Storytelling

Kathleen and the Phantom Killer

parents wedding pic(How my parents met in June 1945.  My mother had just graduated and was working as a waitress while she waited to start college that fall, when she met my father.  From her memoirs I am currently writing.)

After I graduated, I looked forward to being a lawyer or a teacher for a few years before settling down with a doting husband, maybe a doctor or judge, in a nice little house in town Continue reading →

A Sticky Point!

needleThis falls in the stranger than fiction category.  A psychiatric patient admitted to my floor from a group home years ago with a recent diagnosis of incontinence.  His CAT scan revealed a calcified bladder stone formed around a sewing needle. When the stone filled the bladder completely, he developed incontinence, Unlike the typical patient who shows up with strange objects in strange places, he hadn’t absent-mindedly sat on it.  He gave an excellent history and remembered losing that pesky needle.  It just didn’t hurt, so he thought no more about it.

Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be

feetMichael and Jennifer went together all through high school.  She thought she knew him well, but after they’d been married a few months and bought their first house, he declared one room off-limits.  Jennifer wasn’t to go in there under any circumstances.  Naturally, the first day she was home alone, she managed to get in. Prepared to find a room full of porn, she was surprised to find pictures of feet posted over all the walls. Continue reading →

“Don’t She Look Natural!”

Aunt Ellie's FuneralThis is an excerpt from Kathleen’s Memoirs of the 1930’s, my book in  progress.  Kathleen grew up in rural East Texas in the 1930’s  during the height of The Great Depression.

The events surrounding Aunt Ellie’s death were a thrilling event for me since we hadn’t invested too much affection in each other.  The wake was unforgettable with all its glorious food:  fried chicken, peach cobbler, deviled eggs, bread ‘n butter pickles, dainties not seen outside “dinner on the grounds.”   Sprinkled with carbolic acid, Aunt Ellie lay in a pine box Continue reading →

She Ain’t Got on No Panties!

First Grade School Picture

First Grade School Picture

 

I just loved Katie, Mother’s first cousin, though she only visited once, even naming my only daughter for her. Maybe that will make up for this horrible story I’m about to tell. Katie and Glenn came by for a few days after visiting my grandparents in Texas. Like all three-year-olds, I assumed they were my exclusive guests. Glenn was overshadowed by the lovely, Continue reading →

The Axe, the Snake, and the Doll. It Ain’t a Purty Thing!

broke doll headimageaxe

Though my grandpa Roscoe Holdaway worked as a farmer back in the 1920s, once he took the opportunity to get temporary work for a few weeks at a logging camp deep in the Continue reading →

Footloose and Fancyfree (Part 4)

fishing girlInez was good company, but didn’t worry much about germs. It kind of bothered Mother when she wiped the baby’s nose with the dish towel and then put it back in the dish pan. After that Mother told Inez not to bother with the dishes. She knew Inez was tired and needed a nap. Mother didn’t like it much when she let the twins run around without Continue reading →

Sex Education in the 1950s

talk too muchI learned all this valuable information back in the 1950’s with absolutely no sex education!

Probably until about the time I started school, I thought when people wanted a baby, they went to the hospital and picked one out from a collection there. Those that were not chosen grew up to be doctors and nurses.   The sex of the baby was determined by the way the parents dressed  it and fixed its hair.

Continue reading →

The Incredible Tale of Uncle Albert’s Tale

man with a tailWhy in the world did Daddy ever tell us Uncle Albert had a tail if we couldn’t ask questions or ask to see it?  The next few times I saw him, I followed him around, hoping his pants would fall down.  He was emaciated as only an eighty-five year-old life-long smoker can be.  It seemed like a real possibility.  For a while, every time I was around him, whenever Continue reading →