COUNTRY STORIES GENTLY TOLD

The short stories and poems you will find in this volume are about men and women, girls and boys whose lives were spent, at least partially, in the world's countryside. Every town and village has, no matter what its real name, a "Checkerboard Cafe." It's the place you can find the old-timers drinking their coffee, eating their doughnuts and trading yarns. Much ado has been made about urban legends. Well, there are rural legends, too. As you read these gentle works, laugh at and with the characters, you'll see what we mean. You'll enjoy mischief and minor mayhem the characters experience. You'll also find yourself wondering what became of the boys who built their own glider or the Thibodaux brothers who wanted to hatch mule eggs. This anthology is the first of eight volumes. Perhaps you'll find out.

THE FLIGHT OF THE CONDOR
"Condor" is about three pre-teen boys who build their own, full-scale, manned glider and fly it off their barn.

"The thunder of those engines caressed their ears as the seaplanes raced along the surface of the lake, straining toward the sky. . . It was with this fascination in mind that they formed a partnership with Ronnie to build their own airship . . . Trey and John assured him, not convincingly, that The Condor would simply roll straight down 'the runway,' become airborne, and from that point on all he had to do was shift his weight from side to side . . . Ronnie shook his head, understanding what they said, but lacking the confidence of a true believer. John and Trey suspected that their First Officer was on the edge of mutiny."

THE LEGEND OF LEEPER HOLLER
Set in remote, southern Missouri, this the ultimate fisherman's tale.

"Tenty D. Hation were an ol' one-armed man thet lived up at the end of Leeper Holler. He were a wino and the town people didn't like him much . . . He were a good story-teller, specially 'bout ghosts and other unearthly terrors in the dark. . . . Tenty woke up one mornin' and sed to hisself, 'I think I'll go and see if I can ketch some fishes fer dinner' . . . Doc got his jug of moonshine, the most important item of equipment fer fishin' . . . Judge Luckily sed, 'You probly doan need to worry 'bout the boat, thet monster ain't gonna eat sumthin thet's aluminum.' That didn't comfort Doc too much, he wuz thinkin' thet if the monster didn't like the boat, there wuz only two things left on the menu, him an' Tenty."

MULE EGGS
"Mule Eggs" is set in Cajun country, Acadia Parish, Louisiana. When New Orleans city boys, Jacques and Claude Thibodaux, inherit their grandfather's farm, it turns out not to be quite the windfall they originally thought.

"Jacques an' Claude Thibodaux, they was two brothers who lived in New Orleans. They worked at Etienne's, a little restaurant out by Tulane. Jacques, he was a cook an' Claude, he was a waiter. They didn't like cookin' an' waitin' very much. They was expectin' life to make them millinionaires . . . Man, da clerk ran into da back, said, 'Boss, Jacques an' Claude Thibodaux here an' Jacques, he out dere wid a handful of New Orleans cash money an' we ain't got no plowin' mule!"