Contributed By: Bob Comenole
Bob Comenole is a Skaneateles resident and author of five books. He is currently working on a screenplay sequel to “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This holiday season he published a five-part serial in the Sunday edition of the Auburn Citizen. Below are excerpts of each part, along with links to the full chapters.
Chapter 1: A Forgotten Rose
“In those days, Doc Winsor owned the only trampoline outside of Iowa. What they then called the Rebound Tumbler. His own daughter Nellie became a gymnastic wonder, but her best friend Mabel Hazelton was the real draw. Mabel was small for 11, short-legged and bony, but she could propel herself to mind-boggling heights. “No fair,” they teased, “you eat Mexican jumping beans!” On a campaign tour, before he ever became president, Franklin Roosevelt swung by Doc’s neighborhood, awash with children. Trying to gain their attention, he joked about which they’d rather see: the planet Pluto, which had just been discovered, or the newly built Empire State Building. And to his great shock, they shouted back, “wouldn’t he rather see Mabel fly?”"
Chapter 2: A Christmas Bandit
“Daimy Hunt plugged away long after everyone else had left the shop, an old workshed that had once been a fine boathouse. Noting the time, he lay down his work and swept up. Out of habit he crept up on the finicky boiler and checked the sight gauges. Satisfied that it would slog through another night, he locked the double carriage doors and let himself out through the postern on the dock. Daimy stepped out onto the river, still amazed that it had frozen so thick, so early. The moon was high and the river smooth. Three days of strong winds had swept it clean. This was the widest part of the river, perhaps 200 yards across. And in the distance - toward the center, at a line about even with Ketchin’s Hollow - Daimy spotted a figure pulling a heavy sled.”
Chapter 3: Colloquy on a Narrow Staircase
“A long frayed string descended from a bare bulb high in the ceiling. Daimy spotted the clutchpiece tied to its end, a little blue pagoda. Illuminating the staircase was not something he wanted to do, not that and show his face. And so he probed the area around Mabel with the flashlight, careful not to shine it in her eyes. The beam was wide and diffuse, and seemed to distract Mabel. “My,” she said, “I’ve only three steps left. Just about there, Danny!””
Chapter 4: Three Wise Guys & The Little Zippo Girl
In the hours between midnight and 2 a.m., 11-year-old Mariquita Perez sold only two items: one to a woman shift worker who felt sorry for her, and another to an unsolvable man, but who nonetheless gave good advice. “Little one, nobody but a drunk’s gonna buy those things on a corner like this. Go where customers are flush. The Regent-Imperial! Not a man in that hotel will pass you by. These are gentlemen’s gems.” And he cuddled the fancy lighter he had just purchased.
Chapter 5: Five Times The Speed Of Wind
Lucia entered the house through the back door, unlocked, just as Daimy said. The kitchen clock read 8:59. She walked lightly up the stairs. “Hello?” she said, projecting a harmless presence before her. In the front room she found Mabel Hazelton on the floor, curled up inside a huge slant of sunlight streaming in through the window, a heavy afghan pulled round her. “I hope it’s all right to have come in. I’m Lucia. A friend of yours sent me to be sure you’re OK.” Mabel looked up, partly baffled, “Why, bless your heart, dear.” Lucia shifted the sleeping child in her arm and helped Mabel up with the other. “So many visitors lately. My, who’s the little one?”
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