The Duke, Part Thirty-Eight
THE DUKE Part XXXVIII Darren followed Star into the home, expecting a party atmosphere, or to hear Elvis singing off in some corner of the living room like had been the case the previous time he’d met him. But there was none of that. Instead, once he made the turn...
The Duke, Part Thirty-Seven
THE DUKE Part XXXVII Darren stopped at the wall, waited a few seconds before leaping up, and then, once atop the wall, sat down on a projecting rock instead of jumping over the wire and down to the other side. He had to think the whole thing through, as best he could....
The Duke, Part Thirty-Six
THE DUKE Part XXXVI Darren walked toward his home, wanting nothing more than a hot shower to remove the nearly ingrained aroma of cooked meat and shellfish following his shift at the Cannon Club. The waitresses had been stunned by the fifty dollar tip the Colonel...
The Duke, Part Thirty-Five
THE DUKE Part XXXV In the short time that it took for the Duke to isolate and pull Star aside, and Judy and her sister were treated like they didn’t exist on the planet, Darren considered what had happened, and what had almost happened. His mind ran at light speed,...
THE COWARDLY LION, Chapter VI
THE COWARDLY LION Chapter VI Shoot appeared from seeming nowhere. I hadn’t noticed the doors swinging at all. He helped my brother back to a vertical position and gave him a towel, and then went to work cleaning up the mess on the...
The Duke, Part Thirty-Four
THE DUKE Part XXXIV Darren hadn’t even seen Judy since the very first discussion he’d had with Mrs. Levy and he instantly regretted that their first encounter would be in such an exposed and potentially embarrassing place and situation. He decided that, since there...
THE COWARDLY LION, Chapter V
THE COWARDLY LION Chapter Five There was night and day in the I.C.U., only the night was brought about by merely dimming the existent lighting enough so that the pain drug clock could barely be seen. Visitors did not come at night. Doctors only came if emergency care...
The Duke, Part Thirty-Three
THE DUKE Part XXXIII Jimmy and Darren climbed the steps onto the small long lanai that ran out from the center of the main building, and a low white fence made of what looked like narrow bowling pins. There were Koa wood chairs, of the most expensive sort, lined...
The Duke, Part Thirty-Two
THE DUKE Part XXXII Darren staggered out from the breakfast, his face so white that Henrietta ran after him to make sure he was okay. “You Haole boy, but you okay,” she said when he stopped briefly to respond to the grip she had on his left forearm. “Your mom...
The Duke, Part Thirty-One
THE DUKE Part XXXI Jimmy’s usual parking place was available, without any cars in the slots in front of or behind it. No parallel parking was necessary. Jimmy pulled right in, slightly sliding the rear end almost into contact with the curb before stopping. Darren...
THE COWARDLY LION, Chapter IV
The room was silent, as the three colonels shifted and arranged papers in their laps. The major held up a single sheet of thick paper and began to read, as the staff sergeant readied her hands over a small electronic device that sat on the tiny top shelf of her...
The Duke, Part Thirty
THE DUKE Part XXX The night’s work was one of intent busy work, Darren running back and forth to the kitchen from all dining positions out on the open floor. A small musical group played on the small stage set behind the open-air dance floor. Darren avoided the...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Nine
THE DUKE Part XXIX Work at the club was different. Darren could sense it as soon as he walked in. The waitresses did not look at him or talk to him. It was like he was not there at all. Normally, their chatter was all over the place, since there were, as yet, no...
Interviewed by Peter Wright and Kathleen Beauvais
I was honored to be interviewed by author, former Rhodesian soldier, and entrepreneur Peter Wright and his partner in business, Kathleen Beauvais on their interesting podcast, Yak-King It has been a while since I shared some of the reason why it took so long to finish...
The Cowardly Lion, Chapter III
I.C.U. was nothing more or less than a long single room with three beds in it. There were no windows, no television set, but, I noted as I was wheeled in, there was the ubiquitous large clock mounted on the wall over the doubled doors that had split down the center to...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Eight
THE DUKE Part XXVIII Darren slunk down in the back seat of the Corvair, bracing his arms and legs against the jerky half-wild movements of the car’s body as Jimmy drove even wilder than normal. Star seemed highly entertained by the dangerous driving exercise,...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Seven
THE DUKE Part XXVII Jimmy trotted toward the great concrete arch of the Natatorium while Darren hung back, moving slowly but steadily toward the couple. The Duke was wearing his usual ‘uniform’ consisting of a white short-sleeved shirt, cotton trousers, and leather...
