Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Laughter and Early Sorrow
Laughter and Early Sorrow
Laughter and Early Sorrow
Ebook273 pages4 hours

Laughter and Early Sorrow

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Almost everybody who was born in the post-agrarian period separated by the two great wars grew up in a place whose growing pains were painfully obvious.

It was into such a place that my parents moved with my brother and me in tow. Our house was small, but serviceable; our neighbors forthcoming, but not so morbidly curious that they pried, and our world expanded in one way as it shrank in another. The sky was as blue as it is said to be in heaven. And we were so adrift in space and time that we became the terrestrial astronauts that so troubled Rod Serling that he had to write something about us each week for television.

Here the Main Streets of our grandparents were left to developers, who preferred parking lots to promenades. Here generously proportioned school buildings beckoned to a fertile population that would supply them so handily that, once a prototype was made, it could be endlessly reproduced. Here pastimes flourished as they never had before.

Here mostly white people settled in as Ricky Nelson serenaded them. Here needs were synonymous with desires. And here a culture that was made possible by the received wisdom of Father Coughlin, Leo Durocher, and Lawrence Welk sat back, adjusted its goggles, and proceeded, with limitations that grew with every sack of fertilizer that guaranteed a more perfect lawn, to have the time of its life.

It was here that I grew up and here (mostly) that I have roamed, from ball field to abbreviated living room to the topsy-turvy relations between hard reality and plausible delusion. I hope, in capturing some of its essence in prose, that the small underbellies which often lurk beneath the bigger ones become crudely, if only temporarily, visible.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherOpen Books
Release dateNov 21, 2017
ISBN9781370667604
Laughter and Early Sorrow

Related to Laughter and Early Sorrow

Related ebooks

General Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Laughter and Early Sorrow

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Laughter and Early Sorrow - Brett Busang

