Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Invisible Picnic

I once lived in a suburbia ghetto. Surrounded by expensive homes I lived in an Island of low rent apartments. My wife and I had part time jobs and not enough money to buy food, much less pay the rent.

While I was taking out trash to the dumpster I found two young boys inside looking through the garbage for something to eat. To my horror the taller boy was licking the juice off a broken pickle jar.

"Don't do that, I'll get you something to eat."

I helped the two boys out of the dumpster. As I set the feet of the second shorter boy on the ground I noticed a girl standing beside the dumpster.

"My name is Toni, will you feed me too?"

Toni told me her brothers names. Her youngest brother was Joey, he had dark curly hair and was very shy. The middle brother was Jimmy, not as shy as his little brother, he would speak but only in a whisper. Jimmy had short blond hair and was the thinnest of the three.

Toni was seven, Jimmy was six and Joey was five. Toni said her brothers would go through the dumpsters and when they found something good they would throw it down to her.
She didn't want to get her dress dirty and wouldn't go in the dumpster.

When Toni told me this I could sense proud in her. The cheap purple cotton dress was little more than a long T-shirt but Toni couldn't have been more proud of it as if it were made of silk.

I promised the three children I would give them any extra food I had if they promised me to stay out of the dumpster. The two boys shake their heads yes and Toni said; "I promise."
I told them to wait in the yard in front of their apartment and I would come back with something to eat. I ran across the street to my apartment building. Racing up the steps I did two steps at a time. I was worried the kids would run off if I took too long.

When I got in my apartment and looked in my refrigerator I found it near empty. I checked in the freezer and found four Eskimo Pies. Chocolate wrapped in ice cream on a stick would be the best I could do. I left one frozen treat for my wife and took the other three back to the children. I handed the Eskimo Pies one at a time to each of the kids going from youngest to oldest.

When Toni had the final ice cream bar in her hands all three children ran off. I think Toni said "thank you" but I'm not sure. I thought the children would gobble the food down in front of me. I was a stranger, what did I think would happen? Should I tell the apartment manager what happened? Should I find out who the children's mother is and talk to her? What would people think of me, giving food to kids I don't know?

I decided to talk to my wife when she got home from work before I talked to anyone else. When my wife came home from her morning part time job I told her what happened. We decided it would be best if she talked to the apartment manager as we didn't want to have a confrontation with the children's mother. That night I went to my part time job as a dish washer at a Pizza and Pub. As I washed the metal plates in the near scalding water I thought about those three hungry children.

How could I help them when I'm barely making it myself? Two years before I was in collage with a bright future and now I was a lowly dishwasher with no future. My wife and I had part time jobs and expecting our first child. I think she was two months pregnant at the time. I had a good paying job at a coffee warehouse a few weeks before but had to leave that job when I found out drug dealers were using the bags of coffee beans to smuggle illegal drugs into the country. My life was a mess, how could I help those three children? I had to help those three starving kids in any way I could. To do anything less would be wrong.

My wife picked me up after my shift ended and I told her I had to keep my promise to the children. My wife Jackie had talked to the manager that evening and told me there had been other complains about the children getting in the dumpsters but no one had saw them eating out of the garbage bins before. I told Jackie I would ask again to get a cook's position at the Pizza and Pub. A full time job would solve a lot of our problems.

The next day while Jackie was at work I had a seizure. Everyday since my car wreck in Dec. 1975 I had seizures. Most days they were twitches in the left side of my face or the flinging of my left arm but sometimes they were my whole body flexing. After a big one I would see a vision of my car wreck.

The vision was always in shades of blue like the color of my 1969 Mustang that I had the wreak in. My face would smash into the steering wheel as I flipped end over end down a small embankment. Then I would be outside my body standing on the side of the road watching my car go upside down and backwards through a barbwire fence. As the car flips upright it pulls two fence posts out of the ground. The barbwire snaps and the momentum of the fence posts wraps the wire around the car.

The car slides backwards to a stop. I stand by the road looking down at my body. I have no emotions as I look at my bloody self. The 69 Mustang had the seat belt and the shoulder harness separate. I only had the seat belt on and the first impact slammed my face into the steering wheel with enough force to bend the upper part of the wheel to the steering column. When the car hit the fence going backward my unconscious body hit the back of the bucket seat so hard that it bend down against the back seat. My body lays in the car.

My face bloody and swollen. My shirt covered in blood. I ask myself, "Am I dead?"
Someone is behind me on the edge of the road. I turn to look and see a shadow of an entity made out of impossible colors. The vision ends.

