I write for the short story contests on vocal, as they help me stay focused. Working on a western novel.
"Looks like they's comin'," Charlie Petersen said to his companions. He again put his good eye to the keyhole. "I'm countin' ten, maybe twelve of 'em. Sheriff Dean out front and his Deputy beside him. They's all carrying guns."
By mesa2 months ago in Fiction
"Swimming, swimming, swimming. Grasping, but for what I can't see. It must be treasure… I can feel it." "And what else is going on?"
By mesa3 months ago in Art
The three rapid knocks signalled trouble. "Not now," the man said from behind the desk, his voice sharp and serious but not angry. Then, immediately, three more knocks followed, their rapid hollow rasp indicating the anxiety of the messenger.
By mesa3 months ago in Fiction
The wind blowing through the second-story window arrives in a mad hurry for nowhere, the edges of its fury lifting my letter from the desk and flinging it across the room. I watch it tumble through the air in a frantic flight, and it reminds me that any and every thing here is blown constantly by the evil intentions of the wind, whose only satisfaction derives from absolute destruction.
By mesa5 months ago in Fiction
I didn't know Jim very well before that fateful summer some fifty years ago. I got to know his mother, Rita, more than I cared to in the turbulent weeks that followed, but that was against my choosing. And maybe it all ended quite literally for them – Jim and Rita – but it never ended for me. And I don't know which of us got it worse.
Take a right at the end of the long dirt road and just keep going. Pass by the lone pine tree struck by lightning in the storm of July 4th some 25 years ago. Stay with the deer trail until you reach the creek that meanders through the hardy meadows. Walk upstream to where it forks, and take the eastern branch. Watch for cows when you reach Farmer Henry’s. You’ll know it by the foreboding signs. Keep your eyes and ears open and your head low. The black bull will kill you if it can.
By mesa6 months ago in Poets