    7cbook_preview_excerpt.htmlu\˒FrH]ꦙt[Q6vŖ-5͘h:fYU 1Hœ>B}C/G$tW㑏p>eqaޖ87a߇4<{7oxmݧ0׾k[lfIClkM^&_sh_۰X?4/tQNz[JSMs-S9an>޷si0|L7{NMME &-6?͒h+艡h㶙K5pۦd{7o3\g]؆nr->#.O1e|l>b[۰lq |n].9906T<mx:=q7boiy` K{>o9Os241#\OkYv)Sh11,ei],Ͽm5)a9'\z+y^1,4?./͘_VmylUՔXCR)"-?v:m<7U2<聽ʝ^p}GK<9JLZ+ k6m8cq_`'k8 a?uc)hus =h{Vhz s9*eikq0|57?qʦǼ"&;&˵Ss][4S慿gdx߁{]sZb~\R8(w>LpybhMvP%TēA.L"-pX ~KC5Y_3B!]s~7\~rsۆ'NKhv8*o %wii#f5_d{6CxO:˖!H\ |Z}|XST>ytĪsE.̰[zg.o;g,}SKO_4c7 ư4wƨ c|b6a/h>|m͗4`*I,l.3,07ɉᛉ!DuYB`oyU)`4>{˛csF"\ ~7vsb\#-J fy}C'DF|cp0\ -a[{l8U粄8 #ibb6W37^8mEbØ~[lf̺4(2ko7+癌3,@{rmOW:Z/E@,-/@`~GZ XD#e\.R喟ˏ<#*_.zqޮu`>;IWM`3R& ʽk7 C\L39CӜ1k=p+e`3q6#KD͚!:0.*ј-1NZ?D~贮)aBf:0Jn9әB}> gFiSrh!|r7T++m364DDfdqvgB>~&}ί5mD+W\iB(#,3 k]nؘb/^<-k֝8 (kc`>pNs7bQ!xl`w5Fزi3;L4\;s=CIc`;`ld#ğf٤fv^)tCreDzg0)ܸ463^`Xr@ۤ OgagZCyŝ仅xgqi`ne!9:,7OCZ@K"S2,h\nb^˄>AU %6ALBPf}3 A(ɔ&1L{"!ɬDt}\5 Lɕ19!tQ#xѯ@ؾ4'gWOi:TBx.N@r7"<A-rW S1:lX{ZxӍ1B`ebsD=aI<0Q lAl["Cyrl ?X~..pš^FW[ze"s$ax#լk |,O.bcfaPwΠS#Vaו9/P,DP 0s(͇xF7"YMkpHe Fȡq2$cbcfƘۍIsf-J 0!-ȫ$; vg 윦wHxeb~g) |g9Zwh$֙QF\Կ,^99&xIuAX:52WvYz (N-VZ}1(6F\ yn(mɬgIP..!鳨 <Y̹n46N7XI v'pTcV`rPẬ?Pi oQiJXb5@TW$YE-A!YȂ}ڤ. bi͕ޡq]q&$s '1G)0"#d C|YDLMp0h,ݕsdw6j}s4n=R9q/V FRwq3b~I؞ Z^Bvg5Gn0Q]:lVJ7E޻ JP sb[pҽ a^AFy! _D>  m-)pVl-*e>+μQ#j,4``Y!ӕu|7J4-8ģC<ɽ s[ /R!ɘ9{v'^d*05(P4~Lü i"t@iI-^׿mXd0 K_͈;5ޥJ̙B DYYePY;%C-yTR6Ud%.:寋`بB',U?# :UtTʃW0C^1Mu6Tiw+hsU/ N4,$_؝jl4˱sH%gJ|ȳ46%Ӎ[~ ~$beM:/(ƒ0 ckdDho-Lٙ֞7sV-2.Ua}olRJa"*8V7^jx^xS:Œ- DjQfh&lU b8,`Rg1=M "Vy3x%߁b1>Q`}IY`֦ ABX؃ fjcp'Y6虍UGQz!6k$Y+o]-3 Ƞ\ITSh@>,%^ n.Zjxw \MihJ&@aR*#Dϛj)^XuiwZa5d%M1}F]€o+v;z19TNTL^,?TiiFgUQldzn|LTjc2 Y0AP{VQKJB"$K(0>]ȃH'@9E*&zU 77Uս讇优xGxiak7&`TwK"uE| W.idcwa;G2sc\ ܋F?Vz(,҉ؒaOT0SPU6tIk_S^~ăm*OEX {.t` t^*k@ʛi'&qf\^!_WPYW#Y> /elï fkb|YYv0Ij ءKG;u"Ո4BiQc9%UGYug '*)<~޷M4n^s-0ߍ"mQ#㵟us>CFzoʶO7f#̗ruňVKF2 ućTkr^-2bTP<\5:J2qcmtk:ܢvPo7j7a-p fńXV HZj'O֜E'NgI ;z3@uVaTĿj$9AAݩjgu)V?#arŚx+}⚷f=Q F4[؋ϴj] u!z3]PŖaڛ#lw!Y!jw3DNYۅ3g*5]H~1ʮCiyj/o<_MKJ)C "Z=D*; !siZCbnhDi`JՖmŨ,Fzi`Ǜ1&+cV+ܝ|6j]-WͳNBt)6hp!kȼuXT_L{ Q;hHlkލ4FfXh%E׍*NF TsI[J,O$`onO kʧ,Z7r5l%Er܎3>Y9Uo%V+Z{^aLX[4a[u_s1Y6iY,Qު@3n^(,tKKXU˸qB%sD#SD0;{{a6íK=.LK=<q=H$1[e؀WrC1pez)#>=ANc,somK uH.0z=Ĭ5+.6ޢ_i\I=WkyznCġw w)gmiPKlcݑ0.vїy"ͥz.I='8 ֐S*Qښ6>_ FaJ&6bǔd ewkմȳf*Nܨ/lٛ6,ݱ`XUÚ❬wh #ޣ4&ml@!Šm1ðHB4=#N?[_TRo!:O)k2Fˈ&O[S>\sg!2{RGLs@IUΫϖ[6?jU]c6 y]mI!̑LDނs; \{>^=]X++m]B$tB`9ƌtf}WD&`[^ֆ&T Tv8 BBv屮S?Lbqyt,47K&C/djԵcOvԫ"6Wx.fTqL!-U=YWv\i%xQ5TAWA I0 XEsi[#(LsRU^a# ~%}ePl1WO2 W6wEbsv;zԍWc J|͔+2$ݖkX%Bh5-"DOGr LU&{+ >Vcy:Zsm+bYjc2s\C IGI,&iZ4qP 3w\g=:h7 l05W=S~kS}!5]ȨGQGS~M򔠀pil]­jbLJkĮt| [|kha$lv UKǰ u x-b̚GkY*:9tC&%0xkz!C Hf?"}Kl`wrSߕ!LTwȇ33N,EJ]mwlP[JqC7R b64I ARR*:0_W#rSRPsVٲ+Rk?gԺCGY[(d"5ŪN#ܧnik2-[XYS>UV.:+$QeakCE#كI9dvzC.߭`ƊG1 }6a\G^XISxŇ/u2Ӏ*j_Ipk;,or+i\]ydNP7 ntQ]dkŹ>;l*;rRdVXB;_M ;YL[&r=A8ŗ:˓H Rk]Ou \ J `ZE‰ aDM?Uom%[[637CI[QXM( Jס01+Pl+cGg ]A G|~5krc31ћ'_Z%,23[/hM_JgwyފX>a!9{0<n]M"hrv:/{koak=3K2MZn[Fv mlY8=\hxԃ&PzPA$ %?F5_*M۽c '#Q Qߎvtw3SMXIbano*Rh<:z9dB.bmg{; Md/nu:cw<ƘU1Dз=AfýT*]G_hg,Ckx) E2ߨѸ!E}u`O)1<#؉oG{St-dENv ee]vޔعڨl ӽeyzlr|؜#}t̑jiաUN ߻NT}=l'֫F.*?tͭHx`UuRl嘷CŪ-޿ͬD~u6Tk$&7uٖxeкJn#{5Im.Ɏjs4a #?Y(nǜ Q_T#XЧLL^<(=څᰴkt/w|5ozlYjJGkNCtT3}[~];х9"xd=ۊiYaaFe噎}SWK8 c|u5p_;Al]\':
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1