Open Salon is a community that uses the OS website to stay in touch with a core group of people who enjoy writing and discussing all kinds of topics. We, the writers, are the community; Open Salon is only a platform. We believe the OS platform has become… Read full post »

Geddes started the meeting without ceremony in a voice that never rose above conversational. He explained his temporary regression and asked if anyone else had experienced something similar. They glanced at each other, then back at Geddes. All shook their heads.

“Good,” he said, &ldqu… Read full post »

Al Geddes was surprised to see he wasn't the only one to arrive early for the meeting he'd called. A woman he'd not seen before sat at the conference room table with a notebook and a bottle of Aquafina water in front of her. Geddes had called the… Read full post »

Trueblood heard the barking as he stepped into Gladstone's office and saw his boss doing his “Bart” routine with what looked like a pink bowling ball perched atop the back of the upholstered chair in front of Gladstone's desk.

Gladstone's receptionist, Cathy, had left Trueblood at… Read full post »

Secord's computer guy couldn't make the lunch, but Trueblood hired him anyway. Secord had taken his boss to The Willard's Occidental Bar and Grill “...where Lincoln ate.”

“Here? In this room?”

“Dunno if this kitchen was here then, but The Willard was.… Read full post »

It had an effect similar to flipping a switch to cut the power to an enormous, complex piece of machinery – giant turbines, say, or a massive, noisy Goss press, which, in an intricate series of cleverly engineered twists and turns, converts miles-long ribbons of blank pulp paper into tru… Read full post »

“You're here early, Doris,” Harry Trueblood said to Doris Wexler, his secretary, who sat behind a desk in the outer office, which also served as a waiting room. She had inquired initially as to the advisability of her being the first face to greet visitors.

“I'm not the rece… Read full post »

Geddes had climbed out of bed, stretched and started toward his bathroom door when he became dizzy and lost his balance. Newgate saw him reach out a hand, as if groping for something to keep him from falling, and was able to grab him by both arms and ease… Read full post »

Gladys Alabi was the first to mention Al Geddes's absence at breakfast. It was her turn to cook and she was making buckwheat pancakes, which she knew was a favorite of his.

“Where's Al?” she said as she entered the conference room, arms laden with a platter of… Read full post »

The two men sat across the desk from each other projecting a tension that pinged in the air between them. The one behind the desk, the larger man, seemed stuck in a dieseling mode, barking his name at the other man, who sat straight in his chair attempting to maintain… Read full post »

It was his second day on the job – first without a guide – and Harold Trueblood was uncomfortable in the West Wing trying to walk with the confidence of someone who belonged there. He had to peek at the little map he carried in his pocket to make sure he… Read full post »

After a toilet break the company officers continued their meeting through a lunch of chili Newgate put together from scratch in the small kitchen off the combination conference/lunch room. Talk was broken at first with apologies for the slurping and burping and the shrill crinkling of Aquifina bottl… Read full post »

Warren Hendrian called the meeting to order by waiting until the room was ready, which he accomplished with motionless deadpan silence.  He sat at one end of the cheap folding plastic table, which concealed the flabby bulge of his lower abdomen even when he leaned back… Read full post »

Launched into the world for the day with a wet kiss and a butt pat from Miriam, Trueblood stood on the porch of his Georgetown brownstone and squinted into the morning fog, searching the street for his ride. He spotted steam spiriting up from behind two vehicles parked half a block… Read full post »

When Harold Samson Trueblood's wife, the former Miriam Bellamy of the Spokane Bellamys, told him at breakfast she was concerned about their son, Randy, he was secretly pleased. Trueblood was pleased even before he knew why his wife was concerned. His pleasure was twofold. Primarily it pleas… Read full post »

This gorgeous photo woke me up this morning.  The script underneath explains this was chosen among submissions to a site called Our Spectacular World.  There are links in the script for submitting photos.

CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS
We can't get enough great shots that/… Read full post »

An error occurred, then the error handler crashed while trying to handle the error. Whoops!

Here are the details of the original error:

SELECT * from salon.open.private_messages AS P LEFT JOIN salon.open.user_message_folder AS UMF ON P.message_id = UMF.mid LEFT JOIN… Read full post »

But I'm in!   Zimmerman needs to spend a night locked in the coop with me and my hens.

Just one night!

Read full post »

[Note: This image in no way represents my opinion or thinking on the matter.  It arrived in an email, and I felt compelled to nudge it onto a broader stage, for which I am prepared to endure the slings and arrows of the presumably many who will be deeply injured… Read full post »