A RED LETTER DAY

One winter morning a few years back we were driving along the waterfront not far from the alphabet factory when we had to swerve the car. Letters were scattered in the road, fallen off some truck. It must have just happened. People were still reacting. I saw a man running down the hill with a big red J hooked over his shoulder.

The ORANGE HORSE

Once upon a time there was an orange horse in a field in Scotland. I remember its name was Fred. That’s what the American called it. He wore cowboy boots. He came from Texas to work on the oil rigs. Whenever he wasn’t at sea, he would go to the fence and hang his arms out and the horse would run to him from wherever it happened to be.

WHEN I WAS SUPERMAN

First of all, she was late. The night wind and rain shook the black windows. An empty wooden podium, some plastic chairs in a room curtained off from the cafeteria. Most people had already left. I waited. Then the glass door flung open and Margot Kidder blew through. She fought off the weather in a heavy wool coat, and her makeup had run. She apologized, she just flew in. Her speech for Jesse Jackson was rushed and then she was off to the airport again. I held the door for her.

spring books on the way

Good Deed Rain has 2 new books on the way for spring. A film noir novel about witches & a collection of little story-poems. Just have to finish up editing, and for that I have our new secretary to thank:

HER LITTLE FARM

In her apartment she has a goat, a chicken, and a talking crow. Oh, and a beehive by the window. Corn grows in flowerpots. At night, she can hear the barn owl behind the wall, hunting in the vast dark distance between the standing lamp and the kitchenette.

The ALLIGATOR BANK

I would dare myself to pull myself up and look over the edge at the still water and that’s how I spotted all the money. Why did people go to the zoo and throw money at the alligator? Quarters and dimes shined like fish and tempted it to sink and crawl. Then what do you do with an alligator that’s had its fill of coins? Shake it upside down? Turn its tail? They’re not meant for that. Eventually the zoo put up a mesh wall, but there was a time you could lean over and like a bad penny fall right in.

The TRICYCLE MIRACLE

Suddenly I hear a robin. After all these dark mornings, sound is returning! Listen…like a squeaky tricycle it pedals and waits, then starts again, turning a wheel that pulls at a sleeping sun.