Thursday, Mar. 06, 2003, 11:26 AM

Links and webbed toes



I'm not usually one to drop links and point readers around the ether of the net, but some things are worth sharing. I stumbled upon a site containing stories one evening while surfing. I had checked back frequently over a period of a year or so to see what had been added and at one point I had read a story that I found very appealing. In later visits the story was no longer present and I was uncertain as to whether or not it had existed on this site or even of it had existed outside of my mind. So I wrote to the author and asked him about the story:


Ken,

I have a DSL account with Verizon and I stumbled upon your stories well over a year past now. I read something of yours a while ago and it no longer appears on the site and I was wondering if it was in fact a story by you at all or if I have confused you in my mind with some other offering from some other person in the ether of the internet. The story was about genetically engineered pets that looked like people and were hiding from the government who were trying to capture them. It was tragic in the Shakespearean sense and often have my thoughts drifted back to it in passing�


I received a prompt reply. He expressed the same sentiments that I often feel when I consider this diary and my posting content herein for the world to see.


Gregory,

Thank you for your kind words. It is so great to hear from a reader so that I know that I'm not simply speaking alone, in the dark.

Your memory was correct. The story, "Golden Boys and Girls," was taken off a while back because I wanted to work on it some more. However, I never got around to doing it due to lack of time. I've put it back up and linked to it from here


And my response.


Ken,

Thanks for posting the story again...it is nice to know that I am not losing my mind. And now I remember what it was that attracted me so strongly to this story. I have several webbed toes. Just extra skin stretched between the toes all the way to the base of the toenail. I'm sure that will become an entry in my blog with a link to the story.

I will keep in touch.

Gregory


Yes, dear readers, I am a freak of nature. I really do have a few webbed toes. The skin betwixt my toes rises further from the base than normal for people. It is most pronounced on my right foot between the second and third toes. The skin between these toes was most restless and did not want to stop growing and continued up and out until it consumed all the space between my foot and the base of the toenails. It does not make me swim better or faster. I can not converse with amphibians. But, perhaps, I am someone's frog prince castoff, having been kissed and transformed and ultimately rejected. I wrote this story with that thought in mind.

And there is one more thing I'd like to share. While on this site I came across one of the most beautiful and well-written stories I have read. It is called Tieguan and when I read it I find that it resonates inside of me as though I were metal and struck against the counter.