Swamped

excerpt

their mom having her siesta and quickly head to the center of the village,
past the angry dog that always barks at Eteocles, as if Eteocles
exuded some special odor the dog particularly dislikes, and in the
village square meet the rest of the rascals: Yanni, the one they called
Hleeby, a word no one knows the meaning of, and Manolis, their
cousin, and Antony, another cousin, and go hunting for sparrows.
This time, since the birds must have new hatchlings in their nests,
they decide to climb onto the roof of Hleeby’s house and search for
sparrow chicks under the roof tiles.
The only obstacle between them and their prey is Hleeby’s father,
who is having his siesta as well, which means they have to be very
careful not to wake him up because, if they do, they may as well forget
about hunting. If he catches them with sparrow chicks, he will take
them from the children and have his wife Anastasia cook them for
him, and the boys’ struggle to get the sparrow mothers to fly away
and give them room to grab the babies will have been an exercise in
futility. The boys have a plan, of course, and Nicolas, as usual, is the
mastermind who climbs up on the roof first and walks gently on the
tiles, making sure he doesn’t break any. Carefully, he turns up a few
tiles, only to discover that most of the babies have already flown away.
Only one here and there, some smaller ones or sick ones are still
roosting in the nests.
Nicolas and the other boys, including Yanni, are up on the roof
by now and manage to grab half a dozen birds, which they put in
their pockets, indifferent whether the tiny creatures are alive or dead,
and without saying a word they jump down off the roof, mission accomplished,
only to find Yanni’s dad right there waiting for them,
and without any argument or discussion they hand all the birds to
him and leave empty-handed.
Having lost all their catch, the boys decide to go to the three caves
above their village where they think they might be lucky to find some
birds roosting in the darkness, and so, armed with two flashlights
and their slingshots and stones, they walk two kilometers down the
road between the upper village and the lower and then up a path
along the hillside until they reach the caves. The next question is who
among them will go in the caves first, who will hold the flashlights…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WP3LMPX

Jazz with Ella

excerpt

Then he straightened proudly and wiped his eyes. “They’ll be calling me a peacenik back in the US.”
Her own eyes had watered several times during the march up the hill but she had taken care not to let anyone see. Why? At least this man was being honest in his emotion. Perhaps it was because the statue raised conflicting thoughts for her. Mother Russia was not a peaceful image. She was a proud woman waving her sword but as a symbol, she was a threat to her enemies, an avenger, rather than a defender. Yet this avenging angel had stirred thoughts of peace in one of this country’s so-called enemies, an American.
“No, we can’t let it happen again,” she told Bert. “Let’s remember this when we go home.” She let the tears fall this time and felt the sense of release. The two smiled and shook hands.
★
On day four, Marty and Hank went out on deck to fling a frisbee back and forth, ostensibly for their own amusement but actually to capture the interest of Lona who was reading in a deckchair.
“Whoa…son of a bitch,” Hank yelled as the frisbee nearly shot over the railing and he strained to catch it. He grinned at his lucky save. “Hey Lona, that makes 100 points for me. Sure you don’t wanna be on my team?”
“Yeah, Lona. Hank would really like to play with you.” Marty sniggered.
Lona looked up from her book and scowled. “Grow up, boys. You couldn’t handle me.” She shook her blonde curls and glared at Hank. “And you can just watch your language while you’re around a lady.”
Just then they caught sight of Ivan Nikolaevich advancing along the deck accompanied by his ugly companion and an anxious crewman.
“Whoa, look out. Here comes Mutt and Jeff, “said Marty. “Bet you the sweaty one can’t speak English. Toss him the frisbee.”
“Are you kidding? He’d probably examine it for microdots.”
“Yoohoo, Ivan Nikolaevich,” Lona called in greeting. She switched to Russian with no trace of an American accent. “Fine weather, isn’t it? The boys”—she gestured to Hank and Marty and used a diminutive that implied they were ten-year-olds—”were playing an American game. Do you have frisbee in the Soviet Union?”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763246

Poodie James

excerpt

He scrawled on the pad and handed it to Sam.
“Mayor doesn’t like me. Don’t know why.”
“I don’t either,” Sam said, “but he’s talking to the council and
the police chief about running the hobos out of town, and he told a
couple of people he wants to include you in the roundup. He
thought you were living here illegally. Now he knows better, but
that doesn’t seem to have changed his mind. He’s looking for reasons.
You want to be sure not to give him any. Good idea to stay
away from him.”
Poodie looked out across the sagebrush and boulders at the
Columbia.Abig tree stump rushed along, spinning in a whirlpool.
He scribbled, “Will avoid him, but have to work. Have to collect
stuff.”
Sam contemplated the little man, whose smile never quite disappeared.
“Just don’t collect it anywhere around his automobile
place or his house.”
“Okay,” Poodie expelled his words in a paroxysm of clouded syllables,
“thank—you—friend—thank—you.”
Poodie thanked Sam all the way to his car. Easing the big Lincoln
down the lane, the judge looked back through the mirror.
Poodie was waving. As he turned onto the road, Sam waved back,
pressed the horn button twice, then shook his head. Honking at a
deaf man.
Back inside, Poodie closed the History of Egypt and reached for
the red spiral bound notebook he used as a journal.
May 15
I haven’t been near Mayor Torgerson since he chased me away from his
lot. When I go on the avenue, I go around that block. If only there were
someone who could tell me why he dislikes me. I think about it all the
time. Something in the back of my mind, but I can’t get at it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W7SHCMV