Category Archives: Adventure

November 23, 2025 · 7:35 am

My First Novel: Chapter Ten

Thanks, folks! Glad to know you’re following Mike’s story. It’s always nice to hear from readers! As pharmacist David says in the Prevagen commercials, “That makes my day.”

Chapter Ten

Mike walked along the road out of Griffith Park toward Los Feliz Boulevard looking for his next mount. He felt guilty about stealing another car, but what choice did he have? He couldn’t hitchhike all the way to Malibu. Odds were slim to none that anyone would pick up a ratty-looking guy like him and give him a thirty-five-mile ride to the coast.

The intersection with Los Feliz Boulevard was in sight when Mike spotted his prey: a beat-up Cadillac Coupe DeVille with a license plate reading “CADDY63.” He’d hotwired a few Cadillacs back in the day. Skillfully using his tools, it was a cinch to pinch. He switched plates with the car parked next to the Caddy and was soon on the road.

Moments later, Mike was cruising west on the Ventura Freeway, a road that didn’t exist back in his day. After twenty miles, he took the Las Virgenes exit and drove south for ten miles until he hit Pacific Coast Highway. From there, he was home free. Mike had concerns about driving around in another automotive museum piece, but from the looks of the modern cars that whizzed by, he’d never be able to boost one of them. Once he got this car close to Zack’s, he’d leave it somewhere as a gift to the cops, who would soon be looking for a missing ‘63 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

A few minutes later, Mike pulled onto the shoulder of PCH a quarter of a mile from Zack’s and left the Caddy for the police. He walked the rest of the way, dog tired, and reached Zack’s more in need of a drink than he’d ever been in his life. Problem was, he had no cash. As he staggered through the door, he wasn’t firing on all cylinders — but he was glad to see Gina behind the bar. Maybe she’d pour him a beer on credit. He was more than willing to swallow his pride for a swig tonight. He looked like hell. And he smelled bad, too. He’d have to rely on what was left of his minimal charms.

Mike had only a puncher’s chance of guessing what would happen next. It was all way too much. He told himself to focus on the here and now. Walk up to the bar, take a seat, and hope for the best. Flag down the lovely Gina and hope she’s in a giving mood. He felt three sheets to the wind – and he hadn’t even had a drink yet.

Mike settled onto a barstool and waved to Gina. How could be possibly tell her what he’d seen and heard and done this evening? He couldn’t. He couldn’t tell the cops, either. The whole thing was insane. All he could do was get hammered and steel his nerves for tomorrow night’s meeting at Murphy’s Ranch.

It was a busy Saturday night at Zack’s. Gina caught his eye and signaled she’d be right with him. Exhausted as he was, her attention thrilled him. And made him feel guilty, too. His thoughts turned to Gloria.

After serving another customer, Gina greeted Mike and asked what she could get him. Mike blushed and stammered, knowing full well how bad he looked. He needed a beer, he confessed, but he was out of cash. Tapping the dregs of his pride, he asked if he could possibly get a beer or two on credit. Gina smiled sweetly, without an ounce of pity. “Let me talk to my grandma, Mike. She’s the boss. If it was up to me, I’d give you a six-pack on the house.”

Mike watched as Gina disappeared behind the bar. Soon after, her grandmother came out, stared at Mike in a meaningful, penetrating way, and walked over to the jukebox. She punched in some numbers, and after a beat, some guy was singing…

Won’t you wear my ring — up around your neck?
To tell the world I’m yours, by heck
Let them know I love you so…

Gina’s grandma strode from the jukebox over to Mike. She had to be in her seventies, but she’d clearly been a real looker in her day. In fact, take away the years and she looked an awful lot like his Gloria. She fingered a chain around her neck as she sidled up to him. Like she’d known him all her life.

“Gina says your name is Mike,” she said.

“That’s right…” Mike stammered.

“Call me crazy, Mike,” she said, leaning in close. “Haven’t we met before?”

Mike realized he was staring at her open-mouthed like the village idiot. He lowered his gaze – and saw his ring on the chain around her neck! There was no mistaking it: a little diamond between two blue sapphires. Then he caught the scent of her perfume. Jasmine. Of course! His head and heart were about to explode.

“You know who’s singing this song?”

Mike had no idea.

“Of course, you don’t, Mike. You have no idea who Elvis Presley is, do you?”

He had to admit he didn’t.

“Who won the World Series this year? And don’t look it up on your smart phone.”

It was a standard spy-catching trick during the war. Many a Kraut in a G.I. uniform had been stumped by that question while trying to infiltrate the American lines. Mike didn’t even venture a guess.

“The drinks are on the house, Mike. I don’t know what in this crazy world is going on,” she said, fondling his ring, “but you’re not leaving my bar until you tell me all about it.”

How could he tell her? What could he tell her?

Then again, who else could he tell?

“Gina! Get this young man a beer – and keep ‘em coming. I’ll have the top shelf bourbon myself.” She turned back to Mike. “Join me at my private table.”

Mike followed her to the last booth along the wall that faced the sea. Through the windows, the moonlight caught the whitecaps as choppy waves rose and fell. Mike’s heart was churning like the surf. He was in a drunken stupor and had yet to touch a drop. As she slid into the booth, he knew who this woman was. Who she had to be.

“My name’s Gloria, she said, looking straight through him. “Ring a bell?”

Mike searched his tumbling thoughts for something to say at this impossible moment – but he couldn’t take his eyes off Gloria’s face. As he looked at her, the years melted away. He beheld the girl she’d been all those years ago — though, for him, it had only been a couple of days. How could be possibly make sense of that?

Luckily, Gina arrived with their drinks, granting him a brief reprieve.

Gloria told Mike to take off his jacket, and he did as he was told. “Roll up your sleeves and get comfortable. We’re gonna be here awhile.” Mike obeyed, revealing the Marine Corps tattoo on his right forearm. It was just what Gloria was looking for. She raised her glass.

“Here’s looking at you, Mike. I believe we both could use a stiff drink right now.”

Mike took a long chug of his beer, hoping to steel his nerves. He still hadn’t said anything, but Gloria took control. Hadn’t she always taken control? “We can play twenty questions, Mike. But just a couple will do. Let’s start with this ring. When do you think I got it?”

There was nothing he could do but tell the truth – and hope for the best. “Well, for me, it was — just a few days ago. But for you, it’s been fifty-seven years.”

He searched her face for a response. “Fifty-seven years — and three days.”

Her eyes flickered for a moment, but she went on, calmly and directly. “Four days, Mike. And where was I when you gave it to me?”

“You were behind the bar. But you didn’t wear it until the next day — when you wore it on that chain around your neck.”

She smiled. “You told me not to dip it in somebody’s chili.” She remembered it all.

At that point, there was no holding back. This 76-year-old woman was the girl he’d asked to marry him — and then he vanished. As incredible as the story was, she had a right to know what the hell was going on. She had to know that he didn’t just run out on her.

“I had to break our movie date that night because I was on a new case.”

“You said you had to go to a meeting at 7:00.”

“I did. It’s the truth. But before I left, you went out to the parking lot with me and gave me a great big kiss. It was the greatest feeling I ever had in my life.”

“And after I kissed you — what did I say?”

“You said you’d marry me.”

“And what did you say?”

“I promised we’d get married as soon as I closed the case”

“So, Mike Delaney,” she said with the same warmth she’d bathed him in when she accepted his proposal all those years ago, “Have you closed the case?” She finished her bourbon with a longing, pained smile. “A girl can’t wait forever.”

Gina interrupted with another round of drinks and left as fast as she came. She’d never seen that look on her grandmother’s face.

The look of a young girl in love.

Mike’s weary mind wandered for a moment. If he hadn’t followed Huber through that time portal, he would be eighty-five years old right now, enjoying his golden years with Gloria. Probably sitting in this very same booth…

Gloria patted his hand, snapping him out of his reverie. “Drink up, Mike.” She sipped her second bourbon. “What the hell happened after you drove off that day?”

Mike took a long slug from his beer mug, heaved an exhausted sigh, looked deep into Gloria’s eyes — and summoned the strength to tell her the whole unbelievable story.

He must have talked for an hour straight, leaving out no detail, however small: how he found the strange black brick, traced it to Murphy’s Ranch, and discovered the mad Nazi time-travel plot. How he tracked down Dr. Huber and followed him through the time portal and into the future.

He told her about the meeting with the Bund Boys in Griffith Park and the dangerous plans they had for igniting a race war. He paused; worried that Gloria might think him insane — but she wasn’t judgmental. It was almost as though he was convincing himself that it all actually happened.

He paused only when Gina came by with another round.

Gloria said nothing. Her eyes flared when he recounted moments of danger and teared up when he said how desperate he was to return to her. When he was finished, when he had taken her up to the point where he parked the stolen Caddy and walked into Zack’s that night, Gloria finally asked him a question.

“Why did you do it, Mike? Why did you go through the time portal?”

She was near tears now, struggling under the weight of all the lost years. “Why did you take that risk?”

“Because I had to, baby. I’m a detective.”

He continued in his defense, “I’m not a great one, I’ll admit, but I’m a detective. Maybe I could’ve gotten the drop on Horst and bagged Huber that night. But would that have stopped their plan? I didn’t know, Gloria. I still don’t know.”

“But if you gave Huber to the FBI, you would’ve collected the reward money, Horst would go to prison for harboring a wanted fugitive, and you and I would have spent all these years together.” It sounded like a rebuke, but there was no bitterness in it. Gloria gazed right through him.

