The Lovers

The weather in North Carolina at this time of year is unpredictable, at best. It can be 29 degrees in the morning, with frost covering the lawns, and by noon it’s 60, and spring like. Often, by 5 PM, it can get as high as 80! With these fluctuations come unpredictable things, such as sudden late afternoon rainstorms. Just like the one we had the other day. And after the rain has ended there is usually a chill in the air.

That’s how I believe she got there, racing ahead of the storm and looking for a safe place for herself and her lover.

Then she spied it- the flapping doorway to warmth and shelter. It was on the side of a house, located in an ordinary sub-division, in an ordinary town. She made a bee line for it, just as the first peals of thunder were making themselves known, with the wind beginning to gust, almost in verification of her fears.

He followed her inside the flapping doorway, a bit afraid to go too far, but also afraid of letting her go in alone. And then again, there was the storm to consider. Best to get inside and stay warm and dry.

He lost sight of her almost immediately, as she charged in ahead of him and into the darkness, further than he would have dared. He stopped following, waiting to hear her call to him, but no sound came. He waited until sunup the following day, when he could see a bit more inside.

His heart was racing as he trod the path she had taken only hours before. Where could she have gone? Surely she would not have left him. They had been together for quite a while, and the thought of her sudden disappearance was unthinkable to him. Still, he ventured further inside the darkness which belied the full daylight he was leaving behind.

That’s when he found her, lying on her side, at the bottom of the shaft, cold and dead to the touch. Still, he called to her, as if his song could awaken her from this slumber.

And that’s when I first heard the commotion, dismissing it as some slight annoyance, which, given time, would go away. But the mysterious sounds continued , until, no longer able to concentrate, I was obliged to go and investigate the matter.

The sounds were coming from the area of the laundry room, within the walls it seemed, at first. But soon I realized that the commotion was coming from inside of the dryer vent tube, that long cylindrical coil that lets the heat escape from the appliance. I had to take the door off of its hinges and move the dryer out to get to it.

Using a screwdriver to loosen the coil, I had Sue standing by with a pillowcase. Unhooking the coil and removing it I was struck by two things; the first was the beautiful blue bird with brown chest feathers, obviously dead; and the second thing, her lover, now silent as he watched me through the opening. He was almost relieved to have someone there, to share in his grief.

We took the cold and silent bird outside for burial in the garden flowerbed, which has not yet begun to bloom. When we went back into the house, her partner was flitting from room to room, searching for a way out. Opening the sliding doors to the rear of the house, I gently followed him, herding him towards the outdoors. After he was safely out of the house we interred his lost lover in the flower bed. This was sad enough, but the worst was yet to come.

Several hours later, while writing this story, I went outside to photograph the place where we had buried the beautiful blue bird. And there, on the branch of a nearby tree, sat her lover, gazing at the spot where we had buried his heart.

"Little Red Wagon" with Frances O'Conner and Anna Gunn (2010)

When Hurricane Charley hit in Tampa, Florida back in 2004, 7 year old Zach Bonner, played by Chandler Canterbury, didn't wait for the usual school fund raiser to pitch in. Instead he took his little red wagon and set out to elicit support for the victims of the hurricane. That effort morphed into the Little Red Wagon Foundation which has provided relief for the estimated 1.3 million homeless children in America. He even received the Presidential Service Award in 2006 for his efforts.

His motivation was simple, “"These kids don't have a home, they don't have a safe place to sleep at night. They're out on the streets not because they want to be, but because it's out of their control.”

The story also delves into the life of this extraordinary young boy and what may have motivated him in the first place. Coming from a broken home has not been easy for him and he stands up by standing out.

As his organization expanded into the national arena, he found himself doing battle with the local politicians, and even other charities as they all try to take control of what he has started and put their own spin on things. His journey was like Homer’s Odyssey, with triumphs and near pit falls aplenty as he navigates the tricky world of politics and the media in his quest to help others.

By 2007, Bonner began his "My House to the White House" project, with the goal being to raise awareness about the problem of homeless children. That year he walked 280 miles from Tampa to Tallahassee, Florida. The following year he covered the 250 miles from Tallahassee to Atlanta, Georgia. And finally, he walked 668 miles from Georgia to Washington D.C.

When that march was done he didn't stop. From March 23 to September 14, 2010 he walked an incredible 2,448 miles from Tampa to Los Angeles. This film chronicles the story of one little boy, from a broken home, who set out to heal a nation, and the effect that his actions had upon his own family.

The movie was filmed in 2010, but not released until 2012. Still, I wonder how I missed his one. Outstanding performances by all make this a wonderfully uplifting film to watch. And the best part is that it’s really true.

"Washed Away" by Geoff Williams (2013)

It’s quite a coincidence that Geoff Williams new book “Washed Away”; the story of the Great Flood of 1913; should have been released in the weeks before the recent blizzard that crippled most of the northeastern portion of our nation. Why? Because that storm in 1913 was just about a mirror image of the one that we just experienced.

On March 23, 1913 a dozen tornadoes struck the Ohio Valley region and beyond, to 13 additional states from Arkansas to Vermont, with a ferocity rarely seen then, or; until recently; since. Over 700 deaths resulted from the flooding and the storms which followed. Blizzards in the Midwest also complicated matters, with the resultant melting snow swelling the banks of the Mississippi at the rate of 1 foot per hour the following month, as the snows melted. Of course, this water could not be used to drink, or cook with, until it had been boiled.

And speaking of fire to boil water; there were fires raging everywhere as gas lines ruptured and whole sections of towns burned while standing in the midst of water. There was simply no way to pump water on the fires to extinguish them.

Livestock perished; whole downtown areas of major cities such as Dayton, Ohio were completely submerged; and people walked across rooftops, on telephone wires, makeshift rafts, and any way in which they could get around in order to gather whatever food they could find.

Communications were still in the age of telephone and telegraph wires, which, strung on poles, did not do much good as the poles snapped like matchsticks in the fierce winds, as well as under the weight of accumulated ice. Hard to believe; but in many areas of the country today; that scenario has not changed one bit.

Train service was non-existent in many of the states hit hardest by the flooding as bridges collapsed under; or were simply washed away; by the torrents of water cascading beneath them. So many of the stories told in this book could have been taken from the newspapers of the last few weeks, that it simply boggles the mind.

Some folks will use this book as an argument against the existence of global warming, and they are; of course; welcome to their opinion. But the most important thing about this book is the complacency shown by so many of the victims of the Great Flood of 1913, and the sheer unpreparedness of the nation to cope with that disaster. The reason that it is so important is that not much has changed in the way disasters are handled today, 100 years after the Great Flood depicted so accurately in this book by Geoff Williams.

Using every available means at his disposal; newspaper articles, diary entries, old letters, and interviews with people who experienced the event; he has given life to what was the most widespread flood in the history of America. In doing so, he has also exposed some of the weaknesses still inherent in our national preparedness for disasters of this magnitude; which seem to be occurring more often than ever. This is a timely and well written book.