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Richard O. Benton
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  • Litchfield, CT
  • United States
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Richard O. Benton posted blog posts
yesterday
Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Hilly Smedge

THIS STORY IS some about my family and my life, the trouble I got into and choices I will shortly make that will change my life, one way or another. I’m finally and truly in love. I see no way free of this dangerous course I follow. I am at a crossroads.Do I tell the truth, there to reap the reward or suffer the consequences, or do I hide my past and hope he never finds out? I write this to paper first. Having written it, I will examine it like I’d had a conversation with a friend and make my…See More
Jul 8
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Looking Down

It is best to keep in mind that this experiment in storytelling requires the reader to accept the premise of a disability as tailored throughout. It might require a paradigm shift, i.e., instant suspension of disbelief at the get-go. Above all, keep in mind that it’s fiction. Now you are as prepared as you’re going to be.ΩΩΩ"I LOOKED AT Sally and what did I see? I saw Sally, looking at me.”I think okay but I mutter or blurt in rhymes and it’s a rare condition and I can’t help it. The medical…See More
Jul 1
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Haiti Alone

I AM RENE Michaud. I am seventeen and Salé is fourteen. When the earthquake comes, we are in our home in Port au Prince, 12 Rue Galat. I am reading a book on chemistry from the local library for my school project and Salé plays her fan over the head of her beloved brother to cool him.I say, “Faster Salé; it is too hot.” She laughs in that high giggle I love to hear and moves the fan more at my head and she ruffles the pages of my book with the wind of her motion.This day is twelve January. It…See More
Jun 24
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Good Mistake

BACK IN JULY, my wife and I drove to Pittsburgh to see some relatives. We weren’t really close, but we decided to visit on hearing that old Uncle Gregory had cancer and wasn’t doing well. I’d known Uncle Gregory pretty well as I grew up. They’d lived in Litchfield on the next farm a half mile away. Aunt Maggie baked just the best hot muffins, as I recall. We’d go on over maybe two, three times a month. As a youngster, Uncle Gregory’s stories fascinated me and I always had fun in his old…See More
Jun 17
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Hard Times

THIS STORY IS true, although qualified. That is to say I have the date right and the initial circumstances are true. Fantasy begins where truth leaves off. I want the reader to understand that the fine line between fantasy and reality is often blurred. The outcome of this story may not be fantasy at all.Sometime during the night of June 4, 2010, perhaps during the early morning hours of the 5th, a borrowed Hav-A-Hart small animal trap disappeared from our back deck. No part of the deck is…See More
Jun 10
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

From a High Place

DARK CLOUDS GATHERED above the hills and blotted the sun for a minute. Like a trigger, Bonnie’s mind turned inward and dark clouds swelled within. Don’t go there, she thought. She tried to create a neutral mindset while she sat, kicking her feet idly over open space, and waiting.Looking past her feet, she squinted to better inspect sixty-foot pines five hundred feet below. Beyond the stand of pines, verdant fields spread out, plunged and disappeared into the dark of a valley. Far away, a tiny…See More
Jun 3
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Sarah and Samuel

I HAD AN interesting day, today. I met someone at the corner of Main and Farnum Streets. I’d arrived a moment or two after her. She stood silent at the light post waiting for the buzzer so when I moved to the post to position myself for crossing, I didn’t notice and bumped into her.It’s strange I didn’t smell her.I’ve been blind for years, a childhood accident. During that time I’ve had to learn to get along. My sense of smell is excellent, as is touch and hearing. Developing them has leavened…See More
May 27
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Elephant in My Pocket

THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC ALLEY reached a long way back and brick walls on either side towered many stories, dimming the bright shaft of sunlight a few feet away. Squinting, I tried to discern "Fred," the guy my friend Brian said would meet me. Brian had many contacts. I’d told him what I wanted and he raised an eyebrow, but said he could make it happen. He asked how much money I wanted to spend and I told him. A few days later…See More
May 20
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Cobwebbed Memories

SHE DIED ON July 14th. Gram lived ninety-nine years, Adele Phylura Rampitz in life, most of her years were good ones; I mean robust and healthy ones, not good in the sense most people think about it.Toward the end, the last five years, she suffered from old-timers disease and a couple of things changed. The razor sharp mind, having sawed away at life and all she came in contact with for nearly a century dulled. As her surviving heir, I found that reasonable, as I knew from my reading that not…See More
May 13
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

The End

I PUSHED THROUGH the thinnest part of the brush, unaware of what loomed ahead. I couldn’t see more than a few feet, but right after I parted the last of it I saw the house. It blended into the background. It surprised me. I’d found an intact structure, a two story affair with a peak roof. Covered with green painted clapboards the identical shade of the greenery surrounding it made the owners’ intention clear.I eyeballed the place for several minutes before moving. It appeared no one had been in…See More
Apr 29
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Requiem for America

I REMOVE MY glasses and as my vision blurs, a bright flash outlines my little cellar window. I’m on the edge of my seat watching TV in my basement. My wife is upstairs, probably sleeping. Did I care?The dazzling light comes through the sunken window-well from outside through bars I welded onto the metal frame to discourage burglars. They outline the other side of the room with surreal, distorted shadows. What the hell?As I begin to panic my mind reviews why I put the bars in. My area of town…See More
Apr 22
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Soldier's Return

