Flash Fiction Faction: I CAN’T FIND IT!!!

   The following story was inspired by Quill Shiv‘s Flash Fiction Faction prompt:

Oh dear. What happened to the train?

“Has he called it in yet?”
“No, and I’m starting to worry. Not like him to be this late letting us know the number.”
“Be sure to have them meet him at the station. I don’t want anything to delay the delivery.”

I know I’ve just been down this street. Nothing is looking right. God, I have to hurry.  They can’t move a train, can they?

“Anything yet?”
“No.”
“I told him it was not safe to miss the train.”

I should call them!   Oh…  I forgot the number!  I know it’s in this phone somewhere.   How do I bring it up.  Maybe this will work.  Who are these people?  I don’t recognize any of…

“Finally! I’m putting him on speaker. Was that a cry?”
“I heard it too.”

This is my third attempt at fiction.  I had not planned to write on this prompt… I guess I wasn’t prompted.  But then, yesterday I awoke at 4:30 and had this story in my mind.  I don’t think I dreamt it, just thought about it when I woke up.  I think I was inspired by all those waiter and actor dreams where you are trying to find something, like the table you are supposed to be waiting on, and you keep getting more desperate.  I got up and wrote what I thought was a pretty good story, and then… I erased it by mistake.  I could not get it back, and try as I might, I could not recreate the same mood.  Tonight when I saw Rinn’s story (that’s Quill… some Pen Name, huh?), and stories others had written, I really wished I had mine.  So here it is.   A little different maybe, but I like it.  

THE MISSING TRUCK... Postscript

Just an Empty Space

WELL... SHE'S GONE FOR GOOD!

 

After my last lament regarding the missing truck, so many readers wondered, like I, what the hell had happened to her.  One, was my son-in-law Steve.  He didn't just wonder... he called his friend Kevin. 

2011 San Juan County Fair

Now, there is a show on the History Channel called 'American Pickers'... kind of the poor man's 'Antique Roadshow'... where two guys go around the country combing junkyards, garages and people's 'collections' finding hidden treasures, just as worthy.  They would have a 'field day' at Kevin's.  He is San Juan Island's Premier Collector.  Island Stage Left needed a rusty old-fashioned radiator for their latest play... Steve called Kevin... they have a rusty old-fashioned radiator for their latest play.  At our County Fair each year, one of the highlights is 'Trash to Treasures' hosted by Kevin.  So, who better to ask about a missing roadside attraction. 

Old Island Landmark

Kevin knew all about my truck.  She is a 1946 Ford Flatbed, with a flathead V8 engine.   In fact, he had offered to buy her at one time and was told the owners of the property just liked having it sit there... they enjoyed looking at her while passing by on the way to their ranch.  It seems a neighbor did not share the same affection and deemed her an eyesore.  Word has it, that a scrapper had permission from the non property owner, and took her in the middle of the night.  As Kevin says... "These guys scrap first and ask questions later".  The goods are carted off the island to be sold for scrap metal to one of the mainland salvage yards.
 

Gone but not forgotten

They call these guys Tweekers... as most are methheads, trying to score their next 'eight ball', so they can make it a few more days.  So, that's what my truck became... 1/8 ounce of Methamphetamine.  Steve, Kevin, their friends in the collecting community and the Sheriff knows who they are... but, you can't do much if you can't catch them in the act.  And you can't station someone to watch the ferry lines night and day.  Unfortunately, the problem has spread to outright theft of property, not just abandoned vehicles. 

I have never shed a tear upon hearing of some mainland fool being electrocuted while attempting to steal the power company's transmission wires to sell.   I hope that does not start happening here... or maybe...

Island Stage Left's latest Production 'Someone Who'll Watch Over Me' plays at the County Fairgrounds Theater from April 5 - 29...

俳句… HAIKU BOMBERS #4… “When the Moon Hits Your Eye”

Lost in endless space
My first telescopic gift
Moon, Stars my new friends.

Backyard after dark,
Oohs and awes with each focus
Celestial beings.

And, Steely Dan says 
'That The Stars Come Out At Night',
Oh, they do...they do!

✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ 

I don't know how ideas come into people's minds. When I looked at Quill's Haiku Photo Prompt, I thought... "What in the hell am I going to do with that?". Then it hit me... My telescope!

