Today would have been my friend, Kimberly’s 49th birthday. She wasn’t my best friend and we didn’t know each other very long. This morning I was in the process of writing about something else, but when I got the reminder of her birthday and quickly reflected on those days, I ditched the article I was working on and had to write something. That’s the kind of effect Kimberly Wolski still has on me. 

She said that she started the Winter Park Short Story Society (meetup group) because she was too shy to join someone else’s group and wanted an outlet for her own creative writing. By this time I had already been attending other writers groups, but this one met every other week and attendees were expected to write a new short story to share based on an agreed upon theme or subject. That was an interesting challenge. Also, I had my doubts about her alleged shyness. 

Previously I had not been a fan of writers critique meetings, where authors would would read 500 words from a book they were working on. I felt like the work needed to stand up on its own without the benefit of the author/reader adding inflection or nuance to the reading. But this was different. Because almost everyone participated in the challenge, there was a definite sense of camaraderie and fun. It also quickly became clear that regardless of the theme or genre, Kimberly had a habit of naming the main character of her stories “Kimberly.” And she wasn’t afraid of exploring her characters’ darker thoughts. Some of these “Kimberlys” were downright murderous and out for themselves. At one point, I think we all conspired to write stories where our main character was also named Kimberly.  

I also noticed that many of these Kimberlys seemed to suffer from broken relationships and disappointment over the failure or absence of their mates. I then made the mistake of confusing the fictional Kimberlys with the real one and invited her to join me at the Enzian to watch a movie and chat at the bar afterwards. She wisely showed up with her best friend, Jennifer Kalison, and we had a lovely afternoon (having quickly realized my mistake and silently going “doh” to myself). I don’t know, the memory of what could have been an awkward afternoon still makes me smile. 

 I spent a chunk of this afternoon looking for and reposting the stories that I wrote when I was with this Kimberly’s group. I was surprised that I only had six stories, but I know that others were in the works and that I was hoping to expand one story into a longer format. I also found that I have printed copies of some of the groups’ stories, many from animator extraordinaire, Lavalle Lee, and a few with no names attached. If anyone has any of the stories that Kimberly wrote and would willing to share, that would be wonderful. I remember at least one zombie story set in South Florida… 

Here’s a link to my small collection of stories: https://joebustillos.com/category/winter-park-short-story-society/

It was only a matter of time before Kimberly and Jennifer took their storytelling skills to a larger audience and started doing open-mic nights, particularly participating in the Short Attention Span Storytelling Hour held regularly at Stardust Video and Coffee. I tried to catch their show whenever I could and also caught their Some Girls act at Mikki V’s. 

Unfortunately my journey would lead me away from Winter Park and Orlando in August 2016. But I was able to drop in on a meeting of the Winter Park Short Story Society one last time before I left. I didn’t have a story to share but the group seemed to be very tight and having a lot of fun. It was good to see Kimberly, Jennifer and German.

I was able to visit Florida a year later in the summer of 2017, but Kimberly wasn’t able to see visitors when I was in town. She said that she wanted me to remember her the way she was when we first met I was disappointed but respected her wishes. I don’t remember what we talked about, but I know it had been a very hard year and she let off a little steam and I offered her what emotional support that I could and that was that. She would end up fighting the cancer that eventually took her for another two years. 

We weren’t best friends and for the short amount of time that we knew each other there were rather large breaks between conversations. But somehow it made sense for me to spend most of today piecing together the little fragments of our interactions and feel the loss and the need for me to carry on the silly storytelling that she briefly inspired nine years ago. If anyone has copies of her 2014 stories or later pieces, please feel free to share them. Thank you. And thank you Kimberly for your smile, your wit and irrepressibleness. This is one writer who hasn’t forgotten you. Also, fuck cancer!