Day: May 28, 2025

The Circle

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

She’s a pretty lady. Talal thinks that if he didn’t have
difficulty following her Australian accent he could easily fall in love with her. He
smiles at that thought and she detects what he is thinking.
“What are you smiling about? Is it one of those delusions of yours, again?”
Helena jokes with him.
He doesn’t mind her at all because he knows she means no harm. She’s
always playful and full of fun; as a matter of fact, he enjoys her more than other
girls he has met, because this Australian girl with the beautiful contours is
someone whom Talal has gotten to know very well by exploring and touching
and getting excited and satisfying. But suddenly his mind travels to a woman
older than himself with whom he had such a great morning yesterday. Helena
recognizes something from his glowing face and his faint smile, a smile that a
woman can easily see is the smile of a man thinking of another woman. She says,
“Thinking of her again, aren’t we?”
“Thinking of who? What do you mean?” He suddenly gets defensive.
They are interrupted by Ahmed as he comes back to the table. She turns to
Talal.
“I’ll leave you boys on your own. Don’t forget to pick me up about three on
Saturday.”
“No problem, beautiful. I’ll be there.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978186524

He Rode Tall

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Excerpt

Joel wasn’t sure what it was, but somehow he had connected
with the peace and tranquility of the land. He was wondering
if there wasn’t some way he could make a go of the Circle
H. Joel knew that he had lost his soul a lot of years ago, but now,
maybe just maybe, he had found his soul in the hills.
“So who is this Smith character?” inquired Joel.
“Big rancher. Moved in about ten years ago and hasn’t stopped
buying since. Must control almost the entire county. Between
what he has already put his hands on and what he has tied up in
first right of refusals he pretty well owns Sweetwater Country.
They say he runs over 5,000 head.”
Even Joel knew that 5,000 head was a lot of anything let alone
cows. Anyone who has enough land to feed that many cattle
would be just about as close to a king as you could get in this dry
country.
By now, Harry had run out of chores to do and things to tinker
with so he slowly turned to face Joel. It was then that Joel clearly
saw the withered, weather-stained face of the man he was speaking
with. Joel couldn’t help but think that Harry’s head was too
big for the size of his body. His tiny frame carried maybe 140
pounds, none of it fat. With a thirty-inch waist, this ranch hand
of fifty or sixty, or was it seventy, years appeared to be in excellent
condition. His face featured a big nose, ears the size of tea saucers,
and an abundance of thick black hair. And his hands. His
hands were those of a worker and his big head seemed out of proportion
to the size of his lithe body.
“Lives over there,” offered Harry.
“Over where?” asked Joel, almost forgetting who it was that
they were talking about.
“The Buck Smith Ranch Corporation Headquarters are just
over those hills. Maybe a mile across.”
“Then we are neighbours.”
“Might say that. A mile across the hills but must be ten miles
around on the roads. Don’t see much of them over here. Just
their cows all over the hills.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

Constantine Cavafy – Poems

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ARISTOVOULOS

The palace mourns, the king mourns

King Herod, inconsolable, laments,

the entire city grieves for Aristovoulos

who was drowned so unjustly, by accident,

while playing in the water with his friends.

And when they learn of it in other places,

when the news spreads as far as Syria,

many among the Greeks will be saddened;

many poets and sculptors will mourn,

for Aristovoulos was known to them,

and no vision of an ephebe in all our history

could compare to the beauty of this youth;

what statue of a God has Antioch ever deserved

as great as this young lad of Israel?

The First Princess weeps and wails,

his mother, the most eminent Jewish lady.

Alexandra weeps and laments for the calamity.

But when she finds herself alone her sorrow changes.

She groans; she rails; she curses; she reviles.

How they duped her! How they deceived her!

How their purpose was finally achieved!

They devastated the house of the Asamoneans.

How did that criminal king achieve his goal;

the deceitful, the corrupt, the dishonest.

How did he do it. With what infernal plot

so devious even Miriam didn’t suspect a thing.

If Miriam had sensed it, if she suspected it,

she would have found a way to save her brother;

she is a queen after all, she could have done something.

How they will celebrate now and secretly gloat,

those wicked sluts, Kypros and Salome;

those vulgar women Kypros and Salome.—

And she is powerless,

has to pretend that she believes their lies;

unable to go before the people

to go out and shout to the Hebrews,

to tell, to tell how the murder took place.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1723961833