FOOTSTEPS IN THE MUD
Tanzania. Three and a half million years ago. Archaeologists have found hominid footprints not much different from those humans today might have left, as they walked across a soft mud stretch of ground. Those footsteps in mud became stone, and then were buried under...
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 7
The Hertz counter was empty when Arch went in to get a car more fitting than Matisse’s Pontiac convertible. There were plenty of cars and Arch didn’t bother to try to negotiate rates. A hundred dollars a day for a Cadillac……
THE EIGHTH DAY SECOND PART, 30 days Has September
I finished my letter home, the light of dawn sufficient to allow me to see the paper almost as well as the lousy black ink from my cheap government ballpoint.
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 8
The rash guards weren’t so bad, Arch decided, wishing he had a vanity mirror to check himself out in. Like a wetsuit, but better because the thin elastic long sleeve top and bottoms held everything in without giving him a feeling of being compressed……..
BURNING BRIDGES
There are a lot of people mad at me, and some filled with disdain, because I write on here from the heart about what I believe, and it is not what they believe, and others who are simply afraid that I will complicate my life with needless enemies and those seeking my...
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 9
Arch Patton DOWN IN THE VALLEY Chapter 9 By James Strauss The Humvee proved to be empty, an enlisted Marine wearing no rank exiting the vehicle as Matisse and Arch got in. The heavy armored door slammed shut and the driver took off. There was nobody else in the...
B-17 Bomber
Go watch the movie about Jesse Owens running in the 1936 Olympics. It’s called “Race.” You will sit stunned. It was made long before the Trump thing happened. It’s downright eerie. The strange part is how they got the German Nazi part so down...
THE EIGHTH DAY, 30 Days Has September
Dawn would not come. Again. A slight change in the dead blackness of lower jungle life was the only clue that dawn was in the offing. I looked at my combat watch only to realize that I could barely read it anymore.
THE BROWNING 410
What happened in this last election was a bit of manipulation and a whole lot of anger. And it’s all about the Browning 410 shotgun that my friend in Washington keeps in his back closet. My friend is a great artist who doesn’t know he’s a great...
1993, Arch Patton, Chapter 1
Arch was on the beach across from Hanalei, kicking sand, and listening to a small battery powered radio belt out House of the Rising Sun, when his life came apart at the seams. Fired from the CIA for cause, again. Unable to pay for the room…….
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Is the News declaring Merry Christmas? According to the same news that brought us all the fake news before this last election, preceded by huge loads of fake news about the wars we’ve been involved with lately, the message now is that Donald Trump will just be...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 2
It wasn’t to be him or Arch Patton. It was only going to be him. Arch wasn’t a knuckle dragger and he’d never been one. You don’t fight a force of nature and when such a force materialized outside his room on the lanai the thing appeared…
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 10
“Stairway to Heaven?” Arch said, looking intently into Matisse’s eyes. “I don’t like the way you said that. What heaven or what hell are you talking about and what does it have to do with the word Haiku, General DeWare mentioned…..
THE BIG WAVE
I am trying to face into the storm, to sit on my metaphorical surfboard and stare out over the tops of smaller waves waiting for the big wave, hoping that the coming storm is not the storm of the century and the big wave is not a tsunami. I fight my basal desire to...
OH HOLY NIGHT
Holy Nights in the City of Denver, Colorado, The police there have been confiscating blankets from the homeless under a new law that allows them to take away everything homeless persons possess and destroy it. The new law is to prevent illegal camping inside the city...
ON HUMAN KINDNESS
To identify what’s wrong with conservatism and Republicanism – and now with so much of America as we are about to enter the Trump era – you don’t need high-blown theories or deep sociological analysis or surveys. The answer is as simple as it...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 3
Arch searched the house. The dog paid close attention, but never moved from his sitting position in the small great room, as if his view of the sandy beach and pounding surf beyond was not to be surrendered. There was nobody in the house.
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 11
Arch and Matisse hiked the quarter mile back past Sunset Beach until they came to Ted’s Bakery. Ted Nakamura ran the place and he knew Matisse from way back, or so Matisse claimed………..
