Dead buffalo
I knew this title would grab you. It grabs kids every time I talk to them – along with rats and snakes! I want to write a book for boys, something that will grab them and make them want to read every page!
DEAD BODIES
Dead bodies definitely grabbed my friend Darryl who used to haul corpses around in the back of a twin-engine Piper. He absolutely hated his job. He didn’t hate the flying or the money. He hated getting up to altitude and having the bodies groan and moan and release gases.
Seriously, that’s what bodies do. When a human being dies, the muscles in the body relax and all sorts of fluids and gases are released. All the body bags were zipped and sealed, but on a dark night, flying alone, he always got the willies. What if one of the bodies wasn’t really dead? What if they were moaning in pain? What if they were ghosts?
Read my new and improved kid-story on dead bodies under “Boy Stories.”
___________
The Philippines are wonderful islands of greenery and chocolate hills, mountains and waterfalls. People who immigrate to the United States miss their native country and often want to go back “home” to die. Sometimes they wait too long. Often we have to stop in Anchorage to take someone to the hospital, or an older person dies enroute. The family tries to pretend that “Grandpa” isn’t dead so they don’t have to pay extra for a casket and papers, an expensive proposition. Another dead body story in the making!
_________________
SNAKES
Coming soon!! My writing class at the Oregon coast is helping me re-write my stories with child protagonists, more action, and a story “arc.”
I used to walk home from the bus stop in junior high school, Gainesville, Florida. Every few months a work crew of prisoners came to clear out the culverts between our pond and the one across the road. If they were still working, the bus driver would let me off past them, up by my road. But if they were gone, you couldn’t tell they had been there until you started walking home.
Of course the grass was mowed, and that is great when you are bare-legged with sandals. But the prisoners often found snakes in the culverts, and they would hack them up into little pieces. I hated stepping over moccasins and diamond back rattlers all cut up…it gave me the creeps. Especially if one of the bodies was still move. Aaaghh! Often I would walk home on Main Street, despite the traffic.
______________________
RATS
Bangkok river tour
Bangkok, Thailand is a great place to visit. There is always so much to see and do. My friend Cathy came with me on a trip and I gave her the grand tour. We took the river taxi, but didn’t stop at the snake farm. Cathy can’t stand snakes.
Tum Nuk Thai, now closed 
For dinner we went to Tam Nuk Thai, an incredible outdoor restaurant that seated 3000 people. The waiters wore roller skates, and all through dinner there is the background hum of wheels going clickety-clack on a boardwalk. We were seated under the moon, up on stilts on a deck over a garden and creek.
The menu was fifty pages long and Cathy couldn’t decide what to eat. She knew she didn’t want shark fin soup, and shrimp egg rolls including the shrimp head didn’t interest her either. Was it to be Pad Prick King or Gai Pad Gra Pow? We finally decided on a Lemon grass Chicken and Thai barbecue spareribs. It was delicious. The Coconut Lime Pie was delicious for dessert and the temperature was perfect to relax and enjoy the night.
“Oh, look! There are cats running around down by the creek.”
I looked down and saw them. Two-foot long rats were running around beneath us. From a distance they did look like cats. “Well, they do rhyme with cats.” I answered, smiling evilly.
Cathy’s face lost all color. “They’re not cats?”
Thank goodness we had already eaten. I’m pretty sure I had the chicken.
Cathy and me at Tum Nuk Thai
___________
Singapore Harbor
Sitting on the wall on Sentosa, a popular tourist island in Singapore, a friend and I were talking, watching the sun go down over the South China Sea. I knew there were salt-water crocodiles somewhere nearby, so I had no intention of even putting a toe in the water. I was safe on my wall.
It had been quite a day. I had almost ended up in a Singapore hospital, not my idea of a fun layover.
There were monkeys in the bushes by the monorail and I was taking pictures of them. “Here, let me get you and the monkey in the picture.” my friend, Bill, said.
No, I just wanted the monkey.
“Oh c’mon. It will be a better picture if you’re in it.” He wouldn’t take no for an answer.
You’ve heard about the idiots in the United States who provoke the moose and buffalo, then get trampled? Well, as I stepped forward to pose with the monkey, my friend was learning to use my SLR camera.
“Just get a little closer.” He said.
One step closer and the monkey leapt at me, shrieking! She had babies in the bushes and I was too close! I ran for my life. I was still shaken, hours later. Do you know what diseases monkeys carry? Neither do I, but it reminded me of the guy on the Star Ferry in Hong Kong who tried to commit suicide.
Hong Kong Harbor viewed from the Star Ferry
The man jumped in the water, knowing he couldn’t swim and would drown. Coughing and spluttering, he was saved by some well-meaning bystanders and taken to the hospital. He died ten days later from all the bacteria and pollutants he had swallowed in the Hong Kong Harbor. They don’t call it “Fragrant Harbor” for nothing!
Sitting on the wall, reviewing the day, it had been interesting. Bill’s father was in a Russian prison during WWII, so as we toured the Changi prison I heard some interesting stories. Now, watching the sun go down, I was finally relaxing. Then the wall began to move. I was mesmerized. It was if it were alive. Hundreds of rats came out of their holes and began searching for food! Still in prime form, I leapt off the wall, dragging Bill with me. What a day.
The picture did turn out. Kind of. I’m a blur and the monkey’s sharp white teeth are, too. That was close.
Yikes! Monkey bait!
