Tag: life

Straits and Turns

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excerpt

…and ailing mother before she’d let her last breath go up in the air of
a stifling hospital room, in old wrinkled bed-sheets, white and pure
as the fire of Purgatory, cleansing, purifying, absolving all sins, and
others had to go to the front line of defence in one border, there where
the souls try to find a single justification for the lunacy that harasses
people when they firstly grab the rifle and shoot and then they think
that perhaps they should talk to those infidels on the other side of the
border, yet these were the moronic ways people did things these days
and these were all within the parameters and conditions of life in a big
country like Spain and in a big city like Madrid while this afternoon I
and my wife were sitting on the sidewalk table of this small cafe where
we had a bite and enjoyed our regular glass of beer for me and a regular
glass of red wine for my wife when I raised my eyes and stared at
the grandiose Atocha which brought to my mind that blonde woman
yesterday, on our way from Valencia, the pretty blonde woman sitting
opposite me and my wife, that pretty blonde who constantly had
her feet between mine and occasionally moved one of them against
mine, as if to tell me she was here and somehow she had to count as an
important part of my day to which I paid attention as the opportunity
allowed me and as if not to disturb the peaceful afternoon while we
were travelling at the speed of 310 kilometers an hour on the famous
high velocity AVLO train of the big RENFE Spanish train company.
Then the unexpected occurred when the ancient Minoan goddess
appeared, Ariadne incarnate, with her black curly hair falling
lower than her shoulders, with her dark skin complexion, the olive oil
skin complexion, with her black eyes and full lips which suddenly gave
me goosebumps, she appeared from the right of my wife and walking
in the most sensual way she made her way to the table just three meters
in front of me and on my line of vision towards the Atocha Train Station;
this woman of average height, well lined body, obviously a body
that had experienced all the possible erotic pleasures from the soft
and delivering to the rough and wild apexes, from the slow and long
moments enduring consummations to the fast and fiery encounters
which leave nothing but exquisite delight to every inch of a woman’s…

https://draft2digital.com/book/4250839

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763866

Wellspring of Love

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excerpt

“Bobby won’t give you a minute’s anxiety,” Emily said, “and neither
will Katie. I don’t think I can be so confident about that little monkey,
Susie.”
“Strangely enough, Mom, it’s not Susie I’d be worried about, it’s
Katie. She’s sweet and gentle but I also think she may be easily led.
We just pray she’s led in the right ways.”
Millie put her needles and unfinished sock on the coffee table in
front of her. “As far as you and Morley are concerned, she will be.” She
started to rise but sat back quickly with a hand grasping her abdomen.
Tyne sat upright, ready to go to her aunt’s aid. “Are you all right,
Auntie?”
Millie’s face had paled, but she relaxed and forced a smile that
didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, I think so. Just a stitch in my side. I’m
fine.” She reached for the coffee table, but Tyne gently touched her
hand.
“Sit for a minute until you feel better. I’ll wash up the tea things.”
She collected their cups and plates and carried them to the kitchen.
As she ran water into the enamel sink, Tyne said a silent prayer
for her aunt. And suddenly she realized there had been something
different about Aunt Millie recently. She didn’t have her usual spark,
and it was obvious she had been losing weight.
Tyne dried the dishes and hung the tea towel over the bar on the
oven door, all the while berating herself for being unaware of changes
in her aunt. Had her nursing skills deteriorated so much that she
didn’t notice something so basic about one of her own family? Where
had her attention been? Was she so absorbed in the children’s needs
that she hadn’t looked beyond them to the senior people in her life?
Maybe it was time she returned to work to brush up on the things
that used to be second nature to her. One thing she knew – from
now on she would spend more time with Aunt Millie than she had in
recent months. And Rachael would have to step up and help with the
twins. And maybe, just maybe, that would also solve the problem of
the amount of time she spent with Lyssa.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562917

