Idle Essence

By Lee Mueller

In this collection of short stories and novellas, Lee Mueller examines what it was like growing up in the 1970s through the character of Marvin Milstead. Marvin is an only child who lives in a large Midwestern city and also in his own head. He is left to his own devices and imagination to pass the time. The stories explore different points and events in Marvin's life from the first day of kindergarten with Kitties In The Garden through the divorce of his parents and being raised by grandparents and a single mother. Slices of his life are carved out in stories For A Change, What's In There, and Kitties In The Garden to name a few. Each tale is chocked full of humor and nostalgia set against the backdrop of the Nixon and Ford years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Mueller
• Release date: Dec 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201178321

Lee Mueller

Lee Mueller was born in St. Louis, Missouri. For over thirty years he has been involved in the performing arts, from acting, directing, improv/sketch comedy, and most notably as a playwright. His first one-act play, "In Between Days" was produced during a national writers conference. His second one-act, "The Favor" was a finalist in a short play competition in St. Louis. He has specialized in comedy murder mystery plays that have been produced all over the world. His play "Death Of A Doornail" won "Best Original Comedy" at the 27th Annual "Arty Awards" in Fairfield California. "Murder Me Always" ran for a month at the Laugh Factory in New York. Lee also hosts a Podcast on creativity called "And So The Mind Reels" and has published a collection of short stories called "Idle Essence: Tales Of Marvin".

Book preview

Idle Essence

IDLE ESSENCE

Tales Of Marvin

LEE ANIANS-MUELLER

Playedwell Publishing

These tales are dedicated to everyone that I met early in my life who impacted my memories in some way, whether it was large or small.

To my mother, my grandparents, my aunt, and all the friends I had so long ago.

Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.

OSCAR WILDE

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities: Truth isn’t.

MARK TWAIN 

CONTENTS

Introduction

Kitties In The Garden

Lee Anians-Mueller

Breezeway Bruises

Lee Anians-Mueller

For A Change

Lee Anians-Mueller

A Wake on the River

Lee Anians-Mueller

What's In There?

Lee Anians-Mueller

One Exit Early

Lee Anians-Mueller

About the Author

Also by Lee Anians-Mueller

INTRODUCTION

This is a collection of short stories and novellas that I began in 2018 as a basic writing exercise to refresh my narrative skills. I have been writing play scripts since the early 1990s, and I wanted to shift my creative focus back to where it had started before I composed for the theatrical world.  I wanted to return to basic storytelling and what better place to start than with childhood - where most of us begin hearing stories and telling stories. 

During the tumultuous year of 2020, when we were limited to movement and interactions, it seemed the perfect time to spend some time and have a Proustian exercise on paper. I took a few early memories and started writing them down as short stories. The memories reflected what it was like growing up in the Midwest in the 1960s and on into the early 1970s. The first thing I did was move the first-person perspective away from myself and toss it over to the third person. I felt this would free up any personal attachments to the stories, plus it would allow fictional enhancements to weave into the thin ribbon of truth. I wasn't interested in writing a memoir--a true-to-life portrait--but more something akin to an impression of a memory. Not an actual picture of waterlilies but Monet's waterlilies, if you get my meaning.

I created the character of Marvin Milstead to represent a mirror of myself, in much the same way Mark Twain echoed himself in Tom Sawyer. As I wrote it was as if a portal opened, one story reminded me of something else and that begat more memories which lead to more stories and so forth and so on. Each story explores a different point, event, and time period in Marvin's life from the first day of kindergarten with Kitties In The Garden through the divorce of his parents and being raised by grandparents and a single mother in the stories For A Change.

Each tale is chocked full of humor and nostalgia set against the backdrop of the Nixon and Ford years. Yes, many of the stories contain a kernel of truth and real events, ( some more than others), and they have a healthy coating of fiction to make them more digestible. Having said that, I realize that many real-life tales don't follow the solid structure of decent literature; plot development, character arcs, etc.. memories just don't translate in a linear fashion therefore, many of the rules were left behind. These are slices. Most of us don't grow up inside a well-paced novel anyway.

Lee Mueller 2021

KITTIES IN THE GARDEN

LEE ANIANS-MUELLER

KITTIES IN THE GARDEN

THE BEST TIME OF YOUR LIFE STARTS NOW

The first day of school did not go as Marvin had thought it would. Not that Marvin had too many thoughts about the first day of school or how it would go; he only had a vague notion that school was a place— a place where he would go and things would happen. Fun things. Good things. Not like the doctor's office, his mother reassured him, there would be no needles or tongue suppressors. She said there would be other kids his age at this school place. He would make new friends, which was what he had been promised on those evenings when his parents visited other people, to sit around and eat or play cards — they said there would be children his age there. Marvin learned that his age meant anyone under 21.

Many of the adults made a big deal about this first day of school as if it were Holiday or a special news bulletin they saw on television. The neighbors in the surrounding apartments, even the man who delivered the milk; all had a story that ended with the best time of your life is now starting. Grandparents would laugh, cry, and take blinding flashbulb photos. Marvin enjoyed the attentions and the impressions created, but some impressions only invited other questions — questions such as; how did this school thing work? What was it for? Why did he need to go there?

