The Best of SLO NightWriters

in Tolosa Press 2009-2013

Edited by Judythe A. Guarnera
Cover design by Steve Kliewer
Cover Photograph by Dennis Eamon Young Photos

SLO NightWriters proudly presents its first anthology, The Best of SLO NightWriters in Tolosa Press 2009-2013. The work featured therein is a collection of the best of the columns published in the Tolosa Press newspapers over a five-year period.

The Best of SLO NigthtWriters in Tolosa Press are available for purchase at www.amazon ($14.95) or you can pick one up at a monthly SLO NightWriters general meeting for just $10.00 at the door.

See what your fellow writers have written and father topic ideas for your submissions to the NightWriters Column in Simply Clear Marketing & Media.

Pick up a copy at Volumes of Pleasure in Los Osos, Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay or order directly from Amazon.

“Looking over the list of authors and their works contained herein, I am humbled to have played a slight role in this anthology and honored to help the printed word survive.”

Christopher Gardner

Founding Editor

Tolosa Press 

FIREWORKS happened when SLO NightWriters joined forces with Tolosa Press. Prepare to laugh, cry, be surprised and thrilled by the essays, short fiction, and memoir featured in The Best of SLO NightWriters in Tolosa Press 2009-2013. Settle back with your favorite beverage - the California Central Coast is noted for its fine wine  - and enjoy! Once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop.

“Finally, even this touch is not enough and I pull the shaking shoulders into a hug, soaking up a young male scent that reminds me of a freshly shampooed puppy. "It's okay," I say, needing somehow - in this moment - to comfort him. There will be time for my grief later.

The Most Dangerous Time

~Sue McGinty

“Well, technically I'm a cripple. They don't call us that now. But my mind dances, my spirit cartwheels. Even at my most exuberant, though, I didn't picture myself as a mermaid, sharing a tropical lagoon with manatees.“

Ahoy, Cripples!

~Anne Peterson

“While the lore of lurking cemetery spirits is a worldwide phenomenon, from the footsteps of Charles Dickens in England’s famous Highgate Cemetery to the crypt of the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, the Central Coast is not without its own cast of creepy characters.”

A SLO Spirit Tour

~Mary Redmond

Contents

 

Contest Winners

Paul Alan Fahey

   Carlotta’s Necklace..................................................................................... 3

Willy Bruijns

   Girl Talk...................................................................................................... 5

Paul Alan Fahey

   Slender Thread...........................................................................................7

Christine Ahern

   The Burgundy Room................................................................................. 9

Kirsty Jenkins

   Humanity.................................................................................................. 13

Susan Tuttle

   Symmetry................................................................................................. 15

C.S. Perryess

   Jackson’s Plan........................................................................................... 19

Anne Schroeder

   Cantina Nights........................................................................................... 21

Willy Bruijns

   Bye........................................................................................................... 23

Susan Tuttle

   Figment.................................................................................................... 25

Joe Amaral

   Mankind.................................................................................................... 29

Donna Reese

   Lull............................................................................................................. 33

Shirley Powell

   The In Group............................................................................................. 35

Willy Bruijns

   Crossroads................................................................................................ 39

Anna Unkovich

   Gift from an Aching Heart........................................................................... 43

Willy Bruijns

   Best Friends...............................................................................................  45

Anne R. Allen

   Aunt Doreen’s Legacy..................................................................................47

For Every Reading Taste

Anne Peterson

   Ahoy, Cripples!............................................................................................ 53

Dennis Eamon Young

   Last Call....................................................................................................... 57

Debby Nicklas

   An Old Dog................................................................................................... 61

Judith Bernstein

   To Kindle or Not to Kindle.............................................................................. 63

Willy Bruijns

   Dusk............................................................................................................. 67

Linda Mills

   The Best Time of My Life................................................................................ 71

Jean Moelter

   Matt and Jean Do Laughter Yoga................................................................... 73

Nancy G. Moore

   What We Forget............................................................................................ 77

Sherry Eiselen

   Speaking of Language................................................................................ ....79

Sharyl Heber

   Staircase of Dreams........................................................................................ 83

Anna Unkovich

   The Night the Whippoorwills Came Back.......................................................... 87

