Welcome to July! The mid-month of the northern hemisphere summer (based on the traditional school calendar that still has a hold on so many of our schedules). This year, July also happens to be sandwiched in between two 5-Saturday months. Which means, here at ck’s days, it is in the middle of two 5-part short stories. And if you have been a reader of this little blog for a minute or two, you know I write short stories during the 5-Saturday months and you probably also picked up on the fact that when they are so close together like this, I tend to combine the stories into a 10-part short story. Much like that last sentence, the stories tend to get stretched a little thin. But I digress, let’s talk about last month’s short story first.
Continue readingshort story
Plan B: Chapter IV
Chapter IV: Good News/Bad News
Lizzie rested her forehead on her steering wheel. She couldn’t move. Her car was parked downtown facing the train tracks and she needed a train to come by. A big, loud train that would drown out the scream that was inside of her needing to get out. This is how she took care of overwhelming problems in high school. The fact that the last time she remembered coming to this exact spot was when her mom passed away was not lost on her.
Continue readingPlan B: Chapter III
Chapter III Movie Club
Lizzie stood outside the library door Friday night wondering how this could possibly be her life now. Instead of a hip New York club she was waiting for someone to open the library, the li-bra-ry door of all places. On a Friday night. “Someone sure hates me,” she said and glanced upward. As soon as she did though, the thought occurred to her if she was still back in New York she would probably be working and still wouldn’t be at a hip New York club unless she was waitressing there. “Fine,” she mumbled to no one in particular. “I get it, I get it.”
Continue readingStory behind the post: Songbird
Last month’s short story was about a fictional singer that rose to prominence in the 1980’s. Probably what we would call a one-hit wonder, his flame died out fairly quickly at a young age. While I wanted to give Jimmy B. a happy ending, I just couldn’t realistically see how that was possible. So, it was a bit of a downer. Apologies for that.
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter V
CHAPTER V: VH1 Behind the Music
“Is your homework done?” Amanda asked her daughter Millie even though she knew the answer.
“I am just getting to it,” Millie replied rolling off the futon.
“I bet,” her mother said and picked up the remote. “Let’s get rid of the distractions, shall we?” she aimed it at the television but stopped before turning it off.
“Whatever happened to Jimmy B.?” the unseen announcer in the television show asked. “This is VH1 and you are watching Behind the Music, stay tuned.”
Amanda sat down on the futon.
“Mom?” Millie asked. “What are you doing?”
“I loved Jimmy B.!” she said. “You know, he was my very first concert.” She looked at her daughter. “I was probably about your age.”
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter IV
CHAPTER IV: Descent
Jimmy B sighed and closed his eyes. He hated playing this particular venue. Two years ago he played at this arena and his whole life changed. That was his first big concert with 20,000 screaming fans. Nothing could have prepared him for the whirlwind that night thrust him into.
For starters, his mom and his manager Pete drew definite lines after that concert. Neither one was willing to give an inch on Jimmy’s future. Pete was concerned with the bottom hard line: money and profit. Namely his. Jimmy’s mom was more motivated toward making sure her son was healthy and happy. The two lines never crossed and Jimmy was stuck in the middle. He often felt like a rope in a tug of war.
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter III
CHAPTER III: The Rise
Jimmy B’s knee bounced nervously. He swallowed and swallowed again. His mouth felt dry. How was he going to sing with a dry mouth?
His new manager was looking over some forms and sat next to him on the couch. “Son, you need to stop that thing from shaking. I’m trying to read our agreement here. I need to focus.”
Jimmy put his hand on his knee to get it to stop moving but it didn’t work.
“Jimmy,” his mother said, “why don’t you get yourself some water?”
He nodded and stood up.
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter II
CHAPTER II: Discovered
Jimmy swept the floor dutifully. He worked as a janitor for one of the small music studios that had opened during the disco fad and performed his duties with exactness and precision. In this instance, his methodical and precise ways helped him excel. Unlike when he went to school. He managed to graduate a year after the rest of his class but it was a struggle. The only way he made it was with his mom’s help. That first year of junior high was particularly rough. At least until his mom and him developed a coping system. Every day he came home and discussed some new social situation he was unfamiliar with and together they developed a plan. Armed with a memorized script of what to say if the situation arose again, he would go to school the following day. Of course, what was rehearsed the night before rarely occurred two days in a row but after several months, he had enough scripts and practiced scenarios he was able to navigate school.
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter I
CHAPTER I: School
James Bernard Peternelli sat in the chair quietly. Just as his mother instructed him to do. Of course, everything James Bernard did was donequietly. That is why he was sitting outside the junior high school’s principal’s office. He could hear his mother’s raised voice as she spoke with the principal and guidance counselor. Did he understand the meeting concerned his fate at the school? The school officials didn’t think so but his mother certainly did. That was why the two of them were at the school. His mother was determined to prove he had every right to be taught in the public school.
Continue readingStory behind the Post: The Christmas Dinner
December was a 5-Saturday month which meant another 5-part short story on my little blog. The premise of the story came to me in the form of a Chevy commercial. I had been toying with a similar idea for some time that never materialized. But after watching the ad on social media, my own thought began to sprout.
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