Several Incidents in Frank Craven's Week

By David Halliday

“Charlie. I can hardly believe it’s you. How long has it been?”
“I can’t remember that far back. Not since the shock treatments. As you can see, I got over my phobias about telephones. If I’m going to get cancer from Ma Bell then bring it on! Remember that phone routine that Bob Newhart used to do. It made me nauseous. All these radio waves, microwaves, all this electricity pouring through the air. The secret war of the twentieth first century is giving me migraines. I was reading Newsweek and found out that migraines can be cured by eating trout. I went out for dinner and ended up in the emergency ward. I’m allergic to fish and I didn’t know it. Did you hear the one about the small mouth bass and the drunk. They are sitting at the bar. The bass kept belching. The drunk turned to the fish. ‘You should stop drinking.’ The bass turned back to the drunk. ‘Would you prefer that I was farting?”
Several Incidents in Frank Craven's Week is a novelette, Part of a multi series of books under the banner THE INVISIBLE MAN. A college teacher in mid life starts over with a new wife and child. A friend from childhood is returning to town with a surprise announcement. Old friends meet again. And a serial killer is checking out power saws in the local hardware store.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Halliday
• Release date: Aug 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370523870

David Halliday

I have published poems, short stories, plays, art works in reviews and publications across the United States and Canada. I have several published books:murder by Coach House Press. This book is a series of poems and illustrations set up like scenes in a movie, describing the murder, trial, and mob execution of an innocent man. Winner of the 2001 Eppie for poetry.The Black Bird by. The Porcupine’s Quill. This is a book of poems, illustrations and short prose pieces describing the fictional making of the John Huston film, The Maltese Falcon.Making Movies by Press Porcepic. This is a book of long poems, interviews, short fiction pieces about a fictional BBC documentary about a fictional Canadian film maker, Samuel Bremmer and his company of actors and colleagues. It follows his career through the creation of a series of his movies.Church Street is Burning, a book of poems, was a finalist in the 2002 Eppie for poetry.The God of Six Points, published by Double-dragon-ebooks. A man who believes he is a god believes he has murdered one of his subjects.Sleeping Beauty, published by LTD ebooks.com is a murder mystery. A woman lands in a small village where the only escape is to be murdered. Finalist in the 2003 Dream Realm Awards. Winner of the 2004 IP Book Awards.The Hole, published by LTD ebooks is one in a series of cop stories. There are unusual happenings in the quiet suburb of Islington. People have begun to disappear. And they have been disappearing for generations. For the soon to retire Sam Kelly, this is his last case as a detective. All the clues point to a mysterious hole, which appears to have no bottom.In 2007 I was short listed for the C.B.C. Literary Contest in poetry.

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Several Incidents In Frank Craven’s Week

by David Halliday

The Invisible Man Part 6

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Several Incidents In Frank Craven’s Week Published by David Halliday at Smashwords Copyright 2016 David Halliday

1.George’s Barbershop

You know your father was reluctant to cut my hair when I was a kid, Frank said, leaning back in the barber chair, his eyes closed, the scissors snipping around the edge of his ears. Ben put his scissors in his pocket, took out a stick of gum, and stuck it in his mouth.

Why was that, Frank? Ben bent Frank’s head forward to get a better look at the cut of hair along Frank’s neck.

Your father said that Negro hair plugged up his shaver. It was too kinky.

Ben grunted then popped his gum.

What did you do, Frank, ask George to shave your balls?

Frank shook with laughter.

Oh my! I wish I could have used that line. I liked your dad, Ben, but he was a racist.

More ignorant than racist, Ben responded. My old man accumulated notions. They sort of stuck to him like those burrs that stick to your socks when you walk through the woods. It wasn’t like he came up with the ideas from his own experiences. The Chinese can’t drive, the Irish are all drunks, the Scots are cheap, Italians are hot tempered, the Negro is lazy. Of course some Irish do drink, and some Scots are cheap, and some Italians are hot tempered, and that just confirmed my father’s notions. Just ignorance, that’s all that it was. My dad never had a mean thought in his life.

Nevertheless the ignorance hurt. Growing up black in the Six Points was no picnic. I was the only black kid in high school.

You must have had a great basketball team. Ben popped his gum.

Frank laughed.

Been years since I looked back at those years.

Must have been tough.

"Tough? Shit, it was hell. We got hate mail. Hard to believe.