One of my favorite lines in the story: "Crimes were interrupted by commercials as often as by police."

http://salamandersociety.com/donbagley/

and if you have not reviewed Don's pithy quotes lately:

http://salamandersociety.com/donbagley/#quotes

Thanks again Don for sharing your expanding creativity!

The thing I especially like about your stories is that no matter what you write about, you put a voice for me at least in much of what you say. You are able to make your stories something others can relate to.

Great story. Great writer.

That’s one of my worst fears, waking up during surgery, and not being able to communicate. I had pain just reading it.

10/10 ~ wood read again/10 ~

Thanks all for reading.

Don ...

How do you do it?

You turn mundane things ("a Cattlemen's billboard") into something unforgettable. I'll never drive by there again without

Did the dream of "afterlife in a mall" have special meaning for Mormons?

Throughout the story, I kept hoping it was fiction instead of an event in your own life. If not your life, it was someone's. If this doesn't arouse tremendous emotion in every reader, I don't know what will.

And, yet again, an impactful ending!

Katholeen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> You turn mundane things ("a Cattlemen's
> billboard") into something unforgettable. I'll
> never drive by there again without ...
>

EDIT:

... without thinking of this story.

Thank you for your comments. I want to write for readers, and feedback helps me progress. I don't know what that dream mall symbolized. You could be right.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2018 11:30PM by donbagley.

"Fentanyl."

After having my first fairly major surgery on one of my knees (to keep it from dislocating itself) I was told very brusquely by my mother, an RN, that I must not cry. The other nurses would snitch to her, she said, and I would be punished when I got home. One of the last things she told me before she died was that I was always "blatting" (crying) about something. Technically, she was an excellent nurse. She could give shots that barely hurt and nail an IV line on the first try. But she was totally lacking in compassion.

I have a ritual for post-operative crying now. I allow myself to wonder "what the hell have I gotten myself into, this time?" and cry until I feel better. This is always on the first night post-op. There is something very soothing about giving myself the permission to express the fear, the apprehension, all the things that go on when you feel so helpless.

I testify that the Book of Bagley is true.

Yes, that's sounds about right. Glad you're free of both of those nightmares.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2018 03:12PM by Cheryl.