An Anthology of Short Stories, Poetry and Favorite Quotes

1 AnAnthology ofShort stories , Poetry andFavorite Quotesby"Jayce"Prepared with love, joy and appreciation by his son, Floyd MaxwellINTRODUCTIONIt is not every child that is raised with Zen koans, war-time flight instructorretellings of near-misses and first-hand accounts of trips to Egypt andChina!My father was a most interesting man. In fact many people have told meexactly that, sometimes with a stern warning-glare that added "I don't knowif you appreciate it or not!" Well, I did appreciate Jayce, enough to want tocreate and freely share this Anthology of his musings over most of his 80years of don't need to add much to these writings, except to say that one of myfather's Favorite Zen sayings was:"When you're 90% of the way, you're half way."It took me several decades to finally understand the wisdom in this phrase,and I think it highlights two of my father's most unique qualities -- a lifelongcuriousity and a his keen sense of "knowing when you know".

2 Thanks Dad for being the greatest tennis coach I could have had, for beinga friend on the weekly bike rides into town for Saturday "fun shopping",and most of all for always being a true thus the best friendanyone could ever MaxwellPrincipal, Just Think It ! OF CONTENTSOne More Day6It's About Time8 Aphorisms10 The Applicant15 Back To Pink Floyd17Mr. Barrett, The Butcher22 Some of the Reasons Why You're Glad You Never Played Bridge27 Business31 Campsites And The Group33 CIMLAM36 Confusing41A Country Called Ontario42 Cycling In Peking A Risky Adventure46 Daisy and Harry48To Be A Dancer49 Dear Sir,56 Seniors Discover The Land And Themselves On Cycling Tour57Do You Window63 Fear Is Not Enough65 Evening People67 Family Money69A 'Foreigner' -- Lost Among Million Strangers71On The Road To Forever74 The Great Wall Of China: Remarkable Engineering Feat76I Like The Stars79My Heroes80 Hold-Up83 Inhale85 Invasion86 Jonesy88 Love On The Stock Market90 Once More The Masters94 The Melting Forge of Consciousness98 Molten In Time99 Moments100 Mood Flash101 Munday102 Not More Dancing!

3 105 Orchard Mystery108A Break In The Pattern110 Picture From The Past113 Playoff Hockey115 Precious Gifts117 Purple And Gold118 Pyramid And Its Builders Mystify Traveller126 Queeny129 Senior Cyclists Questioned On Trip132 Home On The Range134 Rebel137 The Road Home140 The Sounds Of Mahler143 Space Station Heaven145 Spartan Life But With Deep Meaning For Chinese148 Lady And The Stones150 The Stranger153 Summer Freshness155 Take Life157 The Tenth Symphony158 Then And Now160 Seniors Cycle Coast To Coast / Time Out166 Toast Anybody?168 Tennis On A Table169 Understanding172 War And Peace175 Warmers178A Way To Lose184 Five Stones186 Wheeler189 Winter Ride191A Word On Writing194 The Yogurt Maker197 Young Feelings199A Zen Sunday201 Appeared May 13, 1988 in The Penticton HeraldOne More Day The dawn sky was a description. Good enough to beskipped over in a reading, but stared at in practice.

4 Thisearly sky was just that way, a spectacle formed by a hugedome of grey shaped as a massive lid that had been lifted afoot or so above the horizon. Soon the dawn sky would riseunderneath. The figure sat alone on the edge of the world. Hisslightly bent body was quite still, topped by a lined were merely coverings. The lotus position suggestedan emptiness and patience. The eyelids, partially open asthe sky, he seemed to calmly await the furnace of the sun toroll back the cloud cover, as a large telescope opening forbusiness. Slowly and minutely his planet moved down to greet thebrilliant tip of the sun's circle, as it rose out of theearth's shadow. The thin slice of gold was like a messageto him -- a confirmation of a new day. He sighed gently inawe of the magic of a dawn miracle that had been performedmillions of times before.

