Relationships
Our Town – August 29, 2013
The Soupster is called on by the teacher.
Read MoreOur Town – August 15, 2013
The Soupster celebrates Sitka weather.
Read MoreOur Town – June 6, 2013
The Soupster learns it’s all in a name.
Read MoreOur Town – May 23, 2013
The Soupster unexpectedly wears the pants in the house
Read MoreOur Town – March 28, 2013
Is there such a thing as too much help?
Read MoreOur Town – November 1, 2012
Only 25 and Tim felt he was in a whole second life. He, alone, had to take care of 16-month-old Hazel as a single Dad for the next three days. Three days could be 30 diapers that would need changing. Could be more than 30. He shuddered. That morning, Tim’s wife Gretchen left town on…
Read MoreOur Town – October 18, 2012
“Emery!” the Soupster called, glancing up from the outboard he was hunched over. The cyclist screeched to a halt. “Hey, Soupster! How’s it going?” she asked cheerfully. “Havin’ trouble with my starter,” the Soupster said, standing up with one hand on the engine and the other supporting his lower back. ”And this drizzle ain’t helping my…
Read MoreOur Town – June 14, 2012
“Dear Great Uncle Arthur,” wrote the Soupster. “I hope this letter finds you in the best of health.” The Soupster stopped writing. Great Uncle Arthur was always complaining about his aches and pains. He might take the bland greeting as minimizing his suffering or, worse yet, sarcasm. The Soupster scratched out the previous line and…
Read MoreOur Town – May 17, 2012
The Soupster’s head throbbed as he tried to remember what it was he had just been thinking about. He was walking down Lincoln Street, happy with himself and his thought, when it took flight. “I hate when that happens,” the Soupster said, quoting television. Crossing the street ahead of the Soupster, coming at him from…
Read MoreOur Town – May 3, 2012
“Coffee delivery,” the Soupster announced, as he approached the four men sitting and standing outside Giant Gene’s auto shop. Indeed, he carried a cardboard holder with four paper cups. “You’re a good man,” Giant Gene told the Soupster, taking the holder and distributing the cups. Charlie, also called Red, raised his in salute. Billy, called…
Read MoreOur Town – April 5, 2012
“Soupster, are you crying?” asked Laine as she encountered him on a bench near the harbor. “Oh, just deep thoughts,” the Soupster admitted, wiping his cheek with the side of his hand. “I was just thinking about Clarence… and novels.” “OK,” Laine said, sitting down. “I’ve got a minute. Tell me what’s on the Soupster’s…
Read MoreOur Town – October 20, 2011
Originally published November 6, 2003 “I was saved, Soupster, but by which I do not know,” said Charles, a former college professor who now drank a lot of coffee. He had four tiny espresso cups arranged in front of him, two of them empty. The Soupster looked around. Besides the barrista, washing mugs out of…
Read MoreOur Town – July 28, 2011
It seemed like slow motion to the Soupster watching Red bearing right down on him, then the larger man knocked the Soupster to the ground.
“Whoa, sorry there,” Red said. “I’m running on all gears like a headless chicken.”
“Summer is the busy time in Our Town,” the Soupster commiserated. “Why else would Alaskans take their vacations in the winter?”
Red nodded. “I work May through September and take the rest of the year off,” he said.
Read MoreOur Town – July 14, 2011
It wasn’t easy to make the Soupster feel like the stuffy serious one, but Cousin Robb had always had just that effect on him.
“The great ferry Malaspina,” Robb pronounced, as soon as the first-time visitor to Our Town stepped off the ramp to meet up with “Cousin” Soupster. “The name derives from the Russian word for `bad spine’ right?”
Read MoreOur Town – June 30, 2011
“The Soupster says here that he lost a rented movie in the parking lot and he was sure somebody stole it,” Josh Mollison told his wife Mona, as he scanned the “Our Town” column he was reading. “And then somebody found the DVD and turned it in.” “That’s mildly interesting,” said Mona. “Seems like the…
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