Cameron D. Garriepy's Blog, page 8

The Soloist: Part Eight

Continued from Part Seven, or you can start from the beginning. The Grove Street Church occupied a plot of land in a residential area a few blocks from the center of town. Not such a long walk from Jojo’s apartment over the tea shop, but a cold one on a dark December night. The lights […]

The Soloist: Part Seven

Continued from Part Six, or you can start from the beginning. When applause broke out at the end of Bill, Talia nearly dropped the chipped mug of chicken soup she’d been nursing in the back lot. She didn’t, but the soup sloshed over the rim and her spoon went clattering to the dirty asphalt. She […]

The Soloist: Part Six

Continued from Part Five, or you can start from the beginning. A woman’s only day off in a week wasn’t meant to start hauling her son to church by his ear. Not literally by his ear, and not to church—in that sense, but to the church. The handsome, kind Reverend Doctor Reilly Hunt’s church. If […]

The Soloist: Part Five

Continued from Part Four, or you can start from the beginning: Reilly finished printing requests and recipient numbers onthe Gifting Tree tags somewhere between two and three in the morning. He yawned, set his desk back in order and left the pile of tags on Jojo’s desk for the morning. The need in the community […]

The Soloist: Part Four

Continued from Part Three, or you can start from the beginning: Talia came home to a cold, dark house. There was grease in her pores, and her feet ached, but she had a day’s pay in her purse and hope in her pocket. She deposited a to-go cup of coffee from Hank’s and a bag […]

The Soloist: Part Three

Continued from Part Two, or you can start from the beginning Hank’s was never empty unless it was closed, but Reilly rarely saw the afternoon crowd. His arrival was met with pleasant, but frank curiosity. For every nod, every hey Doc, every smile, there was a silent question. What’s he doing here at this time […]

The Soloist: Part Two

Continued from Part One. Reilly parked his truck in the old barn behind the church. At seventeen, the old Ford didn’t owe him anything, and Reilly knew it. He skipped his jacket; the heat in truck only had two settings: Off and Death Valley. Sure, the sweat might freeze in his hair, but the cold […]

The Soloist: Part One

Hank, whose neon-illuminated name graced the roof of the dining car on Washington Street, lost track of the purchase order he was tallying when he heard an angel singing in the alley behind the diner. O come all ye faithful, the angel instructed, joyful and triumphant. It was a fearless voice, deep and ringing, pure […]

Blood Magic Is Nothing to Trifle With

By now, you know I submit an original audio short to R.B. Wood’s Wordcount Podcast on the regular. I know podcasts are not everyone’s cup of tea, so here is my last offering, originally recorded for Episode 60 of The Wordcount Postcast. (You can listen here, if you’re so inclined — if I do say […]

What I Read on My Summer Vacation

Do you ever forget you’re a person? Work and chores and obligations and parenting tangles you up so fiercely you forget how to relax? It happened to me this spring. The company I work for diversified over the winter, and the brunt of the extra labor fell on me. I was struggling in the weeds, […]