These are some of the stories I have written. Not all, but a lot of my stories are coming-of-age stories. Some of them are humourist. I hope you enjoy them. I hope your e-reader still accepts pdf versions. I think it is a shame that some readers like Kobo are considering dropping that format. It’s a real shame. At the same time, more and more tablets are getting comfortable to use for reading and that’s what I am using more often these days.
I am also posting photos from Cricket and Sapphire. The photos have nothing to do with the stories. I just like them and I pretty much do what I wish during the periods when I am a sentient being. (Yes, these are copyrighted to CAMERAUTHOR, our common entity.)
I am a huge hockey fan. The idea for this story came to me at a game during intermission while Sapphire was in the washroom, and Cricket was out getting me a hot dog. Access the story by right-clicking on the title (Perfect Stranger) and then making your choices from that menu.
An excerpt from the story follows this picture.
My brother plays on our junior hockey team. Our small city has few homegrown luminaries, and the Cougars’ present high ranking in the league has made the players local celebrities. But Keith’s success as a hockey player is not his own. It meant that my father spent almost all his spare time at hockey arenas, and that my mother turned to Jason for the affection she lacked. I am not excusing her, or blaming my brother for my parents’ break up, and I suppose I’m glad my father insisted his children remain with him, meaning I don’t have to live with Jason, but I sometimes think that I got the short end of it all. I live with my father and I don’t know him. We are perfect strangers.
THE CORNER STORE
This story is based on an event that actually took place. I think you will find this short piece amusing. However, some of you may find it too graphic-even in these modern times–so consider yourself forewarned.
Here is an excerpt
Another thing about me that needs to be known is that once I buy a product I like, I stick to it. There is no trying this or that new product even if I am given a free sample. Therefore, I am here this morning at this corner store to purchase my brand and no other.
The Ghost in the Warehouse
A little peek-a- BOO!
Maverick worked the afternoon shift from four to midnight. His eyesight was getting weak and he soon discovered this when he had started the job and had trouble reading the product numbers in the dim lights that hung in strips from the ceiling. After three months of denial and squinting at the writing on the packages, he finally admitted he needed glasses. He wore these on a string around his neck.
This story is called the Makeover. It is inspired by a real-life person, though the events are fictional.
Here’s a peek
“I’m going to win a trip to see the Rockies,” said the old man, tapping the entry form.
“Oh really,” said the young man, using a skeptical yet pitying note, a tone young people reserved for old people whom they thought senile or crazy. (At this young man’s age, I had also refused to acknowledge that I was irrevocably on my way to old age.)
We have a fellow from the Maritime area in our midst. Therefore, ghost stories abound. However, I tend to “lay it on thick” when I retell a story. I had to run this story by this fellow before I could print it. Here is a peek from the story “The Last Row” followed by the full story, approved by my salt-water friend.
As long as they were partying, everyone got along. The five young men could forget that in lieu of rent, they were supposed to be fixing up the house. When they had made the agreement with the landlord, Moe Wishart, a real estate lawyer in Edendale, they had assumed that carpentry was a hobby requiring little skill and only a special pair of pants with a fabric loop to hang a hammer. The embarrassing truth was that they had actually managed to make the place worse instead of making any improvements to it.
WHAT IT IS/WHAT IT IS NOT 