Marvin knew if you were sick, you went to the Doctor. He knew if his mother didn't feel like cooking, they went out to eat. If his dog, Skippy sat at the back door, she wanted to go outside. That's how things worked. If you had a problem, you went somewhere. You were in motion. Marvin was not sure what problem could be fixed by going to school. He asked his mother, his father, and the milkman; Education, they answered. That was the problem that would be fixed. What was that? What did that mean? That word? Education will teach you what the word means and a lot of other words. Big words. His grandparents said he would learn the 3 R's. What is that? Just when Marvin thought he had an inch of understanding, a new concept pushed him 10 feet back. There were things called grades in this school that started at one and went up to eight, but he would not start at one, instead, Marvin would go into what some adults called Kiddie Garden. The name drew visions of kids sticking up out of the dirt, like the plants growing in his grandparents' yard. The patch where his grandfather grew things he called maters and taters. Marvin doubted this Kiddie Garden looked anything like his grandfather's garden. He was sure it didn't. The reason he was sure was that he had visited this place not too long ago.

THE VISIT (NOT TOO LONG AGO)

His mother woke him one morning and told him to put on his decent clothes.  Marvin knew his decent clothes were better and nicer but less comfortable than his play clothes and today he needed to wear decent clothes because they were going to visit someplace decent. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and finally took his mother's hand as they walked out the door. They walked around the corner from their apartment building and down the sidewalk a few blocks to a building surrounded by a green fence at the end of the street. Marvin had noticed this building but was never sure what it was but had formed an impression that it was old and scary, like the creepy castles in monster movies where people with fangs or bolts in their necks would live. This creepy building stood at the corner of the street that ran next to their apartment and the big busy street.

Marvin was told never to get near the big busy street because bad things could happen to little kids at the big busy street; but today was OK, he was with his mom and wearing decent clothes. The only other time Marvin recalled making this journey with his mother was to wait for a bus that carried them downtown to a big department store. He assumed they were going somewhere by bus again. Somewhere decent and big. But they weren’t. Instead of standing at the bus stop, they turned toward the old scary building and walked up the steps to the front doors. Marvin felt his stomach drop and he wanted to pull back, but his mother's momentum carried him onward. Once inside, they stood for a moment as their eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.

It’s this way, his mother said as they continued forward. Marvin couldn’t see anything yet but noticed there were odd smells that changed every few steps.  They turned right down a hallway where the lighting was slightly better.  The hall was framed with metal lockers on each side interrupted by a wooden door now and again. 

A figure popped out of a doorway halfway down the hall. As they got closer they could see it was a smiling white-haired lady in a gray dress.  She reached for the glasses that she wore as a necklace and put them on to see. Hello! You must be...? Mrs. Milstone?  the lady asked opening her eyes wide.

Milstead. Marilyn Milstead.

Sorry, Milstead. I used to know a Milstone, but that’s neither here nor…  this must be Marvin! How nice to meet you! I’m Mrs. Polaski.  Please, right this way, she said, extending her hand and curling her fingers in a motion to come forward.

They entered an office that smelled of cigarettes, coffee, and stale perfume. Two other older ladies sat at desks under buzzing fluorescent fixtures. While Marilyn talked to Mrs. Polaski,  Marvin looked around at what there was to see; shelves filled with books whose titles he couldn't read. There were paintings of old men who looked yellow. Even the background was yellow. There was a painting of an enormous field with trees which were also yellow.  Most of the office, including the walls and the ceiling, were yellow. Marvin thought it looked like mustard when it was mixed with mayonnaise. He didn't like mustard,  ketchup was better. But nothing in the office looked like ketchup. 

Would you like a tour? Mrs. Polaski asked as she stabbed out a cigarette.  She led Marvin and Marilyn back into the hall.  They were shown many large rooms with little desks and little chairs that must be for little kids, Marvin thought, this must be where they plant the kiddies. One day soon he would be planted here.  One of these classrooms down here will be your special place, Marvin, her voice echoed down the hall.   There! she said, pointing,  That room at the end on the left. This should be Montgomery's room. You'll love Mrs. Montgomery.  As they walked toward the room,  Mrs. Polaski chuckled to herself and then coughed.   Funny, she said,  you know, I had an uncle that lived in Montgomery and he was a teacher. She took off her glasses and let them fall into place.  Marvin looked into the Montgomery room. It had little desks and chairs like the other rooms. There were pictures of numbers and letters hanging from every wall. The numbers had eyes and the letters had hands and feet.  Colorful posters of Humpty-Dumpty and other nursery rhyme characters stared down into the room. He was relieved to see the wall was not a mustard and mayonnaise yellow but green, like pea soup or the Green Hornet’s mask.

After Mrs. Montgomery's room, they were ushered down another long hall to a large room with a shiny wooden floor. It had a high ceiling with large fans hanging down in the middle and basketball hoops hanging down on each end. She called this big room, Jim. 

Another large room had long tables and folding chairs. The tables and chairs were not small but normal adult-sized furniture. This room must be for the normal kids,  Marvin thought.  That's fine. The normal-sized kids have to sit somewhere too. He