I Have Moved!!!!!!!!!

Begining today, this blog has moved to my homesite www.whaleheadking.com Please feel free to peruse the archives maintained here, but all new work will be appearing in a central location. My thanks to Blogger for getting me started and for keeping everything here on file.

We look forward to seeing you at whaleheadking.com. Don't be a stranger. The site, like New London, CT, is always open. All aboard!!

Final Chapter: Mike Rix's Magic Knife

Since the box turtle incident, Mr. Rix has used his knife for a number of tasks. He sliced an apple on Shaw Street so that children could share it. He came upon a pair of young, unprepared lovers on a picnic on the banks of the Shetucket River. He used hsi knife to slice salami, bread and cheese, and to open their wine bottle. He left them with his blessing. He pried a stone out from a cow's hoof. He helped a shepherd in Bozrah castrate a sheep that had been too long neglected. He freed a splinter from a toddler's palm in Devil's Hopyard. He stopped a mugging in Old Lyme by pulling the knife out of his pocket without needing to flash the blade.

As long as men like Michael Rix are afoot in the world, good things will happen. New London is lucky to call him one of its own. New London is full of plucky, homespun heroes performing great deeds of minor renown. Michael Rix is a member of a rare breed, but initiative and honor are commonplace in New London, Conn. People like him, concentrated in this tiny city, make New London great.

........................The End?

Mike Rix's Magic Knife (Part 2 of 3)

Michael Rix drives more in a day than most people drive in two weeks. He navigates multiple routes that begin from his headquarters on the corner of Montauk Avenue and Bank Street in New London. He delivers laundry and he is proud that he does it better than anyone else in the business. Satisfaction comes from a job well done. When Michael Rix steers his van through heavy traffic or on empty back roads with a full load in back, he feels perfection approaching just around the corner ahead.

It was just past Salem Four Corners that Mr. Rix realized that he had found his new knife for a purpose. He had turned onto Witch Meadow Road just after the second of the town's two traffic lights. He was forced to apply the brakes in a hurry to avoid a catastrophe. A box turtle was crossing the road.

Michael Rix turned on his hazard lights and fished a flare from under the passenger seat. Once he had secured the scene, he approached the box turtle, which was making is methodical way across the pavement oblivious to danger. A Volvo rounded the corner from the opposite direction, and Mr. Rix flagged the car to a stop while he took care of his mission.

Mr. Rix gently lifted the box turtle off the road. He was so gentle, the turtle wasn't frightened. It kept its head out in the air and looked Mr. Rix square in the eye like a friend.

When Mr. Rix placed the turtle on the grass, he waved the Volvo on. The driver honked his horn and gave Mr. Rix a thumbs-up for a good deed done. When Mr. Rix looked at the box turtle, he noticed the animal's left foot was tangled in a ball of fishing line. Ever the Good Samaritan, Mr. Rix fook out his knife and freed the tangled foot. An owl hooted from somewhere in the trees. Michael Rix knew why he had this knife. He decided to carry the box turtle past the shoulder of the road and into the pond a few yards farther on. The box turtle swam away. Before it dove, it waggled its tail in Mr. Rix's direction.

The rest of the day was uneventful. As usual, Mr. Rix made his deliveries ahead of schedule and his customers were happy to have clean clothes. Little things make life enjoyable. The remarkable Michael Rix is one of the unsung cogs in Heaven's marvelous machinery.

...........................to be concluded next week!!

Mike Rix's Knife

The remarkable Mr. Michael Rix keeps a cabin in Vermont where he vacations to escape the demands of his local celebrity. Mr. Rix stands out in any crowd, but Vermonters tend to leave him alone. Mr. Rix appreciates that.

When Mr. Rix is in Vermont, New London is a less colorful place. As a professional laundry delivery driver, Mr. Rix cannot stay away from his job for long. His vacations rarely last longer than a week; they are usually an extended weekend. After three days, Mr. Rix drives to dry cleaning establishments around the Green Mountain State just so he can smell the chemicals and the steam. His wife sometimes finds him in the closet of thier cabin cradling coat hangers in the crook of his thumb to keep in practice.

When Mr. Rix returns to New London, he fires up the engine of his van and revs it to a roar. The customers at the soup kitchen next door applaud the return of this accessible, honest, local hero. Mr. Rix loads his van with plastic bags full of pressed garments and speeds off like grapeshot to make deliveries along Southeastern Connecticut's twisting byways. Once again, the right shirts arrive to cover the right backs. Everyone receives what they dropped off. New Londoners again look as good as they did before Michael Rix left town.

On a recent trip to Vermont, Michael Rix picked up a jack knife he found in the woods next to his cabin. Though it was a obviously a very old Barlow knife made before 1940, there wasn't a speck of rust on the blade. Mr. Rix was watching a butterfly in a pine grove when he spotted the knife poking out of a bed of pine needles. When Mr. Rix picked up the knife, an owl hooted in the branches overhead and Mr. Rix felt a chill down his spine.

Back in New London, Michael Rix carried his new knife in his left front pants pocket. It weighed just enough to counterbalance the loose change in his right pocket, and it felt comfortable when he was driving.
...this is only part one of three. Stay tuned.