• Sail Cat Road continues now. #
• Jimmy drove. West was always a good direction. East was the Atlantic, and worse, thought Jimmy, Georgia. He had never liked Georgia. #
• The space between him and Gus seemed wider than measurement could account for. Gus shook his head and pounded the dash with his fist. #
• “They would have killed you in that hospital," said Jimmy. "Bren's dead now." Jimmy's sentence seemed to lack sympathy, so he ended it. #
• “Dammit, Pop," said Gus. "I lose everything I want and keep everything I hate. I wish I had died back there.” Tears blurred the road ahead. #
• “It ain’t over yet, son.” Said Jimmy. “You just might get your wish. We all might.” #
• “It ain’t over yet, son.” Said Jimmy. “You just might get your wish. We all might.” #
• Sail Car Road will continue later. Thank you for following. Other stories at: http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Car Road will continue later. Thank you for following. Other stories at: http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• My Sign Sucks: http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• My Sign Sucks: http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road returns now. #
• Sail Cat Road returns now. #
• Jimmy gave Gus space and let him wrap his mind around what had happened. The pain confused him. It was a feeling Jimmy had not known often. #
• Jimmy gave Gus space and let him wrap his mind around what had happened. The pain confused him. It was a feeling Jimmy had not known often. #
• Jimmy knew what loss looked like and had only recently begun to understand what it felt like. He looked at his face in the rearview mirror. #
• Jimmy knew what loss looked like and had only recently begun to understand what it felt like. He looked at his face in the rearview mirror. #
• “They cut her up. Left her behind the sheriff’s office like a note for me,” said Gus, his teeth grinding. He choked into silence. #
• “They cut her up. Left her behind the sheriff’s office like a note for me,” said Gus, his teeth grinding. He choked into silence. #
• “Killing them won’t bring her back,” said Jimmy. “But we will kill them. And they will understand every moment of it. Even the small parts.” #
• “Killing them won’t bring her back,” said Jimmy. “But we will kill them. And they will understand every moment of it. Even the small parts.” #
• Sail Cat Road will continue. Thank you for following. The prequel is at http://www.nogoodend.com. More stories at http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road will continue. Thank you for following. The prequel is at http://www.nogoodend.com. More stories at http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road, Chapter 18: http://sailcatroad.posterous.com/sail-cat-road-chapter-18 or http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road, Chapter 18: http://sailcatroad.posterous.com/sail-cat-road-chapter-18 or http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road continues now. #
• Gus turned full face to Jimmy and set his jaw for a mouthful of anger. Jimmy saw it coming, expected it, was immune to it. #
• “You have been nothing but a curse in my life. All of this is because I got tangled back up with you,” said Gus. “Ab died because of you.” #
• Jimmy let the comment go. The past was over. He lived in the brutal present. Gus was allowed to remember. Jimmy did not have that luxury. #
• “I drew the shittiest hand of cards in the world by getting you as my father,” said Gus. “You know that? Yes, you do know it." #
• “I know it,” said Jimmy. “I’ve known it all my life. You ain’t the only one who drew the shit cards from the deck. We all did.” #
• “Why is that? Why does anybody who comes near you get hurt and dead and live in fear?” Gus wiped his pouring nose on his sleeve. #
• Two customers left the store and looked at Gus yelling at Jimmy and slamming the dash with his fists so hard he began to bleed. #
• “Maybe we can save Jolene from this,” said Jimmy. “I know she is a lot like me. But she can be more like you. She can be a decent person.” #
• The smell of fried food filled the cab of the truck. Calille’s was up ahead. Crawfish, shrimp, hushpuppies hiding a bite of strong onion. #
• Gus wiped his face on his sleeve again. “This is what being a decent person gets you. Being an asshole is how you survive. And thrive." #
• Jimmy turned into the parking lot. Some gumbo groused up by a woman who knew the art of rue and the filet finnese my settle Gus’ tenure. #
• “Gumbo always smoothes things over,” said Jimmy. “A good bowl of well constructed soup can turn sorrow to joy. Just need a deep spoon." #
• Sail Cat Road will continue later. Thank you for following. To read the first Twitter novel, No Good End, go to http://www.nogoodend.com #
• More stories at http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Vaguebooking: http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road continues now. #
• The sky seemed heavier than usual, but not from rain. It was the pewter-tinted front pushed by the wind. Paper blew across the road. #
• “Paper truck have a wreck around here?” said Jimmy. A contract full of 8 ½ x 11’s had fallen off the roof of a lawyer's car long gone. #
• Gus was in no mood for small observations, nor was he interested in Jimmy. He was digesting anger in a way that made him sweat. #
• “I’m used to being blamed for people dying, but I didn’t kill Bren. I loved her since she was a child. People around me do die, though.” #
• Jimmy lost himself in the sentence – a rare moment of reflection for a killer who didn’t look back because it made no sense to him. #
• Sail Cat Road will continue. Thank you for following. http://terrytaylor.posterous.com http://sailcatroad.posterous.com http://www.nogoodend.com #

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We all have to be something. Aries, Tarus, Winnebago. I am a Sagittarius. I have never put even a remote amount of faith into such things. I’ve always figured our fortune was guided or blunted by our own actions, not the stars. In the last year, however, I have started regularly reading my horoscope in the local paper. Click here to read more »

The Super Bowl is Sunday. It is a big deal for football, entertainment, advertising and Saints fans. If you enjoy the NFL, thank Steve Sabol. His stories created it.

