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    No Definite Plans: Eleven Stories of Laughter, Love, Travel (Townsend 11, Vol 3)
    No Definite Plans: Eleven Stories of Laughter, Love, Travel (Townsend 11, Vol 3)
    No Definite Plans: Eleven Stories of Laughter, Love, Travel (Townsend 11, Vol 3)
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    No Definite Plans: Eleven Stories of Laughter, Love, Travel (Townsend 11, Vol 3)

    By Townsend 11

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    About this ebook

    The Townsend 11 collective of award-winning writers keeps the momentum going with eleven more stories of laughter, love, travel, and imagination.
    The first volume, No Fixed Destination, engages readers with heartfelt memoirs and lessons learned. In the second volume, No Set Boundaries, the essays move from observation to reflection to action. The third volume, No Definite Plans, muses about routine events spun into chaos, draws wisdom from experience, and delves into novella-style fiction.
    Jacqueline Yau gets things rolling as she musters up strength to control the call of nature while floating downriver through Peru's Amazon jungle. Barbara Robertson dashes off like Speed Racer in an animated day-in-a-life ride through California airports, press meetings, and a series of blunders. A surprise, free-spirited spectacle in a cathedral in France turns heads and gets Bill Zarchy thinking about paradise lost.
    The contemplation continues with Jennifer Baljko wondering about the primal need for women to bond while at a bathhouse in Morocco. Dana Hill paints a tapestry of Midwestern scenes and sentimentalities that will resonate with anyone who has returned home. Carol Beddo considers the impact Ethiopia's emperor will have on her personal life. John Dalton and Larry Habegger unlock more mysteries by peeling back the emotional complexity of the after-trip effect and the inevitable passing of time, two themes which reflect back on all of us.
    Marking Townsend 11's debut into fiction, Bonnie Smetts and Y.J. Zhu introduce Dr. Sarin, a doctor in India, and Li An, a widow in China, compelling characters who seek comfort, joy, and a new lease on life, while Jacqueline Collins narrates a modern fable showing the power language has to connect or disconnect people across generations.
    If you like the adventures published in Travelers’ Tales, Lonely Planet, and other creative anthologies, you'll enjoy this bundle of thought-provoking stories. Townsend 11 aims to delight, entertain, amuse, and inspire readers of all ages.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTownsend 11
    Release dateDec 9, 2011
    ISBN9781609520625
    No Definite Plans: Eleven Stories of Laughter, Love, Travel (Townsend 11, Vol 3)
    Author

    Townsend 11

    Townsend 11 is a collective of eleven writers (including one who’s been living in Barcelona for several years) who meet monthly in a converted brick warehouse on Townsend Street in San Francisco. We are committed to sharing stories that enlighten, entertain, and inspire. Our work is an eclectic mix that has been widely published in major magazines, newspapers, and books, and has earned numerous awards. Now, in this age of e-books, we’re launching a series of works to engage you.

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      Book preview

      No Definite Plans - Townsend 11

      No Definite Plans

      by

      Townsend 11

      Eleven Stories of Laughter, Love, Travel

      This collection is an original publication of Townsend 11.

      Copyright © 2011 by Townsend 11

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an information storage and retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

      Cover Design: Bonnie Smetts

      Cover Photographs: Top: © Bill Zarchy

      Bottom: © Barbara Robertson

      ISBN: 978-1-60952-062-5

      Smashwords Edition

      Contents

      Introduction: Finding Our Way

      Larry Habegger

      Marking Territory

      Jacqueline Yau

      ’Toon Trip

      Barbara Robertson

      No Problem: A Modern Fable (Fiction)

      Jacqueline Collins

      A Visit from H.I.M.

      Carol Beddo

      Shampoo Sisters

      Jennifer Baljko

      Chartres: Ecstasy at the Altar

      Bill Zarchy

      Adventure and Postpartum Depression

      John Dalton

      The Sale

      Dana Hill

      Changing Seasons (Fiction)

      Bonnie Smetts

      Apartment (Fiction)

      Y.J. Zhu

      Who’s Aging?

      Larry Habegger

      Acknowledgments

      About Townsend 11

      Introduction: Finding Our Way

      Larry Habegger

      At our monthly meetings on Townsend Street in San Francisco’s South of Market district, one thing we can always count on is a good laugh. Townsend 11 is a spirited group of writers, with lots to say about writing and travel and the world, and we always have a good time together. So it feels appropriate to lead off our third volume of great stories—No Definite Plans—with a little humor.

