Category: Stories/Excerpts
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A Fried Chicken Story by Lynette Grace
Not many people know me personally enough to realize this, so I divulge a secret in telling you this story. I don’t mind it, there is no shame in my game. The truth is, I have a thing for hot, fried, golden brown chicken sold in the deli department of my neighborhood grocery store. It’s…
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River Cruise Impressions
The difference between the Scioto River and the St. Lawrence River is almost as great as the difference between Worthington’s Antrim Lake and the Atlantic Ocean. Similarly, my canoe experience with my father on the Scioto described in my last post was a world apart from the cruise I recently took with my wife on…
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Scioto River Canoe Trip
At first, there might not appear to be much similarity between the rather small Scioto River, which flows through central Ohio to the Ohio River, and the massive St. Lawrence River that rushes between Canada and the United States before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. But at different times, journeys on these rivers brought adventure…
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Yalc, My Archnemesis
In the creative-writing class I took at Otterbein a few years ago, the instructor once asked the students to write a little story that would have their archnemesis as the main character. This individual could be real or fictitious but had to be someone whose chief purpose in life was to make our life as…
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A Claustrophobe’s Tale: The Antique Shop
They looked perfect. Those classic ice skates that hung on the wall of the antique shop. Illuminated by a dangling light bulb, every part of those skates — boot, laces, heel, blade — appeared to be in mint condition. Maybe they would be a perfect fit for me, too. Of course, I would have to…
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A Claustrophobe’s Tale: The Attic
I wasn’t always a claustrophobe. I could go into closets or small rooms without feeling afraid. All that changed one evening when I was nine. I went into the attic to look for a pair of ice skates. I had gotten them as a birthday gift a year earlier, but back then they had been…
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Champion Jeb
He claimed to be a champion. “Yep, I was on the Cardinals’ roster in ’67 when they won the World Series.” “Really?” I said, my eyebrows rising in skepticism. He sure didn’t look like a champion with his wrinkled clothes, grimy shoes, and drooping cigarette. He’d tried to bum some change off me outside of…
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The Final Flight
Heavy gray clouds greeted Alexandre as he took off from his base next to Montfaucon. Though it was almost noon, the overcast skies made it seem much later. As he passed over the German lines, a few random shots zipped past his right wing, but he stayed on course, knowing there was little chance…
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Suppose Words Had a War with Numbers?
My late father was a mathematics whiz. As a member of the Army Air Corps during World War II, he earned the highest score in his navigators’ class. As a father, he did his best to help me get through Algebra I, and later, as a grandfather, he used geometry to do any number of…
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Transference: The Doctor
Dr. Paul Sampson leaned back on his pillow and let his eyes run over an article in the newspaper. A sense of vindication and satisfaction seeped into his heart. No that’s wrong, he said to himself, putting the newspaper down. I’m still a man of healing, a man who tries to save lives. A few…