David Georgi

   Pole Cats........................................................................................................ 91

T.C. West

   Aunt Bess’s Sorting Center.............................................................................. 95

Anthony Toscano

   A Bridge Across Time........................................................................................99

Judythe A. Guarnera

   Acing the Final.................................................................................................103

Liu Yu with Dawn Cerf

   Determination Made My Dreams Come True....................................................107

Mike Price

   I Can Do This...................................................................................................111

Terry Sanville

   Cats.................................................................................................................115

Paul Alan Fahey

   The Play’s the Thing.........................................................................................119

Chris Over

   Please Forgive Me, Ms. Andrews, Wherever You Are..........................................123

Sue McGinty

   The Most Dangerous Time.................................................................................127

Carroll McKibben

   We Are Each Other’s Keepers.............................................................................129

Anne R. Allen

   Bag Lady Fears.................................................................................................. 133

Sharyl Heber

   The Lady in Gold................................................................................................ 137

Anne Peterson

   C’mon in the Water’s Fine!................................................................................. 141

Jill Schaefer

   Our First Car.......................................................................................................145

Mary Martin Benton

   Winds of Time.................................................................................................... 149

Anne R. Allen

   A Central Coast Writer Meets the Ghost of George Eliot........................................153

Judythe A. Guarnera

    The Day Courage Sat in a Barber’s Chair............................................................ 157

Ruth Goodnow

   Raptor Sightings..................................................................................................161

Tom Harrington

   Fishing With Fred.................................................................................................165

Anne Schroeder

   Ebb Time............................................................................................................ 169

Nancy G. Moore

   Goodbye Chicago, Hello SLO................................................................................173

Lillian Brown

   The Memory Purse.............................................................................................. 177

Dennis Eamon Young

   Found in Translation.............................................................................................181

Curt Johnson

   In Defense of the Magnificent Seagull................................................................... 185

Anne Peterson

   I Call It Power-Lounging...................................................................................... 189

A Holiday Collection

Sue McGinty

   A Dog-Gone Good Christmas...............................................................................195

Andrea Chmelik

   Home for the Holidays........................................................................................ 199

Judythe A. Guarnera

   A Close Call - Inventor Saves Traditional Turkey Dinner....................................... 203

Mike Orton

   My Father’s Lullaby............................................................................................. 207

Mary Redmond

   The Importance of Being Earnest-ly Irish............................................................. 211

Sherry Eiselen

   My Body and I..................................................................................................... 215

Anne Schroeder

   Christine’s Mother.................................................................................................217

Mary Redmond

   A SLO Spirit Tour...................................................................................................221

Rebecca Waddell

   An Alien for an Evening..........................................................................................225

Diane Smith

   Bingo at Belly Acres................................................................................................227

Judith Bernstein

   Chanukah, Celebration of Light.............................................................................. 231

Christine Ahern

   Christmas at Chantilly Farm.................................................................................... 235

Tony Piazza

   My Most Precious Gift............................................................................................. 239

Darryl Armstrong

   An Unforgettable Christmas Eve............................................................................. 241

David Schwab

   Thanks, Mom......................................................................................................... 245

Griselda Silva-Rivera

   My Abuelita Was a Flapper...................................................................................... 249

Mike Orton

   The Other Side........................................................................................................ 253

Ximena Tagle Ames

   The Need for a Two-Headed God..............................................................................257

Destry Ramey

   My Dad, Jack............................................................................................................259

Kalila Volkov

   Kentucky Fried Christmas......................................................................................... 263

Edward J. Longstreth

   Just Call Me Jim..........................................................................................................267

Mary Redmond

   I’ll Take a Baker’s Dozen..............................................................................................271

Ximena Tagle Ames

   Feliz Navidad............................................................................................................... 273

Paul Alan Fahey

   The Christmas Spy...................................................................................................... 277

Tom Harrington

   Christmas Skis.............................................................................................................. 281

Griselda Silva-Rivera

   A New Year’s Resolution............................................................................................... 285

Michelle Greer

   The First Thanksgiving................................................................................................. 289

Contributors’ Notes............................................................................................................. 293