05-24T10:18:00.000-05:002017-10-02T12:47:35.898-05:00Blog | I'm A Writer<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 24, 2006</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I don’t much care for people and I’m not a big fan of reality.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is not to say that I dislike all people
or live entirely in a world of fantasy. I love my wife, Christie, more than anyone
or anything in the world. I also love my family and a small but loyal group of
friends. I have a good job (populated by good friends) and, for the most part,
I’m fairly grounded.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But I’m pretty sure I have Asperger Syndrome. I’ve never been officially
diagnosed and, unless there’s some sort of court-ordered evaluation, I probably
never will be. Still, Christie is convinced, and has convinced me, that I’m A.S.
I’m low-level A.S., to be sure. Or is that high-level? Whatever it is, I’m
high-functioning, but still exhibit most of the characteristics of someone with
A.S.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I won’t go into all the details here. (If you don’t know about AS, you
can look it up on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> which has a pretty good article on Asperger
Syndrome.) Suffice it to say that, apart from a very small group of family and
friends, I prefer to be alone, I don’t like to be touched and I hate social
gatherings.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This, I think, is why I’m a writer.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let me digress for a moment and say that I was inspired to write this
partly because my friend Benjamin mentioned on <a href="http://atlantachronicles.blogspot.com/2006/05/kudos.html" target="_blank">his
blog</a> that a friend had challenged him to <i>"Write about writing and
your vision of yourself as a writer"</i>. That sounded like an interesting
challenge and the rest of this rant just sort of flowed from that.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">As I was saying..</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I was a freshman or sophomore in high school when I decided that I wanted
to be a novelist. I’m not sure when I’ll actually get the proper motivation and
dedication to finish the three or four novels I’m working on and actually set
about trying to sell them. But I still aspire to be a professional writer of
fiction. I want to be Robert B. Parker or Christopher Moore—one of those
writers who has a loyal fan base but retains a fair degree of anonymity.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">When I close my eyes, I can see myself as a full-time writer: I’m not
wildly successful, but I make enough money for Christie and me (along with a
child or two and a plethora of dogs and cats) to live comfortably on a little
farm that sits conveniently near several fast food restaurants and a Best Buy.
I sit out on the back deck (well out of the sun to preserve the pastiness of my
skin) with a laptop and a bottle of Beck’s Dark. Christie and the
child/children are playing in the pool at the bottom of our yard. Opus the
Chihuahua sleeps on the chair beside me. My agent has called, but I never
answer the phone. If he wants to reach me, he’ll have to send an email and
then, if I’m feeling particularly communicative, I’ll consider responding.
Later, we’ll go out to a nice Italian dinner then over to the Theatre Centre
where they’re premiering a production of my latest play in the Circle Theatre. It
will get decent reviews but, hey, I can’t do anything about the quality of the
acting, now can I?</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I can picture myself as a writer so well, I think, because, deep down,
that’s really what I am, even if I’m not particularly successful yet.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I’m a pretty good video editor (that’s my day job) and I’m not bad with
graphics, but everything I do is done from the perspective of a writer. I
listen to music as a writer, I watch TV as a writer. The writer in me overrides
everything else. I’m always looking for flow and development and conflict and
resolution. When I meet people, I find that I care very little for them as
individuals yet I’m frequently fascinated by them as characters. For me, life
is about the story and the conflict. I can appreciate the static beauty of life
but only as background detail to set the mood and tone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m always writing in my head. If I could
find a way to get what’s in my head onto paper in a coherent way, I’d be one of
the most prolific writers of our time.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I leave meetings at work and, in my head, the clients are morphing and
acting and reacting to new and interesting situations. I drive down the road
and picture a thousand interactions for the people I pass on the road. I watch
a movie and, regardless of whether I liked it or not, I develop sequels,
prequels, alternate endings, and more. Everything leads to a story and then
another story and so on until I finally have to fall asleep.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Reading is one of my great passions (other than writing and playing Age
of Empires II, it might be my only great passion), but I think I read slowly
because I get distracted by the art of the writing and the storytelling. I frequently
pause to absorb the method and the style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That often leads to getting lost in my own variations, interpretations,
and revisions.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Sometimes, I wish I could stop being a writer and just be a person. I
wish I could, at least temporarily, silence the voices in my head that keep me
awake long into the night. I wish I could meet someone and not imagine him or
her as a Jedi or the scantily clad victim of a vampire from beyond time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes, I wish I could be normal.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But how fucking boring would that be?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23366357.post-1148329139512658272006-05-22T15:18:00.000-05:002017-10-02T12:53:39.832-05:00Blog | Guard Shacks and the R.D.C.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span>May 22, 2006</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">About twenty
years ago (I think it was spring of '85), a friend of mine accompanied his
brother and a small band of mischievous honor students to the Rossville High
School Sports Annex. There, under cover of—well I don’t suppose there was much
cover really—they proceeded to paint the small, concrete block guard shack that
sat next to the main gate.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Now, I'm not sure
why there was a guard shack. There was never even a guard in there. The gates
were always open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm still not sure why
they even bothered with the fence in the first place, much less a guard shack.
