Musings & Tales

Are you an enthusiastic hugger? Or a reluctant hugger? Can one marry into the family of another? During a recent evening in a favorite restaurant, I witnessed such a collision. A young couple came for dinner with her clan of enthusiastic touchers. The body language of the young man, though, communicated his reluctance for contact. Mix in my imagination, and we have the recipe for today's humorous...

In a house full of Siberian Huskies, no sound is worse than quiet. And when it's the biggest talker of them all, the silence of Sally is deafening. 📖 Read The Silence of Sally on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in Asheville, it's all 100% true... except...

Only three miles. Such a short distance. For Kevin, it is the razor-thin line between the best time of his life... and the worst. A haunting, twisted tale about the decisions we make in the dark. 📖 Read Three Miles on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in A...

Ever been part of a "perfect" holiday tradition that went completely, hilariously sideways? 🤔 I'm sharing a memory from my childhood as an altar boy, on the most important night of the year: the Christmas Eve midnight service. It involves two nervous acolytes, a brilliant new invention (wax-free candles!), and a secret practice run that combined to create… well, a massive failure to light. 🔥😂 I...

Tom Bradley's hands were skilled at crafting beautiful furniture, but after Hurricane Helene slammed into the Asheville region, they were calloused from clearing debris. With his workshop washed away and Christmas just a day off, he brings home a mangled, one-sided tree—another reminder of all they'd lost. Or was it a reminder of all they had? 📖 Read A Tree for Christmas on my website Hello, I'm...

Our lives are governed by choices, but what if you only had to make one? Meet Roscoe, a Siberian Husky whose life is a blissful, decision-free paradise... with one hilarious exception. While his meals, exercise, and bedtime are dictated by a higher authority, one daily ritual becomes a dramatic performance of indecision. He performs the "Roscoe Shuffle"—an intricate, comical dance of sniffing, cir...

For her big Hollywood break, my sister, a professional ballerina, was plucked from a rehearsal and thrust onto a chaotic movie set. The role was simple: die. But the director's increasingly bizarre notes—from "faster" to "slower" to the baffling "curvier"—turned her debut into a masterclass in absurdity. 📖 Read A Curvy Death on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories....

Staring down a canceled flight and a ruined holiday weekend, Jordan Delay is drowning in frustration. But the sound of a hushed, emotional phone call from a young soldier in the terminal changes everything. He's faced with a choice: retreat into his own problems, or change the course of his journey entirely. "Long Way Home" is a short story about perspective, empathy, and how the kindness of stran...

Confronted with a hefty trespassing bovine, my lack of cattle wrangling skills and conflicting expert advice led to a hilarious bum steer. 📖 Read Bum Steer on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in Asheville, it's all 100% true... except for the parts I make...

Seven cities. Seven schools. Time for number eight. Caleb’s survival strategy for the first day as the new kid is simple: stay invisible. But within minutes of stepping into the chaotic hallways, a series of small disasters—a collision, a wrong turn, a stolen seat—threatens to make him a target. When everything goes wrong, can one small act of kindness change everything? 📖 Read New Kid on my webs...

"A flamingo punched me in the nose." How can a tale start any better? Take a feisty flamingo flamboyance and diaper-dangling days, then mix in one very determined goat. What's a few off-the-rail animal encounters among friends? 📖 Read Great Goat Grab on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a though...

Today's tale is Mystical Talking Jack-O'-Lantern , a recounting of a magical event that happened every Halloween in my childhood neighborhood—a talking jack-o'-lantern came to life. This story was originally published in 2017, but it has become a perennial favorite, captivating readers every year. To celebrate Halloween this year, I decided to bring this beloved tale to audio. 📖 Read Mystical Tal...

"Code Blue" next door. In the sudden silence of the ER, I braced for tragedy, but the first voice to emerge from Room 28 changed everything. 📖 Read To The Stranger in Room 28 on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in Asheville, it's all 100% true... except f...

Join my world of forgotten acquaintances, awkward encounters, and the time a convenience store clerk outplayed me in a memory game. No matter how much I try, I Can't Remember Your Name . 📖 Read I Can't Remember Your Name  on my website . Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home...

If social media is so broken, a reader asked, why don't I quit? Because I ditched doomscrolling and went back to the past when it was fun. Here's how. 📖 Read Putting the Social Back in Social Media on my website. Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in Asheville, it's a...

With political polarization rampant, is respectful disagreement a lost art? When will we learn to listen, disagree, and let live? 📖 Read Listen, Disagree, and Let Live  on my website . Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in Asheville, it's all 100% true... except for t...

Fifty years ago, on June 20, 1975, Jaws landed in movie theaters—and changed how we felt about swimming in the ocean. That same summer, we vacationed in Myrtle Beach, like we did most years. Only this time, the trip ended in tragedy when a shark attacked my best friend. This is that story—told as best I can remember it—through the eyes of the eleven-year-old who witnessed the horror. 📖 Read A Sha...

A chance encounter on a crowded train platform. A near-fatal accident. A famous actor steps in to save a young man’s life. It could’ve been forgotten—a passing moment lost to history. But the identities of the two men make this fleeting event unexpectedly remarkable. 📖 Read An Insignificant Historical Event on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musing...

It’s 2 a.m. You’re awake. Again. You’ve already solved world hunger, redesigned your kitchen, and cast the reboot of Golden Girls. Still no sleep. Good news: You’re not an insomniac—you’re historically accurate. Before electric lights and 9-to-5 jobs, people regularly woke up in the middle of the night. It was called biphasic sleep. Very trendy. Circa 1500. Maybe your bladder isn’t betraying you....

Smart tech meets shedding chaos. My newest robovac takes on four Siberian Huskies—only to get hilariously lost in an avalanche of fur. 📖 Read Lost in Fur: Tech Gone Wrong on my website Hello, I'm D. K. Wall, author of novels and short stories. Welcome to Musings and Tales. Whether it's a story I'm spinning or a thought I'm sharing from my home here in Asheville, it's all 100% true... except for t...

An airplane crashed while landing at the Toronto airport. The wing ripped from the fuselage. Spilled fuel ignited in a fireball. The plane came to rest upside down. The passengers hung from their seatbelts. And then came the ordinary goodness that so often happens when things go wrong. Watch the CBC Interview with Pete Carlson that inspired this musing. 📖 Read Ordinary Goodness on my website Hell...

The foundation of a good story begins with a nugget of truth. With a shift of light and shadow, a focus on a detail, a blurring of lines, the storyteller remembers it better. I am D. K. Wall, an author of novels and short stories. From my home in Asheville, surrounded by beautiful mountains, I share my yarns—thoughtful reflections and original tales drawn from a lifetime in the Carolinas and Tenne...