Chapter 1: Introduction: The Inside of Us
With great glee, I recall my counseling master degree program and the knowledge I acquired during that period. I cherish the insights I developed into humanity, an education which served me well through my teaching internship and jobs—counselor, reporter, consultant, research assistant and others. I was able to better view mankind and appreciate the struggles of living life. The education enhanced my ability to write more completely of the human experience and dwell on motivating the good in us when I made contact with people. I could better comprehend the sufferings of people and some of the causes of those pains while offering solace and some solutions.
Yet, there is the opposing view which human intensive fields take into consideration as well, particularly, the horrifying and disturbing traits in men, children, and women. Turning on the television or tuning in the radio brings us real life stories of tragedy: shootings, bombings, and exploitations of every imaginable kind. The internet serves to put those woes with lightning speed in front of us. We ask ourselves as a collective mankind, “What is the trouble with people?”
Professional such as Sigmund Freud, Eric Berne, William Glasser, Carl Rogers, Alfred Adler, and other psychologists and psychiatrists researched and developed theories trying to analyze these positive and negative aspects of who we are. They looked at cognitive factors. They explored personality variables. Emotional characteristics were taken into account in human beings. They researched individual and group perspectives on reality, beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors. Even with all of this brain power devoted to answering the riddle, no one has come up with the perfect explanation for why we are the way we are.
Many question “the why” with answers as wide and diverse as mankind. Is it our relationship with religion? Is it the constant battle to obtain things of the physical or mental nature? Is it a spiritual illness? Are environmental conditions the root of our difficulties on this planet? Is it a combination of these elements or none of them at all?
No one appears to have a single overarching solution to what drives us to act in inhumane patterns. Not scholars or practitioners of any sort. But we try to unscramble the riddle we encounter as we exist. Indeed, partial answers to this puzzle do exist. Even so, trying to simplify the troubles mankind encounter and finding one answer as some suggest is almost ludicrous. Yet, our supply of worries is vastly outpaced by our demand for solutions.
However, just like theorists and professionals who established the foundations of the human-centered sciences, writers also try to create and understand in words the conditions of human nature, exploring the dark and the light in all of mankind in pages. Unlike the usual approach of the therapist who must be objective while establishing rapport, the writer has the advantage of viewing human kind as an “outsider” or a participant/observer with an omnipresent voice if desired. In this collection, I contribute to a further examination of the murkier parts of who we are in fictional tales using the tools of a writer. In suspenseful and amusing stories about human existence, I want to relax, albeit briefly. This is because we not only learn from fortunes which befall us, but we benefit from a wealth of misfortune in making our treasures more precious.
Of course, we have learned over time we are all interconnected in uncountable ways. These stories will connect in some way with the reader, touching the parts of us that make us wonder about the decisions and actions we take daily. In “Bird Talk,” I write a fictional piece about how differences can terrorize the very soul. I created a tale about the atrocious eugenics programs which were common in America in the latter part of the twentieth century. Such programs are now considered inhumane because we are better enlightened.
Yet, this book has a picture of clary-sage, a plant grown almost exclusively in Bertie county, where “Bird Talk” occurs. The plant is used in medicines and detergent, but within its beauty rests the foulest of odors. However, mention the smelly plant to local residents, and they equate it with cash. Like the plant, we all have good and bad characteristics as we travel through life.
In “Dream Salesman,” I wrote an imaginary tale about a cab driver in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. In choosing how to confront troubles, often we must take control of the road we are heading down. Sometimes, our dreams are not what we think they may be. The solution can simply be finding the right stop. People we didn’t consider crucial at one crossing point in life may become a driving force in our existence. Or we realize detours are actually the routes we meant to take. Whether it is our DNA, cars, or other devices, machinery can be a major part of those destination decision.
To such a degree, technology is helping us become more responsive to each other in positive ways.
In “Heartless House,” I explore the meaning of eventually being trapped in our own endeavors as a result of technological breakthroughs. We may not find any alternatives to our problems and must address our situation from an operating position as a former Nazi researcher discovers. What we thought was an ultimate answer could in fact create a new set of difficulties. We may fail, but we essentially keep on trying. It is the nature of humanity.
A long-gone friend, Bruce (may he rest in peace), frequently said: People are funny! It’s an observation satisfying the dim and bright in us all. In no way is this collection defining all of the problems we have or even attempting to touch on some. I’m sure most people would agree that such a volume would take many life times to compose.