Maybe it was used for the parking lot attendants at basketball games but, if
that was the case, I have no recollection of it.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">One night very
near the end of their senior year, these honor students (observed by but not
assisted by my friend, a freshman) painted that extraneous structure using
alternating horizontal bands of purple and pink. Of course, being honor
students and future leaders of the free world, they did a damn fine job. There
was no coloring outside the lines or sloppy brushwork. It looked really good
and would have looked even better had the redecoration not been interrupted by
the local police department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently,
someone who lived near the school (and it’d been a long, long time since that
was a good neighborhood) called to report the vandalism. I picture it thusly:</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A pair of
beady, gray eyes beneath cheap mascara and thick blue eye shadow, peer out from
behind faded floral print drapes. A mouth drops open, exposing yellowed, uneven
teeth and a mossy tongue. A phone is grabbed and a call is frantically placed.
911, of course. There is no time for looking up the regular number. This is an
emergency! Screw the people whose houses are burning or who are being beaten to
hamburger by their drunk husbands! This is a real crisis! The guard shack is
being painted by hooligans with absolutely no regard for the school's
well-established blue and white color scheme! Something has to be done—and quickly!</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So the cops
arrived and all but one of the hooligans were rounded up and carted off to
jail. Parents were called. School administrators were notified. And the first
pungent whiffs of the inevitable shitstorm wafted into town on an otherwise
pleasant spring breeze.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">You must
remember that this happened in the mid 1980s. It was a simpler time. A more
backward, head-up-the-ass kind of time. A time when shit like this was still
sort of a big deal—particularly when honor students were involved.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And these were
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> honor students. In an era when
Rossville was graduating salutatorians who had never even read a full novel,
these young men were actual geniuses. In a community overflowing with Pinkies,
they were a band of Brains.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The hooligans'
level of intellect made their crime all the worse. How could good students do a
thing like that?! And using those colors! It was openly speculated that they were
the first wave of a Gay Communist plot to destroy Middle America (which, thanks
to the televised Oliver North trials, Rossvillians now knew was somehow
different from Central America). If these thinkers could be corrupted by the
Godless Left, how could the slow-witted football players resist the
ever-growing anti-American temptation of freewill?</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So they were
punished. There was talk that they would not be allowed to graduate. This would
have meant the first four or five seats at graduation would be empty and, aside
from the guest speaker, not much would be said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually, however, it was all resolved. The hooligans gave their
speeches, graduated with the honors they so deserved and went off to fine
colleges and fine careers and, in at least one case, a fine wife.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The student
most punished was the one who was least involved. My friend, being a freshman
at the time had a suspension that carried over into the next school year. He
ended up in a great private college and eventually went on to a great career
and a great wife, but this hurt his quest for the perfect GPA and is probably
what kept him from being Valedictorian three years later.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The important
thing is that these students, in spite of their “station in life”, were
punished for desecrating school property. The community property had to be
defended and preserved!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For two or three
more years anyway.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In 1989,
Rossville Comprehensive High School saw its last 12th grade graduation.
Beginning the following year, high school students in that part of Walker
County attended the brand new Ridgeland High School, a few miles away. The old
high school building became the new Rossville Middle School since the old
Junior High had burned a few years earlier.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Although I
continued to live in Rossville for several more years, I slowly lost touch with
it. It became background scenery on the way to work and, eventually, that place
across the ridge with the good burger joint (that would be the Dream Cream). I
lived not more than five or ten miles away, but I completely lost touch with
the city that had once been my home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
went to college, found a career, got stuck in a boring loop of that career,
broke out of the dead end cycle, met Christie, got married and moved to
Rossville.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I loved (and
still love) Christie, but I hated moving back to Rossville. I resisted it with
great surliness and much whining. Christie had a very nice home but, for the
first several months, I was just not happy there. We live in what is, far and
away, the best neighborhood in Rossville, but that didn’t matter. I lived among
a type of people I can’t stand and, to top it all off, I was back in Rossville.
