This is literary fiction and not part of my family stories. It contains crude language. Early in my freshman year at Carroll High School, I was sitting in the breezeway during lunch with my empty tray next to me when Ryan Gomez walked up with two other freshman football players. I pulled a snickers barContinue reading “Delbert Ferry Miner of the Body of Christ”
Tag Archives: Literary Fiction
Our Marriage Is Becoming Fine Art
As the week went by, I started to have a reservation or two about what was going on in Pennsylvania. Lauren kept telling me how great it was to be with Lindsay, how great Carson was, how it was really good she had gone out there because of all she could do for Lindsay, howContinue reading “Our Marriage Is Becoming Fine Art”
In the Still of the Night
I got too busy to write a daily post, so I am trying a new draft of a horror/suspense first chapter I have been working on. I previously published another version, wrote a lot more, then trashed it for something more subtle. If you are looking for the daily post, you can skip this. IfContinue reading “In the Still of the Night”
Say Hi, Robert
They were back in Southern territory, and word was that the enemy was on the other side of these woods. It was spring, and the day had started cool but ended warm. Will was coated in sweat in the late afternoon when orders came to halt their march and set up camp for the night.Continue reading “Say Hi, Robert”
Petty Slights and Indignities
Huldah, bless her soul, was the first to let Mrs. Lewis know about the new arrivals. She didn’t mean it that way, but she gave them up nonetheless. Sergeant Lewis sent his wife to the other wing to collect more bandages, and when she reached the laundry, Huldah was pulling linens out of the boilingContinue reading “Petty Slights and Indignities”
An Inside Joke by Me for Myself
The first time I saw the boy, he had soiled his pants, and I says to him, I says, “Boy, you done soiled your pants” and he says to me, “I ain’t the only one that done that–they was others who did it under fire at Perryville cuz we was all green,” and I says,Continue reading “An Inside Joke by Me for Myself”
The Ballad of Johnny Mather Sloan
[Sing to the tune of the “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”] Young Johnny Mather Sloan Lived on the Texas range. Stole a horse when six years old; His brother thought him strange. Y’all never heard the tale of the boy soldier from the heart of Texas. Damn shame. That boy and his story are asContinue reading “The Ballad of Johnny Mather Sloan”
Angel Glow
As the light faded, so did the sound of artillery, and the musket fire was only sporadic. The sounds they had been masking all day now pierced the night–the moans, howls, screams, and curses. The man was sitting up against a tree, his left thigh useless from a wound, his right shoulder blade also immobileContinue reading “Angel Glow”
The Orphan of the Orphan Brigade
“Excuse me, ma’am,” a weak voice said as she passed up the aisle. Kate turned around. “Yes, sir?” she said, a pile of fresh bandages in her arms. At first, she wasn’t sure who had even spoken. The men all lay with eyes closed, but one of them shifted. “Private Fugate, ma’am. Fifth Kentucky,” theContinue reading “The Orphan of the Orphan Brigade”
His Smile Lit Up a Room and Other Things to Say at My Funeral 