- Recently, I've been getting e-mail asking for closure
about various people, places and things I've written about over the last
two-and-a-half years. In my experience, life is filled with mysteries,
large and small, that never get solved, so in my writing I try not to deliberately
leave loose ends. Nevertheless, due to popular demand, here are some "Live!
From Paradise!" updates:
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- # The Not-So-Good Ole Boy in the Black Pickup Driving
Around Shooting Dogs. Turns out there was no such person. Something else
was happening, and the Black Pickup was a diversion. What was that something
else? Can't say, not yet. But the Paradise dog population seems safe for
now.
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- # The Ghost Dog. As long as we're on the subject of canines,
this just in: The Cloud Creek Ghost Dog probably isn't Gwen the Beautiful's
and my lost dog Draco. Nor is it Emmy the Bold's short-lived puppy. How
do I know this? My source is Delly the Interstate Trucker. She came forward
the other day with the news that the original owners of our property also
saw a ghost dog. And, no, they didn't have a clue as to its identity, either.
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- # Youngest Daughter Amber. In her relentless pursuit
of life on the edge, Amber spent a year studying art in Florence, Italy,
then returned to the good ole U.S.A. and fell in love with a guy Gwen and
I think is the best. However, there's a catch. Amber's twin flame is an
adventurer by both vocation and avocation, and as I write this they're
living on a 40-foot wood sailing yacht, outfitting it for a trip around
the world. How do I feel about this? Umm how would you?
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- # Burl Jr. the New Groundskeeper. Burl Jr. recently played
to a packed house on Beale Street in Memphis. And only half the audience
was comprised of old friends who drove out from Paradise to see him. Gwen
and I sat and beamed during two sets. If Burl Jr. doesn't make it as a
blues man, it's not going to be because of anything he's done or hasn't
done. It'll be because the music industry is in transition - and no one
in it understands what to do with new talent of his type.
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- # Bob the Very Careful Cat.The bad news for Bob, our
cat who lived behind the oven for years, is that his loyal friend and protector,
Baggy, died last summer, suffering a heart attack walking around the outside
of the main house from the back door to the front in 100-degree heat. The
good news, though, is that without his bodyguard, Bob has become more sociable.
Instead of running off whenever he sees me, he stays where he is - usually
on the bedroom window sill - and glares at me until I move on. Hey, at
least now I know we've got a cat!
-
- # Buck the Ex-Navy Seal. I haven't written about Buck
lately because he and I had one of those falling outs where you never really
get in each other's face, you just sort of avoid that face instead. I think
it's been my problem more than Buck's. He and Delly bought themselves six
horses when the horse market bottomed out a year-and-a-half ago, and instead
of wishing them well I became envious and looked for things they were
doing wrong with the horses instead of helping them do everything right.
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- My criticism wasn't exactly welcomed. As it shouldn't
have been. And, no, we still haven't talked about the situation. But maybe
now that I've made myself write this I'll be able to knock on their door
and say what I need to, and maybe then we'll be in each other's lives again.
-
- # The Wind and Other Voices of the Universe. I haven't
been writing about them much recently, either, but our conversations continue.
The problem is that the more I learn about life, death and everything in
between, the more I realize how much I don't know.
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- Or, as the Wind mentioned to me just the other day: "Closure?
Ha! Want to know the real Secret of the Universe? It's two words: 'Stay
tuned.'"
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- Copyright C 2007 by Larry Brody. All rights reserved.
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- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at <mailto:LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org>LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org.
Brody, his wife and their dogs, cats, horses and chickens live in Marion
County, Arkansas. The other residents of the mythical town of Paradise
reside in his imagination.
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