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley Chapter 12
Peeling the duct tape from Virginia’s face was like peeling skin from the surface of a Kiwi fruit. Virginia said nothing. Her eyes spoke for her and there was as much warmth in them as there is warmth emanating from the bottom of blue glacier ice……
THE PORSCHE
I helped a guy in Hawaii once. I was helping him run his little bitty but very upscale auto repair shop. He worked on cars I loved, like Ferrari and Porsche. I worked for free and I didn’t even have a car. This guy was a seemingly great expressive and...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 4
Arch slept deeply for the first time since the classified file had appeared out of nowhere to give him his life back but also to offer him death once again, in a life controlled by unaccountable serendipity. He awoke next to the woman who lay just like he’d left her many hours before, with Harpo the Dingo lying across her feet…..
LOST HERE IN AMERICA
Why did we, as a country, choose to ‘toy with the system in here in America? What did we do when we made that decision? What will be the result of sweeping changes that are now going to reverberate back and forth across the country and then the world?
LEARNING BY GAS CHAMBERS
It is always interesting when people reveal their true underlying belief system on social media. There is a coldness that lays there dormant in so many human beings. Is it better that they normally disguise it or is it better if it is revealed to everyone around?...
NIAGARA FALLS
You simply must go back and read and study some history if you want to understand the damage potentially coming to the world when Trump takes office. The wording of his comments and those of his awful appointed officials is the same as in Germany in the early 30s....
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 5
Arch waited, backing up slowly each time he was sucked toward the cloying grasp of a swelling wave about to break. He had to get it right. He picked up a slight ‘crumping’ sound that was different from what he’d been hearing, as the waves broke in front of him, one after another without let up
GORILLA IN A SUIT
My life in the America I have known will not be going on for too much longer. Oh, I’ll still be alive, for the most part, but the America that so admired and loved John Glenn and then mostly voted for Donald Trump shows the underpinnings of a place I am about to...
FAIRY DUST
Well, it’s pretty much certain now that the new administration coming in will be stacked with climate change deniers and their Fairy Dust Anyone remember back when they had smog alert days in some of our major cities and all that? I don’t know what to...
KILLING FOR JESUS CHRIST
Why do I have to be afraid of Christians? Because of history. Because life is becoming steeped in a headlong pursuit of going back in history. Because preachers at churches across the land are instructing their flocks to treat non-believers as lepers and those lepers...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 6
Somehow Amelia Earhart was a name that appeared to have some importance in Arch’s life. Once back inside Cynthia’s home Arch spread the file out so it could dry completely, and also to give him time to lay out a rough plan of escape from the island….
THE SEVENTH NIGHT SECOND PART, 30 Days Has September
I stayed in my clustered hooch into the dark hours, whiling away the time it would take for the NVA to begin their own H&I fires. The concept of H&I (harassing and interdicting fire) created back at Fort Sill, had been used in Vietnam for years without any...
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 13
Arch took a seat next to Virginia who acted like he wasn’t there, staring at her upraised menu, as if it offered something other than common island fare. Ahi and Matisse sat across with General DeWare ……
PREVENTIVE STRIKE
Alright, want to spend the night a little sleeplessly? Want to really begin to understand what is scaring the absolute shit out of the people who’ve played with the big boys of the intelligence major leagues? That ‘concern’ that nobody, but nobody is...
Arch Patton, It was 1993, Chapter 7
Arch was stuck trying to cross a stretch of dark beach with a woman and a dog, with his rental car about to explode behind them. The dog was not going to fit under the blanket, that was for sure. Time was of the essence…..
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 14
Matisse drove the Bonneville with less than his usual abandon. The Sunday afternoon traffic on Kam Highway was simply overwhelming and there was no place to pass, illegally or otherwise, along the entire length of the two-lane highway……..
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 15
Arch Patton DOWN IN THE VALLEY Chapter 15 By James Strauss Matisse drove the Pontiac at breakneck speed. The traffic moving away from Haiku, back on Kam Highway, was spotty and moving faster than the speed limit, as...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 8
After the long climb up from Secrets Beach and arriving at the outer edge of the Princeville Resort parking lot, Arch took a few minutes to catch his breath. The sea beat up the dark cliff face from down below..
