Pounding Stones
Story Quarry

Welcome to the Story Quarry. A brief explanation of the title is, perhaps, in order. My name is Gordon Klopfenstein. The English translation of the German Klopfenstein is pounding stones. A family legend has a little boy found on a German riverbank after a shipwreck amusing himself by pounding stones together. The child was then, according to the legend, taken in and reared by German nobility.

The story is surely apocryphal. Genealogical search indicates that the name first appeared in the village of Frutigen in the Swiss Alps. The original Klopfensteins were probably peasants, perhaps stonemasons or quarry workers. But, the legend does prove that part of the family heritage is inventive narration.

I like to think that some slight remnant of that heritage resides in me—that I have quarried my imagination. I enjoy writing and playing with words. I find real pleasure in inventing characters and situations. I hope that reading my stories and poems gives you some small part of the pleasure that the writing of them gave me. Please be aware, however, that all entries in the Story Quarry, both prose and poetry, are copyrighted and that Gordon L. Klopfenstein reserves all rights.

Along with enjoyment, there is a more important design. These are stories of children whose lives began in misery but because of concern and love came to know happiness and success. The characters and situations in these stories are fictitious but the misery is drawn from the experiences of children I have known—children you might know—children who still live in misery and need the love and concern of our society.

Some of the language is crude and the analogy blunt. The language is that which children in such situations would use, and the vernacular is vulgar but unfortunately too real. Please take the lesson of these children's lives along with any enjoyment the stories might give you.

The Story Quarry would not exist without the kindness and skills of a very good and talented man. Ted Louis, also very concerned with the conditions in which many children live in current society, gave both his encouragement and his substantial technical and editorial skills. It is impossible to fully express my gratitude to Ted. This effort, in some respects, is as much his as mine.

Copyright © 2003 Gordon L. Klopfenstein