Writing - grace grits and gardening

The Greatest Love of All

March 23, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Tell me a story. With

heavy

eyes, the boy

grew more quiet with each breath. I’ll tell you a

real story, the

Easter story

about a man who was

tortured and beaten,

even

spit upon and

treated like the

lowest of criminals. Is this a scary story, the child asked. No, quite the

opposite. This is a reassuring,

valiant story of the greatest love…

eventually you’ll understand.

Oh, he said, what happened next? The

Father was

accused of crimes, crowned with thorns and nailed to a wooden cross. He sacrificed

life to save the

lives of His children. The boy slept.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Musical Pairing:

The Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston

This was written especially for Write Tribe 100 Words on Saturday Prompt The Greatest Love Of All. I wrote an acrostic. If you are reading via mobile device, the acrostic may not line up correctly…

The Man with the Hyena Laugh

February 9, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Daddy’s latest beer-drinking buddy almost permanently moved into the spare bedroom. For several days and nights he ate our food, smoked Daddy’s cigarettes and watched his favorite shows on our television. Even though his beady eyes and piercing hyena laugh made the invisible hairs on the back of my neck crawl, I politely smiled and waited. I knew Momma would eventually tire of playing hostess and maid. Sure enough on Tuesday night, Momma threw a hissy fit and declared his vacation over while he stood at the open refrigerator wolfing down leftover Sunday pot roast. But like a stray dog, a few weeks later he followed Daddy home again.

Grace Grits and Gardening

This was written especially for Fearless Writing Alumni Practice. Prompt: 6 Sentence Story Structure from Sacred List Crawl

Musical Pairing:

Chow Down, The Lion King Hyena Song

Last Laugh.

January 31, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

“Where were you today?” Daddy asked me at supper.

Momma shot me a look of whatdya mean where was she today?

“I was at school, the place I go every day. Where did you think I was?”

“I thought you were over by the St. Francis floodway. I followed a yellow corvette all afternoon. It wasn’t you.” He shook his head and grumbled as though bitterly disappointed he didn’t catch me messing up.

“Of course it wasn’t me.”

I knew better than to skip school. In Mississippi County even when you didn’t know what you were doing, everyone else did.