Congrats to my amazing friend Rachel Leigh on this aw-shucks shoutout for her cover design of my novel The Man Who Ran for God. Thanks to thebookdesigner.com.
Easily the prettiest thing ever associated with my work.
Category: Uncategorized
The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 4)
IV. I Will Spue Thee out of My Mouth
They met not at any Waffle House but an Arby’s where two highways crossed. Dodd went alone, driving a rental car. He put on a red baseball cap and sunglasses before he went in. Now was not a good time to stop for selfies with his fans or — worse — have the press show up again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept his head down, opening the glass doors to the restaurant with a push of the shoulder.
He went inside.
Ding, ding! Bong, bong!
Dodd yelped. This loud, incessant clanging struck up the moment his first toe touched the grimy tile. Like a dinner bell on a farm.
“Look who it is!” someone shouted. Continue reading “The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 4)”
Implicated
Implicated
Imagine me, five years old, and scared to death to open my eyes — to take even the bitsiest peep — during prayers at the dinner table, at church services, or weddings. Was it some rule set by my God-fearing mother, a warning from a Sunday school teacher, or just basic intuition? Don’t look or God can’t do His work!
Wherever the habit came from, you’d bet wisely on me gluing my eyelids shut anytime the words “bow your heads” or “let us pray” were uttered by a grownup. Once, I didn’t hear the conclusive “amen” and so sat there, waiting, head balanced on the clenched hands in my lap, until I was shaken awake at the end of a sermon.
I was seven, I think, when it dawned on me: Since I’d never taken even the slightest peek, I had no idea whether anyone else was obeying the rules so staunchly. Or if God Himself ever entered the room and folded his arms, watching everybody as he twirled his white beard of cloud and chuckled at us oblivious mortals.
Seven, and no baby anymore! Rebellion and risk called out to me now, rather than repelling me.
So at Auntie Rae’s funeral, I decided I’d take a good look around when the preacher lifted up his voice to the heavens and asked us all to stand there, like good boys and girls, with our hands wadded up and our eyes tightly squeezed. Just this once.
The Good-Bye Garden & Other Stories: now available!
Dear friends and readers,
My new fiction anthology, The Good-Bye Garden & Other Stories, is now out in the world, awaiting your judgment. It contains some works previously published on this blog, many more that were not, and a lot of very pretty artwork by Indianapolis artists.
Have a look — and remember, Amazon reviews are always awesome.
“The Good-Bye Garden & Other Stories” on Amazon
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000032_00039]](https://surfingbaku.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/coverjpeg.jpg?w=197&h=300)
Tannenbaum
The perfect little family pulled up in a burgundy Ford Pinto and toddled out in their snow boots onto the roadside. They were the seventeenth perfect little family to arrive that day. There was a red-nosed poppa, with his funny flap hat and trimmed mustache, and a blushing momma. A little boy and a littler girl – so little was this one, the snow on the ground came darn near up to her dimpled chin.
There was just enough room for them to stand between the road and the nearest of infinite rows of evergreens. Continue reading “Tannenbaum”