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763327

Water in the Wilderness

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excerpt

Tyne did not know what to say. If Morley were here, he would know how to respond to Ruby’s outrageous suggestion. She lowered her head and mouthed a silent prayer. “Oh God, help me say the right things. Give me wisdom, Lord, because I’m scared. I’m scared for Morley because I don’t know what’s happened to him. And I’m scared for these children you have seen fit to bring into our lives. But God, I’m not ready for all this; too much has happened too fast. Please keep Morley safe and send him to me.”
She looked up to find Ruby staring at her. Tyne shook her head. “I can’t give you an answer, Ruby. You know I’ll have to talk to Morley about it.”
Ruby nodded. “Yeah, sure I know. But I also know I can’t take him back, Tyne. I’m just dreaming when I say he has to come home.” She burst into tears.
Tyne jumped to her feet. Crossing to the sofa, she sat down beside the distraught woman and put her arms around her. “Hush, it will be all right, I promise. We’ll work something out.”
In a few minutes Ruby dried her tears and stood up. “I have to see Ronald again before it’s time for my bus. I have to go home tonight.” At the door she turned with a half smile. “Thanks for listening.”
Tyne watched her leave, her thoughts in turmoil. Another promise … she had just made another promise that she didn’t know if she could keep. Her life was spinning out of control. She and Morley had been married for less than half a year when their world was rocked by that first promise she had made the night Lydia Conrad had come to the nurses’ station in Emblem Hospital. As a result of that brief encounter with her patient, she and Morley had known the joy of loving two small children; they had known panic when those children went missing; and they had known the heartache of losing their own unborn child.
And now, Morley was missing after going on a mission of mercy to find the children’s father and bring him to them.
What more do you want of us, God? Tyne cried in her heart. What more do you want us to do?

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562884

https://www.amazon.com/dp/192676319X

Redemption

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excerpt

“I like the dean’s offer. I believe it will be quite a job, and I
should take this opportunity. Of course, there is the fact that I must
go abroad for a couple of years, but that is the way the cookie crumbles,
as the saying goes. I cannot avoid that: it is part of the Hermes
package. When I return, I will be hired, no questions asked. The dean
assured me of this. Of course, I need to talk to my parents, who I’m
sure won’t like the idea of two years in a foreign country. I’d like to
hear your opinion, though. From both of you. You two have been my
second parents for so long, and you understand this a bit more than
my father and my mother could understand.”
His aunt sat there, silently looking at him with great affection,
this child who made her feel so proud.
Demetre cleared his throat, “This is a very good offer, a position
which many others would love to have. It’s a lot better than being
hired as a clerk at some bank or a government position, although that
would perhaps be a steadier career. Still, this is better for you because
it will open quite a wide field of action for later. Of course, the disadvantage
is that you need to go away for a while. It is, after all, a serious
thing to go so far away and be a stranger among strangers, with no
friends, and all that. On the other hand, if that is what it takes, that
is what a man does.”
Hermes smiled at the last part of his uncle’s comment,
“Yes, there is always a way where there is a will. I believe in what
I can do, and I know deep inside that after the hardship, I’m going to
be where I like to be and among the people I like the most.”
“We know you well,” his uncle says, “and we know that we
cannot go against what you want to do. Besides, you are in many ways
exceptional, and you owe it to yourself to achieve great success.”
Demetre was right: he saw in this young man the soul of the
eagle who lived near the mountain peaks, unconquered by time.
He will remind him of this at every step of his way. Hermes realizes
clearly now it is his duty to try, and it is his duty not to fail, although
the word fail is one he never had in his vocabulary. He now knew
clearly that he owed this to his destiny, because it was no less than…

