<![CDATA[The Coffman Chronicle: Five Minutes in America]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/s/five-minutes-in-americahttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I412!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb974e76-80fd-42e0-860c-14dec9d06e7d_1280x1280.pngThe Coffman Chronicle: Five Minutes in Americahttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/s/five-minutes-in-americaSubstackSun, 04 Oct 2026 04:36:24 GMT<![CDATA[Both Wheels]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/both-wheelshttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/both-wheelsSat, 03 Oct 2026 22:20:35 GMTMitchell and Dudley ride into town to ask Cecil Boone what he saw the day Dudley’s cousin went down Main Street on one wheel. Before they can reach the barbershop, four motorcycles come down the hill.

One rider, Blue, needs a haircut. Cecil objects to the noise outside his window. T.C. Redford helps the riders clear the storefronts, and Blue promises to …

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]]><![CDATA[The Ditch]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-ditchhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-ditchSat, 03 Oct 2026 22:15:37 GMTThe flat tire is patched, so Mitchell and Dudley ride to a wide drainage ditch outside Coffman’s Landing. Its bottom is dry, and its banks are gentle enough to ride down and climb again. To the boys, it is practically a bicycle park.

They begin measuring each other’s climbs by a clump of grass and then a pale rock. Mitchell fixes his eyes on getting high…

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]]><![CDATA[Two Roads]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/two-roadshttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/two-roadsSat, 03 Oct 2026 22:10:28 GMTMitchell and Dudley still disagree about which bicycle is better, so they settle on a race.

On a smooth street, Mitchell’s red bicycle reaches the oak tree first. Dudley asks for another course: a gravel lane outside town, where he knows which tracks are packed hard and which stones will roll beneath a tire.

This time Dudley wins. A moment later, a bit of…

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]]><![CDATA[One Wheel]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/one-wheelhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/one-wheelSat, 03 Oct 2026 22:06:36 GMTDudley says his cousin rode the entire Main Street hill on one wheel. Behind the Corner Market, he and Mitchell decide to start with a level road and a few fence posts.

Dudley’s old bicycle is easier to lift. Mitchell’s red one is easier to bring back down. Each boy counts that as a point in his favor.

Then Dudley’s handlebars turn without his front wheel…

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]]><![CDATA[No Hands]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/no-handshttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/no-handsSat, 03 Oct 2026 22:02:22 GMTAfter school, Dudley Floyd and Mitchell Haywood ride around Coffman’s Landing for no reason better than wanting to stay on their bicycles.

Dudley has a cousin’s old bicycle with a long banana seat. Mitchell has a red bicycle he got for Christmas. Each is certain his is better.

Then Dudley takes his hands off the handlebars, and an ordinary ride becomes a …

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]]><![CDATA[Come On, Haywood]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/come-on-haywoodhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/come-on-haywoodSat, 26 Sep 2026 22:20:37 GMTMitchell finally reaches the moment we witnessed at the beginning of the week.

He gets Dudley out. Then, carried away by the game and everything he has been trying to prove, he hits him again.

Mitchell knows immediately that he went too far.

But Coffman’s Landing has never expected its neighbors to be perfect. It only asks them to recognize when they have done wrong and try to make it right.

Then someone across the gym hollers, “Come on, Haywood!”

And Mitchell realizes he isn’t the new kid anymore.

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]]><![CDATA[Almost One of Us]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/almost-one-of-ushttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/almost-one-of-usSat, 26 Sep 2026 22:15:57 GMTAfter two weeks, the school no longer feels quite so unfamiliar.

Mitchell knows where to sit, which doors stick, when the tables get folded away, and how quickly a lunchroom can become a gym.

He understands some of the jokes now. He even has a few stories of his own.

Then the rubber balls come out, the teams are chosen, and Mitchell finds Dudley standing on the opposite side of the floor.

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]]><![CDATA[Everybody Knows Everybody]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/everybody-knows-everybodyhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/everybody-knows-everybodySat, 26 Sep 2026 22:11:04 GMTMitchell is beginning to recognize the faces around school. But in Coffman’s Landing, knowing someone’s name is only the beginning.

Dudley knows who belongs to the marina family, whose father works in town, which school stories have been passed from one class to the next, and who quietly keeps the whole place running.

Mitchell soon discovers both sides of life in a small town: everybody knows everybody—and that means everybody knows he is still the new kid.

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]]><![CDATA[The New Kid]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-new-kidhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-new-kidSat, 26 Sep 2026 22:05:47 GMTOn Mitchell’s first morning at his new school, everybody else seems to know where to stand, where to sit, and what happens next.

Everybody except him.

Fortunately, Dudley is there—and Dudley doesn’t simply know the people of Coffman’s Landing. He knows the stories that follow them.

As the school bus winds through the countryside, Mitchell begins learning the map of his new home one person, one road, and one story at a time.

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]]><![CDATA[Haywood]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/haywoodhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/haywoodSat, 26 Sep 2026 22:01:39 GMTLunch has been cleared away, the rubber balls are out, and Mitchell Haywood is playing harder than anybody expected.

Then the other kids begin hollering a name across the gym.

“Haywood!”

For the past two weeks, Mitchell has been trying to lose another name: the new kid.

