The month of June was a bonanza for this writer. My church, my local paper, and my VFW post all were eager to print my patriotic, short story, "Beyond The Call." I figured it didn't get much better than this, but it did.
In the week before the Fourth of July, an editor with the Hernando branch of the St. Petersburg Times called me, saying someone from my VFW post had given him a copy of my story. He asked to print it. I agreed, of course, and asked for the name of the member who had been kind enough to pass along the story.
I was given the name, but I didn't know the man. We were members of the same post in Ridge Manor, Florida, but with my living in Ellijay, Georgia, I was seldom able to attend a meeting. But even if I didn't know this individual, I was sure my brother did. I called him and explained that I had just spoken with an editor with the Hernando branch of the St. Petersburg Times, and he had received a copy of my story from one of the members of our VFW post. I repeated the name given to me.
"Now you have the rest of the story"
"Yeah," Ken said. "Charlie knows the editor in Hernando and said he thought he could get the story in that paper."
I thanked Ken for his help.
A few days later Ken's wife called. "You won't believe what your brother did after you called the other day."
I said there was very little my brother could do that would surprise me.
"Well," she said, "after you called, Ken thought it might be a good idea to call over to the paper to be sure they were going to print it."
"That was nice," I said, "but it probably wasn't necessary as the editor gave me a firm commitment the story would be in the Fourth of July edition."
"Yes, but you haven't heard the rest of the story."
"Sorry. What happened."
"Well, as soon as he got on the phone, I tried to say something. He told me to button my lip. I did, but I also listened as he spoke to the editor. The man said he'd never heard about the story. Ken jumped all over the guy. Told him one editor had called and said the story would run. The man apologized for the foul-up and asked if Ken could fax a copy over immediately. Ken said he'd do it as soon as he was off the phone."
She paused for breath and I said, "I didn't expect a screw-up."
"You still haven't heard the rest of the story," she said.
"Oh? So what happened?"
"As soon as Ken was off the phone and firing up the fax machine, I asked him if he'd heard what you said. He said, 'Of course, you think I'm an idiot.' I smiled at him, you know that smile he hates to see because I only use it when I know I'm right."
"And then what?"
"I repeated what you had said, that it was an editor for the Hernando branch of the St. Petersburg Times who had called you."
"That's correct."
"Well, your brother called the Hernando Times."
"That's a different newspaper."
"Yep," she said with a snicker. "Now you have the rest of the story."
Bob Burdick is the author of The Margaret Ellen, Tread Not on Me, and Stories Along The Way, a short-story collection that won the Royal Palm Book Award.
The month of June was a bonanza for this writer. My church, my local paper, and my VFW post all were eager to print my patriotic, short story, "Beyond The Call." I figured it didn't get much better than this, but it did.
In the week before the Fourth of July, an editor with the Hernando branch of the St. Petersburg Times called me, saying someone from my VFW post had given him a copy of my story. He asked to print it. I agreed, of course, and asked for the name of the member who had been kind enough to pass along the story.
I was given the name, but I didn't know the man. We were members of the same post in Ridge Manor, Florida, but with my living in Ellijay, Georgia, I was seldom able to attend a meeting. But even if I didn't know this individual, I was sure my brother did. I called him and explained that I had just spoken with an editor with the Hernando branch of the St. Petersburg Times, and he had received a copy of my story from one of the members of our VFW post. I repeated the name given to me.