I was nearly 35 and, in my mind, I should have been living in Atlanta, New
York, Amsterdam, or a place with padded walls. I should have been anywhere but
Rossville.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Eventually, being
an at least marginally reasonable person, I came to love the home almost as
much as I love Christie. It’s really a nice little neighborhood, it’s a pretty
good location and, apart from some stupid taxation policies and a dangerously
right-wing governor, Georgia is a fairly decent place to live.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The actual
city of Rossville, however... Not so great.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">When my
parents were kids and teenagers, Rossville was really hoppin’. There were
theatres and shops and restaurants and lots of things to bring people over the
state line from Chattanooga. By the time I was in junior high, though, it was
all going away. There were still some decent little mom and pop restaurants,
some high-dollar dress shops, and a few other nice little stores. But it was
fading fast.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 6.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think it was
around that time (this would have been the early ‘80s) that the Rossville
Development Corporation (or R.D.C.) was formed. It was led by a group of
Rossville bigwigs (mostly members of families who owned or had owned the many
textile mills in town) and its mission was to restore Rossville to its former
glory.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">For a while,
there were R.D.C. signs all over the place. Old, faded walls were painted
bright white and emblazoned with the bright blue and red R.D.C. logo. It seemed
to me to be sort of a promise of things to come. Either the factories would
re-open or there would be urban renewal and we’d get snazzy new shops and
restaurants and condos and artists and all the things that make for great
little towns.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Of course,
none of this ever happened. The reasons are many and complex so I won’t go into
that now. While I was a few miles away, living my life, hope slowly evaporated
and the town died. Shops closed, minds closed even tighter, and the town became
a rotting shell of what it had once been. The lottery, which could have helped
tremendously, only served to further eat away at the body and soul of the
little city. By the time I moved back, the town was so far gone that I doubt it
will ever recover.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But, as they
say, hope springs eternal.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So, one day a
few weekends ago, I went out wandering Rossville with my trusty Canon Rebel and
a few rolls of black and white film. (Remember film? It’s cool stuff.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who’s ever seen my photography knows
that I absolutely love decay and chaos. Entropy is my muse. I figured that
Rossville would be a great place to indulge my thirst for old buildings,
cobwebs and moss. It was. But it was more than that.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">That day
depressed the shit out of me.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I had noticed,
of course, that the old R.D.C. stuff was fading but I’d never really realized just
how far gone the city is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a water
tower that—to use a bad pun—brought it all home for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It stands next to one of the abandoned factories.
For a long time, it was bright white and R.D.C. logo painted on it was vibrant
and bold. Now the tower is rusted and scarred and the R.D.C. is barely
readable. No new company has plastered promises on that tower or anywhere else
in town. No one has graffitied hope. Rossville is that patient that’s been
shoved to the side to die while the doctors operate on the ones that have a
chance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, two blocks over from the
water tower that marks the site of Rossville’s demise, there’s the old
Rossville High Annex. And its guard shack.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The little,
gray building looks like it’s been hit by two tornadoes and a heavy truck. The
concrete blocks are askew, the paint is long gone and it looks like a bug
landing on it would knock it right over. This little building whose honor had
been so vehemently defended during my high school days was now a mostly forgotten
wreck.</span></div>
</div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1575/2392/400/sings_past.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">I took a
picture of it and, later, sent it to my friend who had been along for the ride
but hadn’t actually participated in the “redecorating”. He didn’t even
recognize it at first. He told me that, although they had to repaint the sides,
no one ever bothered to look on the roof and, unless the years had weathered it
away, there would still be the names of the guys who had desecrated the
building so many years before.</span></div>
</span></div>
</span>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">These four
future leaders, in a moment of tame rebellion, had put their mark on a part of their
hometown, and it was covered up posthaste. But their signatures remain (I
didn’t actually check to see if they’re still there. I just like to think that
they are), out of sight and, very nearly, out of mind.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It made me
wonder where my signature was on the town, on lives, on anything. Where have I
secretly written my name? And who will ever know it was there?</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Depressed
beyond all reason, I put my camera away, went home and kissed my wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That night, I decided to start this blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com