Step back in time to 1980 in New York City. “Step lively” — what the subway conductors used to say in the early 80’s in New York City — describes Jill, as she and her husband Alex step lively in adjusting to living in Manhattan. In their move to the city, they realize a long held dream, and struggle like all of us, to find their place in the world.
Each tale is a slice of life of the “ordinary,” the minutae of daily life. The tales can stand alone, but as a whole they make up the mosaic of Jill’s life back then. As she and Alex discover the city, we see the unraveling of love and dreams against the backdrop of change.
A cast of others join the couple in their world: a businessman from Iceland the night John Lennon is shot, a restless philosopher, a born-again come-to-Jesus elevator man in their building, a talking parakeet, Jill’s grandmothers, Jill’s bicycle. Almost a character in the collection, it transports her through the streets of her beloved Manhattan. Much of what we see is from the handlebars of her bike – from them we explore Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side and get glimpses into the city’s loneliness and its rapid changes. We see the direction Alex and Jill’s lives take in this constantly changing landscape that is New York City.
From a desert highway in West Texas to the plains of frontier Kansas to an abandoned mine in New Mexico, from a courtroom to a high school girls’ speech contest to a nursing home, from the side yard of a suburban home to a youth revival to the halls of an urban high school, K.C. Knouse puts the main characters of the thirteen short stories and novella included in this collection into circumstances that challenge assumptions they have made about themselves, their lives, and the world in which they live:
The mother who is estranged from her son.
The young woman who has doubts about her relationship with an older man.
The widower who struggles to accept the death of his wife.
The young man who is fearful of becoming his abusive father.
The homesteader who fights to redeem his pride.
The aging salesman whose livelihood is threatened by technology.
The father who relives his past at the expense of his relationship with his son.
The boy who discovers that having money creates as many problems as it solves.
The veteran teacher who crosses an emotional boundary in spite of herself.
The teenage boy whose relationship with God is complicated by a pretty girl and a misunderstanding.
The woman who doubts her decision to put her husband into a nursing home.
The man whose faith in the justice system is shaken.
The high school girl who is self-conscious about a birthmark on her face.
The middle-aged insurance adjuster who receives more than he bargained for when he comes to the aid of an attractive woman.
K.C. Knouse uses compassion, humor and an eye for detail to bring these characters to life and bind their stories to your heart.
K.C. Knouse is the author of Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, a collection of short fiction, A Short Stack of Short Fiction, Three Character Driven Short Stories, and a non-fiction book, True Prosperity: Your Guide to a Cash-Based Lifestyle (1996, Double-Dome Publications).
Knouse began writing for publication in 1985 and has had his short fiction published in print literary magazines and online at Wattpad.com. He wrote a personal finance blog, LiveOnCash, from 2010 to 2021.
A career outside salesperson, Knouse enjoyed a forty-year career in the printed products industry. He spent most of his career as a self-employed person.
K.C. Knouse lives on the U.S./Mexico border in far west Texas. More information can be found on the author’s website, KCKnouse.com.