Patchwork People Chapter II The Good Man Hard to Find
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XIX. First draft people. An occasional bat flickered across the stars overhead. The gardenias and hibiscus had long drawn in their petal- awnings. Across the lawn, the hunched bushes looked like a queue of black-robed monks marching back to their monastery. And in the middle distance, fireflies marked a secondary night-sky of transitory constellations in what might have been an even more unpredictable universe than the one we find ourselves inhabiting, one that blinks in an out of...
IV. The big fat middle of nothing. Outside the bus window the night was something solid and impenetrable, not a star to be seen, only an occasional porch light burning on some farmhouse miles in the distance. For hours now they'd been passing through endless blind tracts of dark country, where shockingly few people lived, but Phoebe could still feel the cows out there in the night, watching, chewing, uncomprehending. Cows, cows, and more cows, that was her impression of the great...
XVII. Hell's Angel Walt was in the workroom of his shop when she called. He was putting new brake cables on a Rivendell Sam Hillborne. He was customizing the bike for one of his more well-heeled patrons, a dentist who fancied himself a cycling aficionado. He was the kind of guy who outfitted himself like he was racing in the Tour de France just to tool his way through the park. He always bought the very latest, most cutting-edge gear. Everything high-tech and top of the line. But he spent...
XXX. Book of changes. One morning Marcia came into the Blue Cat and found Grace packing up the snow-globe collection. She carefully wrapped each plastic globe in newspaper before nesting it inside a box beside the others. "What happened? Did Mrs. Pritchard have second-thoughts about selling?" Marcia's eyes widened in disbelief. "Don't tell me you got a taker for the entire collection?" "Neither, I'm afraid," Grace said. Marcia began setting out that morning's baked selections....
IX. The momster. Her whole life Phoebe's biggest fear was that her Mom would die suddenly and without warning. Even as a little girl, she was kept awake with nightmares that seemed to foretell his horrible event in detail. She remembered anxiously watching her mom sleep, afraid that she might stop breathing, nudging her awake just in case. How cranky she would be! "What!" she'd bark, snorting and spluttering. "What's the matter with you? What time is it? Why aren't you in bed?" It...
V. The diner on memory lane. The last time Marcia had spoken to anyone in her family it was to her brother Matt. That would be winter five years ago. They met in a 24-hour diner by the side of a highway in Metuchen, New Jersey. Pointedly, it was a restaurant Matt had never visited and no doubt never intended to visit again. Through a series of emails and two brief phone calls, she had explained the general situation and Matt's reaction had grudgingly advanced from "this has got to be...
XVIII. Beauty and the beast. So I finally got to meet the boyfriend. Surreal! He was one of those big, burly, biker-types. His arms (and who knows what else) covered in tats, the seriouso kind. I'll bet anything some of them are prison tattoos. Long gray hair tied back in a grizzled ponytail. Grizzled beard, too. He was exactly the kind of guy that every dad shudders to imagine his daughter will bring home one day. And here my dad was bringing him home to me! See what I mean by...
XXI. Full Xanax moments. Her heart skipped a beat before her brain was fully conscious of the reason. There'd been a total communications blackout between them of several years running but Marcia recognized Claire's old email address immediately. She remembered, too, clicking open the message, the standard post-divorce tone of Claire's emails: terse, authoritative, and demanding. Then, as now, Claire communicated with Marcia as she would with a subordinate whose compliance was taken...
VI. The perfect pie crust. The windows were dark, covered with condensation. Inside, at the kitchen table, Marcia pressed the heel of her hand against the back of the santoku knife and cleaved the apple in half. Fuji, this time. There were five other apples prepared on the cutting board, skinned an unearthly greenish-white, already tarnishing. She was making an apple pie for the Blue Cat. "I still don't understand," Grace had said. "What you've got against birthdays. What's so...