To understand why hearing his own name matters so much, we have to go back to the morning he first arrived in Coffman’s Landing.

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]]><![CDATA[Loud and Clear]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/loud-and-clearhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/loud-and-clearSat, 19 Sep 2026 20:20:48 GMTMitch and Dud have gathered their last walnuts. With some help from T.C. Redford, they can finally finish the hauling and collect the money they’ve worked all week to earn.

But before they buy the walkie-talkies, there are borrowed buckets to return, a neighbor’s share to deliver, and a promise to keep.

The boys wanted radios. What they earned was the trust of the people around them and a lesson about the kind of citizens they might become.

Listen to “Loud and Clear,” from Five Minutes in America.

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]]><![CDATA[One More Bucket]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/one-more-buckethttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/one-more-bucketSat, 19 Sep 2026 20:15:29 GMTMitch and Dud are one bucket away from earning enough money for the walkie-talkies.

They’re also tired, sore, and beginning to remember their own work more clearly than anything the other boy has done.

The unfinished job is still sitting between them. Somebody has to make the next useful move and waiting for the other fellow could take the rest of the afternoon.

Listen to “One More Bucket,” from Five Minutes in America.

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]]><![CDATA[A Square Deal]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/a-square-dealhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/a-square-dealSat, 19 Sep 2026 20:10:56 GMTMitch and Dud need more buckets and more walnut trees if they’re ever going to earn enough for those walkie-talkies.

Warren Pike has some old pails that need repairing. Miss Ruth Harlan has plenty of walnuts but she has plans for the money they bring, too.

The boys are about to learn that a good opportunity doesn’t have to come entirely at somebody else’s expense.

Listen to “A Square Deal,” from Five Minutes in America.

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]]><![CDATA[What Five Buckets Buy]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/what-five-buckets-buyhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/what-five-buckets-buySat, 19 Sep 2026 20:06:54 GMTFive buckets of walnuts sounded like a pretty good start—until Mitch and Dud had to haul them over the hill and discovered how little the exchange would pay.

The boys went looking for money to buy the walkie-talkies in Warren Pike’s window. What they found was an afternoon attached to every dollar they earned.

Listen to “What Five Buckets Buy,” from Five Minutes in America.

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]]><![CDATA[Money on the Ground]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/money-on-the-groundhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/money-on-the-groundSat, 19 Sep 2026 20:00:46 GMTMost kids can walk across a yard full of walnuts and see nothing but something waiting to turn an ankle.

But tell them those walnuts might help buy the walkie-talkies in Warren Pike’s window, and suddenly the whole yard looks different.

In the first story of the week, Mitch and Dud discover that wanting something has a way of making work look more interesting and responsibility a little more personal.

Listen to “Money on the Ground,” from Five Minutes in America.

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]]><![CDATA[The Tow Home]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-tow-homehttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-tow-homeSat, 12 Sep 2026 22:20:29 GMTT.C. Redford has a tow rope on the boys’ boat, darkness has settled over the lake, and people are waiting at the dock.

Mitchell and Dudley have had plenty of time to think. Soon they’ll have a chance to explain.

Our week at Coffman Beach closes with a slow ride home, the people who make that home worth returning to, and a little more responsibility than the boys carried when they left.

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]]><![CDATA[The Shoreline Telegraph]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-shoreline-telegraphhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-shoreline-telegraphSat, 12 Sep 2026 22:15:48 GMTWhen Mitchell and Dudley fail to come back, the quiet after Labor Day begins to fill with questions.

Calls travel between docks and marinas. Neighbors and fishermen piece together what they’ve seen. A lake that looked so empty starts revealing how many people are still paying attention.

Around Coffman Beach, knowing your neighbors includes knowing which children ought to be home by now.

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]]><![CDATA[One More Cove]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/one-more-covehttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/one-more-coveSat, 12 Sep 2026 22:11:50 GMTThere is always one more cove worth looking around.

Mitchell and Dudley keep finding reasons to go a little farther. From the water, though, the shoreline looks different. Knowing the view from your own dock turns out to leave quite a bit of lake unaccounted for.

The boys’ afternoon adventure carries them deeper into the Lake of the Ozarks—and beyond the part they know.

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]]><![CDATA[The Boat Nobody Asked For]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-boat-nobody-asked-forhttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/the-boat-nobody-asked-forSat, 12 Sep 2026 22:05:34 GMTMitchell and Dudley have fishing poles, sandwiches, and enough confidence between them to get an outboard started.

Each boy also seems to think the other has settled a few important details.

At Coffman Beach, a plain aluminum boat is about to carry considerably more confidence than experience.

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]]><![CDATA[He Doesn’t Hold His Mouth Right]]>https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/he-doesnt-hold-his-mouth-righthttps://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/he-doesnt-hold-his-mouth-rightSat, 12 Sep 2026 22:01:16 GMTLabor Day has come and gone, and Coffman Beach Resort has grown quiet. Mitchell Haywood still can’t catch a fish.

Dudley Floyd figures a change of scenery might help. Before long, a fishing problem is beginning to sound like a perfectly good reason to take a boat.

Our week on the Lake of the Ozarks begins with two boys and an idea that sounds better every time they explain it to each other.

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