Equinox: Chronicles from the Archives of Life

By Leon A. Walker

Equinox
Chronicles from the Archives of Life

Equinox is a beautifully written, yet stunning revelation of life that is presented without reservations or boundaries. The third collection of short stories and poetry by Leon A. Walker, it is most certainly his most compelling and comprehensive work. This book is somewhat of an anthology as it contains written works from his first two collections as well as many new poems and short stories that were written in recent years and some, specifically for this project. Readers of Equinox will be moved by many of the sensitive themes as well as the creative and classic style that is so masterfully employed by this writer. A style that has become the signature aspect of his personal literary flair. As a poet, he is widely recognized for his ability to weave passion and emotion into his works. A talent that many believe sets him apart from many modern-day writers, through his brilliant and captivating use of word blends and his meticulous sense of rhythm and tempo. Equinox is a marvelous collection of short stories and poetry that any collector or reader or creative writing or classic literature would vastly appreciate.

www.leon-walker.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483669670

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Copyright © 2013 by Leon A. Walker.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013912820

ISBN:                  Hardcover                        978-1-4836-6966-3

                            Softcover                         978-1-4836-6965-6

                            Ebook                               978-1-4836-6967-0

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.

Rev. date: 07/18/2013

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Contents

Book One: Short Stories

Amanda

Getting Along Quite Well

The World Series of Rock

Once You Go Black…

The African American Civil War

I’ll Make Your Head Round!

Saint Wenceslaus School

Palafox Street

Seymour

No Room at the Inn

Whatever Happened to Sloppy Franklin?

Kent Street

Talking Trash

Ya Gotta Believe

Differently

Dust Balls

Stunning

Minerva White

Ghetto

Bird Farm

The Lone Ranger

Baseball Season

Love the One Who Loves You Best

Mae Mae

Family

The God Squad

Lucky Come Guam

Book Two: Poetry

Earth

The Myth of Terror

Loving You

Your Father

Glimpses

Satin Summer

A Picture of Me

Images

Survival

Goodbye

Life

The Face of Love

   Why   

Regrets

From A Distance

Hypocrisy’s Tribute

I Walked Away

Choices

Envoy

Thief

A Long Time

Our Story

Beware

Our Legacy

Forward

   Air   

If Ever

Exquisite

Your Way

Remember Me

Life

The Sky

Gone

Goddess of Spring

Smiling

Unbridled

The Lost

Wonder

Ghosts

Healing

Eternity

Traveler

The Learning of Love

The Presence

My Love

Journey

Love

Trade Winds

Universal Mine

Storms

Sometimes

Know

The Gift of Love

Sight

Crossroads

Dream

Tell Me You Love Me

Treasures

Longing

Your Lover

Dance

Something More

   I   

Tranquility

Serenity

I Believe

Fire

The Taking

Her Gratitude

Undeniable

   You   

Fantasy

Her Master

Cathleen

Afterglow

The Raven’s Son

Bella Tentatrice

Goddess

Kleuren

Words

Abandon

Woman

Contact Point

Muse

Seduction

Yours

   Us   

Reflections Fire

The Vision of You

Hell’s Harlot

Splendor

Bronze

Stilettos

It Is Not Enough…

Water

With My Heart

When

Lost

Today

Equinox

Solitary Sunset

Artistic

Memories

Yesterdays

Golden Dreams

Winter Bloom

Alone

With You

The Child

Wonderland

My Legacy

Love Song

Song for My Daughters

Daughter

Strength

Suddenly

   How   

Last Love Song

Brokenhearted

Masterpiece

Illusion

   Art   

Ice Cream

   Cry   

Vengeance

She Held My Hand

In My Head

Of Life and Love

Princes

Secrets

Gratitude

Eyes of a Child

Springtime

Eventually,

we must choose-

to escape the dark shadow of misery.

Only then, might we know,

how wonderful-

life can be…

Never having read the volumes of wisdom,

eventually, I learned,

that there had been much to learn.

—Leon A. Walker

Following this, his third collection of poems and short stories, Leon A. Walker continues to write various forms of creative literature, social and political commentaries, and book reviews. In addition in 2012 and 2013 he participated a judge of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He also collaborates on artistic images with artists and photographers world-wide. His first collection of poetry and short stories, Work Wonders was published in September 2009, and a second, entitled Life Lines was published in November of 2010.

Mr. Walker is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida having earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Professional Aeronautics. He has worked as a public and private sector business professional and he is a retired United States Naval Officer. He is native of Cleveland, Ohio.

Preface

Equinox is a collection of works that was developed over a number of years and which is intended to provide visions of many emotions, as well as personal observations and reflections. Therefore, this book provides a window to a landscape of experiences that have shaped me personally and which contributed to my worldview and my intense appreciation for life, literature, and humanity.

I believe that each of us represents an individual volume of beautiful and moving prose. Our lives, and the associated experiences and lessons in living are of great value. Both to ourselves and to those we love and care for. In the telling of a story, I simply hope to share those experiences and lessons. And I also hope to cause you, the reader, to take pause, if only for a moment, to consider and appreciate the living journey. Events great and small that meant heartbreak, despair, love, and laughter. One day, in the blink of an eye or in the vision of a breathtaking sunset, the fortunate among us realize that the story of our lives all that remains. In that moment we understand with satisfaction that which is simply enough.

