Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 12:49 p.m. One of the small attributes that has grown within me as I’ve aged is an attempt to minimize the effect of superstition in my life. This sort of began with research for my third novel, Crazy of Natural Causes (2015). The story of Chance Benford required …
Author: wastedpilgrim
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Storm Roulette
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, September 3, 2019, 9:49 a.m. The times, they are a-changing. No, I don’t mean the technological age. The focus is much smaller. A hurricane is headed, well, not exactly this way, but close enough to fret. At the moment, my uncertainty is narrow in focus. For instance, where will I be? …
It’s the Week of the Big Ballgame
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, August 30, 2019, 12:02 p.m. Thursday evening was a matter of logistics. The Clinton High School cross country team left Wilder Stadium with the “game ball” for Friday’s rivalry at Laurens. They passed it to the Laurens harriers about halfway up U.S. 76; then they boarded the bus that had been …
Adventures with Freddy, Part 4 (Final)
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 11:33 a.m. Here is the fourth and final installment of my short story. The world is changing so damned much that it’s hard to keep up. For instance, truck stops are not as crowded. It’s fairly easy to get a shower, shave, and otherwise freshen up. I never …
Really Stupid from Time to Time
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, August 15, 2019, 11:55 a.m. I’m a volatile combination: meticulous and, yet, absentminded. I’ll go through a news release and change every “8:00 PM” to “8 p.m.,” but I’ll write “it’s” when I know damn well it’s supposed to be “its.” I have to edit myself as much as the releases. …
Adventures with Freddy, Part 3
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, August 11, 2019, 2:45 p.m. In Part Three, suspicion begins to intrude on the traveling camaraderie between the driverless SUV “Freddy” and the passenger “Horace.” It felt odd to become friends with a machine, but Freddy and I were getting along famously. We traveled all the way to Oregon and back, …
Adventures with Freddy, Part 2
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, July 31, 2019, 12:15 a.m. When last we checked in on Freddy Frost, he and “Horace” were becoming well acquainted. As in the words of Johnny Cash, by way of Shel Silverstein, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July, and before continuing on to Nashville, after a day of writing in collaboration with …
Adventures with Freddy, Part 1
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, July 17 2019, 1:15 p.m. I haven't written a short story in quite a while, so I decided to work on this one in installments. This fiction takes place in the not-too-distant future. The idea grew out of my increasing hatred of air travel. For twenty years, I flew in those …
Adventures in Technology, Breathing, and Breathing Technologically
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, July 18, 2019, 11:18 a.m. This is the first blog in a while. I’ve been busy. My home wifi went out, and I couldn’t schedule a technician until Tuesday. While I was spending time at the local library and McDonald’s – two locations conveniently nearby – someone hacked my Facebook account, …
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Back in the Roots of My Raising
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, July 12, 2019, 1:28 p.m. My mother, 79 years young, and I chat on the phone most days. It is my theory that the relation between generations is all mathematic. When I was born, Betty Davis Dutton was not quite 18. When I was 4 and she 22, we were miles …
Nightrider's Lament 