Up Too Early

The pain in my hip woke me. It sucks getting older. I'd recommend that you avoid it but the alternative is even suckier. I'm hoping the chiropractor has an appointment for me before work and that lets me sleep all night tonight. I should have taken a quarter of a pain pill when I went to bed last night. Too late now.

We had another visitor at writer's last night and she's decided to take a chance and join us. Now we have Nancy and Peggy and Sean (who is a girl) in addition to Jenny and me. I'm excited to have new writers to play with and learn from. We did a couple of writing exercises last night and all got words down. It takes a while for the newbies to get into the groove of just falling into an exercise and not worrying about how or where the story's going. I have faith that they'll soon be going strong, bending words to their will with the best of 'em.

April 22--Norman Island. He hated his name, Norman. Norm wasn't much better. He went through school being called "Ab-Norman" by the sorts of boys who enjoyed taunting other boys. He didn't hate that, in some ways he kind of liked it that they noticed him enough to tease him. He was a good enough baseball player, he could hit and he could field, that he teetered on the fringes of the crowd of jocks. He was smart enough that he fitted in with the brains too. The only group he wasn't a nominal p0art of was the music kids. He'd heard his piano teacher grandma tell his Aunt June, "Norman likes music all right, but he's got a tin ear. Can't carry a tune in a bucket, the poor dear." He didn't let that bother him and he took pity on Mr. Hanop the chorus teacher and his classmates by just moving his mouth, lip-syncing in class, sparing them all from having to listen to his caterwauling. He didn't even sing in the shower. But he hated his name. One day he'd have to ask his mom what she was thinking of when she named him Norman Duwayne Island. Geez, what a moniker to hang on a defenseless little baby.

Well, that "island" story sure took an odd turn, but different can be good. It's a change from the surf, sand, and palm trees of late.
--Barbara