A Storytelling Feast

What does a football, a hopelessly muddy field, a 10-pound catfish and a deathbed confession have  in common? You can find out the Saturday afternoon after Thanksgiving, when I tell my funniest stories from The Colorful Characters of St. Louis, my other Reedy Press books and the rest of my writing career. In keeping with the season, I’ll tell one of my Christmas stories or two.

All of the stories will all be part of “Colorful Characters, Things and Christmas Stuff” starting at 2 p.m. Nov. 26 at The Royale, 3132 S. Kingshighway Blvd. on the South Side. Royale owner Steven Fitzpatrick Smith did a great job hosting the book release/launch party for the The Colorful Characters at the start of October. So I had to come back for this extravaganza of stories for all ages.

If you’re curious, everything in the first sentence above comes from my story “A True Story: How Granddad, Mule, and a Catfish Beat Russellville: A Rainy Day Tale for Thanksgiving.” It’s tells of a time a century ago when my granddad, Sid Duerr, and his cousin, Mule Duerr, led the Coal Hill (Ark.) High School football team to victory over the bigger (and always better) Russellville ( Ark.) High School team in their annual game on Thanksgiving Day. I’ll read about it from a column I wrote for the old South Side Journal. Of course it’s true, because granddad never lied. Mostly.

You may think you don’t have time for something like this because you’ll be out Christmas shopping. No worry, because my books will be on sale. They make great great gifts at a great price. Besides The Royale has the best drinks and food for the moment you can’t stand another bite of turkey. That’s no story.