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Springtime in high school should be a time for blossoming love, but it’s also time for baseball.  This was a big dilemma for Marty, who wasn’t sure which one he should pursue, and was disappointed that the Frosh-Soph baseball team…

“He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned.He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.” — Kris Kristofferson Academically, Marty was doing quite well at school,…

All too soon, the rains of autumn washed away the ebullience of summer in the redwoods.  The first brisk storm cleaned the dust off the boughs, and all the needles glistened in the air like jade-colored rice.  The thirsty ground…

After his recent debacle of ineffective wooing, Marty desperately needed something to boost his morale, and more importantly, his approval rating at school.  Everybody was always talking about parties, so why not throw a big one?  They had a huge…

Fortunately, Marty had a perfect outlet for his anger: the football field.  In his first game back from his knee injury he played some cornerback to cover for Mike, who was nursing a sore shoulder.  His job was to hurl…

With school, football, and transportation challenges taking up most of Marty’s waking hours, he wasn’t spending much of his time at the ol’ Rusty Bucket Ranch.  Having a life away from home was good, but also had its drawbacks.  One…

There were several football practices scheduled before the school year began, and Marty always found a way to get over the hill one way or another.  One time, he rode his bike the entire eight miles, and that was a…

Marge came to drive Marty and Susie home from summer camp in her smelly Toyota pickup, which was beginning to look rather beat up from life in the boonies.  While the other kids were getting into in big, shiny cars,…

The morning after the wildfire, the odor of burnt grass lay on top of the little Western town the way tarpaper covers a shack.  The campers were somber and subdued, and the occasional girl who giggled or boy who yelled…

The next morning Marty looked for Lisa at the flag raising ceremony, and she smiled and waved while her cohorts whispered in each other’s ears and pointed, flashing their eyes in his direction.  In the chuck wagon for breakfast she…

When Marty returned to the Rusty Bucket Ranch from his ersatz backpacking excursion, everyone was talking about the Teton Dam collapse up in Idaho.  It was an earthen dam that broke, much like Peter’s Dam up at Kent Lake, which…

The temperature was rising, and the school year was winding down, but still the Rusty Bucket Ranch remained damp and muddy.  The surrounding hills were carpeted with thick, emerald green grass from the abundant rainfall.  By the solstice they would…

The damp darkness continued for weeks in that narrow redwood canyon, until even the humans felt like fungus.  Many of the clothes in Marty’s closet got mildew stains, and had to be thrown away.  A leather jacket given to him…

The days leading up to Christmas got colder and darker.  Near the solstice, with the sun low in the southern sky, not much light filtered down through the trees to their little cabin.  The creek remained full and clear from…

The day after Thanksgiving, Marty rode over the hill with Marge and Magical Michael to help out at the pet store.  This was traditionally a big shopping day, and Pat was having a huge sale on animals.  She only discounted…

The autumn woods welcomed Thanksgiving with cold rain and a warm hearth.  The colorful curtains on the tree house had long since been taken down, and Julie moved back into her little walk-in-closet of a room.  The Rusty Bucket Freezer…