When I was in college, I had to pick an elective science course. I chose Astronomy. One night the class went out to look at the stars, there were only a few telescopes and about 30 budding astronomers. The next day I bought a telescope. That night I set it up in my parent's backyard, and marveled at the Moon. The stars were not that big a deal with my little telescope, but the Moon... That was Fantastic! The telescope also came in handy at the next field trip... there were a lot of girls in that class.

When my daughter Krista went off to Chicago to attend The Theater School of DePaul University, she too had to pick an elective science course. I suggested Astronomy.

I don't know why I just thought of that, so I called and said "Hey, how did you like that Astronomy class in college?". She said "Oh, I don't know. I was an acting major, and it was at 8 o'clock in the morning. The lights were always out, and it made me sleepy". She did say that she thought she  enjoyed it.  But, I am reminded, that recently when a comet or some such celestial phenom was due, she stayed up half the night in sleeping bags outside, so her daughter could witness the event.

Two years ago, I was staying with a friend in Sacramento. Her neighbor had a big telescope in his backyard. He invited us over for a look. As I focused the full Moon into view, I got the same chills I had experienced over 45 years before.

Looking for an elective science?  Astronomy!

✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣

Quill Shiv took The Haiku Bombers into Space this week... here's the link if you would like to try... https://quillshiv.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/haiku-bombers-prompt-4/

Flash FridayFictioneers… Lost Opportunity!

She’s gone!!!
I came across her… sentinel on a country lane… green mottled skin slowly rusting to a different hue. 

I was conflicted in my feelings toward her.  First surprise, then awe at her beauty.  

But so many questions.  Whose? Was she afraid, tucked away in the woods beneath a blanket of leaves?  She looked so forlorn in her abandoned state… yet, somehow majestic in her loneliness.  

I was in love.  I wanted to paint her.

I would always take a moment to visit.

Then today… Gone!  Whisked away by an alien starship, the ground dusted for prints and wiped clean.

                               ✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥


It’s Friday, and time for 100-word Flash #FridayFictioneers… 
Flash Fiction over at Madison Woods

When I saw Madison’s photo, I knew exactly what I was going to write about, except I didn’t know how I was going to do it.  After all, this is supposed to be fiction, and I had been kind of cheating lately with the memoir thing.  I think this may be a combo.

matthew dollahite

I was on Kanaka Bay Road one day (and no… this Island isn’t
Hawaiian) and came across this old truck, parked next to the road.  It was beautiful, sitting in the shade, and I thought it would be a great subject to paint.  I love paintings of old abandoned things.  My friend Matt, had painted one recently and I thought he would be the perfect guy to do the job.  He may have been in his Hay Bale Period by then, because I begged him to do it and he wouldn’t budge.  But in his defense, he really would rather do boats, and he is very good.  Next, I begged my friend Jill, but she was more into crows and nature.  I tried to explain that there were trees and things, but to no avail.  Lately she is doing landscapes and has just done a rooster that I think is wonderful.

jill trear

This begging went on for years with those two.

jaime ellsworth

San Juan Island is blessed with many fine artists, and one of my favorites is famous for her dog paintings.  I should have asked her, but Jaime has moved on to bigger animals now and would most likely not be too interested in my truck.  I might have been able to con her daughter, Jennifer, into doing it… she did a tractor design on one of her County Fair T-Shirts one year… wearable works of art.

dianne poinski

I, of course, am far too insecure to try to actually draw or paint the truck myself, although I fully intend to hand tint a black and white photo I made.  I once took a course in hand tinting B&W’s, from Dianne Poinski in Sacramento.

christopher young

jaime powell sheppard

I was walking through the Sacramento Airport a few years ago, and was stopped in my tracks, just like with the truck, by a photo of The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.  That building is another obsession of mine.   It was part of a display of Dianne’s works.  I copied the info, and ended up purchasing a hand tinted photo… it is one of my proudest possessions, right up there with the sketch Christopher Young did for me, of Madame X (another passion), at the Met in NYC.  And a favorite photo of the State Street Subway Entrance, that I had used so many times in Chicago, taken and printed by Jamie Powell Sheppard.  So, I guess I could have done the truck, and still will someday.  When I took the course, Dianne gave us prints of her photos, on special paper, to learn on.  She is a pretty good teacher, because I thought one of my efforts came out pretty well, and I love the photo.
  

dianne (& me)

Two days ago, I went back out to Kanaka Bay.  I had not been on that road for about six months, and was looking forward to seeing the truck again.  But, it was gone.  I wasn’t sure I had the right place, but it had to be, since the old fence with the weathered ‘No Trespassing’ sign was there.  There was not a trace of the truck to be found.  I was amazed and a bit disjointed to have lost an old friend.  Perhaps someone is restoring her beauty somewhere… and I will get to visit again.

