Journeys-of-a-Lifetime

A collection of short stories By Members of the Readers' Station

A warm and wonderful collection of short stories that will take you to a number of places. Enjoy your trip to the past and the future, and travel from the Taj Mahal to the Stars.

ISBN 1-59431- 470- Anthology / Short Stories

Cover Art Nikki Leigh



ONE SUMMER’S DAY Elena Dorothy Bowman This is a story of an earlier era when times were hard and a dime, a nickel and pennies counted; a man’s family meant more to him than life itself; the poor didn’t know they were poor, and when Boston’s Dorchester Section had its own sense of dignity. Tom, Katie’s Father, used to say he was the richest man in the world. She couldn’t grasp his meaning since she knew they didn’t have much money. But he explained his reason for saying so…because he had four sons. Katie didn’t know where she fit in all of this since she was his only daughter. Yet, she knew instinctively, her Father loved her as much as he did his boys. There were periods before she was sixteen when her actions caused him to wonder if he had five boys instead of four. Tom worked in the garment industry in Boston as one of their top designers. He walked the distance from Boston to Dorchester and back to save the cost of the carfare, a dime, in order to put a bottle of milk on the table for his family. She remembered him trudging through the snow covered, harsh, winter mornings and pushing himself on the hot, steamy, summer ones to put more food on their table. * * * On one particular hot summer day when Tom was getting ready for work, squeals of laughing, giggling, children, and strange noises reverberated throughout the house. “I’m almost afraid to look in their rooms, afraid of what I might see,” Tina, Katie’s Mom, said. “Then don’t,” Tom answered, laughing.” “Don’t get up, Tee!” he said, “It’s too early and too hot.” She nodded as she watched him walk through their bedroom door, her heart going out to him. “Don’t forget your lunch,” she said hurriedly. “It’s in the icebox.” “Don’t worry, love, I couldn’t do that. See you at dinner tonight,” he called back. He pushed his way through the front door of his Dorchester home and set out on his long trek to the woolen sportswear factory in Boston.