Icarus’ cause of death was always a lie. He did not die flying too close to the sun. Icarus was shot out of the sky. His frightened death-screams long faded. An ambitious dreamer dashed violently to the ground. His drifting feathers meant to frighten us. Icarus’ murder is a powerful message: Dreams have a power…

Daily, I earned slightly enough to buy groceries in the evening. Each day went by quickly. But now it was October and getting much colder in the nights. The family next to my tent had a woodstove. I had nothing, and besides my tent and what was in it. Bitterly I decided to leave. Soon…

When the sun grew high and the day too hot, we trudged to the end of the field. There we unloaded our burden and picked up my day’s wage. Back across the highway, I borrowed a bicycle and rode to a mom-and-pop grocery store. I bought cans of Spam, Ravioli’s, baloney, bread, instant coffee, and…

In the morning, I got up, washed, and took a walk around the place because the work had not begun. That night I went to bed in the sweet night air beneath a dewy tent. Three days and nights: no work, little food, warm beers, all freely given to me by others in the same…

The truck dropped me off in the early hours of dawn. I got out and roamed the quiet town of Yerington. I chuckled about having talked of this place, actually making fun of it when I worked in radio, calling it Yeringtonburg, without ever having set foot inside the city limits. As dawn began to…

My Cousin Elmo says, “Sometimes I make a joke in my head, and we all laugh.”

Born July 12, 1951, in Arcata, California, Brian Ferguson passed away June 20, 2021, after a battle with cancer at 69 years of age. He graduated from Arcata High School and attended Humboldt State University. Following graduation, Brian was a teacher and coach at Del Norte High School. His two favorite sports were football and…

My Cousin Elmo says, “I told my wife it was okay for her to get rid of everything in the kitchen that did not bring her joy. Now, all we have is a cork-screw and an ice cream scoop.”

She vanished in the winter of 1990, coming to Bodie to research the history of the town. A snowfall hid Vancouver Martin’s tracks, and it was assumed that she had become lost in the ensuing blizzard. The state park service towed her truck. Her family showed to it claim it after notified of her disappearance.…

It was the quaking of the ground beneath her as she tried to get some sleep. Kimie had wandered off someplace she should not have gone, and she was now lost. There were no longer the friendly trails to lead her through this forest. Instead, Kimie found herself racing headlong through a brush that the…