“I know why you did it, Mike. You wanted to solve the mystery. Busting Huber before he went through that portal would’ve closed the case – but it wouldn’t have solved the mystery.”

Gloria was right, of course. Mike’s eyes grew wet. It had been a selfish thing to do. He’d gambled their happiness on the unknown: on an inconceivable adventure. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said as the tears came, “I should’ve been thinking about you. About us.” Mike was nearly overcome.

Gina approached the table with another round, but Gloria waved her granddaughter off.

She leaned into Mike, close enough to kiss him. “So, what are we gonna do about it, lover? Cry in your beer? Or work our way through this crazy maze?” She sniffed. Then smiled. “First thing we’ve gotta do is get you a bath — and tomorrow, a new suit. You need a jacket, too. It’s winter, for godsakes.”

“I can’t have my man looking like a homeless bum, no matter what century he came from.”

Mike was amazed. Gloria’s love for him had endured for decades. She told him about the guy she married ten years after Mike went missing: a poor, unhappy fella who soon learned that she’d always be carrying a torch for the detective that disappeared. They gave birth to Gina’s mother, but he couldn’t play second fiddle to a phantom. So, he took a powder and Gloria never saw him again.

Mike had ruined Gloria’s second chance for happiness all those years ago. What could he offer her now?

The situation was impossible, but Gloria didn’t see it that way. She wasn’t shocked by the notion of time travel. She’d seen a lot in her long life. Anything seemed possible. Technology was out of this world. She told Mike that the iPhone he was carrying had more computing power than NASA had when they put men on the moon.

Mike had no idea what NASA was. He wasn’t even sure what “computing” was. “They put a man on the moon?” His bloodshot eyes were wide in amazement.

“When in the hell did that happen?”

Gloria saw that Mike had way too much to learn. She’d have to take the lead.

“I’ll fill you in on the space race later,” she said. “Right now, you’re coming home with me.”

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Filed under Adventure, Art, Classic Film, History, literature, Novel, Politics, Truth

Tagged as crime fiction, Crime novel, Detective fiction, life, Malibu, mystery, Novel, Paul Barrosse, post-war Los Angeles, World War Two, writing

November 20, 2025 · 8:20 pm

My First Novel: Chapter Nine

Okay, folks. So, we never quite got to 160 “likes”. We’re stuck in the 150’s. But some readers have reached out to ask when I’ll post Chapter Nine — so here it is! If you are reading these chapters please let me know by “liking” these posts, either on this blog or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Nine

Shivering in the falling cold, Mike was relieved to see Horst walk out to the waiting Mercedes. But as the driver opened the door for Horst to join Huber in the backseat, Mike’s momentary relief turned to alarm.

How could he follow Huber’s car when his stolen Impala was hidden several blocks away? By the time he’d retrieve it, Horst and Huber would be long gone. And he had no idea where the two old Nazis were going.

His next thoughts came fast.

Were they going back to Murphy’s Ranch? Then again, the portal might not be there anymore. They may not even be headed to a time portal. They could be meeting with more conspirators, maybe at another time portal. Mike had no idea. He wished he could call the cops for backup – but it was hopeless. What he’d seen and done in the past few days was too nuts to be believed.

Mike knew he was on his own.

He took out his notebook and, driven by training, wrote down the plate number of Huber’s Mercedes. As Huber’s driver started the car, Mike’s iPhone vibrated. The screen lit up with a message: “Old Griffith Park Zoo.” Mike knew nothing about old Griffith Park Zoo, but he knew where Griffith Park Zoo was back in ‘51.

Mike figured maybe Horst and Huber didn’t know their messages were going to the phone that Horst had lost — and he had found!

It was a lucky break. One Mike desperately needed.

As Huber’s car drove away, Mike ran to where he’d stashed his Impala, hot-wired it again, and made the half-hour drive to Griffith Park — taking side streets and staying off the highway. He knew this part of town like the back of his hand. That was another lucky break.

He could use several more.

A little after 5:30 PM, Mike parked his stolen Impala behind the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round, which was deserted at this late hour. Mike had last seen it more than six decades ago, and it now looked worn and dilapidated.

Mike felt a lot like that vintage carousel.

The small corral for the pony rides looked almost like it did when he was a boy, but the lights in the parking lot weren’t there when he was a kid. At least not these lights. They were brighter than he’d like them to be right now. Trailing his two Nazi targets, Mike preferred the concealing darkness. He moved as fast as he could, walking uphill toward where he knew the zoo should be. Would he find Horst and Huber there? Was he too late?

Mike reached into his jacket for his .45. He didn’t know what to expect.

Cresting the ridge, the rising moon illuminated an eerie scene. The concrete, cave-like, animal enclosures Mike remembered as a child were still there — but all the bars were gone. The animals were gone, too. It was a familiar scene – and it was also very new. Another stark reminder that he was a time traveler.

Mike moved toward the ruined enclosures, careful to stay out of sight. Their concrete walls were covered with a lot of the same crazy, avant-garde paintings he’d seen at Murphy’s Ranch after he passed through the time portal. Was this some wild, city-wide art project? The cold night breeze carried the sound of voices ahead — stopping him in his tracks.

The voices were coming from the other side of a low wall, about five feet high. In the moonlight, Mike could make out silhouettes on the other side of the wall. He crept up behind it — and took out his .45 for insurance.

He could hear Dr. Huber speaking in German. Horst was doing most of the talking, but he was doing it in English. Mike couldn’t tell how many people were in this clandestine meeting but, besides Horst, he heard the voices of at least a half dozen others. He got out his notebook and, in the rising moonlight, started taking notes on what they were saying.

Of course, they were all talking crazy.

Compared to Horst and Huber, the other voices sounded much younger. They were all male, though that didn’t mean no women were present. There was just enough light that Mike could see who they were, but he’d have to expose himself to get a better look – and he didn’t dare do that. He was likely outnumbered. Apparently, these guys were members of a paramilitary group calling themselves “The Bund Boys”. They were armed and ready to be part of whatever plot the two old Nazis had cooked up.

The Bund Boys. Mike was well-aware of who “The Bund” were. In the years leading up to the war, The German American Bund backed the Nazis and resisted American intervention against Hitler’s regime — even after the antisemitic horrors of Kristallnacht in ‘38 and the Blitzkrieg invasion of Poland the following year.

The Bund held big rallies in American major cities with Nazi flags flying and stiff-arm salutes. Twenty thousand of these fanatics gathered in New York City for a rally at Madison Square Garden in ‘39. The Nazi followers at Murphy’s Ranch were cozy with The Bund. But after Pearl Harbor, The Bund lost its mojo in America – and the Murphy’s Ranch cabal was rolled up by Hoover’s G-men.

Now, Horst and Huber were conspiring with 21^st century American Nazis. The very thought disgusted Mike. Hadn’t he, and millions of Americans, fought to bury Nazism and Fascism once and for all? Yet, the toxic ideology of white supremacy and fascist rule represented by the swastika was still alive in this abandoned corner of Griffith Park – sixty-three years after The Fuhrer blew his brains out in his Berlin bunker.

In the company of these avid young Nazis, neither Horst nor Huber said anything about time travel or their plan to transport the leaders of the Third Reich into the future. Instead, they were talking about something The Bund Boys were calling “Helter-Skelter”.

“Charlie Manson had the right idea,” said one of the Bund Boys. “But he was a nutcase relying on a bunch of strung-out hippies to put his vision into action. That don’t mean he wasn’t right about Helter-Skelter. It you do it right, you can start the race war. There’s a hell of a lot more of us than the coloreds and the foreigners and the faggots. And we’ve got a shit ton more guns. We’re just prepping for the moment when we can touch it off.”

“We’re all in with you two on the white man getting back on top in this country,” said another Bund Boy. “We know old Horst here is a good man – and he told us you can help us. He says you’re some kind of bad ass Nazi genius. That’s why we’re here. We just wanna know how you can help us.”

The guy was obviously addressing Dr. Huber. Huber’s English wasn’t good, so he spoke in German as Horst translated. Truth be told, the Bund Boys probably loved getting the straight dope in Hitler’s mother tongue.

Through Horst, Huber said he’d spent a lifetime preparing for this great moment, and if they all worked together, the day was coming soon when white Christian men would once again rule America and ultimately the world. Democracy had shown itself to be too weak to oppose godless Communism in Russia and China, and too soft on so-called “civil rights” and “equal opportunity” here in America. The laws of nature don’t recognize equal opportunity. Natural law is the survival of the fittest. “We,” declared Huber, “are white men. God made us supreme among the human races. It is our divine right to reclaim our preeminent place in the world.” Mike was sure he’d have heard a lusty “Sieg Heil!” if this meeting wasn’t on the down low.

Dr. Huber pressed on. Decadent western women now dared to consider themselves equal to men. But once America was re-established as a white Christian nationalist state, the natural order would be restored in the family, in the church, and in the government. The Bund Boys were eating it up. Still, they pressed Dr. Huber. How could he help them make all this come to pass?

Dr. Huber played his cards close to the vest. Mike could tell that the old scientist knew these guys were just useful idiots. The Bund Boys had stockpiled an arsenal of weapons and explosives and they’d developed a loose alliance of like-minded militia groups across the country. They dreamed of igniting a race war, but they had no strategic plan beyond their sick “Helter-Skelter” pipe dreams.

