1. A JOGGING CONTRADICTION Up this hill and down, and up another hill. Lathered. Rinse. Repeat. I’m tired. It’s so sensuous. Eliza Evermore enjoyed her life in Colorado Springs. It was inspiring to jog in the breathtaking shadow of Pikes Peak. Olympians trained here. She just plodded along. Sometimes she watched the flyboys marching at …
Tag: Monte Dutton
Sweet Freedom
This is the sixth installment in this short story, preceded, from beginning to here, by “A Jogging Contradiction,” “The Good One,” “Contrary to Ordinary,” “Backsliding,” and “A Sign of Weakness.” Eliza Evermore was highly distressed to see Johnny Jacklin headed toward her office. The gray suit looked good on him. He’d cut his …
A Sign of Weakness
This the fifth installment of a story, preceded, in chronological order, by “A Jogging Contradiction,” “The Good One,” “Contrary to Ordinary,” and “Backsliding.” Surprise was Johnny Jacklin’s preferred mode of operation. He called Eliza at the Forgiveness, Inc., office, and asked if she was up for a nice drive and maybe a hike. She was, …
Backsliding
The previous installments of this story were known, in order, as “A Jogging Contradiction,” “The Good One,” and “Contrary to Ordinary”: Her lunch with Johnny Jacklin left Eliza Evermore in what seemed to her a mild state of hypnosis. She was fascinated. She longed to see him again, but he made no more appearances at …
Contrary to Ordinary
This is a continuation of the story begun in “A Jogging Contradiction” and then “The Good One”: The son of a multimillionaire evangelist, and the brother of a millionaire fraud, drove a rented Toyota Tercel. His father would have been picked up at the airport in a limo. His brother would likely have snorted cocaine …
What I’ve Learned Lately
I just finished another once-over – a third-over, if such a word exists, or, perhaps more properly, a fourth draft – of my third novel, which is called Crazy of Natural Causes. I now consider it ready to be publication, though it is not impending. I considered it ready after the third-draft, too. After I …
The Lucky Break, Part Two
“How long you got?” Golightly asked as we pulled out of the city parking lot. “Well, as you may have known before I did, my position has been eliminated,” I said. “I reckon I’ve got to get my stuff cleaned out by the end of the day.” “I need a ride to Spartanburg.” “Great.” “You …
The Lucky Break, Part One
The morning had already been bad enough. Five years earlier, Max Marberry had run the Crestwood office of the Warren Insurance Agency, that is, until Harry Warren had sold out to a Spartanburg agency owned by Leland Allin, who had installed his son as the manager of the Crestwood storefront. Now the elder Allin was …
Why I Haiku
I’m surprised at myself. It wasn’t suggested to me. I didn’t borrow it from anyone else. It just occurred to me that the poetic haiku works very well on Twitter. I’m sure there are haiku Twitter accounts, probably hundreds, maybe thousands, but they don’t show up on my timeline, and I haven’t followed any. While …
Broad Based Appeal
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 …
Nightrider's Lament 