ISBN 9780870713859 (hardcover)
Fool's Hill
John Quick
John Quick is Garrison Keillor with an attitude and Fool's Hill is his quirky childhood autobiography. The setting is Port Orford, Oregon, in the mid-1930s to -40s. Here a curious, blabbermouth boy learns more at the bottom of a ditch than in kindergarten and finds real home in a booth at Red's Bar holding hands with Dorothy, whom he is never supposed to talk to. Meet Skippy the dog and Bruno the Terrible Bear, Moran the Mystery Man and Grandfather Frank the pyromaniac. Learn about human bones, Parker's solid Gold Meteor, double homers, "Turd" McCormick's wagon, chicken massacres, the Prum-Yay automobile, falling out of trees, and trying to hang on to friends that are about to kick the bucket.
With a little help from his friends, young Johnny learns about life and death and sex. And, with his help, we remember what it is to be a kid.
About the author
After leaving Port Orford, John Quick attended high school in Grants Pass, Oregon, and served in the Air Force in the Far East during the Korean War. He attended four universities (including a one-year stint at the University of Oregon) and earned a PhD from the Union Institute. Quick worked as a bellhop, actor, Vice President Creative Director for New York ad agencies, liquor store delivery driver, fry cook, and director of sales promotions. Sadly, John is now deceased.
Read more about this author
Letter from Principal
Preface
Sentimental Crap
Mind Movies
Rain
Bottle Caps & Life in General
Very First Memories
Genealogy
Captain William Tichenor
My Folks
Was Rico an Agent of Darkness?
Critical Observation
Descriptions of People
You Want to Hear More About Eve Doyle
Mid-Thirties
Ways to get Memories That Last
Order in the Universe
Charms, Magic, In Cahoots With God
Garrison Lake–Swimming
Frank Tichenor's (Actually His Daughter Margaret's) Birth Announcement Sent Worldwide
Some Startling Things
Goose-Drownders
Forest Fire
History Assignment
Tonsils and adenoids
Battle Rock
Think Chrome
Car Ghosts and Other Problems
Pyro–My Grandfather, Frank
Blabbermouth–The Kindergarten Kid
The Writer
Real Home
Frank and Indians
The Kid Who Couldn't Read or Write
1937 & 1938
The Fine Art of Managing Your Expletives
Mysteries (Not to be Discussed)
Ed Rowland
Introduction to Luck
The Goose Feast
Fool's Hill
People On the Point of Land Extending Far Into the Ocean
Running With Winnie
Beacons
Old Home Week
Tannenbaum Express
Along Came 1939
Farm Devils
What Do You Want to Be?
Ted (Which, Coincidentally, Rhymes With Dead
Hating Paprika
Town Bully–Metal Boat
1940–A Turning Point
Insect Lore and Old Wives' Bullshit
Moran, Moran–The Mystery Man
Some Fish For Planting
Fossil Words
Debacle #1–The Beachball
The Jesus Place
Skychief
King of the Mountain
Highlights–1941
Lovey Laureen
Questions From Old Lady Beck–Answers from Moran
The Con Men–And Then There Was Mr. Parker
Teeth and History
Barnie Winslow's Christmas
The New Mrs. Grant
"Turd" McCormick: Wagonmaster
4ths of July
Happy Days Are Here Again: Played Live
Debacle #2-The Rifle
1942
The Flag & the Rose
The very Near Passing of the Prum-Jay
Lou Monescu–Love, Grease and the Enemy Plane
The Survivors of the Jap-Sunk Tanker
Attack Dogs
The Games
The Invasion
Short Memories
The Amazing Cartoon Gun
Going Back East
1943 and the End of the World
The "B" Effect
Final Thoughts of Fears
Tombolos
Epilogue–Burial
Finito
"What a delightful book! Style, shape, voice--it's charming and original. I just can't think of anything like it… a book about the dominion of childhood, about memory and dream, about wisdom and ignorance, and most especially… about the meaning and value of community."
Molly Gloss, author of The Jump-Off Creek
"Fool's Hill isn't about Port Orford, really. It is about the community, and life, and death, and the things that are meaningful inside each of us but somehow not understandable to others. Quick makes them understandable. Chances are you've never read anything quite like Fool's Hill. So take a chance. You might well be touched in ways you never imagined."
