Groundhog Days

Today, John Deer and New Holland tractor are enjoying a rest day as they show themselves off at the county fair with deep-polished fenders and shiny-blackened tires, and a first place ribbon is searching for the best-looking tractor. Farmers chat with other farmers, some in groups and some in pairs, talking, and laughing as the summer day joins in with its sunshine. Their parked trackers seem to be enjoying each others company also, but now others join in the conversation. A few years ago, all animals became intelligent, thanks to a virus released by terrorists--a virus intent to kill--but through some quirk of chemistry nobody died, but all animals can speak now--and many ask questions.

"Why do you still pretend to be a workhorse?" Feasters, a groundhog asked. "You just spend all your time in the fields talking with the cows and other horses. You don't do anything else. Loaf all day long, and then talk half the night away. I hear you, but you never talk to me when I ask a question. Hell, you never even say hello when you see me in the field."

The horse known as Johns looked down at Feasters. He didn't say anything, just flashed his eyes as he brushed his dark tail from side to side. Back and forth, the stares bounced between Feasters and Johns, but no words came from either. Johns pawed at the ground a couple of times. Finally, Kayla, Johns's grooming hand, came over, and Johns raised his head and held it high. Kayla said, "You're a shoo-in to win!"

"I've already won. Heard it from Chester. The judges are just going through the formalities now, "Johns said. " I'm giving you half the prize money. You deserve it because you did a fantastic job grooming me; I really appreciate that."

"Thank you," Kayla said. Her brown eyes sparkled wide-eyed as she adjusted her cowboy hat; then she leaned back on a handrail and crossed her long legs, and said. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure," Johns said.

Kayla said, "We've become such good friends over the years. I like you better than Karen. You know Karen, she used to be my best friend--we still talk and laugh together and hang out at the mall, you know, but I've gotten closer to you. You seem to understand me better than Mom does!"

"I liked you before I could speak," Johns said. "Things weren't clear to me then like they are now, but I remember your kindness."

A warm smile settled over Kayla until she saw Feasters. Then her smile became a scowl and she crossed her arms. She stared at Feasters. Then she moved slightly towards Johns. Johns turned his head and looked down at Feasters, but didn't say a word. They both stared and stared at Feasters until Feasters left. Feasters turned once, but saw the same stares. He decided to leave the fair and return to his burrow near Farmer Blough's garden. The warm sun felt good on Feasters's brownish coat as he headed across a field towards his burrow. He stopped once, stood up on his hind legs, and looked back at the county fair. He wasn't missed.

After all the animals became intelligent, hunting or harming any animal became a felony.

Farm animals were paid a living allowance and the farmers were compensated by the government for their loss of use of their animals. Farm animals became free because all animals where awarded citizenship with constitutional rights. The government additionally compensated farmers by giving them money in accords with each wild animal that lived on the farmer's property, and all wild animals were awarded a government check.

The next morning after a good night's sleep and the memory of the fair waning, Feasters read the morning paper on the front porch. He skimmed over the ads after studying the news. Many issues in the newspaper were strange to Feasters.

As he read on, he heard the front door creak open and Hannah, Farmer Blough's daughter, and her sister, Jeri, stood there. Jeri looked up at Hannah and said, "Mom needs our help in the kitchen." Then she looked at Feasters and said, "I'll see you later when I pick some tomatoes in the garden. I gotta tell you about Tommy Haynes. He got detention for fighting in the gym with an eighth-grader--he actually won! Do you believe that? An eighth-grader he beat." Jeri's warm smile lingered for a moment, and then she returned to the kitchen, her flops keeping time with each step.

Hannah brushed back her long-blond hair. Her eyes looked upwards as Jeri walked back into the house and she slightly shook her head from side to side. After Jeri entered the house, Hannah said, "Want me to rub your back? Do you need anything? I could get some carrots--I know you love them."

"Yeah, a carrot would be nice," Feasters said.

"You know we almost named you spot because of that white spot on your side," Hannah said.

"Jeri wanted to call you that, but Mom said Feasters suited you better."

"That's nice," Feasters said. "I think I like the name Feasters better." Feasters heard that story before many times but he always listened to it again.

Hannah returned from the kitchen with the carrots. She gave two to Feasters and said, "Dad said you're okay. Ever since you bit that guy that was trying to steal the battery from his truck--he's actually starting to like you, I think."

"I hope so," Feasters said.