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 9
Arch Patton IT WAS 1993 Chapter Nine by James Strauss Arch awakened with a start that quickly turned into a demand that he pay attention to Harpo. The dog’s joy at being out for the night with Cynthia and Arch in the bush was as obvious as it was infectious. Dawn was...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 10
Atlantis led them down the stairs to the basement of the Princeville terminal building. The basement consisted of one long corridor with closed doors lining the walls on both sides. Mid-way down she opened one door and stood to allow them to pass.
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 16
Arch scrapped the idea of hiking in through the Waialua Forest. The topography was just too difficult. By the time he and Matisse were anywhere near the base of the stairs……..
JILL STEIN, Just another fraud
Let’s see, a whole lot of people contributed to Jill Stein’s recount effort, thinking she was trying to bring some honesty back to the U.S. election system. She collected around nine million for the effort….
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 11
With fear and trepidation on his mind, Arch raced up the concrete and steel stairs to the entrance into Amelia Earhart’s Restaurant. Giving a large quantity of drugs to strangers wasn’t like slipping somebody a “Mickey” in an old mystery show on television….
THE SEVENTH NIGHT, 30 Days Has September
“Crimson and clover, over and over” The song played over Fusner’s tactically stupid, but achingly home-calling radio. The lyrics just repeated. There was no real meaning, like the days and nights of my life in Vietnam.
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 12
Arch stared down at the little radio he held in his hand. A team player at the other end had asked for a communications check, apparently from Ringo. Arch was being given a chance to hold the enemy off or blow the whole thing completely…
Lead Pipes and Rome Burning
Lead Pipes and Rome Burning An outcry against injustice is an opinion! And all cries against injustice are interpreted as just that. If your own cries fall upon seemingly deaf ears it is because of this deep-seated belief. Since every human on the planet is in the...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 13
Arch had never flown the particular model of Beechcraft they would be inside. He knew, whether he flew the plane or not, he was about to once again endanger the only three beings on the planet who seemed to give a damn whether he lived or died.
THE SEVENTH DAY 4th PART, 30 Days Has September
I had no idea how the attack into the tree line on the other side of the Agent Orange clearing would go down. Once more, as with each day’s move since I’d been in country, things just seemed to happen without a lot of..
Arch Patton. It Was 1993, Chapter 14
Arch Patton IT WAS 1993 Chapter Fourteen by James Strauss It was 1993, and Arch was flying a King Air over the island of Kauai. Cyn was laying across the unconscious pilot to help guide the plane while Arch tried to accustom himself to the controls (like figure out...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 15
Lihue was a small town, and the airport even smaller, so Arch presumed that everyone noticed almost everything, but nobody did much of anything. Doug was popular in his way, or he wouldn’t still be flying……
STANDING ROCK SIOUX PIPELINE VETERANS
Veterans at Standing Rock! The Standing Rock Sioux of North Dakota and many US Veterans are taking a stand in a nation not known for taking much of a stand lately, about the environmental situation, clean energy, or life inside our national borders themselves. Two...
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 17
They climbed the steps to an area just below the third platform. The climb wasn’t a challenge for either of them, but looking beyond that platform they could see that the final stretch would be more difficult.
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 16
Arch knew that in order to get their small band of damaged souls on board the SS Independence, Doug needed to do exactly what he had said he might be able to do. So Arch and the pilot needed to head over to the dock to figure things out. Cyn wisely decided it would be best…..
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 17
The elevator went several floors down. Harpo and Arch got off where they’d gotten on. There was nothing to do but wait. Arch walked Harpo back out through the opening they’d driven the van into. His message to Doug had been unclear…..
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 18
Arch Patton It Was 1993 Chapter Eighteen by James Strauss Arch was on hold for the 911 dispatcher, making the most unlikely call he’d ever made in his life. The wait was less than a minute. “Nine one one, what’s the nature of your emergency?”...
THE SEVENTH DAY THIRD PART, 30 Days Has September
There was nothing to be done until crossing the open area in front of us was imminent, except get hold of some of the rations and water. My letter home was in my pocket, forgotten for the first time, my full attention and following thought process had been unable to...
Arch Patton, It Was 1993, Chapter 19
Harpo heard the police car before Arch did. His ears perked up and his muzzle pointed toward the only place the car could enter the pier dock area. A very slight mewl came out of his throat, which surprised Arch. What do you know, in his way the dingo could speak. “Got it,” Arch assured him, patting Harpo’s side…..
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