https://draft2digital.com/book/4172538#print

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763858

Redemption

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excerpt

“Would you like to have a drink?”
“Thank you, Dean, a coffee would be great.”
The dean’s wife walked in, greeted Hermes politely, asked what
he would like in his coffee, and discreetly left them alone.
“Well, Hermes, I would like to get directly to the point, so let
me start by asking how you like this offer from the school. It is a great
position for a young man, don’t you think?”
“Once again, Dean, I would like to thank you. Yes, indeed, it is an
excellent position, and I am quite inclined to say yes to you, although I
still need to know a few more details before I make my decision.”
He was quite clear in his words, and the dean appreciated it.
“I see with pleasure that you like to walk on steady ground,
Hermes. I couldn’t expect anything less than that; it is a bold move
nonetheless,” the dean said as his wife came in with the coffee.
“I hope it is to your liking,” the wife said after serving Hermes.
“I’m sure it is, Madam. Thank you.”
She walked out, and the dean carried on with their conversation,
which all women usually did in this country and in others
around the globe; however, Hermes noticed certain disguised hurt,
some concealed disturbance that had occurred, perhaps lately, and
which was evident in the mannerisms of the lady. Surely it wasn’t his
issue, and he let it be at that as the Dean started,
“Things will unfold like this. You need to go abroad and specialize
in a subject of your choice for two years. The assistant of the
previous professor currently occupies the chair of economics, and
we look forward to having a new professor there.”
“You have talked to the Minister of Education, Dean?”
“Of course, and I’ve mentioned to him that I consider you the
best for this position right now.”
“Thank you so much, Dean. You mentioned last time that you
have also taken care of my expenses for two years of studies abroad.
Could you elaborate a little?”
“Don’t worry about the financial part of this, Hermes. I have
investigated every detail. The scholarship funds will be enough…

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763858

He Rode Tall

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excerpt

“That may be true, but we have to be at the top of our game.
We won’t have a chance to do much training in Oklahoma City,
you know.”
“Tell you what, Joel. If you think this horse of yours needs
training by the time you get to Oklahoma City, then you are riding
the wrong horse, cowboy. This horse has every move in it
right now that it will ever need in Oklahoma City. The only question
is about your ability to draw those moves out of the
horse—how to ask for the right maneuver in the right way at the
right time. And none of that has anything to do with constant
rundowns and long slides. It is all about being in tune with your
horse. You have never seen me mad, but if you don’t take that
horse out to the pasture for a nice gentle ride, you are going to see
one very upset horsewoman. Do you understand me, Joel
Hooper?”
It was Tanya saying his full name that really got his attention.
He knew she was speaking from the heart. But he was the mature
adult here, and up until a few months ago, she was a struggling
teenage horse trainer, but he knew she was right.
“Tanya, you just amaze me. So much wisdom and so much
power in one young woman. I can’t wait to see what happens to
you when you grow up. Whatever it is, I know that it is going to
be something very special. And I am going to be able to say that I
knew Tanya way back when she was a nineteen-year-old just out
of high school.”
“Get out of here, Joel Hooper. Go ride your horse.”
And he did. Not only did he take it easy for the rest of the week
but also for the rest of the month as they prepared for the show.
Sure, there were days when he would run the patterns on the big
buckskin gelding, but even then he was only going at three-quarter
speed and saving the extra for when it was really needed.
For Tanya, it was pretty much the same: she would work hard
some days, but most days Tanya would lope a few circles with her
horse, work on something specific, like a spin or a lead change,
and then head straight for the hills.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562862

