The Unicorn Book

 A friend of mine is writing a new book entitled "Unicorn Sojourn." It  tells the story of a newly-born unicorn named Bjorn who grows up believing in human beings. 

He becomes a target of unicorn scorn because they all know that human beings are imaginary creatures with magical powers. In high school Bjorn joins the football team known as the "Fighting Unicorns" but he is ridiculed when he punctures the football with his unicorn horn. 

He runs away, sits under a rainbow and makes a wish. Suddenly he is whisked away to the land of human beings. He is just as surprised to see them as they are to see him. However, he soon turns his misfortune into a fortune as human beings will buy anything having to do with imaginary creatures with magical powers. 

He starts Unicorn Industries (UIInc.), the world's leading supplier of rainbows. Bjorn becomes rich beyond belief with the promise, "Every rainbow comes with a pot of gold at the end." 

There is also a legal disclaimer in small print: "Be sure to choose the correct end. UI will not be held responsible for any injuries sustained while climbing through brambles trying to get to the end of the rainbow. Pots of gold are subject to previous removal by other people who also saw the same rainbow so no claims are made or can be implied that the pot of gold will be in any previously observed rainbow termination location."

Downtown Arcadia 1983

 In early 1983 I worked as editor of the Bienville Democrat, a weekly newspaper in Arcadia, LA. That is halfway between Ruston and Shreveport, LA, so it was a long way from Covington, but pretty much the same small town newspaper type goings-on. 

One thing of interest that year was a request of photographs for photographs of the area to put in the Louisiana section of the 1984 Worlds Fair that was to take place in New Orleans. I took over a dozen photographs and submitted them to the Bienville Parish Tourist Commission. I was told they were put on display at the World's Fair, but I had to take their word for it, since I never went to the World's Fair myself.

Here is one of the photographs, this one showing the Arcadia downtown area. Arcadia's main claim to fame was that it was the town where the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde, the bank robbers, were taken after they were shot on the highway going to Gibsland a few miles west. They even made a movie about that recently. 

Arcadia is a great little town and I enjoyed living there, even though one winter it was so cold for so long that all my water pipes froze solid and the entire house had to be re-plumbed. I do remember playing host to some friends of mine from Covington when they came to the area for some deer hunting, and the extreme cold chased them out of their tents in the woods back into civilization. They gave me a call, and I said, come on over, the heaters are on.