Regular Life

It’s nice to be finished posting the Bessie story. Thanks to everyone who read it, and a special thanks to those who left comments. I’m considering keeping a separate blog for stories I post in the future. I didn’t want to interrupt the story, yet I found myself missing the ability to throw out a [...]

Apparently a man accused of killing a police officer was on the lam, and the police thought perhaps I had “driven through” their little “roadblock” to help him escape. They asked me to open the trunk, which I gladly did. Bessie’s trunk was huge, so they took their time poking around. I stayed aware of [...]

Remember when I mentioned that Bessie’s sister car was the Plymouth Volare? Evidently most body shops know that, too. When I got her back, the sisters had become Siamese twins. Her bumper, hood, front quarter panels, and grill were from a Volare. The fake leather top was still there, so Bessie had not lost her [...]

As I walked around the front of the car, I stopped to take a look for any damage. Nothing was bent or broken, but there were clumps of weeds and dirt stuck in and under the bumper. I left it, figuring it would not attract any attention. If I told my brother, then he must [...]

The road to Trav’s house included a turn off the pavement, onto a country road covered with very loose gravel. I showed Travis what fun it was to fishtail the back end of Bessie (then nameless) around curves. He didn’t seem overly impressed, probably because his brother used to drive his Plymouth Fury like a [...]

Hey, I’ve been looking for that, was the first thought that ran through my head. All the cassette tapes that had been under my seat had rushed forward to rest under my feet. A homemade copy of Led Zeppelin III had re-appeared after weeks on the MIA list. I never risked playing original tapes in [...]

At one point when I lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when I was a new kid in town trying to prove himself, I did something rather stupid. I couldn’t have just painted my face. Okay, painted my face again. Sheesh. Get off me.
This time, under cover of darkness, I went out to the street, where [...]

Bessie was loyal. She never fought me when I pushed her to her limit. Sure, she had her bad days, but what old lady doesn’t? She was there for my grandfather, my brother, me, and then my first cousin. I have no idea where she is now.
Bessie was my first car, a 1976 Dodge Aspen [...]

My mobile phone rang as I swigged motel orange juice from a tiny foam cup. The storms had let up a little from the night before, but the motel lobby TV still showed tornado watches and warnings in the area. I figured the pilot was calling to say the flight had been delayed. I pulled [...]

I had the sensation that the plane’s rear end was fishtailing in the clouds, and it made a series of unplanned drops. I wanted the descent to be over, to stop the 9-passenger jet’s shaking and bumping, but I didn’t want it to end any sooner than the pilots had planned. I cranked up the [...]