charleslewisradke

Some of Us Have Never Left

A note to Gold Arrow Camp’s summer 2021 Staff: Tomorrow is arrival day for the 2021 Gold Arrow Camp staff, which means a whole bunch of college kids will arrive here on the shores of Huntington Lake with their summer lives crammed in plastic drawers and their T-shirts labeled with camp nicknames, a decades-long traditionContinue reading “Some of Us Have Never Left”

Danger Is (Not) My Business

Chuck RadkeWord Count: 2,790 One evening, Karen and I sat with friends in a bourgeois little wine bar and laughed until we cried over a woman who lost a finger in a mishap with a folding chair. This wasn’t a thing that happened right in front of us. It was a story we were hearingContinue reading “Danger Is (Not) My Business”

No Shot for You

Last Friday, after receipt of an email from a local school district’s office of human resources, I successfully registered for and secured a slot for my Covid vaccination at another county’s department of public health. I answered every item on the form forthrightly. The vaccine was only for educators over the age of 50, withContinue reading “No Shot for You”

What Have I Done?

In the final scene of Back to the Future, Biff Tannen trundles into the McFly house carrying a white box. “Mr. McFly, Mr. McFly,” Tannen says. “This just arrived. […] I think it’s your new book!” First to the package is Lorraine McFly, who spirits the tape from the box to reveal George McFly’s newContinue reading “What Have I Done?”

Renaissance Man

(20-minute read) A few nights ago, I was in bed reading a James Salter novel when Karen FaceTimed me all the way from the other side of the house. “We hike tomorrow,” she said, but it was more like she whispered it, like one international spy to another on a burner phone. For some reason,Continue reading “Renaissance Man”

For God Shut Down the World

You are there, and I am here, and at least for the time being, it’s probably best we keep it that way. The world has gone eerily quiet, and I gotta tell you, I’m into it. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a shame it has come to this, especially when there’s the potential for illnessContinue reading “For God Shut Down the World”

Five Times Daily

Five Times Daily for Perry Karen has committed us this year to entertaining more, which many middle-aged folks consider the logical next step after they lose their children to college or, in our case, iPhones. Our three kids are still in the house with us (we think), a fact frequently confirmed when they appear inContinue reading “Five Times Daily”