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Post by Neal on Jan 8, 2024 1:30:18 GMT -5
A life lived 1
An interesting start to a non SS first person narrative story.
I'm like they way the the main character (Colin) is developing. I like the way they environment he lives in is depicted. Being born and raised in a smallish New England town I can easily picture his town and identify with his surroundings.
I like the observations and comments on current society. Whitty but not preachy. A favorite observation I liked is "but misogyny is strong in the land of the free, home of the stupid."
A favorite truism I liked. "It was unfair that dogs don't live as long as people. I can think of many people I'd rather lose than my dog." Amen!
I had a German Shepard as my companion, friend, protector, from about 4th grade to adulthood. My Fritz, was much like Daisy in that as Colin said "The dog eats frozen poop and thinks something I give her may be less acceptable." I can still remember his looking at me when I handed him something he wasn't expecting. Fritz differed in appearance though as he was largish, black with silver markings and very intimidating to those who didn't know him. Back in those days he could run free, no leash laws, and was always by my side on many adventures after I got my first bike. I can't even imagine what would happen today if a kid walked into a library or a store with an unleashed unlabeled dog that looked like a slender wolf.
I like Annabelle, the mechanic, too. I like how they interact. My favorite understatement involved her. "I think you better get good health insurance, because your kid will need therapy,”.
I think this is mostly the background of the story and something interesting is going to happen in the next chapters.
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Post by Neal on Jan 16, 2024 3:38:59 GMT -5
A life lived 2
OMG! Have tissues at the ready.
Chapter started of slow but evoked some memories for me of small-town life.
Indulge me, please.
A long time ago in a small town my oldest got sick. My wife sent me out, on a Sunday afternoon, in a snowstorm, to the only drugstore in the area, to get "Father John's" cod liver oil medicine. Back then in Maine that was THE cure for common colds and coughs. I made it to the drugstore, got the Father John's off the shelf and went to stand in the only checkout line. There were 4 people in front of me. One was just finishing and leaving. The next person began to checkout when the cashier started talking to a nearby store employee, occasionally running the customers stuff over the scanner. That customer chatted with the cashier and the employee and finally left. The next person's third item wouldn't scan. The cashier took the item and strolled through the store to where the item came from, chatting with other customers she passed and stopping to help one of them reach something. She finally strolled back to the checkout point and finished the transaction with a little more side chat. The fourth person was much like the second person in that the cashier, employee and custom chatted during the transaction. Finally, it was my turn. The cashier picked up my bottle of cough syrup and turned to talk to the employee as she scanned the bottle. I gave her a $10.00 bill, she turned and chatted to the employee as she typed on the terminal. Apparently, my patience and decorum failed me at that moment as the terminal display displayed Change Due $320.00! Before I could stop myself, I shouted "BINGO... PAY THE MAN!" and pointed at the display. That startled the people around me and a manager showed up rather quickly. When the manager asked if there was I problem I rather loudly said "NO". Your diligent and professional employee has been performing her duties, as I pointed to the display, and there is the result. PAY ME! Since I was rather taller and bigger than him, I calmed down and in a more conversational tone unloaded on him about the last 45 minutes of my life and my observations of the checkout process. The cashier was replaced, the sale was cancelled and rung up by the replacement cashier and I got my $0.32 and left after profuse apologies and some applause from the several people in line behind me.
Thank you for your indulgence. Please resume normal reading.
Things get interesting and disturbing after the snowstorm started.
Favorite sentences to Bailey:
“Stop calling me that. Nobody knighted me,”, “Slow down. It's dead. You eat too quick, you're likely to throw it all up,”
Most painful understatement ever in any of Dave's stories, “I cried.” So much is implied in those two words.
The last six paragraphs are my favorite parts of this story. I like the interaction between Colin and Bailey. Things are looking up for Bailey.
Sentence that describes me, "I know very little about a lot, and the lot I know is very little."
Thank you, Dave.
