Tag: short-story

Water in the Wilderness

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Excerpt

Rachael giggled. “You’re silly,” she said as she hurried to the chair that Tyne indicated.
Five minutes later, Rachael ran over to where Bobby sat on the floor plowing an imaginary furrow with his new tractor. “Look, Bobby, look at my new shoes. Aren’t they beautiful?”
Bobby glanced up with a puzzled frown. “They’re just shoes.”
Tyne laughed as she lifted the boy to his feet. “Come on, you two, we have to pay for all these things.”
While the clerk, a young married woman whom Tyne knew only as Doreen, sorted out the purchases and rang the prices into the till, Tyne tried to ride herd on Bobby. But Rachael stood at the counter, gazing at the new shoes, making sure that Doreen didn’t overlook them.
From a few feet away Tyne heard the door open, followed by a female voice demanding, “Rachael, what are you doing here?”
Tyne swung around to see Ruby Harrison bearing down on the startled child at the cash register. Then Rachael squealed and launched herself at her aunt. “Auntie Ruby.”
Ruby bent to give Rachael a brief hug, then straightened her back and looked at Tyne who now held the hand of a recalcitrant Bobby.
“Hello, Ruby. How are you?”
Ruby ignored her, focusing instead on the clothes and toys that the clerk was placing in brown paper bags on the counter. Her eyebrows raised, she looked at Tyne. “New clothes?”
Tyne nodded. “Yes, they both need play clothes and Rachael has to have something decent for school.”
“I’m sure my sister had plenty of clothes for them at home, if you’d bothered to look.” She walked to the counter and fingered a pink wool sweater. “These look expensive. Who’s paying for them?”
Two immediate responses sprang to Tyne’s mind. It isn’t any of your business, and I defy you to find anything expensive in this store. But she forced herself to say quietly, “Morley and I are buying them for the children.”
Ruby lifted her chin. “I don’t think that will be necessary. I spoke to Corky, and he’s going to sign over custody to me and Bill.

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

Jazz With Ella

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Excerpt

They sneered like rival dogs and bared their teeth. She could not catch their mumbled conversation. Abruptly the current was broken. Volodya leaned back in his chair, innocent, fresh-faced. The newcomer looked over his shoulder repeatedly as if someone might see him in this den of decadence.
“Dance with him,” Volodya ordered her.
Surprised, she stared. The stranger’s fingers were already on her wrist. He opened his mouth in a grin, revealing several black teeth and a large gap in his smile. His breath smelled like sour milk. Dance. Just a two step. One-two, one-two, and back again. Twirl. He pulled her around the dance floor, breathing heavily, then closer, tighter, until his belt buckle pressed uncomfortably in her abdomen. She pretended not to understand his language when he spoke to her. “Krasavitsa, beautiful woman,” he said.
Just smile and twirl, she thought.
When the music ended, he returned her to the table. Volodya’s eyes were on her. Thank you, they told her. The man sat with them, uninvited. There was more vodka, toasts to Soviet-Canadian friendship—this from Black-Teeth. A toast to Jennifer, the beautiful, amazing woman from Canada! This wish was from Volodya and a slobbering drunk from the next table who smiled an elastic grin. More dancing. This time with Volodya. Black-Teeth left without saying goodbye.
Then someone was suggesting a toast to the cosmonauts, another was toasting his mother, another cheered a black-eyed seductress called Masha, who was not present to hear her toast.
Someone passed a bottle of vodka up to the band. The musicians handed it around, took swigs, became more animated. The ugly bass player took four steps to the front of the stage, four steps back and the piano player flashed spasmodic smiles in between frowns of concentration. The band broke loose on a popular modern song; the crowd roared approval. Only the waiters were unsmiling, weary.
In a brief, lucid moment between drinks, Jennifer looked around her in surprise. She had been in the Soviet Union what?—eight, nine days? “It’s all part of the Russian experience,” she murmured. Then there were more stomach-turning toasts, the pungent sweat of bodies that shared bathrooms, the rigid motions of the jazz band. Volodya and Jennifer laughed, danced. By the time they left, bursting into the street, it was empty of people. His arm rested lightly on the back of her waist. She knew they would make love that night.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763246