Short Stories

Amanda

I absolutely love the fact that life will sometimes provide small offerings that are both unexpected and immensely satisfying. Little things that initially seem to just make your day but which you later discover have been etched in the positive aspect of your psyche, forever. It has happened to me many times. And each time, there remains a lesson, an appreciation emblazoned on my heart. The story I am embarking upon took place many years ago during what was most certainly among the most memorable seasons of my life. A season brightened by a tiny, little girl that I scarcely knew. Her name was Amanda.

I first laid eyes on her as I was standing on the basketball court in the gymnasium on the Italian military base in Sigonella, Sicily. I was in the military and coaching one of the base’s youth basketball teams (eleven- and twelve-year-olds), and since the base was not tremendously large, and as many players as possible were needed to fill out the team rosters, it was a coed league. This was my second year coaching in this particular league, and because there was only one practice gym, two teams would often practice at the same time (on practice days). With each team confining their practice activities to one end of the basketball court. On the day I met Amanda, my team was going through the meticulous practice drills that I insisted upon, while the other team’s players ran recklessly around on the other end of the court (their coach was nowhere to been found). As it were, Amanda had been selected to play for the other team. Amanda and her mother stood nervously at the entrance to the gym (only a few feet away from me) and waited.

I failed to mention at this point that my own son was a member of the team I was coaching, and also that not only had I been a basketball player myself in my youth but also that I had been an intense student of the game. Over the years in coaching, I discovered that children can learn and do many things athletically at a very young age, if you teach them fundamentals and strictly discipline their practice and game routines. And also that you could still make it fun for them, by interacting with each one of them and making your comments consistently positive. I could see this in my son’s development over time, and this approach gave our practices structure, and all of the kids demonstrated some level of improvement as the season wore on. On this particular day, about only thirty minutes into our second preseason practice, Amanda’s mother approached me and asked if I had seen or if I knew the coach of the team that her daughter was assigned to. I replied no to both questions. Then her mother asked me if I would consider taking Amanda on my team. I replied, Sure… Because at that point, I had yet to have any girls assigned to my team that year. Still, it was up to Amanda’s mother to clear the team change with the base Athletic Department (which she promptly did).

Amanda was a very small child, but what I would learn is that she had a really big heart! She was so slight of frame and so short compared to the preteen boys on the squad (and throughout the league) that it was almost funny. If she were almost directly under the basket, she could push a shot up and maybe hit the rim. If she was six feet away from the basket and tried to make a shot, there was absolutely no chance (she simply did not have the arm or upper-body strength). With that came my coaching dilemma. What to do, what to do? The immediate and apparent good news was twofold. First, Amanda was very smart and a good listener. She was also absolutely fearless and incredibly quick. She knew nothing about basketball, but it took only minutes to teach her the frontal defensive crouch (with arms extended) and how to slide or shuffle laterally (or up and back) in front of an offensive player. She learned to do this with such speed and balance that even our best players had a difficult time getting around her when attempting to score baskets (although she did get run over a time or two). Ultimately she developed an inexplicable knack for keeping players off balance. And the other amazing thing about her was her shocking endurance. When she was playing, her intensity and speed never seemed to diminish. After I pointed this out to Amanda, and her teammates, her tiny internal flame became a full-blown inferno. And as a result of her efforts, she enjoyed a significant amount of playing time, both at practice sessions as well as in actual games. She was a defensive nuisance to even the best players in the league, often causing them to stumble or mishandle the ball because of her tenacity and quickness. On rare occasions, she found herself in a situation where she got the ball and was able to get off a shot, but due to her small frame—and the speed at which such opportunities appear and then vanish in a game—I don’t think she ever got the ball remotely close to the hoop. I desperately wanted her to score at least one basket during the season, but it seemed hopeless. Once in a while she got fouled and was given the chance to shoot free throws, but the distance between the foul line and the basket was too much for her to physically overcome (in spite of the fact that I worked with her individually in practice).

Then one day it dawned on me near the end of the season that there might be a solution. There were two games remaining, and although nobody verbalized it, both Amanda’s teammates and the crowds at the games were becoming increasingly proud of her efforts. That, combined with her brilliant smile and obvious excitement to be part of the team (and playing in actual games), made it a pleasure to be associated with her. As her popularity grew, everyone was silently hoping that she might somehow score a basket in a game. So I scoured my coach’s brain for a scoring solution for her. Then I had an epiphany! I recalled the old-fashioned way of shooting free throws, and I considered that Amanda might be able to reach the basket when shooting a free throw if she used the underhand (old-fashioned) technique. So over the next week—in practice—I explained and demonstrated the technique to her. Leaning forward and lofting the ball underhand with two hands was exactly the solution I sought. It extended Amanda’s range, and although she never actually made a basket in practice, she could reach the rim with the ball, and at times she came very close to sinking a shot.

Sometimes you get the feeling that the stars are about to align, and it happened in the final game of our season. Our team was one win away from going to the championship game, and given that this was a league on a military base—and everyone knew each other—the gym was packed with people anticipating a good contest. By now, Amanda was the darling of the on-looking parents and fans at the games, as well as a bit of a player-mascot-hero to her much larger and more athletic teammates. I often heard them call, Way to go, Amanda! or observed them give her a high five as she trotted off the court. So in this, the final game, and holding a bit of a lead, I sent Amanda back into the game. Shortly thereafter, a technical foul was called on the other team (one of their players had used the F word), and our team was awarded two free throws. A time-out was called,