Hannah sat down, cross-legged next to Feasters. "My brother is coming home from the army next month. I hope him and Dad get along better now. The day he stormed outa the house, Mom pleaded with him to try harder with Dad, but those two always bucked heads. I always thought it was stupid of both of them, but..."

"Hannah--I need you!" Donna, Hannah's mom shouted from the Kitchen. "Tell Feasters I said Hello!"

"Sorry...gotta go. Mom's cooking for the church supper tonight and she really needs my help. Talk to you later," Hannah said.

Nice girls, Feasters thought. There must be millions upon million of nice animals and people in this world, and I've only known the ones in this valley.

Feasters looked around the valley, and then he eyed the newspaper. He read of distance places and looked at pictures showing very strange animals. One picture of a camel kept Feasters's eyes locked onto it for a few minutes, and others like an elephant did the same when he first saw one. Occasionally giraffes or lions would appear in some article about Africa, a distance place which Feasters now knew had all types of strange animals. He asked Hannah one time about Africa--and he still vividly remembers the dialogue between them.

"Where's Africa?" Feasters said.

"That's a far away place," Hannah said.

"How far is it?" Feasters said.

"Oh, very far. You have to cross the ocean to get to it," Hannah said. "It's zillions and zillions of miles away!"

The thoughts about Hannah and the ocean floated around in his mind, and the more he tried to forget about the ocean, the more the vastness of it intrigued him. That large? Feasters thought again. Then how small is this valley? Very small, it must be.

With a twitch of his nose and a look far into the horizon, Feasters decided to explore beyond the valley, a thought that never entered his mind before. Feasters dined on the carrots for they might be his last meal for a while. When finished, he looked around the valley again and decided on the direction he would take. He started his trek going east and before long he reached the Main Line of Conrail and decided to follow the tracks since the service road beside the tracks was level. One train passed by. Feasters continued after it passed but he didn't like the odor of diesel-fuel that came from the locomotives.

Finally, night approached and Feasters found an old-farm wagon in a field next to the tracks. He nestled himself under it and slept.

The next morning he found some roots and had breakfast. As he ate, a rabbit appeared suddenly and said, "You're not from around her, are you?"

"No," Feasters said.

"I'm called Halfback," the rabbit said. Halfback hopped over and sat down next to Feasters.

"I live about three valleys over," Feasters said.

"What you doing here?" Halfback said.

The horn from a passing train echoed and both Feasters and Halfback turned and watched the engine rumble by. Once the engine passed and the sound of freight cars died down to an occasional high-pitched shrill, Feasters answered: "Oh, just wandering, I guess, seeing what's over here and there. Never been out of my valley before. Seen pictures of things, and, well... I don't know. You know what I mean? None of the farm animals want anything to do with me--those farm animals just stick to themselves and ignore me, except Rambo the farmer's dog. We often talk for hours in the backyard. In many ways, he's like me: The other farm animals will have nothing to do with him! Isn't that something?"

"That's about the way it is with me," Halfback said. "Now, I just keep to myself and a few close friends. One cow always says hello when I meet her, but that's about all she says. Some say she's retarded. I don't know, but she does say hello. In fact, that's all she says to anybody--she even says 'Hello' to that tree over there!"

Twenty minutes later Halfback and Feasters said their goodbyes to one another. The morning dew felt refreshing as Feasters slipped through a small thicket. Once out of the ticket and back on the railroad-service road, Feasters's stride quickened. For two days, Feasters traveled along the road, and saw deer, another groundhog who didn't want to talk, squirrels, chipmunks, farm animals, and a track gang, working on the rails.

One railroad worker nodded his head, but the others kept working and didn't say anything. Feasters and a raccoon exchanged hellos but the raccoon remained distant and didn't utter another sound. Feasters didn't look at the raccoon again, but the hair on the back of his neck started standing up, and a strange-tingling feeling wrestled with him until he was away from the raccoon.

Finally, after a two hours and the memory of the raccoon long past, strange odors started washing over Feasters. He left the road and followed the scent.