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

Ken Kirkby, A Painter’s Quest for Canada

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His scaffold was built, ladders leaned against the walls, tubes of paint –
by the carton – were stacked in the studio, and alarm clocks ticked beside
his narrow cot. He was ready to begin painting.
I felt very, very much that things had now solidified. This was now a fact,
and for the first time in this entire campaign, I actually knew that I was going
to make it – not only the painting, but also my fight for Nunavut. This
was it. It was now only a matter of physical labour to complete the vision.
There was a different feeling now. The desperation was gone, and there was
only a huge engine driving me. Now, there was only confidence. Now, I had
access to politicians, business people, media – an infrastructure so massive
and on such a personal level that I would be able to get this story through
and by hook or by crook it would come into being.
It occurred to him is his newfound euphoria – “We need to celebrate!”
He announced the “First Brushstroke” party and invitations went out in
the shape of artist’s palettes that hit the desk of every media contact in the
city. Every couple of days a new invitation in a different colour, embossed
with an Inukshuk, went into the mail. He called Keith and told him to
fill a plane with choice Arctic food. Bob Engels, the North’s most famous
bush pilot, volunteered to fly the northern contingent to Toronto. On
an evening in early September 1986, Ken climbed up on a ladder, from
which he made a speech to a roomful of people, and then splashed a giant
brushstroke across the towering, white canvas.
Then he settled into a routine that was to last for almost a year. He
painted the sky for several hours, slept for two hours, went back to work,
and then slept for two hours. As he painted he had a sense that this was
what he was meant to do – to paint on this scale. Every other painting
seemed too small – even the giant canvas that hung at First Canadian
Place was undersized. How could he ever go back to painting something
on a lesser scale? What he really wanted to do was buy Saskatchewan and
paint it from helicopters.
One day a woman, wrapped in a fur coat, swished in on stiletto heels.
She glanced around the studio and waved her arm at some paintings leaning
against the far wall. “I’ll have that one, and that one, and that one.”
“Madam,” Ken said from his perch on the scaffold. “I don’t know who
you are. I suspect you know who I am or you think you do. I would invite
you to go outside, take a walk around, come back in, and say – ‘Good
morning!’”
She took a step back. “Well! I have never been spoken to that way before!”
Ken waved his hand. “Go on! Go. Shoo… Shoo.”
She stalked out, and returned ten minutes later. “Good morning,” she said.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562830

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073573

The Circle

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The next morning they wake to a knock on their door around nine. It is another
very bright, warm morning with the sun up on the horizon, setting the sky on
fire, like the fire they shared last night. Birds of various sizes and colors fly over
the area chirping and speaking erotic words and sighs as if suddenly an abundant
peace has spread over the world, as if everyone has forgotten about the war
games and their aftermath.
Emily puts on a pair of shorts and t-shirt; she’s still under the spell of the
previous night’s excitement with the pleasure of being on top or on her side or
under Talal, and all that rocking of the boat all night long every time another
boat went by. But it’s this brightness that mostly amazes her, and she cannot
believe her eyes which are shielded behind sunglasses, not only to protect them
from the sunshine but so that they won’t reveal the secrets of what happened the
previous night beneath the spell of the waves. Could anyone live here for a long
time? She wonders when she remembers the exchange between Talal and
Ibrahim yesterday. Yes, she would love to live here for a long time, with Talal
going up and down the gulf seeing all this beauty and enjoying one another the
same way as last night. Then a new voice comes to her and encourages her with
the statement: you can be happy any place on the globe as long as you are happy
with yourself and with the man you love. The one who dreams of a paradise far
away in a dream location has never enjoyed lovemaking the way you did last
night. Yes, she could live here for a long time, as long as Talal would like, because
her life and happiness are close to this man with the sad eyes and the sweetest
voice.
Ibrahim and Mara are already at the small table at the stern. Talal and Emily
join them for coffee and toast.
“Good morning to you,” Ibrahim says, smiling.
“Good morning, good morning,” Emily and Talal say.
“How was your sleep, my dear?” Mara asks Emily.
“It was wonderful, thank you, Mara.”
Mohamed has started cruising along the smooth water of the Gulf, taking a
southerly direction. Rassan and Abdul sit back and relax while Surnia serves
them breakfast.
They travel for an hour until they come to a place where a couple of small
bays provide plenty of area with smooth, quiet water, away from the rush of
other passing yachts. Mohamed turns off the engine and releases the anchor.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562817

