#40 of 52 : ROBERT DO GOOD

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
            I told you, Mother, that project would not work.  Anyway, don’t you remember fishing over there in the towels?  Remember crappie we caught and how good they tasted?

Whose idea was this to try something new and without asking for our help?  Seems to me that this world is going down hill when people think they can try that and get by with it.  Then build a monument to show off such a thing.

I bet Dad would turn over in his grave if he knew this had happened to our grazing and hunting ground.  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 40 →

#39 of 52 : Ms…..?

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
    They say write ‘bout what you know.  I don’t know much of nothin’.  I do know I have had this picture in my wallet, right next to my lucky two dollar bill for 60 years now.  Neighbor lady she was, Ms. …?  Dangit, it’ll come to me. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 39 →

#38 of 52 : REUBEN MOSER & TEAM

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:

This, sadly, was the worst little league baseball team Oklahoma has ever, or will ever see.

Starting with Coach on the left, here is a short summary of who they were and came to be.

Reuben Moser, Coach, father to left fielder Douglas, became a coach because the previous coach of the Cardinals decided his life would be better spent on an oilrig than trying to better this sad team.  In his spare time, Reuben sold knives, and often spent his nights soaking his feet in Epsom salts. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 38 →

#36 of 52 : EVELYN ESTES

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
     Now this photo takes me back!  That is my mother, Evelyn Estes, or as most everyone called her, Evie.  That little jacket is for me, a gift from my Auntie Gerdie from France, I believe.  As per usual, Gerdie, only called Gertrude when she got in trouble, made quite the entrance; this time in a brand new car that blinded you as it glinted fender to fender.  My mom always got so excited when her big sister would show up.  Her visits were always unexpected, but revitalized my mom at just the right time, when you could see her spirit start to drag.

Growing up, the two of them were inseparable.  They were the only girls in a family of seven with five older brothers to keep them in line.  They were only a year apart so as they got older they always had the same friends, went on double dates, in fact, most people thought they were twins.   Don’t be fooled, they really needed those older brothers to keep them in check when their wild streaks would flare up.

One of my mom’s favorite memories was when she and my auntie snuck out with a couple of their girlfriends one cool summer night when they were about 15 and 16.  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 37 →

#36 of 52 : WAYNE

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
The phone rang. Rang again. I looked at Billy, waiting for him to make a move. Nothing. I reached across the length of both our desks, “Mid West City PD.”

“PREVERT! Get this prevert outta here!” a woman screamed furiously on the other end. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 36 →

#35 of 52 : JERRY AND DONNIE

External Photo Clues:
Handwritten on the back: “July 27, 1958”

Imagine:
He’d worked in the mill most his life.  Bought one of those little mill boxes they called a house, just across the road from the mill and did his time till retirement.  It was easy work, borin’ most days.  He tried his hand at marriage but the Vietnam had changed him or maybe he just wasn’t cut out for marriage – he didn’t know, didn’t care anymore.  He liked his life but he sometimes wondered what life might’ve been like if Donnie was still around.

He didn’t normally take the picture far from his bedroom, but he hadn’t slept in there since he got sick.  He’d been sleepin’ in his chair in the front room and that day it was sittin’ on the table beside his chair when that nurse showed up.  Useless woman, even for a nurse – one of those women his old friend Arnie would call a “too much” woman.  Talked too much.  Wore too much perfume, too much makeup.  Knew too much, or thought she did.  Let you know too much about her kids, husband, family, like he cared.  He didn’t ever want to meet the man who put up with this woman long enough to marry her and give her kids.  That man probably drank too much just to put up with her and that couldn’t be a man he’d like. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 35 →

#34 of 52 : AUNT CATHLEEN AND MOTHER

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
It slipped from Aunt Cathleen’s Bible, fluttering delicately to the old rose rug – it was her favorite back in the day.   I just stared…the picture was very familiar…OK…I remember…Oh yes, I remember….

Auntie Cathleen was livid.  The hatred in her stare, her long gloved fingers clutched in such tight fist.  Cold chills run up my arms and I actually shivered thinking back.  She had refused to even look at the camera…Yep she was ready to fight.

