ROPE & BONE Stories

Rope & Bone is a novel-in-progress made up of thirty-four story/chapters told in several different voices, spanning a time period from 1955 to 1993. The novel opens in 1984 on Chicken Farm Road when Del Merrick, an art teacher living without plumbing or electricity, enlists help in changing a flat tire from Carla Morletti, a member of the Pagan Biker's auxiliary now studying for her G.E.D. Neither woman has any idea how this chance connection will reroute their lives and the lives of their children. The first section of the novel, “Wildest Dreams,” flashes back to pivotal moments in the two women's lives. Part 2, “Castanets,” tells of Carla and Del's misadventures as they try to raise their kids, get their old cars started on subzero mornings, and put in enough wood to get through to April at the same time they're testing their theory: a good man's hard to find. In Part 3, “Shelter,” Carla and Del's friendship darkens as their children's lives become more chaotic.

Rope & Bone is Book 1 of a trilogy-in-progress. Night Navigation, Book 2, which was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on April 14, 2009, focuses on Del and her son, Mark Merrick. I am currently working on Book 3, Common Descent which turns back toward the Morlettis: Carla and her daughter and son, Tess and Rudy. Each of the novels is written to stand alone.

Ten of the Rope & Bone story/chapters have already been published in various literary magazines; several have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Any readers who would like to know more about the Merricks and the Morlettis may access nine of these stories through this Web site. A different Rope & Bone story will be presented each month beginning in April 2010 (to mark the release of the paperback edition of Night Navigation) through January of 2011.

Click here to read the January 2011
story, “ MESSAGE 1993”

ROPE & BONE Stories

April: OUT OF THAT BED 1963
In which 13 year old Carla finally calls the police.

May: WINTER 1969
In which Carla, her husband, Steve, and 3 year old Rudy make a run for it.

June: RESCUE 1973
In which Carla and 7 year old Rudy set out on bald tires to rescue Steve from the Lovelock Motel.

July: AND WE SELL APPLES 1977
In which Carla reluctantly attends an AA meeting with Steve and he says he may take the pledge. Tomorrow.

August: AMENDS 1982
In which Carla's father dies and she returns home for the first time since she ran away at the age of 15.

September: CIRCLING 1984
In which Carla has a Tupperware Party in order to prove to the court she's a fit mother.

October: CASTANETS 1985
In which Carla and Del make a night journey to Long Island to bail out Rudy who was busted at a Dead concert.

November: ROPE & BONE 1986
In which Steve, back at Carla's for his Sunday visitation with Rudy and Tess, surprises Carla and Del with the coos of a pigeon.

December: ROAD WORK 1992
In which Carla gets a REAL job driving a big roller on a road crew while she thinks about how to save Tess.

January 2011: MESSAGE 1993
In which Del's son, Mark, tries to figure out how to get his girlfriend to the abortion clinic while bike-messaging in NYC.