Liberation Road

Greed has imprisoned us. United we can liberate ourselves!

Despite the rain, the community garden is progressing quickly. Huge boxes have been built and I'm curious how they're going to be used. Compost? Raised bed gardens? Coffins for giants? Time will tell.

The most interesting thing going on here, other than daily work on the Tumbleweed Cabaret web site (not complete, so no public link yet) is something I probably shouldn't mention. Suffice to say Lizzie and Baba will return to what I'm sure will be a pleasant surprise, courtesy of our Holy Road Gardener, Mike Clark.

Okay, the first of a brief series of exercises I did recently in an effort to find the "voice" I'm looking for for my novel. Each day I'll post a new one. Each is only a paragraph long and each is entirely different from the others.

I.
Wednesday was for him a slightly strange day, a day not quite like the other days. For one thing, it was the day his Auntie Bell invited over her friend, an older women wearing a pink and lavender flower print dress and rather grand hat with a long needle that went all the way through the top and seemed to pierce her head. When she arrived, breathing heavily and perspiring, the first thing she did was pull the long needle out and hold it in one hand while removing the hat with their other, waving the brim briskly in front of her face while chattering loudly to Auntie Bell. Mikey couldn't take his eyes off the needle until she had reinserted it in her head, primped her hair in back, and turned to him. “Oh my goodness!” she gushed, taking one giant step toward him and advancing on him like a Patton tank, grabbing his paralyzed frame in both hands and planting a massive wet kiss that seemed to cover half his face. “Isn't he just the cutest little thing!” As if suddenly rising to the surface of a slime clotted lake after nearly drowning, Mikey was careful to hold his breath until he could reach up with his arm and wipe the wet from his face. The guest, who had retreated an enormous distance by then, said, “It's all right dear. Bell, what an an adorable child! Is he Meg's? Your grandchild?” She then tottered off to the kitchen for coffee and pastry and rarely ever gave Mikey a glance after that, to his great relief.