Tales of romance, neighborhood rivalry, odd psychological events and enduring family ties in the tree lined streets of our community were among the entries in the Rossmoor Homeowners Association’s fiction writing contest for 2012. In its fourth year, the contest had 17 stories entered, all with a high level of creativity, literary quality and empathy.
The judges selected “New Beginnings: A Rossmoor Romance” by Karen Gardner the winner and “The New Fence” by John Boland as the runner up. In addition, two other entries earned honorable mentions: “The Patient” by Vince Carfi and “Out of the Blue” by Chuck Sullivan.
The contest is sponsored by the RHA and a local business. The winner will receive a $200 gift certificate to the restaurant. The runner up and the honorable mentions will each receive $50 gift certificates.
Our judges for the contest are Susan Denley of Los Alamitos, associate features editor for a newspaper, who has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years. She is also an avid reader of fiction. The second judge is Coralyn Fouts of Anaheim, who teaches literature and composition at Cal State Fullerton and Irvine Valley College. She has a master’s degree in English literature.
“Rossmoor Romance” is a tale about a single young woman embarrassed by having to move back into her parents’ Rossmoor home and the unlikely encounter that follows with a handsome young man.
Denley and Fouts wrote that they were “impressed by the quality of the writing, the humor and the exploration of what has become a common scenario in Rossmoor and elsewhere: an adult moving back into the family home.” When the protagonist is forced to walk her mother’s pet rabbit, the authors said they could feel her discomfort.
“The New Fence” is a “story about two irascible neighbors whose feud gets out of hand,” the judges found. It is “well-paced, effectively told mostly through dialogue and had us laughing out loud, especially when the parrot starts squawking “cheapskate.”
“The Patient” is a clever comedy about a person who awakes after a 40-year coma with some strange mumbling that confounds a Rossmoor psychiatrist. And “Out of the Blue” is an inspiring story about a long lost son who turns up on a Rossmoor doorstep one day and is reunited with his father.
All of the entries represent the tremendous creativity that goes on every day in Rossmoor by people who draw, write, cook, make music and create things of their own design. The RHA board of directors is gratified that the writers shared this wealth with the larger community. The entries will be posted in coming weeks on the RHA website: http://www.rossmoor-rha.org/index.html.
The following is an excerpt from Karen Gardner’s story “New Beginnings: A Rossmoor Romance.”
The walk of humiliation. That’s what this was…carrying boxes of my belongings from my apartment into my parent’s home in Rossmoor. Their pristine home was nestled between two rows of oak trees announcing it was fall with their rust and gold leaves cascading onto the sharply manicured lawn. This is a “Leave It To Beaver” neighborhood, only Wally and The Beaver were not miserable failures like I am and would have never moved back into their parent’s house at the age of 30. The neighbors, The Williams, waved to me from their porch as they sipped espressos while sitting on their country white porch chairs. It was like a Norman Rockwell scene except I’m sure the Williams were whispering “Too bad Lauren can’t seem to make it in the real world like our precious Brittany.”
“How are you Lauren?” Mrs. Williams shouted.
“Great, Mrs. Williams,” I tried to smile back. “Congratulations on Brittany graduating from Medical School.”
“Oh, thank you,” she retorted. “Did you hear she’s engaged to a surgeon?”
“Oh, congratulations,” I replied.
Great! Now my mother has ample ammunition to fire at the dinner table tonight. I can hear it now, “When are you going to find a husband? Don’t you want to date? You need to get out there and try.” Yes, can’t wait for these helpful pearls of wisdom.
As I walked in the front door Mom screeched, “Lauren, can you do me a favor before dinner?”
Get married and have six children? “Sure, Mom, what is it?” I relented.
“Can you take Fredo for a walk while you take this casserole down to poor old Mrs. Krandle?”
NO! NO! NO! Anything, but that! “Mom! I’ll take the casserole, but I will not walk Fredo!” I insisted.
“Please, Lauren!” Mom pleaded while plotting to unleash a fresh load of guilt. “I don’t ask much of you and I can’t walk Fredo. My bad knee is swollen again.”
“Mom! Rabbits do not need walking! In fact it’s highly abnormal to walk a rabbit! Just let him run around the back yard,” I pleaded.
“No!” She yelled. “A hawk or coyote will get him. He needs to be walked.”
As I carried the pink fabric casserole cozy in my left arm, Fredo’s leash was dangling from my right hand. He would hop two or three hops and then stop to sniff the grass or stand on his hind legs to get a whiff of air from the light breeze. I stand corrected…this was the real walk of humiliation.
For the entire story, see the web site: sunnews.org
Gary Stewart is the president of the Rossmoor Homeowners Association.
