El Camino- Borderland States

{Headed North Bound} 

MARCH 16, 5:00 A.m, 1988: (Daniel IS 27)

I keep an eye on the oncoming tracks; everything is blanketed by a white-grey sheet of snow.   January’s snow had not yet melted, and in parts there is a snow wall, on the side of the tracks, about six feet high.  Looking at my Thermowatch, I see that the temperature outside is thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit.  (41:365)

El Camino: Borderland States

March 16, 1988: Greg is 27

…and then after the Tsunami;   I woke up wearing a striped conductor hat, and overalls  smelling the steam of the engine moving past the mountains on my left.   The mountains were the ones I remembered being in front of my junior high school, years of torment and pain.  I was thinking just keep moving; don't look back at the 100 cars of Sugar Beats.(40:365)

Oakland: Colorado County

{Asa Gray the Cat}

Bonfires incinerated debris, as smog assaulted; Aunt Rosalyn huddled in her apartment.   She was comforted from the outside smoke by her cat, Asa Gray.  Asa might have lost his mortal life due to a heart-attack from being scared by a lawn mower backfiring, but he would be forever loved in a hermetically sealed family shrine.  (31:365)

Oakland: Colorado County

{Aunt Rosalyn and the Grabage Truck}

Robotic arms grabbed the Polk County Trash cans; flipped them into the garbage-truck, and then gently set them into their designated spot in the car port.   Aunt Rosalyn rose from her rocker, her book on taxidermy dropped to floor; her jaw went slack with unbelief.   She was undone by Polk County’s future garbage machine. (30:365)

Oakland: Colorado County

{M.A.S.H.}

Plastic-kids lined up, in perfect lines, in front of the plastic school. Avatars linked into a digitally created world, toy dolls playing the game M.A.S.H.  Would we live in a mansion, apartment, shack, or a hotel?    Plastics could see what their futures may look like by exploring life in a mansion, apartment, shack or hotel.  (28:365)

Oakland: Colorado County

{Words From a Freeze-Dried Strawberry}

I began my life in the Strawberry Field.  I called plenty of fellows, with green tops, “Friend!”One day my soiled life was pulled out, frozen up, and processed into the Breakfast of Conquerors.  Now I wait to be consumed, by children who will dump me in a plastic bowl of milk, and slurp me down.(23:365)    

Trying something new! Posts will use one word from the previous post to begin their story.  It will create a bridge between two stories.

Oakland: Colorado County

A Silver Mirage?

Did any of us notice the silver UFO, passing in the starry night? It was there during intimate moments.  The United States stood still on December 7^th 1941. But there was an object in the sky, before the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor. We did not notice it, or dismissed it as a weather balloon.(20:365)

Oakland: Colorado County

The Day the Catfish Walked

He played his trumpet as the Peace River flooded.

Did these events cause each other?

Can the notes of a trumpet played in Denver Colorado, cause a river to rise and overfill its banks?

Can music displace Catfish from a river?

What is known - 7:31 David stored his trumpet,

7:32 catfish walked on black asphalt.

(19:356) This is dedicated to my dad who as a child played his trumpet in a Denver Colorado school.   And played in a band with brass, until the Beatles stole Big Band's thunder.

Oakland: Colorado County

Speaker for the Dead

The grave digger, Douglas Fairbanks, did not speak of Ghosts.  It was not that he had never seen an apparition. The reason was he felt it rather rude to speak of the dead.   He believed that the souls should rest in peace, and as everyone knows, to speak of the dead causes certain extreme irritation.  (18:356)

Oakland: Colorado County

How I Met Racine My Wife

(1944 England, Maidstone)
The day, I lost eighty-five percent use of my right arm, was the day I asked her to marry me.   We were flying over land, when the first engine went out.   …then the second one.   I remember Shorty pushing me out of the B-17 - eating dirt- the nurse in white: my future wife. (17:365)

Oakland: Colorado County

The Ungame at 0.00

Tell us how that makes you feel?                                                    

I was playing the Ungame with my family.  I would rather have had a kick in the groin, than to express how that makes me feel.  I was afraid that my fear would emerge, a multiple head serpent, ready to strike a spark and leave the house flamed.                                                                                                  (16:365)

Oakland:Colorado County

The Lawn Job

Belle Gato would do the job.

