Previous / Next School Days, School Days, Dear Old Golden Rule Days Written by Terry Howard February, 1635, Grantville It all started on the first day of school. Chaim was in the hallway when he heard a kid say, “Hey, Hans. Look! A Shirley Temple haircut!” “What are you talkin’ about?” “The banana curls, just […]

Previous / Next The Truth According to Buddha Written by Terry Howard “Hey, Jimmy Dick.” Bubba sidled up to the bar and waited for Jimmy to order him a beer. It was Thursday and Bubba was broke. “You hear about the horrible way the school treated preacher Wiley’s kid?” “No. What happened?” “He was up […]

Previous / Next A Tinker’s Progress Written by Terry Howard Jack Jones made his way into the sleepy little town of Elstow, about a mile south of Bedford in Bedfordshire, home to perhaps five hundred souls—give or take half a hundred. There was a notable stone cross in the center of town where he stopped […]

Previous / Next The Price of Dumplings Written by Terry Howard “Hey, John Ose, which one of these birds is the scrawniest?” Arch Pennock asked, eying the chickens. Janos Tamas stopped what he was doing and looked up from his place inside the open air market stall. Behind him were crates of live chickens. In front […]

Previous / Next Azrael’s Bargain Written by Terry Howard Download this Podcast Episodehttp://www.grantvillegazette.com/img/pod/bargain.mp3 “Hey, Jimmy. Why don’t I ever see you down at the rail yard anymore?” It was a cold winter night and Club 250 had its every-night regulars and as many more folks who weren’t. The young man talking to Jimmy Dick was one […]

Previous / Next Star Crossed By Terry Howard “Yoo hoo! Manuel!” When Emmanuel Onofrio heard Verlinda Fritz yoohooing down the hall, his mind yelled, “Run!” He was looking forward to a quiet, restful lunch in the teacher’s lounge. Keeping the rowdy kids in line so the others could learn seemed to get harder year by […]

Previous / Next A Tempest In a Baptistry by Terry Howard The question of re-baptism and the distress it caused in the sixteen hundreds, including what has at times been described as bloody murder, is still with us. In 1965, President Johnson’s daughter Luci was re-baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. While most of the […]

Previous / Next Wings on the Mountain by Terry Howard The regulars left the table nearest the fire when the strangers came in. At the base of the Matterhorn summer nights are chilly, so a fire is welcome starting in the late afternoon. Strangers paid much higher prices for everything and the whole village, not […]

Previous / Next Water Wings by Terry HowardSomewhere in the North Sea The line arcing off the boat kinked between deck and water. Eric, watching for just that, yelled to the crew uncoiling the stiff hose, “Hold it! Back it up!” Then the kink swelled a bit. Eric screamed, “Back it up! Back it up […]

Previous / Next Anna the Baptist by Terry HowardDecember, 1634 Julio stacked clean glasses under the bar. “Damn it Ken! I don’t know what’s got you riled but I’m sick of it! Back off or I’m goin’ home. I don’t have t’ have this job. I only took it to help you out.” Julio didn’t […]

Previous / Next Not a Princess Bride By Terry Howard James Richard, or Jimmy Dick, Shaver (known to his close associates, and almost everyone else, as Dickhead) was in the grocery store. The old drunk was not there buying food. Most of his calories came from beer, followed by pretzels. Yes, believe it or not, […]