An update on Go Down Looking
My fifth novel, Go Down Looking is
in production and should be released in April or May. Here is the first of
several excerpts and progress updates. I welcome your questions and comments.
Rance clicked the knife blade back and
forth with his thumb. “A few neighbors have told me that they have seen an old
man sitting on the porch of Papa’s old shack. Said the old man was playing a
fiddle.”
Jake stood down from the tailgate. “Was it
Papa? How would he get out there?”
Rance swiped his knife blade across his
brogans and closed it. “Not likely. No horse and no fiddle anymore. Probably
heard the wind and imagined they saw him.”
New Year and Seasoned Gentlemen Texting
Confession: I had never watched the Times Square celebration on New
Year’s Eve until this year. Resolution: I will never do it again (unless a
grandchild talks me into it). Apologies to Dick Clark and all of you who were
or are fans of New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. When I was younger, it just seemed
depressing to be watching television at the annual witching hour unless you
could find a great old movie. I have now tried most of the alternatives—parties
etc… and being fast asleep at midnight has emerged as a clear winner. After a
hearty breakfast, you’re ready for black-eyed peas to start the New Year. Sound
old-fogey? Maybe, but seriously, what’s entertaining about watching a bunch of
rowdy revelers (most under the influence) wearing silly hats and screaming at
the top of their lungs? Yes, there were entertainers (mostly singers), but I
confess I did not like a single one. I didn't even recognize most of their
names. And the hosts? I tried ABC and
Fox cable. Kelly and Hemmer seemed ill at ease with each other and just plain
ran out of anything to say. The ABC guys (I did not and will not commit their
names to memory) alternated between wild screams and silly antics. One looked
like a cardboard cut-out of Dick Clark with a personality to match (the
cardboard, not Clark).
So why did I not turn off the tube and go to bed? Because two
grandsons (ages nine and fourteen) were determined to stay up. Granddaughter Hannah,
eleven, wisely went to bed about ten. The older teen grandchildren have
outgrown celebrating the New Year with us. Who could blame them? I admit abandoning ship while Jan stayed up a few years in the past. But this year, I figured if
Gray Boy (the youngest) could do it, and Landon could support him, so could I.
Maybe there was something to that apple or ball falling that would impress me.
Nope. Pretty anti-climactic.
When I finally went off to bed a few seconds after midnight, I heard
my cell phone. A text from John Ray. I don’t recall exactly, but the text said
something like GBT. I think my friend
since boyhood set his alarm so that he could awaken and groggily send a text to
his friends to prove he could stay up past midnight, and hit the wrong keys. I
chuckled as I replaced the phone in its tiny beach chair (a story for another
time). It rang again. John again. HNY.
This I understood. I am sure he thought I would not see it until the next
morning. So I texted him back at 12:10 AM. Same2U.
I'm not sure if that qualifies as text lingo or tweet speak, but I thought it
was pretty cool. His reply? Go to bed.
There are many, many John Ray stories. This has been one of them.
“You have to push back against the age as hard as it pushes against
you.” Flannery O’
Connor.
Connor.
3 comments:
Okay you have me hooked. Of course I was hooked before reading the first sentence of "Go Down Looking," but what you posted really did the trick.
I'll be so glad when it's out and readable.
We spent the night until after twelve at least around a campfire with our Bevil's Rangers bunch. There were several trying to make dulcimer, Indian flute, guitar and other music. No one succeeded except the Indian flute player. This year was the first year in a long time that we were up.
At least it wasn't cold and the moon was shinning.
Looking forward to your new book Jim. As for New Year's Eve, we did manage to celebrate listening to a little music and doing a little two-stepping. You are right, the NYC New Year's event on TV is pretty boring. So until we reach that time when we are not able to get on the dance floor & boot scoot, (hopefully that is a long time away) you won't find us in front of the TV on New Year's Eve.
Hey Jim, You sound as old as I am. Of course, you're not. We lived an hour and a half from Times Square for twenty yers and never bothered to join the crowd. As you said, not much fun watching that crowd. But, I'm happy they go there. They're on foot and won't be driving after drinking.
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