"The car wreak ruined my life. I could have been someone if not for the wreak."

I new better than that but I said it to myself anyway. The tiny apartment was closing in on me, I needed some fresh air. As I walked out the front door of my apartment the three children were waiting for me. Toni didn't waste any time.

"Do you have some food for my brothers and me?"

I went back in my apartment and looked in the frig and found a package of hot dogs. Bread was on the counter. God bless Jackie she bought some food while I was at work last night. I microwaved the hot dogs and wrapped them in bread. This time when I gave the three children the food I clearly heard Toni say "Thank you." Jimmy said "Thanks" in a whisper and Joey just waved his hot dog at me as he turned and ran home. Jimmy and Toni ran after him back to their basement apartment.

That was a Tuesday and by Friday Jackie and I had ran out of food.
What little food we gave the three kids was still more than we could afford to give.
Friday morning we went to a supermarket and shamelessly ate all the free samples we could.
The little cubes of ham, cheese and sausage was fine but the free sample of shark meat didn't taste like chicken, it tasted terrible. I couldn't drink enough tap water to get the taste out of my mouth.

That afternoon Jackie went to work and said she would get a co-worker to buy her lunch and she would pay her back the following week. She was eating for two so I was glad she had a friend to help her out. When she got off at five we would go to my parents house for a meal and to ask them for money to hold us over to the next pay check. I watched my wife drive off to work and turned around to go back inside the apartment. The three children were standing in the middle of the sidewalk in front of me.

"What do you have for us today?"

Toni said it but all three kids had the same sweet smile. My heart sank in my chest. I had nothing for the three beautiful children or did I. I lost my academic skills in the car wreck.
I was never good at making money or keeping it but I had one great gift. My imagination had always served me well.

"Have you ever been to an Invisible Picnic?"

Toni said "no" as the two brother shook their heads no.

"Well first we need to lay out the invisible blanket to have our picnic on."

I mimed the unfolding of a blanket and threw it out into the air as it gently fell to the ground.
My hands were clenched as if I was holding on to the edge of the blanket. My hands touched the ground as I let go of the invisible cloth.

"Joey and Jimmy would you straighten out that side of the blanket. Toni would you help me put food out on the picnic blanket?"

Maybe this is more cruel than kind, I thought to myself as all three children began to giggle at the silly Invisible Picnic. The children loved the play acting. Joey the youngest took the play acting the most serious as he carefully ate an imaginary drumstick. Jimmy took great joy in eating invisible pies, turkey breasts and bowels of mash potatoes in single growling bites. Toni always the little lady ate her imaginary food with an invisible fork. When I asked her what she was eating she just smiled.

I began to tell the children the power of their imaginations. How you could go anywhere and do anything with your imagination. That your imagination could be a shield against the harshness of life.
I suddenly felt someone behind me. Someone was looking at me acting like a child, preaching the virtues of the imaginary world. My empty stomach churned as I turned to see who I made myself a fool in front of.

It was Sally my upstairs neighbor. Sally was in her early seventies and a widow. We became friends because I love hearing stories from older generations. Sally who told me stories about her life with her husband in the 1940s, 50s and 60s was the last person I wanted to see me acting so silly.

"I was trying to teach the kids about... I... I was...."

"I know what you were doing Robert."

I was so embarrassed I didn't notice at first that Sally was holding both hands behind her back.
She showed the children and I what she was holding in her hands. In each hand was two paper plates with a piece of chocolate cake on each plate. A white plastic fork was stuck in each piece of cake.

"I thought you might like some desert for your picnic. "

The children's eyes got big as they each took a piece of cake and began eating.

"Sally there's no cake for you."

"I baked this cake for my friends. You are a friend and this is your picnic isn't it? I have friends coming over later and I'll eat a piece of cake with them."

"Thanks Sally."

I took the piece of cake and began eating. I was hungry but the best thing about the cake was it washed the taste of the shark meat sample out of my mouth.

"Toni, Jimmy, Joey! I need you back home now!"

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw the top half of a woman's face in the stairwell of one the basement apartments. Two of the eight apartment buildings has stairwells outside on the side of the structures. These were the older cheaper run-down buildings.

"You're almost finished with your cake. Take a few more bites and then go to your Mother."

I was surprised Sally told the children to ignore their Mother. The three children quickly ate the rest of the cake and handed the empty plates to Sally.

"Toni! I want you and your brothers over here now!"

