When Wyatt Posey showed up at work, the woman who spent all day behind the main sales desk – i.e., the receptionist – was wearing clear plastic gloves. Wyatt didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help staring. “I don’t want to get Ebola,” Grace Northers said. “Has Ebola been seen?” Wyatt asked. “Well, no, but …
One Thing Leads to Another
Sometimes I think all the good songs have been written. Everybody’s been doing something different, applying new wrinkles, and adjusting to changing times so much that it’s gradually gotten hopelessly convoluted. I told you, baby, from time to time, but you just wouldn’t listen or pay me no mind, so I’m moving on, I’ll soon …
Who’d’ve Thunk?
I grew up with Granddaddy Dutton and Papa Davis, and Granny Dutton and Mama Davis. It was always Daddy, never Dad. Mommy was replaced by Mom at puberty. Succeeding generations have added such innovations as Pawpaw, Meemaw, and Mawmaw. I’m sure they existed somewhere, but not around here. Meemaw. It’s a modern term, at least …
Still Chipping Away
No, I’m still not through with the first draft of Forgive Us Our Trespasses. This morning I completed the forty-fourth chapter. It’s getting there. Two or three chapters more, and a postscript. I would write “you can’t force these things,” but maybe you can. I can’t. As I bring this crime story to a close, …
See Change
Autumn isn’t really based on dates on a calendar. My belief is that it has different lengths in different places. This isn’t original. People say they like where they live because “it has four seasons.” The best way to determine the beginning of fall is that wild onions start growing in my front yard. When …
Upon Further Review …
Until I did it occasionally a year ago and regularly this year, I hadn’t written about a high school football game in more than fifteen years. Back then, I thought myself quite the whiz kid. I could keep running accounts of the game and cumulative totals at the same time. Then I could talk to …
Though You Didn’t Ask … I Tell
Many are the pursuits in which I spend too much time. Deleting “spam” comments on my websites, for instance. Occasionally, I read some of the nonsensical ones just for fun. A favorite spammer word is “fastidious,” perhaps because it takes fastidious – and diabolical, for that matter – people to post offers for cheap NFL …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Claim you’re making / More than you are / Hitch your wagon / To a star / The truth is incidental / To what you gotta say / Those who can’t play ball / Are prone to fade away. Riggs Hellams completed his session with the fungo, and now all he had to do was …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Final Part)
The final series of the season was upon the Portland Loggers, and the opposition was the Los Angeles Dodgers, who, with ninety-three victories, boasted the second-best record in the National League. They were twenty games ahead of the Loggers and five up on the San Francisco Giants. The best pitcher in baseball, lefthander Clayton Kershaw, …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Seven)
Life is short / Give it your all / Keep your focus / On the ball / Be aware of all the detours in your way / And never be afraid when it’s time / To walk away. Three games remained in the regular season. The Los Angeles Dodgers were in town, division champions already, …
Nightrider's Lament 