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

Fury of the Wind

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Sarah smiled. “Oh surely, Ben, they wouldn’t ban movies in Nimkus
because they thought they were sinful. I think you’re exaggerating.”
“Yeah? Well, you don’t know them yet, do you?”
She shrugged and got up to clear the table. “Can we go to a movie
in Bradshaw sometime, Ben?”
“Maybe. We’ll see.” He got up to fill his pipe.
She could hardly wait until he went back to work. Finishing up
the dishes quickly, she shoved her feet into a pair of old runners and
went to find him.
In the yard, almost bare of vegetation between the house and the
horse stable, the dust swirled and danced in the incessant wind.
What few patches of grass remained were being uprooted by the
chickens that scratched happily in the earth all day long. She paused
for a moment when she passed the chicken house, a building as
dilapidated as the others around it. There had once been some sort
of wire mesh fence to contain the fowl, but it had long since rusted
and fallen apart. Now the chickens had free range of the yard. No
wonder the coyotes came so close to the house, especially with no
dog to run them off.
A grey tabby cat, sunning itself in front of the cow stable, looked
up at Sarah’s approach then skittered through the door which hung
on one hinge. Inside the stable a calf bawled, but she resisted the
urge to go in to see it. She wanted to find Ben before he got too far
away.
She found him behind the buildings, hitching an old tractor to
a sickle mower. She stood and watched for a few minutes before he
glanced up and saw her.
Sarah shouted above the roar of the motor, “I’d like to see Flicka.
Can you tell me where she is?”
“I haven’t time to be bothered now. I want to start cutting hay
over yonder.” He nodded towards what Dave McNeill had called
the north pasture.
“I don’t want to take you from your work, Ben. If you’ll tell me
where she is, I’ll find her.”
“Over there in the field.”
She followed his gaze to where three horses were standing near a
small dry slough bed in the shade of a stand of poplar trees.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073530

The Unquiet Land

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“In what way is he different?” Padraig’s knees, as he sat on the wooden chair, touched Caitlin’s momentarily. He turned to one side and crossed his legs. “I can’t imagine Finn ever changing.”
He said this to reassure Caitlin, but his voice held little conviction. He recalled the wrinkles and the grizzled hair, the tired eyes and the wasted face. He remembered the bitterness that Finn could not hide on the night of the homecoming party and the violent anger on the day he ordered Padraig out of the house. And Padraig heard, as he had a thousand times, Finn’s deep voice saying, “I’m not only ailing, Padraig. The truth is, I’m dying.” He had lived more than a full year since then.
“Finn should have died a long time ago,” Dr Starkey told Padraig. “But that old warrior doesn’t know how to quit.” Sadly the doctor shook his head. “He won’t be fighting death much longer though. Not now. He’s taken too much punishment, Padraig. The referee’s about to stop the contest.”
“How much longer?” Padraig asked, instantly apprehensive.
“I am not the referee,” Dr Starkey replied. “By my watch the fight should already have ended. Personally I’d have stopped it long ago. As it is, I’d give Finn days now, rather than weeks. Certainly not another month. Even with treatment, if he’d ever agree to it. Which he won’t, of course.”
God won’t let him die yet, Padraig thought to himself, his apprehension mounting to panic. He can’t. I have to complete my mission first. I have to save Finn’s soul before God destroys his corrupt old body.
“My father is a sick man.” Caitlin’s voice brought Padraig back to the present. “I can sense it now. Perhaps it is something that has been going on for years, like the erosion of land by the sea. But lately it’s begun to show. And his personality is changing.”
“In what way is it changing, Caitlin?”
“I… I don’t rightly know, Padraig. I don’t know. Perhaps age has at last caught up with him. Perhaps he sees death coming and he’s frightened.”
“Do you really think so?”
Caitlin thought of the painting on the wall for a moment, her concentration fixed on the tallest of the three black crosses. “No,” she said slowly. “It’s something else.”
“Do you know what it is?”
Caitlin thought she did. “It’s as if he is being threatened and doesn’t know how to react.”

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763203