SAINTS AND SCHOLARS
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Picture
Brother

Michael Cornell
Jackson Colkan had made the biggest single endowment
to his alma mater and the second and third largest as well.
He had made similar contributions to worthy institutions
until he had been lionized, canonized and marginalized by
a skeptical media.  He had also waived the one dollar annual
fee he had been accepting from the twelve company boards
of which he was a member.  The last of which relinquishment,
Titanium Star Ltd., completely cleaned out his bank account
and, the doubting media proclaimed, his mortal soul.
Then he took the most drastic measure of them all:
he swore off and walked away from the very industry
that had made him his fortune:  Computers, namely
the social media niche that had rewarded him beyond
belief and well past reason.
Fortunately, Jackson Colkan was still only twenty-seven.
I was that same age when I met him.  I handed him a bowl
of soup as he made his way through the line in the church hall.
"Father Carroll told me you have an old Royal manual typewriter,"
he said. "He also told me you were a Franciscan brother for a time."
"I know all about you, too," I returned his foreknowledge of myself.
"How come you didn't hack it as a brother?" he grilled me, taking
a sip of his soup without a spoon.
"I liked the meditating but I didn't like gardening and I didn't like 
making my own clothes."  I added:  "And I like girls too much."
"Come on," he chided me.  "We all like girls. Can I use your type-
writer?"
"Why do you need a typewriter?"
"I want to write my mother to explain myself."
"What do you have to explain?"  I asked.
"Why I've been doing what I've been doing-- and I want to hear the
words going down on the paper."
"That's too bad," I broke the news, "because I sold my typewriter
this morning to a guy who collects them.."
That was the first and the last I ever saw of Jackson Colkan and that
was four years ago.
Since, I have sold six stories to national magazines, all written on
the same computer.  I have acquired a wife.  And I have a small son
who looks mostly like me.
Father Carroll, meantime, tells me he received a nice shirt from Colkan
for his birthday.  Brother Jackson who loves gardening and making his
own clothes.
And meditating a lot.
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  • Home
  • Contact
    • Roadmap to HEAVEN >
      • Suit to Kill, Slip to Thrill
      • Title Index >
        • A Letter From Your Secretary
        • 8086
        • A Woman's Pride
        • Aliens or Angels?
        • Alpha Beta Traitor
        • Amy And Amy And
        • Are You Telling Me?
        • Baby Blue Sunbeam
        • Ballpark Hero
        • Barn Quilts
        • Beautiful with Braces
        • Because it Still Rains
        • Bend
        • Better
        • Better Yet
        • The Big Yellow Elopement Machine
        • Blind Date
        • Brother
        • Cadmium Gold
        • Calico Charms
        • Caramels
        • Carrie Me Back
        • Cat in the Corner Chair
        • CATCH from 13 Stories
        • Cat's Eyes
        • The Cherry Spot
        • The Closer Wins a Steak
        • Cloud
        • Coffee Shop HEARTS 2
        • Company
        • Confessional
        • Confetti
        • Cover!
        • Cover Art Gallery
        • The Dad Who Was 24-Feet Tall
        • The Day the Avanti Didn't Start
        • Days of Christmas
        • The Devil Sells His Soul
        • Double Sugar
        • The Ebullience of Being Elaina Brightman
        • Escape
        • Everybody's Teddy
        • Fall of Winter
        • Fatal Flaws
        • Final Final: The Last Newspaper
        • Forgiveness Day
        • The Girl as Good as Mozart
        • The Girl Who Never Was
        • Girl With Backpack
        • Grand Lady
        • Guardian
        • Hard-Boiled, Soft-Headed
        • The Heart of an Unknown Soldier
        • Help Wanted, Hope Needed
        • Hurt
        • I Am Afraid of My Feelings
        • I Don't Care if I Ever Come Back
        • I Will Be Leaving
        • I Wonder Where He is Now
        • In the Throes of Coca Coma
        • Jailhouse Judy
        • Jigsaw
        • Kansas City
        • The Kid Goes 0 for April
        • KISS
        • Kiss Me, Kate-Lynn
        • klick-klock
        • The Last Elevator Girl
        • Lawyer Vs. Rodeo Rider
        • Library Doors
        • Lighthouses
        • Loft in Space
        • Lookalike
        • Love Nothing Novel
        • The Lunacy and the Lace
        • Man in the Big Pajamas
        • Mermaid
        • Morning Jog
        • Mr. In-Between
        • My Brother's Science Project
        • A Nice Quiet Space
        • Nine
        • Not Fields Afar
        • The Note
        • On Briarwood Roof
        • One-Two Punch//Delivered
        • One Way Ticket
        • Out of Limelight
        • Parallel You
        • The Passenger
        • Perfect
        • Physical
        • Pitch Count
        • Polaroid Manipulations
        • Portrait of Genevieve
        • Pretty Dresses, Petty Thieves
        • Pretty, Ugly
        • Proposal
        • PurgaStories
        • Red Chair to Mars
        • Reentry
        • Return to Fine Arts
        • The Ride of a Lifetime
        • Run-Run Runaway Caboose
        • Saturday
        • Secret Game Workshop
        • Shadows
        • Signals
        • Slideshow
        • Slugger
        • The Small of Her Back
        • Southpaws
        • Spelling Bee
        • Spring of Summer
        • Starry Night
        • Stewart Survives the 7th
        • Stuntgirl
        • Stopover
        • The Stowaway
        • The Super Secret Planet Finder
        • Tail of the Lake Monster
        • Team Bus
        • Telephone
        • Tow Me
        • Turret
        • Usherette
        • Varsity
        • Veranda Nights
        • Wicked Curves
        • We
        • Where's Your Faith?
        • You
        • You Kill Me
      • .005 >
        • Prayers Answered >
          • Postcards
          • Pitch Count
          • Where's Your Faith?
          • Spelling Bee
          • You Kill Me
          • Cruisin'
          • Casey's Comeback
          • Archives
  • Library
  • Omnibus
  • Parables
  • Love Stories
  • 5-Minute Stories that Last Forever
  • Miracles
  • Healing
  • Meditations
  • PurgaStories
  • Scenes of a GT Hawk
  • PRETTY WOMAN
  • A CUPA DONUTS
    • The Miracle at Multiplex 4
    • Moon Over November
    • THE JOURNEYMAN >
      • Strangers on the Shore
  • Wait Worthy