Mike listened as Huber assured the assembled wackos that he had contacts with a powerful group of wealthy, well-connected Nazi leaders who were waiting for the critical moment to make common cause with the right-wing American militia movement. But these great leaders needed to know that men like the Bund Boys had the stomach for a real fight. They needed a sign. They needed to see action. What were the Bund Boys willing to do to demonstrate they were prepared to go to war for the future of the white race?

The Bund Boys asserted their willingness to die for the glorious cause, but they needed more direction. Horst took over, telling them they had to make sure they struck the right targets, and that they did so in coordination with militias across the country – and with overwhelming numbers and firepower. Horst and Huber could help them procure that firepower. The Bund Boys liked the sound of that.

“You’re talking about launching our own Tet Offensive,” said a Bund Boy who seemed to be the lead voice in the group. “Hit the enemy hard in dozens of places all at once.” Mike had no clue what a “Tet Offensive” was — but it sounded ominous.

Horst told the Bund Boys that their next meeting would be at Murphy’s Ranch tomorrow night at 8:00 pm. Operational security required that they each bring just one member of a fellow militia group to attend. “Any man you bring to this meeting must be someone you know and trust more than your own family. A man who would die alongside you. A man you can trust with your life. Write their names on this paper and I will let you know tomorrow morning if they are cleared to attend. There can be no leaks, no stupid mistakes, or it will not end well for you – and for our cause. Great and powerful men are relying on a loyal army. You and your allies can be that army.”

There was a pause as the men wrote down names. Or at least Mike figured that’s what the pause was all about. A minute later, Horst continued. More information would be revealed at the meeting tomorrow night. Powerful weapons would be made available. Until then, they’d communicate through the normal channels. Horst would be their contact. Sure enough, the meeting concluded with a hushed “Sieg Heil!”

Mike hung back in the shadows as the conspirators dispersed. He saw no point in trailing Horst and Huber. The two old Nazis surely needed their rest. Besides, he knew when and where their next move would take place.

Mike returned to his stolen Impala and got behind the wheel. But before he hotwired the ignition again, he took out his iPhone, opened the Google app just like the Apple Genius had showed him, and typed “Tet Offensive” into the search bar. He wasn’t sure he’d spelled “Tet” correctly, but the results came up instantly. He read how the Tet Offensive was a turning point in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War? Mike had scant time to learn why the U.S. was fighting in Vietnam in 1968. He wasn’t even sure where Vietnam was. The article said that it was another battle against Communism, like the war going on in Korea when Mike stepped through that damned time portal.

But what Mike read next gave him the shakes. The Tet Offensive was a series of surprise attacks launched simultaneously by the North Vietnamese in 100 towns and cities across South Vietnam. Holy shit! If Horst and Huber and their fanatical militia pals were planning something on that scale, it wasn’t something Mike could tackle on his own. He had to bring in local, state, and federal authorities – and fast!

But how could he do that? What would he tell them? What tangible evidence did he have? What would law enforcement think when he rolled out this crazy story? Mike couldn’t even rationally explain who he was or how he got here. His current ID was more than a half-century old. The cops would likely hold him for psychiatric observation. He’d lose any chance to disrupt this insane Nazi scheme. And he’d never be to get back to 1951.

He’d never again see his beloved Gloria.

It was now 7:00 pm, and while a lot had gone down that evening, the night was still young. After a long, bewildering day, Mike yearned to touch home base at Zack’s. He’d have a couple beers, pull himself together and come up with a plan – that is if the cops didn’t collar him in his hot Impala before he got to Malibu. If that happened, all bets were off. Mike decided he’d have to leave the Impala behind and commandeer a new ride.

Mike pulled a blank page out of his notebook, scribbled a message, and left it on the dashboard before getting out of the car with his bag of tools. “Dear cops,” it read, “I stole this from a car lot in Santa Monica. Please see that it gets returned. And don’t bother dusting it for prints.”

“This thief went missing a long time ago.”

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Tagged as books, crime fiction, Crime novel, Detective fiction, fiction, history, mystery, Paul Barrosse, World War Two, writing

November 14, 2025 · 10:44 am

My First Novel: Chapter Eight

And now, my friends, Chapter Eight! When we get to 160 “likes” — I’ll drop Chapter Nine. You can read the whole novel-to-date in sequence by clicking on “My Novel” in the “Landmarks” menu at right. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Late the next morning, as the sun rose over the still-agitated Pacific, Mike woke up in his cave with a brutal hangover. He’d have to do a lot better than he did last night if he wanted to solve this case and return to 1951 and Gloria. Mike looked like a fall-down drunk on a week-long bender. If he didn’t find some clean clothes soon, he’d be mistaken for a homeless bum. Of course, he was currently homeless. He’d figure out what to do about that later.

Right now, Mike had to find Dr. Huber – and fast. Huber would be looking to connect with his old protégé, Horst Mueller, who was, according to their plan, likely at Cal Tech in Pasadena.

Last night at Zack’s, Gina told him that his iPhone just needed a charge. So, that was the next step. He’d charge up the crazy black brick and see what else it could tell him. There was no time to lose. He staggered out to the highway and walked into a corner store.

“Sorry, buddy,” the old man behind the counter said. “You can just turn around and get out. I can smell you from here. You look like you slept on the damn beach.”

“I did. But don’t worry, I’m not staying long…”

“You sure as hell ain’t!”

Mike held up his iPhone. “Do you know where I can charge this thing?”

“I don’t know nothin’ about those newfangled phones. I have a flip-phone myself. My daughter got it for me. Don’t need all those bells and whistles.”

“I get it, pal. But do you know where I can charge this thing?”

“You don’t have a charger?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Then you gotta get one.”

“Any idea where?”

“What am I? The Answer Man? Try the Apple Store in Santa Monica. It’s on the Third Street promenade. My daughter took me there once. They got everything. It’s all too goddamned expensive. Me? I’ll keep my flip-phone, thank you.”

The Apple Store. So, that’s what that apple on the back of his iPhone meant. It was a trademark. “Thanks for the tip,” he said to the cantankerous proprietor.

“You’re welcome. And here’s another tip. Take a goddamn shower. You’re stinkin’ up the joint.”

Mike walked out onto the street. The guy was right. Mike was smelling awfully ripe. He ran down to the beach, took off everything but his boxer shorts, and plunged into the ocean. The cold water was cleansing — and invigorating. After a few moments, he got out of the surf, ditched his soggy boxers, and put his clothes and shoes back on. It wasn’t the hot, soapy shower he needed, but it would have to do for now.

Mike walked back to PCH and spent some of his precious cash on a cab ride to Santa Monica. Fifteen minutes later, the cabbie pulled up in front of the Apple Store, which clearly had nothing to do with fruit.

It was like no store Mike had ever seen before: the hushed, polite voices, the unnatural pleasantness, and all those futuristic devices. The overhead light was way too bright, and the ridiculously young staff was way too upbeat, intelligent, and eager to help. Mike felt awkward admitting that he didn’t know how to use his iPhone — but there was no problem. He was directed to the “genius bar”, where a 20-something “Apple Genius” quickly powered-up Mike’s phone and showed him the basics, like how to retrieve old messages, click on “links” and “Google” things he wanted to know. The damn thing was also a camera. He could take pictures with his phone! How crazy is that?

It was mind-bending how much information Mike now had at his fingertips. He spent more of his dwindling cash on a charger, left the Apple Store, and sat down on a bench to do his first “online” research.

Whatever Mike “Googled” came up on his iPhone with lightning speed. Mike typed “Horst Mueller” into Google and the screen soon displayed a series of “links” to articles about Horst, including the recent announcement of his Nobel Prize in Astrophysics. He also learned that Dr. Horst Mueller was now 79 years old and a Professor Emeritus at Cal Tech.

Dr. Huber’s old protégé had stuck to the script and played his part to the letter.

Another link led Mike to the vital information that Horst kept office hours at Cal Tech on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 4:00 and 6:00 pm. And today was Thursday. Mike marveled, at the speed with which he could gather information. It was a detective’s dream! But it was already 11:30 am, so Mike had to move fast. Horst would surely lead him to Dr. Huber. But first, he had to solve his transportation problem.

With the scant cash he had left, Mike couldn’t afford cab fare from Santa Monica to Pasadena, and he didn’t have a valid driver’s license. The one in his wallet expired on March 31, 1952. He hated to do it, but Mike would have to steal a car. He found a hardware store and spent his last few dollars on a thin metal ruler, flat head and Phillips screwdrivers, a hammer, and wire cutters – all tools of the car stealing trade. Plus, a box of matches and a new pocket notebook.

Mike walked down Santa Monica Boulevard and came upon an upscale vintage car lot, where he picked out a 1962 Chevy Impala Sport Coupe in cherry condition. The Impala’s technology was old enough that Mike, employing his low-tech private eye skills, would have no trouble getting it started. He set a fire in a dumpster on the opposite end of the car lot, and while everybody was reacting to the raging dumpster fire, Mike jimmied the driver’s side door open and hotwired the ignition. The Impala’s 283 V-8 engine roared to life — and Mike drove it off the lot without anyone noticing.

Despite his surface cool, Mike was a desperate man. He turned the Impala into an alley, took out a screwdriver, and switched license plates with a parked car. He wasn’t proud of his theft, but the situation was dire. He was trying to save America from an evil Nazi plot. He couldn’t possibly go to the police for help. At least not yet. They’d figure he was nuts.

