An Excerpt from Chapter One of

“The First Adventures of Jome”:

Jome Goes to the Library

“Mr. Jome, you can’t hide under the desks in the reading cubbies to scare people, it’s unkind.”

Jome frowned at this unknown word.

Bobby tried to reach through to Jome with synonyms for kindness, most of which fell similarly flat upon Jome’s comprehension. Finally Bobby got some kind of a reaction with the term “altruism,” but only because Jome heard “All-Trueism,” which was a religious perspective that Jome had briefly adopted, where “all things were true.”

Jome nodded sagely at Security Man Bobby, indeed it was true that he had surprised that person. He politely inquired after their health, but Bobby said that the ambulance had just left, and there wouldn’t be word from the hospital for a few hours yet.

“True…” said Jome, looking at the sky and putting his hands in his pockets.

“Well…” said Bobby, “I guess if you behave yourself you can go back in.”

Jome frowned at the use of the word “behave”…

An Excerpt from Chapter Two of

“The Original Adventures of Jome”:

Jome’s Fish

Thompson had given his name to Jome repeatedly but for reasons he didn’t understand, Jome always ended up addressing him using some variation of “Bobby.”

“Top of the morning to you, Bobber!” called out Jome as he struggled to move an oversized barrel of fish food from behind a dumpster a short distance away.

Thompson, being a professional, had given up trying to correct Jome. He stood his post, not daring to move to help Jome, who often pretended to need help in order to test Mr. Thompson’s “resolve.”

Jome eventually worked the barrel into place next to the fishbowl and gave a nod of approval to Thompson for having enough “resolve” not to help him. He gave a nod of approval to himself that he had enough “resolve” to consistently test the resolve of Mr Thompson. He then out of sheer momentum he accidentally nodded his approval to a couple of homeless men nearby, men who did not have the “resolve” he approved of. He frowned.

He would have to reclaim those nods of approval later...

An Excerpt from Chapter Five of

“The Next Adventures of Jome”:

Jome Plans a Birthday Party

Finally the day arrived and the three of them drove into town together in Jome’s big, blue sedan. They took Hal to a place that only served breakfast. They sat themselves and a young waitress appeared to take their order.

“I’ll have the Monster-Truck Platter,” said Jome with conviction.

The waitress smiled and wrote that down. Turning to Jolly, she lost her smile and turned a bit pale. The small, diapered figure in the high chair was not a hairy child as she had assumed, but a small, angry looking monkey.

Jolly clutched a children’s menu with both foot paws and signed “kill everything” to the waitress. Not understanding, she looked to Jome for help.

“He wants you to ‘Kill Everything,’” Jome said as helpfully as he could. The waitress only looked frightened.

Hal rubbed his eyes and without looking up said “Just bring the monkey some cheesy bread or something.”  He felt a child’s menu hit the side of his face, but chose not to look up...

An Excerpt from Chapter Five of

“The Mysterious Adventures of Jome”:

The Case of the Hopping Frog

“Hello Ralf, how are you today?” he asked.

“Fine, fine,” said Ralf, eyeing the bails of pamphlets in Dan’s hands, “what have you got for us this week?”

Dan stooped to put the bails down and cut the strings. Ralf immediately scooped up several of the “Bacterial Dangers” and rubbed the paper between his fingers and thumb.

“Hmm, mmm, very nice, very nice quality. Soft, low roughage…” he muttered to himself.

Dan watched this ritual, assuming it was a sensory disorder thing. Ralf seemed to have a deep aversion to bumpy or scratchy paper, so he was always seeking to print on the softest paper the shop had in stock. This was important to Dan, not only because he cared about Ralf’s problems, but also because Ralf was so exceedingly helpful in helping to distribute the pamphlets.

These will move really well,” said Ralf, now reaching for some of the “Dietary Challenges” pamphlets. Grabbing several, he immediately dropped them and clutched at his palm with the other hand. Frowning, he shook his head, “Quite rough, aren’t those?...” He glared at Dan….