A kindly organ grinder and his performing monkey adopt a young boy after his father spontaneously combusts; a barber living inside a whiskey bottle confronts the neighborhood nuisance who wields a dead squirrel like a pair of nunchucks; and an unruly gang of sock puppets are born in a basement dojo. Welcome to Puppet Shows, thirteen outlandish stories from a writer Tucson Weekly called "a very funny weirdo."
Dinner with Reginald
He was a hard man to please, that Reginald – a diva if there ever was one, except he didn’t sing and he wasn’t black. He was just a very finicky eater; a food diva, if you will. Won’t you?
There was really no pleasing him. I started calling him Little Mikey, after the brat who hated everything in those old Life Cereal ads. Just try to cook for Reginald sometime; you'll see. Yet I kept trying.
One night when he came home from his job at the quarry, I had placed lit candles everywhere, and rose pedals and dirt on the floor leading to the bedroom where sat a single red rose. I was being pretty frigging romantic.
Then came dinner; I sat Reg down in his booster seat, as he was a very slight fellow, tied his bib around his neck, and set his plate on the table in front of him. He grabbed his knife and fork, did a little cutting, and took a bite.
"I don't like this," Mr. Hateseverything said.
"Well, of course." I threw my apron onto the floor. "Is there anything you do like?"
"Yes, indeed. I like sweet and sour chicken and Marx Brothers films."
This much was true. Even now, he was speaking with an Italian accent and eating a shoe. Okay, so the shoe was Chaplin, but it was this that he was protesting to in the first place.
"I don't like this. What is it?"
"It's a shoe."
"A shoe? Well, what's this bit, then?"
"That's tartar sauce. You can't eat a plain shoe."
"Oh. Well, I don't like this."
"Fine. Fussy bastard. We'll dine out. Chinese? Sweet and sour chicken?"
"No, don't like that." Then he dropped dead. I had forgotten that I stepped in rat poison that morning.
"Oh, Reginald!" I fell to pieces. "Why? Why?"
There was no reply. My attempt at a romantic dinner had ended in tragedy. I wept for eight months then killed myself with a toenail clipper.
Michael Frissore is the author two poetry chapbooks and an ebook called The Thief. He is currently writing a novel about professional wrestling. Mike grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Oro Valley, Arizona with his wife and two children.
Links
Puppet Shows/WAMM: http://www.writersamuseme.com/michaelfrissore.htm
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMikeFrizz
Long Blue Boomerang: http://www.lulu.com/shop/michael-frissore/long-blue-boomerang/paperback/product-15668478.html
The Thief: http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_7_47_54&products_id=223
Print copy of Puppet Shows. 2 Winners
May ship to US or Canada
Ends Feb 9 at midnight (Eastern)
4 comments:
I can't wait to read this!!!
this sounds good
13 stories in one book how fun !
Looks like an interesting book..
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