XIII. Lame burger. The bus that was supposed to bring Phoebe to Hope Crossing came and went with no Phoebe on it. Only a handful of passengers disembarked from the coach. A tall, elderly, stoop-shouldered man with a sharp-featured face descended first. He took a quick glace around, readjusted his grip on a battered suitcase, and trudged up the street. He was followed by a stout, middle-aged black woman in a church-lady pantsuit. Behind her were two children, chattering, bickering,...
X. The amoeba life. In the stories of people she admired, there was always a defining moment, a dramatic event that summed up their lives to a critical point and provided the pivot for a new life to come. Marcia would like to have had a similar "defining moment" in her life, but it struck her that her life not only lacked a defining moment, but that it really didn't have any definition at all. It was a more amorphous thing, her life; if it advanced, and that was often in doubt, it...
XIV. Gimme shelter. "You live in a garage?" They were standing on the little concrete square outside the front door, staring up together at a tidy two story structure that, modifications notwithstanding, still, in fact, looked very much like a garage. "Well, it's not exactly a garage. Actually, It's a converted carriage house. I'm just renting. The woman I work for owns it. She lives in the main house across the garden." "A carriage house? What's that?" "It's where they used...
XVI. Buried Secrets. First thing I do on that first day is I take a detour through town to check out this totally demented store where Marcia mentioned she has a job. What kind of a job, I can't quite imagine. From what I can tell, it sounds like something super low-ambition, some not-trying-too-hard menial position that can't possibly pay very much. Given my main reason for showing up here in Hope Crossing, that doesn't bode well for the future of yours truly. You can imagine my...
XXV. Who's your daddy? When they asked me at the hospital who my parents were, who my emergency contact was, I guess you can say that I kind of panicked. They were making it pretty clear they weren't going to let me out of here on my own, no way, so I had to come up with someone. Who could I finger for the honor? Mom was out of the question, at this point, and once Marcia found out that I'd lied and basically stolen her money, which I'm sure she must have realized by now, she wasn't...
VII. A bicycle built for two. Everyman's Cycles looked like a bicycle field hospital. Wherever you looked bicycles, or parts of bicycles, stood, leaned, or lay in various states of distress, awaiting Walt's attention. He'd get to each of them, eventually, in his methodical, patient way. Walt took in stray bicycles the way crazy old ladies collected cats. Most of them were rescues. Bicycles he found abandoned in fields, weeds growing through their spokes. Or locked for months to streets...
XI. A ghost and a riddle. Night again. Bus travel made her sleepy, but only during the day it seemed. She traveled through the night hours wide awake. Phoebe could see her reflection like a ghost super-imposed over all that limitless darkness. She felt like a ghost, too, like something not quite real, a figment of someone's imagination. But who's? She was a ghost floating across the countryside to haunt a person who'd run as far away from her as possible. What brought her back...
XX. Glass houses. To the sadly uninitiated, a bicycle is simply a convenient means of transportation, low-tech, eco-friendly, inexpensive, ultra-democratic. For the fitness conscious, it's a superior form of practical exercise: you could get your aerobic workout and run errands at the same time. For others, the bicycle endures as the conveyance of childhood memories--tricycle, Big Wheels, training wheels, scraped knees and paper routes. However to someone like Walt, a bicycle was all...
XXII. The x factor. It was a strange council they made that evening sitting on Grace's porch. Walt and Marcia, Claire, and, of course, Grace herself, puttering about busily, trying to make everyone comfortable. It brought to mind those old photographs of Yalta, where Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill posed with forced congeniality for the camera, the most unlikely and unnatural of allies, each of them knowing full well that their cooperation was only temporary. That the moment the...
XXIII. Strange geography. They really should teach more geography at school, that's what I'm thinking. I mean, I've got to get to New Mexico, but I'm not even sure where it is. In the Southwest, somewheres, which is good enough to say, if you're living two thousand miles away in New Jersey and have no intention of ever actually going there. I don't even know if it comes before or after Arizona. I'm in Oklahoma now, a really godawful place from what I can see of it, which isn't...
