THE DEAL
I felt kind of funny knocking on Robby Ramseur’s door that Friday night; it had only been two weeks before that he had run me off. I had just dropped by that night about seven thirty and he had got purty upset, him not knowin’ I was coming and all. So I was kinda surprised […]
NEAR DEATH
Bristol Darwin was looking in his closet; he was examining, with some pride, his three suits. He had a standard black, a black with a small pinstripe, and a dark grey. Those were the three colors he was told to buy when he had signed on with House Funeral Home; the owner, Evan House, was […]
THE APOLOGY
Richie turned on the spigot and held the half gallon glass Kerr Mason jar underneath. His Momma had put some ice cubes in the jar in the kitchen and had sent him out to the back of the house with specific instructions. Richie had been appointed water boy and his job was to provide water […]
In The Ground
Rose hoisted herself up out of her old rocking chair and staggered toward the middle bedroom where she slept. She was aided by her walking stick, the everyday one; on Sundays she used a nice shellacked one with a curved handle and a rubber tip on it. She closed the bedroom door behind her and […]
THE WRECK
Tommy woke up to a very fuzzy sight. He could see two women dressed in white with caps on; he assumed them to be nurses. Then he noticed his mother and father, one of each side of his bed. They had worried looks on their faces and he thought that he could see through the […]
STORY TIME
It was ‘bout six o’clock, time for supper, but no one was eating. It was a late fall day in 1931 in the depths of the depression, and Doctor Hoover had already left, heading back to his home in Lincolnton with two Rhode Island Red laying hens secured in a basket and three dollars in […]
THEY CARE ABOUT ME
Sometimes I feel so fortunate; I have several reasons. One is the feeling of being cared for, being special to people and knowing that they are doing so many wonderful things for me. It can be quite an overwhelming feeling, and it occurs frequently. One of the most awe-inspiring feelings of being loved and being […]
BAXTER
Viola was walking up to the mailbox. Their mailbox, her and her husband Tom’s, was right beside their landlord’s. That one had black-stenciled letters on the side reading C.R. Hoffman. Beside this box was the one used by whoever was living in the “old house.” Viola, or “Vi” as Tom called her, had been there […]
LOVE AND RESPECT
She heard the first “clunk,” and then waited for the second one. There it was. Could set your clock by it. Before the first “clunk” there was the unmistakable sound of Granny’s gait; she maneuvered with a walking stick outside, but in the house eschewed it. She was in a sort of perpetual slow lurching […]
THE DEAL
I felt kind of funny knocking on Robby Ramseur’s door that Friday night; it had only been two weeks before that he had run me off. I had just dropped by that night about seven thirty and he had got purty upset, him not knowin’ I was coming and all. So I was kinda surprised […]