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Post by Neal on Jan 16, 2024 4:02:38 GMT -5
After I wrote my comments about "A Life Lived" I asked "Bing" to look for Father John's. Well knock me over with a feather. Look what "Bing" showed me. “Father John’s” is a cough medicine that was first formulated in the United States in a Lowell, Massachusetts pharmacy in 1855 by Carleton and Hovey to give relief to ailing Father John O’Brien. The tonic was a non-alcoholic mix made of cod liver oil and had a licorice taste. It is a wholesome family medicine that relieves coughs due to colds and minor throat irritations. It consists of a cod liver oil base containing glycerin, sugar, licorice and flavoring oils. It contains no alcohol and is available in 8-ounce bottles. You can purchase it on Amazon for $16.99.  I didn't know it was still available. They did neglect to mention the strong Cod Liver Oil after taste though. Maybe the formula is different than it was in my "old days", the 50's through 70's. Now I know why it was treated like Catholic Penicillin. |
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Post by Neal on Jan 22, 2024 0:29:11 GMT -5
A life lived 3.
A nice chapter.
Colin is doing the right thing even if he is doing it begrudgingly. Bailey is responding to his new circumstances well.
Favorite societal observation. "The human race thinks dumb things. A lot of dumb things."
I liked Colin's response to the trooper. “That's not the selling point you think it is.”
I like that Bailey is taking small risks with Colin. The bathroom mouthwash scene being my favorite. “Let's not get bogged down in details.”
I am looking forward to more of this story.
Thanks, Dave
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Post by Neal on Jan 31, 2024 7:30:00 GMT -5
A quick note to say I'm still loving this story. But as usual in my life nothing happens for a long time and then everything happens all at once. My friend and 84-year-old housemate had some health setbacks requiring some ER visits and constant vigilance whenever he was out of bed or his recliner. My ex-wife in Maine passed away due to health issues. Her passing was expected, but not as quickly as it happened. Communicating with my daughter, who was by her side, from Phoenix was not fun. And then my current favorite story came in waves. The cliche "When it rains, it pours." comes to mind.
I got a lot of Kindle Oasis and Android Tablet time, but not a lot of clear-headed PC time. Things should be returning to abnormal here soon.
Although some of the things I read while sitting in the waiting room or in sight of my housemate were interesting and occupied my mind re reading SS stories was my bedtime mind reset.
Thank you, Dave.
P. S. I can recommend "The French Lesson" by Robin Elliot as an interesting read. I got it on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. A young uptight British lawyer meets a suave French man who stabilizes his life. It was a nice read and the French man's family's reaction to an uptight skinny pale British lawyer as opposed to the self-absorbed beautiful playthings he usually dated was fun.
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Post by James Merkin on Feb 2, 2024 9:37:41 GMT -5
It ends but it's a never-ending story, a life lived. Damn! I can't see to wipe my eyes. Just sittin', stunned.
Merkin
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Post by glh on Feb 2, 2024 21:22:06 GMT -5
"Stunned" was pretty much my response as well. A wonderful story, though.
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Post by giantk9 on Feb 10, 2024 17:20:02 GMT -5
I too was stunned by the ending, that was something different for your stories. Went back several times to make sure I hadn't missed something. So glad to see A Life Discovered picking up the story.
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Post by James Merkin on Apr 4, 2024 14:31:01 GMT -5
4/3/24. Stopped by It's Only Me from Across the Sea (IOMfAtS) to see what's going on across the waters and discovered to my delight that Timmy is running "A Life Lived". Even better, the chapter just posted is Chapter 4, to my mind the most perfect chapter within this most perfect story. Check it out: iomfats.org/ . I think this tale may confound his English readers, it is so filled with arcane Americana. |
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Post by Dabeagle on Apr 5, 2024 10:21:24 GMT -5
Bensiamin is hosted there and I have posted one other story at IOMFATS, so this enables Ben to get more exposure for his story as well as mine. I guess I'll have to head over there and see if there were any posts or anything I should respond to.
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