THE COWARDLY LION, Chapter II
I awoke in bits and pieces. I blinked my eyes up at the ceiling, which was made of some strange greenish plaster, with light bulbs swinging slightly from wires hanging vertically down. I realized, hazily, that I was in some sort of hard-roofed tent. I tried to move my...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Six
THE DUKE Part XXVI Darren went to the table and dutifully pulled out a chair and sat down, more than a bit worried that someone might come along and see him with Mrs. Levy dressed the way she was; or undressed the way she was. “I’ll throw something on, for the sake...
The Duke, Part XXV
THE DUKE Part XXV Sergeant Cross looked up at both he and Jimmy, but made no comment about why the other boy was there. He simply waited, his tiny office filled by the three of them, two smallish chairs and the desk the sergeant sat behind. There was no room for...
THE COWARDLY LION, Chapter I
THE COWARDLY LION, Chapter I The words “stay with us” burned their way into my consciousness, as I fought to comprehend the awful condition of my body and even my state of existence on the planet. The words kept repeating, as I tried to see through a distorted return...
The Silent Killers, Editorial, August 15, 2020
The Silent Killers Editorial, August 15, 2020 How many are we going to lose from the silent killers, not trotted out like the COVID mortality results? How many people are going to die because they had serious surgery and nobody came? Nobody could reach them? Nobody...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Four
The Duke Part XXIV Johann Strauss, the composer of the Blue Danube Waltz, took over the next few minutes, as the three of them sat on top of the thick concrete slab that made up the protective roof of the closed and shuttered observation slit below. All the WWII...
THE THIRTIETH DAY, 30 Days Has September
I had the leg strength. I’d always had the legs. The records that had fallen to me in the obstacle course, running, and other military skills during officer candidate school and the Basic School had all been functions of lower body strength and agility. The glacis was...
Editorial, Mean-Spirited
Editorial August 4, 2020 The planet is in flux. It’s not just the USA, which is the last place one would have expected hysterical drama to shut down. No, the world is filled with it right now because of the Internet, the penetration of television news and radio...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Three
THE DUKE Part XXIII Darren went back inside and began the real work of getting the place ready, the kind he made himself do well but didn’t like at all. The work he loved was with the people, not doing the scut work before anyone arrived, although nothing would be...
The Duke, Part Twenty-Two
THE DUKE Part XXII The single thought that pervaded Darren’s mind, and kept him from worrying about what Sergeant Cross might say to his request to get confirmation and a date and time for the Elvis dinner, was about the weekend and what Jimmy had said....
The Duke, Part Twenty-One
THE DUKE Chapter XXI Darren’s father was in a rage by the time he got home from work. The rages were all founded upon the same squishy ground. Bacardi Light was the name of the ground. “Who’s this Kahanamoku character?” his father had started with. Darren was a...
The Duke, Part Twenty
THE DUKE Part XX Jimmy blasted the Spyder up the flank of Diamond Head, the Corvair’s turbocharger emitting a pleasing jet engine whine until taking the corner onto 16th Avenue. Seconds later Darren was home and Jimmy took off again. With its strange rear suspension...
The Duke, Part Nineteen
THE DUKE Part XIX Sandy Beach was called Sandy, but only by Haoles and tourists. It was Sandies Beach to the locals, just like the wonderful Bellows Beach further around the shore, just beyond Waimanalo, was called Sherwood Forest to them. The tourists who visited...
The Social Order, Editorial July 5, 2020
The Social Order, the Social Condition, and the meaning of ‘Social’ itself. The social definition is simple, whether determined by a dictionary in exotic detail or in seemingly understandable catch-phrases like ‘we are all in this together.’...
The Duke, Part Eighteen
THE DUKE Part XVIII Sunday took a long time in coming, as Darren lay in his bed, under a giant poster of the moon, carefully pinned to the wall above his head. The night had been long and filled with waking moments of terror. Terror that Jimmy might not make it back...
Coronavirus, COVID19, Reflection #82
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic Reflection #82 Dateline: Lake Geneva June 27, 2020 Saturday morning, coming down. Lake Geneva is filled with people. There are no masks in sight, except for my own. There is social distancing but it’s down to about...
The Duke, Part Seventeen
THE DUKE Part XVII It was difficult to get through the night, and then stay on to clean up the club after almost everyone else had left. Jimmy’s condition was unknown and Darren had no way to find out, except to go to Jimmy’s house and talk to his parents. Jimmy was...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #81
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic Reflection #81 Pay attention to what is instead of what things seem to be. The combined companies of Google and Apple, and then all the cell phone makers, forged an agreement to put a latent entry on everyone’s cell...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #80
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #80 June 22, 2020 Hawaii, and why the island of Oahu is important to you, even though you are not there. Hawaii held a prominent position in the Chicago Tribune newspaper this morning. The Tribune’s...
