Self Help Stories

By Clare Ventura

This book is unique and captivating.Ten short stories are illustrated with old time family photos. Author, Clare Ventura, grew up on Maui, Hawaii. In her easy-to-read stories, the author takes the reader back to a time of childhood innocence. The stories all end with a reflection about what happened, and how the author realizes a lesson from the incident.
The stories end with the same refrain "And so it is with my life, and so it has been with my life...."
The easy-to-relate-to stories will definitely make you realize too, that sometimes, there are life lessons to be learned from even what may have seemed innocent and mundane. These amusing Self Help Stories are more than just stories...they bring with them powerful thoughts that may change your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 15, 2005
• ISBN: 9781462843886

Clare Ventura

"Clare Ventura lives and works on Maui, and Oahu, Hawaii. Clare attended St. Anthony High School, and graduated from the University of Hawaii. Clare has been an English Teacher at St. Anthony High School and has been a Broker in the Real Estate Industry for over 25 years. Now the Principal Broker for Hawaii Realty Associates,LLC, a Honolulu-based Real Estate Company, Clare enjoys traveling and continues to write more stories."

Book preview

Copyright © 2005 by Clare Ventura.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

28084

Contents

Dedication

Special Thanks

Disclaimer

Clare Lokelani Ventura

Free Gas

The Flower Lei

The Town Crier

Robert Nathan

and The Portrait of Jennie

Ka’ahumanu Church

My Mother,

The Japanese Elvis Presley

Dee Que

Get Tee-Vee

Cat’s Eyes

The D Shell

3M-901

A Final note from the Town Crier

Dedication

My Book, Self Help Stories, is dedicated to my parents, my family, my daughters, and the many, many friends about whom I write.

This Book, is also dedicated to the students at St. Anthony High School who were in my Literature and Composition Classes … and a special Thanks, in this Dedication, to my husband Kimo, who encouraged me to publish SELF HELP STORIES.

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Special Thanks

A very Special Thank You to my Heavenly Father, His Son, Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for the creation of my book Self Help Stories. Divine Inspiration gave me the guidance that I needed, the perseverance to actually write it out, and the skill to choose the right words for my readers.

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Disclaimer

If anyone reading these stories, finds a character resembling themselves or someone they know, it is purely a coincidence.

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Clare Ventura

Clare Lokelani Ventura

Clare Ventura was born and grew up in Wailuku (pronounced Why-loo-koo), on the Island of Maui, in the State of Hawaii.

Clare graduated from St. Anthony School, and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Hawaii, at Hilo, Hawaii.

Clare has had many poems published in various anthologies and little magazines. Clare has long been recognized in her community as a prolific and popular writer.

Clare Ventura has also been a full time English Literature and Writing Teacher. She has taught at Christ The King School, the Job Corps, and St. Anthony High School.

In addition to her teaching and writing career, Clare Ventura, is the Broker-in Charge for Millennium Realty, a General Real Estate Brokerage business, owned by her daughter Tracy Kalama. Millennium Realty is located in Makawao (Ma-ka-wow), Maui Hawaii.

Publications include Angels, Upward, The American Anthology of Poetry, Voices of America, and The Maui News. Clare Ventura is currently working on the publication of a novella based on her Portuguese ancestry.

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Anne’s House in Kahului, MAUI

(Kahului is pronounced Ka-hoo-loo-e)

Free Gas

We all piled into mom’s car. It was 2:30 PM, and school was out for the day. YEAH!

The car was an olive-green Chevrolet. It had four