In a field not far, a circus was setting up. Feasters got closer. He entered the circus area and watched humans and animals working together, driving stakes in the ground, pulling large tents up, aligning walkways with signs, and positioning ticket booths and candy stands. Most didn't notice him and if some did, they gave him little attention. Never before did he see animals and humans together like this, laughing and slapping each other on the back, and--very, very strange to Feasters--some animals were smoking! Chimpanzees walked by, but to Feasters's surprise, he couldn't understand them, for their speech sounded like gibberish. Then he remembered that when animals became intelligent and endowed with language, they picked up the language from their immediate environment. These strange-looking-human-type animals must come from Africa or some other faraway place. Then he heard more gibberish from other animals, and again Feasters concluded they were from a faraway land.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, he noticed one animal, a gorilla, that sat up on a high chair. He was addressed as Chamberlain by a human that brought him a paper to sign. Other humans and animals would stop by Chamberlain then scamper away after a brief exchange of words. Chamberlain was smoking a cigar, and he eyed everything that happened in the circus. Feasters made his way over to the bottom of the chair, but before he could ask a question, Chamberlain looked down and said: "We aren't hiring! We don't need your kind. Spread the word around--we don't need any groundhog, raccoons, deer, squirrels, or even black bears. We could use a mean grizzle, but they want too much. So spread the word around here--we aren't hiring."

Chamberlain's eyes returned to the circus. Feasters didn't move. Silence shouted between the two until Feasters shot out another question: "Do humans work for you?"

Chamberlain took the cigar out of his mouth and looked down at Feasters. His eyes narrowed like snake eyes and his expression became very dynamic. He finally said, "Everyone you see here works for me! JJ over there used to take care of me before I could speak. Now, I take care of him! So if you're a salesman then you know who I am now, and I'm not buying today. See me Saturday after I get this circus up and running."

"I never would have believed this, but I can see it's true! You're like the farmer I know, he owns a farm, you own this circus, but you have many more humans working for you than he does," Feasters said.

"In this business I need labor, and I don't care who I hire as long as they work good!" Chamberlain said.

Within a blink of an eye, JJ was standing beside Chamberlain and he scowled at Feasters. After a brief moment JJ said, "He giving you trouble ?Want me to take care of him for ya?"

"No, that's okay," Chamberlain said. "This guy isn't pulling anything on me. He really isn't. Don't want no job, don't want nothing. You're not even a salesman, are ya?"

Before Feasters could answers, all eyes turned towards a lion that meandered past which casts a dark-shadowy stare at Chamberlain. Chamberlain's eyes followed the lion until the lion rounded a tent, but Chamberlain didn't take his eyes away from that direction. After a puff from his cigar, Chamberlain shot a glance at JJ then said, "Keep an eye on him!"

JJ slipped away like a ninja following a samurai.

"Ya look hungry," Chamberlain said. "I like ya honesty. Here... take this meal ticket and get some food. We'll talk later. An honest guy like you might be needed around here after all." Chamberlain's cool and wide-eyed grin floated over Feasters. His took a slow puff from his cigar and studied Feasters further for a moment; then that cool-wide-eyed grin started to drill itself into Feasters. Chamberlain's smile didn't change after Feasters grabbed the meal ticket.

Feasters felt a heavy weight upon his back as Chamberlain's stare continued, and his legs started shaking and became weak. Finally, Feasters said, "T-T-Thank you."

"No problem," Chamberlain said. "I always need--associates."

At the mess tent, Feasters enjoyed a supper of roots, carrots some melons, apples, and a melon that he never tasted before. It felt good to have a nice meal like this one. Traveling had its drawbacks like finding food, but today Feasters gorged himself.

After supper, Feasters meandered around the circus but everybody was too busy working to say anything. He stopped in front of a candy apple stand. From behind the stand Feasters heard "Pssst." He looked and saw a rat eyeing him with a grin that reminded him of Chamberlain's.

"Do you work here?" Feasters asked.

"They call me Peepers. You might say I work here and you might say I don't. Ask anybody here and each will tell you something different. It depends who you ask," Peepers said. "You don't work here. I know that. What you doing here?"

"Nothing. I saw this place and I just came in to look around. That Chamberlain is a nice one, isn't he? He talked to me and then said, "Here's a meal ticket--go get some food, and we'll talk later. That was nice of him to do, don't you think so? He even said something about a job, but I don't want one."

Peepers dropped a crumb that he was nibbling on, then jumped up and landed on all four legs. He turned his head to one side, then to the other. His tail raised up and his eyes became wild, and after looking Feasters up and down for a moment he said: "What!"

Feasters backed up a little, and then repeated what he said. When finished, Peepers kept looking and didn't say a word. Finally he said, "You're definitely not from around here, I can see that now!"