Toni was the first to go, licking her fingers of icing as she ran. Jimmy ran after her trying to lick icing of his right forearm as he went. Joey seemed unconcerned he had a circle of chocolate icing around his mouth. He was just trying to keep up with his brother and sister with his shorter legs.

"Should I talk to their Mother, Sally?"

"No, let her have what little pride she has left."

My wife came home late in the afternoon two hours before I would go to work. The new neighbors began to fight in the top apartment across from Sally's. Their two month old baby began to cry. The Father began to yell louder and then the Mother screamed!

"Never touch our baby like that! You never shake a baby! I'll show you what happens when you shake my baby!"

I heard the door slam and the footsteps of the young mother running down the stairwell.
The baby was crying as loud has she could. Jackie and I looked out our second floor window and saw the Mother holding the baby with one hand and smashing the front window of her husband's car with a hammer in the other. Finally she vented her remaining anger by breaking off the side view mirrors with the hammer. She set the hammer on the hood of the car and carefully climbed on the hood herself with the baby. She told her baby that her daddy would never hurt her again and she would always be there to protect her.

"Maybe I should go down there and see if she needs help."

"Robert, you can't save everyone. Call the police and let them handle it."

"What if the police arrest her for wreaking the car. What would happen to the baby then?"

"We'll tell them what we heard. Please stay out of this. You could get yourself killed."

A black pickup pulled in front of the apartment and seconds later we could hear the husband running down the stairs. As he came out the front door of our apartment building the Mother grabbed the hammer and held it up to defend the baby. The husband talked to the Mother.

"I shook the crib not the baby you...."

"Come back when you're a man."

The husband got in the pickup truck of his friend and drove off.

"I've got to go talk to her."

"Please Robert let me call the police."

"No, let me handle this. I can't let that baby get hurt."

"The best thing you could do for both of them, would be to let me call the police."

I should have listened to my wife Jackie but I didn't. The young Mother sat the hammer down on the hood beside her. She had a shocked look on her face. I walked out to her and said;

"I saw and heard what happened. If you ever need any help I'm in apartment 2B."

"I can take care of myself and my baby."

I turned and began to walk back towards the apartment.

"Hey."

I turned and looked back at her getting off the hood of the car with the baby.

"Thanks anyway."

Jackie drove me to work a few minutes later. That night at the Pizza and Pub I got my first chance to be a cook. The first two pizzas I made were mistakes. I got the toppings wrong.
I was put back to dish washing. To save gas I walked home that night. I put my Pizza and Pub hat in my hip pocket so I could feel the summer breeze through my hair. I must have had a sour look on my face because all I could think about was I blew a chance at a dollar more a hour and full time work. I was looking down at my shoes only a block and a half away from my apartment complex when I heard footsteps coming towards me. I looked up and saw two preteen girls running toward me. When they saw me they screamed and ran back towards the apartment complex.

"That was weird."

I said out loud as I went back to looking down at my shoes as I walked. Then I heard a voice.

"Hey you, what are you doing in this neighborhood?"

I looked up and saw an angry mob of thirty people looking my way. Ten of the men in the mob looked like body builders. One guy in the mob had brass knuckles. In the center of what reminded me of every lynch mob from every western movie I ever saw, was the woman that asked the question. Two huge German Shepherds were on a leashes she held. She had short blond hair, a big purple sweatshirt, baggy yellow shorts, long skinny legs and running shoes.

"I'm walking home from work."

I said as I reached for my hat in my back pocket to show them the Pizza and Pub logo but it was gone.

"Two twelve year old girls said you chased them down the street."

I keep walking towards the angry mob.

"Never happened."

"Are you calling my girls liars?"

"No, I'm saying they let their imaginations get the best of them."

"Stop right there or I'll put my dogs on you."

I stop walking. The big guy with the brass knuckles speaks up.

"This pervert lives in our apartment complex. I see him giving three little kids food all the time."

This made me angry and I forgot I was scared.

"I found those starving kids eating garbage out of a dumpster. Did you see that too."

I start walking.

"I work at the Pizza and Pub on Langford and I live in apartment 2B in Building C. I did nothing wrong. My name is Robert Andrew Vollrath and if you still think I'm a pervert tomorrow Mr. Brass Knuckles come see me. "

The mob splits in half and I walk between two groups of slack jawed people. I never looked back
and walked as slow as I could. I told my wife what happened and we decided she would give Toni and her brothers the extra food from then on. Jackie looked at me with a puzzled face.

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"I lost my hat so my next paycheck will be five dollars short."

The next morning we were getting ready to go see my parents when the yelling started upstairs.