5 He mused upon the steady state ofsun star and planet, considering their relative movementswere a hundred times faster than a jet aircraft. He continued to pay homage to the expanding disc oflight that almost hissed and rumbled with nuclear violence,yet seemed so calm. The bend of the sun's line rose higherto become a diamond of white fire. The term 'sun-rise'amused him, when the action was really due to the oppositeeffect, namely an 'earth-fall'. The sphere was now suspended in clear space. It washard for him to accept that it, too, was in free fall,moving through the galaxy dragging his planet along. Hebegan to feel the weak glow of its warmth, and eased hisposition on the hard ground. He meditated upon billions oftons of matter in rapid motion without notable expenditureof energy. And the distance away was so great that a jetwould take about 7,000 days to travel it!

6 His contemplation deepened a little, something like thedetachment he felt when driving his car without But the deep cloud cover today was to beimpervious to the sun's authority. In fact the gold rosehigh enough to be consumed by the cloud. It suddenly turnedcool again, and the ground seemed a little harder. As asignal, he rose, stretched and slowly moved away, hands inpockets and head bent into a rising breeze. Once more he had paid homage to Nature, his only of the work force on the move came to him. Trafficwas increasing and soon children's voices on the way toschool and, finally, shoppers. Once more he counted less than a month now,according to best medical assurance. Each dawn scenebrought new strength and serenity and understanding; yetmaking more profound his aloneness and soon-to-be departure. "Living should be made compulsory since death isoverrated," he 's About Time The first letters of complaint to the editors made verylittle impression on the general public.

7 But when thesubject was aired on open-line programs it was a differentmatter. Had seniors suddenly, on mass, all gone soft? Whatthey proposed was even more satirical than the voting of PatPaulsen for President. They sounded too old to be seniors. Their complaint was about that most abstract andintangible of substances - time. They felt that theircriticism of time contained a message for every person onthe planet who one day expected to grow old. An eight-foldmanifesto had been drawn up with a strange list ofcomplaints. And an even stranger list of incredible document now lay on the Prime Minister'sdesk. Perhaps I may refresh you on what I remember of theirdiscomfort with time. In essence they said: (1) Days slide by as though stuck together. Some weeks appear about 2 days in length. They found themselves agreeing with Mahatma Gandhi who once said "There's more to life than increasing its speed.

8 " (2) As well as time moving too quickly, days were too much alike. All days appeared like Saturdays and Sundays so looking forward to a weekend was meaningless. (3) Nighttime was definitely longer than ever. The dark hours dragged. Clock hands only moved when you finally gave up and went to sleep. (4) Getting dressed for a social outing had to be done much sooner than before or they would be late in leaving. They said all clocks went excessively fast during this period. (5) Time was handled very poorly when catching a flight. Often people arrived over an hour ahead of schedule. (6) Distortion of time took place at football and hockey games. Both one hour games taking up to three hours to complete.

9 (7) Seniors were being victimized playing sports like tennis where the time interval between ball returns was shortened making the game faster. (8) When looking forward to happy events, time dragged. Poor events like a trip to the dentist came to quickly. In all, time was much too capricious. Seniors even added that young people were listeningfaster these days. And they quoted the sign in a Japaneseinn that said "Sleep faster, we need the pillows." Theirrecommendations for change were inventive, bizarre and thestuff illusions are proud to be made of. They said to slow down the planet's rotation by firingretro-rockets until the day becomes two days in length,making time run at half speed. To slow down the year wouldrequire a super booster to put us in a wider orbit, takinglonger to go around the sun.

10 This would make the year lasttwice as long, people would then retire at the age of 33 andget married at 12 to 14. An alternate proposal suggested adjusting all clocks torun at half speed. Kind of neat to have one's pulse rate atabout 30 to 35. All sport clocks would run in real timelike in soccer. A late goal in hockey might be scored inthe 179th minute. On the subject of all days being alike, they suggestedthat the day of the week be sky-written in huge letters,perhaps even in different colors or patterns. A glance upwould make older people feel a little closer to themainstream of things. Since gentic magic had not been invented to give them ayounger, more balanced feeling towards time, this was theirearnest request for parliament to budget for these if rocket powered maneuvering was approved they wouldbrace themselves that day and tighten their seat belts.