Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Hollyhill Book of the Ordinary


Hollyhill Book of the Strangely Ordinary – 1964


Jocie Brooke here reporting that it’s been another ordinary day here in Hollyhill. More of the same. That’s how it is in Hollyhill. People get up with the sun, go to work, come home to supper and sit on their couches until bedtime watching whatever channel might be coming in best on their television sets.

               Wes tells me all the time that we should write the Hollyhill Book of the Strange. I say if we did, it would be a mighty short book. But he just smiles his Jupiter smile and says maybe it’s time I opened my eyes wider and looked around. That strange is bubbling up all around me. There is Zella, I suppose. She’s been working for my dad at the newspaper office since forever and strange could definitely be her middle name! Wes thought I was making a good start when I told him that. Zella and Wes don’t exactly see eye to eye. She’s been wishing Wes would leave town for years, and it’s no secret she thinks the first day of school is the best day of the year since it means I won’t be underfoot at the newspaper every hour of the day.

But then Wes tells me not to forget about him when it comes to strange. He is a little different. So different that for years I almost believed him when he said he fell out of a Jupiter spaceship and that’s how he got stuck here in Hollyhill. He claimed to just be killing time until another spaceship showed up to rescue him. But now that I’m thirteen, I know when Wes is pulling my leg. At least I think I do.

Still, his Jupiter stories can be pretty convincing. Like how Jupiterians don’t dare comb their hair down flat because if they do it grows back into their scalp and tickles their brains and nobody likes their brains tickled. Wes says that can cause all sorts of complications like making you want to run for mayor or eating sugar on your cereal instead of salt.

“You don’t eat salt on your cereal,” I told him the first time he came out with that story.

“I don’t? Uh-oh.” Wes pushed his hand through his gray hair to jerk it up away from his head. “Next thing you know I’ll be handing out combs that say Wesley Green for Mayor. Green combs.”

“Not a bad idea.” I laughed.

“Mayor Green.” Wes kept a straight face. “Does have a catchy sound to it.”

“So what will be your first official act after you get in office, Mayor Green?” I pulled out my little notebook to jot down notes. I keep it handy for any good stories I stumble across. Wes being mayor would be a story and half.

“Suspend all city council meetings indefinitely. Eliminate library fines on overdue books and give every kid in town a bicycle.”

I scribbled a few words before I said, “You’ve got my vote.” Wes knew I’d been wanting a new bicycle forever, but that’s what politicians do. Figure out what to promise to get votes. Doesn’t matter all that much if the promises are kept. Folks like to hope.

Wes finally grinned. “Now if that ever happens, you’ve got a fine entry into that book of the strange you’re thinking about writing. Mayor Green.”

“But it hasn’t happened.”

“Yet,” Wes said. “And I got to admit it ain’t likely to no matter how tickled my Jupiter brain gets, but you open your eyes up a little and you’re liable to find strange on every corner of Hollyhill.”

So here I am. Jocie Brooke with eyes wide open and looking but all I’m seeing is everyday ordinary. But maybe with a little help from you, I can start seeing things in Hollyhill that if they aren’t strange, at least they might almost be interesting. Let me look around a while and I’ll get back to you next week. Maybe it takes time to spot strange in a little town like Hollyhill. 

Oh, and if strange things are going on in your little towns, be sure to share them here. Maybe something the same might just happen in Hollyhill.




21 comments:

  1. Welcome back, Jocie and Wes! I love this, Ann and look forward to reading The Scent of Lilacs.

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    1. Thanks, Betty. Hope I can come up with some small town "strangeness" in the next few weeks. LOL.

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  2. Hi Ann, There is no doubt in my mind that with your delightful sense of writing you will come up with some small town 'strangeness' in the days ahead. Can't wait. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of The Scent of Lilacs.

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    1. Thanks for your confidence, Linda. Strange sometimes seems a bit out of reach, but then strange can be in the eye of the beholder. :)

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  3. I love Hollyhill and I'm sure I'll love the strange, too :-)

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    1. Great to hear from you, Susieloulou. Hope me and Jocie can have fun with Hollyhill posts in the weeks ahead.

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  4. Ann, I love the cover and the Title of this book. Anxious to read it. Just know it will be as good as it looks. AND, because you wrote it! MAXIE mac262(at)me(dot)com

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    1. Thanks, Maxie. I liked the title too and I think the new cover's great.

