Jim the Writer

a literary blog

historical fiction

Grant’s Last Campaign

By

U.S. Grant 1885 (Public Domain)

On a porch near Saratoga Springs, he gathers his forces from a rattan chair. The Great Captain, bundled in blankets against the summer air. Death is close, tasting like a damp cigar. “Grant’s Last Campaign,” the newspapers call it. He scratches away. Shiloh, The Wilderness, Cold Harbor. Has he said enough? Too much?

Blue lines sway along a sandy Virginia road. They serenade him with “John Brown’s Body.” Ahead, fast columns block the retreating army. More blood. More bodies to molder in the grave. Word comes from Lee. He will meet.

It’s all there, complete.

Victory is the only justification.

Fragment of a memoir

By

poster: 100 words of fiction“The thing is,” Papa said, “everybody gets that story wrong. They always think the baby died.”

“Well, sure,” I said. “What else?”

Papa shook his head. “The baby didn’t die. The mother doesn’t want the shoes.” He finished his gin martini and motioned to the barkeep for another.

The fan turned ponderously above our heads.

“But why?” I asked.

“The shoes are a gift from the mother-in-law. You see? There’s a conflict. The women don’t get along. The ad is a knife in the ribs.”

“That’s a lot of iceberg under the water.”

Papa grinned and raised his glass. “Salute!”

I wrote this story for the 100 Word Challenge: “Memoir” at Thin Spiral Notebook.

The Cross Roads

By

Looks good, don’t he? Like he could sit up and tell a story. Ol’ Terry knew a few! He wanted to write, you know. No, I never saw him with the arm, either. Yeah. In the war. The Hürtgen Forest, 1944.  Same day he crossed paths with Hemingway. Sure, the author! Funny story. Terry’s hugging the ground and he looks up. There’s Hemingway standing by the road, tree-splinters flying everywhere. The guy next to Terry yells, “Get down, you crazy bastard!” A shell comes in, and boom! It takes out the guy and Terry’s arm. ‘Course, he told it better.

I wrote this story for the 100 Word Challenge #346 at Velvet Verbosity.