Tag: Geisler
-
Thua Thien
Sunday, 21 June, 1970 — Thua Thien Province, Republic of Vietnam, and Tuesday 7 June, 2017, Grass Lake Charter Township, Jackson County, Michigan The foothills on either side of the Ashau Valley in the province of Thua Thien are marginally less disgusting than the lowlands, especially in the month of February when it doesn’t get…
-
Fired
11 Jan, 2017 — Ann Arbor, Michigan Waking up is like tearing himself out of a chrysalis of covers and confusion. In the world he inhabits, composed of one part waking and two parts dream, the struggle seems to last forever. It takes forever for Bill Geisler to even remember who and where he is,…
-
Whitmore Lake
11 January, 2017 — Whitmore Lake, Michigan The territory around I-94 in the no-man’s-land between Jackson and Chelsea is mostly open fields. Wind can basically come all the way from the North Pole and have nothing to slow it down but barbed wire. And with how cold it’s been, the snow that fell a week…
-
The only ones who know
January, 2017 — Grass Lake Charter Township, Jackson County, Michigan Patrick Leonard walks restlessly around the big common room of the Cedar Knoll retirement community. At this time of the afternoon on a Wednesday there would normally be at least a few people in here relaxing or working on small projects. Today, however, it is…
-
It’s happening again
5 January, 2017 — Ann Arbor, Michigan By the time Bill Geisler wakes up for his new work week, it’s four-thirty in the afternoon and sunset is only a couple hours away. He sits on the edge of the bed to collect himself, then forces himself to get up and open the light shades. Westering…
-
Arriving
4 October, 2016 — Ann Arbor, Michigan Geisler is just getting his jacket on in the room that serves as an office and break area for security staff, when the door opens and Shawn comes back in, looking glum. “What’s going on?” Bill asks him. “You forget something?” Shawn should be taking his place at…
-
Routine
October, 2016 — Ann Arbor, Michigan This late in the year the sun doesn’t come up until seven, an hour after the end of Bill Geisler’s shift at the Comerica Building. He hasn’t bothered to ask about extending his hours further. It was hard enough convincing the building management to give him a shift-and-a-half at…
-
Waldron Road
13 April, 1987 — near Addison, Michigan The rain picks up the moment they pull out of the parking lot and just keeps getting heavier as they work their way through town and out to the highway, heading west. Geisler had been planning to use the flasher for a little extra speed on the way,…
-
Blood Lake
April, 1987 — Ann Arbor, Michigan At two a.m. Bill Geisler has discovered entire new classes and families of noises that the office can make on a breezy April night, none of which he has ever noticed in the daytime when the place is full of boisterous, amused, angry, sarcastic, complaining, argumentative people. First there’s…
-
At the Golf Course
April, 1987 — near Addison, Michigan Gravel crunches under the car’s tires as Leonard slows to a stop in the Devil’s Lake Golf Course parking lot. “You called, right?” Geisler asks with some concern, looking around at the empty lot. “Yes, William, I called,” Leonard answers. “He said he would be here. Let’s at least…
-
Harold’s Place
April, 1987 — near Cement City, Michigan “All right, one more toast gents,” Tony states. “And then I’m off to the accommodations for the evening. We got an early morning tomorrow, and a bucketful of bluegills with our names on them.” “Tony, you ever think about running for mayor?” Leonard asks. Bill and Patrick, the…
-
The Freaking Meaning of Life
April, 1987 — Ann Arbor, Michigan At least the office late at night is quieter than it is during the daytime, but the small hours of the night do not add any magic or mystery. The rows of desks stacked with paperwork do not look any neater, and the florescent lights that hang from the…
The Wolverine Truck Stop and Motor Lodge 