I saw a student driver today. It’s been a while. The roads are so chaotic around here, they’re probably only allowed around the neighborhoods until they have their official licenses. I felt bad for the kid, driving in evening traffic, even if it was just around the suburbs.
And it reminded me of my first driving lesson. When I finally got scheduled for the driving portion of driver’s ed, I was thrilled. I was so ready to drive. The moment I sat behind that wheel and let my foot off the brake (never mind the gas, we just rolled the car first), all I could think was “I’m in charge of something that can kill people.”
No lie. I’d never had that much power before, and I seriously felt the weight of it. It’s a wonder I made it through driver’s ed at all, since every time I drove I thought about the immense responsibility it is to operate a car.
But it wasn’t all seriousness. Somehow humor invades my life constantly. In this case, it was in the form of my driving instructor. (more…)
I started writing fiction when I was a kid. To be honest, I couldn’t really give you an age, but my best guess is 7. No lie.
I was going to tell you about one of my first stories but why do that when I can let you read it? Well, mostly because it’s embarrassing but what the heck. I wrote this one when I was about 9. See if you can recognize the subtle influence of the fables I read as a child; my adult self comments are in teal:
Once upon a time, there lived in the forest a small elf. He had escaped from Santa’s workshop. (Because apparently Santa enslaved the elves.) He got into a lot of mischief. His name was Otto. (more…)
He was standing hundreds of miles away when he got the news: his mother lay dying. He booked the next flight out, hoping, praying that he’d get there in time. He had one chance to get to her, one chance to say goodbye. She was fading quickly.
But things started going wrong. A delay, long enough to affect his next flight, the last flight of the day. A day could be too long. His mother didn’t have a day.
His heart broken, tears began streaming down his face in the middle of the airplane. He may not get the chance to say goodbye. (more…)
When you buy a house, you acquire a number of mysteries. I’m not talking about doors closing on their own or thumps in the night or unclaimed boxes in the attic. No, our house mystery came in the form of a single light switch.
Light switches themselves are not mysterious. Flip the switch, a light turns on. Not complicated. (Assuming you have enough bulbs.)
Except this switch–a switch in our bedroom that didn’t seem to control anything in our bedroom, oddly enough. We joked, as we flipped it on and off repeatedly, that somewhere a light was flashing like an S-O-S signal. Or maybe a garage door was flying up and down. Who knew? Not us, clearly. (more…)
I… have incredibly strange dreams. It’s not a new phenomenon. I’ve always had intense, action-packed dreams. Often more interesting than the last book I read. I have no idea why, but I have to admit–I kinda like it. (I’m a story-teller; would you expect any other reaction?)
One of my latest ones really takes the cake for suspense dreams so I thought I’d share it with you. Are you ready for this? (Probably not, but here we go…) (more…)