FRIDAY FLASH FICTIONEERS… Bang!

                                        1959… Modoc County, California

Cruising down a rutted farm road. Clinging for dear life to the hood of a ’48 Mercury… engine purring, one of those Moon footprint gas pedals on the floorboard.  Searching for rabbits... frozen in their tracks by the blare of the headlights piercing our way through the darkness.  I’m scared, cold, excited and have never seen ‘so many stars come out at night’.

There’s one!!!

I blast away with the 10 gauge… it’s a wonder I don’t fly off the Merc. I didn’t hit any that night.

What else would you expect from a city slicker?

This story is a contribution to Friday Flash Fictioneers… see what it’s all about @  Madison Woods and read the many takes on her photo prompt.

俳句… HAIKU BOMBERS #3... Watchmaker's Car

young Watchmaker's girls,

home from school patiently pose,

in clothes neatly pressed.

so long ago watches cleaned,

only buck fifty the fee,

but, gassed up the car.

little black Austin Bantam, 

family of six fit inside,

they must have been squished.

Once again, it's Haiku Time.  This week's prompt from Quill Shiv, was to find a photo of children and be inspired... http://quillshiv.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/haiku-bombers-prompt-3/

I chose this family photo, from I would guess 1928ish.  My Grand father was a watchmaker, jeweler, optician, and railroad watch inspector in Sacramento.  This was the family car and I've quite a few photos of it.  My grandparents had 5 kids,

and my father would drive all the kids to school in it.  As you can see, it is quite small.  When he was in high school, as a prank, his friends carried it up to the stage before an assembly, and left it there.  My aunts Laura and Emily post above with the Austin Bantam auto, and my grandfather Theodore is below, probably repairing a watch or two.

俳句… HAIKU BOMBERS #2… St. Paddy’s Tacos

• 

          Quill Shiv has a new Haiku writing prompt... A photo of Saint Patrick.  

My result:

                         You can make your own 

                         corned beef, cabbage and salsa

                         at the taco bar.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Tacos… In 1986, back in my Restaurant Days, I went to work for Jerry Franco.  Jerry was a bit of a culinary impresario on the Sacramento restaurant scene.  He had just reopened The Town House on 21st Street, down the block from The Sacramento Bee newspaper.  The Town House had been a Mexican Food tradition, and had been sitting empty for a few years after the owner retired.   Franco had opened in a blaze of glory, courting the news hounds and the denizens of California State Government. Having just left a job managing The Fabulous Fifties Cafe, I was ready to mingle with and serve adults.  So I went to work for Jerry as a waiter/bartender/manager.

It was a fun place to work, and we did some crazy promotions to try to make the The Town House a success.  Big lunch business, big after-work bar business.  He kept a few Mexican items on the menu, along with the 'Upscale Designer' dishes he came up with.  Each Happy Hour, we featured a Taco Bar, where the patrons could make their own tacos, to wash down with their Martinis and G & T's.  For me, that taco bar was a pain in the ass, since I had to leave the bar and run back in the kitchen to replenish the supplies.  But the tips were pretty good as long as the food held out.

Saint Patrick's Day was coming up, and The Town House, along with every other bar and restaurant in Sacramento… no, in the United States… was looking for ways to make some money off one of our more important Drinking Holidays.  I had the bright idea to put corned beef and cabbage on our Taco Bar for the day.  Jerry agreed that it was a brilliant idea, and gave me full credit, in case it bombed.  Getting free publicity was not too difficult, since we always made sure to 'take good care of' certain writers from up the street.  Low and behold, we saw some nice mentions in the gossip and the What's Going On In Town sections of the Bee the day before, and our Happy Hour was packed that St. Paddy's Day.  In fact, two guys drove down from Hangtown at lunch time to try the CB&C Tacos.  I had to plead with the cook to make some for them.  At Happy Hour, the idea was well received, lots of new people came in, and best of all... Mr. Franco even stuck around to help stock the Taco Bar.

So, when I saw the photo prompt for this week's Haiku... for some reason, I thought of those Corned Beef and Cabbage Tacos, and working at The Town House.

About 4 months later, I left for the Neon Restaurant Lights of Chicago.  I later heard that the Town House had closed and that Franco was the chef at a seafood joint in Cape Cod.  Last time I was in SacTown, it was a gay bar.