Mike never trained for a mission like this in the Marines – and they didn’t cover stuff like this at the police academy. As he steered his hot Impala out of the alley, his mind was racing. He was going to have to make it up as he went along. Go with his gut.

Rather than driving directly to Pasadena and staking out Professor Mueller at Cal Tech, Mike took the risk of going back to Zack’s in his stolen car. Why take such a chance? The only explanation was his magnetic attraction to the lovely Gina. He had a few hours to spare before who-knows-what might happen, and he wanted to spend that time at Zack’s with her. He wasn’t sure why, but Gina reminded him of Gloria.

Mike pulled into Zack’s parking lot. No sirens pursued him. So far, so good. Ten minutes later, Gina was serving him lunch at the bar. As he gazed at her, Mike felt guilty. Was he really that fickle? Was the memory of his beloved Gloria so easily replaced by this new vision of female perfection? What was he doing here anyway? He was wasting time. He should be in Pasadena, waiting for Horst and Huber to make contact.

The nation’s future might be in the balance. But here he was, sitting on his old barstool.

Gina asked Mike if he wanted dessert. He ordered a slice of pecan pie and told her he had to go to Cal Tech. She showed him how to “MapQuest” the quickest route from Zack’s to Cal Tech. Factoring traffic, he was about 90 minutes away. Mike had to get going, but it was hard to tear himself away from Gina. They were still huddled over Mike’s iPhone when Gina’s grandmother came out from the back room.

She saw Mike and froze.

She was stunned to see the spitting image of her old flame, Mike Delaney, sitting at her bar, chatting up her granddaughter.

It was impossible. Was this the same guy who ran out on her fifty-seven years ago — on the day she accepted his marriage proposal? Was he the faithless fiancé who disappeared without a trace? Had he been here before and she didn’t notice? How long had Gina known him? Her heart was beating fast. Could this guy be her long-lost Mike? Or did he just look like Mike? Hell, he was wearing the same suit Mike always wore. The only suit he owned.

77-year-old Gloria fingered the vintage ring around her neck and wondered whether she was losing her mind.

It was 1:30 pm. Mike had to go, or he’d be cutting it way too close. He devoured his pecan pie and went out the door in a hurry. Gloria watched him from the window as he fired up an old Impala and drove out of the parking lot.

“Who is that guy, Gina?”

“Which guy?”

“The one you were just talking with at the bar. The one in the dirty suit.”

“Oh, him. That’s Mike. He’s new. Came in here last night for the first time.”

“Did you catch his last name?”

“No, just Mike. He’s kind of funny. He’s got an iPhone and he barely knows how to use it. I was just showing him how to use MapQuest. He’s worse than you with technology.”

“You sure he came in here for the first time last night?”

“Yeah. First time I ever saw him here.”

Gloria glanced at the calendar hanging over the bar. It was December 13^th. Last night was the 12^th – fifty-seven years to the day since Mike Delaney vanished. She’d worn his ring ever since. The memory of him haunted her to this day.

Ten years after Mike disappeared, Gloria married — but the guy wound up being a jerk, and their brief, unhappy union produced nothing more than Gina’s mother.

For more than five decades, Gloria carried a torch for the man that went away. Could this young guy somehow be that man? It was a crazy thought, she told herself. But, as she cleaned up after the lunch crowd, it was a thought she couldn’t put away.

Mike was making good time as he exited the 210 Freeway at Hill Street, headed for the Cal Tech campus in Pasadena. He drove down Hill Street and approached the intersection with Colorado Boulevard. He held the iPhone close to his face. It was hard to see the directions with the glare from the sunlight hitting the glass face of the phone.

As he went through the intersection, Mike heard what sounded like a short blast of a police siren. Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw he was being pulled over by Pasadena’s finest. Damn. This was going to be a problem for a whole host of reasons. How could he save American democracy while in prison for grand theft auto?

As a cop, Mike had made a lot of traffic stops in his time. He knew the drill. And he knew he’d be screwed as soon as they asked for his driver’s license — the one with an expiration date in 1952! He pulled over and weighed his options. They were all bad. The cops got out of their squad car and started walking toward him with their hands on their holsters. Were they worried he was a violent felon? Of course, they were. He was driving a stolen car.

The cop on the driver’s side tapped the window. Mike rolled it down. He knew the best thing to do was to be polite and comply with the officer’s directions.

“Hey, buddy,” the cop said with the same false friendliness Mike always employed in such stops when he was a cop. “You are aware that, since July of this year, it’s been illegal to use a hand-held cell phone while driving in California?”

“Yeah,” Mike lied. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t see the directions.”

“Distracted driving can get you killed, buddy – and others along with you. I’m going to have to write you a ticket.”

For a split second, Mike felt a wave of relief. They weren’t aware he’d stolen the car. Yet he knew all hell would break loose with the officer’s next question.

“Can I see your driver’s license?”

With that, Mike gunned his engine, burning rubber, and accelerating as fast as a 1962 Impala could go. The cops were caught flat-footed. Why would anyone in his right mind flee a traffic ticket? They ran back to their squad car, hit the siren, lights flashing, and followed in pursuit. Mike was already out of sight, but he knew exactly what they’d be saying as they radioed for backup. “Be on the lookout for a red, early-60’s Chevy Impala sedan. Driver is wanted for using a hand-held cell phone while driving. Suspect he may be guilty of something worse…”

Mike’s adrenaline was racing as fast as his stolen car. When the cops ran his plates, they’d be thrown off course. That gave him some comfort. And some more time. He could no longer hear any sirens as he took a winding course through side streets before pulling into an alley behind one of the more nondescript buildings on the Cal Tech campus. He parked the car out of sight behind a large trash bin. There was no one around. According to MapQuest, he was within blocks of Horst Mueller’s office in the Applied Physics and Materials Science Department.

It was now 3:00 — an hour before Horst was scheduled to be in his office.

Mike proceeded on foot to Horst’s office building, taking care to use a less-traveled path through alleys, behind buildings, dumpsters, and bushes. He strode calmly and casually to attract as little attention as possible. It appeared that most of the students were indoors now. It figured, Mike thought. It’s cold outside, and most of these Cal Tech eggheads were probably in the library, in class, or in their dorm rooms studying. That’s not how Mike approached his studies at UCLA. Rare were the days when he didn’t swap his homework for a game of pickup basketball or a movie at The Fox in Westwood.

Mike found a safe spot in the shadows directly across from the Applied Physics and Materials Science building. It was 3:20. Horst could be arriving anytime. So, too, might his old mentor, Dr. Huber. Mike settled in for the stakeout. The sun was sinking. He wished he had his overcoat. He really needed to do something about his clothes. He was, he had to admit, a mess. He needed a shave. And he smelled awful again.

A short time later, Mike watched as a black Mercedes Benz sedan pulled up in front of Horst’s building. A uniformed driver got out and opened the rear passenger door facing the curb. He helped an elderly man out of the car and up onto the sidewalk. The old guy walked with a cane, but he was nimble enough to manage the fifty or so feet to the front door of the building. Mike wished he had a pair of binoculars. He was doing a lot of wishing lately.

The sun had dropped behind the building at this point, casting a shadow on the sidewalk, so Mike moved up behind a tree to get a closer look at the old man before he went inside. He was Horst Mueller alright. A half-century older, but definitely Mike’s man.

Horst’s driver waited in the car out front. Mike concluded the old man wasn’t planning to stay in his office very long. Hopefully he was waiting for Dr. Huber to arrive and then they’d both travel to the time portal – or wherever else they planned to go. As long as Horst’s car was parked right where Mike could see it, he figured it was best to stay put and see what developed. But Jesus, it was getting cold.

It was a few degrees colder by 4:45. The sun was setting when Mike caught sight of Dr. Otto Huber in the glow of a streetlight, headed toward Horst’s office. Mike watched Dr. Huber walk in and out of the darkness as he passed under several streetlights before reaching Horst’s car. The driver came out to greet him, opened the door to the back seat, and helped the old Nazi inside. Huber was surely waiting for Horst to come out of his office. Then Mike would trail the two conspirators as they proceeded to do whatever they planned to do next.

It was weird, thought Mike, that Dr. Huber was now at least twenty years younger than his protégé.

Then again, what about this situation wasn’t weird?

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November 11, 2025 · 1:54 pm

My First Novel: Chapter Seven

We’re over 120 “likes” now, so without further ado — here’s Chapter Seven. As always, all the acts can be read in sequence by clicking on “My Novel” in the “Landmarks” menu to your right. 150 “likes” will release Chapter Eight. Thanks for reading, folks!

Chapter Seven

Quietly and single-mindedly, Mike trailed Dr. Huber through the time portal with no clue what to expect. He might’ve thought about Gloria — about the ring he gave her and the proposal she’d pretty much accepted just a few hours ago.

But he didn’t.

Into the future he went.

He didn’t feel anything other than a slight bit of nausea as he advanced decades into the future. It was dark inside the portal. There wasn’t any Frankenstein’s laboratory-like zapping and pyrotechnics. It was a smooth transition, as if there was no discernable border between the present and future.

Seconds passed — or was it less? Dr. Huber was somewhere ahead of him, perhaps only a few feet away. Mike couldn’t tell. He walked forward slowly, deliberately, stalking Huber through the darkness of the portal, trying to keep pace with his unseen target. His adrenaline was flowing. He was on a mission — and he loved it.

