Tattle Tales: Essays and Stories Along the Way - Softcover

Rolnick, Ms. Abbe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0984511954 ISBN 13: 9780984511952

Verlag: Sedro Publishing, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Abbe Rolnick—teller of tales, celebrant of life, world traveler—offers visions from the heart in this collection of short stories and essays. Explorations of whimsy and wisdom take the reader from the basement of a young girl learning about the Holocaust via a repairman, to a literal and psychological deep dive in the Caribbean, to the humble truths of a dung beetle in Africa, and all points in between. The author’s keen perception and compassion light the way. Truth has many layers, viewpoints give a perspective, slices create a feel, and by putting them together the reader sees more of the author, more of themselves, and can enter other worlds

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Abbe Rolnick grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. Her first major cultural jolt occurred at age 15 when her family moved to Miami Beach, Florida. In order to find perspective, she climbed the only non-palm tree at her condo-complex, and wrote what she observed. Here history came alive with her exposure to the Cuban culture. Her first novel, RIVER OF ANGELS, stems from her experiences during her stay in Puerto Rico. COLOR OF LIES, her second novel, brings the reader to the Pacific Northwest where she presently resides. Here she blends stories from island life with characters in Skagit Valley. Her recent experiences with her husband’s cancer inspired, COCOON OF CANCER: AN INVITATION TO LOVE DEEPLY. Presently she resides with her husband on twenty acres in Skagit Valley, Washington.

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Tattle Tales

Essays & Stories Along the Way

By Abbe Rolnick

Sedro Publishing

Copyright © 2016 Abbe Rolnick
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-9845119-5-2

Contents

Prologue, 
Seeking, 
Joy, 
Lace, 
Snow Darts, 
Puzzled, 
Childhood, 
The Silent War, 
The Gilded Fish, 
Swinging Doors, 
New Order, 
From Here to There, 
Sleep-Over, 
Maturing, 
Five Kids and a Dog, 
Mad Hatter, 
Knock Knock, 
Country Villa, 
A-Musings, 
You've Got a Match, 
Horsetail, 
Foundations, 
TOE, 
Travels, 
Sri Lanka, 
Carate, 
Continental Divide, 
Dung Beetle, 
Book Group Questions, 
About the Author, 

CHAPTER 1

JOY

I begin this collection with the thought I place before my closed eyes as I end my day and ponder, "What joy did I receive?" and as I rise I ask myself, "What joy will I bring to others?"

Having passed the half century mark, I'd like to believe that I'm wiser and funnier than when I was younger, that I know what the world is about. What I've found is that my years of maturing have brought me one simple gem to believe in. I've put aside politics, religion, and any structure that defines too specifically the nature of life. I simply believe in joy.

Joy is not synonymous with happiness. Happiness comes and goes, fleeting with the acquisition or failure of things based on needs, wants, or achievements. Joy is less transitory, less vulnerable. I liken the difference between joy and happiness to the Spanish words, feliz and contento. The word feliz is accompanied by the verb ser, which means a state of being. Contento uses the verb estar, to be, but it is only how you are for that one brief moment.

Joy runs deeper than happiness. It includes the shades of darkness that balance and contrast the light. Joy reveals the unknown, the unexpected parts we'd like to forget or ignore. It has more to do with listening than attaining, feeling and understanding rather than fixing. To be joyful in the darkness is to accept life in its entirety. Living with joy is to discover the freedom of letting go of perceptions and receiving what is present. Joy is a choice to accept the unexpected, to acknowledge all that passes one's way. Joy is to feel connected even at the prospect of loss.

Joy is to love despite the risk of rejection, recognizing that love is an honor not to be discarded. Joy comes from the tasting of flavors, intensity, and gentle forms of love. Acceptance with grace transforms love outside the realm of the purely physical. It encompasses the gradations, the use of all our senses. To be joyful, one embraces the essence of another person in a hug, wraps oneself around the ideas swarming in another's head. Joy communicates through a willingness to share, by opening up and revealing regardless of the outcome.

