It’s important to have a system “Watch close now.” Bill, the first honest-to-god alcoholic I ever met, was demonstrating his “Five-step Magical ATM banking system.” “First, ya grab one of these envelopes they give away and ya press the deposit button.” “Five hundred usually does it.” Bill pressed buttons. The deposit hatch chucked open. Bill slid… Continue reading When You Can’t Afford the Next Round
Month: June 2021
I Need Conversational Practice
Thoughts after one journey and before another “Tell me,” she said, “why gringo women wear such ugly shoes.” She said it in Spanish, her tongue forming the precise syllables that I envied and still failed to produce after years of practice. Her name was Viviana, and she was my Spanish teacher. We were practicing my conversation… Continue reading I Need Conversational Practice
Inspiration Approaching Perfection
100-word stories inspired by the lyrics of David Berman Stealing someone else’s words has always been my favorite cure for writer’s block. The key is to steal like an artist (per Austin Kleon) and avoid copyright infringement. I hope I’ve done that here. The Silver Jews’s 1998 album American Waterhas long been one of my… Continue reading Inspiration Approaching Perfection
The Federal Dream Turns to Dust
A lone gull in a South Dakota parking lot tells me the water in the thunderclouds weighs more than all the gold stolen from the Black Hills. It says that because sin compounds faster than interest, the blood money in Federal bank accounts can never be enough to buy land that wasn’t for sale. The… Continue reading The Federal Dream Turns to Dust
Road Trips Where No One’s Looking
In Pedro Páramo, Juan Preciado travels to Comala to meet his father. Too much dust, too many ghosts in the superheated air to know what happens when he gets there. What’s real and what’s imagined? Does it matter? In The One Inside, Sam Shepard writes about himself, his tiny father, about winding roads crisscrossing the… Continue reading Road Trips Where No One’s Looking
Why Is There a Denny’s on the Camino de Santiago?
Wanderlust is invading my dreams. The pandemic shelved six weeks on the Camino de Santiago, but the other night my mind decided to depart without me… The inn is far enough off the Camino de Santiago to be lightly visited, even at the height of the pilgrimage season, but that is to my advantage, for… Continue reading Why Is There a Denny’s on the Camino de Santiago?
The Great Cheddar Debate
I have a friend who doesn’t believe cheddar cheese is dyed orange. He admits cheese is made of milk. He agrees milk is white. But, he won’t believe in dyed cheese. I google, I show him pics. I read him Tillamook labels. “Fake news,” he says. “Don’t believe everything you read.” “What about white cheddar?”… Continue reading The Great Cheddar Debate
Alternative Medicine
Kira’s looking gloomy when Roger gets home from base. “Uh-oh. You got a problem, Babe?” “A big one, Roger.” “You know what I say.” Kira nods. Smiles patiently. “Ain’t no problem can’t be solved with the proper application of high explosives.” Kira holds up a sheaf of medical printouts. “It’s a different kind of problem,… Continue reading Alternative Medicine