THE STORIES

Notes

California Burning

California: My home.

Burning: I recently drove through the remains of yet another large and devastating fire. The trees were black and brittle. The forest looked desolate and stark, but it’s going to come back. The houses will also come back. There weren’t but a few standing. The firestorm had hit suddenly and unexpectedly, like a bomb. Nature not yet completely tamable.

The bulldozers were already at work. Some on the trees, most on the houses. Cleaning things up like scavenger ants. The first wave of reconstruction.

Life death life.

From the rubble. From the ashes.

Hope is what we do. It’s who we are.

I drove around, past hills and meadows covered in ash. Near the top, beside an idyllically situated golf course, I stopped and got out. It was a beautiful, hilly spot. On one side the land sloped gently down to one of the long, par five, holes, four hundred yards of scorched earth. On the other side, the land rose to a saddle with a charred but living oak. The saddle was covered with what looked from a distance like ashes, but which was, in fact, fire retardant. A huge, matted, blanket of it, covering branches, ground, boulders, rocks. The gray of the material had a greenish hue, like grass. I felt like I’d stumbled into a world of artificial turf. All was quiet, as though the world were holding its breath.

I found three golf balls embedded in the fire retardant. One was singed, one was fused to it, and one had its entire hard plastic calla lily white coat blasted off. Completely demolished. All that was left: its black, damaged, rubbery, heart.

Twenty-two and You

Twenty-three was taken.

You was obvious. In meaning, virtually identical to “me.”

The title is an early experiment with the 2nd person imperative POV. More fully explored in “Your Quantified Self.”

Paul and Me

Bunyan, of course.

Another Paul: an old medical colleague and pal. We interned together at the U. S. Public Health Service Hospital, taking care of Merchant Marines, who worked the high seas and internal waterways. We also took care of Native Americans. Also, leprosy patients. We used thalidomide, which had been banned, except for leprosy. A frightening drug, but useful. An early lesson that context is critical: in medical judgment, in treatment, and also in storytelling, including stories that play fast and loose with our legends and heroes, along with their reputations.

Me: Who else?

Revenge

Where nobody gets hurt.

All praise to the mothers.

Birth, rebirth, birth.

Snow in Dirt

I love this title, in much the same way that I love a good card trick. It all hinges on “in”: of the prepositions, one of the most limber, crafty, and decisive.

The Big One

My contribution to the Western canon. In memory of James Butler Knox.

Hymenoptera

See Success, below. Another pairing of interests.

Greedy for Kisses

Greed: The root of all evil.

for: Hold on . . . what comes next? . . . could be anything. . . .

Kisses: The very best thing.

Fidelity: A Primer

Fidelity: Sooner or later will be tested.

A Primer: For navigation.

Isostasy

I’ve been a student of geology my whole adult life. Not a good student by any stretch of the imagination, but an avid one. An enthusiast. When I first heard the word isostasy, I thought “Aha! The Earth is not merely dynamic, but alive.” Of all the geological theories I know, isostasy comes closest to having a human dimension and counterpart.

Strategy for Conflict Avoidance: Memo to GW, Our Commander-in-Chief

Two days of pure entertainment and pleasure on a windswept, oceanside bluff. Happy, but pissed off. The result, a homily, in my humble opinion the very essence of civility and common sense.

I was giving more public readings at the time, and was aiming for something short, that could be read in its entirety.

Bird Walks in New England

Birds: a lifelong passion.

Walks: a lifelong joy.

In New England: or anywhere else.

The Roberts

Like most names, it had to come to me before I could really dive into the character and the story. Strangely, I don’t remember precisely what the trigger was. The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Maybe that’s part of its appeal. You can’t rush through it. The “B” in the middle forms a little dam, and behind it the pressure to finish the word, to end what you began, builds, then is suddenly released: “e-e-e-r-r-r-t-t-t-s-s-s”, like a belch. Intrigue, suspense, relief: a story in itself.

Know How, Can Do

Hold a hammer, milk a cow, pave a pasture, write a simple sentence.

Anything.

If we can, we will.

Bloom

It was after a day’s wandering in the desert. Almost a cliché.

Your Quantified Self

Break it down:

Your—Take a selfie.

Quantified—Analyze it.

Self—Measure up.

Success

An amalgam of two ideas, a fairly common practice of mine. In this case: 1) Science as a force of nature. 2) Anti-domesticity. The animal within.

Choose Poison, Choose Life

Choose Poison: So many, so little time. See “thalidomide”.

Choose Life: Suicide is not for everyone. Thank goodness. Based on a true story.

 

March 2018