XXVI. The great escape. One could imagine a thousand things going wrong, but there was no hitch at the hospital. Their quickly improvised charade worked like a charm. Walt's performance as Phoebe's concerned but understandably angry father was spot-on. Marcia, in her supporting role as distraught mom, hadn't had to act at all. There were the usual papers and forms to sign, a brief interview with a representative from the Chupadero police department and another with a representative...
XXVIII. Departures. It was one of those mornings that seem unable to decide what it wants to be. Halfway to the airport, a fine rain blew up against the windshield of the pick-up. A few miles later, the sun unexpectedly broke out from a temporary gap in the impregnable line of gray clouds massed like battleships laying siege on the horizon It had finally been agreed that Phoebe would return to New Jersey and sign in to an outpatient rehab clinic. At the same time, she would take...
Author’s Notes: ‘Patchwork Knight’ is set in the Sweet Dreams universe, but is otherwise a standalone story. *** ‘Patchwork Knight’ *** Does everyone remember their first crush with such clarity? Forgetting his is impossible, and if he were honest with himself, he would acknowledge that she is the standard by which every other woman that he has admired or dated is judged, and has found them lacking. He knew that he was not the only one who fell in love with her in those glory days of high...
VIII. Snowballs in paradise. Grace was unpacking a snow-globe collection from all fifty states that Mavis Pritchard had brought into the shop the day before. "Look at this," she said, holding one up with a hula girl and a palm tree inside. "There's even one from Hawaii. "Hmph. Snow in Hawaii. Who would imagine something like that?" "Someone who'd never been to Hawaii?" Marcia suggested. Grace turned the globe over. "Made in China. Well that explains it, I guess." She gave it...
XII. Mirror, Mirror. The woman framed in the glass wore a flower-print silk skirt, a white blouse, and a light black sweater cinched tight above the waist. It was the sixth outfit she'd considered that morning, not counting the dozen or so she'd tried on mentally, rejecting them one after the other with a shudder of second-guess horror before they even made it out of the closet. "What do you think about this? Too frumpy, right?" Walt was sprawled on top of the bed, head propped on...
XV. Breakfast club. Sunlight poured through the checkered curtains of the kitchen window. The sliced bananas and butter were simmering on the stovetop. Marcia added to them spices she'd already toasted--cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. Together they filled the carriage house like incense. This was the Church of Home and she was performing the celebration of Good Morning. She measured out a half-cup of white flour and poured it into the mixing bowl. In another bowl she whisked three eggs, a...
XXIV. Cactus country. The day was cool and clear. An auspicious day for new beginnings. The cloudless sky stretched tight, a blue tarpaulin snapped to the horizon. It was almost enough to give Marcia a feeling of hope. Between all the preparations, hastily made as they'd been, throwing together a pair of travel bags, gassing up the truck, collecting maps and whatnot, they were on the road a little later than they'd planned. Traveling south on I-640, traffic was still light but picked...
XXVII. Just south of normal. For the next month, they very much resembled a real family. In the meantime, peace talks with Claire continued, though they were touch-and- go. Grace had gently offered to help mediate and Marcia gratefully accepted her offer. Grace was making progress, working her indelible magic, but it was magic in slow motion. In Claire, she'd met her match, a woman as resistant to miracles as they come. Marcia's ex was angry and would likely remain so, on some level,...
XXXI. The wisdom of ghosts. Edgar Birdwell was an awful poet. There was just no two ways around it. It wasn't only that his language was stilted and clunky, antiquated even in his own day, or that his themes were self-censored, disguised in tortured euphemisms to the point of utter obscurity. He was simply a bad writer. There was a good reason he was self-published. Who else would? Birdwell had an ear with more tin in it than a can. Marcia's fantasy, ex- graduate student of...
