#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 →