Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Kicking Against The Goads
    Kicking Against The Goads
    Kicking Against The Goads
    Ebook41 pages38 minutes

    Kicking Against The Goads

    By Darrel Bird

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A down and out man takes his dog Boomer and goes on a road trip to Vegas to find work. Things go worse for him as he finds himself in an automobile accident on the blinding snow covered roads of Utah, the future for he and his family looks bleak as he lays injured in a hospital room of a nearby small town.

    **Please review this book**

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDarrel Bird
    Release dateJun 2, 2011
    ISBN9781458087935
    Kicking Against The Goads
    Author

    Darrel Bird

    Darrel Bird has written and published 47 short stories. He attended Bakersfield college, and is an avid motorcyclist.

    Read more from Darrel Bird

    Related to Kicking Against The Goads

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Holiday happiness

      Jul 20, 2021

      Holiday happiness
      6 min read

    • Article

      Holiday HAPPINESS

      Jul 4, 2023

      Holiday HAPPINESS
      6 min read

    • Article

      Lemon Trees

      Apr 10, 2024

      When her son walked into their townhouse, Zach’s darkb-rown curls shielded his eyes. It wasn’t the first time Stephanie thought the deflection looked intentional, but she hadn’t yet found evidence that her son’s aloofness hid anything significant. Sh

      16 min read

    • Article

      Never Too Late

      Dec 27, 2018

      Never Too Late
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hardly Your Average Joe

      Nov 25, 2022

      I FIRST MET Joe Saddler at St. Mary’s Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Danville in the late 1960s. Father McLaughlin was our childhood priest. Joe was several years older than me, and it was Father McLaughlin’s custom to pair younger altar boys with

      3 min read

    • Article

      Summer at BEACON BAY HEIGHTS

      Aug 16, 2023

      Summer at BEACON BAY HEIGHTS
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Guardian Angel Of Laughlin Drive

      Nov 1, 2022

      A longer version of this essay won a Ten Spurs Award from the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in 2021 and will be published in this year’s Ten Spurs Journal. The Texas Observer is helping sponsor the Mayborn’s writing contests this year. Joe l

      4 min read

    • Article

      Decisions, Decisions

      Jan 11, 2022

      Decisions, Decisions
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Stonemason’s Wife

      Sep 1, 2020

      JOLINA HAS been hearing voices of men she’s never met. Voices like water, clear and cold, eddying at the back of her mind. They’re not real. She knows this. As in, she’s not crazy. They’re only the voices she’s heard on the phone, voices of men who b

      6 min read

    • Article

      More

      May 10, 2023

      Jacob was finishing his cup of coffee, which he didn’t really need with his nerves already shaking him, when his wife, Dina, walked over with the coffee pot. “More?” She inquired sweetly, but he shook his head. He had enough coffee. He had enough in

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Message Of The Rooster

      Aug 24, 2018

      The Message Of The Rooster
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Different Kind Of Mask

      Jun 29, 2020

      Lauren had never been the jealous type – she’d never had reason. But when a new neighbour moved in next door, even she did a double-take. The newcomer was tall, slim, blonde and wearing full and immaculate make-up – on moving-in day. She also appeare

      6 min read

    • Article

      “This Is How I See Him”

      Feb 26, 2019

      “This Is How I See Him”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Starting OVER

      May 24, 2023

      Starting OVER
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dirty John: The Real Thing

      Oct 2, 2017

      LOS ANGELES - Their first date was at Houston's, a restaurant in Irvine where he opened the door for her and put her napkin on her lap. Candles flickered along the polished-mahogany bar; jazz drifted from speakers; conversation purred. Debra Newell h

      10 min read

    • Article

      Killed For Walking A Dog

      Sep 21, 2022

      Killed For Walking A Dog
      16 min read

    • Article

      Summer at BEACON BAY HEIGHTS

      Aug 30, 2023

      Summer at BEACON BAY HEIGHTS
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Voice I Needed to Hear

      Aug 26, 2020

      The Voice I Needed to Hear
      6 min read

    • Article

      Seeing the LIGHT

      Mar 2, 2021

      Seeing the LIGHT
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lev’s Pawn Shop

      Dec 10, 2022

      In days gone by, it might have been said that Lev had had a vision, that he had been struck from his horse by the voice of God and seen the error of his ways. As it was, people said that he had gone a bit nutty in his old age, though it was unanimous

      11 min read

    • Article

      Washing Troubles Away

      Jan 19, 2021

      Washing Troubles Away
      6 min read

    • Article

      Till We Meet Again

      Aug 25, 2023

      Till We Meet Again
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Christmas MATCHMAKER

      Oct 22, 2020

      The Christmas MATCHMAKER
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Date

      Jan 7, 2021

      The Date
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Strange REQUEST

      Sep 30, 2020

      A Strange REQUEST
      6 min read

    • Article

      Emancipation

      Apr 10, 2024

      A plate of meat loaf and mashed potatoes balanced on her knees, Lorene watched a National Geographic documentary about a fifty-something woman living utterly alone on the tundra north of the Arctic circle, her home a compound of metal storage contain

      20 min read

    • Article

      It Takes Two To Cheat

      Feb 8, 2024

      It Takes Two To Cheat
      2 min read

    • Article

      Pops&Me

      Oct 1, 2021

      Pops&Me
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Kicking Against The Goads

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Kicking Against The Goads - Darrel Bird

      Kicking against the Goads

      by Darrel Bird

      Copyright 2010 by Darrel Bird

      Smashwords addition

      Smashwords License Statement

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Part 1

      On that cold November morning, Joe Blankenship awoke before dawn, as usual, and shivered. He hurried into the living room, opened the door on the earth stove, and stirred the glowing coals. He tossed in some small kindling and shoved a log of firewood on top of it. He pulled on his socks and shoes against the cold floor and headed for the coffee pot. Nobody but Joe would drink his coffee because he made it so strong that it would melt the proverbial horseshoe. He puttered around the house for a few minutes until the coffee was ready. Unlike Jena, his wife, the minute he woke up, he was awake and ready to go. His wife was a sleepyhead who would not awaken for another couple of hours.

      He and his wife had been married for a long time. He had married her when she was at the bottom of the ninth of seventeen, just about to head for first base on eighteen, and he was still in the service. They had had nothing in common and still didn’t, except a love of kids and dogs and a deep, enduring love for each other that had overcome the hardships of the years.

      Joe grabbed the pot and poured himself a cup of coffee. He slopped in some milk from the refrigerator, then walked over and sat down in the overstuffed chair by the wood stove. The fire had begun to give off welcome heat. The crackle of the fire was a prelude to the clatter of the rest of the family. As usual, when he was the only one up, his mind began to work on two or three subjects at once, and he felt a depression roll over him like a black cloud.

      This was one day Joe had dreaded seeing arrive, because today he would be leaving their home alone. No matter how bad it had ever previously gotten, Joe and Jena had always found their hands seeking out each other’s as they stood together against the world. As he sat and sipped his coffee, he felt the hot liquid warm his body as he reflected on the events that had brought him here this morning.

      They had bought this house with its three acres two years ago, and they had had such dreams. It seemed to be a gift from the Lord. Then, two years ago, he agreed to work

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1