"The husband is back?"

"He came back two hours after you went to work. I knew if I told you last night you wouldn't get any sleep at all."

Just then he started screaming at the crying baby. Then silents. No yelling from the Mother or husband. No crying baby.

"What happened?"

"Robert don't let your imagination get the best of you. You don't know what happened."

"Maybe he killed the baby."

"We both need a good meal. Your unborn baby needs a good meal. We have to go to your parents house now."

We drove to my parents house in my old Ford Station Wagon and I tried not to think about the baby. I tried to think only about my unborn baby. We got a good meal and so much needed money from my parents.

Three days later I called the police and they checked in on the family and found the baby alive and well. Because of my call Child Welfare put the baby into Foster Care. A Judge returned the baby only after the couple divorced and the father gave up all visitation rights.

Both my wife and I got full time positions and we feed the three kids more food and bought them ice cream every time the ice cream truck came through the apartment complex.

Jackie gave Toni, Jimmy and Joey their ice cream bar on a stick covered in chocolate. The three children ran back to their basement apartment as they always did, but this time was different.
Their Mother left the basement apartment curtains open and I saw her for the first time through her living room window. She was over 300 pounds and the three little angels were handing their ice cream bars to her. The Mother ate each ice cream bar and handed Toni, Jimmy and Joey back the sticks. Each child licked the sticks clean. I began to cry.

"Robert you don't have to call Child Welfare, I will."

Long divorced now I'll always remember this as our shining moment as husband and wife.

Another two weeks passed before Child Welfare came to take the three children away. In those two weeks Jackie and I never let the children take the food back to their Mother no matter how many times she yelled at them to come home.

I was in the apartment doing artwork when Child Welfare came to get the children to put them in Foster Care. Jackie told me the children were coming to say goodbye and I went outside to see
them. Jimmy and Joey were getting hugs from Sally when I walked up to the boys.

"Well I guess we had some fun didn't we. Why don't you give me a hug before you..."

Both boys with goofy smiles backed away from me.

"Silly me, hugging not a very manly thing. I'll aways be your friend, take care of your sister."

The boys walked off with a Child Welfare worker to a waiting car. Toni was getting hugs from Jackie and Sally. Then like her brothers I was the last person Toni said goodbye to. Like her brothers she didn't say anything. Toni looked up at the Child Welfare Woman to my right.

"Robert, Toni has something very special to give you but you'll have to guess what it is. I'm sworn to keep the secret."

The Child Welfare Woman handed Toni a strange marker drawing. Toni held it up for me to see with both hands. I've never seen a bigger smile on any face before or since than was on Toni's face at that moment.

"Toni you drew my imagination didn't you."

Toni shook her head yes and handed me the drawing. As Toni walked away with the woman holding her hand I saw that her cheap purple dress was really made of the finest silk.

Next Post; The Endless Road



30 comments:

~ Swan said...

Gosh I'm really enjoying this story Robert and I'll be back to read more!

Could I ask you one teensy favor though? Please, please put a paragraph break every 10 lines or so - I kept losing my place .. lol

Hmmm .. methinks there's more to Sally than we know yet ...
~ Swan

Robert A Vollrath said...

Thanks for the suggestion on the paragraph breaks every 10 lines.
I'm a storyteller trying to be a writer but at least I know when to take good advice.

Tall Truths are always harder to tell than Tall Tales. Sally was real.

The shadow creature was real to me but could be a bit of brain damage.

All of us can be an angel. It is a simple choice of the heart.

~ Swan said...

Hello again Robert,

The story looks much easier to read now, thanks for not taking any offense at my suggestion. :)

I couldn't find an RSS feed so that I'd know when you updated the story - any chance of you letting me know?
~ Swan

Using up the words.... said...

Wow....
I can't even begin to imagine where all of that is coming from.

Thanks for sharing the story Robert.

I look forward to reading more of the tall truths. :)And yes, it is indeed a simple choice of the heart!

Care to share some of the letter that your grandfather wrote on the piece of bark? Aren't letters just precious.

Robert A Vollrath said...

To Swan
I'll post the second half of the
"Invisible Picnic" the last week in Feb.

To using up the words
Sad to say that the bark letter is lost and we have no photo of it.
I'll ask family members if they remember what was written.

gloria said...

I love this story and how you told it.

About the rss feed, if there is an rss button in the right end of the address line, you can click on that, and then the page goes to rss version. Add the rss version to your bookmarks and that should work. Hope it helps!

Robert A Vollrath said...