The Circle

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Excerpt

Emily Roberts is still in bed this Monday morning, although it’s late for her. Usually,
she’s up at dawn but not today. Her mind is busily trying to organize Matthew’s
birthday party for Saturday. She has invited about thirty people: friends,
some of his co-workers, even the boss, Bevan Longhorn. She has taken a chance
and invited him, but isn’t sure whether he’ll show up.
They have lived in a beautiful house in the northern part of Los Angeles for
about eight years, and she finds it very difficult to think of living anywhere else.
She wonders what is going to happen when Matthew retires, because he has
mentioned before that he doesn’t want to stay in the same house afterward
especially once Jennifer is gone.
Emily feels lonely this morning. She doesn’t want to get up. She misses
Matthew. Her mind takes her back to their early days as teenagers and to all the
beautiful things they used to do together. Her thoughts mesmerize her and cause
her to feel excited; she tosses and turns in bed.
Emily is a gorgeous forty-seven-year-old blonde who knows she looks as
baeutiful as most girls in the fashion magazines. She feels proud when looking at
herself in the mirror. There have been times when she wished she had the
courage to go out and be with someone, anyone, just for the sexual satisfaction
she misses so much.
Matthew has been away from her almost all the time because of devotion
to his career. Sometimes, she misses even the weekend quickies, although
those sessions only serve his satisfaction. Emily hardly ever comes to the
point of climax with his two- or three-minute efforts. But this morning is
different; she needs to be satisfied. She resorts to her small bottle of oil; she
leans over to the nightstand and takes the lubricant from the drawer. Two,
maybe three, drops are usually enough. She applies the oil and feels the
smoothness that always excites her. After a slow, methodical rubbing, her
body relaxes. Two or three more minutes, and her orgasm is dynamic as
always.
The nextminute she jumps out of bed and runs to the shower,where thewarm
water flows over her and relaxes her as her mind turns to all that she has to do
today. She needs to do so many things—to arrange for the food with the caterers
and to order the flowers. She needs to find a gift for Matt and she needs to organize
the house cleaners. The list of things to do seems endless. She completes her
shower and is rushing out when she hears the phone ring.
“Hi, Mom, what’s up?”
“Nothing, honey, how is your day going so far?”
“Okay, Mom. Listen, do you want to go out for lunch with me? It will give us
a chance to go over your list of things for Saturday.”
She would have preferred to be on her own today to meet with her good
friend Cathy, however, she agrees to meet Jennifer at Mario’s at one o’clock.
She puts the phone down and her mind flies free like a bird in the morning,
and her sexual hunger re-emerges from the depth of her being, as if something
special will happen today, but what? She tries to put the feeling out of her mind.

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

Water in the Wilderness

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Excerpt

As the others tried to hide their smiles, Morley bit his lip to hold back the laughter. “No, we have to wait for Auntie Tyne.”
“Hymmph,” Bobby mumbled as he stopped chewing, his little cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.
This time no one could disguise their amusement.
The weekend passed too quickly, the late summer days perfect for long walks around the farm and picnicking at Emblem Lake. On Sunday morning Tyne went alone to the Catholic Church while Morley took their guests and the children to his church on the outskirts of Emblem. The night before, as she helped the young ones prepare for bed, Tyne had asked Rachael if her family attended Sunday morning service.
“Nope,” Rachael said briefly as she pulled her pajamas on.
“Then would you like to go to church with Uncle Morley and the Halls tomorrow?”
Rachael shrugged as if it didn’t make any difference to her one way or another. But Bobby jumped up and down and demanded to know where they were going and if they could get ice cream like they had at the lake that afternoon.
Tyne recruited Morley to explain it to the children, and left him sitting on Bobby’s little cot in the room the boy shared with his sister, in serious conversation with the two of them. As she returned to the porch to rejoin their guests, she felt sad that these revelations had to come from a virtual stranger rather than from the children’s own parents. But, at the same time, she felt thankful that she and Morley had the privilege of sharing these things with them even for this short time.
On Sunday afternoon the children were playing outside, and the men had gone to have a last walk around the farm before Moe and Ken had to leave for home. Tyne sat with her friend on the porch, looking out at the cosmos and snapdragons growing in profusion in the shade of a large maple in the front yard.
“It’s been wonderful, Tyne,” Moe said, “I hate to leave. And it’s been good for Ken to get away from the city. He takes work far too seriously and the bosses take advantage of him.”

