Introduction "Alabama Zack" is a 40-chapter science fiction serial, which will be published here in the Scholar and Scribe community once a week on Wednesdays. The story of the story Zack began

No, bad move. Rochelle drifted her eyes left so that the world lost focus. She didn't move, though the fence cut into her chest. Behind her the kids scurried away; she hear their pitter-patter across the

Monday was a grey day in Hoquiam, Wash. It was dry though, so in the afternoon a took a photographic ramble around the Hoquiam River Loop, a roughly milelong sidewalk and blacktop path that runs along

On Monday this week I was in the right place at the right time to catch the Hoquiam, Wash., tugboats passing directly beneath me as I stood on Simpson Avenue Bridge. This short clip of the Rowdy will

the barnyard and the red wheelbarrow – Grandma inside coveralls. backend first, black cows heave up swallowing cud the slick hay in our green manger – the hay rustles sibilant. Within a globe of fog miles

Nature abhors a vacuum. Who said that? He didn't know. And his phone was downstairs in the kitchen. His aunt's old room on the second floor looked … well, occupied. That's how it looked. But it couldn't

A couple weeks ago I stumbled across a wild spot on the Hoquiam River in my hometown of Hoquiam, Wash. It's a spot I had never seen before. I was rambling around the grounds of the abandoned mill in the

Caught in the memories. The prompts for Silver Bloggers can sometimes do that. This week the prompt invites us to write about our first job. My first job at the ripe age of 15 was for Sweet Corn Charlie's

It's strange being around people again. Jackson squatted down across from the sculpture in the center of the village. He watched the people ebb and flow like water around a rock. Some gathered on the benches

Coming up the front walk in his silk suit the color of night, he felt like a fool. He didn't wear suits. He was a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy. A 'long walks on the beach' kind of guy, or not even the

The following is written for the Silver Bloggers Chronicles prompt 34: What is the most daring thing you did in your teens? I think I was a daring teenager, but then again, isn't that just part of being

Honest Lies “I like your music.” Of course it wasn't really about the music. It was her voice, the sweet tones that matched her face, her long lashes that fluttered, the way she constantly looked down

Last week I took a nice photowalk along the Grays Harbor bay in Hoquiam, Wash. It was an unseasonably warm afternoon, but overcast, as it typically is during the winter here on the Pacific Coast. Since

My first day of school, way back in 1981, was a quest for Charlie Brown. Wakarusa Elementary, in Wakarusa, Ind., placed a cardboard cutout of Charlie in front of the classroom to help kindergartners find

Its stitched eyes wouldn't close. It had to watch. Once the guys had finished, they left her. She lay twisted, on one hip but facedown, her green dress with the black polka dots rucked up, just another

Every morning is ideal in Hoquiam, Wash. (Except when it rains.) This morning started cold. The grass in the field outside my apartment building was stiff with frost, which gleamed in the sun. The birds

I went searching for clouds. I was working on a short Liketu post (Clouds on the Bay), which would be a selection of 10 cloud photos taken along the Grays Harbor bay in Hoquiam, Wash. Most of the photos

It wasn't a smile. More of a rictus. The basement greyed. The furnace leered. The hot water heater growled. Background noise: it faded when the sump pump screeched its curses. The doll he held for comfort

I grew up on a farm in northern Indiana in the '80s and '90s. I suppose my grandmother was my favorite person. For the usual reasons: she spoiled her grandkids rotten, in all the traditional ways. There

So, it's a girl, Alec thought. That made it worse. The pink smoke billowed impressively out of the firework. Shelly and Jim had only the one, which was less impressive, but he guessed it was enough for