Eleven writers arrived at the firehouse this evening. As it turns out, four of us have birthdays this month. Ernie, Don, Dennis, and Rod all celebrate this month. Erinie’s wife, Linda, and Rod’s wife, Betsy, figured having a party for the group would be a good idea. We all enjoyed a generous slice of cake before we called the meeting to order. Thank you all for celebrating with us, and a special thank you to Linda for bringing the cake.
With eleven writers in attendance, and ten of them with work to share, we opened up with Ernie Ovitz reading a speech he’d written entitled, The Devil Made Me Do It, with credit given to the late Flip Wilson. A weakness for food lies in many of us. We try to lose weight, but that little devil wiggling around in our brain makes us give in to the desire to munch on some tasty tidbit that turns into a whole quart of ice cream, half a turkey, or a box of chocolates. Remember that 18 pounds we lost? THEY’RE BACK!
What is an Empire, and how long do they last? This is the question Bruce Haedrich is studying and plans to write an educational essay on. Bruce has begun his research and identified empires dating back over 2,500 years. Each of those he’s identified went through seven distinct historical periods. Is the USA an American Empire? Where are we? In what stage of establishment or decline are we? Maybe Bruce will enlighten us.
Regressing in time and crossing the Atlantic Ocean to “Jolly Old England,” we find ourselves in London during World War II. In War and Infidelity, Don Westerfield tells the tale of two lovers in the throes of a love affair rife with interruptions and challenges amid an international conflict. They are married, but not to each other. She is a nurse, and he is an Air Force Pilot. In this segment of the story, fate intervenes. Michael, the pilot, is badly injured while returning from dropping off the ‘Pathfinder’ troops over France on D-Day. The surgeon who repaired the damage to his leg is his lover’s husband. Does he suspect? Will Michael recover? We’ll find out next meeting.
A white-water enthusiast, Richard Cope, brings us a poem entitled, The Water is White. It hails respect for the powerful force of river rapids. Too deep to ford and too swift to cross, it is like an old flame, always alive in memory. His second reading, Another August, recalls the heat of the Sun as it begins its journey toward Fall yet still lingers long in the sky.
Nashville 1973, in Brown’s Pool Hall, no nine-ball is allowed. Danny Spurlock tells of a pool hall owner who has a thing about the number nine. Brown believes terrible things happen on the ninth. The pool hall remains locked on the ninth of the month. Even nine o’clock is shunned, don’t mention it. Everyone knows not to break the rules if they want to play pool at Brown’s. The local beat cop pops in daily for a cold drink and maybe a sandwich, except on the ninth of the month.
The Mackenzie family saga continues. It's 1917, and almost Christmas. Tremain’s sons attend Norwich University a Military School in New England. A terrible war rages in Europe. How long will it be before the United States enters the war. Tremain Mackenzie now serves as commanding officer with the Buffalo Soldiers. His command has been transferred to the Southwestern United States to chase Pancho Villa out of the U.S. The boys are dismissed for the holidays and travel across the country to be with their family.
In this reading of Strategic Deception, Grace puts out feelers in Eastern Europe to find Vitali, a programmer who may have changed her program from a boon to mankind into a tool that might bring down governments. He has been taken by someone, but why? By whom? Was the woman he lived with his betrayer? Was he betrayed?
Anne Moore took time off from her 70 at 70 project to bring us a couple of poems. In Activism, Ann advises us to ‘Shine On.’ While in Don, there is no relation to our Don, who seems to revel in cleaning his meth lab and/or his AR-15 in the nude. Good work, Anne!
To close out the reading portion of the evening, Dennis Cathcart took the floor reading about his Grandson’s 13th birthday. The young man is now in his mid-twenties, and how things have changed. We look back at our youth and see changes galore. We were taught using different methods. We often were off at the crack of dawn, completing our chores as quickly as possible to get to the important stuff, like fishing, collecting reptiles, or just having fun.
Well, that’s all I have to say for this session, except READ, READ, READ, and KEEP ON WRITING. I hope to see you on September 4th at the firehouse.
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