Guest Post: Main Line by Tom Milani

  

Please welcome SMFS list member Tom Milani to the blog today as he explains the background of his short story in the new anthology, Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Aerosmith. Published by White City Press, the book is edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken.

 

Main Line

 

Good friend Stacy Woodson alerted me to a call on Facebook by editor Michael Bracken for a crime fiction anthology based on the songs of Aerosmith. The parameters were straightforward: the anthology would contain stories based on one song from each album. Several of the band’s hits I was familiar with had already been picked (“Dream On,” “Dude Looks Like a Lady”), but I was aware of Honkin’ on Bobo, a blues album they did some years back. A quick search on Apple Music let me preview some of the songs. The last, “Jesus Is on the Main Line,” is their version of a traditional gospel song as arranged by Fred McDowell. The Aerosmith song consists of two verses and three versions of the chorus (arrangements by other artists have additional verses). There isn’t much of a story (“Jesus is on the main line, tell Him what you want”), but the second verse has a line I latched onto: “If you’re sick and you can’t get well, just tell Him what you want.” The idea of an illness became a plot point, and I was also struck by the wording, which isn’t in the form of a plea but more a request.

Some forty years ago, I helped a friend deliver patio furniture to a woman who lived on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The trip was mostly a bust for my friend—the truck rental company failed to include padded blankets; the fuel gauge didn’t work, and we ran out of gas; the woman didn’t tip—but I was happy simply to hang out with him. While we were driving down a rural road, a church stood off the side. The building was a husk of itself, a stone ruin overgrown with vines. Its presence made a strong impression on me; even at the time, I wanted to go back someday and check it out.

I never did, but I resurrected my memory of it for this story. Here, two women, Gail and Mary, needing money for Mary’s medical care, are to deliver drugs hidden in a truck filled with patio furniture to a church on the Eastern Shore. What happens next strays into the mystical, where past and present collide in the visions of a priest.

Achieving the balance between past and present, sacred and profane, shaped the structure of the story and caused me to look at religious themes in a new light.

Tom Milani ©2024

Tom Milani’s short fiction has appeared in Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, Illicit Motions, Black Cat Weekly, and Urban Pigs Press. His crime fiction novella, Barracuda Backfire, was released earlier this year. His website is https://www.tommilani.com/