short stories
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Levin Gillis Brittingham took me to Ocean City and the Chincoteague carnival and put me on the merry-go-round…that’s what my Dads always told me, no matter how hard I try though, I can’t remember it. I only have a few memories that are of Pop but the few I do have, mean very much… Our…
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Gam had a grape vine way in the back of her yard. Just before you got to the graveyard road. She made grape jelly and jams and I loved to see her out there in her bonnet & her house-dress gathering grapes. There was a little ditch between that grapevine and where the field started…
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As many times as I ran up and down them you’d think I would remember exactly how many steps there was to our “upstairs” in the old 2 story house I grew up in. It was the same house Gam was born in. Its been gone since the late 80’s I think but in my…
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“Here I stand,Upon this stump,Come and kiss me,‘fore I jump!” –author unknown (not sure who to credit) Each year for the Christmas program at church we usually had to memorize a bible verse and recite it. We also had a selection of songs that we’d all sing together with Julie leading us on the piano.…
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Toppy Fleming and his mother sat a few rows up from where I was sitting with Gam at Signpost Church on many Sunday mornings. Sometimes Mrs Fleming’s hearing aid would get to whistling, and I don’t think she cared because obviously she couldn’t hear it, but the rest of us could. As hard as I…
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My birthday is August 16th, my brother Jody’s is 7 days after mine on August 23rd and my brother Troy’s birthday is 7 days after that on August 30th. Then, years later, I had my daughter on November 18th and Troys first son was born 7 days later on November 25…we thought history was repeating…
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The Sears Wish Book was a BIG deal when we were coming along, when the mail lady Irene Taylor delivered those catalogs the only sound you could hear in SignPost were the crickets and the sound of pages turning. Well, and at my house squawking with my brothers about what section of the catalog we…
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She has hated me from the very moment she knew of my existence, even at only the fetus stage. What hurts the most is this hate is so deep there was absolutely nothing I could ever do that can remove it, reduce it, or make it anything other than the hate it is.It was 1967…
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I remember sun babbles dancing on the ground on the pine shats, all between the trees down by the water. Way back we used to have family picnics/reunions at maybe Shad or Milburn Landing in Pocomoke. I remember plenty of cold fried chicken set out on tables, and potato salads and rolls in baskets covered…
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Olive M. was one of my Dads beautiful sisters, she is one of my two Aunts that I lived closest to down in Onancock after I moved from Signpost to live with my Mom in 1984. I remember her house being brick and I think she had white carpet. Her house, in the 80’s was…
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Sometimes on our willywalks down the graveyard road and into the woods we went foraging for sassafras root and when we got back to Gams house she made sassafras tea. I will never forget the smell of that root as long as I live. She also had a patch of mint leaves that grew behind…
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Every year the Saturday before Christmas all of a sudden we’d hear the whir of a fire truck whistle as it entered SignPost. Greenbackville Fire Department rides Santa around to visit the kids and give bags of candy. My favorite was those chocolate covered vanilla domes, not sure what they are but I never loved…
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Now I do not know for certain that these tales are “tall” I only know that when they are told to us they are told with a twinkle in his eye and a smile in his voice. I cannot claim these tales to be his exclusively, or if they’re recycles from his dad or brothers…but…
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Very near Signpost is a little village called Sinnickson Virginia and the road to it just off Fleming Rd is “Red Hills Rd”, we always just called it all- Red Hills. There was a dock down there for launching your boat, and a beach area. I remember going there to swim a few times and…
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The Chincoteague Carnival opens every summer, rides, food, games, usually around Pony Penning. I remember about 3 pm I would be all ready to go in my clean clothes. All I had to do was wait for my dad to get home from work, and around 6 pm he’d come walking back home from Jacks…
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Ladies, I’m going to tell you right now that EVERYTHING changes in your 50’s. Fellas, you too because it is very good and useful preparation for what is to come. Listen up! One day you will wake up, and there will be all these things that seemingly happened overnight. Your eyebrows will starting fading. My…
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My cousin, Beth Rae was my very best friend for a long time. I don’t know if she even knows that. We lived across the street from each other and used to stand out in our front yards when we couldn’t play together and just chit-chat. I remember Judy’s Beauty Shop in a little trailer…
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There was a stack of quilts in that upstairs bedroom where we had our beauty pageants for boat trophies. Gam was making a quilt for each of her 12 children’s families. I am not sure when she started this venture but I knew she was making them- and I knew why. One day in the…
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I always a felt a little bit intimidated by him, yet when he made eye contact with me his eyes twinkled, and he truly was a sweet and kind man. Pretty sure he’s the first person to ever take my nose off! Then he’d push his thumb between his index and middle finger and say,…
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Its Christmas Eve! I am now 55 years old and still excited about Christmas- even though I am grown, even though my baby is grown- there is something magic about Christmas that has absolutely nothing to do with gifts at all. I know this is the same for many people and I also know that…
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Can you imagine the sound of a photo gliding out of a Polaroid instant camera now that I’ve suggested it? That’s how I remember my childhood, in snapshots and with that sound. Sometimes its dust particles in a sun beam that takes me back, back to the first time I really noticed them. I was…
Enchanted April 