in Minneapolis this time. Can you believe it?
Ethel Rohan, author of ‘Out of Dublin’ on Curt Rude's writing. "Overall, great writing style. Reminds me of Rushdie: internal, emotionally complicated, and dualistic. Delivered with a sensitivity and awareness that is underrated. In one word his work is Awesome!"
Friday, May 31, 2024
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Right Handed
Landed on an operating table. Have been relegated to one finger typing. Thanks to the surgical team in Albert Lea I'll be back soon.
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Humbled
www.curt-rude.com
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Seeing is Believing
People who hit up my blog know where I stand on the issue of protestors. The point is, can't we agree to disagree and respect the other viewpoint? In Dublin, Ireland we did.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Say What!
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Thursday, April 25, 2024
Another day; Another Reject!
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Wednesday, April 24, 2024
The Truth as I see it has been Rejected!
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Monday, April 22, 2024
Sunday, April 21, 2024
People Shooter #9
After so much
hollering and the gun shot ringing in his ears silence reined. The entire
evening was too much. Guns had once been fun, but now they were scary. He knew
one thing for sure: Once a trigger is pulled, there is no going back. Not like
on a computer game. Real life didn’t come with a reset button.
He fixed his gaze
on the mountains.
As the squad
slowed for a red light, both of its occupants were lost in their own thoughts
and not talking. McShuster’s mom waited until noon before her first barley pop.
She liked to point out her house was clean as if it meant she could drink all
she wanted. Then she’d remind him there was always tomato soup in the cupboard
before she disappeared out the door. She always said food would mess up a good
drunk and then laugh. A boyfriend who ended up in the house was usually
introduced to him if he wasn’t sleeping, so before long McShuster made sure he
appeared sound asleep. He didn’t want to risk it. He had gotten elbowed in the
face once when things heated up and it scared him. If his mother was an angel,
she was a drunken one for sure. His mom liked to say heaven was nothin’ but a
bar serving free drinks all the time.
“I’m sorry.” Tears
flowed but McShuster couldn’t wipe them away so he had to tolerate them. “It’s
a good deal that you love Megan. She a nice girl in that there school. You
treated me good … even if you’re a cop.”
McShuster pressed
the side of his face against the window and just wanted to fly away like a prairie
falcon. Fast and sure. He had watched them plenty on the Front Range. He’d soar
above the mess he was in.
McShuster
carefully exhaled and leaned forward. “Sometimes folks have enough bad days they
turn into bad lives. I hate being alone, even around people. I need’da friend,
you know, who can laugh at my messed-up jokes, not at me. I want to look at my
mom and see somebody else. Officer Tracy, you hearing me? I want to go places where
dyin’ don’t offer no relief. The worst of it is I always feel like I just can’t
figure it out. How to make the good things happen. My money, in the bank, is my
escape.” He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s why I gotta work. I’ll do what I
have’ta do for you, officer. I tried though. Please. Can ya know that? I really
did—try.”
“Okay … I don’t
know now. Are you suicidal? Is that what you mean now?”
“First time you
didn’t use your ten-four cop lingo.” He smiled despite the pain or because of
it. “You could’ve liked me in another time. Who knows? I’m glad Megan didn’t go
and get hurt none. She could’ve. You wanna know sumtin? Seed got me to
understanding algebra. Seed going to teach. You know that?” The light changed but
Officer Tracy forgot to go on the green. She was frozen in place behind the
wheel. Then the phone rang.
“Yes, this is
Officer Tracy … Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker phone. Yes, go ahead.”
She started for the station once the light turned green again.
“Tracy, listen up.
That Godamn kid we nabbed ain’t our shooter.”
“Ahh … okay. I
don’t—” Officer Tracy froze.
“Tracy. Our
shooter is in the E.R. Noah whatever. They got into it and the gun went off.
That’s when we nabbed the kid you’re with. He stopped everything from going
down.”
“He didn’t shoot?—”
“We got the
surveillance tape. Um, your boy jumped the bad guy. He grabbed the gun and it
went off and they both went down. Your kid made it back to his feet till we
planted him.” There was a long pause. “He grabbed Noah Williams. They got into
it over the TEC-9. That firepower in a crowded gym is not good. You hearing
me?”
More discussions between the individual thought to be the suspect when the story takes a swift turn with the phone call. This story was up for an award but lost out because one of the judges didn't feel that police officers make mistakes during the course of an unfolding investigation. Look, they do, I was a cop for years and can attest to that fact.
Installment #8 from 'The People Shooter'
No money, just a story told, regarding gun violence. We got off track there. What does the Kirk killing have in common with this story? Who ...
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February 15, 2017 at 5:30 PM You the dog. What do you think needs to be done with the Terrorists? Reply We have got to truly understa...
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For 30+ years I waltzed around the nasty side of human nature. I studied it. I was at the National academy just after Jodie Foster was the...
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'As Always Anonymous' posted the following question on my blog the other day . . . I'm posting it here cause it could be import...
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Okay so the commercial pans over all kinds of select foods, salmon and cuts of beef and a lady says "My dog is a part of our family so...
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Why write a book? There any money in it? I didn't do it for the money. As a former cop I wasn't ready to just fade away. I have a ...
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As a war like nation, the U.S. is always declaring war on drugs, terrorism, Iraq and-and-and. Gotta agree with this writer yesterday from c...
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He quit listening and watched them slide Noah into the ambulance. It hurt to have everything end up like this. Noah shot? Shit ...
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So here goes. We are on a mission of discovery. We all well know another school shooting is in the offing so why not ponder the ...
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I have to admit to being confounded at times by arguments and different viewpoints as opposed to mine. I mean, having your life threatened, ...
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I guess we can now say we know the where and when. Violence seems to be rolling into a way of life.