Suddenly, Mike got whacked across the face! Where did all these crazy tree branches come from?

It was clear that Mike was no longer in the portal.

The moon lit his way as Mike struggled through the overgrown chaparral, feeling his way through burrs, thorns, and cobwebs with his .45 in hand. Hearing a rustling up ahead, he caught a glimpse of Dr. Huber, who didn’t appear to know he was being followed.

Mike tracked Huber for several hundred feet, from just outside the building housing the portal to the foot of the steps leading up and out of the compound. Dense foliage blocked the entire passage as he pursued the unsuspecting Huber into December 12, 2008.

Mike paused as Huber stopped at the bottom of the steps to catch his breath. The moonlight revealed a dilapidated building at the base of the steps. Mike remembered passing the same building on both of his trips to the compound, but now it appeared as though some mad artist had covered the derelict structure with bizarre, Picasso-like paintings. It was Mike’s first solid evidence that he’d travelled in time.

He was chasing Dr. Huber, but Mike was the one who was lost. Huber knew where he was going. The mad Nazi scientist was following a grand plan, more than five decades in the making. Mike was just a lone hunter trying to keep up with his prey.

Huber was surprisingly nimble for an older man. He moved briskly up the five hundred concrete steps and unlocked the compound’s now-ruined gate. He closed the gate and padlocked the chain before stepping out onto Sullivan Ridge Road, unaware that Mike was on his heels. Behind the gate, Mike watched from the bushes as a souped-up car of a make he’d never seen before skidded to a sudden stop along the shoulder of the road, picked Huber up, and raced off down the street.

Mike watched as Huber’s wild-looking hot rod sped down the road toward Pacific Coast Highway. He saw the situation clearly. Huber’s getaway was no coincidence. He’d planned it all perfectly. His next step would be to link up with Horst and check out their new and improved time portal. That could lead to a rebirth of Hitler’s Third Reich right here in America – and unimaginable horrors.

Mike had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that he was now fifty-seven years in the future. He would have to get his mind right – and fast – to keep up with Dr. Huber. Mike had little of value in his pockets, other than fifty-six dollars in cash, his trusty .45, and the iPhone he’d found. He figured Huber would be meeting up with Horst at Cal Tech. He just didn’t know exactly when.

It was likely very soon.

Besides trying to save the future from the return of Nazism, Mike had another big reason to wrap up this case. It wasn’t patriotism, the thrill of the hunt, or the reward money. Mike had to track down Huber as soon as possible so he could get back to 1951 and Gloria. What’ll she think when the guy she just agreed to marry suddenly disappears? And, if he does manage to get back to her, how will he ever explain where he went? Mike tried hard to push such thoughts aside. He needed to focus on the here and now — whatever that meant anymore. He looked at his watch. It was 8:00 pm. Despite all he’d been through, the night was young.

Mike knew it was probably hopeless, but he looked for his car where he parked it on the side of Sullivan Ridge Road. Of course, it was no longer there. He was less than a mile from Pacific Coast Highway, so he could always walk down to PCH and thumb a ride north to Malibu. Back in his old neighborhood, he could get his bearings and maybe find someone who could help him figure out what to do with his iPhone. Maybe it had more secrets to reveal?

Mike jogged down to PCH, which was lit much brighter than back in his day, though the moonlight on the ocean looked just the same as it always did. Mike walked north, thumbing a ride along the way. The cars that passed him didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen. They were smaller and had a lot less chrome. No fins, big fenders or running boards to be seen. They looked like something out of Popular Mechanics. And the people in them weren’t dressed like he was. None of the guys wore hats. Self-consciously, Mike reached for his fedora. It wasn’t on his head. He must have lost it while trailing Huber through the overgrown brush on Murphy’s Ranch.

Mike looked for a pay phone to see if any of his old phone numbers still worked, but he couldn’t find one. There was a phone booth every other block back in ‘51. He finally found one at Will Rogers State Beach — but it had been vandalized. The phone cord was cut and there was no receiver. No phone book, either. Jerks, Mike muttered. Why mess with a damn phone book?

A couple of twenty-something surfers and their girls were looking for their car in the parking lot. Mike wondered what they’d think of a guy who looked like he might be from half a century in the past. He needn’t have worried. They passed him without a word. They were dressed different than beachgoers in his day, the girls were wearing a whole lot less, but to them Mike must have appeared to be just another black and white square.

Mike was in a whole new world. From now on, he’d have to tread carefully with every step he made. Right now, all he could do was keep moving northward and hope to find Zack’s — if it was still there. But why would it be? How could he be sure that anything from 1951 was still where it used to be?

Hitchhiking didn’t seem too popular anymore, so Mike walked the last few miles to Zack’s Oceanside Dive.

Fortunately, Zack’s was right where Mike hoped it would be. He picked up his step when he saw the newspaper racks on Zack’s front porch. He could finally confirm the date! The Los Angeles Times and The Daily News mastheads made it clear that both editions were published on Friday, December 12, 2008.

So, it was true. He’d just travelled fifty-seven years into the future.

Suddenly, a pang for Gloria stung him worse than the pain in his hip. How the hell was he going to get back to her? Mike’s mind swarmed with questions for which he had no answers. He reminded himself to focus. Take it moment to moment. Moment to moment.

Mike opened Zack’s familiar front door. A crude, monotonous, percussion-heavy music played on the jukebox, which was nothing like Zack’s old jukebox. Above the bar, there were three large television sets – all tuned to a different station. And in color! The sound was off on all the TVs. The pounding music dominated.

The joint was jumping. Mike was glad that Zack’s appeared to be doing a decent business after all these years. Taking in the patrons, he saw that none of the men were wearing suit jackets. Not a necktie in the place. Some of the ladies wore pants. Many of them stared into the same kind of iPhone he had in his pocket. These iPhones clearly weren’t a rare commodity.

Besides the clientele, the music, and the televisions, Zack’s hadn’t changed all that much. It looked like the same dowdy seaside dive Mike always knew, except that Gloria was no longer behind the bar. Then again, if the newspapers in the boxes out front were correct, Gloria would now be 77-years old.

Mike’s mind wandered for a moment. There was something oddly familiar about the gal behind the bar. Was he nuts? Damn, Mike thought, as he settled onto his usual stool at the bar. She looks just like Gloria.

The young woman took Mike’s drink order. Did her voice sound a bit like Gloria’s? He dismissed the thought and enjoyed his first bourbon. He’d catch up with crazy Dr. Huber tomorrow. All he had to do was track down Horst Mueller, who’d likely be found at Cal Tech. He’d get a car in the morning and drive out to Pasadena. Right now, he needed to relax and get a grip on his bizarre situation. He called for another shot. Then another. No beer tonight for Mike. The stress of time travel had him back on the hard stuff.

There was a Daily News sports section sitting on the bar and Mike paged through it. An article on the pro baseball offseason made no mention of his beloved Hollywood Stars. Mike read that there were now two major league teams in town, the Angels and the Dodgers. Were these the same Dodgers that played in Brooklyn? Did the Stars still exist? Was Gilmore Field still standing? Mike shoved the sports page down the bar. He was in deep shit. If he didn’t stay focused, madness could be just around the corner.

Several rounds later, Mike had focused enough to learn the barmaid’s name was Gina but little else. He told her his name was Mike, feeling slightly more comfortable — and more than a little guilty. After all, he was engaged to Gloria. But the all-too-familiar-looking Gina was a pleasure to talk to – and as long as she set up the drinks, Mike would knock ‘em down.

By now, Gloria would have started pouring him coffee.

Way too many bourbons later, Mike was still looking for the right moment to confess to Gina that he was a traveler from the distant past. Of course, that would be stupid — but he had lots of questions that needed answers. First, he wanted to know more about his iPhone. So, he took a chance. Pulling it out of his pocket, he complained to Gina that it didn’t work. Gina knew what it was right away.

“Cool. An iPhone! Wish I had one. How much did it cost?”

Mike had no idea what it cost. He assumed it was probably expensive. “Way too much,” he said with a feeble smile. Gina laughed. “I know,” she said, “but they’re worth it.”

Mike handed the iPhone to her. “Looks like your battery’s dead. You just need to re-charge it,” she said, handing it back to him. She was sorry she didn’t have a charger. “You must be a high roller, Mike. You’re on the cutting edge of technology.” Mike smiled. If she thinks an iPhone is cutting edge, he mused to himself, how about a damn time portal? His head was swimming. There was something about Gina. Something familiar. She told Mike he could get an iPhone charger just about anywhere.

While Gina served her other customers, Mike listened to the conversations at the bar. He couldn’t keep up. The sports scores and current events were beyond him. He was fifty-seven years behind the times. He knocked back his last shot, bid Gina a too-flirtatious goodbye, and made his stumbling exit.

Weaving his way out of Zack’s, Mike made his way to a secluded spot on the beach that he knew well: a surfer’s cove where he’d camped overnight many times. There was a small cave at low tide, carved out by decades of pounding surf. He’d crash there. In the morning he’d get a car, charge up his iPhone and track down Horst – and Huber.

It was bizarre being stuck in the future, but he was determined to stop this mad Nazi plot and get back to Gloria, marry her, baby her up, and live happily ever after. That is, if he could make it back to 1951.

He was very drunk. And tired. So very, very tired. Soon, the crashing waves lulled him to a blessed, boozy sleep.

