Friday's Writing Group - Two Stories

Author - Julie Adamson
ISBN:  978-0-47350542-4

Effervescence is always boldly present when the writing group I belong to meets. Yesterday afternoon, in my home, we regaled each other with writing news and stories. An added bonus came to us all the way from Wellington, New Zealand! Julie Adamson, a past member of our group, returned to her home and family a number of years ago. We have have missed her gentle laugh and wonderful poetry in our group. She has met, very successfully with the challenges of Haiku and has published two children’s books. Yesterday, we each purchased signed copies of her beautiful second book ~ Hannah and the Fire Chief. Both of her books were inspired by her grandchildren. That along with a lovely, delicious chocolate bar (Fijian Ginger and Kerikeri Mandarin in Dark Chocolate) straight from New Zealand! Thanks so much Julie!!

Now, on to our self assigned topic for this month. This was again, fun and we all shared our such varied pieces! Every one elicits laughter. Our topic phrase: It was not a dark and stormy night. I had recalled a piece I had written a number of years ago for this same group, but in this case it was the usual phrase: ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’ That piece was an actual experience that I had in 1988 when I traveled to Texas to work. So, for yesterday, I did a similar piece but fanciful, shorter and almost reminiscent of a movie! I am including them both in this post:

A Night to Remember

It was a dark and stormy night.  A sentence far too cliched, over used and makes me think of Charley Brown rather than a night to remember.  However, it definitely was a night to remember.

39, confident and driving a brand new Dodge colt, I was scouting the territory of my new employer. Hired over the phone in April at St. Mary of the Plains Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, I wanted to see where I would be working in October that same year. In May, I drove from Regina, Saskatchewan to Grand Junction, Colorado before going on to Lubbock, Texas.

  

The day started out clear, sunny and calm, and I set off early for the 740 mi (1200 Km) trip.  A long drive through unfamiliar country, I had mountains to climb beginning in far southern Colorado.  As I came down from Raton, New Mexico, on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into the Llano Estacado that extends from south eastern New Mexico into north west Texas, fat clouds were beginning to form on the horizon.  Not problem. I stopped for breaks often.  However they gathered over me much more quickly that I anticipated.

Then it started to rain - big fat drops flattened onto my new windshield, trees in the gentling descending plains were starting to bend in a fairly heavy wind.  No matter.  I was now only about 2 or 3 hours out of Lubbock according to my directions.  The highway was broad and flat, with no traffic.

The clouds came in faster.  The night grew darker.  The wind grew stronger. The night should not have been upon me yet, but it had arrived fiercely - a not so gentle reminder that I shouldn’t ‘mess with Texas.”   My dad did teach me, that in a storm, get off the road and get shelter till the storm passes.  Where to go?  This was an Interstate highway! Divided.  The highway sign for Happy, Texas welcomed me so I pulled off the interstate, drove down the main street  - of a closed up town.  Rolled up. Quiet. Dark.

Back on a highway, which now had a 1/2 inch of water on the pavement and a wind that rocked my car threatening to push me off into the Texas plain, I was truly frightened.

I don’t remember tears stinging my eyes, but I do remember my fierce determination to get to Lubbock, Tx and safety.  I prayed like I have never prayed before or since and just kept driving.  I did arrive safely in Lubbock, had a good nights sleep and awoke to beautiful sunny day and a very wet city on the Texas plain.  

Did I mention that this was 1988 before cell phones and oh, yes, I had no radio in my brand new car! 

"Determination gives you the resolve to keep going 

in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you."

~ Denis Waitley

Life Changing

It was definitely not a dark and stormy night. As a matter of fact, the sun shone brilliantly, lighting up the Texas plains that welcomed me on my adventure. Passing herds of Texas long horns grazing in the mesquite on one side of the road and a little further, small herds of buffalo shaded under the few trees they could find, were treats I hadn’t expected. I drove a brand new sleek emerald green 1988 Jaguar with soft tan leather seats. The convertible top was down and the wind tousled my hair. I had the radio playing Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again. His Texas drawl, the perfect accompaniment to a new and exciting world. Never had I been this far from my prairie home in Saskatchewan, but I had decided to strike out on my own. Learn new ways, meet new people and best of all make my own rules. My parents had put money in my bank account, some in my pocket and all the advice in the world. Don’t drive past five o’clock and make sure you stop for meals oh and stop every two hours - that was my mom.  Make sure you get maps whenever you stop and.. I know you love that car, but get out and stretch your legs.- that was my dad. There was the old standard - call us when you get there or if you need anything - that was both of them in harmony. I hugged them both and told them to stop worrying, assuring them that I would call them just as they asked. Texas Tech University had accepted me into their journalism program. Despite my excitement I was a little scared. This being a big girl and my own adult was kind of scary. Those two feelings mixed and wavered inside my gut. (mom didn’t like me using that word). Then I saw Lubbock, Texas. Buddy Holly’s home town! Lubbock, on the skyline, was not a city of tall buildings! A kind of rumpled looking collection of houses and stumpy office buildings. That was a bit concerning. I drove on anyway. I turned right on the exit to Texas Tech University. When I drove toward the campus, I breathed a sigh of relief. Beautiful red brick buildings with Spanish tiled roofs greeted me. Sighting a telephone booth, I pulled over and called my parents, gushing about everything I had seen. The sun was almost down, the wide azure sky filling with golds, peach, and deeper purple. It felt like home. A Motel 6 sign down the street winked on in the waning light, a family restaurant was just beside it. I had supper at the restaurant and stayed at the Motel 6 that night. Morning would be time to open the next chapter in my adventure.

“But now he was dreaming, he was wildly imagining things”

~ Iris Murdoch,  The Green Knight