Gary L Zimmer

Cappy's Journal Paperback – January 1, 2019
by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

For some the end of life's journey is sudden. Are they the fortunate few? Or is the gradual drift toward the other side, the almost unnoticeable minute lessening of one's grasp on life . . . occurring slowly, the better way to cross over and begin the new journey?

Though an octogenarian, Cappy greeted each day with joy and laughter. "I just like living!' she would say often. Her most frequent visitor to Evergreen Lodge, her assisted living home, was her second oldest son, Gib. He shared wit and humor with his mother until her last day when, with enthusiasm, she announced that she was going on a trip. Gib asked, "Are you walking or flying?" She said, "I don't know!"

Three hours later she was gone. Those last months of her life were happy times for Gib, Cappy's daughter Jo,
daughter-in-law Marilyn and other loved ones who shared the wit and humor of this remarkable woman's last days.

Cappy's Journal, an in-depth and sensitive portrayal of a graceful crossing over.

One From New York, Two From Minnesota: The Singles Guy, intimate moments, separately, by invitation.
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

The owner of a small dating service is passionately driven to find mates for others while he remains safe and emotionally distant. He has caused pain to those he loves. His damage is visceral, hidden. Three friends, young career women, get to know him. Each begins a casual physical relationship with the singles guy as he is known to them. Each plays a part in the beginning process of healing his emotional damage. A true story of 'one from New York and two from Minnesota.

The Elegant Casino and the Bedraggled Little Man
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

Nature has chosen to make the few miles distant from the town of Ripple rich in colorful foliage, wealthy in a flora of green and gold. The verdant vanguard of meadows rises up to meet the hint of an incline; the incline becomes the foreground of a snow-capped mountain.

Ripple, in the distance, is an ugly departure from the beauty surrounding it.

Snap DT
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

The delicious odor of baking bread found its way into the bedroom where young Cappy Brady was snuggled deep within the covers. The redolent, pungent smell of the bread served as a gentle nudge toward the inevitability of consciousness. But Cappy resisted, willing herself to remain in limbo somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, barely aware of the sounds her mother was making as she moved about in the kitchen.

Saturday was a lazy day for Cappy. She was doing everything she could to forestall any hint of lucid thought but something kept bringing her back to awareness. She listened. It was an annoying ‘snapping’ sound. A few seconds would go by and she would hear it again.’Snap’! And then another, ‘snap’. Each incidence of this strange sound brought her closer to being fully awake.

Tribute to Bryan Smith
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

He’s gone! Billow and spray!
Thunder rolls! Birds wheel and dive in search of shelter….
All his season’s spent, done…

The Man and His Daughter
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

Grown, she was a beautiful woman.
Angelic.
Remote lakes, untouched and unseen, majestic because of their distance from you and me, are beautiful and angelic in the same way. But she was not remote or distant. She smiled. She reached out. She touched those around her. She'd been a daddy's girl.
But, soon, after she was grown, a star in the celestial pattern fell away. The heavens altered for her.

Ambition and Harry Stone: A Child Shall Lead
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

Card cheat extraordinaire Harry Stone wanted to step up in class and become a riverboat gambler. Success in his last small town game should have given him entry into the elite circles he aspired to . . . but there was a wild card that would give him access to a river . . . and insure that Harry had played his last hand.

The House in the Alley
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

He sat on an apple box inside an old garage. Bare dirt served as the garage floor and litter: cans, newspapers, discarded shoes, cardboard boxes, covered most of the dirt. A hinge on one side of the garage door had broken loose causing it to hang lower at the bottom than on the other side, creating a triangular opening where the halves of the door separated. The opening allowed him to watch the house across the alley. He enjoyed the silence, taking in and savoring the musty odor of the old garage.

Damn Ghost
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

The restaurant is upscale; soft mood music plays in the background. Couples occupy most of the tables; but there are several where three are seated and enjoying Epicurean delights and subdued conversation.

One table, in the center of the dining area, is round. Five chairs, all occupied, surround the table, and in each chair sits someone I know but have never seen before. I am a ghost, an apparition, a spirit; but I am known to four of the five chair dwelling occupants of the round table. My spooky presence will be accepted at this meeting. I will be unseen but my voice will be recognized and its impact will be respected.

A Visit from Ann Browne
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

The following conversation is fictional. Total imagination deriving from what seemed an actual middle of the night appearance from my former mother-in-law, Ann Browne. This gentle intrusion seemed real but was obviously illusory, a dream.

On occasion, in a public place, a restaurant, a convenience store or the post office, I would notice a youthful woman looking my way; not staring but glancing, looking away and then quickly returning her eyes to me and looking away again. Her hair is a faded orange color. She is slender and has a freckled face. Am I imagining her? The same face in multiple places? Aging, tricks of the mind? I begin to ignore the ever-present woman, just barely more than a girl.

Casino Mast
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

Anson Forrester
He was seventy-eight years old and time was now his enemy. The energy was still there; he had aged well giving the appearance of a retired actor with chiseled features, a bit bent but still ruggedly handsome. Strangely, after all of his years as a casino owner in the dryness and heat of Nevada, he craved a slower pace; he wanted rain and a beautiful snow-capped mountain. He wanted trees; a density of trees thick enough to call them a forest.

Paul Tremian - God of Alcohol
a short story by Gary Leon Zimmer (Author)

Paul Tremain had been the scion of early Northwest timber barons. His money bought drugs; the drugs ruined his liver and he ascended at the young age of thirty-eight. In crossing over he was delivered from his earthly life through the abuse of multiple substances, none of them nutritional. His legacy included the use of every mind- altering drug available to a man of means.

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