To Gloria
Glad you liked the story.
The "Invisible Picnic" like
"The Smile" was originally in script form. In 2002 I signed a contract to write a feature length script about poverty in the mid-west. The script was rejected and one of the reasons given was the producer/director didn't like the invisible picnic scene. Your honest blog gave me the courage to tell both these stories in a more true to life form. I'm close to finishing "The Endless Road" and will be going back to finish the second half of "The Invisible Picnic" after I post the third of my Tall Truth Trilogy.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Oh Robert I could not take my eyes off the text once I had started. I kept saying to myself is it true, is he a story teller and using his imagination but whatever it was, it was compelling to read and I want to know more about this relationship and those children. It has to be a book. I cant wait for your February publishing date -Ive put it in my diary.

I love doing this make believe with my grandchildren but its nothing like this. We usually have me start off with an opener, then they take turns to take the story further. They are only and 10 but love it.

Robert A Vollrath said...

To Joan
What is the truth of the story
"The Invisible Picnic"?
The events in the story played out over several weeks but I'm compressing those events into a few days. I don't remember what year this happened in. Was it 1979,1980 or 1981? Was my oldest son born yet or was he on the way? Did Sally bring cake to us moments after the invisible picnic or two days later?
Have I got all the names right?
I did have a car wreak in 1975.
Was my out of body experience the product of brain damage or a journey of the spirit?
When I finish "The Invisible Picnic" I'm going to ask my ex-wife
to read the story and leave a comment on how true she believes my story is.
My fondest wish is that Toni would find this story and read it.
A comment from her would be better
than all the gold in the world.

Rebecca said...

I am very moved by The Invisible Picnic. For me, the Tall Truth is that it is a story being played out every week in every city in every country. We will, I am afraid, always have poverty. But I rejoice that I do believe we will also have compassionate people, even in the face of their own desperate need.

Your story was very picture-heavy for me. Every word I read evoked richly colored scenes. I hope that when you do publish this, you might consider an illustrated novel. Or, alternately, a companion graphic novel. I do dislike the idea of taking away from the reader the chance to come up with their own imagery, but at the same time, there is so much about this story that begs to be seen as well as heard. If it were me, I would photograph scenes and people, and then paint on the photos to give them an altered and more gritty, yet ethereal sense.

I will be back to read more! (And thank you for visiting my blog, too! You are always welcome.)
Rebecca.

Robert A Vollrath said...

Thanks Rebecca.
I've been thinking about doing this story as both a novel and a graphic novel. After reading your comment I started doing some sketches from memory of scenes from the story.
I'll post those drawings and a piece of art Toni gave me that plays a big part in the second half of the story.

иidhi S said...

A great story and i really wish you all the luck.
Its so moving, and is the harsh reality that man ycountries are facing these days..juzt too true and i liked - how you narrated such a truth in so subtle a way.!!

Great imagination and written from the heart.

Looking forward for more....!!

Robert A Vollrath said...

To Nidhi s

Thanks for you comment. I'm trying to get the second half of the story right before I post it. This is the hardest of any short story I've written and all the positive comments help me push forward.

Magali Polida de Lascada Selva said...

There is a program that gives us the location of the visitors to the blogger. (Map)
But only I can see.

I do not know English, but I will start a course.
And I will begin to write in English.
You are from where?


Obrigada pela visita.
Até mais.
Beijo.


Magali.

Robert A Vollrath said...

The above comment is a bit confusing.
I've been leaving comments on non-English blogs in an effort to connect to people around the world.
At the same time I've been adding widgets to this blog and my search for the best widgets is worldwide.
On blogs I like the look of but can't read I've asked that blogger to get an English translator widget.
I didn't mean to force English on anyone. I just want to read as many blogs as I can.

Angelita Tenorio said...

wow... very, very nice story! i enjoyed it! i will add your link in my page, more people should come here at your page!

will go on your next story now, but if unable to finish, will come back again...

gel

http://child-raising.blogspot.com
http://angeltenorio.blogspot.com/

Robert A Vollrath said...

Thanks Angelita
I'll check out your blogs after I finish the next story;
The Endless Road

Jordi Aznar Peyra said...

Hey!
I will read the story tonight, when I won't be at the office. I have to find a compromise between no text at all... and one such as yours!
Thanks for your comments on my blog!
Jordi
http://mymindandmatter.blogspot.com/

Robert A Vollrath said...

Thanks for taking a look at my blog.

The only reason I'm so text heavy now is I'm learning how to operate my new scanner. The Invisible Picnic and the next story, The Endless Road are really too long for a blog.

