Killing Henry
October 26, 2011 by Billy Coffey · 1 Comment
Image by Christian Ostrosky. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr
We buried Henry last week. It’s probably safe to say that deep down my family didn’t want to; despite the fact he never spoke and was never seen, we enjoyed having him around. But there are some things in life you just need to let die.
Henry first appeared over the summer. I was washing the truck, got sidetracked, and ended up leaving the hose running all night. My son found the mess the next morning and wondered aloud whose fault that was.
“Henry did it,” I told him.
“Who’s Henry?”
“Oh, you know Henry. He messes up a lot of stuff around here.”
It wasn’t the first time my son walked away from me shaking his head.
To read the rest of the story, head on over to The High Calling Blog where I’m guest posting today.
The penny man
August 18, 2011 by Billy Coffey · 3 Comments
image courtesy of photobucket.com
Walk with me for a moment. Won’t take long, I promise. I just want to show you something.
This street here? Leads to downtown. I’m not really a downtown sort of guy, for the past few months I’ve taken my workday lunch at the coffee shop just ahead. That one, with the steaming cup of cappuccino painted on the window and the tables outside. We’ll take a table. I know it’s hot out here, but you’ll be better able to see what I’m going to show you. And the iced coffee will keep you cool. My treat. In the words of the Penny Man, “It don’t suck.”
All these cars and people? Never seen them before. That’s the way it is in the city, right? So much randomness. But mingling around in all those people are some I see each time I come here. That little lady in the pink shorts walking her toy poodle? Every day like clock-work. And that something-year-old skateboarder looking fashionably apathetic by the lamppost in front of the antique store? He’s hung out there every day for the past four weeks. See? We all have our own routines and live in our own little worlds, but they overlap sometimes. We’re not as disconnected from one another as we think.
And then there is the Penny Man. See him? No, on the other side of the street. Nice-looking guy in the suit. Yep. Comes through about this time every day. Not sure what he does for a living. Probably a lawyer or something, since the courthouse is right around the corner there. He’s why I asked you to walk down here with me. He’s what I want to show you.
Why is he the Penny Man? Don’t get ahead of me. You’ll see, just watch him. There, see that? Missed it? Don’t worry. I don’t know how many times I watched him and missed it, too. He’s good, really good. See how his hand’s in his front pocket? Now wait.
There it is.
I’m guest posting today for Bonnie Gray over at Faith Barista, where you’ll find the rest of this post. Please stop on over and say hello.
Come on over
May 3, 2009 by Billy Coffey · 23 Comments
Hey folks!
Author of Snow Day and Paper Angels (November 2011), both by FaithWords. But don't let that fool you. I'm just as confused as anyone.
And that is fine with me, because the great thing about wandering around in the fog is that you never know what you might run into.
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