Lately the going has been quite rough for everyone, but I happened upon something the other day on my walk that made the world still look pretty delightful. At 6 in the morning In downtown Bangor I found a friendly-looking, middle-aged fellow wrestling a stuffed […]
All posts filed under: short story
A spectacularly bad idea
When I was in college I worked in a traveling tent theatre for a summer. A guy from my hometown was also employed with this outfit and so at the end of the summer I caught a ride home with him. His plan was to […]
The problem with bragging
I embarrassed myself in a meeting the other day having, once again, found the opportunity to brag about my sister who is a doctor in a high-level position at Mayo Clinic. (The Mayo Clinic.) I’m very proud of her. And I’m also clearly not above […]
The Great Balloon Escape
One of life’s big existential mysteries grabs up a 3-year-old, his middle-aged grandmother and a random old guy walking by. We drove up under the canopy of the retirement community, opened the trunk and the passenger side door and grabbed the first load of birthday […]
Scene 5 — Guard Dog
Growing up I went by Liz, except for one day in 7th grade when I went by Lizard to Jeff Humphries. I was not a fan of his momentary nickname for me, but I was even less a fan of the period when I actually […]
Scene 4 — Rabbit
Greg Pickle was the first kid I knew who had real life tragedy strike. We were in third grade when his mom crashed the car and killed his little sister and crippled him. He would forever after walk with a limp. And I would look […]
Scene 3 — Owl
Owl misbehaved so badly a year and a half ago I had to fire her. I refused to acknowledge her or any of the other cast members for almost a year after that. Up to that point she’d been what you would expect of a […]
Scene 2 – Bug
Walking down the driveway something caught my eye. Glancing at the ground I saw a bug dragging itself along with only its front legs because it was missing the back half of its body. I was horrified. The sight of a living thing forging ahead […]
Setting the stage, part 2
Gabe, my Native American massage therapist, worked on my hip for 8 months. This required exposing my middle-aged right butt cheek for lengthy periods of time to a young guy who could easily land a role in Hollywood. He is that handsome. I hadn’t quite been […]
Setting the stage, part 1
Philip Henderson, you don’t know it but you walked across my stage and initiated the climactic turning point the plot of my play hinged upon, the one I’d been reaching and reaching for these past 12 years. Alas, this starring role came at a price, […]
Old people
She was tipped over so far to one side in her wheelchair she was almost horizontal to the floor. From this position she was trying to drink a cup of cranberry juice. I stared across the table at her, entranced. Was it possible? Apparently. Somehow, […]
Welcome to my mountain, part II
I committed my first cruelty at the innocent age of 4. And I knew it. We were a team almost from the get go, Amy and me. In the 4-kid ABBA rhyme scheme that was our family pattern, we were the tight middle core — […]