I plan to write shorter stories with stain glass like drawing/painting to illustrate key moments in true life stories from my memories.

Your photos are so good they don't need text.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Hi Robert - I decided on the publishing date of Invisible Picnic to delay reading it in full until today - as a birthday treat to myself. I HAVE JUST FINISHED IT and I have tears in my eyes. The world seems so harsh in cities and in America. At times I felt I was reading more than one story but then it all linked together. Ready made chapters I should think. I love writers who leave you high and dry at the end of one chapter, to go off onto another tangent so that all your nerve endings are on high wondering, wondering..... I sure feel it could be filled out to a full length book, developing what happens to the children as well as yourself and your wife. but then what is life but a continuing linked story of each of our lives. Here I am on my birthday looking back and thinking I've lived many lives from childhood, break up of my parents, boyfriends, good marriage, career, children, grandchildren and now retirement and my artwork. Everyones life could be a good read... if only we would or could write it. WELL DONE - shall always check out your blog for new imaginings and look forward to seeing the illustrations.

Robert A Vollrath said...

Happy Birthday Joan
I really didn't know what I had when I began to write The Invisible Picnic. I didn't know how painful it would be to write it. I haven't cried in years but I cried when I wrote this story. For years I've thought about writing a novel but I never thought about The Invisible Picnic as the source of that novel.
To all that have read The Invisible Picnic on this blog I make this promise,I will finish a novel called The Invisible Picnic by my 50th birthday, July 25th, 2008 and send it to a publisher. I don't know if the book based on this short story will be good enough to publish but I'll try my best.
Thanks for all the kind words.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

GO FOR IT ROBERT. Wish you every success.

Using up the words.... said...

Hi Robert ~
Life has been busy - but I've finally managed to read the rest of your story.
Bitter sweet are the only words I can think of right now.
I'm completely miffed by the world we live in, and your story echoed it in my soul.

Thanks for sharing. :)

Rebecca said...

Wow. The tension and conflict continued to build well beyond what I ever expected. The lynch mob coming for *you* was quite a surprise. It's not an easy story, is it? But it certainly is compelling. I feel like it resonates across time and blurs city or state designators; this story could happen anywhere. I explained before that your narrative is very image-heavy for me. It continues to be, and I keep imposing upon it the gritty streets of all the cities in which I have lived: Chicago, Cleveland, London; and some that have flashed past my eyes in regular television viewing: NYC, Philly, Detroit, Belfast. I am glad you will give it a go as a graphic novel as well as a standard novel! I believe it has great promise in both directions.

I wanted to share with you a resource I've been looking at for some time. http://www.floggingthequill.com/flogging_the_quill/ This site is great for aspiring and established authors looking for more feedback on works-in-progress, as well as very useful critique!

I'm so pleased you continued the story. Is there more? Yes, it seems resolved, but I would keep reading if there was more... ;-)

Best,
Rebecca.

Robert A Vollrath said...

To Rebecca
Yes there is more.
The Invisible Picnic, The Smile and
The Endless Road are about my love for the children of the world.
All three short stories will evolve into novels and graphic novels.
The "lynch mob" that came after me was a gang of criminals that wanted to discredit me. I call the police when I see criminal activity.
The list of weapons that the mob had was comical and I only put the brass knuckles in the short story.
Before the end of the day I'll be posting notes on the novel version of The Invisible Picnic.
Thanks for your input Rebecca.

иidhi S said...

well i already said what i felt...but

i just read the second half today (sorry for being this late)

and you know its just wow...great awsome..

and every work of your's is awe-inspiring..

KUDOS..!!!!!

иidhi S said...

Hey well i wanted to ask this..is this by any way...real...

Robert A Vollrath said...

While the events in the story are compressed in time they are all real.

I waited so long to write this story because I didn't believe anyone would think it was a true story. The hardest thing about writing this was what to leave out. I'm working on turning this story into a novel which will expand on the short story and fill in the gaps.

My heart still breaks when I think of Toni and her brothers. I pray to God I did the right thing. Thanks for your comments.

иidhi S said...

well, yeah its so true..

its hard to write but still harder to write something out of the real world and taht too fragments of your own life.

Robert A Vollrath said...

To Nidhi S
My rule for this blog is,I must tell the greater truth. I thought about writing a different ending for the Invisible Picnic but it wouldn't have been the truth so I showed how it really happened instead of explaining
what was going though the minds of Toni and her brothers. I don't know what those children were thinking but
I know all three were heroes.