Peepers grabbed his crumb again and started slowly eating and he kept both eyes on Feasters. His expression became very bland, and his voice took on a sharp, quick tone when he spoke again. Feasters watched for a moment then said, "What do you do around here?"

"Nothing, just hang around, pick through the garbage, sometimes get a meal at the mess tent," Peepers said. "Been with this circus all my life, even before I could speak. Things were different then. Cats hated me. Dogs hated me. Humans hated me. Hell, they even tried to kill me with those traps, you know the ones that were outlawed years ago, but even then, I was too smart for them. Now it's illegal to set rattraps. Chamberlain knows me, knew me before. I used to live under his cage and he would stare at me for hours. I think he envied my freedom. I don't know why but he never hassles me. Seems to think of me as part of the circus, and I guess I am."

Before Feasters could utter another question, Chamberlain's voice boomed, "NO! NO! NO!--NO MORE MONEY! You're paid more than the others as it is! Who the hell do you think you are around here? You've been up my rear all year and I'll telling you for the last time--NO. MORE. MONEY!"

"No more money? Come Saturday we're on strike! No more money for us, no show for you!" a lion said.

Peepers whispered, "That's King Caesar. They been arguing about money all year. Chamberlain will not give in--and neither will King Caesar." King Caesar started walking away but stopped, looked back at Chamberlain, then said, "Think about what I said. Oh, by the way--the elephants are on our side now! Just ask them!"

"What!" Chamberlain roared.

"You heard me! Just remember what I said," King Caesar added.

Chamberlain stood staring at King Caesar like a sumo wrestler weighing in on an opponent. He spit out his cigar butt and didn't miss one step that King Caesar took. After watching King Caesar round a corner and disappear behind a tent, Chamberlain cast a sideways look over at Peepers.

"I'll be back, Peepers said. "I have to get some... some money that a human owes me."

Peepers raced away. Feasters watched Peepers disappear behind a small tent that advertised "Palm Readings" by Madam Renoire. Two humans were finishing erecting the tent as Madam Renoire stood outside supervising them. She saw Peepers scampering and watched him with a frown developing on her forehead, and her eyes became darker and took on the appearance of small-dark holes. She stepped out from the tent and continued to watch Peepers, but Feasters couldn't see Peepers anymore. Madam Renoire took another step out. She crossed her arms over her chest then took a few more steps out until she was standing in the middle of the main isle of the circus. She just stared.

King Caesar returned and strolled past Madam Renoire but didn't look at her. His tail swished from side to side and every few moments he looked around. Humans near him gave him the right of way, and two leopards shook their heads in a disgusted gesture, then turned and walked away without acknowledging him. King Caesar ignored them.

"Big trouble," Odeman said. Odeman was a young orangutan that had been resting on top of the candy apple stand. He slid off the top and landed next to Feasters.

"What's going on with Chamberlain and this King Caesar?" Feasters said.

"What's going on! Why, money! That's what's going on!" Odeman said.

"Don't you get an allowance from the government? I do and all the others do where I come from," Feasters said.

"Damn... that allowance from the government doesn't pay nothing. I make ten times that! And King Caesar makes, well, they say one hundred times that! Now, that's money," Odeman said.

"Oh my," Feasters said, "I didn't ever think about making that much money. I don't know of any animal making that much money where I come from. I don't think the humans make that kind of money where I come from." Odeman sat down, brush his head with his hand. His face transformed into a broad smile as he studied Feasters.

"What you want around here?" Odeman said.

"Nothing," Feasters said.

"You're not one of them missionaries that show up sometimes, the ones that try to get us to join that church? Well, are you?" Odeman said.

"No," Feasters said. "I don't know anything about that stuff."

Odeman rubbed his chin with his fingers and continued to study Feasters. A moment later Odeman said, "You pop-up here, walk around like some King, and somehow get so close to Chamberlain that he gives you a meal ticket! Is that what you want me to believe?

"I don't know. What you mean,?" Feasters said.