She had come to take me away, again….She being my Mother and on her fifth marriage. This one like the others was “the one”….”her prince charming”….  If I had known about such things back then I would have said, “Mother you don’t have to get married just to have sex…”  Whoa, what an uproar that would have caused. In 1939 that would have been sacrilegious words.  You did not know your mate in the intimate manner until you were married.  Now-a-day couples do…as my Auntie Cathleen would say it, “sleep together” before the wedding night.

I turned 79 years old today and I believe I have arrived at the age where I can say the things out loud that I only use to think…That’s one of the perks of getting old and senile. I can now say it and no one is really shocked.  Oh, they pretend they are but most of the time their glad someone just come out and said it. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 34 →

#33 of 52 : OLIVIA AND PAPA

External Photo Clues:
None

A Note From Quentin:
This story was written over 25 years ago by a Grandfather, about a Granddaughter.  In April 2011 the Grandfather passed away, and the Granddaughter received the story as a gift.  This story was slightly modified by the Granddaughter, and the image selected for it, for The 2011 Imaginary Family Project.  Enjoy!

Imagine:
She has always been my favorite grandchild. Her smile can turn the worst of days into precious moments you never want to end. Ever since Olivia was two years old, her uniqueness has been apparent in her selflessness that is unmatched by any other I have ever known.

In rare occurrences, Bernadette might have known of Olivia’s existence. It is hard to say. Olivia, however, is quite aware of Bernadette, even though the two have never met and never will. For Olivia, Bernadette is an image of unknown quality known as great-grandmommy, a person who exists for her mainly because of Nani’s sadness. Bernadette is ninety-two; Olivia is six; and Nani is Claire: Bernadette’s daughter, Olivia’s grandmother, and my wife.

Claire is sad because her mother, Bernadette, has entered into the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and I am telling this story because I am struck by the natural empathy of a little girl who has not yet learned to harden her heart in an attempt to cope with an imperfect world. Hopefully, she will never learn. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 33 →

#32 of 52 : VELMA AND PAUL

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
   It all started on Thanksgiving Day that winter the lake froze solid.  All the family had gathered, some travelling in from Kansas, others just from the next county.  It was a standard family affair wonderfully complete with too much food and twice as many children as the year before.  The women cooked and giggled, and the men smoked outside and talked about politics, crops, and religion.  Everyone was generally too busy to notice that a romance was budding between two young people.

When she first saw him, he had been looking at her intently, trying to figure out her age.  Some vague impression told him she was about two years his junior.  Even the girls in his class at school were not so grown, not nearly so womanly.  Yet here she stood, wearing perfume and lipstick, chestnut hair let down in smooth curls and parted on the side instead of yanked back in the standard girlish ponytail.  Once he was caught staring, hot color flooded his cheeks. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 32 →

#31 of 52 : BERNICE

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
“I wasn’t saluting. I was pushing the hat out of my eyes.”

We aren’t surprised to hear this from our mother. Whenever we find old pictures she has to correct the ideas she imagines developing in our heads.

In the wedding album: “I wasn’t smiling about getting married. I was laughing at your father for spilling wine on his shoes.”

With infant versions of us: “I wasn’t posing for a picture. I was asleep on my feet, thanks to you, and the flash startled me awake.”

In any photo in which she is touching us: “Somebody had to wipe the crud off of you.”

We are sixteen and fourteen when we find it, and mom claims to be fifteen in this picture. It seems impossible that she’s not just playing dress-up. But she lied about her age to follow her husband who’d shipped out a week after they’d eloped. We feel as if we want to protect this girl, sandwiched between our ages. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 31 →

#30 of 52 : ALEX AND VICTORIA RAND

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
    As Alex and Victoria Rand looked back on their married lives for the last fifty years as Oklahomans, they could see that God had blessed them. They had three healthy children and were certainly proud to be Oklahomans.

