Detours and Reminiscences

By Laura Remson Mitchell

This collection of never-before-published short stories pays homage to Rod Serling's classic television series "Twilight Zone," though one of the stories may remind readers of Serling's other series, "Night Gallery." Interspersed with the stories are author Laura Remson Mitchell's recollections of the circumstances surrounding and/or inspiring each of the stories. The final tale, "Castles in the Air," was the basis for Mitchell's novel The Reality Matrix Effect.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Remson Mitchell
• Release date: Mar 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310766633

Laura Remson Mitchell

Laura Remson Mitchell is a former newspaper reporter/copy editor, free-lance writer, public policy analyst and disability rights advocate. Her nonfiction work has appeared in the Valley News, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, California Journal, Capitol Weekly and other publications. A graduate of U.S. Grant High School in Van Nuys, California, and of California State University at Northridge, she has lived with multiple sclerosis for many years. Her novel, The Reality Matrix Effect, incorporates elements of her experience both as a journalist and as a woman living with a disability.

Book preview

DETOURS

and Reminiscences

(Tales Inspired by Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone)

By

Laura Remson Mitchell

The Smashwords edition of this collection of stories and reminiscences is

Copyright 2015 by Laura Remson Mitchell.

(All rights reserved.)

Published by Boo What Books at Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

A FEW DAYS IN LINDA MAR

Reminscences on A Few Days in Linda Mar

HOUSE SECRET

Reminscences on House Secret

SEASCAPE

Reminsences on Seascape

A MATTER OF CHOICE

Reminiscences on A Matter of Choice

LIFE MEMBERSHIP

Reminiscences on Life Membership

Introduction to Castles in the Air

CASTLES IN THE AIR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Preface

I'm old. Especially for the sake of readers born after 1980, I want to say this up front, because these stories are old. That is, I wrote them many years ago. But please take note: Though the stories are old, I wasn't old when I wrote them.

College me. (My all-time favorite picture of myself. I call it my glam photo . Taken by my journalism classmate Terry Snyder.)

That said, I'm hoping this book will be of some interest to more than the Baby Boomers I grew up with. (Strict guardians of the English language may object to my ending a sentence with a preposition, but I keep thinking about a quote I have heard ascribed to Winston Churchill: Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!) In any case, I invite members of Generations X, Y and so forth to read these stories, too.

For Baby Boomers who have fond memories of Rod Serling's television series The Twilight Zone (and/or the attempt to recreate the series in the 1980s), I offer these tales in honor of the area that lies between the pit of our fears and the summit of our knowledge. It is my hope that Baby Boom readers may find the reminiscences of interest as well.

For Generation X readers who have seen and enjoyed reruns of the old Twilight Zone programs and can remember the days before the Internet and cell phones and the omnipresence of computers, the reminiscences still might be of some interest, at least where technology is concerned.

As for those of Generation Y and later, I invite you to read the stories with an open mind and, should you decide to look at them, regard the reminiscences as, if nothing else, a quaint look at what used to be.

The 1980s were a transitional time for me. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1978 and started using a cane out in the community around 1980 or 1981. I could still walk around at home, sometimes using the walls and furniture to keep my balance. I used to call my cane my endurance insurance. After I started using a scooter in 1987 and then a power wheelchair in 2005, I would tell people that both the scooter and the wheelchair were increases in my endurance insurance coverage. (I still get around at home with just my cane — and the walls — but I'm always glad the chair is there when I need it.)

Meanwhile, back to the 1980s….

1980s me. (Used with many of my published commentaries.)

After working as a newspaper reporter and copy editor for several years, I had been doing free-lance pieces for newspapers and magazines, primarily on political and economic topics. I also was serving as the legislative consultant on government finance for the League of Women Voters of California. (I did that until 1986.)

Some time after 1981, I decided to try my hand at fiction. For a while, I was writing both fiction and nonfiction, but that turned out to be more of a challenge than I had expected. Eventually, I recognized the problem: When I write nonfiction, I play detective — finding puzzle pieces hidden in the bushes and fitting them together to show my readers the bigger picture. When I write fiction, on the other hand, I already know, at least in broad terms, what the big picture looks like. It's then my job to hide the puzzle pieces in the bushes in interesting ways for my readers to discover and put together for themselves. Trying to reconcile the two approaches was like watching a very energetic tennis match: The match might be gripping, but you could wind up with a case of whiplash!

I wrote most of the stories in this book when I was in my late 30s and early 40s, but I was still in my 20s when I wrote Castles in the Air, the last tale in the collection and the inspiration for my novel, The Reality Matrix Effect. I was about 40 when I finished writing the novel, but around that time, I again shifted my focus. This time, the shift took me away from writing fiction to doing public policy analysis and advocacy for health care reform and disability rights. (I wrote some analyses and commentaries on these issues for various publications during that period, but not much fiction.)

1990s me. (My public policy analyst look.)

I also started composing music using a MIDI keyboard and computer software.

2002 me. (Cover photo for my CD of original music.)

It wasn't until 2012-13 that I got back to the novel and was able to get it published as an ebook in 2013. A year later, the Smashwords edition made the book available in multiple electronic formats. As for Detours and Reminiscences, I considered updating these stories before publishing the collection, but then I thought better of it. In some cases, I realized, updating the story actually would undermine its structure. In other cases, an update wouldn't matter.

Old me. (From my high school reunion in 2013.)

Whether any of the above seems relevant, dear reader, I leave you to judge for yourself. For whatever it's worth, I offer it as background and to establish the context in which my reminiscences are set. (Note: The reminiscences are intentionally placed after each story. Please read the story first to avoid