It had been a busy night for a Tuesday.
Richard took off the apron tied at his waist and tossed it in the bin with the other dirty aprons and cloths.
Luckily, most of the regulars from around town showed up, even though times were tough for everyone. It was nice to see the register ringing.
Richard was happy to have them—the regulars. Some came in the morning, shivering in the cold outside with the sun barely up, waiting for him to unlock the door. Others came in the evening, nearly every...
EDGAR PUT ON THE TV and turned the UHF dial, tuning it to channel 38. It didn’t come in very well, as was the case with most of the channels lately. It’d been like that for a while, and Edgar kept meaning to go up on the roof and see what was wrong with the antenna. But he hadn’t.
The picture was snowy and the image kept rolling, but he could still see it was Carlton Fisk up to bat.
The Red Sox were playing the Tigers.
Charlie was asleep on the couch, curled up in a ball and snoring like an old...
LEONARD PULLED THE NOZZLE FROM THE gas tank, gave it a little shake, and placed it back on the pump. He looked through the station wagon’s rear window and couldn’t believe all the bags Claire had packed. How long did she think they were going for?
He went inside the brick building and handed cash to the man behind the counter, then left and walked across the lot back to the car. He smelled gas, along with exhaust from a pickup truck left running by the payphone.
Leonard slid onto the driver’s...
When I wrote “Want” as a poem, it was seven stanzas long, but it wasn’t very good.
What I did have in my head, however, was the exact painting I wanted to paint to go with it, even if the poem was a bit raw and unfinished.
So to set up the scene I’d paint, I went out to Goodwill and somehow found the blue mug I had in my mind, and after going to numerous thrift shops, luckily found the perfect vintage ashtray I pictured. (The book in the painting is an Elmore Leonard novel, minus the hardcover...
I'm afraid I've spent too much of my life worried about all there is I need to do, and what I was always supposed to do to make each day more “productive.“
Of course, I wish I could go back and enjoy the things I now miss. Or, the people, really. Like most people, I took the opportunities to spend time where it mattered most for granted. Maybe I thought there was something more important to do. Maybe I had to go to work.
But now I'm at the age where I look back and see clearly what’s passed...
Above is my painting for the cover to We’re Not Down. Rocky is in the doorway waiting for Brock. The window to the right, with the blue light from the TV glowing behind the window, is where Ted is also waiting for his son to come home.
You can view the book and cover here.