Two Short Stories by the Bookworm

Short stories are usually something I read. I enjoy reading the short stories of Thomas Mann, Edgar Allen Poe, and Rudyard Kipling. I guess I am just feeling a little curious about what it feels like to write them. This is the only way I could think of doing that. So, for now, I will just post what I write on this hub.

Leah

Her parents named her Leah. She was a lucky child who loved her name. Other than that, her childhood was free of anything special, any real tragedy or any interesting challenges. Her parents loved her enough to made sure of that. It’s a good thing we never had children. She could barely handle our marriage. I have never been an easy person to be around.

I see her in the next room. She grasps a knife firmly and quietly moves in my direction. The knife moves with an ease that only comes with practice. The blade does not go completely through on the first stroke. She smiles, slightly. Raw sweet potatoes are like that. Sometimes it feels like you are cutting through wood. We both agree that fresh sweet potatoes are worth the effort.

The kitchen is always clean, even when she is attacking sweet potatoes. You can be assured the peels are in the trash can. She has become such a neat freak. To the right of the sweet potatoes are a plate of ingredients: one table spoon of butter, one diced up chipotle pepper, a teaspoon of the adobo sauce, a potato masher, and a strainer. I am glad she is using butter. It drives me crazy when she insists that margarine tastes the same as butter. It never does. Of course, she has perfectly timed the boiling water on the stove. I could never manage that. She places the diced sweet potato into the strainer. All of the cubes are cut to a half an inch so they will steam evenly. She places the strainer over the pot of water and puts the lid over it. In twenty minutes, she will smash the cubes and ingredients together to make spicy smashed sweet potatoes. It was my favorite dish. That is just enough time for her to finish crying. I wish I could hold her and tell her it will be okay. I wish someone could be here for her.

Hello Herb. Hang on let me switch on my tunes. Ah, that’s better. I need to bounce this idea off of you. How is this introduction?

Okay fellow Hubbers, I have been putting my work up on hubs for about two weeks now. I am up to thirteen articles. That is enough time to learn how to get into trouble. It is time for me to stretch my metaphorical wings and fly near the sun. Maybe, I will fly straight into it. I must have a plan to abandon.

My initial 13 hubs have exceeded all my expectations in terms of hits. Especially on the ones I did not think would do well. That would be the one calledSilly Limericks. Just to be clear, I do think I can do much better.

Cool! John Lee Hooker is singing “Boom, Boom, Boom”.

No, I cannot say “follow a plan” because I cannot even follow a good recipe. I inherited this from my parents. My dad always gets lost with a map. My mother constantly “improved” recipes. Admittedly, plans always change once they actually face physical reality. I am also horrible with directions; and, it turns out recipes are only suggestions. “Abandoning a plan” has turned out to be a pretty good approach to my life, anyway. I am not a control freak like you.

One warning about “improving” recipes, it does not always turn out that great. Don’t you bother with any of your self-improvement tips. I don’t want to change. The challenge is to use my “wandering” to my benefit.

Elvis has started singing “Hound Dog”! I wonder if he is still alive?

Here is my first goal: 1000 views a month. Once this goal is achieved, a new goal will be set.

Here is my plan:

1. Start following the forums. I want to make sure that I understand the rules. (Ongoing)

2. Limit my areas of interest to: Architecture, Poetry, Food, and Books. My interest in art will be more useful informing the four groups. (Done) These are the subjects that I will limit myself to. (For Now. Also, Poetry and books can cover a lot of ground.)

3. Take some pen and paper and write out as many ideas for articles and poems as I can fit on the paper. Limericks seem to do well. (Ongoing project)

4. Publish a mix of short and long hub articles. Anywhere from 300 words to an undetermined number. I will get feel for the best length eventually.

5. Set up a schedule for publishing hubs. Right now it appears to take a week before I know how well a hub is received by readers. So, at a minimum, one article a week. More if possible.

Hold on, Louis Armstrong is singing: “When your smiling (The world is smiles with you)”.

That’s a great song. I hope you didn’t mind waiting until he finished singing. That the plan. Like all plans, it will be good until the “first battle.” My expectation is that I will not publish this as a hub. Still someone might benefit.

What do you think?