Odeman started waking around in tight circles. He looked like a pear bobbing up and down in a water bowl as he wiped off his face with his long-fingered hands. He shook his head like a dog would after a bath. After this dance, he looked at Feasters and said, "Watch yourself around here! I mean it! Don't try to pull anything. Whatever you are, I don't know, but I think it would be healthy for ya to just leave--and the sooner the better." Odeman's long arms waved over his head as he looked up into the sky. Finally he sat down next to the food stand, looked at Feasters for a moment then said, "I heard you and Peepers talking." When Odeman was finished staring at Feasters, he lunged upward, landed on top of the food stand then turned and disappeared after he jumped towards the back. Feasters watched but didn't utter a word. Feasters stood up on his hind legs and surveyed as much of the circus as he could see.

Friday came. Feasters decided to leave after he finished his breakfast at the meal tent. Feasters waited for two days to talk with Chamberlain, but Chamberlain was too busy.

The early morning sun promised a bright-warm-summer day with little chance of rain--a good day to travel, Feasters thought. Farther along the railroad tracks, a city lay spread-out along a river. Feasters heard about this place when Farmer Blough talked about some football games he saw there. It must be bigger than the newspaper showed, and there must be so much more to learn there than here.

In the mess tent, Feasters had breakfast with Clarence, a human who was the chief clown of the circus, and Clarence loved to talk. During the conversation with Feasters, Clarence interject with, "Before you all became intelligent, Chamberlain would jump back in his cage whenever I walked by. You see, he was so afraid of me with my clown uniform on! Yes, he really did. One day as I walked past, I yelled, 'Boo!' and he almost tore his cage apart while he screamed. Ever hear a gorilla scream? Well, Chamberlain did that day. Never messed with him again, in fact I started to bring him bananas. Yes sir, he loved those bananas but to tell you the true, he always seemed scared of me. Even today. He asked me to stay on when he bought the circus, gave me a good raise, but he seems to avoid me unless he needs something or wants to change my act. He treats me good."

Shouts sounded outside the mess tent. Then screams echoed around the circus, and finally someone shouted, "King..., but the rest of the sentence was garbled. Clarence said, "What the hell," under his breath. Then after a second he said, "Better go see what's up!"

Both Feasters and Clarence raced out of the mess tent. Outside Madam Renoire stood watching, and when she noticed Clarence coming near she said, "King Caesar's dead. They found him this morning behind the big top just lying in the grass. Nobody knows what happened--at least nobody will say what happened." Madam Renoire shook her head, gave a sign-of-the cross then turned and left for her tent. She looked down at the ground as she walked and then started shaking her head from side to side but her face remained composed.

An police vehicle and an ambulances were already behind the big top when Feasters and Clarence got there. King Caesar was covered with a white sheet, and the coroner stood next to him with a sheriff and three paramedics. Feasters couldn't hear the conversation, but after a while, Chamberlain put his long arm around the coroner, and they started to walk away.

Chamberlain and the coroner took a walk and Feasters noticed that Chamberlain face started to take on a wide-eyed grin. As they walked, Chamberlain spoke and the coroner listened with a friendly interest in his expression.

"What happened to him?" Clarence said. Some shrugged their shoulder, other answered with "Who knows," while others just shook their heads, not because of the tragedy, but apparently for some other reason that Feasters couldn't understand. Feasters heard, "It's not fair," and others said, "I knew this would happen," while others said, "I told you so." Clarence frowned. He didn't say anything more except, "You better leave," to Feasters. "I don't think you want to stay around here, things have a way of... happening sometimes."

Clarence started to speak again, but before he could utter a single word, Chamberlain was back and made an announcement: "Our poor, poor, dear King Caesar...died of heart failure. He always took his job too serious, we all knew that--he worried about his act, his friends, the circus... I tried to get him to relax, but he never would. We had differences, or course, but we always solved them intelligently and honestly. He was my friend since the great awakening. Oh the tragedy of it all! Why just yesterday he came to me and said, 'I'm terrible sorry about the scene I caused--I--I was stressed out with the opening day--so soon. Please understand that my act has been going bad, lately. I'll have to work out a new routine.' Yes, King Caesar and me were partners but more important then that--we were friends." Feasters got close to the crime scene and looked up at the coroner. The coroner stood beside Chamberlain. He looked down as Chamberlain spoke and Feasters thought he saw a slight smile flash across the coroner's face as Chamberlain lamented about King Caesar. Feasters looked at Clarence and some others but they stood too high to see the coroner's face fully, but Feasters knew what he saw!

The ambulance took King Caesar away. The sheriff mused around, gave questionable looks at the coroner, and the coroner glared back at the sheriff. Neither spoke to the other during the investigation in which the coroner had the final say. Feasters watched, but when Chamberlain wandered over near him, Feasters scampered under a bright-colored wagon that had a caption which read, "Out of Africa."

