The Floaters

For Fandango’s Flasback Friday I decided to repost a story I wrote in September of 2007 called ” Floaters” 

Floaters is one of those true life stories that nobody will ever believe is true so I just  say ‘yep- it’s just a story’.

But between me and you, every word of it is true.

amm

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Down the street from where I work is the waterfront.

It’s interesting for a variety of  reasons.

Like there’s a couple of mummies in one place, a great fish and chips place in another and did I mention the mummies already?

” Sylvester “
Photo bY A.M. Moscoso

Hands down one of my favorite things to do is to stand there, looking out at the water and when there’s a small group of people eating snacks and taking selfies I’ll turn to a friend ( this only works if someone I know is there ) and say

” So you know what they have to do here every morning?”

No my friend will say on cue.

” The City has to get out here early and look for floaters.”

” What’s that?”

” You mean who. Dead bodies. See the tide comes in and they get pushed up here and wouldn’t you know it?” There’s always a tourist looking down and there’ll it will be. A big juicy floater hitting the pilings. I heard when they hit  it makes a weird knocking sound. Anyway. It’s bad for business. So the City gets out here early and fishes then out with a big giant hook

” Oh my God. That cannot be true. ” my friend will say.

I take a quick look around and at this point my little audience-and there always is one because people are nosey and eavesdroppers by nature. Anyway the little crowd is clearly on my friend’s side and I can tell the image of a bloated water-logged corpse being fished out of the water is something they can’t unsee- unless of course they can convince themselves that this is absolutely not true.

” Well they can’t walk out. They’re dead you know.”

” You made that up. It’s not true.” My friend will say for the little group.

” Fine it’s not true.”

” Really? It’s not true. You were just kidding. Admit it.”

” Sure. ” I’ll say clearly not meaning it. ” I’m just kidding. Really.” I’ll say as unconvincingly as possible. ” I’m just kidding.”

dockcherry

Photographer Unknown

 

One Minute

Daily Prompt: Which topics would you like to be more informed about?

Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind
John Everett Millais1892

In that minute before the Universe as we know it roared to life

I would like to know

was something already here?

Were there Planets and Moons and Stars?

Were the dogs and cats and people, flowers and trees , fish, streams and fossils?

Was it vaporized when our Universe was born  or had it gone dark

billions of years before?

I would like to know, I would like a glimpse of what had come before us- because I am

sure that something did.

 

From Somewhere In Illinois

For FOWC with Fandango — Donate

Last weekend I was setting up my   Autumn/Winter reading bookcase in my living room. During the Spring and Summer I don’t use it for books. I push it into my office and use it as a catch all.

Every winter I put the shelf in my living room and I fill it  with the old books that I re-read during the Winter and Fall months as well as the new books I purchased over the year on it . Of course those are my ghost stories, supernatural stories and Victorian era mysteries.

It’s a tradition for me- first of all I love to read ghost stories during the Fall and Winter and when I pull my shelf out it’s officially the start of the Halloween season for me.

This year I had a glitch.

In the move was upset to see that one of my book had finally given up the ghost ( it was a paperback and others from the set had met the same fate over the years )  the spine had cracked beyond repair and the pages were falling out, they were also turning yellow.

The book was my original copy  of Blossom Culp and The Sleep of Death and I bought it when I was in my early 20’s. I had started reading The Blossom and Alexander stories by Richard Peck when they first came out when I was about 12 years old and even though they were classified as Young Adult fiction ( ages 9-12 ) I didn’t see any reason to stop reading them into my teens and even after I was old enough to drink.

There are four books in this set:

The Ghost Belonged To Me

Ghosts I Have Been

The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp

and

Blossom Culp and The Sleep of Death.

In the same way the Harry Potter Books were aimed at kids The Alexander and Blossom books made for great reading for any age because of the writing of Richard Peck.

These stories were a little darker then most YA fiction at the time  and  a bit complex – in one story Alexander sees the ghost of a suicide ( she hung herself in the kitchen because she was in love and had been rejected by her well -to- do employer ) another character runs a brothel in New Orleans and Blossom’s Mother is a fortune telling gypsy who once solved a case for the police after viewing the severed head of a murder victim- then she was run out of town for her efforts.

In another book Blossom has the chance to literally knock on a door, have it open and have a look at her future and learn her fate- which she declines to do. The idea looks simple- the question it poses is very complex and drives Sci-Fi fans into  hour long conversations about that very probability- young teen Blossom knows that is a bad idea and she backs away from it.

My copy of ” The Sleep of Death ” involved an ancient Egyptian Curse,  the Spirit of a teenage Egyptian princess ( which is sad, she was just a kid )  a bunch of ” mean girls” on float almost being hit by lightening and Blossom has a nightmare where she is trapped in a sarcophagus by her friend Alexander and left to die.

The Sleep of Death is a great book and I didn’t want to lose it.

I decided to go on line and order a copy when I ran across a vendor who sold books that were destined for landfills or scrap- it seemed like a great cause so I ordered my copy from them.

When I got the book I was happy to see that despite it’s age, it was in good shape and when I turned to the title page I saw that someone had written a dedication

In April of 1993 the author, Richard Peck had signed and donated a copy of this book to Twin Groves School- which with some searching I learned is located in Illinois ( which is where Richard Peck is from and where he was laid to rest after he passed away )

I felt like I had a treasure in my hands.

Richard Peck- a writer that I grew up reading, whose Ghost Stories are unsurpassed in my opinion and died a few years ago- well one of his books with his handwriting in it showed up in my mail a few days ago.

I think there’s a making for a story in this and I’m sure Richard Peck would agree.

Photo A.M. Moscoso Ghosts I Have Been-The Ghost Belonged To Me- The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp and Blossom Culp and The Sleep of Death

Videos of Richard Peck giving advice on writing- which is pretty good stuff- Check it out

Tick Tick Tick

RDP Wednesday: TRACTABLE

I was scrolling through a newsite when these odd looking ads started to pop up.

Now,  alot of these ads use pictures that are gross and shocking but have nothing to do with what they’re selling. They just want you to click in. But in this case these ads were for various skin conditions and I was  puzzled.

Why were they running pictures of people with beans glued to their skin?

FAKE TICK INFESTATION: youtube screengrab

Then I realized, these were supposed to be pictures of people suffering from massive tick infestations.

FAKE TICK INFESTATION: youtube screengrab

I don’t know if anyone actually believes these are real- maybe if you’ve never seen a dried bean IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE or have never seen how fast one tick can sicken your dog and how near death an infestation will quickly take a stray  animal then maybe you’d fall for this fluff.

The thing is, Doctors and Dermatologists are trying to combat this misinformation, but here in the United States people like Donald Trump’s followers  don’t believe in science, medicine and at times common sense so videos and pictures like these- the ones that defy common sense will be seen as ‘information’ – and if you call BS on it  you’re a sheeple.

Another theory is that people just like looking at these  pictures of people infested with ‘ticks’  and take pleasure from being grossed out by them.

I guess those pictures are just more amusing satisfying then the real thing:

Photo:DERMNET

The human minds likes to be amused, used, challenged and entertained- but if you feed it a steady stream of garbage, well- if it turns to mush on you one day and leaks out of your ears, you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.

Artist Unknown