Browsing Tag

Wrecking yard

Liars and Thieves

A few years ago I wrote this story, but it feels even more relevant today. Maybe because it’s an election year, or maybe because we have our own “alternative facts” to believe. Whatever the reason, it feels like we are hearing more lies than ever before.

One reality of this, as this story points out, is that someone who lies to you is just as likely to steal from you.

This story happened on a hot summer afternoon in the mid-1970’s. I was with my dad as he was negotiating a deal with a contractor. Let’s call the contractor John. …

Family, So you think you're a writer?,

Grease Under My Fingernails

There was grease under my fingernails when I woke this morning. Not that I did much mechanical work, but a weekend cleaning the garage meant handling a lot of tools. Even after two showers and countless hand washings, the smudge of grease is still in the edges.

It made me think of my father. For decades he worked in the wrecking yard and the grease would never completely disappear from his fingernails. Didn’t matter if it was Sunday morning at church, a fine dinner, or a weekend away in Tahoe — the evidence of the junkyard was embedded in his …