A Month of May Bees

A Month of May Bees

Maybe I’ll find millions of dollars like the couple out in California did last year. Maybe the light will dawn in people’s lives and we’ll all get along with each other. Maybe the news coming from the television will be only good. And then, again…maybe not. This is the month of May and if you […]

Peggs Tornado, conclusion

Peggs Tornado, conclusion

  This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid Morgan farm, two and a fourth miles southeast of Peggs. The storm went a […]

The Peggs Tornado, Part I

The Peggs Tornado, Part I

Each year I re-print the story of the Peggs tornado that I wrote for The Tahlequah Daily Press in 1985. This story is important because it is a part of our history. It is a sad story, but it is also full of human compassion and courage. We should not forget the many whose lives […]

Pete and Pat

Pete and Pat

Pete the peg-legged pirate lived on the sea. He had a wooden leg that began just below his knee. A bright and mouthy parrot sat upon his shoulder Who was at least as old as Pete or maybe even older. Pete had a trusty gang of men as gnarly as they come, They lived on […]

A Shadow?

  The noise jarred my eyes open. I gasped and sat up. The luminous dial on my bedside clock told me it was two in the morning.      “Penny?” I muttered. “Did you knock something off a table?”      But the little cat was not on the foot of my bed. As I listened, heart […]

The Shadow of a Frown

The Shadow of a Frown

Can you frown with your voice? Perhaps in a conversation with someone, you could feel it–that accusing frown. Some conversations are just unsettling, aren’t they? No arguing but just a feeling, a tone, and you know without being told that somehow you have come up lacking. It’s not a good feeling. It isn’t always what […]