Rich: Southern murder gothic (Part Two)

In Walterboro, SC, kindness hangs in the air like moss in the oak trees, providing a gentle whisper of invitation. This is what people call the Low Country since it sets near or below sea level on the coast.

Rich: Just a little talk

Tink enjoys looking out a window to see me meandering through the yard, talking to imaginary people. Usually, I’m working out a story but, not infrequently, I’m talking to someone special. Recently, I was out in the yard, picking up limbs from River Birch trees which prune themselves, constantly.

Rich: Ronnie Green’s gift

A few days ago, I went by the hospital to visit with a close friend, whose mother was ailing something terrible. That particular hospital has grown into quite a monstrosity since I was born, there when it was a small three-story square building.

Rich: The Tam

In our kitchen, the large round table is often embarrassingly messy, covered with mail, packages, newspapers, and magazines. Try as I might, I cannot keep it cleaned off because the amount of daily mail we receive is astounding, sometimes six inches high.

Rich: The ugly shirts

When Tink came South, toting all his worldly possessions, included in the myriad boxes were some of the ugliest shirts I’d ever seen. Until Tink began to happily pull the beloved plaid shirts from storage, I don’t believe I had ever looked at a man’s shirt and thought, “Yuck.”

Rich: Bill Curry is still a class act

Tink and I attended a holiday dinner party, preceded by cocktails, in a fancy high-rise hotel in Atlanta. The event was to celebrate the newly released catalog of Mercer University Press, the publisher, which I have taken to calling the best publisher in America today.

Rich: Tink’s accidental stardom

Quite by accident, I have made Tink a star. I, without thought, have done what the biggest stars in Hollywood could not do. Mary Tyler Moore didn’t do it. Neither did Bruce Paltrow (who, by the way, I mourn that I never met. He died too young.). Mark Harmon. Denzel Washington. Will and Jada Smith.

Rich: Nicole’s wisdom

“In so much as it is within your control in a situation, be kind.” My niece, Nicole, was telling me about a family meeting that she and her husband, Jay, had recently conducted with their five children. That commandment was the meeting’s foundation.

Rich: The photo and the Bible

It happened 15 years ago yet the memory sticks to me like cotton candy to a child’s hand. I still puzzle over it. Paducah, Kentucky, was a stop on a Mississippi riverboat cruise for which I had been hired as a storyteller. When the boat docked, I strolled down the picturesque streets.

Rich: The good doctor

It was two years ago, around eleven in the morning on a Thursday. I was in our bedroom where, more often than not, I tucked in to write.