Tag: donal

Remembering His Third Wife   Never speak ill of the dead, his father always said, and his father was a pastor  who preached from the pulpit.   That’s why whenever he thinks of his third wife, and he does almost daily, he never says anything bad.   Instead, he sends himself an email and records for history yet another  evil deed she managed to […]

A Puzzling Marriage   Married 60 years Fred and Daisy still are very different people.   All day long they hide their differences to make their marriage last but every night after supper they let them out silently.   Fred in his recliner works  a crossword puzzle while Daisy in the dining room works a jigsaw puzzle   but neither Fred nor Daisy  speaks a word until one has finished and howls […]

Plain Girl Pretty Rose was a plain girl from a small town. She sang in the choir, never missed Bible study, left for the big city after high school.   She worked nights  in a shanty diner next to a bar where working men gathered. Depending on how much the men had to drink Rose looked appealing but she ignored […]

They’re usually poor people, sometimes considered the flotsam of society, always in the way at the grocery store, at the post office. They can’t find their money, if they have any. They’re never in a hurry. They have nowhere to go and you’re always in line behind them, a busy man with people to see, appointments to keep, deadlines to meet. You try to […]

Willie in his 80s now hadn’t made sense in years. His wife understood his grunts from the recliner where she propped him up till bedtime where snoring was music in the night. His grandson told neighbors Gramps had Old-Timer’s Disease, an excellent diagnosis with which doctors agreed. It was time to move Gramps to a home so his wife began […]

Big Bang for Little Billy   This was the first Christmas Billy was old enough to speak  when he saw his gifts  under the sparkling tree. His parents were waiting to hear what he’d say. Billy laughed and jumped and clapped his hands.  With a big smile, he shouted “Santa brought me these!”  Then Daddy picked Billy up, bounced him on his knee  and whispered […]

Parents Night    Emma used to do real good in school her mother tells her new teacher. It’s Parents Night at Ryland Elementary. Mostly mothers in attendance.   What’s the problem, her mother asks. Fifth grade shouldn’t be hard for her. Emma’s never had a grade lower than  a B, her mother says.   Teacher says Emma doesn’t do her homework and talks a lot in class. Her mother can’t believe it. Says her […]