Both Alex and Victoria were descendents from hard workers on each side of the family. They were both from  very large families in Burneyville, Oklahoma. They knew how to share things and to be frugal. Alex and Victoria gave new meaning to the term, “survivors of the fittest.”

Victoria could remember having her own “tow sack” to pull cotton alongside her mother and father and seven siblings. On one occasion, she could remember pulling bolls with snow on the ground. She could remember picking up pecans with her back to the wind and building a fire to keep warm underneath the pecan trees in Southern Oklahoma. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 30 →

#29 of 52 : THE OUTLAW

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
After she died, my grandfather took this and every photo of her and put them in a drawer, and my mother and I moved back to the farm.

He didn’t talk to me much.  He didn’t talk at all, really, except to say, “Pass the ham,” or “Stop fussing, Delores,” when my mother tried to cut his meat or set out his pills.  I chewed my own dinner and watched them negotiate these new boundaries.

Sometimes I walked behind him as he plowed, kicking the dirt with my sneakers.  Sometimes he would say to me, “Good thing you’re here, son.  Now you can learn how to be a man.”  I was seven and had never realized that being a man was something that required study. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 29 →

#28 of 52 : GRACE AND SAM

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
It wasn’t like her to be sentimental. Aching memories of joy seemed like such a waste of time, like blooming flowers at a funeral. Out of place and unwanted amidst so much sorrow. I mean really, would it ever bring your loved ones back? Did they really ever ease the heartache?

Indulging in these fleeting moments had lasting repercussions, but every once in a while, a memory blindsided her – every sight , every sound, every inch of her being was assaulted with that horrible stench of nostalgia.

“Hmmm… I thought I had gotten rid of him,” she said casually to the photograph on the floor. “We were a handsome couple. No denying that. Shame we couldn’t make a go of it.”

Even though she was alone, she felt compelled to keep her outward appearance strong and unaffected. But inside, inside she began the mourning process all over again, as if it had happened yesterday and not eight years ago. Her heart began to palpitate, engaging in that battle she had all too often when he entered her life. The storyline was always the same, smiles and laughter co-mingled with crashing cameos of betrayal and pain. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 28 →

#26 of 52 : WHEAT

External Photo Clues:
Handwritten on the back : “1924”

Imagine:
Pass me my magnifier Merle. My eyes have taken up with the cataracts and I don’t see so well. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 26 →

#25 of 52 : UNCLE FRANKIE

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
After selecting a picture for the Imaginary Family Project, I decided to post an ad at an online genealogy web site to see if anyone recognized the photo.   Much to my surprise I received a reply after only a few days.  Maryanne Ponder, from right here in Oklahoma City, emailed me, saying that she thought the little boy in the tree was her husband’s Uncle Frankie.  I asked to meet Mr. Ponder and she readily agreed, inviting me to their home.  The following is a rough, phonetic where appropriate, transcription of the interview that resulted:

Michael (“M”):  Thanks for meeting me.

Johnny Ponder (“JP”):  No problem.  It was a trip to see that picture.

M:  You recognized the photo right away?

JP:  Yeah.  I saw it and said to myself, “ah man, that’s Uncle Frankie!!” Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 25 →

#24 of 52 : CINDY

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
The man eases me against the curb in front of a house the color of red mud.  About ten inches out; just right, and he corners the tires.  He’s a pretty good driver — way better than my last owner, who never remembered to shift and always scraped the curb.  New neighborhood, I think — no trees, and the road’s still smooth.  Hot though; the tar feels a little squishy against my tires.  No sign of a garage; at least there’s a driveway.

A boy and a girl come pounding out the door of the house, followed by a woman in a housedress.  The woman’s tall and thin; she looks a little worn.  No surprise — the girl looks to be maybe 8 and the boy might be 11, and that combination would tire anyone out.

The man opens my door and gets out.  He closes it gently but firmly.  No slamming. Another good sign.  He spreads his arms wide.  “Ta DAH!”

The boy jumps up and down.  “A new car!  Is it ours?  Can we keep it?  COOOOL.  How fast will it go?”  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 24 →