Homepage of Gary R. Hoffman

     This collection of short stories gets its name from an ancient custum of an Indian tribe in Canada.  It was inspired by our trip to Alaska.  Another story in here is call Email.  So these stories run a gamet from ancient times to very modern times.  The talking stick itself could be, and sometimes should be, used in today's society.

     Other stories include, George Miller (about a man who is just too lonely after his wife dies), St. Martin's Singles Club (a woman takes a trip to Alaska to try and find a husband) The Gentle Giant (this story was inspired by one incident that occured while I was teaching school), The Key (you'll just have to read this one), The Talking Stick, Virgil (a demented man, does contain violence and strong sexual language), Weedle (another story inspried by a tale told to me by a man from Georgia), Wildfire (inspired by one of my ex-students), and Wrong Number (a common mess in today's society).

     This book is available from lulu.com

 

 

 

Each week or so, I will try and have a new short story here.  If the story does not all fit into this section for one week, they will be done in a series. 

 

THE SHOWER

Eighty-four year old Lily got out of her Toyota pickup she had driven from Flippin, Arkansas, to Quartzite, Arizona. A camper shell on the back of the truck was her home while she traveled.

Lily was in Quartzite to sell her home-grown herb mixture for vegetable dips at the flea market. She had been there several days and was hot, dirty, and gritty. She was now going in the local laundromat/shower house to enjoy a good hot shower.

“How much for a shower?” she asked the owner.

“Five dollars. One or two people at a time.”

“Five dollars to take a shower?” Lily yelled out.

“That’s it, maam. Water’s scarce out here.” the owner said.

“It may be scarce, but it ain’t gold!” Lily stomped out of the building. Halfway to her truck, she almost ran into a seventy something year old man who was coming in. “Goin’ in for a shower?”

“Yep.”

“Tell you what, sonny. Let’s split one. We can both go in for five bucks. Two fifty each.” The man’s eyes perked up. “You can look all you want, but don’t touch. Ok?”

“Ok.”

Lily felt much better that evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     This book of short stories also contains a good deal of twists and turns.

The stories include:  Billy Jo (about a retarded boy), Church of the Coop (a man devises a way to cheat on his wife), Grab-n-Go (a large snake is loose in a convenience store), Hog House (a man trying to find out what happened to his sister who disappeared), Hostages (one of these where you wonder who really are the hostages), Masters Cotton Thurman (mean man who is really good), OCMS (about a modern doctor's office), Sheri (a woman scorned and her revenge) The Cell Phone, "The Octopus", The Race, The Report, The Road (inspired by our trip to Alaska), The Settlement, and The Student.

This book is available at lulu.com

 

     If anyone has comments about any of the stories I publish here, good or bad, please feel free to send an email to me with those comments.

     In the suject line of the email please put "authorgary hoffman."  I don't open emails that I do not recognize.

     Please send to grhotra@yahoo.com

     Probably the easiest way is to leave a message on the message forum (FORUM on the tool bar)  built into this website.

     Also, you can leave a message that you would like to have a live chat sometime.  Right now, I am in Mountain time, so you need to tell me where you are and the time where you are so we can make connections.

     Thanks for visiiting my web site!!!!!