      Jacqueline Yau’s account of bladder control on an Amazon expedition may have you biting your lip to avoid feeling her pain, but you’ll also learn why flocks of butterflies cluster at special places on the riverbank. Barbara Robertson takes us on a whirlwind tour from San Francisco to Burbank’s animation studios that is one part Pepe Le Pew and many parts Roadrunner after she wakes in bed ten minutes before departure.

      Carol Beddo shifts to matters of the heart in 1960s Ethiopia when she discovers the emperor knows about her relationship with a young professional in the emperor’s own circle, and now His Imperial Majesty is curious about her. Jennifer Baljko finds a new sisterhood when she casts off her inhibitions and makes her first foray into a Moroccan hammam (bath house), learning how vital a role this sanctuary plays in the lives of Moroccan women.

      The unexpected comes into play when Bill Zarchy and his family take a tour of Chartres Cathedral and witness how a sensitive soul can be overcome with the cathedral’s grandeur, while John Dalton discovers that the cost of high adventure can be a surprising emotional letdown. Dana Hill’s return to South Dakota to help with an annual garage sale brings emotions that fall inside the realm of the expected, but the confirmation she receives from the big weather, big sale, and extended community tells her a more important story about her life.

      Then, in this volume we make our first foray into fiction. Bonnie Smetts and Y.J. Zhu traverse the fault lines of cultural change through the eyes of a middle-aged dentist in India and a retired widow in Beijing. And Jacqueline Collins channels Rip Van Winkle in a charming tale that sheds light on why no problem can be such a problem.

      Spanning the themes in No Definite Plans, from humor to cultural dislocation to the perspective that travel can provide, my story closes out this volume with a self-deprecating look at the reality of aging, gazing across the night sky to a home faraway and the awareness that time never stops in our world.

      This volume of stories is at once eclectic, thoughtful, and funny, and I have no doubt that you will be transported, and at least a little entertained.

      For more on Townsend 11, get a copy of our first two volumes, No Fixed Destination: Eleven Stories of Life, Love, Travel and No Set Boundaries: Eleven Stories of Life, Travel, Misadventure. My introductions to those books explain who we are, how we got started, and why we call ourselves Townsend 11.

      Marking Territory

      Jacqueline Yau

      My bladder is about to burst and I’m on a boat in the middle of the Madres Dios River surrounded by jungle. Beads of sweat pop up all over my brow under the brim of my 45 SPF adventure hat. My arms have gone numb and I’m shaking like a junkie deprived of a hit.

      Binoculars everyone, commands Ricardo, our jungle guide. He sits on his king-of-the-hill perch in the covered, flat-bottomed boat, elevated ten inches above the rest of us, clutching his giant binoculars. I’m one of seven tourists being led by Ricardo and his three male crew members into the pristine Manu Biosphere Reserve in Peru’s Amazon jungle. My fellow travelers include the Robinson family from the Yorkshire Dales with doctor-father Simon, doctor-mother Jane, 14-year-old son Tim and 11-year-old daughter Kate; South African-World Bank honcho Chris; and another Kate, an American law school student from Yale.

      It’s the last leg of a five-day trip. Each succeeding day has stripped away more and more of my inhibitions and the need to look good as I battled incessant insect bites, high humidity, and compromised hygiene. But even observing the surrounding wildlife marking their territory so freely—woolly monkeys letting loose with golden showers or green winged macaws releasing their droppings in mid-flight—I’m still not ready to lean over the side of the boat and give everyone a show while I answer nature’s call. I don’t need a port-a-potty; I just need a discreet spot. And I’ve already asked once if we could stop.

      Look, at three o’clock. Sulphur butterflies near the bank. Blue, yellow, and white. Ricardo’s mellow voice with its rolling Rs and big, easy cadence reminds me of lovers salsa dancing and gentle island breezes. I think of rolling waves washing ashore…of sloshing water, and damn it, of the pulsing, tortuous pressure against my bladder. That’s it. I can’t listen to Ricardo’s voice anymore.

      Humans must have taken a ‘break’ there, Ricardo continues, blissfully unaware of my now violent reaction to his voice. He adds another fun factoid: Butterflies gather where people urinate. Apparently, they’re attracted to the minerals in the urine. That distracts me for a nanosecond. Let’s stop. We’ll be doing a service to the other groups coming after us. They’ll view a colorful butterfly spectacle: The dance of the butterfly brigade on the mineral sandbar. I’ve got a wealth of minerals to share.

      Ah…Ricardo? Simon, the proper English physician dares to interrupt this serene and contemplative tableau with his clipped and proper tones, Can we take a break? He’s a man after my heart. Brilliant idea.

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