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

He Rode Tall

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Excerpt

Not many came to the funeral. Some said it was because
of the time of the year—calving and all. Others recognized that it
was because not many really knew Edward Hooper. He would
have turned ninety later that summer and the reality was that
there just weren’t that many ninety-year-olds around this country
any more. It was almost as if he was the last man standing.
Maybe he was, in this part of the country anyways.
A few of the nieces and nephews from the city came for the
funeral—not that the old man would have recognized any of
them unless they had introduced themselves, and that certainly
wasn’t happening that day. And there were a few Native American
riders who had worked for him on and off over the years,
especially in the early years when he had more cattle and actually
needed cowboys for something other than just company. It
was a small group of maybe a dozen or so who congregated on
that lonesome knoll to pay their respects and say goodbye to
Edward Hooper.
And that is why Joel Hooper was making his way on horseback
through the lush pasture this beautiful morning—to pay his
respects to the man he knew as his father. Their lives together
had been both brief and hard. Especially hard. It was difficult for
Joel to even see the man as his dad. As Joel rode along the ridges
to the corner of the pasture where the family graveyard stood, he
knew that he was just as much going there to pay his respects out
of his concern as he was for what others would say if he didn’t.
The way word traveled in the hills, sooner or later someone
would hear that he hadn’t visited his father’s grave. Then what
would they think of him? And who were they anyways?
Eventually, Joel arrived at the family plot—a small knoll set
back in the hills sheltered on the backside by the even higher hills
and with an open view to the vast valley floor far below. After dismounting
the orange gelding and being unable to find a place to
tie the horse, Joel realized that he could simply drop the reins;

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QG9MOM

Ken Kirkby, A Painter’s Quest for Canada

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Excerpt

“It’s true.” Francisco explained that she had fallen ill while visiting her
family in the north. She paid no attention to her illness, and by the time
she returned and went to the hospital, it was too late.
Ken tore out of the shack and ran to the hospital, Francisco following.
If he talked to the doctor, surely he would confirm that Miloo was alive.
Someone had made a terrible mistake.
The doctor explained that Miloo’s appendix had burst and she had
died of acute peritonitis.
At that moment, Ken’s world ended. He staggered to his feet and
opened the door to the corridor. Francisco was waiting for him. He took
a few stumbling steps and a nurse rushed up to him. “You bastard,” she
hissed. “You killed her.”
Francisco grabbed Ken’s arm and began to push past her.
“What do you mean?” Ken asked.
“She was pregnant!”
Ken’s legs wobbled. He turned, braced himself against the wall and
groped his way back to the doctor’s office. “She was pregnant?” he asked.
“Yes, she was,” he said. “But in the very early stages of pregnancy.”
“How early?”
“Perhaps a month.”
“Was this the cause of her death?”
“Absolutely not.”
“How can I be sure of that?”
“You can consult any doctor you wish and he will tell you that. Her
pregnancy just happened to coincide with this.”
The days and nights blended into one another. Ken wouldn’t talk and
he couldn’t eat or sit still. He could not bear to be inside his own body –
a body with an enormous empty, echoing cavern where a heart used to
be. He walked, pacing endlessly up and down the beach, on the village
streets, and on the sidewalks of Lisbon.
The emptiness of his body lay on him like a massive stone. He could not
swallow past the obstruction in his throat. It blocked the emptiness where
there used to be a stomach, lungs, kidneys – there was nothing left inside
him and since he felt nothing, he thought about ending his own life.
One minute he was numb and then a wrenching sadness swept over
him, threatening to drown him in its endless ocean. A minute later white-hot

anger engulfed him and flared into a murderous rage.
When the stone moved from his throat long enough to let air through,
he talked to Francisco but even that led to despair. He knew that nothing
Francisco could say could ever bring her back.

