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The first five lines of... THE LADY OF THE EVERGREENS
The below is from a Work In
Progress titled, “The Lady of The Evergreens.” Because it is a WIP I have not
had the pleasure of an editor helping to make me sound like the next
Shakespeare or Hemingway, or Faulkner. You get the idea:
Late fall on the southern shore
of Lake Ontario
But then, Julie Douglas had been told that the Evergreen
Renaissance and Fairy Faire was special, and excitingly different. Upon passing
through the entrance of two large wooden gates set within low stone built walls
she found herself in another time. Excited crowds wandered the torch-lit dirt
pathways that wound among evergreen trees short and broad, and tall Norway
Spruce from Europe . Scattered along the paths
and partly hidden among the trees were Medieval bell tents, broad trade tents,
and wooden performance stages…
* * * * *
Fun First Facts About SS
Who was your first love?
I do not mean to make a
mountain out of a molehill, but, first love? I think I’ll ignore my
kindergarten teacher and a waitress who worked at the family restaurant. So,
when I was in a juvenile detention facility due to dropping out of junior high
school, I met this petite black haired woman who worked in administration. In
spite of my circumstances, it wasn’t long before I “fell in love” with her.
Ruthann was never more than a friend though. And, there was this fleshy girl
with long brunette hair who I met at the facility. Barbara was about my age
going-on-30 and much more experienced in life than I was. She was a habitual
runaway who loved hitch hiking across the country. Not long after we were both
out of the facility she found me, and, you might say, taught me a lot about
many things. I fell in love with her; but her home was in a nearby city when
she wasn't off hitch hiking. I went to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
wore a suit and tie, and prepared to forge a middle class life for myself. And
then Barbara showed up. She always returned from her latest journey for a visit
when I least expected it; she would stay for a few days and then leave again.
We finally lost touch when I left for the Army several years later. (No, I am
not plagiarizing “Forrest Gump,” but when I saw the movie I immediately thought
of Barbara.) The subject of love makes me a little uncomfortable as I have never
had a successful relationship. So, from an historical point of view, I doubt if
I ever will.
If you had a free afternoon, what’s the first thing
you’d do?
If I had money and a car on
top of a free afternoon, I’d go to the nearest bookstore (there aren’t that
many in Las Vegas
If you could live your life over again, what’s the first
thing you’d do differently or change?
Go to college and get a
degree. Go on to a university and get a higher degree. With a good education
perhaps I would not have led such a financially-challenged life (I am almost 60
years old now and am registered in a 2-year VA program for homeless veterans).
As we all know, there are a lot of sayings about how money is not everything,
but guess what—money is 99% of everything. Money pays the bills, money buys
medical care, money can keep you from being evicted from your home or being
homeless. If you have enough money, you can even afford to go on a real
vacation once in awhile. Everything, especially money, flows from an
education—or it did until the Great Recession hit. So, if I could live my life
over again, I would be sure to get a good education at an earlier age rather
than starting at 53 years old.
More about SS: SS Hampton, Sr. is a Choctaw
from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13
grandchildren, a published photographer, photojournalist, and fiction writer.
He is a serving member of the Army National Guard with the rank of staff
sergeant, and is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle, and Iraqi Freedom. His
writings have appeared in Ruthie’s Club, Lucrezia Magazine, Megaera, The
Harrow, River Walk Journal, and Dark Fire, among others. Second career goals
include becoming a painter and studying for a degree in photography and anthropology—hopefully
to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology. After 12 years of
brown desert in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky
Mountains , yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm
fireplace during snowy winters. As of December 2011 in Las
Vegas , Nevada , Hampton
SS's published books are available here:
Melange Books
Musa Publishing
MuseItUp Publishing
Thanks for coming on today, Stan!
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
DeleteThank you for having me. I hope visitors to your blog will enjoy the visit.
Stan