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November 4, 2025 · 9:01 am

My First Novel: Chapter Two

Okay. 15 likes is more than enough to trigger Chapter Two. Thank you all very much! I hope you enjoy it. It will take a total of 30 likes to release Chapter Three. This process is a bit like one of those old-time movie serials like “Buck Rogers” or “The Perils of Pauline.” You’ve gotta wait for that next installment.

Chapter Two

Cruising north through Malibu on his way home, Mike glanced to his left at the ocean. Through the rain, the moon was bright enough to see the white caps of the storm-driven surf as it surged toward the beach. This coastline was where he was born and raised. He’d conquered an early fear of the water to become a damn good surfer. His dad owned a small landscaping business: trimming, planting, and raking the lush yards of the high rollers who lived in the low hills to his right, overlooking the ocean. His parents didn’t want their only son pushing a wheelbarrow for a living – or worse, becoming a surf bum — so they saved up to send their golden boy to college.

Mike’s thoughts went back nine years to the months after Pearl Harbor. At the time, he was in his second year at UCLA. He remembered how his parents reacted when he enlisted in the Marines. They weren’t thrilled that he was delaying his education, but his dad had survived the trenches in The Great War and was proud to see his son do his bit. Hi mother could only cry and pray. Cry and pray. So, instead of getting his diploma and moving on to grad school, he got basic training at Camp Pendleton, dog tags, an M1 rifle, and the opportunity of a lifetime to go island hopping in the Pacific. The term “island hopping” always pissed him off. It was too cute. Like it was game.

Mike remembered “island hopping” all too well: that series of savage battles waged to capture strategic islands from the desperate, dug-in Japanese. Mike was lucky enough to escape the carnage on Tarawa with no more than a gunshot wound in his right arm. The bullet missed anything vital, so the medics patched him up and threw him back into the meat grinder. Mike figured he must have done something good on Tarawa before he got wounded because the Marines gave him a Bronze Star to go along with his Purple Heart.

He healed up in time to join the bloodbaths on the Marshall Islands: shell-torn strips of coral, sand, and jungle fever with crazy names like Kwajalein and Peleliu. He was always wet, always on edge, always exhausted — always a stroke of luck away from death. While managing to stay alive, he was promoted to sergeant and command of a rifle platoon. The lieutenant who had the job before him was blown to bits by a Jap artillery shell. That’s how advancement works on the battlefield: next man up.

He was leading his platoon on Iwo Jima when a Jap grenade ended his military career. He had no memory of what happened before and after that blast, but he evidently led his platoon well during the battle because the Marines sent him stateside with a Silver Star to go with his Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. His parents were proud to see their son come home a decorated war hero. But Mike didn’t feel heroic. He was just glad to make it out alive.

After recovering from his wounds at a San Diego military hospital, 22-year-old Mike went back to Los Angeles. On his first day home in Malibu, he got the Marine Corps logo tattooed on his strong right forearm in honor of his lost comrades — and looked ahead to the peacetime future.

All the beers he’d just downed at Zack’s made Mike woozier than he expected. Gloria had cut him off just in time. He prided himself on holding his liquor, but he wasn’t great behind the wheel right now, especially on the wet road. He sure as hell didn’t want to get stopped by the cops. That’d be a real pain in his ass. So, he pulled off PCH, parked on a bluff overlooking one of his favorite surf breaks, and continued to think about the past.

For a while, he worked with his dad in the landscaping business, but his parents urged him to go back to school, finish his education, and become a doctor. Planting some movie star’s palm trees was no job for a war hero. Mike agreed with his parents, but he couldn’t wrap his head around going back to college. Not after Tarawa. Not after Iwo Jima. Plus, he’d seen enough doctors, hospitals, awful wounds, and deadly diseases to last a lifetime. Medical school was not for him. He needed to do something else. But what?

One night, Mike was drinking at Zack’s with a Marine pal he met while convalescing in San Diego. Eddie had been an MP in the service, policing the waterfronts on hellholes in the Solomon Islands. Eddie had lost some of his hearing when an enemy shell blew up a nearby ammo dump on Guadalcanal. But Eddie’s MP experience helped land him a job as a Los Angeles cop. Eddie assured him that, given Mike’s impressive war record and his time at UCLA, he was a shoo-in for the force.

Eddie was right. Mike made it through the police academy with the ease of a veteran who’d been through basic at Pendleton and commanded men under fire. Mike went at the job of being a policeman like he was hitting some Jap-held beach. Bold and fearless. Some would say reckless. Within a few years, he rose from beat cop to detective. Very few guys rose in rank that quickly. It ruffled some feathers — but promoting a bona fide war hero made for a nice article in all the papers. It was good press for the LAPD brass.

Some guys on the force thought Mike was too aggressive, too inclined to act on his own, blind to department politics, and quarrelsome with his superiors. Mike knew they were right. But the only guys on the force he truly respected were the ones who fought and bled in the war. Guys like Eddie. To Mike, everybody else was play-acting. Hollywood cops. It wasn’t fair, maybe, but that’s how he felt. At least most days he felt that way. Most nights he drank.

And on this night, he’d guzzled down a few too many beers. Mike stuck his head out the car window and took a deep breath. The chill air and rain on his face had the right effect. His head was beginning to clear, but not enough to drive home safely. Not yet.

Beer – and before that, bourbon — helped to dull the pain in his hip, but that’s not why he boozed so much. He started drinking hard during his first year as a cop. It helped him deal with the fact that he’d traded one war for another. He was just wearing a different uniform. But this time, the killing served no higher purpose, and the end of the war was never in sight. Fighting crime in L.A. was like trying to root out the last of the Japanese dead-enders still holding out in caves on those bloody islands. Mike took another deep breath of ocean air.

God, he loved the water. The surf. The peace.

When Mike was feeling particularly unsettled, angry, or weary of seeing the worst side of postwar Los Angeles, he would head to Malibu to visit his parents and surf. But after his dad dropped dead of a heart attack while lugging a bag of peat moss up to some rich asshole’s hillside garden, Mike checked in with his mom less frequently. Her sorrow bugged him. What could he say to her? He’d seen thousands of young men in the prime of their lives die miserably on blasted specks of jungle in the middle of nowhere. He’d seen far too many innocent young people murdered on the streets of L.A. His dad was a 65-year-old man who died doing the job he loved: an Irish immigrant running his own business in America. Where was the grief in that?

Feeling like he was now just two sheets to the wind, Mike started his car and drove back out onto Pacific Coast Highway. After a few uneasy minutes driving in what was now a pelting rain, he managed to make it safely into one of the parking spaces below his apartment. Not a cop in sight. He’d gotten away with it tonight, but the last thing he wanted was to give his old colleagues on the police force the pleasure of the putting the big hotshot war hero in the drunk tank.

The rain drummed on the car roof as Mike leaned back in the driver’s seat and closed his eyes, his head swimming with beer and memories.

He’d been a cop for only four years when, after far too many run-ins with the department brass, his standing as a rising star gave way to a well-earned reputation as a hard-headed know-it-all with a stubborn streak and an unhealthy disregard for danger. When he got demoted from detective back to beat cop, he read the writing on the wall. He saw that, like his dad, it was better for him to run his own business. So, he quit the force in ‘49 and hung out his shingle as a private investigator. He swore off the bourbon and switched to beer. It was time to clean up his act. At least a little.

Young as he was for a private eye, Mike’s chest full of wartime medals and his detective experience kept him in paying customers among the Hollywood elite. But he soon found that tracking down missing rich kids, staking out cheating spouses, and fixing indelicate problems for folks with scads of money was even more soul crushing than battling domestic battery in Encino, gang warfare in Boyle Heights, and unsolved murders in Burbank.

He started taking fewer cases, avoiding the ugliest ones. He spent more time riding waves.

Two years after leaving the police force, disillusioned 29-year-old Mike was living in Malibu, more surf bum than private investigator. When he wasn’t working the occasional case that didn’t offend his increasingly prickly sensibilities, he was sitting on a stool at Zack’s Oceanside Dive, knocking back beers and mooning over a barmaid named Gloria: the one shining, unsullied light in his life.

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November 3, 2025 · 11:20 am

My First Novel

I’ve written in a variety of formats over the years: plays, comedy revues, poems, songs, sitcoms, documentaries, screenplays – even Bazooka Joe comics. But never a novel. Until now. I recently finished my first novel. It’s unlike anything I’ve written to date. I don’t intend to shop this novel. I’d just like folks to read it. So, I’m presenting the first chapter here. If, and when, ten people “like” this post – I’ll post Chapter Two. And so on. Enjoy.

MALIBU NOIR

A Novel by Paul Barrosse

Dedicated to my darling Victoria

And to Peter Barrosse

My Dad & Veteran of the Korean War

Chapter One

From where Mike Delaney sat on his stool at Zack’s Oceanside Dive in Malibu, the Pacific Ocean looked anything but pacific. A storm was building, howling hard across the Santa Barbara Channel.

The surf slammed into the jagged rocks and wooden pilings below Zack’s waterfront deck, yet the gal working the bar wasn’t concerned. The crashing waves shivered Zack’s timbers, but 20-year-old Gloria polished her beer and shot glasses with no hint of concern. She was cool. And she was hot.