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

The Circle

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excerpt

He leans closer again and kisses her cheek. She glows all over, being there,
next to him, and he stops pestering her about her indiscretion.
Their drinks are served and Talal turns closer to Hakim and asks, “You like
Helena?”
“Of course, Helena is beautiful.”
“I know she’s a beautiful girl, Hakim.”
They spend a couple of hours at the club. Peter and Rose feel tired and decide
to go home. Talal is dancing with Helena. Jennifer has had two drinks and feels a
bit tipsy, however Hakim gets her up to dance for the last time before they all go
home. She holds him tightly as they dance. Feeling his firmness on her leg, she
lifts her head and looks at him, smiling. There are so many people crowded
around them; however, she gets gutsy and puts her hand on his pants, slowly
rubbing him as they dance. Talal catches them as he turns his head, and he
flashes a smile at Hakim. Hakim smiles back at Talal.
Hakim asks Jennifer, “Are you ready to go now, my love?”
Later on, outside the Double Cherry Club, they all say goodnight to Anthony.
They say farewell to each other and walk to their separate cars.
Hakim and Jennifer take a short ride around L.A., enjoying the cool
September night. She is still a little dizzy when they arrive at his apartment. He
helps her walk to the elevator, and she leans on him with the security a child
needs from an adult. They go to bed; Jennifer, as she promised earlier in the day,
is all over him. Hakim enjoys the attention and they make passionate love.
The scare of AIDS fromsome twenty years earlier has somehow been put aside,
although a cure still hasn’t been found. Science has produced so many different
types of drugs during the past ten years that AIDS is now treatable and many of the
afflicted lead fairly normal lives.On the other hand, the younger generation tends to
abstain from sleeping around as did in the years before the AIDS, and most practice
safe sex.Most young people prefer to have just one girlfriend or boyfriend after their
high-school years and later on, many end up marrying.
As the night passes slowly Hakim and Jennifer fall asleep.
Hakim wakes up first as the light comes through the curtains of the east
window; it is a clear day and the sun brightens up the room. He looks at his
phone, it’s ten o’clock. He gets up, takes a quick shower, brushes his teeth, and
stretches. Hakim looks at Jennifer as she sleeps. He remembers the last drink and
smiles at the thought of last night. Her back is uncovered as the comforter is
pushed to the side. He marvels at the sensuous way she is spread on the bed in
front of him and finds himself excited. He slips into the bed and pulls the covers
over them; cuddles close and embraces her. She feels him behind her and moves
her torso against his body.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006PY87YQ

He Rode Tall

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Excerpt

As a boy, the dancing waters of Paradise Creek had always
been special to Joel. More specifically the headwaters, the spring
up in the hills was a very special place. It was his place. A safe
place to hide and his place to ponder the possibilities of life. Now
as he crossed over Paradise Creek as a man, for the first time in
thirty-two years Joel could feel that the bridge represented much
more to him than simply a wooden structure that ensured a dry
start to his ride. Joel Hooper was crossing over into a new adventure
in his life. Or at least he sure hoped he was. Sure as heck
something had to change. And it had to change in a hurry.
On this particularly fine Montana morning, Joel was serenaded
by the rustling of the wind through the tall grass of the
thickly matted pasture. Yes, it seemed to be the same wind that
Joel had been meaninglessly chasing for so many years. But he
knew that this time it was different. Joel Hooper was home. It
wasn’t so much the ranch yard with the tiny weathered ranch
house and the dilapidated buildings that Joel thought of as home
but it was the Hills of Serenity that held the Circle H, nestled
close to their western side. Gently rolling, golden hills rose high
out of the flat plains below. He knew he was coming home. The
shrill calls of the meadowlarks were heralding his arrival.
As he crested yet another hill, Joel was greeted by the distant
view of a dozen mares and their foals leisurely grazing on a lush
meadow. They were gorgeous horses and they were his horses,
now that he had inherited the Circle H; amazing as that may still
seem to him, this is what a lawyer named Debra Song in Great
Falls had told him just yesterday. Not that the Circle H was
much by most people’s standards but it was a heck of a lot more
than anyone else had ever given him in his life.
At that moment, Joel was struck by the incredible freedom of
his new equine family roaming the high hills. Yes, he thought.
That is what I want for my life. Reaching back into his childhood,
Joel recalled that horses had always been a bold and beautiful
symbol of freedom. He had so desperately wanted some of
what they had.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QG9MOM