Joy lies beneath the stone that blocks your path. It is found behind the door of fear that stops you from feeling or attempting something new. Joy is curious, precocious, and forgiving. Joy is your playmate, up for the adventure, affectionately bestowing kindness and prodding you along, exposing and protecting you all at the same time. Joy is a process that encompasses all of life. It is being alive.

I believe that living with joy in my heart creates the wisdom and laughter that will sustain me for another half century.

CHAPTER 2

LACE

Written during a time of transition, this story melds elements of my fascination with ocean creatures, other cultures, youthful naivety, and the lessons of becoming new.

The cramped four-seater biplane circled for a landing. Rose searched the aqua-blue waters below, trying to pinpoint their ultimate destination. Coral atolls, orange starfish, and silver-white flashes sparkled through the crystal clear water. She wondered if they were going to use the pontoons for a landing as they hovered close to a lagoon. But the pilot turned the nose of the plane upward again. On the third pass, Rose realized that at the top of the small mountain peak a flat brown section completely stripped of vegetation served as the runway.

The guidebook had stated, "Come to our island peak for your Caribbean holiday. Secluded, remote adventures you won't forget." The description was accurate. She had assumed that the island would be larger, more like her own that stretched out its presence across the equatorial Atlantic waters for ninety miles. Compared to the crowded Latino shores of Puerto Rico, this island was merely a postage stamp coming to a point. But size hadn't been a prerequisite for adventure and solitude.

Rose mumbled praise and thanks to any of the gods who would listen, "Beautiful skies, nice weather, tiny plane, let me down gently." She peered through the pilot's window, lost faith, sealed her eyes closed, and held her breath. At the last minute she took courage and peeled her lids open in time to see houses rising along mountainsides — almost touching the wings. Sunrays bounced back from tin roofs, and a rainbow of colors reflected off the chrome of the plane. She saw the world through colored bubbles, a series of looped holes. The plane twisted and veered sideways as the runway met its tires. Rose felt the thump and screech of rubber and then the silence of being down.

As the only passenger, she stepped off immediately. A small beat-up Jeep pulled alongside the plane. A richly tanned man leaned his head out the window. "I say, do you need a ride?" His British accent seemed too sweet, almost a solicitation.

She waved him on. "No, my feet need stretching." More importantly, her heart needed time. Rose raised her head toward the sun, determined to make her own way, be independent. Seven years of faithfulness in a failed marriage had left her with a hole where caring used to be.

"Are you sure, Miss? The hotel is pretty far from here."

"Yes, I'm quite sure."

Rose lifted her backpack onto her shoulders and began the trek up and down and around the meandering mountain. Occasionally she'd stop to rest, only to see the beater of a car following behind. She'd walk, the car would follow, she'd stop, and the car would halt. Each time Rose smiled and waved. She had the road to herself, except for a few mules loaded with wares and their owners who acknowledged her presence with a nod or a half wave. Small houses lay scattered along the hillside. Up higher, white stucco mansions overlooked the road. More than an hour passed before she finally arrived at a group of colonial, whitewashed cottages that bore the name Island Resort. Just after the divorce had become final she'd reserved one of these cottages for the week, one day for each year of marriage, as a promise to herself of a future.

Dressed in tropical holiday fare — sandals, short shorts, sundresses — and the more formal khakis with plaid short-sleeved shirts — guests milled around the open-air lobby. Compared with the Spanish flair of bright pastel colors, gaudy paintings, and wood carvings, the decoration of the main lodge felt stuffy, plain, and judgmental. Red over-stuffed chairs sat in formation on the shiny white-tiled floor, and somber paintings adorned the walls. The guide book Rose had used warned the tourist to look beyond the snobbish attitude of the British. The porter at the desk looked amused, not snobbish. He laughed when he saw her. "Hello, Miss Rose. Did you enjoy your walk?"

She was about to ask how he knew her name, but by then more locals from the town had...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Sedro Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0984511954
• ISBN 13: 9780984511952
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 178
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar