James Pyles's Blog, page 208

D is for Dog

Daniel was deciding just how much damage a small kitten could do to him, even if it were an anomaly, when frantic barking came from the other entrance to the barn. Towser, the large golden retriever, charged in racing at the strange pink cat. The feline immediately ran away, ducking behind bales of hay. The […]

Anniversaries

Antoine stepped back outside the Hotel Charlotte. He’d hoped on this 20th anniversary, staying at the place where they’d spent their honeymoon would finally quiet the ghost. It hadn’t. If only she would rest and let him rest. He tossed his overnight bag into the backseat, got in and started the car. “Can we go […]

C is for Cat

After breakfast the next morning, Daniel ran out the backdoor of his aunt’s and uncle’s farm house and into the barn. Sure enough, he found Fearful Symmetry relaxing in a patch of sunlight. Aunt Abby said that Uncle Ethan could name their dogs if she could name the cats. Fearful Symmetry was the mama cat and […]

Firewood in May

“All the firewood she’ll need for next winter.” Gerald had been laboring for weeks to make sure the house was ready and that she would be taken care of. Most folks would say that having the winter firewood cut in May was a little premature, but he knew he was already out of time. The […]

B is for Boy

Shelley helped Daniel get his carry on out of the overhead bin. Since he was only ten, she was the flight attendant who made sure he was taken care of on his plane trip from California to Idaho. Daniel hardly felt he needed the attention, and his parents remarked more than once that he was […]

A is for Airplane

This wasn’t Daniel’s first plane ride, but it was the first one he’d taken by himself. At age ten, his parents thought he was old enough to fly alone from their home in Newport Beach, California to visit his aunt and uncle in Idaho. He’d been very careful to look at each passenger on the […]

The Unexpected Guest

Jerry’s hobby of refurbishing used laptops provided him with a modest additional income and some interesting experiences. “It’s amazing what some people will leave on their hard drives,” he murmured as he opened the lid to his latest acquisition, one he found at a yard sale. He was used to finding all sorts of food […]

Just Another Monday in Chicago

Walking down Michigan Avenue, Johnny remembered the meme, “Come to Chicago for the food, stay because you got murdered,” yet all he saw was another “hustle bustle” Monday morning in a big city. Naturally he came prepared. This was mostly a vacation trip, but he did have one bit of business to attend to. There […]

Every Sunday at Table 19

Dave closed his soda shop on Sundays for two reasons. As a devout Christian, he believed Sunday was the Sabbath and he refused to do business on Christ’s holy day. The second reason was more complicated. He knew they needed to have some time just the two of them. Each Saturday night, right after he […]

Anne

Her grave was one of the few to survive the uprising. Earth defeated the invaders in the Revolution of ’48. I can barely make out ‘Anne’ on the gravestone. She was thirty when she died, one of the millions killed in the uprising. Only because my project was so secret did she think I died […]