Several people have asked me for a longer excerpt from my new novel. Here it is. It printed out a little different than it appears in the book, but I think you can read it without much difficulty. I hope it brings a smile to your face. (My daily meditation is in the box just below): Digby was sitting in a metal chair next to my bed. Pink sunlight was coming through the windows. I could hear voices in the hallway. “So have a lot of people heard what happened to me?” I asked. Digby nodded, “Almost everyone on the planet. Mars is a small town. People like to talk. You are a newcomer with a public job. You almost killed yourself and only got saved thanks to a mysterious and beautiful young woman. Yeah, I’d say the story has made the rounds.” I looked at the baskets of mushrooms that crowded the windowsills and table tops of my room. They were get well mushroom baskets. Mushrooms grow very well on Mars and have become a staple of the Martian diet. Before there were flowers, there were mushrooms. Martians continue to use them in the same way as people on Home World use bouquets of flowers. “Do they think I’m a moron?” Digby shuffled in his chair. “Well, they wonder why you drove off into the desert without telling anyone where you were going,” he said. I moaned and not from pain. “They wondered why you didn’t have any survival gear with you and why you thought you could pull an ATV out of a sand trap.” I moaned again. “But most of all, they wondered why you didn’t have your ComCom on you.” I groaned out loud. “So they think I am a moron.” “Pretty much,” said Digby brightly, “It was a classic greenhorn thing to do and you did it up big.” “I am sorry about the ATV,” I said, looking over at him. “We got a tow truck and pulled it out,” he said, “You can’t really hurt that old jalopy.” We sat in silence for a moment. Digby reached over and popped a mushroom in his mouth. “When did you get back?” I asked him. Digby had been off on one of his mysterious rambles around Mars. I had not seen him until I woke up in the hospital in Burroughs Base. “Just about the time the Muslim girl brought you in,” he said, “They called your ComCom from the hospital to see if you had any family. It was on your kitchen table. I picked it up and then came right over to the ER.” “It was a miracle she found me,” I said looking down at my bandaged ankle. “No doubt about it,” he said standing up to stretch. His small frame was still in dirty overalls. His oversized goggles rested on his head like tiny antlers. “Only madmen and Muslims go out in the Martian night,” he said. “What’s that?” “Oh, just a scrap of an old saying. Muslims are a very religious people on Mars,” he said, “Very devout people. Very spiritual. Sometimes they go out into the desert to fast and pray.” “Is that what she was doing?” I asked. Digby nodded again, “Apparently. She was coming in to town after being out for a long stretch. Wanted to buy some supplies to take back to her people at their settlement over at New Medina. She stumbled across you, wrapped you up, and called for an emergency truck. She rode in with you and got you into the hospital before she took off again.” “She must think I am a moron,” I said, “I never even got to tell her thank you for saving my life.” Digby walked over to the bed and looked down at me with his owl eyes. “I don’t think moron is the word for it,” he said smiling at me, “crazy is the word she used. She said that you were pumped up with pain killers and kept asking her if she was married. You thought she was married to Jesus and when she said no you proposed to her. Something about making an honest woman out of her. I’m not sure if she took it the right way. I think you offended her.” I closed my eyes and groaned. “Oh my God,” I said on my bed of pain, “Please just leave me here to die.” “Sure,” said Digby patting my arm, “Can I take some mushrooms before I go?”
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 10:04:28 +0000
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