Feasters stayed under the wagon until the crowd thinned out, which was a long time. He walked the length of the wagon then waited until nobody was in sight for a second or two. Then he scampeerd across the way and hid behind a small tent. When things were clear, he maneuvered himself behind tents, hot dog stands, ticket stands until he was at the perimeter of the circus. Again, he waited until nobody was in sight; then he cautiously crossed a small field until he found the thicket next to the railroad tracks.

Once in the thicket he looked back at the circus; watched to see if he were followed. Feasters watched for a long time, and studied every movement seen in the circus. Nobody followed, he concluded, but JJ was walking towards the railroad tracks. Feasters couldn't see any others with him but the tall grass could hide another.

He turned and started towards the tracks and kept abreast of JJ at a good distance, but after a minute, he heard two voices, one JJ and the other Peepers. Feasters followed the voices until he saw JJ and Peepers. JJ had a backpack, and Peepers stood upon a high-rock outcrop and constantly surveyed the area as they spoke.

"Man that stuff killed the King in no time," Peepers said. He spoke so softly that Feasters had to inch his way closer to hear. Fortunately, Feasters's skills at moving silently in the wild were still intact, and he made use of them until he was only a few feet away and hiding behind a very large-dead-oak log. Slipping in under the watchful eyes of Peepers took some effort, but Feasters managed.

"Nice job, Peep," JJ said. "I knew the King would like a steak dinner. You put enough in to kill ten King Caesars.

"Yep," Peepers said. "How long you going to be gone?"

"Two days at the most. Chamberlain said to get a least a hundred miles away before I get rid of it. You sure you got all the strychnine in here?"

"Don't worry, you got the only batch I had," Peepers said. "Make sure you take the label off."

"Chamberlain sure as hell didn't like that sheriff asking questions and still looking around even after the coroner got paid off. He said the sheriff looked too dumb to take a bribe, but the coroner wasn't," JJ said. "That's why he wants me to take it so far away that if a trace of it is found, they'll never connect it back to the circus.

Feasters listened a while longer, then very stealthily withdrew. He started towards the railroad tracks, and once there headed for home. The trip back--a foggy haze when Feasters thinks about now but he can't remember much about it. Trains passed by, but the odor of diesel fuel didn't register with Feasters like the first time, and the raccoon and other animals he encounter? If they did say anything, Feasters ignored them and kept moving, and moving he did without resting or eating. Finally, Blough's farm materialized before his eyes.

Feasters looked in his burrow and decided not to enter. He ate some apples that Jeri left outside his burrow, but didn't think about them as he ate. The same sounds, the same fragrances, the same warm sun, and the same peaceful stillness greeted him as he ate the apples. Time seemed to stop as he ate, and the more he ate, the more he looked at the farmhouse.

Finally, Hannah and Jeri came running out with Rambo in the lead.

"Where've you been?" Hannah asked.

"Have you been sick or something?" Jeri asked. "We were so worried... even Dad and Mom were worried."

Rambo had tears in his eyes and the only thing he could utter was, "Thank God you're okay."

Rambo sobbed some as his ears hung down farther than Feasters ever saw them do before.

"Hannah stroked Feasters's back lightly then softened said, "Please, Feasters, come live with us--in the house. We all want you to. You know that. Come live with us! I will not take no for an answer. Mom wants you and Dad doesn't care if you do. We'll be able to take real good care of you--it's better than that hole in the ground that you live in now, please!"

"In the winter it's nice and warm, and plenty of food, believe me, I know this," Rambo said.

Feasters looked at his burrow, and then turned his head towards the girl. "Okay, I'll come in. I should have before this, but I just wasn't sure about--things. Now, I am."

THE END

Bio: In George's own words: "I've been writing for about fifteen years, occasionally, and enjoy every strike on my keyboard. I'm not sure why I write--it's fun, I'm sure about that--and I intend to continue and learn. I worked at a generating station in Western Pennsylvania, and served in Viet-Nam. I attended the University of Pittsburgh for Mechanical Engineering, but had to quit after the Johnstown Flood of 1977. I worked in a coal mine, a steel mill, and a dairy once. Now, I'm retired. My last story: The Last War Dance, issue 122." [June, 2008]

E-mail: George T. Philibin

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