WannaskaWriter

Excerpt from 2010 trip to Maine and the L.L. Bean Adventure      In 2010, I flew to Boston with friend Joe,for a family reunion to be held in Stonington, Maine. Joe’s wife was unable to attend and he invites me along as I know the family well. Although our trip ends very dramatically, all is well in the end. This is a short excerpt from our trip.       As we leave Hull and surrounding communities, Joe and his mother, Mary, offer play-by-plays of various neighborhoods, families, businesses. “There’s a lovely hibiscus up in that ugly place,” Mary remarks, as we pass a walled-in fortress-like residence among signs reading:‘SwordMaster Martial Arts: Unleash Your inner Tiger,’ 'Jolienne McDonnell Square,’ ‘Neponset Bridge,’ 'Quincy Bay.’      Looking at me through the rear view mirror, Joe says, “There’s the Long Island Bridge we passed under yesterday.”   I recognize it, sort of.   ...

December 7, 2018  Dear Pen Pal,            You were always the daring sort of guy. Not exactly the most intelligent, but always ready to prove me wrong when I said you shouldn’t do something because you might get hurt--and then fervently deny it did.         “So what?? What’s one finger joint when you have ten of them?” you said cockily, holding your hand up to me and displaying the loss to the middle finger of your left hand.       “Shit, it was nothing!”        Yeah, I’ll bet that’s what your dad said after vaulting the 12 steps to your upstairs bedroom, in one leap, on Des Moines Street where you sat with your ears ringing, the room filled with acrid blue smoke, and your left hand minus a fingertip. I remember you calling me from the hospital and saying,       “Guess where I am, or You’ll never guess where I am,” someth...