I STOOD OFF to the side out of the jumble of people. Dangling from my hand on the Government Issue breakaway chains they gave us, my dog tags jingled flatly. Cheap metal, I thought. I stared at the train.It stopped to let me off with a few other people and now began to move again, its job done. Now I had to do mine. I had to get a place and find a job. How would I do that? I knew how to kill, but that’s not very useful in civilian life, on the right side of the law, anyway.Though the only…See More
Apr 15
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Bubbles

I LEAVE NORFOLK, VA on U.S 13 in an Army truck and head for Cape Charles. In my mind I see the three bridges and two tunnels connecting this magnificent twenty-three-mile feat of highway engineering over and under the Chesapeake Bay ahead of me, scary miles, not for the distance, but because of my mission.I’m carrying U. S. Government Issue ADY. It’s ten times more explosive than dynamite. I’m talking high grade, kid glove, super volatile stuff.Every part of the route has been checked out by…See More
Apr 8
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Images of Terror

IMAGES COME AT me like shrapnel from an exploding shell. A tremendous force holds me stock-still, pushed against my seat, rooted there. I look into the leering face of the Grim Reaper.God, oh God! This fire in my brain!Flight 1185 from London, JKF minutes away. Passengers screaming. I might be screaming, too. I get a momentary out of body feeling as my cold, logical self watches my feet push stupidly against the floor.Death happens to others, not to me. I look downward and see the cockpit below…See More
Apr 1
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Richard O. Benton posted a blog post

Last Day

THEY'D EVACUATED THE office building in Kabul and called Al and me in to disarm the IED. Business as usual, except for the sixty second timer Al accidentally started when he jostled the bomb. Taliban sense of humor. I had to go to work fast at that point.I’d grabbed my bomb kit and headed out with Al. He's my second. He drove and could hold a flashlight, but I got the fun job. I assumed my kit had all the…See More
Mar 25
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Profile Information

Are you an author, publisher or future writer?
Author and publisher
My Books..
I Wish I May, A Tale of the Fourth Millennium
Moonlight Man
The Mission
COMPILATIONS:
LWG Anthology (2007)
LWG Anthology II (2010)
WWG Anthology III (2014)
My Website
http://richardObenton.com
My Blog..
http://www.richardObenton.com
Are You a Speaker?
yes

Richard O. Benton's Blog

My Old Farmall

Posted on July 22, 2017 at 9:13am 0 Comments

BACK IN ’38, same year as I was born, Pa bought a Farmall tractor, brand new. He got a good price from Jed Wright, who owned the West Torrington Sales Company. He told Pa the company be changing the design and likely going to name them with letters instead of numbers. Pa didn’t care about that. He’d heard from Hezekiah Brown who had a big farm up in Goshen that the F-14 tractor was a tip-top fine machine…good enough for Pa.

We jawed about it days when we worked the fields together…

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Pigeon Cove

Posted on July 22, 2017 at 8:58am 0 Comments

TODAY’S MY BIRTHDAY and I’m twelve. Mama promised me I could climb the hill early if I wanted and I wanted so I did, like in my dream. The most amazing thing just happened.

I’ve got a secret. I want to shout it to the world, but inside I know I shouldn’t tell, not even Mom, ‘specially not Mom. I don’t know why, well, maybe I do. But I got to tell somebody, so I’ll tell you ‘cause you’re my best friend, but you got to keep it a secret, cross your heart, okay? C’mon, cross your…

Continue

Hilly Smedge

Posted on July 8, 2017 at 7:22am 0 Comments

THIS STORY IS some about my family and my life, the trouble I got into and choices I will shortly make that will change my life, one way or another. I’m finally and truly in love. I see no way free of this dangerous course I follow. I am at a crossroads.

Do I tell the truth, there to reap the reward or suffer the consequences, or do I hide my past and hope he never finds out? I write this to paper first. Having written it, I will examine it like I’d had a conversation with a friend…

Continue

Looking Down

Posted on July 1, 2017 at 7:59am 0 Comments

It is best to keep in mind that this experiment in storytelling requires the reader to accept the premise of a disability as tailored throughout. It might require a paradigm shift, i.e., instant suspension of disbelief at the get-go. Above all, keep in mind that it’s fiction. Now you are as prepared as you’re going to be.

ΩΩΩ

"I LOOKED AT Sally and what did I see?

I saw Sally, looking at…

Continue

Haiti Alone

Posted on June 24, 2017 at 1:30am 0 Comments

I AM RENE Michaud. I am seventeen and Salé is fourteen. When the earthquake comes, we are in our home in Port au Prince, 12 Rue Galat. I am reading a book on chemistry from the local library for my school project and Salé plays her fan over the head of her beloved brother to cool him.

I say, “Faster Salé; it is too hot.” She laughs in that high giggle I love to hear and moves the fan more at my head and she ruffles the pages of my book with the wind of her motion.

This day is…

Continue

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At 11:48am on August 17, 2012, doma jovita said…



Hello
jovita is my name
i was moved to write you for a heart2heart discussion when
i came across your page.so If u dont mind,write me directly with this mail ID,
(domajovita@yahoo.in)i will send u my photo

At 2:32pm on July 22, 2009, Kirk D. Sinclair said…
Greetings,

I've recently joined the CAPA web site and wish to join the "larger" body. I have an application form I can send in. Peggy steered me to you to ask about what the prorated membership fee would be. Thanks in advance.
 
 
 

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