XXXII. Welcome home. Autumn was now more than just a hint of wood-smoke in the nippy air of a summer evening. The trees had turned and the leaves were in free-fall. In the night sky, the constellations had subtly shifted position. The stars were sharper. The frogs and crickets had grown quieter. "Good evening ladies." Walt waved to them as he cruised passed the porch on the tandem. He was showing up all over town lately riding solo on that bicycle. He was becoming famous for it....
Tim, the Teenage Part Twenty-Nine By: Rass Senip +++ Chapter VII: 9th Grade, Summer 1986 - Summer Camp Counselors Part 6 - Will You Be My Slave Tonight? (mc, Mf, mf) Friday morning and early afternoon seemed to pass in a flash, but then it slowed down to a drag during crafts as it neared the time our parents were due to arrive. Although we had fun at camp, things tended to become very predictable and... well, dull. The entire camp was restless, everyone knowing that there would be an...
Kelly, Mary and John sat in the dining room at a leisurely lunch of Caesar salad, mild chicken wings and breadsticks with nacho cheese. “The next time we go downtown and play ‘Sluts ‘R Us’, we ought to dress in fancy business-suit outfits, like we’re hotshot executives,” said Mary. “Think they’d recognize us?” “Wait – what’s this about a trip downtown?” wondered John. “Oh, you haven’t heard yet, dear –our little tramp went with me to that store in Central City again and we had our...
Koi khas mauka ya koi khas baat nahi thi par mere pati mere liye kuch sexy dress kharidna chahte the. Sham ko, unke oggice se wapas aane ke baad ham nazdeek ke shopping mall me gaye jo hamare ghar se kuch hi duri par tha. Mall nazdeek hone ki wajah se ham dono paidal hi jaa rahe the. Unhone bade pyar se mera hath pakad rakha tha aur ham chalte huye shopping mall me pahunch gaye. Main khus thi ki w mujhe sexy dress ka tohfa dena chahte the. Un ko pata tha ki mujhe sexy dress pahan na bahut...
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A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 2 At breakfast the next day Beth didn't mention anything about my nocturnal visit and Mum didn't say anything about knowing about it. Nothing more was mentioned about the pantomime. Conversation however was quite heated about items that were on last night's news. Dad always talked about current topics to keep us abreast in the world. Mum just continued when Dad had left. I left the house just as Anna and Erika came...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 8 After I'd eaten and helped cleared up I went to see Anna. Mum didn't have any problems about me going there and said that it would be nice to help them pack. Since lunch the weather appeared to have warmed up and the snow had started to melt. At this rate there wouldn't be any snow left tomorrow let alone on Christmas day. The sound of trickling water entering the roadside drains accompanied the slushing sound of...
"Morgen" brachte Lena hervor als sie schlaftrunken durch die große Wohnküche des Ferienhauses in Richtung des "kleinen Badezimmers" torkelte. "Guten Morgen" lächelte Frank, blickte vom Frühstückmachen auf und sah seiner achzehnjährigen Stieftochter nach. Durch den dünnen Stoff ihres Nachthemdchens zeichneten sich ziemlich deutlich Details ihrer Figur ab, die ihn an Sabrina erinnerten. Sabrina war Lenas Mutter, die er vorletzte Woche gehreiratet hatte. Frank hatte lange gedacht, nie wieder eine...
Then. A Rustic Village Does everyone remember their first crush with such clarity? Forgetting his is impossible, and if Greg Bartels were honest with himself, he would acknowledge that Amelia Collins is the standard by which every other woman that he will admire or date is judged, a standard against which he will find all those others lacking. He knew that he was not the only one who fell in love with her in these glory days of high school, and he also knew that he would look nostalgically...