The Circle

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Excerpt

“How about a cup at the spot?”
“I’m having one right now. Want to shoot some pool?”
“Sure. Meet you there in about half an hour?”
“Yeah.”
He finishes his coffee quickly, eats his sandwich, and steps into the shower.
Today is Saturday, and the rest of his day is free. He puts on his jeans, a t-shirt,
and a light jacket. The days of September are getting cooler; a sign of fall
approaching.
In the elevator he meets the lady from 406, a middle-aged blonde who likes
him and always exchanges a few words with him. Today is no exception.
“Out again?” she asks, with a smile.
“Yeah, for a while.”
“Girls, girls, as always!”
She says nothing more as they reach the lobby and they go their separate
ways.
He walks to the parking lot, gets into his car, and drives to the pool hall. Talal
is already there and has ordered his coffee. Hakim buys a bottle of water and they
start their game.
“Anything on the job-front?” Hakim asks.
“Nothing yet, man.”
“Well, something will come together sooner or later.” He tries to encourage
his friend.
“I hope so, man; I’m getting frustrated.”
Hakim’s phone rings. It’s Jennifer.
“Hi, how are you?” he says.
“Hi, I’m okay. You remember, I promised to call you.”
“Yeah, I know, but—”
“What? You don’t want to go out with me? Is that it?” she interrupts him.
“No, that’s not what I mean. I’m having a game of pool with Talal.”
She hesitates on the other end of the phone, so he tells her, “I’ll see you later,
okay?”
“You promise?”
“Yeah, I promise. I’ll call you and meet you later.”
He puts his phone away; it’s his turn to play.
“She really wants to know where you are all the time, eh?” asks Talal.
“No, that’s not it. She called earlier, and I told her to call me back.”
“Women, you know, they are all the same. That’s why my style is no
commitment, you know? Casual sex as often as possible, but none of this
nonsense!”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006PY87YQ

Water in the Wilderness

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Excerpt

Rachael bounced over the kitchen floor to watch Tyne take the roast out of the oven and place it on a platter for Morley to carve. “That sure smells good, and I’m real hungry.” The child sniffed the air. “Do we get gravy, too?”
“We sure do,” Tyne said, “and as soon as you’ve washed your hands we can start to eat.”
After they washed at the kitchen sink and settled in chairs at the table, Morley said, “Tell Auntie Tyne what you saw.”
“Piggies,” Bobby sang out.
Rachael cut in. “Chickens and cows and ….”
“Baby cows!”
“They’re not baby cows, silly,” Rachael said with authority, “they’re calves.”
Tyne laughed quietly as she filled plates and placed one in front of each of them. “And did you see the mommy hen with her little chicks?” she asked.
“Yep!” This from Rachael as she grabbed her fork and began to dig into her mashed potatoes.
Bobby followed his sister’s lead but Morley reached over and touched their hands. “Wait until Auntie Tyne sits down and we ask the blessing.”
Both children looked at him blankly. “What’s that mean?” Rachael demanded.
“It means,” Morley said gently, “that before we eat, we thank God for the food.”
“Oh yeah,” the girl said. “Mommy thanks God sometimes, but she calls it Grace. Why would she call it Grace? I know a girl at school who’s called Grace and she never says anything like that.”
Morley glanced at Tyne who noted with some satisfaction that her husband seemed momentarily at a loss. She bit her lip to hide her smile.
“Well,” Morley said as Tyne took her place at the table, “your mom is right in calling it Grace. You see, grace is a blessing …

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