Today’s reading is somewhat long. Important, though, as it introduces two characters who will remain through most of the rest of the novel.

The first chapter, Square Dance, introduces Harvey Oliver Kendall – known to just about everyone as Hoke.

The second chapter, Scattered Seeds, introduces sheriff’s deputy Will Sealie. Will is working the records room at the Fuller County Sheriff’s office. His usual beat is the area near Possum Hollow, in and around Pearl.

I was asked how I came up with names of people and/or places. It varies. Possum Hollow is a real place in Ross County, Ohio, maybe ten miles or so east of Chillicothe. I’ve been there on numerous occasions – for about a month I dated a girl who lived out on Possum Hollow road. Enough said.

Other names sort of pop into my head or can be in homage to certain people or borrowed from others out of respect (or in one case, to twit a person who kept begging me to use his name in one of my stories).

Hoke came to me. The invention of Harvey Oliver Kendall came to me after I came up with the nickname. Although I do not mention it in this tale, the Jackson Squares call themselves “Hoke Folk” as a term of endearment. When I was square dancing in southern Ohio, our group’s caller was a fellow named Homer Magnet. I came to find out that callers have followings with one or several clubs. Homer may not have made a good living at calling, but he had quite a few friends who would make a point of attending dances where Homer was the caller.

Will Sealie, on the other hand, is the name of an obscure actor. Seriously. I read an article in one of the news magazines – it was at least thirty years ago – about a film series in South Africa about “Captain Caprivi”. It was during Apartheid – and Captain Caprivi was the hero who would come and save the day when all looked hopeless for the white people under attack from the vicious natives. The description of the movies were, to me, utterly ludicrous. Will Sealie was the unfortunate who played “Captain Caprivi”. My inclusion of the name was mostly random, though, on purpose.

Thursday, more of the same. Until then, here’s today’s installment…

 

Today’s installment takes us down the hollow to visit with Fred Granger and his wife, Kitty, before heading off to Jackson to meet with someone called Hoke.

Just one chapter, coming in at around 17 minutes.

There are a couple of times in my life when I’ve been exposed to square dancing – the first time was fifty years ago as described in a previous story. The second time was during my first marriage when we took lessons and participated in a square dance group in Chillicothe, Ohio. Some of the people you’ll meet in this and the next chapter are an awful lot like the people in that group.

Until Monday… 

Here’s the first Monday installment of my regular reading schedule.

Today, we continue Possum Hollow. The first chapter, Missing Siblings, is a partial run-down of information regarding the Brown family of Possum Hollow. It’s decided that Tricia and her husband, Glenn need to go to the hollow to speak with Sally Brown – the woman Tricia met at the cemetery at the top of the hollow.

The second chapter, The Smokehouse, details Tricia and Glenn’s visit to see Sally at the farm house on Possum Hollow Road. The reason for the chapter title becomes apparent soon after the chapter starts.

Part of the imagery of Sally’s house comes from a visit I had years ago while working in Chillicothe, Ohio for the local newspaper. One of the carriers I was in charge of had trouble collecting from one particular customer. I went to the person’s house and found pretty much what Tricia and Glenn found at the house in Possum Hollow, complete with the pall of cigarette smoke and the overflowing ash trays. The owner of the house was real nice – and ended up pulling out a wad of bills to pay for a year’s worth of newspapers. What is missing from the story I’m telling in this week’s installment is the fact that the man I met in person had a total of five toes on both feet. My favorite quote from the man was listening to him tell about how what amounted to a tar-paper shack with dirt floors was the best house he ever lived in. “My last house burned down to the ground,” he told me.

I found it hard to keep a straight face.

Thursday, we will be meeting one of the two worst liars in all of Fuller County, Ohio in one of my favorite chapters – Faith Healing Appliances.

In the meantime, enjoy:

 

This second section starts with a flashback. Tricia Michaels is still on the front porch of The Blue and the Gray remembering an incident from her childhood.

