Stories of Suspense with a Sense of Humor
Back in high school there was a minor bully I’ll call John. He was really more of a toady, hanging around some of the tough kids. Or maybe he was more of a sidekick, like Garth was to Wayne, Barney was to Fred, or Sancho Panza was to Don Quixote. Regardless, when I had to … Read more
This week, my mother would have turned 95. She’s been gone a while, but I think of her often, and how she schemed and fought for what she believed was right. She didn’t win all of her battles—it’s tough when the deck is stacked against you—but she won some key ones, like getting a dog … Read more
I found a dead opossum in the yard this morning. It was a youngster and I’m saddened, as my dog may have had a paw in its death. Opossum are occasional visitors to our yard and the dogs go berserk but hadn’t harmed one before. Typically, the opossum play dead and the dogs lose interest, … Read more
The first person who suggested I might become a writer was my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Recht (pronounced wrecked). The irony was that she wasn’t trying to encourage me; she was humiliating another student. She’d given us a book report assignment — read a book, then write something about it. No big deal. I … Read more
The best advice I ever received was to never start a land war in Asia, but that’s basically where I’m at now. The Asia part is my back yard and I’ve fallen into the trap of fighting because of suburban America’s obsession with green lawn. Growing up, we had a 30×30 front yard, and 30×100 … Read more