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  5. The little town I moved from to move back to TX. was Elgin, KS. It is in the Ghost story books. Really! It was at one time The town had a large population with the train running through it, where Cowhands on the cattle drives brought them there where they had walk through this big vat in there to rid them of all the ticks and whatever on them for to be loaded on the train cars to be shipped to their destination!. Then they were loaded on the train to go where ever they were selling them. Lots of Cherokee Indians there in that area also. So much happened there during that time, but later when they wanted to build the highway there, they said no, so they went through Sedan, Ks. Little did they know the little town would die because of this decision. My husband"s granddad was the Sheriff there at one time. My husband grew up there, and I heard the older men tell so many stories about what they did growing up, I wondered any of them lived to old age. LOL I so wish I had the kind of memory to have remembered the stories. Would have made a great story. And, I'm sure there would have been some strange ones for this page. It had a great history, but had a very small population when I was there. Just mainly older folks who had grown up there. (And some CA. folks who were coming in to but the farms and ranches as they became available. We only had one business still there, a small cafe where the same woman had owned it for 45 years. I worked there from 11 am to 2pm. Served one meal. I think the biggest crowd we ever had in the years I was there was 13. Maxie mac262(at)me(dot)com

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    1. I think you're absolutely right that your little town of Elgin, KS holds lots of great stories, Maxie. Maybe if I decide to take a book to the west, I'll research that town. Town were made with railroad stops and killed with the highways passing by. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading about your town and your big crowd of 13.

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  6. Somehow I missed all of your great comments. One of them popped up on my e-mail, but the rest of them didn't. So I thought nobody had commented until I checked the blog today. Jocie is going to have to pay more attention!! But then she is just a kid and kid's can forget how to keep up with everything when they're distracted by school and trying to write a new book of strange. Thanks to all of you for your patience and you did get your entry into the giveaway. I promise. Look forward to more of your comments in the weeks to come.

    Ann

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  7. Ann, if you ever research the town of Elgin, I hope I'm still around to hear about it. By the way, I looked at the town again and it might be a stoplight, but sure looks like a street light. And, it is in the middle of the street. Look again. Maxie

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    1. I did look at the picture again, Maxie. You're absolutely right. That is a street light, but even though it looks as if it's in the middle of the street, it's actually on the corner. The sidewalk is broad in that spot and the sidewalk and street color blend together. If you look close you can see the stop light to the right of the street light. Sorry, I didn't realize you were looking at the picture. I thought you'd gotten the idea of a street light from what Jocie wrote. My bad. And Elgin does sound very interesting!

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  8. So where os your book or books available for purchase?

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    1. Hi, Tuala Fam. My books are available on line at various book selling sites such as Christianbook.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. The books still in print are available at bookstores. If they aren't in stock the bookstore could order them for you. Scent of Lilacs will be available again in March. The print edition is being re-released. Thanks so much for you interest. Or who knows? You might win a copy here on Jocie's blog.

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  9. I have never read any of your books. I grew up in Lawrenceburg and will enjoy getting them and reading. Love to read. Are any of them available on Nook?

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    1. Great, Judy. I always enjoy hearing from hometown friends. The books are all available on Nook. Hope if you get them, you'll enjoy the stories.

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  10. I have read one of Ann books "The Gifted" and I recommend it. It is amazing!! Can't wait to read more. The gift of writing is so innate here :)
    Keep it up, Ann.

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    1. Aww, thanks, Natalia. So glad you came to visit Jocie here on her Hollyhill blog.

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  11. I love this! I grew up in Lawrenceburg and have since moved away. I miss the way it used to be, with Main Street being busy with shops and markets. A quiet, quaint town where people cared for one another. This brings tears to my eyes as I recall absolutely hating the town as I was growing up, but now I wish more than anything it was that way, once again. I look forward to Jocie's new adventures.

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    1. Hi, Lori. Jocie here. Glad you came to visit Hollyhill. Hope you'll come back again. I don't actually hate Hollyhill, but I do wish something would happen now and again. Then again some people might think I got my wish and then some in Scent of Lilacs. I've been told Lawrenceburg is a lot like Hollyhill. I can't imagine Main Street not having lots of shops.

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Jocie loves to know what you're thinking about your visits to Hollyhill.