Breakfast Serial from Hallard Press
Quick Reads Published Every Friday for your Weekend Pleasure
My Therapist Eats Hay
When the phone rang that late Friday afternoon in September, I answered without thought. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I heard what my doctor had to say. After all, I’d already had an ultrasound, an MRI, and a needle-biopsy, but my innate optimism, my desire to always find a half-filled glass even among its…
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The Night I Fell From the Sky
Getting from the back of our attic to the master bedroom can involve (A) 50 paces and 14 stairs or (B) one large step. Usually I take the 50+14 because it doesn’t include smashing through a plasterboard ceiling with my body followed by a drop of ten feet to the floor and the possibility of…
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It Was All Going Away… and We Wanted One More Race
We didn’t know it for sure at the time, but I think some of us suspected it: our long summer, which had lasted like twenty years, would end in a letter personally addressed to each and every one one of us. The letters were from Uncle Sam began with the word “GREETINGS
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One Tall Drink of Water
It’s a beautiful day and just perfect for you to join me on our morning game drive. It appears that this small herd of giraffe was on a mission.
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The 49 Bus
Oh, hi. Yes, sure, you can sit here. Crowded isn’t it? Yes, The 49 Bus is usually crowded this time of day. People going to work and shopping and the school kids, you know.
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Diary 1999: An Eye-Opening Medical Memoir
In 1999 Dr. Renée Richards kept a detailed diary of her personal and professional life. An internationally renowned eye surgeon and teacher, her specialty was strabismus, a condition where the eyes do not properly align. It was an eventful year. Medical practice was changing to managed care and she adapted. The hospital she had helped…
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Michael Appelbaum’s Wildlife Adventures
The year 2020 has affected everyone in some way that you probably never planned. For me it was the year I could finally share my passion without losing friends or boring everyone at the party. Let me explain…I am totally passionate about the wildlife and tribes of Africa. It’s been part of my life since…
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The Early Adventures of Homer Plow & Oliver Shagnasty
A rollicking, fast moving tale of a family separated by a big bump on a rain-soaked country road. Two-year-old Oscar Ferguson bounces out of the back of the old family truck in backwoods Appalachia and is found by Amelia and Oliver Shagnasty, who raise him as their own son. Oscar’s brother, Randolph, is adopted from…
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The Blinking Game
The Blinking Game: An African American Woman Experiences India As a kid growing up in rural Illinois I learned a lot from our cow Lucy. When I wanted to get her attention, I would flail my arms in front of her face, point and direct her to “eat that grass over there!” Lucy would just…
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Unk’s Fiddle
Unk played the violin–well, he called it a fiddle–but he’d never play it when anyone was around. Except for Eleanor. He’d play it for her. But then they’d been friends for over seventy years, since they were babies. I think Unk was always sweet on her. That’s not to say they dated or anything, not…
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The ‘Vette’s Last Ride
I knew it had to happen someday. Everything changes. Nothing stays the same, so it is said. I’ve had my 1967 Corvette convertible for 20 years. I’ve loved it—driving it, caring for it, repairing it, babying it. Local driving, good weather only. It was part of my persona, whatever that means.
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“Yes, Lord”
The phone rang. It was June, 1978 and as soon as I said “Hello”, my frantic friend burst into tears and said, “Thank goodness you’re ok, I thought you were dead!” Breathlessly she then went on to explain that her previous boss, my ex-boyfriend from a month ago, was shot in the head and the…
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Slue Foot: A Black Girl Grows Up in Midwest America
Daddy had one more story to tell about when he was a little boy. We didn’t ask him to tell us this one. He liked telling it anyway. “Der wuz dis big famly jes lak us, but dey wun’t po lak us. I seed dem girls in dey pressed white dresses always carrying theirselves lak…
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Whinny
Lordy, my sister Whinny loved horses. Momma said they’d be the death of her. When she was little, Whinny’s bedroom was all porcelain horses, paint-by-number mustangs, and magazines about thoroughbreds and cow ponies. She had maps for a trip to Assateague and Chincoteague, where she’d to meet Misty and the wild ponies from the newsreel….
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Diary of LST 351
During World War II, military men were not allowed to keep diaries for fear that if they were captured, the enemy might learn valuable information. Somehow Albert had the blessing of the ship’s captain and was able to keep a day-to-day diary. The diary needed to be transcribed. Albert’s handwriting was a challenge. So, in…
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Amor Fati: Growing up in God’s Hotel
Warm-hearted, straightforward, and unafraid, Amor Fati is the autobiography of Denise Noella Kingsley, who learned to love her fate and through a life well-lived has inspired others to do the same.
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Call Me Harry
Maybe it was luck, or perhaps, Providence, the good Lord’s hand pushing me in the direction of the book section. There I was, minding my own business, trying to stay out of the way in Target, while my wife shopped. We needed shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash—the usual stuff—for our trip east to visit my mother who…
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Wow Mike….you really bring your stories life and excitement. Keep writing my friend. These stories will be read and read for many years to come.