Small Worlds: Adopted Sons, Pet Piranhas, And Other Mortal Concerns

204 Pages·2006·0.66 MB·English

by  Robert Klose

Small Worlds
Also by Robert Klose
Adopting Alyosha: A Single Man Finds a Son in Russia
Small Worlds
Adopted Sons,
Pet Piranhas,
and Other Mortal Concerns
R o b e r t K l o s e
University of Missouri Press
Columbia and London
Copyright © 2006 by
The Curators ofthe University ofMissouri
University ofMissouri Press,Columbia,Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States ofAmerica
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klose,Robert.
Small worlds :adopted sons,pet piranhas,and other mortal concerns /
Robert Klose.
p.cm.
Summary:“Collected essays by Robert Klose,longtime contributing essayist
for the Christian Science Monitor.In a style comparable to that ofGarrison
Keillor and Jean Shepherd,Klose shares his experiences raising adoptive sons,
stories oftraveling abroad,memories ofhis childhood,and depictions oflife
in his small Maine community”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN-13:978-0-8262-1675-5 (pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-8262-1675-7 (pbk.:alk.paper)
I.Title.
PN4874.K5737A25 2006
814’.54—dc22 2006014150
This paper meets the requirements ofthe
American National Standard for Permanence ofPaper
for Printed Library Materials,Z39.48,1984.
Designer: Jennifer Cropp
Typesetter:Crane Composition,Inc.
Printer and binder:The Maple-Vail Manufacturing Group
Typefaces:Minion and Copperplate
Credits appear on page 185.
For Alyosha and Anton
Most Honorable Sons

Contents
Living in Maine
The Allure ofthe North 3
The Culture ofMaine Is Hard to Explain 5
River Pumpkins 7
A Warm Welcome for a Tardy Winter 9
Why I Prefer an Ax to a Splitter 11
The River and I Awaken 13
Maine’s Literature ofSwap or Sell 15
Compassion Thaws Maine’s Great Freeze 17
Small Stores Hold Treasure That Money Can’t Buy 20
Spring,and Already Apples 22
Pedagogy
The Joys ofScience 27
Drawing Strength from Young Curiosity 29
My Short Lesson on How to Teach 31
Martian Life? Ye ofToo Much Faith 34
Where the Red Pen Fails,the Tape Succeeds 36
A French Tutor’s First Lesson 38
Gifts from the Sea for My Students 40
Let Us Praise the Bold Molds 42
Finding “Ahs”in the Ooze 44
vii
viii Contents
A Son from Russia
Shuffling toward Moscow 49
A Small Boy from a Russian Orphanage 51
A Money-Shy Son Makes a Savvy Allowance 54
A Son Begins to Widen His Orbit 56
An Educator Becomes the Educated 58
How the Shoes Got on the Other Feet 61
A Father-Son Dialog,with Ball 63
Another Son’s Turn at the Dance 65
Lightening a Load ofWinter 67
A Son Moves on to High School 69
Things Old,New,and Timeless 71
A Son from Ukraine
The Perfect Season ofthe Heart 75
Anton Awaits,an Ocean Away 76
Lessons Learned from Son #1 79
Snow Recedes,and Treasures Emerge 81
A Young Son Unwraps the Gift ofReading 83
The Day My Son Learned to Solo 85
A Six-Year-Old Soars on Wings ofLove 87
My Son,the Storyteller 89
Clarinetistry
Clarinet Lesson 95
My Musical Debut Rambled a Bit 97
My Son,the Clarinet,and Me 99
The Cantankerous Clarinet Calls 101
Suddenly,I Was in a Polka Band 103
A Traitor Clarinet in the Ranks 105
My Fine-Feathered Accompanist 108
Contents ix
Nostalgia
Joe Piranha Days 113
A Truck Full ofDreams and Ice Creams 117
Whatever Happened to Street Games? 120
We Savored Sunday’s Leisure 122
A Carbonated Blast from the Past 124
I Got the Moon and the Stars That Year 126
Hardware the Old-Fashioned Way 129
A Time When a Sneaker Was a Sneaker 131
Drawn to a Downpour’s Exhuberance 133
I Join the Circle 135
Our Stoop Was Stupendous 137
Travels
Iceland in Winter 143
Iceland Redux,with Son 144
Five Days in Yugoslavia 147
A Culinary Wish Comes True,Briefly 149
The First Time We Saw Paris 152
One Small Dive,One Giant Leap Together 154
The Train to Berlin 156
Kindness the Wall Could Not Block 158
Living Language
“Whoa”Is the State ofEnglish 163
My Secret Moment in the Poetry Spotlight 165
On Pilfering,Pears,and Poetry 167
What You Said,and What You Meant to Say 170
In Defense ofthe Past 173
The Write Stuff 175
Speechless,but Not for Long 177
An (Almost) Unspeakable Legacy 179