Sabol is 67 now. He became famous by turning football into art (according to Joe Posnanski in Sports Illustrated his week). It is a great story if you haven’t read it in the Scorecard section. Click here to read more »

• Sail Cat Road continues now. #
• Chapter 19 #
• The sky cleared into a blue like the paint on a Porsche. Gus and Jimmy were in an interstate gas station when Gus’ cell rang. #
• Jimmy payed the bill. Gus sat in the truck glaring through red-rimmed eyes. A tear dripped from his chin. His fists were squeezed white. #
• “What?” said Jimmy. He shut the door and looked into Gus' face. “Tears ain't your gig, son. You hurting again? Or worse?” #
• “They found Bren,” he said, words catching in his throat. He swallowed hard. “I shouldn't have come with you. I should've looked for her.” #
• “She dead?” said Jimmy. His voice was level like a man who had seen a life’s worth of death, and given his share. Gus said nothing. #
• Sail Cat Road will continue later. Thank you for following. #
• What Happened To John? http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #

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If you have ever had the unpleasant duty to bury a loved one, you know the gig. The somber funeral home representative has a respectful talk with the family about the deceased, who will do their hair and what will they wear to the hereafter. I have had this talk many times. Then comes the conversation about any burial insurance policies and money (have $5,000 to $10,000 handy) – which leads to vaults and caskets.

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I recently read that a cookie factory in Virginia had to shut down for two weeks to “change the recipe” for frozen cookie dough it manufactures. The same plant had a recall of cookie dough last year for some other reason. This time there was e coli in the dough. No cookies, thank God, were shipped this time.

But E. coli tainted cookie dough? And they had to change the recipe to get rid of it? What the hell did the recipe call for, two cups of flour, a half-cup of sugar and a spoonful of manure?

Click here to read more »

• The last, hic, ten years: http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• Sail Cat Road continues now. #
• Rain was so hard the windshield wipers could not keep up with it. Jolene turned on the radio. After a few minutes, she turned it off. #
• Her headlights raked the guardrails over Des Ourses Swamp as she drove east on I-10. Her ears rang from the previous shots. #
• Like her grandfather, Jimmy, she appreciated the sound of wheels on pavement. It meant she was moving. Her mind was already there. #
• Sail Cat Road will continue later. The prequel, No Good End, can be found at http://www.nogoodend.com. Thank you for following. #
• Off The Grid and Four More Hours – http://terrytaylor.posterous.com #
• What Happened To John? http://terrytaylor.posterous.com/what-happened-273 #

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One sign of a sucky economy: NASA has put the space shuttle on sale.

The 1970’s era icon used to be $42 million. Now if you want to ride the rocket (or rather just sit in it in your backyard) the price has been reduced to $28.8 million. 

This fall, the old orbital workhorses will go on sale once they quit flying. So far the space agency has gotten 20 responses. That was before they went on sale. The Smithsonian will get Discovery, but you can still pick up the Atlantis and Endeavour for nearly half off. I went to my bank and asked about a loan. They said I didn’t qualify.

I can see what a museum would do with the shuttle – duh – but what would, say, a Wall Streeter who made out like a bandit (literally) do with one of these things?

I can see one renovated into a yacht or an RV. I guess the RV would be a little big for the highway, but hell, that’s half the fun. Sink about 30 big V-10’s in the belly, crank it up and head to the Grand Canyon with the family.

Perhaps you could plant it at the end of a cul-de-sac and put shutters on the shuttle and have a space party every week. It’s a shame it takes so much power to make it actually fly. It would be so much cooler to see the shuttle cruising over a stadium, painted with the Goodyear logo than a blimp.

Me? Being from Alabama? I’d slap some big, knobby tires on it and turn that beast into a monster truck and hit the circuit. The shuttle would bury Gravedigger, crush Big Dawg, flatten Bigfoot and bite Black Widow simultaneously. Can you see King Crunch or Goliath looking in the rearview mirror at the space shuttle bearing down with thrusters redlining?

If Jan Gabriel, the man who’s voice made the echoed phrase, “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” so popular, had not died on January 12^th, imagine what he could have done announcing ads for the shuttle?

 On a recent trip to the Deep South to take care of some unpleasant business, I began to notice a few incidences of the famous Southern accent evolving into something akin to a foreign language. Not everyone speaks it, but here and there, a few people have swallowed a mouthful of slurry verbiage.

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Have you seen the commercials for Chantix? It is a smoking cessation prescription medication. All of these pharmaceutical commercials have a long recitation of side effects and warnings. We have heard them for years: constipation, nausea, gas, etc. Everything on the shelf has those side effects. But anxiety, panic, aggression, anger, mania, suicidal thoughts, hostility, agitation, vomiting, abnormal sensations, hallucinations, paranoia, or confusion, life-threatening skin reactions seems a little weird. Then I read this one: You may have vivid, unusual, or strange dreams. Click here to read more »

During the holidays I was hit by a moment of revelation while watching Bobby Bowden coaching his last game at Florida State. After his final win, he gave a press conference. He was classic Bobby B. I flipped channels and there was Paula Dean on the Food Network. That is when it hit me; Paula Dean is Bobby Bowden in a wig. They both have the same face, accent, voice, mannerisms and enthusiasm for their profession.

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Sail Cat Road, the sequel to No Good End, continues below. It is being posted tweet-by-tweet daily on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ttaylordude). I will post each chapter here (in chronological order). Thank you for your time.
A breeze raked a fallen pine fan across the roof. In the distance, beef cooked on a grill, the aroma following the wind.

Shewl Gantt met her brother at the door of the rancher outside Lafayette. Dr. Barrow hugged his sister. Gerald Gantt stood at the door. Jolene waited beside the car, hesitantly. Shewl looked at Jolene and her face broke into a look somewhere between a smile and shock. Jolene was like a mirror to Shewl’s past; the eyes, the mouth, the mannerisms, the way Jolene stood in the freshly mowed grass. Click here to read more »