19 Comments
User's avatar
Sharron Bassano's avatar

"Rain and hail and memories ..." Beautiful opener, Justin. I feel this man's urgency, his hope battling with reality. "The scent of seaweed and saltwater seeps in..." a sweet, unforced alliteration. The insertion of the two unexpected rhyming lines with "new day" and "wash away". Sweet! See you Friday!

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Thank you, Sharron! I’m happy you liked this one. I tried to revise the story a bit without taking away its essence. Looking forward to Friday! See you soon. 😄

Expand full comment
The Radical Individualist's avatar

As much a poem as prose. I think we all have similar memories. At least, we should have.

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Thank you, RI. I honestly had some difficulty labeling this one! I appreciate you reading.

Expand full comment
Sunil Anand's avatar

Ride on Justin!

"And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way..."

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

What a perfect song to pair with this story. I can almost hear it crackling from the narrator’s car. Thanks for reading, Sunil!

Expand full comment
K.C. Knouse's avatar

Wonderful descriptive writing, as always Justin, full of hope and desire. It reminded me of my 1,000 mile journey back to the Mexican border in far west Texas to reunite with a woman I had only known briefly. I drove through a thunderstorm during the night between Oklahoma City and Amarillo, four hours of torrential rain. She said yes. That was 44 years ago this month.

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

K.C….this is such an amazing story! It warms my heart. Thank you for sharing it with me, and congratulations to the two of you!

And thank you for reading my work and responding to it. It means the world to me. 🙏

Expand full comment
Jim Cummings's avatar

Real and raw, Justin. The things we do for love. This person is chasing memories and in my experience, that doesn't always work out well. Great story, brother!

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Thank you so much, Jim! We humans will do just about anything for love, won’t we? I appreciate your encouraging words!

Expand full comment
Jill CampbellMason's avatar

Night excursions-- have memories you have made so real, somewhat haunting in that each of those memories skews with time...and melding with written memories of others!!

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Thanks so much for reading and responding, Jill! Some memories remain clear to me over time, but others become murky and distorted. When writing a new piece of fiction, sometimes I pull from my memory bank, but often the ideas originate with a line, a solitary image, or a feeling.

Expand full comment
Jill CampbellMason's avatar

All those ways completely valid and each original in its moment!

Expand full comment
Bill Ferguson 🇨🇦's avatar

The Sea Excursion

Sylvia scanned the horizon from her seat, looking for other boats near her. Spotting none she put the boat in neutral and tossed the package over the side where it floated for a minute and sank.

“One down, two to go,” she said, eyeing the other “packages” on the floor.

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

I love this, Bill! Thank you. If you share it again on Friday when I send out the post, you might get a few more eyes on it!

Expand full comment
Rea de Miranda's avatar

I love this, Justin!

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Thanks so much for the kind words, Rea!

Expand full comment
Sharon Hudson's avatar

Desperate chasing of a past moment…the memory overcoming the fear. Loved this, Justin!

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Thank you so much for the kind words and for reading, Sharon!

Expand full comment