Below.
My Aunt Stella(nina)and my Uncle Leo. Suspect stars of the story below. 
I WONDER WHAT MAKES PEOPLE THE WAY THEY ARE?
My aunt used to say that whenever she was confronted by a perplexing personality. She had a few things that she would do that mystified me. She was mild mannered and rarely got angry, but she could not abide anyone saying "Do you follow me?" She would stand up and be counted. She would never say why it bothered her, only, "I do not like that expression...please do not say it to me again!" She was also fond of the word "intricate". Whenever she was painting or driving in heavy traffic she would tell me, "Now Dale, don't bother me, I am in an intricate spot." She was also married to my uncle Leo.
Uncle Leo was a business man and retired magician that spent the 30's in "Doc Dodo's Medicine Show." He settled into a shoe and clothing store business in our town and managed to raise five adopted boys after he and my aunt married. He was also known to the fire department as a "fire bug." Now this is not to be confused with an arsonist. He did not light buildings on fire or tried to do harm to anyone. He just burnt our farm down every spring...we always managed to save the buildings..but the woods and fields sure took a beating...literally. Every year he swore off having a little fire to burn off the dead
grass and brush piles. But "fire bugs" are "fire bugs" as the fire chief said...so the family learned to overlook this little flaw in his character. We also learned the number to the fire department before anyone thought of 911.
One day when my mother was working, I was in my aunt and uncle's charge while they shopped in town. All in all it could have been a worse day until my aunt stepped in that
gum. I will never forget the look on her face as her shoe peeled slowly off the pavement with each step.
"Leo...this is no good. Do you have a knife?" She was looking for a place to sit and found a bus stop bench. Always helpful Leo said "Hon...No." I saw my chance to get
some points with my aunt and piped up.
"Nina...I have my scout knife!"
"Now there's a good boy, give it here." She took off her shoe and examined the pink glob on the bottom of her heels. My uncle was kind of ignoring the whole thing...I think he was playing with a matchbook as I remember the scene more clearly. My aunt started to try to scrape the glue like gum from her shoe. I have to admit it was a mess. She sweated in the humid heat of August in Indiana and became more and more agitated. It was like someone was humming "Do you follow me?" in her ear as she worked.
"Is it comin off Nina?" I asked hopefully?
"Now Dale, I am in an intricate spot." She was composed and dealing with the problem as only she could. Thats when I learned a small thing like a gob of gum can ruin an almost perfect day in this world that gives and takes.
"Dale, I have never said a swear word in my life or taken the lord's name in vain." She was working furiously at the gum now..her mouth was pulled into a sardonic grin and her hat was bouncing around on her head as she scraped. "But if I ever find the dirty $#@-&^- @#$%^ that spit out that gum I'm gonna kill him."
Yup. It's the little things that happen that make us what we are. Would be killers of gum chewer's, chronic brush burner's, writer's and businessmen all inhabit this part of the galaxy..... that seems to be bent.... just a tad off center.
H Dale Duke
P.O. Box 375
Tangent, Oregon 97389
541/928-2393....days STONE SWIMMING
I am Stone Swimming
I have lived longer
than the sweet water
and niggling current
that moves me little
along the line of things to come.
Little Quartz by the water...
by centuries we come closer
at the edge of a riffle
before a deep pool where the salmon lurk.
Our world moves at a pace
Where we seem as lifeless things
here in this running water.
That which passes by me
Knows not my need of you.
Little Quartz in the water...
could it not be someday...
that we touch gently...and move slowly...
against each other?
There enticed and pushed by the moving river
In a dimension not yet defined
We would love at the edge of a river...
Before a deep pool...where the great fish hide.
hdduke In Memory of Two Young Musicians That Are Forever a Part of Those Times....
Ralph Marol
Dan Sullivan
keep a seat warm for us....... 
CANDLEFIRE
From the light of a candlefire
shards of a broken mirror
Stand silver and irregular
against the wall...
like a painting of the insane....
in this desolate room
of constant need
we were happy once.
I am a broken fence now
Unable to hold onto
good thoughts or keep out
that which would do me harm.
When it rains I am wet and cold
when the light...that hot dizzy light of midsummer comes
I become a captive of the small blades
that cut and throw the warm moist air
like hot and many colored balloons...
across the distance of this room.
You my love are sick...
I am old and wait.
We have become like this room
captives of time and material
I take your care gently upon myself.
The long days and nights
give me time for reminiscing...
I use the broken mirrors then...
to trick the eye
through time.
I cannot know for sure if you go with me
or stay here.
I see parts of you in the mirror...
more is missing than seen.
I feel protective of you.
Sometimes in the mirror I can see you...
You are young again
our children are with us
we have money but no time
perhaps thats what we had confused.
I miss them.
Had we known
I think we might not have come this far...
to this room
where we were happy once.
hdduke
We wrote music that is lost now. We did not have quality recorders back then. But to Jerry Mitchell, Bill Wagoner, Charly Tanner, Greg Humbert, Wally Heil, Jerry Wilson, Jeff Williams, Bob Millea, Dirk Shorter and Larry Truman...you did your job..you kept the music alive and original.
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