Leane Cornwell

Born in 1949, I grew up in the 1950s when everyone had everything they needed. America was happy and so was I. Teen years in the turbulent 60s were spent rebelling and turning my back on “the man”. I married my high school sweetheart when he returned from VietNam. The birth of our son in 1970 began our family, followed a mere eighteen months later with the birth of twin daughters. Life got really hectic from there. Throughout the years I’ve managed a steady output of words and received several rejection letters in the early eighties. It’s been over thirty years since my last effort to publish but have now started again in earnest. My piece, A Summer Story was published in the 2020 spring issue of Sheepshead Review Literary Journal. The Canyon Weekly, a local newspaper, has printed several articles I’ve written over the past few years. In December 2020 my 09/08/20 journal entry was published in Passager Books Pandemic Diaries. My family has grown to include the incredible number of eleven great grandchildren. Gotta be one or two stories in there somewhere.

Charlie’s Place

Low clouds parted briefly giving weak winter sunlight a chance to reach old Charlie, offering welcomed warmth. Perched on Charlie’s head was the old straw hat he wore any time he was outdoors, and he pushed it down to just above his ears before cautiously stepping off his front porch onto an ice covered walk. A tin Folgers coffee can tucked under his left arm.

Charlie’s front walk ran out ten feet before connecting with the town’s cement sidewalk, which eventually ended in the downtown section of small Howard, Nebraska. Charlie’s mailbox lived out here. He didn’t receive much mail but getting to it was risky business in winter.

Long Short Story

Issue 45, January 2021

Leane Cornwell

Born in 1949, I grew up in the 1950s when everyone had everything they needed. America was happy and so was I. Teen years in the turbulent 60s were spent rebelling and turning my back on “the man”. I married my high school sweetheart when he returned from VietNam. The birth of our son in 1970 began our family, followed a mere eighteen months later with the birth of twin daughters. Life got really hectic from there. Throughout the years I’ve managed a steady output of words and received several rejection letters in the early eighties. It’s been over thirty years since my last effort to publish but have now started again in earnest. My piece, A Summer Story was published in the 2020 spring issue of Sheepshead Review Literary Journal. The Canyon Weekly, a local newspaper, has printed several articles I’ve written over the past few years. In December 2020 my 09/08/20 journal entry was published in Passager Books Pandemic Diaries. My family has grown to include the incredible number of eleven great grandchildren. Gotta be one or two stories in there somewhere.

Charlie’s Place

Low clouds parted briefly giving weak winter sunlight a chance to reach old Charlie, offering welcomed warmth. Perched on Charlie’s head was the old straw hat he wore any time he was outdoors, and he pushed it down to just above his ears before cautiously stepping off his front porch onto an ice covered walk. A tin Folgers coffee can tucked under his left arm.

Charlie’s front walk ran out ten feet before connecting with the town’s cement sidewalk, which eventually ended in the downtown section of small Howard, Nebraska. Charlie’s mailbox lived out here. He didn’t receive much mail but getting to it was risky business in winter.

Long Short Story

Issue 45, January 2021

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