2017 – Page 34 – Vic Socotra

February 8, 2017 Vic Socotra

Tradecraft

(1966-vintage shrapnel from a rocket attack in Saigon). Willow was quiet, but it was a wary quiet, awaiting the arrival of people who would drink away the stress of the day. Old Jim was listening to music on his MP3 Player, Mac Showers was dressed casually in an aloha shirt and slacks. Jasper was holding […]

February 8, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times: Rendezvous

This day would be a low mileage day of a bit over 300 miles. Unfortunately it would be almost entirely on the I40 slab. It would be the last short day for a spell. They had the remainder of the US’s vast southwestern Big Empty to negotiate. They had a course plotted in the general […]

February 7, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times: A War Zone and a Dead Zone

They slept in a heavenly peace after each consumed a sacred trinity the previous night at Chretin’s: a large 3-way enchilada dinner, 3 dozen nachos and 3 family sized troughs of margaritas. Anticipating a rocket-assisted lift off the next morning due to nacho ingestion, they took several purple pills before commencing their nightly search for […]

February 7, 2017 Vic Socotra

Arrias on Bismarck and East Asia

The other day I heard someone opine that it’s a crime that the US hadn’t (and wasn’t considering) going into Syria to take down President Assad. Well, consider this: While the focus of the US, and much of the rest of the world, has been squarely on the US elections, and ISIS, things have continued […]

February 7, 2017 Vic Socotra

Let’s Get Ready (For School)

It was a Thursday afternoon at Willow. Big Jim and Liz-with-an-S and the irrepressible Jasper were attempting to manage the crowd at the Amen Corner. Jon-wiithout and John-with were enjoying drinks next to Old Jim, and Long Hair Mike was chatting up Jarhead Ray as they immersed themselves in the wonderful world of post-work at […]

February 6, 2017 Vic Socotra

Unrecalled

Calling on old memories, sometimes They come, sometimes they don’t, In certain special cases, They simply won’t, The images they carried, From all the unremarkable Days, remain buried… copyright J.P.N. | Poetry, Etc., From Kanagawa, South of Tokyo, Japan www.carllafong.blogspot.jp

February 5, 2017 Vic Socotra

Our Suburb

Windowed boxes of wood and brick, Islands in oceans of short green grass, Populated anonymously, with cars Changing as the decades pass, Silent, orderly, subdivided, subdued, Tree-lined dream of the middle class… copyright J.P.N. | Poetry, Etc., From Kanagawa, South of Tokyo, Japan www.carllafong.blogspot.jp

February 5, 2017 Vic Socotra

The Day After

(Saying farewell at Arlington National Cemetery) It was April 16th, the Day After the funeral. The pictures had been posted, the toasts were raised at the wake at Willow. The haunting sound of the highland pipes covered the retreat of hundreds of officers and Sailors from the grave site. Mac’s earthly remains were given over […]

February 5, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times:Three Immigrant Gringos

Life and Island Times: Three Immigrant Gringos After traversing the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Osos, they were treated to a home cooked dinner and visit with Augustus’s sister in law Flo and her extended family. There was much discussion about politics and the economy but none about what the riders had seen or experienced. […]

February 4, 2017 Vic Socotra

Desotos

(Boomer takes that critical first Happy Hour order. Photo Socotra). The people and employees at Willow seem to blend together into an ersatz, if quite real, family. When things were going well at the restaurant, all was right with the world. When there was a shake-up in the personnel line-up behind the bar, it was […]

Year: 2017