A Book of Short Stories by Jane Collins

By Jane Collins

This book contains factual stories of happenings in my life. Some of the stories are humorous and/or sad, scary and some are just heart warming.

I hope you enjoy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483635491

Jane Collins

Jane is a native Oklahoman, but calls Texas her home after moving to the lone star state in the 1960’s. Jane retired to the hill country after a career in banking where she writes, designs greeting cards and enjoys the quite life of country living. She has been active in the local communities of Barksdale and Camp Wood and for three years wrote a weekly article in the local newspaper.

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A Book of Short Stories

Copyright © 2013 by Jane Collins.

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: 05/11/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

134832

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. Life After Divorce

2. Boys Will Be Boys

3. Mistaken

4. Thirteen

5. A Friend and Stolen Chattels

6. Forgotten

7. No Wedding Bells

8. Moments

9. Trapped

10. Pets

11. Cowboys

12. Memories

13. Runaway

14. Lockdown

15. Empty Nester

16. Secrets

17. Mother Knows Best

18. A Shot in the Dark

19. The Model

20. First Flight

21. Sabbath

22. Commitment

23. Home Away from Home

24. Explosions

25. A Day on the Street

26. Grandma

27. Show Off

28. Security

29. Country Living

30. The Voice

31. Hatbox

32. School Days

33. Tidbits

34. Valentines

35. Porky Flambé

36. Opal

37. Right or Wrong

38. Lady in the Night

39. Sabrina

40. Two Hatfields and One McCoy

41. Going Home

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to my brother, Forrest, who encouraged me through the writing of these stories. Also to my better half, Dan, who never complained about the endless hours I spent in the computer room.

For my son, Robert Lee Collins

No love is greater than that of a mother’s love for her son.

Preface

T his book contains factual stories of happenings in my life.

Some of the stories are humorous, sad, scary, and some are just heartwarming.

I hope you enjoy.

Life After Divorce

W e were living in Irving, Texas, when Robert’s father and I divorced, following more than a decade of marriage. Afterward, I made a personal commitment not to remarry until Robert was out of school and/or on his own. For me, a stepfather was not an option.

Being a single mom was a new challenge. I was now not only a mother but the breadwinner, decision maker, proprietor, accountant, and substitute father. Times were tough. I’m not complaining. I feel the divorce made me a better person. I became a strong, independent woman; therefore I feel blessed.

At the time of the divorce, I was employed at the WFAA radio and television station, an A. H. Belo Company located in Dallas, Texas. WFAA had the finest recording studio in the Southwest; therefore musicians came to record and cut their records. I worked there five years and met celebrities like Brenda Lee, Glen Campbell, and even John Wayne.

Oftentimes, when a male musician was singing to a group of young ladies on the early-morning television show, I was among the ladies. I even did a radio commercial for the Brookside Inn in Waxahachie, Texas. I think I still have that tape around here somewhere.

Bob Gooding, the Channel 8 television newscaster, is responsible for me getting the job. I was interviewing for a keypunch operator position at The Dallas Morning News, The newspaper owned the TV station. All the offices at the news and television station were glass, and during my interview, Bob Gooding happened to walk past. He backed up, stuck his head in the door, and said, If you don’t want her, don’t let her get away, send her over to the station. I didn’t get the job at the newspaper, but I did get the job at the TV station. I have never been employed as a keypunch operator.

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Boys Will Be Boys

D uring my five years at the television station, I worked in a department called Traffic.

The salesmen sold commercial airtime, and my department scheduled the commercials, ensuring that competing products/services were not aired back-to-back and/or the same product/service scheduled consecutively. It was a fun job.

There were three of us in the office: Shelly, the manager; Cecile; and myself. When the salesmen had a good month, they would sometimes take us to a nice restaurant for lunch like The Wharf or Chateaubriand.

The three of us were single, and the guys all liked to play jokes on us. One day, we were returning from lunch and saw what I thought were balloons hanging from the ceiling in our glass office. Well, they weren’t balloons; they were helium-filled condoms.

Another time, we each had a beautiful square box on our desk and inside were pasties made by the art department. No one ever admitted to these pranks, but we had a pretty good idea.

The sales office adjoined ours, and one guy was younger than the others, really good looking and a flirt, but married with an autistic child. Unfortunately, he got into smoking pot and would tell us his experiences, some good, some not so good.

One day near lunchtime, Bobby came in our office and said, Come on, girls. I’m taking you some place special today. As he drove, he said, We’re gonna smoke some pot. We all looked at each other. Shelly, the manager, was perhaps a little older than me and had never been married; Cecile was younger and a graduate of Baylor University. I suspect she probably had smoked some pot.

Bobby drove us to a florist’s shop. I remember we all sat on a bench among the outdoor greenery and lit up. Well, except for me. Bobby said, Jane, don’t you know how to smoke? Let me help you. So he lit mine and handed it to