In any case, these stories are works of fiction and any similarity to people or places real or imagined is purely coincidental. I thank two people who have been a source of solutions for this collection: Lori Truzy and Erin Bernstein. All of the images in this book are a product of the creative drive of Lori Truzy. The editing and proofreading work for this book was performed by my editor, Erin Bernstein, a brilliant, creative person as well. Both women have given me wonderful feedback and encouragement.
Clary Sage: Sweet, Stinking Cash
Cathy's Hangout
Hello? Is Cathy Home?
Chapter 2: Bird Talk
The sunset was eerie with misty fog casting shadows along the almost abandoned dirt road where Kathy nearly glided towards the remnants of her home in Bertie County. She always felt that her little county was one everybody else in the state forgot about because it was a lonely, quiet place. But this didn’t matter to her at that moment because she was in eternal bliss.
Kathy’s petite arms fanned back and forth, her four-foot skinny frame swaying with the wind. Her pecan- toned skin almost glowed against the coming night as if ablaze by an otherworldly light.
She skipped and twirled, her long, braided black hair looking like a snake wanting to strike out at the dusk. She loved this time of day, when the animosity of the town gathered behind closed doors, leaving silence outside to be her partner. Kathy always pondered at this time as she approached home to meet her waiting flying friends.
Cancer doesn’t kill people; it spreads and spreads until people have their wings to fly away, Cathy thought. She slowed her steps, coming upon the stairs leading up to the devastated front door of her family’s home. The birds were already waiting for her.
“Ma flew away just like that.” She said, throwing bread crumbs at the birds. She looked over the woods and down the old dirt path and grinned widely. No human visitors. That was the way she liked her home forever. Quiet.
It was usually that way. Kathy knew that nothing happened much in Bertie County. Crops grew. Eggs were taken to market. People moved on like fowl, and people flocked to gossip in Autumn and all weather in this part of North Carolina.
“You feathered folk are moving on, too! Birds can’t stay here too long. Maybe you can outsoar the cancer. But everyone has cancer. It wrinkles and twists until nothing is left. Wings and going away in a blaze of lost hope. That’s what cancer brings.” she laughed wildly as she reached into her torn and singed jeans and tossed another handful of bread crumbs through the air to her audience.
“Bobby just zipped away. They put that long-sleeved jacket on him. Somebody came back, but it won’t my Bobby. He went off somewhere else, like you boys and girls will do.” She sighed. Taken with my dreams. I didn’t even say good-bye. No one cared about him or my dreams!”
She screamed in pure agony. Only the crows heard, and they called back, “’Cause! ‘Cause!”
“’Cause he was like me. We were just a flock of stupid bird-brains to them! I know that now! They didn’t have to do that! Why?” She wept a little, like she had for the last twenty years. Tears of memories of what was raked from her grasp.
She walked with an unsteady gait, feet sliding inches off the ground. With her eyes closed and head down, she let her bare feet plod and glide effortlessly through the muddy path, a route she knew too well around to the back of her childhood home. The once beautiful home now leaning to collapse into oblivion. She still lived there, but she figured she would move on eventually.
Crows followed like a procession behind a queen. They fluttered and called
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Bildmaterialien: Lori Truzy
Lektorat: Erin Bernstein
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.07.2016
ISBN: 978-3-7396-6377-7
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
Widmung:
This book is for those people I met who put a smile on my face: Dr. Doris Tyler, Dr. Davis, Dr. Tom Scheft, Dr. Sheldon Downs, Dr. Paul Alston, Dr. Judith Blau, Dr. Paul Rawlins, Dr. D. Wormsley, Dr. Bacon, Dr. Stephanie Gorski; Kim Chen; Kiko; Lyn Min Kong; Ritu; Reshma; Sue Rao; Jim Kesler; Troy Garner; Tim Spaulding; Audrey Johnson; Sandy Harris; Silvia White; Tasha Truzy; the Megs (Kelley, Stacy, and Walker); Cheryl Turks; Charlotte Johnson, the Williams family; Ellen; Mr. Mitch, Abigail, Sandra and Allen; Latoya Schumate; Sheila Newbern; Nell Smith; Tina Benfield; Jenifer and Padgett; Karen Freeman; John Wood; George Littlejohn; Paul Washington; Rufus Poole; Chris Kraft; Trina Alfred; Margaret Carter; Donny Worthy; Steve Murphy; and of course, my writing and brilliant friend, Erin Bernstein, and my dearest, the intelligent Lori Truzy.