Gloria and Mike had been flirting for a few months now. At least Mike thought she was flirting with him. He normally did pretty well with girls. He was tall and good looking. Ever since The Asphalt Jungle came out the year before, he sometimes got compared to the movie star Sterling Hayden. Guys would call him “Dix” just to needle him. Yeah, he did okay with the ladies — but Gloria wasn’t just another chick he was looking to score.

Gloria was nice to Mike, but it was hard to tell how much she liked him because she was so damn nice to everybody. Still, he sensed she was extra nice to him. Gloria was the best thing Mike had found since he got back from the war six years ago. Since he survived the war. Swiveling on his bar stool to better track Gloria’s movements, a sharp, painful twinge in his hip reminded Mike how narrowly he survived.

Gloria’s mother, Barbara, owned the joint. Her late husband Zack was an abalone diver who cashed out, sold his boat, and bought the bar from the original owner who moved back East after a Malibu wildfire swept down the hillside and nearly torched the place. Gloria planned to go to college, but when her dad suddenly died of a brain aneurysm, she began helping her mom out at the bar.

Gloria was no typical barmaid. She was special. And Mike Delaney was falling hard for her. He wished he could tell her how crazy he was about her.

He wished he felt better about himself.

Johnnie Ray was crying on the jukebox as Mike tried to get his mind off Gloria by paging through a leftover Los Angeles Times. There wasn’t much news out of Korea lately. The war had ground to a stalemate after Heartbreak Ridge. That was the Army’s show. And a bloody show it was. Mike had found out just a week ago that he knew a couple guys who bought it in that useless battle. He knocked back the rest of his second beer, then waved to Gloria for another.He turned to the sports section to get his mind off war and death.

Mike was a baseball fan, and a pretty good player himself. He started in center field for his high school team and played some ball in the Marines before he was wounded. But a makeshift diamond on a shell-blasted island in the Marshalls was nothing like well-groomed Gilmore Field, where his favorite team played. The Hollywood Stars had ended the ‘51 Pacific Coast League season with a record of 93 wins and 74 losses, but they only finished in second place. Mike soon tossed the paper aside. Winter was the worst for baseball news. There was nothing new on the Stars.

By now, Mike was into his fourth beer — with more to come. Nothing specific drove him to drink. He came out of the war better than a lot of his buddies. He was alive after all. But he didn’t feel settled. He wasn’t over it. Any of it, really. Zack’s was the one place where, gazing at Gloria, he began to feel he was in the right place at the right time. He was dealing with a lot of stuff. It was about Gloria, sure. But it was about a lot more.

By the time Patti Page was singing “The Tennessee Waltz”, Mike was two more beers into his evening. It was his birthday, December 10, 1951. When you’re born between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you learn life doesn’t revolve around you. You get lost in the holiday hubbub. From as early as Mike could remember, he tried to let things roll off his back. He tried not to sweat the small stuff. He practiced being easygoing.

It wasn’t always easy. And he didn’t always succeed.

Most private dicks were anything but easygoing — but the hardboiled thing wasn’t Mike’s bag. Not that his 29 years of life experience didn’t justify cynicism. Hell, total nihilism was an appropriate reaction to what he’d seen and done. But Mike wasn’t wired that way. He signaled Gloria for another beer. He wasn’t into the hard stuff anymore. Mike and strong booze didn’t get along.

Not very long ago, they got along too well.

Gloria handed Mike a new bottle of beer. “That’s number five,” she noted with a smile, before whisking away his empty and moving on to her other customers. Mike felt she served him with an attention she didn’t pay to anyone else. She was even counting his drinks. That proved Gloria cared about him. The goddess Gloria.

For Mike, it was just he and Gloria at the bar that night. Everyone else was a bit player — like extras in the movies being shot all over town, like some rookie on the far end of the Hollywood Stars bench. When the right time came, Mike would be up to bat, he’d knock it out of the park, and Gloria would be his!

With these thoughts in mind, Mike fumbled in his pocket.

It was still there.

He’d found a strange object earlier that day and didn’t know what to make of it.

Mike had been surfing the storm-driven swell off Point Dume and was walking back to his car when he saw something odd lying on the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway. It was a black rectangular thing about five inches long, three inches wide, and maybe a half-inch thick — heavy for its size. One side of it was metal and the other side was glass. On the metal side it had an image that looked like an apple with a bite taken out of it and “iPhone 3G” written in small letters. On the right side was a button. There were smaller buttons on the left side. Mike tried pressing all the buttons – and must have hit the right one because the object suddenly lit up!

A message appeared on what looked like a tiny television screen. The message was written against a light blue background in German. “Murphy’s Ranch Donnerstagabend 20:00.”

Then the screen went dark.

Mike tried to turn it on again — but no luck. Maybe its battery died. Did the thing even have a battery? What the hell was it? Mike tucked the thing back into his pocket and with an instinct born of detective work, he took out his small reporter’s notebook and wrote, “Murphy’s Ranch Thursday night 8:00.”

Lucky for Mike, German was basically a second language to him. His mother’s family left Hanover just before the First World War, and growing up, German was spoken quite a bit in his home. At UCLA, he majored in chemistry, but took some German classes for an easy ‘A’. When he enlisted, he played down his fluency, afraid he’d be sent to the European front as a translator. A surfer boy from Southern California, he preferred to serve with the Marines in the Pacific. Not that he ever got a chance to surf on Tarawa.

As Mike sat at the bar, mooning at Gloria, he ran over in his mind whether he should show the strange object in his pocket to her – whatever the hell it was. Would she think he was nuts? It mattered a lot to Mike what Gloria thought of him, if she ever did think of him. He decided it was best to keep the damn thing to himself and not mention it. At least not yet.

Mike was just getting to know Gloria. Weeks ago, he dared to ask how old she was — and was stunned to learn she was only nineteen. That she was so much younger than him, — and so innocent — made him nervous. She was just nine years old when the Japs hit Pearl Harbor! What could they possibly have in common? Was she too young for him? Are six bottles of beer too much? Was he too drunk to woo her? His vision of Gloria puttering behind the bar was getting blurry. It was time to go home.

Mike got up, trying not to appear drunk. He didn’t want Gloria to think he was a lightweight. As he got up off his barstool, the old pain shot through his hip, sharp and searing: a too-frequent reminder that the Marine medics didn’t get all the shrapnel out. But six years after a Jap grenade almost cost him his leg, Mike wasn’t feeling sorry for himself. The shrapnel lodged in his hip was a pain in the ass – but it was also a reminder of the injury that punched his ticket off Iwo Jima. Lots of guys didn’t make it off those eight square miles of hell. Sometimes Mike wondered if maybe some vital part of him got left on that volcanic slagheap.

“Hey, Mike!”

He turned to see Gloria advancing with a pot of coffee. “How about a cup of Joe for the road, cowboy?” She was playfully implying he’d had too much to drink — but Mike was thrilled to think she even cared. He drained the cup his goddess offered. Was she sweet on him, too?

Mike set his cup down and Gloria picked it up saying, “Happy birthday.”

“How did you know?”

She smiled. “You told me after beer number one.”

Mike was hoping she didn’t see him blushing as she pirouetted with the coffee pot and put it back on the burner. She glanced back at him for a moment. “Drive safe, Mike. See you tomorrow?”

Mike managed an unsteady, “For sure” and imagined himself blowing Gloria a gallant kiss as he floated out of the bar. The pain in his hip was dulled by the beer — and the pounding of his heart.

“Bobby Thompson got lucky!”

Abe and Iggy sat at the end of the bar, getting into it again. Abe Shatz was a Yankees fan. Ignatz Kalicky bled for the Giants. Ever since the World Series, they had the same argument at varying volumes. They were zealots. If Abe and Iggy weren’t arguing about baseball, they were arguing politics and the Korean War. Peace talks were underway in Panmunjom — but not at their end of the bar. Peace was impossible with those two. Mike was a big fan of peace. The brutal battles to liberate all those islands in the Pacific convinced him that peace was the only answer.

As he walked to his car, Mike could hear the ominous pounding of the surf. His mind wandered to the day, coming soon, when he would summon the nerve and declare his love for Gloria. He’d ask her to marry him — crazy as that might seem. In fact, he’d buy an engagement ring the very next day. He’d do the whole thing first class. She was, after all, the classiest girl he’d ever known.

But should he talk to Gloria’s mother first? Or was that old fashioned? Was he being an idiot? Did Gloria even share his affection? Wasn’t she sending all the right signals? Or did she see him as just another barfly? Should he ask her out on a date before declaring his love? A clap of distant thunder punctuated that thought.

His reverie broken, the shooting pain in his hip returned.

By the time he reached his car, he’d almost forgotten about the odd black object in his pocket. He climbed in behind the wheel and took the thing out to examine it again. The screen was still dark, but he remembered: “Murphy’s Ranch Thursday night 8:00.”

He took a last look through Zack’s window and caught a glimpse of Gloria shutting the place down for the night. Tomorrow, he’d get that ring and find his courage.

Mike’s apartment was less than a mile north of Zack’s, one of three small units in a rundown beach house along Pacific Coast Highway. As he drove home in his beer-fogged state, he pondered how he’d gotten to his 29^th birthday in such an unsettled state. He wasn’t always this way. He used to be more certain of himself: certain about what he wanted and how to get it.

He felt like he was at the beginning of a turning point in his life. It wasn’t just about whether he’d ever marry his glorious Gloria. It was the mysterious thing he’d stumbled on. The strange black brick in his pocket. It was “Murphy’s Ranch Thursday night 8:00.”

