Wash, Rinse, Repeat (6S)

In June of 2006 my son’s febrile seizures finally stopped jerking him around. I stopped crying that year too and found a place to dispose of my sackcloth and ashes. That annoying lump in my throat, yep, gone too. It really made a difference when I started writing songs again that I didn’t have to sing around it. The other day my wife calls me to say that it had all started again. I couldn’t believe it took 3 whole years to feel unsafe again.

THE PRAISE TEAM

Hey,

I am in the process of writing the first 3 chapters of my new blogopera, The Praise Team. Blogopera, (a word I think I coined) is a soap opera played out in blog form. I will be posting a new chapter every week for as long as I can. This should be a lot of fun. Stay tuned...

T4 (The "Twin" Final Chapter) (6S)

David and Donnie Gemelli’s mom, Camille, taught them to always stick together and to stick up for one another. When Delores Marconi’s boy, Jimmy, rolled away on David’s big wheel, it was Camille who sent her oldest, Donnie, careening (football style) into Jimmy, sending him flying into Carmine Costanza’s “Fine Ice Cream and Delectable’s” cart. On their 10th and 11th birthday, when the bakery sent over a cake with the words Happy Birthday Gemelli Twins written all over it, it was Camille who subtly suggested to Donnie and his friends that someone ought to give that bakery “a good egging.” So when her son David got himself into a little trouble down at the university with some little blond tramp, it was Camille who begged Donnie to take the fall for him, “David won’t last a night in the joint,” She said. Donnie’s funeral was the worst though, what with everyone in the neighborhood whispering about David in his sunglasses; that whore on his arm; and their little bastard son walking behind them, it was a wonder Camille got any grieving done at all. When Father Lahey began the prayer, Camille squeezed her eyes shut, in mock reverence, and managed to produce a single obligatory tear.

T3 (The "Twin" Part 3) (6S)

My hands are nearly raw from wringing them when he walks into the room. He’s still about thirty feet away but I can see that he looks like me walking toward myself in the mirror, where I’m a year older sporting an unkempt beard and a government-issued orange jumpsuit. We make haste to sit, as there is much to say, angry words looming just under the surface, a pair of chipped teeth nearly escapes my notice as he begins to speak. “I cannot believe you married her, after all this time I’ve spent in here, you go and marry her!” I’m thunderstruck, even with a practiced speech sitting on the tip of my tongue, caught of guard by his abruptness, I’m only able to manage a quiet I’m sorry. Suddenly he’s pulled out of his seat and led away by a guard for raising his voice, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I see my three-year-old son as he darts away from the play area and latches on to my brother's leg.

T2 (The "Twin" Part 2) (6S)

Katherine was surprised when the tiny hint of a giggle tumbled out of her mouth. Her entourage of twelve sorority sisters, six on either side of her, held up both her arms as she passed through the courtroom doors. The irony of their gesture dug holes in her cheeks, revealing dimples she hadn’t seen in more than a year. She was mere seconds away from daring a laugh when she spotted him sitting by himself in the center of the room, stone-faced and seemingly oblivious to the grim occasion. Suddenly halted by the scene, she couldn’t help thinking about how she had nearly ruined his life a year ago, and that he too, had endured so much at the hands of her voracious supporters, It really is a shame he looks so much like him, she thought.