We first met Tricia in Saving Magnolia. She’s a free-lance writer making a good living from selling feature stories to newspapers and magazines in the Ohio/West Virginia/Kentucky tristate. Her first appearance was on a date she’d set up with a rude, cheating man who had his own ideas as to what would happen after dinner. When he was rebuffed, he left her and a bottle of wine alone at the restaurant. She eventually met the man who would be her husband while writing a story about the owner of Zeke’s Café – an institution, of sorts, in downtown Magnolia.

Tricia Michaels is a strong character. It’s in her nature. For the most part, “Possum Hollow” is her story. She is the prime motivator on many of the events we will experience in the weeks and months to come (the book is at 80,000+ words).

The second chapter involves Tricia’s husband, Glenn (primary character in Saving Magnolia. She recounts the day’s activities while hiding the incident from her past described in the previous chapter.

Due to the length of the book, new chapters will be posted on Mondays as well as on Thursdays each week (the first Monday installment will be on March 13th). Yes, this week’s installment will be issued earlier than usual, but again, will not be promoted until Thursday.

The Secret of Possum Hollow – is one of the books I am considering putting into print next.

It’s a Magnolia book, using characters first seen and developed in Saving Magnolia and The Magnolia Chronicles, while adding reference to other characters and points of interest in other parts of Fuller County, Ohio.

At the time I was half way through writing this book, there was news of women in real-life Ross County, Ohio disappearing, and then showing up dead. The disappearances gained national notoriety, in part due to a television show produced by one of the cable networks about the disappearances. I have held back in leaking this work so as not to appear to be capitalizing on the loss of the women involved and in deference to their families.

This work is not for the faint of heart.

Some of the women depicted in this novel were taken advantage of by ruthless men who turned them into slaves for their own enjoyment. Some were quite literally used up then thrown away when they were no longer needed.

Two other side notes:

For one, there are certain law enforcement officers depicted in this story who should not have been law enforcement officers in the first place. The depictions of those people are not depictions of or have the characteristics of the law enforcement officers I know personally.  I just wanted you to know.

The other note is that these first two chapters of the book on the attached MP3 are without additional comment. My intent is to release all of the chapters of this book as a single audio book. All of my comments will be made here from this point forward.

As usual, thanks for your time.

Be Seeing You!

 

bdharrell

This is the start of what could be termed as a family affair. The wife and I batted around a few ideas for a story at least three years ago after observing a car filled to the rim with papers and assorted trash sitting in the Allen, Texas library parking lot. Our story stayed in the background for quite some time, waiting for the proper idea to get the story out of this initial chapter and out of the parking lot.

Four months ago, I started sketching out the remainder of the story and have been back to it ever since. As a teaser, there’s a lot more to Chester than meets the eye, as well as a certain amount of skullduggery going on in my little town of Magnolia. There’s a slight hint of that skullduggery in today’s opening chapter.

Next week, I will start reading The Secret of Possum Hollow… a darker tale, again, taking place in Fuller County, Ohio.

During the meanwhilst,  I hope you enjoy this week’s feature chapter…

 

Be Seeing You!

I wrote this story as commemoration of my first time slow dancing with one of my peers. It happened fifty years ago this month. As I mention ahead of time, most of the names have been changed to protect the innocent… many of the events haven’t (including flaming arrows and protruding tissue). The narration is a bit long this week – about 35 minutes.

Next week, the beginning of a project currently under construction. My son was taken with the opening chapter… maybe you’ll agree when you meet Dorothy Dandridge and a few other people you may know from Magnolia, Ohio in Mystery at the Library.

Until next week…

This week, I will conclude the novella Goodbye to All That with an expected date which seems to go awry. Expect this to go on a little longer than usual.

Next week, a short story, again from The Coin Jar. The First Slow Dance is a fictionalized piece of autobiography taken from an event which occurred fifty years ago this month. Grab some popcorn and join us next Thursday, won’t you?

Be Seeing You!

We are about to get into a tale of two Warrens. Warren Smith and Warren DuBois. Both are headed to Ding’s, the Chinese restaurant in Prentiss, for a Friday night date. Mr. Smith plans a date initiated by Jeannie Turner to spy on her erstwhile boyfriend, Will Chaney, while Mr. DuBois hopes to meet his ex-wife to apologize to her for his “extracurricular activities”.  This will make more sense with today’s reading – and even more sense when we get further into the story. Enjoy.