Here to Stay
Red rock sunrise, four eyes open, blink in perfect sync, drink in the mountain view from hotel room. Five minute ride — crosstown glide — and we’re staring, standing at the base. Was that a smile I saw on your face? I thought you just needed to get away. A mile high, few hundred feet more,... Continue Reading →
King of Rutledge
Every morning ‘neath warming Dixie sky, upon his porch does the King of Rutledge hold his court in plaid and gray. Two felines pay homage at his feet, (last night’s pan of ham and greens licked clean), as squirrels leave home by fascia hole — a hurried zig-zag scurry toward yawning oak. Commence the civic... Continue Reading →
Where I Sat When I Missed Him
His mouth is moving, and I nod approvingly though my mind is in the abstract — too easily distracted by stressors, the pressures of existence, the voices of business. A pane of glass between Father and I, and inside: seizures, palpitations in my chest arrest my presence. Oh, what I would to hear a replay... Continue Reading →
First Beats
Jack was hungover as he labored alongside Father, but was sobering up quickly by the sights and sounds of humdrum reality. The faint peal of church bells, like smelling salts, woke him fully to fresh ol’ hell. The distant mountains purple-gray, golden fields, every shade of green, all God’s majesty and yet the scene brought a pang of anxiety. The bells, those Sunday morning harbingers of desolation, singing hymns to Creation, and yet Jack saw only isolation in them hills. Those grim ranges a fence, hemmed him in, miles from significance. Scream as he might, though the stars could hear his howl, though the angels would scowl, though Zarathustra would weep just up the Road yonder, the hills echoed only the ding-dong bells of noon.
To New Beginnings
“Is this seat taken?” he asked, with trepidation. The woman across the table looked up from her book with a mixed expression of surprise and apprehension. The ambient sound of the café was a low, steady chorus of clanking spoons and steam nozzles and Saturday morning banter - all tell-tale signs of a coffee shop... Continue Reading →
Perdition on the Susquehanna
Just outside Owego, New York where the interstate turns south, and the terrain of the Southern Tier pushes the horizon ever higher, an offshoot of the Susquehanna cuts into a shallow valley between oak-speckled hills. Through remote country does the creek wind, ever waning as it meanders northward, unnoticed by the infrequent passerby, save the... Continue Reading →
The Realm: Chapter 3 Part 1
Dwynn Murphy stepped into a candle-lit room and was instantly flooded with a mixture of emotions so acute in their dissimilarities that she nearly collapsed. The full brunt of her mission's purpose was finally weighing on her heart. From the corner of her eye she noticed the man, hands... Continue Reading →
Living Up: Friends
I could get him down here with me. For that's what all pitiful people do, from the drunk, to the addict, to the miserably lonely. They tug and pull and drag those around them down into the pit where they reside. They beg and plead and lie and pretend until their prey is caught, until there is another in their dark room to share in the torture that is the bitter, empty, hollow captivity that they have erected about themselves. Escape is not attainable, but commiseration is.
Living Up: Friends
Sean continued to navigate the truck through winding suburban streets, thickly settled but thickly wooded. Each home sat close to the street, bordered by juniper shrubs and uneven sidewalks. Behind them, sprawling yards remained brown-yellow from a long winter, while towering black pines appeared brilliantly green next to the bear slender arms of oaks, maples, and walnuts.
B David Larson 