Balloons

Daddy throttled back his 32-foot Wellcraft Excalibur to a slow, wake-appropriate crawl as he and his guest, Sandra Locke, pulled into the cove around the corner from Beacon Manor where the Penningtons lived. “Johnny would come in and honk the horn for us,” Frances Pennington […]

Read more

Brunch

Sonny Burnett wore a white hat when he dressed up, and people in the Venetian Dining Room at the Arlington Hotel took notice. A white hat in Hot Springs didn’t necessarily mean the “good guy.” Years ago when Hot Springs found itself dripping in corruption […]

Read more

Decisions

The summertime stirs up my favorite memories of my dad. I remember spending most of my summer weekends with him on Lake Hamilton. My little brother, Jason, and I would wake up to the sound of music coming from the living room in our lakeside […]

Read more

Sunday

It happens every year in the middle of the summer. Tomato plants bloom, the cicadas come out and the days are so hot you have to mentally prepare yourself with a pep talk for the walk across an asphalt parking lot to your car. When […]

Read more

Keys

Carefully, the young, blonde Sandra Locke laid out the story for Det. Ronnie Smith of the Little Rock Police Department. An advertising account executive for a Little Rock television station, Sandra said daddy called her over to where he and his friends were sitting at […]

Read more

Puzzle

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and I want to talk about it. My dad’s death really brought my mental health to the forefront because I started to work through the five stages of grief: denial, bargaining, anger, depression and acceptance. I didn’t even know this […]

Read more

Recapitulare

Sometimes TV shows have a recap episode. In Latin, it’s called recapitulare — to go over the main points again. Until I get a meatier post out this Saturday, take some time to stroll down the first 14 blog posts of #hereswhathappenedblog. Roses – Here’s […]

Read more

Saturday

In May 1971 on my parents’ one-year anniversary, daddy brought home the traditional gift: paper. They lived in a small, rented apartment in Hot Springs, daddy’s hometown, and dad gave his wife loan papers to co-sign for their first boat. Surprise! Before buying a house, […]

Read more

Bedsheets

Those were probably three interesting hours daddy and his estranged wife, Scharmel, spent together “discussing the divorce” on early Saturday, July 18, 1992. It appears daddy called her brother just after the sunrise to inform him about his sister being in bed with another man […]

Read more

Sunrise

The Friday night of the divorce party, daddy drove all over Little Rock in his black 1990 Cadillac Fleetwood, as if “In the Air Tonight” played on a looped soundtrack in the distance. Review of witness statements put dad working at his liquor store in […]

Read more

Photos

A 4” x 4” headshot in a wooden frame sits on a bookshelf in my office. The photo of me at 18 years old stares back, grinning with excitement about the future and eager to matriculate to higher education at the University of Arkansas in […]

Read more

Tape

“This is Jim Blanscet. It’s Friday, July 17,” Jim’s recording began on the cassette. Earlier that evening, Jim played investigator and scoped out the cars parked at a party at dad’s house on Canal Pointe. He then met daddy at his liquor store at 1500 […]

Read more