The Card: ♦Two♦ of Diamonds
The Suit: For Deal Me In 2025, ♦♦♦Diamonds♦♦♦ is my suit generally reserved for stories from ‘local’ anthologies and collections.
The Author: J. Brent Bill is, according to his website (http://brentbill.com) “a writer, photographer, retreat leader, writing coach, and Quaker minister.” He lives on a farm in my home state of Indiana. The 40-acre farm is being restored to tall grass prairie and native Indiana hardwood forest. (love this!)
The Story: “Places to Go” – one of ten stories in the collection “Amity: Stories from the Heartland.
(Yes, I’m going to try to “start this thing up” again. We’ll see how it goes and if I can learn enough about all the way wordpress has changed since my blogging heyday… Please be patient with me as I’m the proverbial old dog 🙂 )
For week 1 of the 2025 version of my “Deal Me In Short Story Reading Challenge,” I drew the two of diamonds (the only deuce in this year’s deck which isn’t “wild”), which I had assigned to the story “Places to Go” by J. Brent Bill, who I recently met at the Indiana Historical Society’s annual “Holiday Author Fair” event. I had already purchased my self-imposed ‘maximum quota’ of physical books for the event when I got to his ‘station’ so, after talking with him a bit, I invoked a loophole and, after asking if his book was available for kindle, purchased it via that medium. I’ve read some of the other stories in this collection already (and I’ve got 3 others picked for my Deal Me In challenge) and have enjoyed them. This particular story was not the strongest of those I’ve read, but it was still engaging and thought provoking.
***spoilers follow***
“Mrs. Henry” is our protagonist and will “turn thirty next month.” One morning, while examining her reflection, she finds a strand of ‘silver’ hair (“don’t kid yourself. That is gray”) one morning and worries “What next? Eyeglasses? I am turning into my mother.” We all grow old (at least everyone I know) don’t we? I am often – especially these days – reminded of fellow Hoosier Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata, advising us to “take kindly the counsel of the years, surrendering the things of youth”
So, how does Mrs. Henry cope with her realization that she won’t live forever?
“She checked her reflection and a gray-haired bespectacled, wrinkle-faced old woman looked back. She blinked. The image cleared. Mrs. Henry looked down at the gray hair wrapped around her finger. I need to learn to drive, she thought fiercely.”
Mrs. Henry starts spending time sitting in Mr. Henry’s car in the garage when he is absent, learning where all the controls are and generally familiarizing herself with the vehicle. She eventually broaches the subject with her husband, who is against the idea of her learning, but gives in to her request to teach her, knowing that she will eventually get her way. (“he could never recall a time that she changed her mind once she’d made it.”). Although she’s secretly memorized the operator’s manual, her initial lesson is an unmitigated disaster. She proclaims “Next week will be better” but doesn’t improve. Ever.
There is theory, and there is practice, and though Mrs. Henry continues to learn all about the “succession of Chevrolets, Buicks, and Pontiacs” her husband later owns she never learns to drive them herself, though she still dreams of “the places she would go… if only she could drive.”
I liked the story and found it sprinkled with just the amount of humor I’m comfortable with. Based on this one, and the five other stories I’ve already read, I’m comfortable recommending this collection to my fellow “Citizens of Bibliophilopolis.” 😊
Below: Headquarters of The Indiana Historical Society, home of the annual Holiday Author Fair, of which I’ve attended several editions.
(Image credits: author pic from amazon, two of diamonds from the Skyline Nissan Playing Cards 1957 via Ebay, Historical Society from the IHS website. Deal Me In logo created by @callmemanno)
Bibliophilopolis 