Doug Deeson's musings

They’d planned the vacation for a couple of months, a remote cabin out in the woods, completely off the grid, very private, no roads, no people, just privacy and nature.   They were both looking forward to it.   They found a short-term rental listing that seemed ideal, there was no road access the parking and road was about a two miles hike away from the cabin along what was said to be a well trodden path. There was a small pond right outside the door, which was ideal for swimming and fishing, as it was well stocked.   They packed up the car with food, some clothes though they didn’t think they’d need those, fishing gear, a few games and books.   Optimistically they packed a nylon sided wagon to tote everything in the two miles, if the path was as good as they were told.   They packed all that they thought they’d need for a week away from it all.   They loaded up the car and headed up to the cabin, which was a couple of hours drive.   They arrived at t...

Hal and Carl met at a baseball game.  It was a night game, the first of a 3 game weekend series.  He’d seen Hal play before, of course, but only in highlight reels, he always thought that there was a dark intensity in Hal’s blue-green eyes.  In the series opener, Carl was the home plate umpire, the first inning had gone well.  It was now bottom of the second and Hal was leading off the inning. Hal, at just under six feet, shaved head, tanned white skin, stepped up to the plate, and Carl, a black man who stood just over six feet, watched him step into the batter’s box.  As Hal came up to the plate, he lined up to take his at bat.  Hal is a pretty fit guy, his muscles flexed as he readied to take his swings. The tendons, on either side of his neck, tightened and formed a cavity, a small well, framed by those tendons and the coming together of the clavicle bones. Carl couldn’t help but watch as that little well expanded and contracted when Hal turned his head....

Bud was working on the shower room roofing; he was installing corrugated metal sheets.  He was finally closing the building, which meant he could proceed with the finishing work inside, tiling, drywall etc.  He’d had to wait several weeks for the metal roofing sheets, and while he’d waited, he begun work on the other buildings and structures, setting out foundations and started framing on the bunkies.  He’d planned a large gathering of his friends for the raising of the community building, a barn raising kind of event but that wasn’t for a couple weeks.  Today, he planned to complete the work on the roof and begin tiling the flat runs on the floor, the full tiles and then if he had time begin work on the laying out the above ground pool. He wanted to get as much done as he could before Jackson got here,  the next morning, to minimize the interruption of his day. He'd contacted Jackson, a tile specialist he knew to help him with the work.   He was fine lay...