Reflection of the Past and Present
The Past and Present Flow Together I open chapter XVII of The Duke, set on Oahu in 1963, with the words: “The events of the past two days have so tossed my life atop a rough sea of confusion, accidental circumstance and indecision. Is it possible that I can...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #79
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #79 June 20, 2020 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” That’s not a quote from the Constitution. It’s from the Declaration of...
A Celebratory Weekend? – Editorial June 20, 2020
Celebration Let’s see, and consider, what is going on right now in the nation on the longest day of the year. Yesterday was Juneteenth, a holiday almost nobody knew about because, somehow, the freeing of the slaves back in 1865 was never publicly appreciated....
Supreme Court Direction and More, Editorial, June 19 , 2020
Dreaming gay dreams…as the United States Supreme Court faces away from the growing progressive wind to run for cover. The very conservative court, able to vote on any issue with a 5-4 majority, begins to see the direction the wind is beginning to blow in and...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #78
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic. Reflection #78 June 19, 2020 TRACERS. They are still coming, like a hoard of mosquitos in the night. By the time you hear them humming around you, it will be too late to take protective measures. Get a Faraday Bag...
The Duke, Part Sixteen
THE DUKE Part XVI Darren moved toward the Moana Hotel, using the hot sidewalk instead of the more protective cooler sand along the shore. He’d left his flip flops in the car, but it had only occurred to him that he’d done so when he began his trek back to the...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #77
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #77 June 14, 2020 THE VERY NECESSARY PREDICTIONS ABOUT WHAT IS TO COME. Is it time yet to look ahead, through the glimmering haze of the rents in the social fabric, a fabric that has been ripped and torn apart...
John Bolton who? Editorial, June 12, 2020
John Bolton who? This guy, resigning from the White House in September of last year, was going to be a lightning rod of booming revelation, with respect to Trump’s wrongdoings. Oh, I forgot, there was the book he was writing. He had to keep silent while getting...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #76
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #76 June 12, 2020 The Coronavirus is very real. Covid-19 is right here, all over the place and it’s killing a lot of people, but it also came along and was used, and continues to be used, as an...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #75
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #75 June 12, 2020 Of course, the virus is back? What were you thinking? The racial protests are quieting and there’s no civil disturbance violence or looting to be covered. The mass media does not simply sit there...
The Duke, Part Fifteen
The Duke Part XV How had the cop known that Jimmy was a military brat, and therefore needed transport to the Naval Hospital at Tripler instead of Queens or some place closer and private? Why was the Army coming? And why were the cops acting so weird, like a...
It Is All About the Money…
All About the Money It is about the money. Where did it come from? First two trillion, and now three more. The gross revenue from all sources for the country was only 20 trillion. The total taxes collected in 2019 was 3.46 trillion. In 2018 it was 3.22 trillion. Where...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #74
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, and more Reflection #74 1. Trump. 2. The virus. 3.The shut down of the United States. 4.Minneapolis and all major American cities. What’s next? Our system of reporting the ‘news’ has decayed into this...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #73
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #73 Why have all the major news organizations, left, right and in the middle, all concluded that these protests/riots are the fault of one black citizen being murdered in Minnesota…and the general nature...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #72
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #72 June 1, 2020 So, did you think, when I predicted that an ‘ignition point’ would set off the violence, that I was kidding two months ago? You cannot shut down the economy without shutting down,...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #71
Journaling Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #71 May 29, 2020 POLICE WARRIOR TRAINING. What do you get, as a member of a social enforcement team or the team itself, if you decide that your million-strong combination of police agencies has 328,000,000...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #70
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #70 May 29, 2020 I have been writing exactly about what is going on in Minneapolis and other large cities across the U.S. right now. The Floyd George murder. It is not the murder. It is not about the black and...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #69
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #69 May 29, 2020 The testing sites in Wisconsin have fallen on hard times. Nobody is going to be tested anymore. What happened? Only a week ago the few testing sites were overwhelmed by cars lined up and people...
Coronavirus (COVID19), Reflection #68
Journaling the Coronavirus (COVID19) Pandemic, Reflection #68 May 26, 2020 Learning to deal with the depression of alienation. Without understanding the teachings and long, hard and controversial accumulation of social data leading to social conclusions, the...Subscribe to FROM THE WILDERNESS
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