The author claims copyright on this document. It may be posted in other groups or copied for inclusion in archives, etc., but may not be used for commercial purposes in any way! If you do repost this or copy it off somewhere, please keep this notice of copyright attached. NASA contributes 40% of the Budget at the Sexperimental Farm Laboratory. This is a Documentary of 1998 when the Fallopiansthreatened our Civlisation.The account of SFL Dairy, June 1st - 24th 1998. Iowa After meeting their...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 1 "Charlie control, do you receive?" "This is Charlie control. Go ahead Tom." "We have a problem." "Please state the problem Tom," replied the calm reassuring voice. There was a deathly silence for a second. "It's... it's Anna," spluttered Tom. "She's run out of face cream." The rest of the drama class tittered at the quip and poor Anna had gone quite red. She wasn't a vain girl but she liked to look her...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 3 The next morning I took my daily shaving further than usual. After removing my facial and neck hair I climbed into the shower and carefully shaved my arms, underarms, chest and legs. The worst was clearing the underarms as I couldn't get the angle correct to clear all the hair. I had some hair on my back but couldn't remove that without help. As I was keeping this secret from my sister as well as my mother requesting...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 4 Monday lunch soon came and another rehearsal. This time however I was better prepared and it obviously showed in my performance. I used what I had learnt on Saturday but didn't give it the full monty. "Well done Bill," said Mr Abbots. "This was a much better performance." "Thanks." "It looks like your sister enjoyed it as well." I turned to see her get up come towards me as Mr Abbots turned and walked to talk...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 5 As I walked up the drive to the Scott's house, Mrs Scott opened the door and gave me a warm, welcoming hug. "Come on in. Anna is just finishing making sure your room is clear." "Thank you Mrs Scott. I'm sorry for intruding at this late hour." "Poppycock, we've known you for about ten years and if we couldn't help then who would you turn to? Go on up with your case, you've been here often enough to know where to...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 6 As we started the meal Mum pre-empted any discussion, "I presume you both have questions? Let's eat first and then we can have a discussion after we've tidied up." We both agreed and the meal was eaten in relative silence. Mum had cooked so Beth and I cleared the table and washed up. When we entered the lounge Mum had closed the curtains and had the coal effect gas fire burning. Karl Jenkins' Adiemus was quietly...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 7 For a few seconds Mum just sat there stunned. "Why do you ask?" "It's just I saw somebody during the pantomime interval that I found out was called Julia. She reminded me of somebody and after a few hours of racking my brains I remembered that she looks like Granny Toms used to." "Can I see?" asked Mum. I felt a bit left out. I'd never seen this Julia person and I found the revelation that we had another relative...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 9 Friday, Christmas Eve, dragged. I hadn't seen Anna all day. She was busy helping her Mum, who finished her job the previous day, pack some of the remaining items. I wanted to help but I'd spent so much time with them that I hadn't managed to wrap any of my Christmas presents. Most of the morning, therefore, was spent wrapping. When I came to wrap Anna's present I took special care with the wrapping, putting a big red...
A Strange Attraction to Concrete Cows by Karen Page Chapter 10 - The End The bus had come to an unscheduled stop and for the last hour hadn't moved. The sight of static traffic ahead didn't bring any comfort. Somebody three seats in front had telephoned a friend and it appears there was an accident just before the motorway junction. For the hundredth time I looked at my watch. In twenty minutes Mum would be home. Even if all the traffic disappeared it would take the bus ten...
3:01 A.M. Aside from the distant radio all was dead still and dark as if night would forever refuse morning’s light. It was bleak, it was cold, ungodly early and vastly preceding any time I’d ever risen. I didn’t understand why people were getting up out of bed. But the drill seemed somehow so ordinary for them it didn’t leave me too uneasy, just a bit amazed. A tired young mind of broken rem sleep, awakened, is a hard thing to muster alive. Known reasons for refusing the new day are...
Frank was livid! The love of his life was being treated as a COW. Things were going to change, and he was going to get his wonderful bright, Intelligent, happy girl BACK. When Frank went into the Army, he had just finished graduated from college. He had always wanted to go into the Army, he felt a strong need to protect and defend, and he was finally old enough to enter. He was smart. He had finished high school by the time he was 15, and his BA when he was 17, and his masters a year...