Richard Prosch

Award-winning Writer

Richard Prosch

Free Western Story: Not Much the Cowman

Slumped over in his sheepskin coat on a bed of bug-chewed corn husks in a Nebraska sod cabin, Mike Morris realized it was almost Christmas and he’d missed the fiery Ozarks autumn foliage for the first time in his life. Nothing helped his melancholy, not Slick Peterson’s dirty jokes, not Windy Bly’s sour smelling mash in the coffee. At the spindle legged cedar table, Slick fumbled with the slick glass chimney of a kerosene lamp that the wind kept blowing out, while Windy tilted back on the cramped room’s only chair, scabby bare knees showing through threadbare holes in his pants.

This story was free to read the third week of May, 2018.
“Not Much the Cowman” is one of several short western stories in my collection, Tough Job in Driftwood.
Each month this year, I will post a free crime story on the first Tuesday of the month, and a free western story two weeks later on the third Tuesday. The stories will stay up for seven days until the next week’s blog post.

Free Crime Story: The Luck of Frankie Irish

November 9, 1965: More than 52 years ago, my mom — six months pregnant with me — was stuck in JFK International Airport when the lights went out. Nobody expected the grid to be down for long, but the blackout stretched through the night into the next morning. At JFK, people drove cars up to the windows to shine headlamps into the terminal. Mom remembered a nice elderly couple who stood up and insisted she sleep on a bench while they watched over her.  The old guy rolled up his jacket as a pillow, and his wife shared her candy. Mom had several stories from that night, all good, all filled with the kindness and reasoned ingenuity of strangers. She never tired of telling about it. Me, I was in the dark anyway.
A few years ago I read Herbert Asbury’s terrific book, The Gangs of New York—which inspired a mid-century wiseguy character named Frankie. He bounced around between stories for a while until one day, I realized Frankie was at the airport on November 9.
I had to write the following story to find out why he was there.
This story was free to read the first week of May, 2018.
“The Luck of Frankie Irish” is one of several short crime stories in my collection, Season of Ice.
Each month this year, I will post a free crime story on the first Tuesday of the month, and a free western story two weeks later on the third Tuesday. The stories will stay up for seven days, and each will feature a “behind the story” post.