Musings & Meanderings.
Here are some short stories and articles I’ve written. I’ll swap them out from time to time so check back.
I’d also love to hear your feedback on anything (as long as you liked it).
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A frightening movement is afoot that threatens our cherished relationship with the canine world. Possibly with the entire animal kingdom. This is not science-fiction, friends. The evidence is right in front of our noses, so to speak.
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Occasionally a name appears in the obituaries that triggers a memory. A face looks out that is faintly recalled, a forgotten connection begins to emerge. The deceased may not have played a significant role in your life, yet he or she shared a part of your past. You may not even recognize the photo next to the name. Frequently the family pulls a picture from an album or a dusty frame that shows him "in better days." Yet there is an echo, like a song or a voice, faintly distinguishable but impossible to ignore.
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First of all, I’ll admit the meal was not bad. Actually quite good, once I had distanced myself from the accompanying events. The occasion was dinner with two close friends, Julie and Steve, at a popular seafood restaurant in an upscale suburb of St. Louis. We were seated at a quiet table after only a fifteen minute wait past our reservation time, not bad for a popular place on a Friday night. The bar scene was incredibly lively and joyful. TGIF still has significance, even in this day and age. The bar was packed three deep, with a vibrant assortment of beautiful men and women, under fifty, quite fashionable, energized and quite verbal. Which is why we were seated at “a quiet table.”
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THE BACK STORY:
A good friend named Glenda, wife of a good friend named Jerry, slipped and fell while shopping at Target. Not a big deal. She wasn’t hurt, but mentioned it to a group of us as an “amusing episode” while they were in St. Louis. Of course I had to send her a letter “from” Target. -
The Backstory:
During the summer of 2010, a crisis hit egg lovers throughout the country. The epicenter of this hard-boiled tragedy was a group of farms in Wright County, Iowa owned by the same company. Many of the eggs from there caused salmonella outbreaks from coast to coast. This was nothing new for the company. It had happened several times before, causing an outbreak of sickness and death. More than 500 million eggs were recalled. Infected hens were thought to be the source. Thousands were targeted and “eliminated.”This is my tale, from late in that summer.The road runs from Hannibal, Missouri, to St. Louis. The passing scenery offers a abundant beauty. Lush, green hills; stands of oak, elm and cedar; occasional glimpses of the Big Muddy, just as Tom and Huck might have seen it.