Drunk as he was, he was more excited about tomorrow than he’d been in years.

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Filed under Adventure, Art, Classic Film, History, literature, Novel, Truth

Tagged as books, Crime novel, Detective fiction, fiction, Film noir, Novel, Paul Barrosse, writing

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The PTC is Back for the Holidays!

A Glorious Hike in Yellowstone Park

My intrepid and indomitable wife Victoria and I traveled to Yellowstone National Park in August of 2017 (just before the total eclipse) and hit the many wonderful trails with gusto.

We enjoyed our walks through the various geyser basins – making sure to get up at the crack of dawn and arrive at each of these phenomenal landscapes early in the morning.

In the lonely morning quiet, we could appreciate the eerie, awesome geothermal sights and sounds — before the inevitable onslaught of loud, excited tourists.

We also loved our hikes in the fabulous areas beyond the amazing geyser basins – especially the day we hiked the south rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.

We expected to experience one particular hike – but fate intervened – and we had to embark upon another. But we were, delightfully, not disappointed.

Here’s our account of the hike we were able to take that day…

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Filed under Adventure, Beauty, History, Uncategorized

Tagged as geyser, guide to hiking, hiking, middle-age, outdoors, Paul Barrosse, Slightly overweight, The Reasonably Fit, Victoria Zielinski, yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

February 25, 2018 · 7:29 am

My PyeongChang Diary (Part 8)

My final full day in South Korea was a busy one that would take me from our hotel in Phoenix Snow Park to the Olympic International Broadcast Center, back to Phoenix Park – and on to the Jinbu Station: destination Gangneung.

I begin my day at 8:00 AM at the International Broadcast Center, about an hour away from Phoenix Park, depending on traffic. On this day, as the 2018 Winter Olympic Games are wrapping up, there’s no traffic. The IBC is a massive structure, built for the Games, which houses the central broadcast operations for NBC — and all the other networks covering the Games.

When I first arrived at this facility nearly a month ago (to get a bit of pre-Olympic tech training), it was a bustling hive of human activity. Not today. Aside from a few final events and the Closing Ceremony, the Games are at a close — and so is the IBC. We’ve come to deliver our 15-minute feature “20 Years of Olympic Snowboarding” — scheduled to air before the Closing Ceremony.

Here’s the edit bay we’ve been assigned to so we can listen to the final audio mix, make any last-minute tweaks, do some color adjustments — and prep the sequence to roll-in on air. This is a luxury mansion compared to the metal box we’ve been working in for the past month.

Likewise, the NBC commissary at the IBC is a 5-star restaurant compared to our “Kimteen” at Phoenix Park. I got a quality breakfast here to start what would be a long, adventurous day.

NBC is obviously (and deservedly) proud of its Olympic broadcasting history. I’m honored to be even a small part of such a fine tradition. As jobs go, this gig was one of the coolest ever!

Here’s the view outside the IBC. I’ve reviewed the audio mix for our feature — and now it’s up to our editor, Kevin, who knows the NBC ropes. I’m going back to my hotel to meet our executive producer and join him for the rest of my last full day on a journey to the east coast of South Korea.

First, I’ll have to determine which of these shuttles will take me back to Phoenix Park. The drivers speak very little English and I can’t read any Korean, so it won’t be a cinch.

Luckily, I find the right bus. These are no ordinary rides: they’re all tricked out. Every driver seems to have his own decorating style: lots of beads, fabrics and vibrant colors….

…and, of course, CURLING on the shuttle’s TV screen. Koreans seem to love curling just as much as Canadians. I’ve seen more curling than any other sport — and I’m COVERING snowboarding!

After I get back to our hotel, my executive producer, David, and I take a half-hour taxi ride to Jinbu Station — a brand spanking new train hub built to facilitate Olympic traffic.

We purchase out tickets to Gangneung from one of these competent young men. The process is very efficient — and tickets are not that expensive. Our train leaves in 15 minutes. So far, so good.

Here I am on the platform at Jinbu Station, awaiting the train to Gangneung. Will our journey be worth the effort? After a month confined to our Phoenix Snow Park compound — will we finally enjoy a legitimate Korean cultural experience? Our hopes run high.

Of course, like my bright, wonderful grandson — and my dear father before me — I love trains. So, just the sight of these freshly-laid tracks and the tunnel looming ahead fill me with anticipation.

And then — it’s here! Our train! And what a beauty it is. Check it out, Declan. Have you ever seen a cooler, sleeker train? I think I’m gonna love this trip.

We’ve got tickets for Car #6. But first, we’ve got to let the disembarking passengers off.

Here’s my boon traveling companion in his seat — ready for our ride to the coast. This journey was his idea. He has a lot of very good ideas.

Our train ride from Jinbu Station to Gangneung takes less than an hour. Here’s the inside of the terminal at Gangneung. As I said before — so far, so good.

David outside the Gangneung Station. Our plan is to take a tour bus, see the sights, find some tasty, authentic Korean food — and have a true Korean cultural experience.

The Koreans are definitely INTO these Olympics. They line up to have their photos snapped in front of the Olympic rings — flanked by the PyeonChang 2018 mascots.

Across the street from the train station, we find a “pop-up” cultural festival in what looks like a huge plastic tent– featuring everything from high-end cosmetics to hand-dripped coffee. Yes, there are Korean hipsters. And they LOVE their coffee.

Right next to the hipsters serving artisan coffees — these ladies in traditional garb serve tea.

Moving on, we discover a traditional Korean market — and encounter these drum and dance performers getting ready to do their thing. Looks like we’re about to have a real cultural experience…

By the way, Gangneung is a real city. After a month in the remote resort town of Phoenix Park, it’s exhilarating to be in the mix with so many Koreans in an urban environment.

Then we hit the cultural jackpot: this traditional Korean market is about six blocks long and four blocks deep. And there are very few tourists. This is the heart and soul of Gangneung.

Here’s a typical stall at the market. I don’t know what any of this stuff is. But David and I are getting very hungry just looking at it all.

I don’t what this woman was cooking — but just the sound and smell of this boiling pot was exciting. Besides, I thought I glimpsed garlic — and that’s enough for me!

We stopped at the stall on the right and sampled these skewers in a brown sauce. Delicious. We would later learn that they were some kind of buckwheat noodle in a spicy fish sauce.

Those who know me know I’d never eat whatever is swimming around in this pot. (Eeels?) But, once again, it was clear that we were deep into real Korean culture now. Next, we’d go EVEN deeper…

That’s right, folks. You’re looking at boiled ox head. We stumbled on a side street with four boiled ox head establishments in a row. The smell was powerful — the setting was steamy and dramatic. And the taste? Some things are best left a mystery.

After our trip down Boiled Ox Head Lane, we ran into these helpful ladies, there to provide information to tourists. They spoke quite a bit of English — and guided us to a local restaurant.

Not only did our helpful trio lead us to a great, authentic Korean restaurant — they brokered our meal with the proprietor. The haggling went on for about 10 minutes. We were REALLY having an authentic Korean experience now.

Once our menu was determined, the service was fast and attentive. We were the only non-Koreans in the place: just what we wanted.

Here’s our main course. All these veggies and lean beef boil down into a sweet and savory stew, cooked right at our table by the restaurant staff.

It may look like we just ate everything in the restaurant — but the Koreans like to serve a lot of sides: kimchee, rice, soy bean paste (wonderful!) and many other spicy vegetables. It’s glorious. Washed down with beer. (I’ve learned to abandon the white wine thing in Korea.) A wholly satisfying end to our Korean cultural journey. And to our 2018 Olympic adventure. 고맙습니다

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Filed under Adventure, Beauty, Sports, Travel

Tagged as 2018 Winter Olympics, Closing Ceremony, Gangneung, Jinbu Station, Olympic Games, Phoenix Snow Park, PyeongChang, PyeongChang 2018, Snowboarding, South Korea, television

February 21, 2018 · 8:02 am

Parkland, Revolution & Gun Control

2a-678x381 Okay, so I’m confused. Let’s review…

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads…

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” 2ndAmendment

As a student of English, I appreciate the specificity of the language – and the importance of punctuation. You can’t separate a parenthetical clause from the body of a sentence and reinterpret the meaning of the sentence to suit your ideology.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

gun_laws The Framers — our esteemed Founding Fathers – were clearly concerned (fresh from a Revolutionary War against Britain) that we have a well-drilled local militia ready to take the field and battle against foreign aggressors. Citizen soldiers (the famous Minutemen) were therefore, armed, drilled, and prepared to face foreign armies.

But foreign invasion is simply NOT a concern today. (Unless it’s a Russian-style cyber invasion.)

So, why do we Americans allow civilians to own military-style semi-automatic weapons? (Automatic — if you factor in bump-stocks.) Are the NRA-loving folks armed with such high-powered weapons members of a “well regulated Militia?”

I think NOT.

2nd-amendment-gun-rifle-right-to-bear-arms-pro-gun-t-shirts So, given that Our Founders were Englishmen (or, at least, descendants of English speakers) versed in the King’s English, they could not have envisioned the situation we confront today: untold thousands of high-powered weapons in the hands of paranoid people who aren’t members of a “well regulated Militia.”

Sorry, Wayne LaPierre, I call your bullshit. And so do the student survivors of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Like Australia – and all the other civilized countries in the world, we cannot accept mass shootings in our schools — or Country Music concerts — or anywhere else. color-Sec-amend-NRA