A Kling excerpt

From Kevin Kling's book: "The Dog Says How," published by Borealis Books. Reprinted with permission.

Before the accident everyone had a story about a friend killed or maimed on a motorcycle. After the accident those stories disappear and are replaced with "Yeah, I knew a guy who hit a semi at eighty-five, flew three hundred feet, not a scratch, walked away and became a millionaire." I figure people need to tell these tales. It fights off the dread. If you know someone it happened to, it lessens the chance it'll happen to you.

One time a kid came up to me and said, "I hit my head on a fence post and had to get eight stitches here." He points to the back of his head.

I said, "I have stitches." I start at one side of my head, "from here," I go around my head, down my side to my stomach, "to here."