 “It has to be her! She’s great!”, thought her father in law.

 He sharpened his cleaver.   

He called Belle. 

Belle answered.  

“you are  great…like my own daughter… By the way I have something for...! ”

Belle arrived, on her hands and knees, and began to edge the yard. (14-356)

Oakland: Colorado County

Senator Murphy Played Red and Black

People did not stop and ponder a thing because time had run out.  And did anyone remember the people who George Murphy played cards with.  George Murphy always won before time ran out.  It wasn’t that he played inferior competitors.  Or that he somehow cheated.  George Murphy was just good at stacking the cards.  (13:356)

Oakland: Colorado County

Star Crossed Lovers

Mildred sat in Eugene's new1921 Model T Ford.    Mildred had splashed Chanel Number 5 liberally. 
They were roaring to dine in Mr. Kirby’s drive in, this being their third date.  
She asked Eugene, "I Look Good Right?... cute as  Margaret Gorman.?”  
He nodded. 
They did not notice the silver UFO, passing in the starry night. (12:356)

(Story based on Post On Kirby's Pig-Stand)

Oakland: Colorado County

A Wild Armadillo Was Her Sound

Her thighs resounded in her leopard printed stretch pants (tattoo inked on collar bone).  She walked with the grace of a wild armadillo.  Her earrings hung like cymbals clashing.  She smacked her red glossed lips deliciously as she sent Morris Code into her husband’s ear.  The words clashed and clattered his fiscally filled up mind. (#10:365-55 Words)

Oakland: Colorado County

Art by Peter Saul who's
birthday was Yesterday!

Mr. Clement’s Guests

George Clement busied himself setting high-tea.  The smell of cranberry scones made his mouth water. He poured Earl Grey tea from a silver pot into steamy china cups.

His guests sat stuffed, His guests  sat waiting.

Some for you Floppy…

for Mossy,

Eleanor.

The phone rang.  

He answered.

Tea would wait; dreaded management needed him. (11:356- 55 Word Stories)

Oakland: Colorado County

Soviets Ran Out of Paint

“There is no more paints comrade! I need to finish this to inspire the people in our party.”

"Why are you asking?  I am just a Bed Bug Killer!”

“Well, we heard bed bug pesticide will make a unique yellow-green, is this true brother?”

"Yes comrade, one can make beautiful yellows with bed bug pesticides."   (9/356)

Oakland: Colorado County

Carving Out Polk County

Peace River – July 17, 1849.

Paranoia reigns after the Red Stick Indians attacked the Pioneer Kennedy Trading Post.  

 William Mc Collough stated, “We had scarcely got seated at the supper-table when they fired in at the door from the outside, one Indian standing on either side of the door and two in front one behind.”* (8/36)

*Brown, Canter. In the Midst of All That Makes Life worth Living: Polk County, Florida, to 1940. Tallahassee, FL: Sentry, 2001. Print.

Oakland: Colorado County

Kerouac Slept: A Rooster Awakens the Burbs

Kerouac on nickels and dimes, transcended the arteries of America; when he ran out of funds he slept where he could. Working at KFC, I knew Kerouac had come and slept at a gas station nearby. The legend awakened the road to me, a ghostly song picking up speed, as tires turned against black pavement.(6/365)

Oakland: Colorado County

Stop Staring at My Banana

We are the mighty astronauts standing in front of the Chimp Cage.    

Albert the space Chimp hides a banana from mates. He grins with triumph.  Albert fears that we will give away his banana. We stare back pointing and grunting, we show our teeth, we jump.   

Albert pulls out a protest sign: Shhhh! Please Stop Staring!(7/365)